WEBVTT - #1909 From Humble Beginnings - Dr. John Demartini 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.440 Doctor John. Welcome back to you project, my friend. How 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:04.760 are you too? 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:08.280 Great? Thank you for having me back. And your patient 0:00:08.320 --> 0:00:10.360 should be getting on well. 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:13.480 We had a few techers, everybody, a few tech issues. 0:00:13.480 --> 0:00:15.960 I think it was I think it was our fault 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:16.560 on this end. 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:17.920 But anyway, so. 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:21.600 It's taken a while, but the very patient doctor John 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:24.880 has joined us. Are you are you over here at 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.080 the moment? Are you in Are you in Australia? 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:28.320 I am in Sydney. 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:30.880 Yeah, how's it going great? 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.800 We just had a presentation over the weekend, the Breakthrough Experience, 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.680 which is one of my signature programs. So I'm very 0:00:37.680 --> 0:00:38.839 inspired that we got to do that. 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:42.599 What are the other than because of course the States, 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:44.760 and of course you're going to say Australia, But other 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:49.760 than Australia in the US, where do you feel Where 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:52.400 do you feel most at home? You know? 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.760 I you know, I live on a ship, so I'm 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.040 moving around. I'm sailing around the world all the time. 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:00.560 So I've spoken in one hundred and sixty one countries. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.600 So I do programs in India and Leisia and Singapore 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:10.839 and Africa, I mean all over place. That's amazing, that's amazing. Countries. 0:01:12.360 --> 0:01:14.480 Now I wanted to talk to you today about a 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:21.120 little bit about the evolution of all the transformation of 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:26.600 personal development, like the way that personal development is rolled out, 0:01:26.600 --> 0:01:29.600 and self help or human behavior or behavior of psychology 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.600 or know, human performance. It's kind of gone through all 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.120 these iterations and now where it seems like we're in 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.479 the online iteration. You and I are having a chat online. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:45.280 Every second thing is like Instagram, it's Facebook, it's TikTok, 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.880 it's what do you make of the you know, from 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.240 Dale Carnegie in nineteen thirty six and the Stoics in 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.880 five hundred BC and all the people in between two 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.320 you and me just wheeling it out in twenty twenty five. 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:01.280 How do you see this kind of evolution? 0:02:04.080 --> 0:02:07.440 Well, I guess you know. There was a term in 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:13.040 Aristotle's time called teleology, and he talked about the tellos. Yeah, 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.800 it was the most meaningful and purposeful end in mind 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:22.160 or goal that somebody could pursue. And along with teleology 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.880 there was technology. And technology came from technoo, which meant 0:02:27.160 --> 0:02:30.240 means to an end. So teleology was the end in 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:33.600 mine and technology was the means to the end of mine. Wow. 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:42.799 Course technology has evolved enormously more recent years. So when 0:02:42.880 --> 0:02:46.080 I first started in my speaking career fifty two years ago, 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:49.600 you know, you sat in a field you had people 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.120 gather around, or you were in a hotel room, or 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.720 you were in some conference room or you know, theater 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.240 or whatever, and people gathered you had to they sage 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:04.040 on the stage mentality. Now, you know, you could be 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:06.880 in your car or so I don't drive, but I 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.200 could have a driver drive me somewhere and I could 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:14.120 be doing a live conference in another country coming in 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:20.480 on a screen. So I'm very grateful that there's technology, 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.399 but I really do love the one on one interaction 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:27.160 to and I think the technology gives us access to 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.760 people we've never reached. But at the same time, it 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.280 doesn't allow you to get that one on one contact 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.280 as much the same way as it does when you're 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.440 right there live. But I'm grateful for whatever, any vehicle 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:42.960 I have to be able to share a message because 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.240 that's my dream. I'm sure you have a love to 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:49.080 bring out your message. Anything, you know, anything that allows 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.680 us to reach people, I'm grateful for. But there are 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:56.080 technological challenges Because I'm not the tech savvy guy. I'm 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.000 more the research right, travel teach guy, and I have 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:00.360 to have the tech guys with me. 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:03.839 Yeah, I may too. Mine happens to be a tech girl. 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:05.480 But I think we're in the sign bite. I think 0:04:05.520 --> 0:04:08.760 you and I very much the we're optimal in that 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:11.760 three dimensional space where we can you know, say, in 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.960 touch and feel and interact and connect and give someone 0:04:14.960 --> 0:04:15.360 a hug. 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.800 Yeah. Well, I last night I finished my program and 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.680 I think I gave everybody a hug. We all got 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.280 to give a hug. So the hugs on zoom are 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.480 not quite the same. Well, we can at least reach people. 0:04:30.880 --> 0:04:34.320 I was doing a live presentation, I think I was 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.520 on my ship and I was zooming in and there 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:41.240 was a guy from Matta gashcar Wow middle of a 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:45.080 field with his own private satellite, and I was thinking, 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.360 you know, there's no ad reached that guy if it 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:49.560 wasn't for the technology. So I'm very grateful for that, 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.440 and the same in Almighty Kazakhstan, I mean places you 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:57.000 wouldn't normally. I mean I've been there live, but I 0:04:57.560 --> 0:05:01.520 wouldn't normally reach some of those people in Mongolians and 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:06.760 the Antarctic Palmer Institute there and reach them live, they 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:09.119 call him from there. I would reach them there easily 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.960 without technology, So I'm grateful for it, but I still 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:14.800 like interacting with people like too. 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.520 I tell this story, Yeah, I'm with you. I think 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:20.960 it's bloody amazing. I mean, we wouldn't be doing this 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.839 today if not for this technology. And I'm running a 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.320 ten week mentor and group at the moment, which happens 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:30.360 on Monday nights, so tonight's my night, and I've got 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:32.520 people from all over the world as well. And it's like, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.760 how is it that I sit in my office at 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.880 home in bare feet and a pair of shorts i'd 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.960 address as well as you, doc, And I get this 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:45.240 opportunity to interact with all of these people that most 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:49.200 of whom I will never meet in person, but nonetheless 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.640 build a bit of a relationship over ten weeks. And yeah, 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:57.440 there's definitely there's definitely pros and cons. I was going 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:02.440 to ask you, do you remember the very very early days, 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:05.240 like when I did my first paid speaking gig. I'm 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.400 sixty one, I was twenty six. I was twenty six, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.839 and I was talking to a bunch of blokes who 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:13.800 worked in a what you would call a lumberyard, a 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:17.680 timber yard and I was talking to them in what 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.560 they call the smokeo room, which is like the lunch room. 0:06:21.440 --> 0:06:23.960 And the reason I was because I was working one 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:26.000 on one with the bloke who owned the guy who 0:06:26.040 --> 0:06:29.000 owned the business, and I spoke to them for thirty 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.920 minutes and got paid fifty dollars and I was terrible. 0:06:32.440 --> 0:06:36.360 I was so bad. Do you remember the first time 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.359 that you spoke for money, like where somebody paid you 0:06:40.400 --> 0:06:41.440 to be in front of a group. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:49.360 Well, the very first presentation for money was actually a 0:06:49.440 --> 0:06:54.320 tutoring process at the University of Houston right when I 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.120 turned twenty, and I can I share a kind of 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.000 a left field story that came out of that. I 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:04.520 was doing these little tutorings on pretty well any class 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.120 that I had already passed and did well in. I 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.240 was giving tutoring on those classes. I think they paid 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.200 you five bucks an hour or something like that, and 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:16.080 you got five bucks and it gave me some we'll 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:19.480 spend money, and it gave me, you know something. It 0:07:19.520 --> 0:07:22.920 wasn't major, but I would sometimes do a few hours 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:26.520 a day doing tutoring because I did a lot of 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:31.880 free talks before that. And then I started do in 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:36.880 the in I started doing yoga in this field between 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:45.200 the buildings under these trees, and people people thought I 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.480 was kind of a strange looking character, you know, doing 0:07:47.560 --> 0:07:49.880 yoga out in this field. It wasn't common in nineteen 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:54.360 seventy five. It wasn't as possibility, and they gather and 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.239 I would have one hundred and twenty five, one hundred 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:02.120 and fifty sometimes four hundred people a day gather around 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:06.120 and ask questions. And I didn't get paid for that. 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:10.080 I just did that while I was doing my yoga wow. 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:13.240 And when it rained, there were so many people that 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.040 regularly came that when it rained, we went to the 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:17.480 cafeteria and there's an area of the cafeteria that wasn't 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:21.240 as busy. And I just kept doing it. But where 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.720 I spoke at the University of Houston under these trees 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:31.320 later had to be reclaimed to build a building. And 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.679 I was teaching a Breakthrough Experience program, one of my 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:38.120 signature programs about thirty six years ago, and there was 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.240 a gentleman named Monty Pendleton there who was the one 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.040 who developed the film that you put on windows. If 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.200 you look out you see clearly, if you look in, 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:48.440 you see a mirror of color. He's the inventions. So 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:52.360 he was an independently wealthy elderly man that attended my program. 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.640 He went on to work with a god mister Scherer, 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.160 and they quitted the Bower School of Entrepreneurship at the 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:06.440 University of Houston and built the building over where I 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:11.920 was speaking. Now, as a result of him come to 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:15.720 the seminar, I found out that he, as a result 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.800 of that seminar, was inspired to create a mentorship program, 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:22.240 an education program for entrepreneurs. He met with mister Sherr 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.040 and they decided to raise funds and build this new 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:32.440 University Educational Center, which is a big building, like six 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:37.640 stories seven stories and big. Well, they built it on 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:40.080 the spot that I was teaching, and they had me 0:09:40.400 --> 0:09:46.520 because I inspired him, they had me speak at the opening. Wow, 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.320 now I was inspired. I didn't know why. I didn't 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:51.960 know they were I didn't know anything about it. I 0:09:52.000 --> 0:09:53.880 just he said, come and you're here to speak, and 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:57.559 they're paying me. Well. When I spoke, I was brought 0:09:57.559 --> 0:10:01.480 to tears by the story about how they came to 0:10:01.480 --> 0:10:03.240 build the school as a result of the class that 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.880 I gave. And then what they didn't know is that 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.120 it is directly over the spot that I used to 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:10.760 do my daily talks. 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:13.480 That's incredible. 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:19.840 So what an inspiring, tear jerky, amazing synchronicity that occurred. 0:10:20.280 --> 0:10:22.480 They built an entrepreneur school right where I used to 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:26.440 do my talks to help people achieve more in their life. 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.760 It was it was a very touching moment for me. 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.960 And when you were doing those talks outside under the trees, 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:37.680 which started off as yoga and morphed into I don't know, 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.160 let's talk about life, the meaning of life and purpose 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:41.719 and who you are and why you are the way 0:10:41.760 --> 0:10:46.200 you are or whatever. Was there any forethought or planning 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:48.520 or structure or was that you freestyling? 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:52.080 Was that you just? Was that you just? It was 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:57.160 a freestyle. One of my favorite presentations is freestyle Q 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:02.880 and A. I love those. And it allowed me to 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.000 diversify because I'm polymathic. I've diversified to my studies very 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:12.200 quite a bit, and so I love that because I 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:13.840 never knew what it was going to be thrown at me. 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:18.680 And these are you know, students predominantly students, occasionally faculty, 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:23.240 but mainly students that were anywhere from eighteen to forty 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:26.360 or so and they would just stop. And I guess, 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.439 whenever you see a crowd, people gather around, what's going 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:30.960 on over there kind of thing. But people stayed and 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.480 they would ask questions, and it became a daily thing. 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:37.160 Unless it was extremely wet or we went in the 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:40.480 cafeteria or extremely cold, we were there. And that was 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:46.040 really a catalyst to help me develop a confidence in 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:50.240 front of a larger crowd and to field questions and 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.280 to just be spontaneous. But a lot of it was 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.120 about achievement and goals because right about that time, I 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:02.600 was starting to attend classes by Jim Rohan, you know, 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.720 and a guy named Ed Tullison and zig Ziggler and 0:12:06.080 --> 0:12:10.480 these characters or at Night and Yale W. Clement Stone, 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:17.120 you know, and tremendous Jones zig Ziggler. I was attending 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:20.520 those classes, so I was sharing what I was learning, Yes, 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:23.600 about achievement. So when it turned out to be the 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:27.800 Entrepreneur's School, it was really about how to achieve and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:30.520 how to go after your dreams and how to make 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.560 it viable, which really was set. It was almost like 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.640 that land was designed for that. It kind of it 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:40.719 was really kind of a synchronosity there just I don't 0:12:40.720 --> 0:12:47.120 know how to describe it. Beautiful, beautiful, heart opening, synchronousity 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:47.560 of life. 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.000 Here's a weird question for you, doc speaking of you, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.560 Lock asked, here's Mike you and let's see the I. 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.719 When you're talking, when you're in the zone, when you're 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.160 in that state of flow, there's no plan. It's just 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.200 it's organic, singuitive. That's you and a bunch of people. 0:13:04.480 --> 0:13:07.520 Is that that what's coming out, that wisdom, that insight, 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:10.280 that teaching. Is that coming from you or through you? 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:16.559 You know? That's been a debate. Is it a priory? 0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:22.080 Is it a posterriory? Is it deducted or inducted? Is 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:26.960 it from the soul innately? Is it from the senses, 0:13:27.880 --> 0:13:31.200 you know, extrinsic. I don't know if I can answer that. 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.760 I think it's a little of both. Right. Daniel said 0:13:34.760 --> 0:13:39.319 that there were categories like space and time that allowed 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.520 you to organize inductive information through your senses. 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:44.480 Yeah. 0:13:45.200 --> 0:13:49.640 And I can't prove or disprove because I don't think 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:53.280 I ever said anything that was really not within some 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:56.640 sort of experience of reading or studying or interacting with people. 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.240 But I did feel that there were times and I 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:04.880 really really was synchronously present, and it really came pouring 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.199 out of me without me doing any thinking. It just 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.120 kind of came pouring through. I don't know if I 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.840 can say that that's a prior because the language and 0:14:12.880 --> 0:14:16.560 words I used had to be learned somewhere. But I 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.080 definitely have been in the flow. I think I've had 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:28.520 tears eureka gamma synchronicity moments where the cortex is really firing. 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:35.760 But I don't know if that's coming from some universal 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.600 source or whether it's my particular source. I think it's 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.080 more particular. I'd have to say this probably because of 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.040 my learning, because I really didn't even have much of 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:46.880 a vocabulary until I turned eighteen. I didn't read until 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.840 I was eighteen. Yeah, so then I started memorizing dictionaries, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:55.200 I memor I memorized twenty thousand words in two years. 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:57.360 I was a nutcase. 0:14:58.080 --> 0:15:02.280 And that was that just ANX exercise in discipline and 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:04.720 cognitive improvement. 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.920 Well, I don't know if you know much remember the story, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.880 but when I was a year and a half, I 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.840 had to go to a speech pathologist because I couldn't 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.240 pronounce words properly. Yeah, and then I got to first grade, 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:19.720 my teacher said, I'm afraid to my parents, I'm afraid 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:21.080 your son's never going to be able to read or 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:25.160 write or communicate effectively. And then I dropped out of 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:29.080 school and I was a street kid, and I believed that. 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:32.360 And then I met a gentleman when I was seventeen 0:15:32.440 --> 0:15:35.840 named Paul Bragg, who, one night, in one message at 0:15:35.840 --> 0:15:40.440 a presentation that I happened to attend. The way he 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.200 spoke made me believe that maybe someday, somehow, with work, 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:46.240 I could overcome my learning problems and learn how to 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:51.200 speak and pronounce words and someday be intelligent read because 0:15:51.240 --> 0:15:56.640 I didn't really read, and when I listened to him, 0:15:57.120 --> 0:15:59.200 I made this concerted effort to try to do it. 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:03.160 So I went back from Hawaii, where I was living, 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:06.520 to Texas, where my parents were, and I took a 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:12.520 ged and I guessed, I guess, and somehow I passed. 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:13.760 I don't know how to do it. I just I 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.200 literally would close my eyes and just guess. I figured 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:19.280 out nothing to lose because I'm you know, I don't 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.720 get a high school degree that way. I don't have 0:16:22.760 --> 0:16:25.760 a high school degree. But I passed. And then I 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.640 tried to go to school. And when I tried to 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.560 go to take a class in English and history, I 0:16:32.600 --> 0:16:34.520 assumed I was going to guess and pass. Like I 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:40.280 did that big test. I got a twenty seven and 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.480 I had the lowest grade, and I was absolute humiliated. 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:45.640 And all I could hear is my first grade teacher 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.040 saying he'll never read, write, or communicate effectively. And I 0:16:49.040 --> 0:16:51.600 remember crying on the way home, trying to drive home 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:54.800 and my eyes were all blurry, and then curling up 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:57.720 in a fetal position underneath this Bible stand at my parents' 0:16:57.760 --> 0:17:02.880 house and just really and thinking. This idea about being 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:05.399 you know, learning and being intelligent, I think is just 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:07.880 a delusion. I'm gonna have to go back and ride 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.160 waves because I was a surfer at the time. I'm 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:11.600 gonna have to go back in the North Shore and 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.439 ride waves. My mom came home and saw me crying 0:17:15.480 --> 0:17:19.680 on the floor, and she said, what happens, son, I said, 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:21.840 I really blew the test. I got a twenty seven. 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.800 You needed to seventy two to pass. And she said 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:27.360 something to me at that moment that only a mother 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.879 could probably say. She said, Son, whether you become a 0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:34.960 great teacher and educator, travel the world like you dream, 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:38.600 whether return to Hawaiian ride giant waves, which you've done, 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.120 or you return to the streets and panhandle, which you've 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.240 also done. Because I was a street kid, she says, 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:45.600 I just want to let you know your father and 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.440 I are going to love you no matter what you do. Wow. 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:52.399 When she said that, my hand went into a fist. 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:57.639 I remember this determination fist, And I said to myself, 0:17:57.920 --> 0:18:00.800 and I looked up and I saw the vision that 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.200 I experienced the night I was with this teacher, Paul Bragg, 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.240 And I said to myself, I'm going to master this 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.920 thing called reading, study and learning. I'm going to mask 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:13.040 this sing called teaching and philosophy. And I'm going to 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.159 do whatever it takes. I'm going to travel whatever distance. 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.720 I'm going to pay whatever price to give my service 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:19.320 of love across the planet. I'm not going to let 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:22.000 any human beings stop me now. And I hugged my 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.520 mom and I went in the room. I got a 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:27.120 Funk and Wagner's Dictionary. If you buy twenty dollars worth 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:31.679 of food at Kroger, you get a dictionary. And I 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.399 got this dictionary, and I made a commitment to memorize 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:38.000 the words of the dictionary. And I started at the 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:42.160 beginning and I did twenty thirty words a day. In 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:44.800 in order to do those thirty words, I would write 0:18:44.840 --> 0:18:49.840 the word out, spelling it twenty times, thirty words twenty times. 0:18:50.119 --> 0:18:53.200 I would pronounce it twenty times. I would put it 0:18:53.200 --> 0:18:55.920 in a sentence and read the sentence twenty times, try 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.080 to get meaning it. And I would then be tested 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:00.600 at the end of the day by my mom on 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:02.720 those thirty words. And if I didn't do it, I 0:19:02.720 --> 0:19:04.760 had to do it until we got them all right. 0:19:04.800 --> 0:19:07.560 And I did that day after day after day for 0:19:07.600 --> 0:19:10.800 two years until I had twenty thousand words. And I 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:12.840 went from the very bottom of the class failing to 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:13.679 the top of the class. 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:20.200 It's amising and would I like not that it matters 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.199 either way, but today, would I have said that you 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:25.679 were dyslexic? What would if you were that kid in 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.680 twenty twenty five, what kidgeenhallmart I have popped you in? 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:35.000 Yeah, they would have said dyslexia. They just said learning disabled. 0:19:35.640 --> 0:19:42.240 And when I tried to read, pronunciation wasn't coming across words. 0:19:42.680 --> 0:19:48.200 Letters were reversed and I had a speech impediment. I really, 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:52.280 I literally one half. I wasn't making sounds properly. So 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:56.280 it was in those days. This is nineteen fifty six, No, 0:19:56.440 --> 0:20:01.240 nineteen sixty, pardon me, nineteen sixty. If you didn't do 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.000 well in the normal reading, they put you in this 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.840 remedial reading, and if you didn't do well there, they 0:20:05.920 --> 0:20:08.240 put a dunge cap on you. So I, myself and 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.080 Darryl Dalrymple had to wear a dunge. 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:14.000 Cat shout out to Darryl. 0:20:14.480 --> 0:20:17.480 Oh, my god. Yeah. I always wanted to know what 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:19.560 happened to Darryl. I've never been able to find him 0:20:19.560 --> 0:20:22.800 on any social media. I always wonder what happened to 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:25.560 Darryl because he was Hey. I think he really did 0:20:25.600 --> 0:20:30.280 have even more extreme challenges than I did, but not 0:20:30.840 --> 0:20:34.320 I couldn't read properly and spell properly and speak properly 0:20:34.359 --> 0:20:38.479 at the time, and my parents took that and said, well, 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:41.120 you're going to have to do sports. So I ended 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.240 up That's why I ended up leaving home and going surfing. 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:47.800 Isn't it amazing, John? 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:47.879 That? 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:51.800 I mean I know that that they were not particularly 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:55.480 in some ways enlightened. In some ways, Tho'll vary in Laton, 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:59.520 but in terms of academia and education and understanding emotional 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:02.240 and intelligence and the impact that word's going to have 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.920 on kids. Imagine an adult making a decision to go, 0:21:06.480 --> 0:21:09.000 we're going to get this kid who's clearly got learning 0:21:09.119 --> 0:21:12.960 challenges and then put this thing on his head to 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:17.080 identify him as stupid. Who is making that decision? 0:21:17.760 --> 0:21:21.280 Well, I think they thought that I was being defiant 0:21:21.320 --> 0:21:25.199 and disobedient. Oh really, yeah, I think that's what they 0:21:25.200 --> 0:21:26.960 thought if you because you know, there was a more 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:31.960 of an authoritarian era of education in those days, and 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.280 so you did what the teacher said that was just 0:21:34.600 --> 0:21:37.000 and if you didn't, well then you were punished. And 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.040 I don't think I think the teacher, Missus McLaughlin, who 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:42.600 was in her seventies at the time, she came from 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:46.480 that era. Now, I think she realized it wasn't going 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:48.800 to work with me, and that's why she asked my 0:21:48.880 --> 0:21:51.879 parents to come to the school and she sat me 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:54.440 down in this little semicircle reading thing with my mom 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:58.440 and dad and she said to him, you know, I'm 0:21:58.480 --> 0:22:02.000 afraid your son is got learning difficulty. My parents knew 0:22:02.000 --> 0:22:05.720 that because they knew I was not developing. There properly. 0:22:06.600 --> 0:22:09.760 But so they just thought, well, what do we do, 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:13.120 and she suggests he likes to run. I was born 0:22:13.240 --> 0:22:16.240 also with an arm and leg deformity, so I had 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:19.119 to wear braces on my left side, like a forest 0:22:19.119 --> 0:22:21.240 gup kind of thing on my left arm and leg, 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.560 and so I didn't get out of those until I 0:22:24.600 --> 0:22:27.400 was four. And then my dad said, you can come 0:22:27.400 --> 0:22:29.080 out of them as long as you keep your leg straight. 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:30.680 If you put your leg crooked again, you're gonna have 0:22:30.720 --> 0:22:32.639 to go back into it. Well, I made sure my 0:22:32.720 --> 0:22:34.600 leg was straight. I didn't want to wear those because 0:22:34.600 --> 0:22:38.080 that was not something you wanted to wear. And because 0:22:38.080 --> 0:22:42.120 of that, I wanted to prove to my dad, when 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:44.600 you've been constrained, you really want to be free, you 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:47.320 really want to run. And so I became a really 0:22:47.359 --> 0:22:50.560 good runner. And then I learned how to throw a 0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.720 ball really well. And I somehow knew how to stand 0:22:54.760 --> 0:22:59.160 on a surfboard since I was nine. So I played 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:02.679