July 22, 2020 • 50 mins
Get motivated with Sean Swarner and find out why he was voted one of the top 8 most inspirational people of all time in this episode of Fitness Disrupted. He was not only the first cancer survivor to summit Mt. Everest, but did so with only one lung after battling cancer not once, but twice as a child. Amongst other topics, Tom and Sean delve deep into the power of visualization and provide some insight into how to tap into the power of your mind to push yourself to realize what you envision, as well as how to bring about true, meaningful change in your life. As we enter the dog days, this is the perfect episode to ignite your mid-summer workout routine.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. I
say it every show. I love my job. I love
what I do. And when it comes to health and wellness,
(00:24):
it's not just about the studies, and it's not just
about exercise, and it's not just about nutrition. A huge,
enormous part of the equation is motivation. And you all
know that. How many people say to themselves, I just
I don't I'm not motivated, and you can't find the motivation.
And we have excuses, We have our yeah butts, Yeah
(00:48):
but I don't have time. Yeah but I have this
ache or this pain. And that is exactly what today's
shows about. So that is one thing that I hope
that I know separates Fitness Disrupted from other shows, is
we we I don't just talk about one thing because
you can't get there just exercising or just going on
(01:11):
a diet, and motivation isn't enough. You've got to take
all of these things. And this is what I've learned
over the decades, is it's a little bit of all
of this stuff. Right. We need the motivation, we need
the education, we need the experience. We gotta take all
these things to the nutrition. And the amazing thing is
when you do those things, a little bit of all
of those things, it's sustainable. It doesn't change your day
(01:35):
to day enormously like going on a crash diet or
just trying to exercise seven days a week for ridiculously
long periods of time. You do some exercise, you change
your eating habits a little bit. You get that motivation
side down. You take all of these components that are
so crucial, that connect in unique ways, and that's where
(01:57):
success comes from. And I've said it many times before.
When they used to have fitness magazines, they're almost gone completely.
But the most important page for me in fitness magazines
wasn't the workouts. It was the success story to get
you motivated, to get you excited. And oftentimes may take
(02:18):
three fifteen different people, but but one of them just
you connect to resonates with you in a unique way.
And Sean Swarner, my guest, is one of those people
to talk about overcoming obstacles. You have to be kidding me.
And I'm fortunate to call him a friend. We met
(02:39):
years ago. I interviewed him on a show I had
years ago. We also raced together up the Empire State
Building for cancer and then we actually appeared on TV together.
And his story is so compelling, I said to the interviewer,
like my story next to his, Uh, it's his is amazing.
It's amazing. And what he has been through and what
(03:02):
he can show you and will show you about obstacles
and limits and just living life. All these shows are important.
But when you get inspired, when you get motivated, when
you hear people who have achieved incredible things, ordinary people
(03:22):
doing extraordinary things. There's no extraordinary people. There's a there's
ordinary people who figure out their motivation and that they
can do it. The motto of my company believe in yourself.
That is Sean Swarner. Let me give you his bio.
Just bring him up all right. Sean Swarner is a philanthropist, author,
(03:44):
and keynote speaker. He is a two time terminal cancer
survivor who has dedicated his life to helping others reach
their full potential. Sean created Cancer Climber with his brother
in two thousand one, a nonprofit organization Shan that pays
for and travels with cancer survivors to climb Kilimanjaro. I'm
(04:06):
gonna do that with him. I told him that, uh,
and he's gonna hold me to it. Shawn's passion for
climbing and adventure blossomed after becoming the first cancer survivor
to summit Mount Everest. He is also the only person
to complete the World Ironman Championship and the Explorers Grand Slam,
which entails climbing the summits across all seven continents and
(04:29):
reaching both North and South poles. Yes, he's an underachiever
from executives of Fortune five companies such as Unilever and IBM,
to students and the New York Giants. His leadership workshops,
documentary True North, The Shawn Swarner Story, inspirational Keynotes, and
book series Seven Summits to Success have inspired and won
(04:52):
the hearts of millions to redefine their own impossible. His
story has been shared on The Steve Harvey Show, CBS
Evening News, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. And Yes,
now you're gonna hear his story and be inspired by
him today right here on Fitness Disrupted Enough Talking quick
Break When we come back Two times cancer survivor Sean
(05:16):
Swarner and we are back. As I said in the intro,
you know fitness disrupted. Yeah, we talked about exercise, we
talked about nutrition, but we also talked about probably the
most important component of all of this, and that's motivation.
(05:39):
And as I said in the intro, I met Sean
years ago. We ran up the Empire State Building together,
and then we were on TV together. And it was
one of several times when someone tells their story, I'm like, yeah,
my story doesn't even come close, Like I just wanted
to walk off set shot and I think I said
it that day. I'm like, and he went first. So
it was like following, you know, like, okay, he had
(06:01):
kids or twice he's gonna tell you a story and
you're gonna see that. It's like, okay, you win. So
you're an overachiever Sean in so many ways. And thank
you for taking the time, by the way, and just
we gotta start at the beginning, right. I know you've
told a story many times and I hate to make
a guest retell it, but we have to write. So
just start. You were a healthy kid up until and
(06:22):
you were a swimmer. By the way, we got to
talk about that. We didn't talk about that in the past.
That shows you have issues, by the way, if you're
a competitive swimmer, but but tell the story. You're a
healthy kid. And then at thirteen something happened. I'm so
excited to be after that exactly. Now you know where
we're going, right, I can't wait? Yeah? Um no, my
(06:42):
my story is. It starts off just like most people,
you know, most people who are born in the Midwest.
I was just born in Ohio, and as I was
growing up, I was your typical kid, and I was
getting into trouble just like everybody else. My backyard was
like a cornfielder of bean field depending on the season.
And I was running across the country tracks swimming. I
even pulled crying out loud, you know, and I did
(07:04):
everything I possibly could to avoid trouble. And uh we
even tp the coach's yard. I mean that was that
was back before Philip was hard to find, was hanging
from the It was. It was grown on the trees
back not your vat exactly. I uh it was. It
was in the eighth grade when my life completely veered
off path. When I was, you know, thirteen years old,
(07:27):
playing basketball, came down and snapped my knee suffered a
knee injury. That knee injury essentially would change my life forever.
And if if you can imagine, like, you know, you're
Thanksgiving dinner and you have the turkey leg and you're
you're pulling off the the gristle, you're pulling off the
tendons and everything. That's kind of what my knee sounded
like and just snapped and that swelled up every joint
(07:48):
in my body. And the doctors told my parents, hey,
your firstborn son is he We're diagnosing him with advanced
stage four Hodgsons limphoma and he only has three months
to live. So I am, you know, on on the
cusp of my teen years and the cost of life essentially,
and now all of a sudden, I have an expiration
date as an eighth grader. And most of my friends
were out essentially chasing girls, collecting baseball cars, having a
(08:11):
great time with their lives. And you know, at that
time in your your life, your hormones are kicking in
your growing hair and unusual places on your body. You know,
I'm losing my hair because of the chemotherapy. And I
remember one morning I went into the shower and that's
when my all my hair came out at once. And
you know how normally you stayed in there and the
(08:32):
water hits your hair and it kind of seeps in,
then hits your scalp and you start washing your head.
I remember every time I brought my hands down, they
were covered in hair. So I was sixty pounds over
a wit. I collapsed in my hands and knees. I
was just weeping, pulling chunks of hair to the drain,
thinking about my life, you know, and at at thirteen,
I had a completely different perspective than most people. And
(08:53):
like I said, my my neighbor, let's say, two across
the street, two houses down, Jerry, you know he was
he was worried about Uh probably it was probably the
Reebok pump at that point, you know, the nicest shoes
he was. He was probably counting like there again, we're
perfect reality to go to school, and I was looking
at at my own mortality. And you know what, Shan,
let me just have you there real quick, because you
(09:15):
I had heard this story before obviously when we we spoke,
but you have this documentary out now, True North, So
for the first time I was able to put pictures
to what you just described, So to see you at
that age and that first picture in the trailer especially,
it's just it's mind blowing. I mean, it just breaks
your heart to have that visual and to see you know,
everything you just described, you know, you call you captured
(09:37):
those moments and those are in the documentary and that
would be enough, sean for for most people. And we
laugh because it's because we're sick and durance athletes and
it makes it easier. But it didn't end there and
take it up from you know, from that. Yeah, I guess,
as you said earlier, I'm I'm an overachiever, right, So
I had to go and get and get a second cancer.
(09:58):
You know, one one wasn't enough. I had to go
get another one. I went through the first one about
a year or so of the medicine, chemotherapy, everything, losing
my hair, losing my friends, losing everything. My life was
over and then I was placed in remission. I was
in remission for just about a year and that was
going in for a checkout for the first cancer when
they found in one day, they found a tumb right
on X ray, They did a needle biopsy, they took
(10:20):
out a lymph node, they put in a Hickman catheter,
which is like a permanent ivy. They cracked tooke my rids,
removed the tumor, put a drainage too, and started chemotherapy
in less than one day. So this time around, it
was it was much much worse. And I've actually done
some some math, and I found that the chances of
me surviving both Hodgkins and askin Stark coma, which was
a second cancer, is equivalent to win the lottery four
(10:43):
times in a row with the same numbers. That's hey, yeah,
you can't. You can't wrap your head around it. You can't.
That's insane. And so now here you are again. You're
in the same place, but for a second time. And
where do you go from there? Well, from here I was,
I was actually putting medically induced comma for nearly a year.
They told my parents this time around, I had an
(11:04):
expiration into fourteen days, you know. So the first one
they gave me three months to live. A second time
they gave me seven fourteen days to live two weeks.
So they put in a medically induced coma. Because no
one's ever had these two cancers before, they didn't know
what to expect. So I have son. She became a
you know, a walking toxic dump of chemotherapy because they
didn't know how to treat it. So I was three
(11:27):
months of intense chema, one month of intense radiation, and
then ten more months of intense chemotherapy. And every time
I was in the in the hospital for a treatment,
the doctors, because the treatments were so harsh, they gave
me something to knock me out. So essentially I was
in a medically induced coma for a year. I don't
remember being sixteen years old. You know, most times, you know,
when most guys you're getting your license and as you said,
(11:49):
you're starting, you know, dating and all that kind of stuff.
And here you are, for the past, you know, three
or four years, just completely hammered twice, and you know, what,
how does that turn around? What was what was the
turning point? You know when you came out and and
just speak to that well in all honestly, I think
the turning point was back within the first cancer when
(12:11):
I was when I was on the shower floor, like
I mentioned, and I literally thought to myself as a
thirteen year old that I had two choices. I could
either fight for my life or give up and die.
And then I was also thinking in that same moment
that I didn't want to focus on not dying. I
wanted to focus on living. So, even at such a
young age, I developed a different perspective. And even now,
I never focus on the avoidance of what I don't want.
(12:32):
I focus on what I want, you know, because your
your brain is still gonna be drawn towards what you're
thinking about, what you're imagining, what you're visualizing. And I
told myself I didn't want to focus on not dying.
I wanted to focus on living. In fact, I wanted
to focus on living and kicking butt, you know. A
year after I was placed in my treatment or remission
for the first second cancer, I actually won my high
school's lead track me in the hun to Me to Run,
(12:54):
you know. Oh and and barring in the fact I
forgot to mention this, I only have one lung. Is
it amazing what we leave vouch right, Yeah, I forgot
about that part, you know, half my lung capacity. Yeah,
it's just it's so amazing what you know. But in
thirteen years old, shown like, where did you think was
it your dad? Was it your mom? And where did
you find that strength. Where did you hind that clarity
(13:16):
and just kind of maturity to to just have that mindset?
You know, I think it came from my parents. I
have been an athletes forever. You know. When I was
five years old, they actually enrolled me in some swimming
lessons and everything. And I was a competitive swimmer since
I was five. And one of the things that they
hammered hammered into my brain was I never had to
be the best. I just had to be my best.
(13:37):
So essentially throughout the years, you know, there's this idea
that called the compound effect, where those little tiny changes
add up to a huge difference, and I call them
micro changes. So what I did was I just focused
on being my best and and instead of improving myself
just exponentially, I improved myself just a tiny bit better
than I was yesterday, better than I was the day before,
better than I was the day before. So over time
(13:59):
and over the years, I've just gone up and up
and up and up and up. I love it, you know,
And this is why we're so that I talk about
this all the time. Sean as well did not have
cancer twice, so again you win. But you know it's
I call it excessive moderation, right, And and where I
will correct you if I may, and be so bold
is like when we say the word just, when we
(14:20):
say just do a little bit more. You know, now
when people say to me, Sean, like, oh, I only,
did you know I only walked a mile today? I
just you know, did ten minutes of of strength training. No,
it's not only your just, it's that you did, right.
I did. Stop saying just stop saying only, And you
are living, breathing proof of that through two cancers and
we've even gotten everest in the polls. I mean, I
(14:41):
did it in your intro. But you know that I
love when you talk about the mental side and all
the quotes. By the way, you've already you're you're you're
killing me because you're taking all my talking points. But
that's what it's about, right, I mean, you know I
bore people to death by saying, Sean. When I went
back to get my masters, I knew it had to
be exercise science, but I knew had to be sports
(15:01):
psychology and counseling, right. I knew the mind was so important.
And one quote I'm gonna have to grab because you're
gonna say it before I get there. You talked about visualization.
You talk about how Foreverest you pictured yourself at the
top of the mountain for a year straight, right, and
talk about that like that? What the we? We always say, Sean,
the secrets to wife are on Instagram. It's all the quotes.
(15:23):
They're there, but people just don't believe them, right, they
don't believe them. So talk about that. Well, I think
you're absolutely right. And initially I was told that climbing
Everest with one lung was was physiologically impossible. I was
also told that battling those two cancers wasn't possible. But
I used certain tools from my cancer to help me
(15:43):
succeed in sports. So even when I was a little kid,
have you ever read the books, the comic books Calman Hobbs,
So there's his his little alter ego is based Man's fifth.
I did something similar in my body where I was
laying in the hospital of bed giveting my chemotherapy treatments.
I would picture myself in the ivy bag in a
(16:04):
microscopic spaceship. And keep in mind, I can see your
face right now. You're like, where the he, how's he going? Well? Now,
listen I have much weirder things go on. We're we're
alined here. So I was in a microscopic spaceship, dripping
out of my IVY bag, and I could remember going
through the IVY two and I visualized my body laying,
the hospital bed to my left, the door to the
(16:26):
hospital that went out into the hallway to my left,
the television, the little the recliner chair in the right corner,
when my mom or my dead sitting, and then the
window outside, and then all of a sudden, I was
pushed into my body. Everything got dark, but all of
us little microscopic spaceships collected in the heart, and I
visualized myself being in the heart, and I can see
my my valves literally beating, and all of a sudden,
(16:49):
it was my turn to go out into the body.
So I got launched out of the heart, and I
would follow these blips on my dashboard that would direct
me if I came to a fork in my vein,
you know, I would go to the right, go to the
the left, whatever, and I would sneak up on the
tumor that I was actually designed to destroy. So I
would unload the missiles, rockets, lasers, whatever they were they
were full of chemotherapy, drugs and radiation, and in my
(17:10):
mind I have visualized myself defeating the cancer from the inside.
So I used that going up Everest every single night.
I didn't have any formal training. I taught myself everything
you know. In Initially I was living in Jacksonville, Florida,
where I believe it or not, the highest point in Florida,
I think is the top of the four Seasons hotel.
And I am, yeah, there's no hills. You can't even
(17:31):
marify on training Florida, right right. So I moved to Colorado,
where I still am, and every night for about nine
or ten months, I would lay in my bed before
I went to before I went to sleep, and I
would literally visualize myself on top and and it's not
And this is the component people are missing. It's it's
not the third person type dreaming visualization. It's the first
person where I'm seeing it from my perspective. But what
(17:54):
people don't do is they don't add in like what
I did is I smelled the O zone. I heard
the styrofoam crunching of the snow beneath my feet, I
felt the sun's radiations. I was I was trying to
use all senses. Yes. And then the number one component
people miss which helps you tap into that subconscious is
the emotional attachment to the end result. How did I
(18:18):
feel on the summit? You know, sometimes when I was visualizing,
I would have tears coming down my face because I
was so happy, you know, doing being the first cancer
survivor to climb Everest. I had an emotional attachment to
the end result. That's what made it real to my brain,
because your brain doesn't really know the difference between vivid
visualization and reality. Oh my gosh, Like I'm getting all
choked up because yeah, And I'm so connected to that too.
(18:41):
And and for one of my story Shawn, real quick,
and I told it before, is you know, like you,
I wanted to do the y iron Man right. That
was a goal for a long time. And I put
screen saver on my computer for ten years was the
swim Start. Was a picture of the swim Start. I'm
gonna get choked up tone it. Then you know, ten
years later, I'm standing in that exact spot as you said,
(19:01):
and I'm looking at that and I took a picture
and it had changed a little, right, the the trees
had changed a little bit. There was a new you know,
and it was like exactly what you just said. I
had seen it every morning and I knew that I
would get there. And when I got there, and as
you said, and I felt that feeling like what was
that feeling going to be? And it was just it's
so rewarding, and it was ridiculous because I couldn't swim
(19:24):
a lap and I couldn't do anything like that. Uh.
And and to your point, like you know, when you
picture it the way you're saying, and I love that
you talked first person, third person. And I did a
whole show Sean on how you have to use all
your senses right the smell like when I visualized, you know,
I taste the sweat, you know, the saying you hear,
the sound of your feet, all that kind of stuff.
(19:44):
It is so powerful. And talk more about that. I mean,
I'm sure you've experienced that as you went up the
mountain as well. Absolutely absolutely. I mean you you hit
the nail on the head like there was not one
iota of a doubt that you weren't gonna do it.
And I think that's the key. Let me let me
put it this way, Let's say there are there are
two people who are trying to quit smoking, one of
(20:06):
them said, and they both get off for the cigarette.
One of them says, no thanks, I'm trying to quit.
The other one says, no thanks, I'm not a smoker. Right.
You know, you become that success. So that's success that
necessarily define you. But that's who you become and you
you believe it at your core. So if you want
to do something, you tell yourself you are that you
(20:28):
are a representation of your repetition to help you get there. Right.
And you know I'm skipping ahead a little bit, but
at the end of every show shown, I say there
are three things we can control, how much you move,
what you put into your mouth, and your attitude. Your attitude,
and no one is better at that than you. Right,
and you say one of your quotes, I'm gonna grab
it now before you do. You know, cancer can take
your body, but it can't take your mind, right, I
(20:50):
mean that is everything. And as long as you're in
control of your mind, which no one has power over
except you, you know, the potential is limit with absolutely absolutely,
and so many people don't understand that. You know, I
I tested the whole visualization thing once, um you know,
as as you know, I take a group up Kil
Lajar every year as a fundraiser for a cancer charity,
(21:11):
and we actually pay for a survivor's trip. Anybody can go,
but then the survivor has to fundraise to pay it
forward to next year's survivor. So I actually tested the
whole visualization thing without training. I ran the New York
City Marathon and climbing Kilmajar, just only visualized and and granted, yes,
my legs seemed up, but I finished. I have a
(21:31):
sports psychology professor who he would say, He's like, you
gotta train a little bit. It's like the mind can
only do so much, but it could go absolutely Like
if your goal is just to finish, right, I mean,
the mind can take you a dorn for distance. Let
me give you one other quick one then, Sean, we'll
just trade off these visualization stories. Another one of my
goals was to be on the Today Show and you
and I were on what was it like, Channel WEBN,
(21:52):
I think way back when, which was yeah, and you've
been on all the shows with your story, but Today's
show was a goal, and I was pictured and visualized
myself and Matt Lower. Not a great story today, but
back then it was better. Right, But I pictured, you know,
and I saw everything. I saw myself sitting down, the conversation, everything.
So finally get the call and I get into the
(22:13):
green room and they say, we're switching. You're with Savannah Guthrie,
and so I text my wife. I go, who cares? Right,
Savannah Guthrie, and my wife, being the nice woman she
is and the TV person, she says, well, uh, sit
down quickly because she's really tall. I'm like, thanks, thanks
for you know, thanks are calling me short, but long
story short. So I'm like, okay, whatever. I go out
on set. Matt Lower walks out. So exactly what I
(22:35):
envisioned happened, and even though I was told it wouldn't,
and I just who cared. Not that it made a difference,
but the power of the mind, when you see that,
it's just incredible, And you obviously have to work for it, right,
and you gotta you have to believe in yourself, you
have to do as you said. It's not a matter
of if it's gonna happen, but when absolutely, and it's
it's crazy. I know, it's it's kind of alluding to
(22:55):
the law of attraction. I think a lot of people
have a misconception of the law of attraction. It's not
like the book The Secret. We're gonna sit in the
corner and say I want to win a million times,
I want to give me the six magical numbers. Yeah,
that's that's b s. And it's not gonna happen. But
what happens with the law of attraction is once you
focus your mind on something, then your mind starts to
(23:15):
pick up on those little details and filters out the
stuff that doesn't matter. So I think that's what people
don't understand. When you when you focus on something, your
mind will start looking for opportunities to help you become
successful and filter out all the other noise. That's the
law of attraction that people don't understand. Right and surround yourself,
And that's why I feel so fortunate showing to have
this show and have people on and to be friends
(23:37):
with people like you, because you know, this is just
so empowering. You talk to someone like you and you
know the other stories, and there's so much negativity. I
would say social media, I'm like, just people turn it off,
like Twitter, is you know, if you have something, if
you don't have anything nice to say, go on Twitter.
I think it's what that is for. So surround yourself
with people and the stories that you know have, uh
(23:57):
what you want to accomplish, right, And I'm sure you
have who one of your mentors, by the way, over
the years the question I want to ask you, let's see,
well kind of tongue in cheek. When I was fighting
through the two answers, I collected Superman comic books. But
I can't say he was a person I really looked
up to be. He was a adbrocated individual, but I
would say it had to have been my parents. But
then also, there was a guy up in Canada. I
(24:19):
don't know if you've ever heard of. His name was
Terry Fox. He was a he. Okay, so he's he's
like a legend up there. Unfortunately he passed away, but
he had cancer of the leg essentially was a stark cooma.
And his goal is to run across Canada and get
one dollar from every Canadian to help support cancer research.
And he made it to I want to say, thunder Bay,
(24:40):
and he was doing it. He was literally running a
marathon a day with a fake leg, a prosthetic leg,
And I remember watching him and imitating his run around
my house when I was eleven twelve years old. Then
the next year I got diagnosed with cancer. So I
actually looked up to him as kind of like I
wouldn't say a mentor, but as as like this this
spirit almost maybe like a spiritual guide to help me
(25:02):
through now. And that's what I mean by that, That's
exactly it, and that's it's so powerful. And and by
the way, that was back when like prosthetic legs were
nothing like they are today, Right, I mean that that
was painful, not that it isn't even today, but amazing
and and you know how ridiculous at the time for
him to do that and to think he could, right,
And it shows how powerful that message is to someone
(25:24):
like you and so many other people. And it's what
you're doing climbing kilman Jaro um and talk about just
how rewarding that must be getting to the top with
these people and just those moments like that's what likes
about John I always talking about I don't care about stuff.
I want those moments. I want that moment at the time.
That's why I'm coming with you next year. I can't
believe I put that out there, but I'm coming. It's
not a question, but that I know. I know you're
(25:49):
not a question, but those moments you must have had,
not only yourself, but now bringing that to other people,
talk about how rewarding that is. You know, it's it's
almost to the point now. Actually it is to the
point now where let's say for Christmas. You know, you
get to an age where you you don't really you
enjoy getting gifts, but it means more to give gifts,
(26:10):
you know, to to see the look on on somebody's face,
to see the look on you, on your child's face.
You know, it means more to give than to receive.
So the same thing here. You know, I've been up
killam Gerald. I think I think this year will be
my eighteenth or nineteen, and every year it never fails.
We get to the top. And because we leave in
the middle of the night. You know, when you get there,
you're emotionally exhausted, you're physically exhausted, you're you're mentally just spent.
(26:35):
Everybody is emotional. You know that the tears are coming down.
We're hugging each other, we're all crying, you know, seeing congratulations,
and it never fails. Somebody comes up to me, looks
me right yond and says, thank you for getting me here.
I immediately look at them and they say, I didn't
do anything to get you here. And then all of
a sudden, you can see that light bulb go off
above their head. They're like, oh yeah, Now in an instant,
(26:57):
they're empowered, like I can do that. I did. I
it that myself. So more than anything, it's about the camaraderie.
It's about getting people to the top and empowering them
to believe in themselves right right. The power of that,
and you alluded to it at the beginning. You know,
the sports psychology term for those small steps you talked
about is self efficacy. And that's what I talk about
all the time, how self efficacy, situational confidence is everything.
(27:21):
And that's why you know, I don't want people going
on crash diets, not because they don't work short term,
but because there's an end date and then you feel
bad about yourself. So when you take those small steps,
they build on themselves. I never thought you know, what
you and I have achieved over time is the result
of those small steps and the constant belief. You know,
we didn't come out of the womb saying oh we're
(27:42):
gonna run marathons and and you're gonna climb Everest. But
you know when when you have those small successes, that
confidence builds, right, and and again it sounds so simplistic,
but it's so powerful. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean everyone knows,
you know, you are what you eat, but I essentially
say you are what you comes to. You know, it
(28:03):
can be through media, it can be through food, whatever
it might be. But if if you want to change
who you are, change what you do, you know, when
you wake up in the morning, you probably have a
set pattern. And if you wake up when you hit snooze,
you know, four or five times, you're subconsciously telling yourself,
you know what, I'm not too excited about my day.
There's nothing for me to be anxious about. I'm not
(28:25):
excited just to start anything. When my alarm goes off, bam.
Within three seconds the U I turn it off and
I'm out of bed, you know, because I am getting
out of bed and I'm thinking, all right, man, let's
do it right. But most people they hit the snooze
and like, you know, my day can wait. Over and
over and over again. You're telling yourself, yeah, I can wait, Yeah,
(28:46):
I can wait, I can wait. And what happens is
throughout your day you probably notice that you're getting a
little bit slower, you're not excited, your emotions start falling away.
But if you instantly start your day by jumping out
of bed over and over and over again, you become
that repetition. You become what you do. So if you
want to change something, change what you do and make
it a habit, like you said, it's it's it's not
(29:08):
that diet. It's not like um oh, hey, I want
to lose fifteen pounds for the wedding and then put
it all back on again. Right now. It becomes who
you are, right. It's a lifestyle. It's not a it's
not a moment in time. It's no end date. Again,
we hear it and what you said to and I
love this and actually so interesting. So I spoke with
bas Routen. You know m M a guy crazy. Uh,
(29:28):
let's put it this way. I don't know if you don't,
you know, I knew of him and then to interview
him like he's the only guy who has liver shots
as part of his email address and I'll leave it
at that. You know, I mean, just such an amazing guy,
but he hit on something. Dean car Nazis hit on it.
You hit on it. And I think this is so important,
especially in today's world. Shawn. Stop comparing yourselves to others.
(29:51):
And you know, I would say that was powerful years ago,
but now with social media and fomo and all this
kind of stuff, just speak about how powerful that is.
To stop that you're only competing with yourself. Absolutely, and
I'll even take it one further that it bobbles my
mind how so many people are more concerned about what
(30:11):
others think of themselves than what they think of themselves, right,
you know I don't. I don't understand that. You know,
why would I be more concerned, no offense, Why would
I be more concerned about what you think I should
eat as or what I should do about with my
life than what I should do about my own life.
You know, people, people aren't taking responsibility and they're not
understanding that all their actions in the past X number
(30:32):
of years they've been alive has has brought them to
where they are today, you know, and you're not living
anybody else's life. You're living your own life. Like I
said earlier, I never had to be the best. I
just had to be my best because the instant you
start comparing yourself to somebody else, you're no longer following
your personal core values. You're going after what that person
wants you and then you essentially lose yourself in the process.
(30:55):
Why would want to be a quote of somebody else.
We're all unique individuals with a different chemistry, make up
different chromosomes. Why wouldn't you want to be someone unique
and be be yourself? I'm sure you had this experience
probably sometime. You know, when I did my first Iron Man,
there was no Internet, like and it was in New Zealand,
and that was one of the reasons I went as
thirty years old and no one knew and I couldn't swim,
(31:15):
and and no one was going to know how the
wheels fell off. Right. But now today and and you know,
there's the Internet and people can follow you in real time, right,
and they don't see if you get a flat tire
or whatever happens. And I remember sean years ago, like
wheels falling off and you spend the entire race from
that point forward potentially writing that email right writing that's
(31:35):
that that race report. Oh, here's what happened. And the
moment I said I don't care, and people say, Tom,
write a race report, and I go, I don't really
do them because I don't. I don't. I don't, you know,
I don't want to make those Yeah, things go wrong
and that's life and there are obstacles and we're all
in it together and you know, it's all the same
weather and you know it's not a matter of if
something's gonna go wrong, but what But it was the
most free in time for me, Sean, when now I
truly don't care, like I just it's for me, you know,
(31:59):
I Dean Carnazi is ridiculous, bare mountain fifty k last minute,
like the night before, to your point, hadn't trained or anything,
hadn't run a long time. And I literally went on
the site shown and it said full and you know
you and I go, it's it's probably not full. So
I said, let me see if it will take my registration.
It took it. Then the next morning I'm like, I'm
getting up going like what if I get there and
they say, you know you're not registered? Well, I was,
(32:21):
and I did the most ridiculously hard fifty k run
I've done ever, and it was awesome and it was
so slow, but it was my day and I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed out healthy I was. And that's one thing
Sean is like whenever I say to people like, I've
never had cancer, you know, And I know that when
I'm feeling bad about myself about how I feel during
a race or something, I go, I'm healthy. You know
I'm healthy enough to do this. And that's one thing
(32:43):
I want to talk to you about. Here's a weird question,
kind of back what we talked about the very start.
Do you I know that when I coached this cancer charity,
I would get angry personally with first world problems. It
was really hard for me to go like, would you, uh,
you know, just first world problems? You don't. I've never
had cancer, but I've around enough people. Now do you
ever get to that point where you're like, it's gotta
be frustrating and I'm sure you're above it, But did
(33:06):
that happen at the start? At the very least, you're like, listen,
I've had cancer twice, you know, uh, your problems aren't
really that big. I know, everyone's problems are problems, but
there has to be perspective, you know. I think the
biggest thing is whenever I talk to somebody, you know,
like Sam flying somewhere for a Keno talk, it always
comes up. Unless they have the headphones on, the hat
(33:26):
down or whatever, they're asleep. I'm not gonna poke them
and say, hey, wait, let's talk. Um. You know, the
question always comes up, what do you do? And I'm like,
oh man, that's just gonna let the cat out of
the back. You know this, this, this, this, this, But
so many people you I forget what's the questions? You
get frustrated? Yeah no, But like you know, when listen
(33:47):
live in an aff when area food is plentiful, people
are starving themselves on purpose, and you know, I'm like,
don't you get it. Everyone's problems or problems. We're all
fighting our fight. But at some point people have to
get perspective and go it's pretty good. I'm pretty healthy.
I actually can go out and run. My pain is
not that I don't have I have two lungs. I
can actually go do much more. I don't have to
(34:07):
climb everest, but I kind of have to take care
of what I have. Well, let me ask you the question, then,
do you think those people uh kind of live by
the ideology of misery loves company, like they're looking for
something to to complain about. Yes, Yes, such a great point.
Way to turn that around on me. Yes, And that's
why I said, like, and that's why that's why I said,
(34:28):
we we want to be around each other. As soon
as I met you for the first time ago. This
is a guy I want to be friends with and
be connected to because this is a positive thing. He's
gonna make me better. He's gonna make me better. You know.
I get a lot of criticisms about this show whatever occasionally,
and I go, you don't have to like me, but like,
I'm just I want to make you better. I want
to give you the information. And in fitness Sean, people
(34:48):
lie about what they eat they and I get it,
and they lie about how much they exercise and and
it's it's a tough business. And you know the number
of clients when I was a trainer that end horribly
just because of that. To shoe it's a tough thing.
So yes, and and that's why we should surround ourselves
with people who have achieved and are positive people, right,
I mean, it makes life so much easier, I would argue,
(35:09):
but you're right. Misery loves company. Yeah. Absolutely. And those
people who are lying to themselves, lying to you, they're
they're lying to themselves, you know, they're they're not they're
not fully committed, They're they're not owning who they are,
they're not owning their responsibility. They're not taking responsibility for
their own lives. They're reaching out and they're actually trying
to blame someone else for their situation. I think. And
I can't say how many times you're going back to
(35:32):
you know, people say, oh, well, I've never had cancer.
I can't. I can't imagine what that was like. Oh
but you know, my my spruggle compared like pales in
comparison to what you've been through. But for each person,
it is real. That is their their their cancer, that
is their effort that they have to climb. However, the
people who are making excuses, they're going to continue doing
that over and over and over again. You know. It's
(35:52):
it's like the adas you're you're working people out. You
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make
a drink. You know, you can show them how how
to do it, but you can't make them put in
the effort, in the work. And that's you know, I start.
I have new book out, Sean, and at the very
beginning in the intro, I say, listen, if you don't
believe that you can change, and I'm gonna give you
the science. I'm gonna give you all the studies and
(36:13):
stuff like that. But if you don't believe you have
the capacity to not only change, but far exceed your goals,
stop reading the book right now, Which isn't a great
way to start a book, but I had to say, like,
that's what it's all about, and like I'm gonna give
you the science, but like that's one thing. It will
kind of wrap it up with this kind of stuff, Sean,
that starts to the nuts, starts that has driven me nuts.
And why I do this show is the stories and
(36:35):
the people who say you can't change, it's your genetics.
They give those excuses, right, and that to me is
beyond irresponsible, absolutely, and and it's it's just become their
their pattern, you know, it's it's their mL We human
beings are a representation of repetition, you know, we are
(36:56):
habits were habitual creatures. So you you essentially are what
you do every day. You know, when when I alluded
to it earlier, you know, when when you wake up?
What do meteorologists do when they wake up in the morning,
What do moms and dads do when they wake up
in the morning, What do Olympic athletes do in the morning.
You know, they all have a set pattern to help
them become who they are. And I think people just need,
if they want to change their lives, start with something small.
(37:19):
Just do one thing, one tiny thing, and that one
tiny thing could potentially compound into something tremendous. And you know,
let's bring this around to food, because you you spoke
about in one interview your diet, and I've always said,
you know, when people get sick, and I talked to
my doctor about this, Uh, they tend to keep it
simple and eat healthy foods and whole foods, and you know,
(37:39):
so all the diets kind of go out the window
when you get that sickness. So my kind of philosophies,
why don't people try to eat that way before you
know they have the issue to hopefully get the health
benefits and protective elements that come with that. But your
diet you talked about, like your your breakfast, you know,
oatmeal and chia and just the healthy stuff. Right, it's
(38:00):
not complicated and it fuels your body and you're not
doing anything weird. You're just doing healthy stuff right. Absolutely,
you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna feed my
body crap all the time. Granted, yes, I have been
on the couch, you know, on a Sunday afternoon, watch
a movie after movie after movie, devouring a bag of
Ta chips, thinking I'll start my workout tomorrow. You know,
(38:20):
I'm sure we've all been there at one point. Yeah,
you're going to Stavid chip crumbs, all of you. Sure,
it's it's everything in moderation for me, I think. But
the majority nine nine percent of a time, yes, I
am healthy. So I am doing something every day to
keep my body shape, to keep my mind in shape.
If you know, everybody slips. We're human. You know, even
(38:43):
I don't want to say even vegan people who eat
a steak, they probably won't if called what But you you,
you you are what you you you you do for
the majority of the time. You know, every once in
a while, it's okay, to slip. Just go back to
your your your MS, go back to what you normally
(39:03):
do and let's let's yeah. Because in the world of
social media, Sean and like I have to compete with
the fitness people in that perfect picture that totally contrived
and the you know, photo shop. And I would say,
as you said, don't do what someone says they do,
do what they do, right. So these people on Instagram,
these fitness influencers, it's like, oh, here's what I say
(39:25):
I do, and then you know it's not how they
live their lives. But the answers are simple, right. And
what I would say to Sewan is, listen, you know
I have two boys and we have ice cream in
the house. Of course, it's work hard, play hard. But
the healthier we get. I think that's what people don't
realize enough, Sean, is that you crave the healthy foods more,
you eat less of the unhealthy foods. You still have it,
(39:48):
but you don't feel as good after the two bags
of potatoships. Right, So the body kind of finds its
center and you learn what moderation is and it's not
difficult if you stick with it long enough, and you know,
here's here's a good example of how the compound effect
works too, and how people don't realize what they do
every single day adds up. Let's say you you keep
(40:11):
nutrition the same, you keep your exercise the same, you
could keep your sleep patterns the same. Absolutely everything is
the same across the board for three years, except you
drink one well, I don't want to give a brand name,
one solo pop, one coach, you know, whatever, it's it's
a roughly hundred fifty calories. You add that up over
three years, that's a hundred We'll just say it's about
(40:33):
a hundred and seventy thousand calories. Now, keeping in mind
what one pound is roughly calories. If you keep everything
the same, you just gained almost fifty pounds by doing nothing.
Now you do the same thing the opposite direction, you
remove something. I'm glad you went. Yeah, And that's it,
(40:54):
you know. So we started by talking about small changes,
and I said, you know, you can't say only or just,
but that's it, Sean. And that's why I said, you know,
when you change everything a little bit, the excessive moderation part,
you know, you change your diet a little bit, you
do that one thing that you talked about you change
the habit. You know, you exercise, you move a little
bit more. That's what you and I do, you know.
Dean carn As he said to me, He's like, you're
probably standing as you're doing the show, aren't you. I am,
(41:16):
And you look like you are, right. I mean that
is not listen to everybody, this is not set up,
so you know, total aside. But you know you don't
get in shape by going to the gym. That helps,
But it's what you do when you leave the gym, right,
how you eat, how you stand, how you move all
day long? And guess what Sean and I are standing,
because I'm sure Sean will say exactly what I would.
(41:37):
It doesn't feel as good to sit. It doesn't feel
as good the healthier you get, right, and the same
thing like it hurts, doesn't Sean, Like I've said, like
the fourteen hour flying in coach to New Zealand is
way more painful than the race itself, you know, And
I'm too cheap to go up front. So yeah, no,
And that's the thing right as you and I choose
(41:59):
to not set because it feels good and everyone can
feel that way. There's that perfect word we choose to
do that in every situation, we have its choice in
in how we want to eat, what we want to eat,
what we want to do, how we want to say things,
how we want to feel. That word choice is huge
that most people don't own, you know what. That's usually
how I end the show. So I'm just gonna let
(42:21):
you have you just reward exactly, And that's and and
and let's end with that that there's hope, like you're
all about hope. And I love that scene in shawshank Redemption,
And it's what we've been talking about. Right, You couldn't
take away his hope, right. And the brain is the
most powerful thing is we're talking about with the visualization,
and you know, you are literally I know people abuse
(42:44):
that phrase, but you're literally living proof that the mind,
what you believe, just just has incredible healing powers and
that you can achieve so much. What is next? I
know you're leaving in literally like three days, right too,
for kilman jar with him. Yeah, exactly, I'm leaving in
the three of days for Chilly, taking a group up
seven days on the mountain, taking them on a four
day spafari, dropping them off of the airport picking up
(43:06):
another group, and then a day letter heading back up
the mountain and the whole interim. While I'm gone, I
have a group helping me with what's called the Summit Challenge,
which is a series of essentially a comprehensive series of
challenges that help people with intentional and personalized micro changes
that they can utilize in their lives to help them
understand what their core and intrinsic motivators are. So it's
(43:29):
a seven week or it's a seven challenge and three
week per challenge, so totally about twenty one weeks where
people just build slowly. The first thing is they actually
rewire the brain through neuroplasticity and understanding what their personal
core motivators are, and then they kind of build on
that to the next challenge and then the next challenge
and then the next challenge. I love it. And my
title of my new book, Showan is the micro Workout Plan,
(43:51):
because it's all about building on those small things. Right.
We are so aligned and tell everybody where they can,
you know, follow you as you do that and social
media stuff, how are they going to connect to you?
That's that's the easiest question use that you've asked it's
it's just Sean Swanner. Sean like Sean Connery, like the
proper way Sea and Swanner Warner Brothers with the front
SHN Swanner dot com. Yeah, and it'll be right there
(44:12):
in the notes for the show. I can't thank you enough.
This time next year, I'm going up that mountain with you.
And by the way, I haven't told you that I'm
really really bad at outitude. So I've had one experience
and it went horrifically wrong. So I'm gonna be the
one that you're gonna have to carry to the top.
All right. I'll start training now. A hundred and eighty
(44:34):
four pound pack on your back. You just get used
to that right now. I'll try to lose a couple
of pounds by then. Thank you so much. Have such
an amazing time. And uh are you do you actually
post like real time? You know stuff from there? Do
you wait to get back? We're gonna try to post
real time over there, you know. Obviously there's a love
in Colorado. There's a nine hour time difference, so seven
hours from the East coast. But we're gonna try to
even potentially go live on Facebook or Instagram too. Oh cool.
(44:57):
Al right, so I will share all that stuff as well.
And if you on a book, Sewan, like you know
companies one of the greatest lecturers out there, motivational speakers
like that is what all these companies need, I would
say too, especially in today's climate, right, is just the
power of the mind and positivity and all that great
stuff that Sean brings. Sean, have an amazing trip. Thanks
so much, so great to catch up again. All right,
(45:19):
speak to We'll be right back after this short break,
and we are back. I'm sweating, I'm sweating, I'm excited.
(45:42):
I get motivated, as I hope you do myself with
all of these amazing guests. Dean car nazzis bas routing
Sean Swarner and I'm gonna repeat the story. So a
lot of times when the show is over, the interview
part is over, you know, I'll talk to the guest
a little bit longer, and you know, he just told
(46:02):
a quick story and I'm gonna tell it for him.
He I think was a little concerned about how it
would come across, but we're just talking and he said, yeah,
you know, he had a person who was going to
potentially climb up kill him and Jaro, and the person
said yeah, but they had exercise induced asthma, and Sean
wanted to say, I okay, but I have one lung.
(46:22):
And again, not to minimize people's issues, and you all
have issues, but this is the problem is that you
let those issues limit you. Sean has one lung, he
had cancer twice. He went to the top of Everest,
he climbed the seven Summits, the highest summits, seven different places.
(46:43):
And I'm going to screw it up the seven Summit challenge.
Climbers know what I'm talking about, and ski to the
North and South Pole and did the Hawaii iron Man
one long cancer twice more likely to have won the
lottery four times with the same numbers. I bring you
these guests, too hopeful Lee, shake things up, and again
there's gonna be one who just resonates who you connect to.
(47:05):
And that's why I bring you so many different people
with you know, so many different accomplishments, but every single
one of them is a human being. Every single one
is an ordinary person who believed in themselves, who used
the power of the mind. I can't tell you how
much I enjoy having conversations with people like Sean sworn
(47:25):
about the power of the mind. And if you think
it doesn't work, then you're right. And you think it works,
you're right. And it is very easy to surround ourselves
with people who misery loves company, as he said, and
don't do it. Surround yourself with people who are going
(47:45):
to make you better. Consume as Sean said, content that
is going to make you better, and do one thing
one thing. One change leads to big changes. But those
big changes are just the small changes that compound over time.
(48:09):
But it's the self efficacy that you build, that confidence
that you can do it that hopefully someone like Sean
Swarner is going to help you to believe that you
can achieve so much. Do not let your mental limitations
hold you back. Thank you Sean Swarner for taking the time.
(48:30):
And yes, he will be off to kilman Jaro in
three days and next year. At this time I told
him I would do it with him years ago. I
told him I would do it with him next year officially,
So I will do it. Got to put it on
my calendar, make goals, set the date, and then achieve them.
All right, thank you so much for a listening. I
(48:51):
hope you enjoyed that. Oh my gosh. We have so
many great guests coming up. We've had so many great ones,
and we will continue and there will be a mix
of shows. As I said, I'm gonna get be the exercise.
I'm gonna give you the nutrition, and I'm gonna give
you the motivation. That is the only way change happens
long term and in a balanced toalistic way. All right,
(49:12):
could you please rate the show? If you haven't ready
the show, come on. That's here. That's the little thing
you're gonna do today. I want to see those numbers
from this show. If you have not rated the show,
there's your one thing you're gonna do today. Rate the show, okay,
and subscribe to the show. Make it two things. Subscribe
to the show so you don't miss any of these
great guests and topics. And if you have any topics
(49:32):
or guests that you would like me to talk about
or interview Tom h. Fit is my Instagram and my Twitter,
and you can also go to Fitness Disrupted dot com.
Right there, I am updating the website. I do my
own websites. If you ben you may have noticed, but
it allows me to change it whenever I want. I
just haven't done it in a little while, but I will.
But you can email me through the site. Thank you
(49:53):
so much for listening. Sean end of the show. The
way I did, the way I do. I should say
every every week, every show, three shows a week. See
I need more caffeine. Thank you so much for listening.
I am Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe in yourself.
(50:14):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland and this is Fitness Disrupted. I
say it every show. I love my job. I love
what I do. And when it comes to health and wellness,
(00:24):
it's not just about the studies, and it's not just
about exercise, and it's not just about nutrition. A huge,
enormous part of the equation is motivation. And you all
know that. How many people say to themselves, I just
I don't I'm not motivated, and you can't find the motivation.
And we have excuses, We have our yeah butts, Yeah
(00:48):
but I don't have time. Yeah but I have this
ache or this pain. And that is exactly what today's
shows about. So that is one thing that I hope
that I know separates Fitness Disrupted from other shows, is
we we I don't just talk about one thing because
you can't get there just exercising or just going on
(01:11):
a diet, and motivation isn't enough. You've got to take
all of these things. And this is what I've learned
over the decades, is it's a little bit of all
of this stuff. Right. We need the motivation, we need
the education, we need the experience. We gotta take all
these things to the nutrition. And the amazing thing is
when you do those things, a little bit of all
of those things, it's sustainable. It doesn't change your day
(01:35):
to day enormously like going on a crash diet or
just trying to exercise seven days a week for ridiculously
long periods of time. You do some exercise, you change
your eating habits a little bit. You get that motivation
side down. You take all of these components that are
so crucial, that connect in unique ways, and that's where
(01:57):
success comes from. And I've said it many times before.
When they used to have fitness magazines, they're almost gone completely.
But the most important page for me in fitness magazines
wasn't the workouts. It was the success story to get
you motivated, to get you excited. And oftentimes may take
(02:18):
three fifteen different people, but but one of them just
you connect to resonates with you in a unique way.
And Sean Swarner, my guest, is one of those people
to talk about overcoming obstacles. You have to be kidding me.
And I'm fortunate to call him a friend. We met
(02:39):
years ago. I interviewed him on a show I had
years ago. We also raced together up the Empire State
Building for cancer and then we actually appeared on TV together.
And his story is so compelling, I said to the interviewer,
like my story next to his, Uh, it's his is amazing.
It's amazing. And what he has been through and what
(03:02):
he can show you and will show you about obstacles
and limits and just living life. All these shows are important.
But when you get inspired, when you get motivated, when
you hear people who have achieved incredible things, ordinary people
(03:22):
doing extraordinary things. There's no extraordinary people. There's a there's
ordinary people who figure out their motivation and that they
can do it. The motto of my company believe in yourself.
That is Sean Swarner. Let me give you his bio.
Just bring him up all right. Sean Swarner is a philanthropist, author,
(03:44):
and keynote speaker. He is a two time terminal cancer
survivor who has dedicated his life to helping others reach
their full potential. Sean created Cancer Climber with his brother
in two thousand one, a nonprofit organization Shan that pays
for and travels with cancer survivors to climb Kilimanjaro. I'm
(04:06):
gonna do that with him. I told him that, uh,
and he's gonna hold me to it. Shawn's passion for
climbing and adventure blossomed after becoming the first cancer survivor
to summit Mount Everest. He is also the only person
to complete the World Ironman Championship and the Explorers Grand Slam,
which entails climbing the summits across all seven continents and
(04:29):
reaching both North and South poles. Yes, he's an underachiever
from executives of Fortune five companies such as Unilever and IBM,
to students and the New York Giants. His leadership workshops,
documentary True North, The Shawn Swarner Story, inspirational Keynotes, and
book series Seven Summits to Success have inspired and won
(04:52):
the hearts of millions to redefine their own impossible. His
story has been shared on The Steve Harvey Show, CBS
Evening News, The Today Show, and Good Morning America. And Yes,
now you're gonna hear his story and be inspired by
him today right here on Fitness Disrupted Enough Talking quick
Break When we come back Two times cancer survivor Sean
(05:16):
Swarner and we are back. As I said in the intro,
you know fitness disrupted. Yeah, we talked about exercise, we
talked about nutrition, but we also talked about probably the
most important component of all of this, and that's motivation.
(05:39):
And as I said in the intro, I met Sean
years ago. We ran up the Empire State Building together,
and then we were on TV together. And it was
one of several times when someone tells their story, I'm like, yeah,
my story doesn't even come close, Like I just wanted
to walk off set shot and I think I said
it that day. I'm like, and he went first. So
it was like following, you know, like, okay, he had
(06:01):
kids or twice he's gonna tell you a story and
you're gonna see that. It's like, okay, you win. So
you're an overachiever Sean in so many ways. And thank
you for taking the time, by the way, and just
we gotta start at the beginning, right. I know you've
told a story many times and I hate to make
a guest retell it, but we have to write. So
just start. You were a healthy kid up until and
(06:22):
you were a swimmer. By the way, we got to
talk about that. We didn't talk about that in the past.
That shows you have issues, by the way, if you're
a competitive swimmer, but but tell the story. You're a
healthy kid. And then at thirteen something happened. I'm so
excited to be after that exactly. Now you know where
we're going, right, I can't wait? Yeah? Um no, my
(06:42):
my story is. It starts off just like most people,
you know, most people who are born in the Midwest.
I was just born in Ohio, and as I was
growing up, I was your typical kid, and I was
getting into trouble just like everybody else. My backyard was
like a cornfielder of bean field depending on the season.
And I was running across the country tracks swimming. I
even pulled crying out loud, you know, and I did
(07:04):
everything I possibly could to avoid trouble. And uh we
even tp the coach's yard. I mean that was that
was back before Philip was hard to find, was hanging
from the It was. It was grown on the trees
back not your vat exactly. I uh it was. It
was in the eighth grade when my life completely veered
off path. When I was, you know, thirteen years old,
(07:27):
playing basketball, came down and snapped my knee suffered a
knee injury. That knee injury essentially would change my life forever.
And if if you can imagine, like, you know, you're
Thanksgiving dinner and you have the turkey leg and you're
you're pulling off the the gristle, you're pulling off the
tendons and everything. That's kind of what my knee sounded
like and just snapped and that swelled up every joint
(07:48):
in my body. And the doctors told my parents, hey,
your firstborn son is he We're diagnosing him with advanced
stage four Hodgsons limphoma and he only has three months
to live. So I am, you know, on on the
cusp of my teen years and the cost of life essentially,
and now all of a sudden, I have an expiration
date as an eighth grader. And most of my friends
were out essentially chasing girls, collecting baseball cars, having a
(08:11):
great time with their lives. And you know, at that
time in your your life, your hormones are kicking in
your growing hair and unusual places on your body. You know,
I'm losing my hair because of the chemotherapy. And I
remember one morning I went into the shower and that's
when my all my hair came out at once. And
you know how normally you stayed in there and the
(08:32):
water hits your hair and it kind of seeps in,
then hits your scalp and you start washing your head.
I remember every time I brought my hands down, they
were covered in hair. So I was sixty pounds over
a wit. I collapsed in my hands and knees. I
was just weeping, pulling chunks of hair to the drain,
thinking about my life, you know, and at at thirteen,
I had a completely different perspective than most people. And
(08:53):
like I said, my my neighbor, let's say, two across
the street, two houses down, Jerry, you know he was
he was worried about Uh probably it was probably the
Reebok pump at that point, you know, the nicest shoes
he was. He was probably counting like there again, we're
perfect reality to go to school, and I was looking
at at my own mortality. And you know what, Shan,
let me just have you there real quick, because you
(09:15):
I had heard this story before obviously when we we spoke,
but you have this documentary out now, True North, So
for the first time I was able to put pictures
to what you just described, So to see you at
that age and that first picture in the trailer especially,
it's just it's mind blowing. I mean, it just breaks
your heart to have that visual and to see you know,
everything you just described, you know, you call you captured
(09:37):
those moments and those are in the documentary and that
would be enough, sean for for most people. And we
laugh because it's because we're sick and durance athletes and
it makes it easier. But it didn't end there and
take it up from you know, from that. Yeah, I guess,
as you said earlier, I'm I'm an overachiever, right, So
I had to go and get and get a second cancer.
(09:58):
You know, one one wasn't enough. I had to go
get another one. I went through the first one about
a year or so of the medicine, chemotherapy, everything, losing
my hair, losing my friends, losing everything. My life was
over and then I was placed in remission. I was
in remission for just about a year and that was
going in for a checkout for the first cancer when
they found in one day, they found a tumb right
on X ray, They did a needle biopsy, they took
(10:20):
out a lymph node, they put in a Hickman catheter,
which is like a permanent ivy. They cracked tooke my rids,
removed the tumor, put a drainage too, and started chemotherapy
in less than one day. So this time around, it
was it was much much worse. And I've actually done
some some math, and I found that the chances of
me surviving both Hodgkins and askin Stark coma, which was
a second cancer, is equivalent to win the lottery four
(10:43):
times in a row with the same numbers. That's hey, yeah,
you can't. You can't wrap your head around it. You can't.
That's insane. And so now here you are again. You're
in the same place, but for a second time. And
where do you go from there? Well, from here I was,
I was actually putting medically induced comma for nearly a year.
They told my parents this time around, I had an
(11:04):
expiration into fourteen days, you know. So the first one
they gave me three months to live. A second time
they gave me seven fourteen days to live two weeks.
So they put in a medically induced coma. Because no
one's ever had these two cancers before, they didn't know
what to expect. So I have son. She became a
you know, a walking toxic dump of chemotherapy because they
didn't know how to treat it. So I was three
(11:27):
months of intense chema, one month of intense radiation, and
then ten more months of intense chemotherapy. And every time
I was in the in the hospital for a treatment,
the doctors, because the treatments were so harsh, they gave
me something to knock me out. So essentially I was
in a medically induced coma for a year. I don't
remember being sixteen years old. You know, most times, you know,
when most guys you're getting your license and as you said,
(11:49):
you're starting, you know, dating and all that kind of stuff.
And here you are, for the past, you know, three
or four years, just completely hammered twice, and you know, what,
how does that turn around? What was what was the
turning point? You know when you came out and and
just speak to that well in all honestly, I think
the turning point was back within the first cancer when
(12:11):
I was when I was on the shower floor, like
I mentioned, and I literally thought to myself as a
thirteen year old that I had two choices. I could
either fight for my life or give up and die.
And then I was also thinking in that same moment
that I didn't want to focus on not dying. I
wanted to focus on living. So, even at such a
young age, I developed a different perspective. And even now,
I never focus on the avoidance of what I don't want.
(12:32):
I focus on what I want, you know, because your
your brain is still gonna be drawn towards what you're
thinking about, what you're imagining, what you're visualizing. And I
told myself I didn't want to focus on not dying.
I wanted to focus on living. In fact, I wanted
to focus on living and kicking butt, you know. A
year after I was placed in my treatment or remission
for the first second cancer, I actually won my high
school's lead track me in the hun to Me to Run,
(12:54):
you know. Oh and and barring in the fact I
forgot to mention this, I only have one lung. Is
it amazing what we leave vouch right, Yeah, I forgot
about that part, you know, half my lung capacity. Yeah,
it's just it's so amazing what you know. But in
thirteen years old, shown like, where did you think was
it your dad? Was it your mom? And where did
you find that strength. Where did you hind that clarity
(13:16):
and just kind of maturity to to just have that mindset?
You know, I think it came from my parents. I
have been an athletes forever. You know. When I was
five years old, they actually enrolled me in some swimming
lessons and everything. And I was a competitive swimmer since
I was five. And one of the things that they
hammered hammered into my brain was I never had to
be the best. I just had to be my best.
(13:37):
So essentially throughout the years, you know, there's this idea
that called the compound effect, where those little tiny changes
add up to a huge difference, and I call them
micro changes. So what I did was I just focused
on being my best and and instead of improving myself
just exponentially, I improved myself just a tiny bit better
than I was yesterday, better than I was the day before,
better than I was the day before. So over time
(13:59):
and over the years, I've just gone up and up
and up and up and up. I love it, you know,
And this is why we're so that I talk about
this all the time. Sean as well did not have
cancer twice, so again you win. But you know it's
I call it excessive moderation, right, And and where I
will correct you if I may, and be so bold
is like when we say the word just, when we
(14:20):
say just do a little bit more. You know, now
when people say to me, Sean, like, oh, I only,
did you know I only walked a mile today? I
just you know, did ten minutes of of strength training. No,
it's not only your just, it's that you did, right.
I did. Stop saying just stop saying only, And you
are living, breathing proof of that through two cancers and
we've even gotten everest in the polls. I mean, I
(14:41):
did it in your intro. But you know that I
love when you talk about the mental side and all
the quotes. By the way, you've already you're you're you're
killing me because you're taking all my talking points. But
that's what it's about, right, I mean, you know I
bore people to death by saying, Sean. When I went
back to get my masters, I knew it had to
be exercise science, but I knew had to be sports
(15:01):
psychology and counseling, right. I knew the mind was so important.
And one quote I'm gonna have to grab because you're
gonna say it before I get there. You talked about visualization.
You talk about how Foreverest you pictured yourself at the
top of the mountain for a year straight, right, and
talk about that like that? What the we? We always say, Sean,
the secrets to wife are on Instagram. It's all the quotes.
(15:23):
They're there, but people just don't believe them, right, they
don't believe them. So talk about that. Well, I think
you're absolutely right. And initially I was told that climbing
Everest with one lung was was physiologically impossible. I was
also told that battling those two cancers wasn't possible. But
I used certain tools from my cancer to help me
(15:43):
succeed in sports. So even when I was a little kid,
have you ever read the books, the comic books Calman Hobbs,
So there's his his little alter ego is based Man's fifth.
I did something similar in my body where I was
laying in the hospital of bed giveting my chemotherapy treatments.
I would picture myself in the ivy bag in a
(16:04):
microscopic spaceship. And keep in mind, I can see your
face right now. You're like, where the he, how's he going? Well? Now,
listen I have much weirder things go on. We're we're
alined here. So I was in a microscopic spaceship, dripping
out of my IVY bag, and I could remember going
through the IVY two and I visualized my body laying,
the hospital bed to my left, the door to the
(16:26):
hospital that went out into the hallway to my left,
the television, the little the recliner chair in the right corner,
when my mom or my dead sitting, and then the
window outside, and then all of a sudden, I was
pushed into my body. Everything got dark, but all of
us little microscopic spaceships collected in the heart, and I
visualized myself being in the heart, and I can see
my my valves literally beating, and all of a sudden,
(16:49):
it was my turn to go out into the body.
So I got launched out of the heart, and I
would follow these blips on my dashboard that would direct
me if I came to a fork in my vein,
you know, I would go to the right, go to the
the left, whatever, and I would sneak up on the
tumor that I was actually designed to destroy. So I
would unload the missiles, rockets, lasers, whatever they were they
were full of chemotherapy, drugs and radiation, and in my
(17:10):
mind I have visualized myself defeating the cancer from the inside.
So I used that going up Everest every single night.
I didn't have any formal training. I taught myself everything
you know. In Initially I was living in Jacksonville, Florida,
where I believe it or not, the highest point in Florida,
I think is the top of the four Seasons hotel.
And I am, yeah, there's no hills. You can't even
(17:31):
marify on training Florida, right right. So I moved to Colorado,
where I still am, and every night for about nine
or ten months, I would lay in my bed before
I went to before I went to sleep, and I
would literally visualize myself on top and and it's not
And this is the component people are missing. It's it's
not the third person type dreaming visualization. It's the first
person where I'm seeing it from my perspective. But what
(17:54):
people don't do is they don't add in like what
I did is I smelled the O zone. I heard
the styrofoam crunching of the snow beneath my feet, I
felt the sun's radiations. I was I was trying to
use all senses. Yes. And then the number one component
people miss which helps you tap into that subconscious is
the emotional attachment to the end result. How did I
(18:18):
feel on the summit? You know, sometimes when I was visualizing,
I would have tears coming down my face because I
was so happy, you know, doing being the first cancer
survivor to climb Everest. I had an emotional attachment to
the end result. That's what made it real to my brain,
because your brain doesn't really know the difference between vivid
visualization and reality. Oh my gosh, Like I'm getting all
choked up because yeah, And I'm so connected to that too.
(18:41):
And and for one of my story Shawn, real quick,
and I told it before, is you know, like you,
I wanted to do the y iron Man right. That
was a goal for a long time. And I put
screen saver on my computer for ten years was the
swim Start. Was a picture of the swim Start. I'm
gonna get choked up tone it. Then you know, ten
years later, I'm standing in that exact spot as you said,
(19:01):
and I'm looking at that and I took a picture
and it had changed a little, right, the the trees
had changed a little bit. There was a new you know,
and it was like exactly what you just said. I
had seen it every morning and I knew that I
would get there. And when I got there, and as
you said, and I felt that feeling like what was
that feeling going to be? And it was just it's
so rewarding, and it was ridiculous because I couldn't swim
(19:24):
a lap and I couldn't do anything like that. Uh.
And and to your point, like you know, when you
picture it the way you're saying, and I love that
you talked first person, third person. And I did a
whole show Sean on how you have to use all
your senses right the smell like when I visualized, you know,
I taste the sweat, you know, the saying you hear,
the sound of your feet, all that kind of stuff.
(19:44):
It is so powerful. And talk more about that. I mean,
I'm sure you've experienced that as you went up the
mountain as well. Absolutely absolutely. I mean you you hit
the nail on the head like there was not one
iota of a doubt that you weren't gonna do it.
And I think that's the key. Let me let me
put it this way, Let's say there are there are
two people who are trying to quit smoking, one of
(20:06):
them said, and they both get off for the cigarette.
One of them says, no thanks, I'm trying to quit.
The other one says, no thanks, I'm not a smoker. Right.
You know, you become that success. So that's success that
necessarily define you. But that's who you become and you
you believe it at your core. So if you want
to do something, you tell yourself you are that you
(20:28):
are a representation of your repetition to help you get there. Right.
And you know I'm skipping ahead a little bit, but
at the end of every show shown, I say there
are three things we can control, how much you move,
what you put into your mouth, and your attitude. Your attitude,
and no one is better at that than you. Right,
and you say one of your quotes, I'm gonna grab
it now before you do. You know, cancer can take
your body, but it can't take your mind, right, I
(20:50):
mean that is everything. And as long as you're in
control of your mind, which no one has power over
except you, you know, the potential is limit with absolutely absolutely,
and so many people don't understand that. You know, I
I tested the whole visualization thing once, um you know,
as as you know, I take a group up Kil
Lajar every year as a fundraiser for a cancer charity,
(21:11):
and we actually pay for a survivor's trip. Anybody can go,
but then the survivor has to fundraise to pay it
forward to next year's survivor. So I actually tested the
whole visualization thing without training. I ran the New York
City Marathon and climbing Kilmajar, just only visualized and and granted, yes,
my legs seemed up, but I finished. I have a
(21:31):
sports psychology professor who he would say, He's like, you
gotta train a little bit. It's like the mind can
only do so much, but it could go absolutely Like
if your goal is just to finish, right, I mean,
the mind can take you a dorn for distance. Let
me give you one other quick one then, Sean, we'll
just trade off these visualization stories. Another one of my
goals was to be on the Today Show and you
and I were on what was it like, Channel WEBN,
(21:52):
I think way back when, which was yeah, and you've
been on all the shows with your story, but Today's
show was a goal, and I was pictured and visualized
myself and Matt Lower. Not a great story today, but
back then it was better. Right, But I pictured, you know,
and I saw everything. I saw myself sitting down, the conversation, everything.
So finally get the call and I get into the
(22:13):
green room and they say, we're switching. You're with Savannah Guthrie,
and so I text my wife. I go, who cares? Right,
Savannah Guthrie, and my wife, being the nice woman she
is and the TV person, she says, well, uh, sit
down quickly because she's really tall. I'm like, thanks, thanks
for you know, thanks are calling me short, but long
story short. So I'm like, okay, whatever. I go out
on set. Matt Lower walks out. So exactly what I
(22:35):
envisioned happened, and even though I was told it wouldn't,
and I just who cared. Not that it made a difference,
but the power of the mind, when you see that,
it's just incredible, And you obviously have to work for it, right,
and you gotta you have to believe in yourself, you
have to do as you said. It's not a matter
of if it's gonna happen, but when absolutely, and it's
it's crazy. I know, it's it's kind of alluding to
(22:55):
the law of attraction. I think a lot of people
have a misconception of the law of attraction. It's not
like the book The Secret. We're gonna sit in the
corner and say I want to win a million times,
I want to give me the six magical numbers. Yeah,
that's that's b s. And it's not gonna happen. But
what happens with the law of attraction is once you
focus your mind on something, then your mind starts to
(23:15):
pick up on those little details and filters out the
stuff that doesn't matter. So I think that's what people
don't understand. When you when you focus on something, your
mind will start looking for opportunities to help you become
successful and filter out all the other noise. That's the
law of attraction that people don't understand. Right and surround yourself,
And that's why I feel so fortunate showing to have
this show and have people on and to be friends
(23:37):
with people like you, because you know, this is just
so empowering. You talk to someone like you and you
know the other stories, and there's so much negativity. I
would say social media, I'm like, just people turn it off,
like Twitter, is you know, if you have something, if
you don't have anything nice to say, go on Twitter.
I think it's what that is for. So surround yourself
with people and the stories that you know have, uh
(23:57):
what you want to accomplish, right, And I'm sure you
have who one of your mentors, by the way, over
the years the question I want to ask you, let's see,
well kind of tongue in cheek. When I was fighting
through the two answers, I collected Superman comic books. But
I can't say he was a person I really looked
up to be. He was a adbrocated individual, but I
would say it had to have been my parents. But
then also, there was a guy up in Canada. I
(24:19):
don't know if you've ever heard of. His name was
Terry Fox. He was a he. Okay, so he's he's
like a legend up there. Unfortunately he passed away, but
he had cancer of the leg essentially was a stark cooma.
And his goal is to run across Canada and get
one dollar from every Canadian to help support cancer research.
And he made it to I want to say, thunder Bay,
(24:40):
and he was doing it. He was literally running a
marathon a day with a fake leg, a prosthetic leg,
And I remember watching him and imitating his run around
my house when I was eleven twelve years old. Then
the next year I got diagnosed with cancer. So I
actually looked up to him as kind of like I
wouldn't say a mentor, but as as like this this
spirit almost maybe like a spiritual guide to help me
(25:02):
through now. And that's what I mean by that, That's
exactly it, and that's it's so powerful. And and by
the way, that was back when like prosthetic legs were
nothing like they are today, Right, I mean that that
was painful, not that it isn't even today, but amazing
and and you know how ridiculous at the time for
him to do that and to think he could, right,
And it shows how powerful that message is to someone
(25:24):
like you and so many other people. And it's what
you're doing climbing kilman Jaro um and talk about just
how rewarding that must be getting to the top with
these people and just those moments like that's what likes
about John I always talking about I don't care about stuff.
I want those moments. I want that moment at the time.
That's why I'm coming with you next year. I can't
believe I put that out there, but I'm coming. It's
not a question, but that I know. I know you're
(25:49):
not a question, but those moments you must have had,
not only yourself, but now bringing that to other people,
talk about how rewarding that is. You know, it's it's
almost to the point now. Actually it is to the
point now where let's say for Christmas. You know, you
get to an age where you you don't really you
enjoy getting gifts, but it means more to give gifts,
(26:10):
you know, to to see the look on on somebody's face,
to see the look on you, on your child's face.
You know, it means more to give than to receive.
So the same thing here. You know, I've been up
killam Gerald. I think I think this year will be
my eighteenth or nineteen, and every year it never fails.
We get to the top. And because we leave in
the middle of the night. You know, when you get there,
you're emotionally exhausted, you're physically exhausted, you're you're mentally just spent.
(26:35):
Everybody is emotional. You know that the tears are coming down.
We're hugging each other, we're all crying, you know, seeing congratulations,
and it never fails. Somebody comes up to me, looks
me right yond and says, thank you for getting me here.
I immediately look at them and they say, I didn't
do anything to get you here. And then all of
a sudden, you can see that light bulb go off
above their head. They're like, oh yeah, Now in an instant,
(26:57):
they're empowered, like I can do that. I did. I
it that myself. So more than anything, it's about the camaraderie.
It's about getting people to the top and empowering them
to believe in themselves right right. The power of that,
and you alluded to it at the beginning. You know,
the sports psychology term for those small steps you talked
about is self efficacy. And that's what I talk about
all the time, how self efficacy, situational confidence is everything.
(27:21):
And that's why you know, I don't want people going
on crash diets, not because they don't work short term,
but because there's an end date and then you feel
bad about yourself. So when you take those small steps,
they build on themselves. I never thought you know, what
you and I have achieved over time is the result
of those small steps and the constant belief. You know,
we didn't come out of the womb saying oh we're
(27:42):
gonna run marathons and and you're gonna climb Everest. But
you know when when you have those small successes, that
confidence builds, right, and and again it sounds so simplistic,
but it's so powerful. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean everyone knows,
you know, you are what you eat, but I essentially
say you are what you comes to. You know, it
(28:03):
can be through media, it can be through food, whatever
it might be. But if if you want to change
who you are, change what you do, you know, when
you wake up in the morning, you probably have a
set pattern. And if you wake up when you hit snooze,
you know, four or five times, you're subconsciously telling yourself,
you know what, I'm not too excited about my day.
There's nothing for me to be anxious about. I'm not
(28:25):
excited just to start anything. When my alarm goes off, bam.
Within three seconds the U I turn it off and
I'm out of bed, you know, because I am getting
out of bed and I'm thinking, all right, man, let's
do it right. But most people they hit the snooze
and like, you know, my day can wait. Over and
over and over again. You're telling yourself, yeah, I can wait, Yeah,
(28:46):
I can wait, I can wait. And what happens is
throughout your day you probably notice that you're getting a
little bit slower, you're not excited, your emotions start falling away.
But if you instantly start your day by jumping out
of bed over and over and over again, you become
that repetition. You become what you do. So if you
want to change something, change what you do and make
it a habit, like you said, it's it's it's not
(29:08):
that diet. It's not like um oh, hey, I want
to lose fifteen pounds for the wedding and then put
it all back on again. Right now. It becomes who
you are, right. It's a lifestyle. It's not a it's
not a moment in time. It's no end date. Again,
we hear it and what you said to and I
love this and actually so interesting. So I spoke with
bas Routen. You know m M a guy crazy. Uh,
(29:28):
let's put it this way. I don't know if you don't,
you know, I knew of him and then to interview
him like he's the only guy who has liver shots
as part of his email address and I'll leave it
at that. You know, I mean, just such an amazing guy,
but he hit on something. Dean car Nazis hit on it.
You hit on it. And I think this is so important,
especially in today's world. Shawn. Stop comparing yourselves to others.
(29:51):
And you know, I would say that was powerful years ago,
but now with social media and fomo and all this
kind of stuff, just speak about how powerful that is.
To stop that you're only competing with yourself. Absolutely, and
I'll even take it one further that it bobbles my
mind how so many people are more concerned about what
(30:11):
others think of themselves than what they think of themselves, right,
you know I don't. I don't understand that. You know,
why would I be more concerned, no offense, Why would
I be more concerned about what you think I should
eat as or what I should do about with my
life than what I should do about my own life.
You know, people, people aren't taking responsibility and they're not
understanding that all their actions in the past X number
(30:32):
of years they've been alive has has brought them to
where they are today, you know, and you're not living
anybody else's life. You're living your own life. Like I
said earlier, I never had to be the best. I
just had to be my best because the instant you
start comparing yourself to somebody else, you're no longer following
your personal core values. You're going after what that person
wants you and then you essentially lose yourself in the process.
(30:55):
Why would want to be a quote of somebody else.
We're all unique individuals with a different chemistry, make up
different chromosomes. Why wouldn't you want to be someone unique
and be be yourself? I'm sure you had this experience
probably sometime. You know, when I did my first Iron Man,
there was no Internet, like and it was in New Zealand,
and that was one of the reasons I went as
thirty years old and no one knew and I couldn't swim,
(31:15):
and and no one was going to know how the
wheels fell off. Right. But now today and and you know,
there's the Internet and people can follow you in real time, right,
and they don't see if you get a flat tire
or whatever happens. And I remember sean years ago, like
wheels falling off and you spend the entire race from
that point forward potentially writing that email right writing that's
(31:35):
that that race report. Oh, here's what happened. And the
moment I said I don't care, and people say, Tom,
write a race report, and I go, I don't really
do them because I don't. I don't. I don't, you know,
I don't want to make those Yeah, things go wrong
and that's life and there are obstacles and we're all
in it together and you know, it's all the same
weather and you know it's not a matter of if
something's gonna go wrong, but what But it was the
most free in time for me, Sean, when now I
truly don't care, like I just it's for me, you know,
(31:59):
I Dean Carnazi is ridiculous, bare mountain fifty k last minute,
like the night before, to your point, hadn't trained or anything,
hadn't run a long time. And I literally went on
the site shown and it said full and you know
you and I go, it's it's probably not full. So
I said, let me see if it will take my registration.
It took it. Then the next morning I'm like, I'm
getting up going like what if I get there and
they say, you know you're not registered? Well, I was,
(32:21):
and I did the most ridiculously hard fifty k run
I've done ever, and it was awesome and it was
so slow, but it was my day and I enjoyed it.
I enjoyed out healthy I was. And that's one thing
Sean is like whenever I say to people like, I've
never had cancer, you know, And I know that when
I'm feeling bad about myself about how I feel during
a race or something, I go, I'm healthy. You know
I'm healthy enough to do this. And that's one thing
(32:43):
I want to talk to you about. Here's a weird question,
kind of back what we talked about the very start.
Do you I know that when I coached this cancer charity,
I would get angry personally with first world problems. It
was really hard for me to go like, would you, uh,
you know, just first world problems? You don't. I've never
had cancer, but I've around enough people. Now do you
ever get to that point where you're like, it's gotta
be frustrating and I'm sure you're above it, But did
(33:06):
that happen at the start? At the very least, you're like, listen,
I've had cancer twice, you know, uh, your problems aren't
really that big. I know, everyone's problems are problems, but
there has to be perspective, you know. I think the
biggest thing is whenever I talk to somebody, you know,
like Sam flying somewhere for a Keno talk, it always
comes up. Unless they have the headphones on, the hat
(33:26):
down or whatever, they're asleep. I'm not gonna poke them
and say, hey, wait, let's talk. Um. You know, the
question always comes up, what do you do? And I'm like,
oh man, that's just gonna let the cat out of
the back. You know this, this, this, this, this, But
so many people you I forget what's the questions? You
get frustrated? Yeah no, But like you know, when listen
(33:47):
live in an aff when area food is plentiful, people
are starving themselves on purpose, and you know, I'm like,
don't you get it. Everyone's problems or problems. We're all
fighting our fight. But at some point people have to
get perspective and go it's pretty good. I'm pretty healthy.
I actually can go out and run. My pain is
not that I don't have I have two lungs. I
can actually go do much more. I don't have to
(34:07):
climb everest, but I kind of have to take care
of what I have. Well, let me ask you the question, then,
do you think those people uh kind of live by
the ideology of misery loves company, like they're looking for
something to to complain about. Yes, Yes, such a great point.
Way to turn that around on me. Yes, And that's
why I said, like, and that's why that's why I said,
(34:28):
we we want to be around each other. As soon
as I met you for the first time ago. This
is a guy I want to be friends with and
be connected to because this is a positive thing. He's
gonna make me better. He's gonna make me better. You know.
I get a lot of criticisms about this show whatever occasionally,
and I go, you don't have to like me, but like,
I'm just I want to make you better. I want
to give you the information. And in fitness Sean, people
(34:48):
lie about what they eat they and I get it,
and they lie about how much they exercise and and
it's it's a tough business. And you know the number
of clients when I was a trainer that end horribly
just because of that. To shoe it's a tough thing.
So yes, and and that's why we should surround ourselves
with people who have achieved and are positive people, right,
I mean, it makes life so much easier, I would argue,
(35:09):
but you're right. Misery loves company. Yeah. Absolutely. And those
people who are lying to themselves, lying to you, they're
they're lying to themselves, you know, they're they're not they're
not fully committed, They're they're not owning who they are,
they're not owning their responsibility. They're not taking responsibility for
their own lives. They're reaching out and they're actually trying
to blame someone else for their situation. I think. And
I can't say how many times you're going back to
(35:32):
you know, people say, oh, well, I've never had cancer.
I can't. I can't imagine what that was like. Oh
but you know, my my spruggle compared like pales in
comparison to what you've been through. But for each person,
it is real. That is their their their cancer, that
is their effort that they have to climb. However, the
people who are making excuses, they're going to continue doing
that over and over and over again. You know. It's
(35:52):
it's like the adas you're you're working people out. You
can lead a horse to water, but you can't make
a drink. You know, you can show them how how
to do it, but you can't make them put in
the effort, in the work. And that's you know, I start.
I have new book out, Sean, and at the very
beginning in the intro, I say, listen, if you don't
believe that you can change, and I'm gonna give you
the science. I'm gonna give you all the studies and
(36:13):
stuff like that. But if you don't believe you have
the capacity to not only change, but far exceed your goals,
stop reading the book right now, Which isn't a great
way to start a book, but I had to say, like,
that's what it's all about, and like I'm gonna give
you the science, but like that's one thing. It will
kind of wrap it up with this kind of stuff, Sean,
that starts to the nuts, starts that has driven me nuts.
And why I do this show is the stories and
(36:35):
the people who say you can't change, it's your genetics.
They give those excuses, right, and that to me is
beyond irresponsible, absolutely, and and it's it's just become their
their pattern, you know, it's it's their mL We human
beings are a representation of repetition, you know, we are
(36:56):
habits were habitual creatures. So you you essentially are what
you do every day. You know, when when I alluded
to it earlier, you know, when when you wake up?
What do meteorologists do when they wake up in the morning,
What do moms and dads do when they wake up
in the morning, What do Olympic athletes do in the morning.
You know, they all have a set pattern to help
them become who they are. And I think people just need,
if they want to change their lives, start with something small.
(37:19):
Just do one thing, one tiny thing, and that one
tiny thing could potentially compound into something tremendous. And you know,
let's bring this around to food, because you you spoke
about in one interview your diet, and I've always said,
you know, when people get sick, and I talked to
my doctor about this, Uh, they tend to keep it
simple and eat healthy foods and whole foods, and you know,
(37:39):
so all the diets kind of go out the window
when you get that sickness. So my kind of philosophies,
why don't people try to eat that way before you
know they have the issue to hopefully get the health
benefits and protective elements that come with that. But your
diet you talked about, like your your breakfast, you know,
oatmeal and chia and just the healthy stuff. Right, it's
(38:00):
not complicated and it fuels your body and you're not
doing anything weird. You're just doing healthy stuff right. Absolutely,
you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna feed my
body crap all the time. Granted, yes, I have been
on the couch, you know, on a Sunday afternoon, watch
a movie after movie after movie, devouring a bag of
Ta chips, thinking I'll start my workout tomorrow. You know,
(38:20):
I'm sure we've all been there at one point. Yeah,
you're going to Stavid chip crumbs, all of you. Sure,
it's it's everything in moderation for me, I think. But
the majority nine nine percent of a time, yes, I
am healthy. So I am doing something every day to
keep my body shape, to keep my mind in shape.
If you know, everybody slips. We're human. You know, even
(38:43):
I don't want to say even vegan people who eat
a steak, they probably won't if called what But you you,
you you are what you you you you do for
the majority of the time. You know, every once in
a while, it's okay, to slip. Just go back to
your your your MS, go back to what you normally
(39:03):
do and let's let's yeah. Because in the world of
social media, Sean and like I have to compete with
the fitness people in that perfect picture that totally contrived
and the you know, photo shop. And I would say,
as you said, don't do what someone says they do,
do what they do, right. So these people on Instagram,
these fitness influencers, it's like, oh, here's what I say
(39:25):
I do, and then you know it's not how they
live their lives. But the answers are simple, right. And
what I would say to Sewan is, listen, you know
I have two boys and we have ice cream in
the house. Of course, it's work hard, play hard. But
the healthier we get. I think that's what people don't
realize enough, Sean, is that you crave the healthy foods more,
you eat less of the unhealthy foods. You still have it,
(39:48):
but you don't feel as good after the two bags
of potatoships. Right, So the body kind of finds its
center and you learn what moderation is and it's not
difficult if you stick with it long enough, and you know,
here's here's a good example of how the compound effect
works too, and how people don't realize what they do
every single day adds up. Let's say you you keep
(40:11):
nutrition the same, you keep your exercise the same, you
could keep your sleep patterns the same. Absolutely everything is
the same across the board for three years, except you
drink one well, I don't want to give a brand name,
one solo pop, one coach, you know, whatever, it's it's
a roughly hundred fifty calories. You add that up over
three years, that's a hundred We'll just say it's about
(40:33):
a hundred and seventy thousand calories. Now, keeping in mind
what one pound is roughly calories. If you keep everything
the same, you just gained almost fifty pounds by doing nothing.
Now you do the same thing the opposite direction, you
remove something. I'm glad you went. Yeah, And that's it,
(40:54):
you know. So we started by talking about small changes,
and I said, you know, you can't say only or just,
but that's it, Sean. And that's why I said, you know,
when you change everything a little bit, the excessive moderation part,
you know, you change your diet a little bit, you
do that one thing that you talked about you change
the habit. You know, you exercise, you move a little
bit more. That's what you and I do, you know.
Dean carn As he said to me, He's like, you're
probably standing as you're doing the show, aren't you. I am,
(41:16):
And you look like you are, right. I mean that
is not listen to everybody, this is not set up,
so you know, total aside. But you know you don't
get in shape by going to the gym. That helps,
But it's what you do when you leave the gym, right,
how you eat, how you stand, how you move all
day long? And guess what Sean and I are standing,
because I'm sure Sean will say exactly what I would.
(41:37):
It doesn't feel as good to sit. It doesn't feel
as good the healthier you get, right, and the same
thing like it hurts, doesn't Sean, Like I've said, like
the fourteen hour flying in coach to New Zealand is
way more painful than the race itself, you know, And
I'm too cheap to go up front. So yeah, no,
And that's the thing right as you and I choose
(41:59):
to not set because it feels good and everyone can
feel that way. There's that perfect word we choose to
do that in every situation, we have its choice in
in how we want to eat, what we want to eat,
what we want to do, how we want to say things,
how we want to feel. That word choice is huge
that most people don't own, you know what. That's usually
how I end the show. So I'm just gonna let
(42:21):
you have you just reward exactly, And that's and and
and let's end with that that there's hope, like you're
all about hope. And I love that scene in shawshank Redemption,
And it's what we've been talking about. Right, You couldn't
take away his hope, right. And the brain is the
most powerful thing is we're talking about with the visualization,
and you know, you are literally I know people abuse
(42:44):
that phrase, but you're literally living proof that the mind,
what you believe, just just has incredible healing powers and
that you can achieve so much. What is next? I
know you're leaving in literally like three days, right too,
for kilman jar with him. Yeah, exactly, I'm leaving in
the three of days for Chilly, taking a group up
seven days on the mountain, taking them on a four
day spafari, dropping them off of the airport picking up
(43:06):
another group, and then a day letter heading back up
the mountain and the whole interim. While I'm gone, I
have a group helping me with what's called the Summit Challenge,
which is a series of essentially a comprehensive series of
challenges that help people with intentional and personalized micro changes
that they can utilize in their lives to help them
understand what their core and intrinsic motivators are. So it's
(43:29):
a seven week or it's a seven challenge and three
week per challenge, so totally about twenty one weeks where
people just build slowly. The first thing is they actually
rewire the brain through neuroplasticity and understanding what their personal
core motivators are, and then they kind of build on
that to the next challenge and then the next challenge
and then the next challenge. I love it. And my
title of my new book, Showan is the micro Workout Plan,
(43:51):
because it's all about building on those small things. Right.
We are so aligned and tell everybody where they can,
you know, follow you as you do that and social
media stuff, how are they going to connect to you?
That's that's the easiest question use that you've asked it's
it's just Sean Swanner. Sean like Sean Connery, like the
proper way Sea and Swanner Warner Brothers with the front
SHN Swanner dot com. Yeah, and it'll be right there
(44:12):
in the notes for the show. I can't thank you enough.
This time next year, I'm going up that mountain with you.
And by the way, I haven't told you that I'm
really really bad at outitude. So I've had one experience
and it went horrifically wrong. So I'm gonna be the
one that you're gonna have to carry to the top.
All right. I'll start training now. A hundred and eighty
(44:34):
four pound pack on your back. You just get used
to that right now. I'll try to lose a couple
of pounds by then. Thank you so much. Have such
an amazing time. And uh are you do you actually
post like real time? You know stuff from there? Do
you wait to get back? We're gonna try to post
real time over there, you know. Obviously there's a love
in Colorado. There's a nine hour time difference, so seven
hours from the East coast. But we're gonna try to
even potentially go live on Facebook or Instagram too. Oh cool.
(44:57):
Al right, so I will share all that stuff as well.
And if you on a book, Sewan, like you know
companies one of the greatest lecturers out there, motivational speakers
like that is what all these companies need, I would
say too, especially in today's climate, right, is just the
power of the mind and positivity and all that great
stuff that Sean brings. Sean, have an amazing trip. Thanks
so much, so great to catch up again. All right,
(45:19):
speak to We'll be right back after this short break,
and we are back. I'm sweating, I'm sweating, I'm excited.
(45:42):
I get motivated, as I hope you do myself with
all of these amazing guests. Dean car nazzis bas routing
Sean Swarner and I'm gonna repeat the story. So a
lot of times when the show is over, the interview
part is over, you know, I'll talk to the guest
a little bit longer, and you know, he just told
(46:02):
a quick story and I'm gonna tell it for him.
He I think was a little concerned about how it
would come across, but we're just talking and he said, yeah,
you know, he had a person who was going to
potentially climb up kill him and Jaro, and the person
said yeah, but they had exercise induced asthma, and Sean
wanted to say, I okay, but I have one lung.
(46:22):
And again, not to minimize people's issues, and you all
have issues, but this is the problem is that you
let those issues limit you. Sean has one lung, he
had cancer twice. He went to the top of Everest,
he climbed the seven Summits, the highest summits, seven different places.
(46:43):
And I'm going to screw it up the seven Summit challenge.
Climbers know what I'm talking about, and ski to the
North and South Pole and did the Hawaii iron Man
one long cancer twice more likely to have won the
lottery four times with the same numbers. I bring you
these guests, too hopeful Lee, shake things up, and again
there's gonna be one who just resonates who you connect to.
(47:05):
And that's why I bring you so many different people
with you know, so many different accomplishments, but every single
one of them is a human being. Every single one
is an ordinary person who believed in themselves, who used
the power of the mind. I can't tell you how
much I enjoy having conversations with people like Sean sworn
(47:25):
about the power of the mind. And if you think
it doesn't work, then you're right. And you think it works,
you're right. And it is very easy to surround ourselves
with people who misery loves company, as he said, and
don't do it. Surround yourself with people who are going
(47:45):
to make you better. Consume as Sean said, content that
is going to make you better, and do one thing
one thing. One change leads to big changes. But those
big changes are just the small changes that compound over time.
(48:09):
But it's the self efficacy that you build, that confidence
that you can do it that hopefully someone like Sean
Swarner is going to help you to believe that you
can achieve so much. Do not let your mental limitations
hold you back. Thank you Sean Swarner for taking the time.
(48:30):
And yes, he will be off to kilman Jaro in
three days and next year. At this time I told
him I would do it with him years ago. I
told him I would do it with him next year officially,
So I will do it. Got to put it on
my calendar, make goals, set the date, and then achieve them.
All right, thank you so much for a listening. I
(48:51):
hope you enjoyed that. Oh my gosh. We have so
many great guests coming up. We've had so many great ones,
and we will continue and there will be a mix
of shows. As I said, I'm gonna get be the exercise.
I'm gonna give you the nutrition, and I'm gonna give
you the motivation. That is the only way change happens
long term and in a balanced toalistic way. All right,
(49:12):
could you please rate the show? If you haven't ready
the show, come on. That's here. That's the little thing
you're gonna do today. I want to see those numbers
from this show. If you have not rated the show,
there's your one thing you're gonna do today. Rate the show, okay,
and subscribe to the show. Make it two things. Subscribe
to the show so you don't miss any of these
great guests and topics. And if you have any topics
(49:32):
or guests that you would like me to talk about
or interview Tom h. Fit is my Instagram and my Twitter,
and you can also go to Fitness Disrupted dot com.
Right there, I am updating the website. I do my
own websites. If you ben you may have noticed, but
it allows me to change it whenever I want. I
just haven't done it in a little while, but I will.
But you can email me through the site. Thank you
(49:53):
so much for listening. Sean end of the show. The
way I did, the way I do. I should say
every every week, every show, three shows a week. See
I need more caffeine. Thank you so much for listening.
I am Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted. Believe in yourself.
(50:14):
Fitness Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For
more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com