Monday Motivation

Well, good morning to the most amazing Cadre crew. Let's go. What a great day. It's a little bit chilly here in Minnesota. We're at neg, started off like negative nine, something like that, and now we're finally up to, let's call it three four degrees. But, you know, Monday we're all kind of busy, so I'm not in my normal spot that I can do my live today, but it is what it is. It's just. It's life. We all have those days, but no. So excited to be here today with you all here at Cadre. I'm just excited to share.

Number one, our community is growing. It's so amazing. Number two, I shaved my beard. No. Our community is growing. We've actually reached over the 500 threshold of members, which is really, really cool. So, you know, excited today to share my message. Every Monday, you're going to see my face on Monday. Motivation. I can't wait to share a little story. Maybe it's stats, data, inspiration, storytelling that I hope resonates with you and changes your life and makes your life better. That's my dream, and that's my goal.

But did you know that the average life expectancy of an NFL football player is under 60 years old? Did you know that the average life expectancy of an NFL football player is under 60 years old? Do you know the average life expectancy of somebody living in the United States is almost 80 years old? Isn't that crazy? So being an NFL football player has curbed well over 20 years off of your life. And I'm going to think. I'm going to tell you why I think it happens. You know, forget about there's obviously the CTE, there's, you know, physical trauma and all those other things, but I think.

I think identifying one's identity through what they do is treacherous. And what I mean by that is, you know, a lot of these guys that have played football have. That's all they've done all their life, right, since they've been, you know, in grade school, I've been a. I've been a football player. I've been identified as a football player. I've played college, I've been a football player. This is who I am. This is what I do. What happens when that ends? What happens when that ends? When your identity has been wrapped into that one thing, so much of your life and your purpose has always been to play football.

Your purpose has been able to provide for your family through that, your purpose. And when all that's done then what do you have? And I wanted to tell you about how this NFL journey has resonated, quite frankly, with my family. Okay. So my mother in law, over the last 1520 years, has really been in a position to be, let's call it what it is, a caretaker for my father in law. Right. Supporting, through all those daily living skills, making the meals, helping him in and out from the bathroom, preparing him for bed, you know, really just supporting.

That has been her identity for years. Her identity for the last ten to 15 years, I think she lost herself, and her purpose has been to serve my father in law, to be able to ultimately prosper in this life, living at home, like I said, being the caretaker, with that being said, life drastically changed for him and her. Let's call it about three months ago, I would say within the last 90 days, 120 days. Don't quote me on that. Where he then moved and transitioned to a nursing home. So my father in law goes to the nursing home.

My mother in law stays at home. Like I said, over the last ten to 15 years, her identity has been taken care of, of my most amazing father in law, Primo, and he is now off in the nursing home. She now does not have to take care of him. She does now not have to run and do everything for him every single day. She does not now have to wake up and deal with the 911 calls in case of he call falls. He does not. She does not have to do any of that. She now has found all this time. But I don't think she knows really who she is anymore.

And I think that journey for her to find who she is has ultimately been identified as a caretaker over the last ten to 15 years in this life. And now I'm going to circle this all the way back around to me. So we talked about the NFL football players, their identity and their purpose. Number two, another individual who I believe resonates with on that identity and purpose of who you are as a human being. For her, trying to find out who she is, what, not what she is, and then ultimately me. So, you know, over the last decade, let's call it better part of a decade, I've really dedicated my life to the human health and human services field and the health and human services space.

And through that, I started a company. I got this company off and running about five ish, a little bit more than five ish years in. You know, I transitioned out of the role, ultimately, of leading the president of the organization. We transitioned a new president in, and I found myself that that was my identity. My identity was this company I started. My identity was those employees. My identity was supporting those employees. My identity was leading. My identity was driving that organization. It was my purpose.

It was my everything, right? But what you found is, you know, when that was, quote unquote, it wasn't stripped. I don't want to use that word because that's not the right word. When that was moved to a different spot of who I am, what I found is I really didn't know who I was. I identified as that business leader. I identified as that entrepreneur. I identified that with my ego. I identified that as, this is what I was meant to do. Now, what and what I want you to think about today is, don't get to that now.

What in your life, right, if your identity has been to ultimately live through your purpose and live through everything? I totally get that. Right. I totally understand that. But you need to know. You. You need to know yourself. You need to really know deep down in your heart what matters. Right? You need to know what matters more than anything. So instead of leading people as your ego or leading people as who you are and what you are as your identity, you need to change the narrative is, I'm built to support other human beings.

I'm built to make other individuals live their lives better. I'm built as a father. I'm built as a husband. I'm built for my family. I'm built for all those individuals that need me and that I want to support. So, again, and we talked about the NFL and how those individuals have lost their identity through ultimately playing football, right. And who they are at the core of, like, forget about the Sunday lights, forget about all the money, forget about everything. Like, who are you? My mother in law is going through this transition right now.

And ultimately, I went through this transition a little over two years ago, and it was a dark place. I'm telling you, it was a dark, dark place. But what I can tell you today is this. I know what matters, and I know what matters to me, and I know why I do things, and I know why my heart is in the right place to support the initiatives that I'm doing. I know why balance is important. I know why giving my wife my best, just like giving my business is best, is so important to me. I know showing up to my kids events on Sundays is the same way I have to show up to a Super bowl to give a presentation on Cadre.

I know. Churning off my phone and being present, listening to my wife and listening to my teammates at this organization is the same thing that I have to do when I go watch my son's ninja. Don't get lost in what you are, but know who you are. Find your identity. Find your identity now. Don't wait, don't wait. Don't. Don't be 70, 75 years old and trying to figure out who you are because you've ultimately been something else for so long because you've been lost in some other identity. Okay? Have an amazing day.

I hope this message resonates with you, and I hope that you understand that you need to break through some of the shells of life. You need to break through some of those shelves to life to really understand and dive in, like, who you really, really are. And I'm telling you, when you do, you might be surprised. Have an amazing week. Drive change. Figure out who you are. It'll change your life.