January 12, 2025 • 23 mins
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Jeff Cooper, a distinguished leader and All-American athlete, who uncovers the transformative power of faith and trust in his journey. Ever wondered how strong family ties and a purpose-driven life can serve as a foundation for success? Jeff shares stories that highlight the joy and fulfillment he finds in family, including the special role of being a grandparent, as well as the profound insights he's gleaned from his time in full-time ministry and the challenges of church planting.
Explore the keys to success with Jeff as he passionately discusses the importance of investing in people and the impact of taking prompt action. Rather than allowing procrastination to stall progress, Jeff encourages immediate action to open doors for future opportunities, setting a foundation for productivity and growth. His message is clear: to achieve greatness, one must dedicate themselves to hard work and exceed expectations, underlining the belief that people are the greatest asset in any undertaking.
In the final segment, Jeff invites listeners to engage in self-evaluation and prayer, offering guidance on how to recognize opportunities for growth both personally and professionally. His commitment to building others is evident through his business ventures, including initiatives like the Rhythm of Rest program, which supports nonprofit leaders and foster families. As we thank Jeff for his invaluable contributions, we extend an invitation for future discussions and encourage listeners to connect with us at OCFO info to continue exploring these powerful insights. www.justlikehome.rentals
Thank you for listening! YouTube - @3KeysforYourJourney -Tune in for a new episode every Sunday. Connect with us at www.ocfo.info
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg Jones (00:02):
Success meets strategy and leadership takes
center stage.
Today's conversation is withJeff Cooper, all-american
athlete, top 1% sales leader andexpert.
Communicated with the passionfor helping individuals and
teams unlock their potential,with years of corporate
experience and a proven trackrecord in leadership development
and strategic growth.
(00:23):
Record in leadershipdevelopment and strategic growth
.
Stay tuned as he will shareinsights, tools and stories that
will inspire and empower you onyour journey to excellence?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Are you ready to unlock your potential?
Tune in to Three Keys for yourJourney podcast, where business
owners share invaluable insightsand empowering strategies to
guide you toward success.
Based in Oklahoma City, ourhost, greg T Jones, will inspire
and motivate you every week.
Get ready to join ourconversation as we build
(01:05):
community together.
Greg Jones (01:09):
Jeff Cooper, we got you in the house.
Yes sir, yes sir, Welcome tothe podcast my brother, welcome,
welcome, welcome, I mean,there's only one, Jeff Cooper.
Jeff Cooper (01:17):
Oh man, it's such an honor to be here with the one
and only Greg Jones.
Greg Jones (01:21):
And I have to say this, like now when you get to
know Jeff, you can even call himCoop.
Yes sir, yes, sir, wow, man,it's a pleasure to have you on
our podcast today and, man, I'mjust thrilled to have you here.
Man, we think about just lifein general and there are a few
(01:42):
people that come your way, thatyou can actually call friends,
man, and you're one of thoseguys, man, you're one of those
cats, as we would say yes, sir,yes sir, absolutely and I'm
honored to say the exact samething about you One of a handful
.
But our listening audience man,a lot of people do not know Jeff
Cooper is.
So take a few minutes and, justyou know, introduce yourself.
(02:04):
Tell us who you are.
Jeff Cooper (02:10):
Yes, sir, yes, sir, man, that's quite a question.
Who am I?
My name's Jeff Cooper.
I love the Lord tremendously,so really I'm a servant of the
King.
Faith is extremely important tome, and so I'm a business owner
.
I work in corporate America.
I've worked full-timevocational ministry, but my life
is ministry, and so that's whoI am, that's what I do.
I have two daughters.
I have one granddaughter who's18 months, and I love my family.
(02:34):
I have a nephew who's now here,a freshman at Oklahoma
University, so he and his familylive in St Louis, so it's neat
to have him here in town with usas well too.
Greg Jones (02:45):
Well, that's great.
Now, I'm not a grandparent yet,but tell for our listening
audience, what does it mean tobe a grandparent?
Jeff Cooper (02:54):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
So it's really neat.
I had a chance overThanksgiving, pretty much had my
granddaughter for about a week,and it's neat to see your
children, my daughter Jordan,jordan, my daughter Jordan.
I know you have a daughternamed Jordan as well.
My Jordan is an amazing motherand to see that flesh out in my
(03:19):
granddaughter is just one of themost rewarding, neatest
experiences on the planet.
I mean, my granddaughter wasalmost perfect for this entire
week.
I mean, she listened, shedidn't whine, she didn't cry.
She was almost perfect and itwas just a function of walking
out.
You know what her mother hasbeen teaching her and how her
mother has been shepherding herfor 18 months.
(03:41):
So I don't think there's agreater joy.
Greg Jones (03:43):
Wow, Well, thank you for sharing that, Jeff.
Now also part of your life isspent, I think, one of the
things that I, when I thinkabout you.
I think about people first, yes,sir, and people come first and
you try to put them first andyou try to live your life in
such a way to where you have theopportunity to share with them
things that have been put inplace in your heart.
(04:03):
And just being obedient to thatand I've experienced it myself
several times and I know that'sthe way you walk and live, and
so, you know, part of ourpodcast today is for our
listening audience.
Somebody out there is listeningand we think about keys to your
journey, and I narrow it downto three.
You may have way more thanthree, but, as you thought about
(04:24):
our conversation today, arethere some things that you think
have been instrumental to youalong your journey.
Jeff Cooper (04:32):
Yes, sir, absolutely.
And you've given me a heads uptalking about three keys on the
journey, so I apologize, I kindof have four.
The first one, I think we'llcall it point one.
One one.
The first one, I think we'llcall it 0.111.
Three ones, three ones.
Greg Jones (04:46):
Yes, sir, 0.111.
Yes, sir, okay, I like that.
Jeff Cooper (04:48):
That's the first one and it's overarching.
I can't talk about keys forsuccess without talking about
the first one.
I mentioned earlier that faithis extremely important to me,
and so trusting the Lord anddoing what he says that is the
basis of everything in my life.
That's the number one key tosuccess.
Greg Jones (05:08):
Talk about this for a minute and just elaborate when
I hear that word trust in.
Yes sir, give me the point.
Point, point, point.
How do you trust in?
Jeff Cooper (05:21):
the Lord.
Yes, sir, yes sir, that's good,that's good.
So the point one, one one, it'sthe father, the son and the
Holy spirit, um, trinity, threein one, um, which is faith, that
that I have.
And so just doing what he saysand knowing that he's got
everything taken care of, um,there.
There was a moment in my lifenot too many years ago, probably
(05:43):
about six years ago.
There was a moment in my lifenot too many years ago, probably
about six years ago, less thanthat, five years ago and so I'd
been saving up some money.
I was in full-time ministry, youknow, church plant, part of a
church plant.
So, as you know, oftentimes inchurch plants, you know there's
not a salary for a pastor.
You basically spend money toserve the community, community
builders as the organization,and just pouring money in and
(06:06):
serving.
I had a little bit of moneysaved up in Dallas, had a house
and that was going to be myretirement, because I know that
in ministry you're not going tomake a ton of money and that's
fine.
So I had this house set asidefor my retirement and it came
time to come up with some moremoney to build the church and
serve the community.
So I thought I'll just sell thathouse.
(06:26):
And then I thought I can't sellthat house because that's what
I'm going to retire on once Ihit 65.
And then I felt like the Lordtold me so you've trusted me to
take care of you up until nowand you think I'm going to stop
taking care of you when you hitthe age 65?
I've got you covered, and sothat rang true with me.
(06:49):
So I sold the house.
And then, lo and behold, fiveyears later we went from the one
house that we sold to actually10.
And it's not about the housesat all, it's just about trusting
God.
Greg Jones (07:06):
Now you mentioned houses.
Is this part of your business?
Jeff Cooper (07:10):
Yes, yes.
One of the businesses that wehave is called Just Like Home
Rentals, where we have 11 homesright now that we rent out.
Greg Jones (07:20):
Wow, yes sir, yes sir, and that's a testimony
right there within itself.
Yes sir, yes sir, but it startswith trusting God.
Jeff Cooper (07:27):
Trusting God.
Yes, sir, so that's kind of theoverarching, you know.
The point one, one one.
Greg Jones (07:32):
Okay.
Jeff Cooper (07:33):
Love it.
Yes, sir, but the first key tosuccess, I say, is building
people first and being committedto building people first.
And we've heard that people arethe most important asset of any
organization, of any business,and I believe that, to its core,
people are the most importantasset, are what makes the world
go round, and so not just inbusiness, but in life.
(07:56):
And so if you always invest inpeople, that's what life is
about.
And there's a quote, howardHendricks, one of my old
professors at Dallas TheologicalSeminary, he said that the
measure of you as a leader isnot what you do, but what others
do because of what you do.
And so putting people first andpouring into people and
(08:17):
building people is essentiallymy life's mission.
So that's number one key tosuccess.
Greg Jones (08:24):
Love it.
Number one I got it Okay.
Jeff Cooper (08:27):
What about the number two?
Number two condensed timeframes.
There's major value if you wantto be successful in life, in my
opinion, in condensingtimeframes, and actually this
came about many, many years ago,probably in 1993.
I was listening to a successtape.
I guess I'm giving away my agejust a little bit.
(08:49):
It was cassette 12 cassettecassette tape by Brian Tracy
called the psychology ofachievement, and one of the
things that he said is thatsuccessful people have a
lifestyle of doing things now.
They don't procrastinate, theydon't wait, they do it now.
You know they do things now andand I've adopted that and talk
(09:12):
about it as condensing timeframes you know you don't wait
before you do something.
Take five minutes and do itright now, because what happens
is you never know what tomorrowis going to bring.
So why put off something tilltomorrow when you can accomplish
it today?
You need to leave room fortomorrow to do what tomorrow
might bring.
Greg Jones (09:30):
Well, thank you for that.
That's a confirmation because Itry to live by that same
principle and I love what yousaid because it's so true.
If I can take time to do it now, go ahead and do it, knock it
out.
Knock it out, man for somebodyout there.
Jeff Cooper (09:44):
That just changed your life.
I know, yes, sir, yes sir.
And one of the unique thingsabout operating that way is not
only do you make room and createspace, you never know what
timing is like.
You never know what timing islike.
You never know what somebody'sgoing through, what they're
doing at a particular moment.
They might have time to respondright now, they may not have
time for the next three weeks,and so what might take normal
(10:05):
people nine months to accomplish, you can accomplish in nine
days if you do things right awayand if you do them now.
And the other thing here's asecret that it does is it
teaches people how to work withyou.
If you respond right away, thenthey respond right away.
If you take a week to thinkabout it, contemplate, it's
crazy.
People feel like they can takea week to think about something,
(10:27):
and then when they get back tosomeone, they expect them to
respond immediately.
You just took a week thinkingabout this, meditating on it,
and why would they respond in anhour when it took you a week?
So we want to respond in fiveminutes and then maybe they'll
get it done in five hours.
We hope it's going to takelonger than what you did, but it
(10:47):
sets a model, an example, andit creates a system of
condensing time frames whichexpedites your journey to
success.
Greg Jones (10:55):
Wow, I just want to let that sit for a minute.
Jeff Cooper (10:59):
That's good, that's good, that's good stuff.
That's good stuff, yes sir,that's really good stuff.
It's been a blessing for metremendously, and the funny
thing is that people think thatwhat it does is okay.
I can wait nine months.
It doesn't have to happen innine days.
For me, Nine months is okay.
But what we don't realize isthere's so many steps and so
(11:21):
many pitfalls and so manyobstacles that occur over nine
months.
It ends up not happening mostof the time.
So it's usually not thedifference between it being done
in nine days or nine months.
It's the difference in betweenit being done in nine days or
not at all.
Wow, Wow.
Greg Jones (11:37):
Yes, sir, and for those of you that are listening
that may deal with that idea ofprocrastination, this is a good
tip or tool that you can beginto adopt, because if you start
living that way, you tend not toprocrastinate, yes, sir, and
everything else you say fallsright in line.
It gets done and you make spaceright.
(11:59):
Yes, sir, you create space fortomorrow to be tomorrow.
Yes, sir, wow, especially ifyou're living by a .111.
Jeff Cooper (12:05):
Yes, sir, oh, that's good, that's good.
And if I'm transparent, I hadto adopt that philosophy,
because what happens in my life?
If I don't do something now, Iforget about it and I'm not
getting it done at all, someonewill call me back two months
later.
Hey, did you ever?
Oh man, I forgot about it.
So I actually have to do thingsat the moment, because once an
(12:26):
hour goes by, I don't know ifI'm going to remember.
Greg Jones (12:29):
That's good, especially as we get a little
older.
Yes, sir.
Jeff Cooper (12:41):
Yes, I didn't want to say that part, but those are
facts.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, real talk.
All right, what's our nextpoint?
And number three is more isrequired, more is required, and
so this is how I flesh this out,and I'll tell you I'll give
credit where this came from.
All three of mine came fromsomewhere.
We had Brian Tracy, we hadHoward Hendricks, and then we
have Albert Appiah and DougNeese, but so one of the things
that I always say is everybodywants to be an All-American, but
(13:04):
very few people are willing todo what it takes to become one.
And where that came about.
I was a sophomore in highschool.
I had just moved here to theOklahoma City area and there was
a buddy of mine, albert Appiah,and he used to always want to
work out and do extra sprintsand extra lifting.
We played football for context,and so there's workouts in the
(13:26):
morning, there's running time inthe morning and two-a-day
practices, and after all of thatand in between all of that, he
wanted to work out more.
And would say we just worked out, we just ran.
Why am I going to stay upanother two hours?
Why am I going to come back onour lunch break?
It's our lunch break, he wouldsay.
Cooper, he said if we want tobe the best, we have to do more
(13:48):
than what everybody else does.
Everybody else comes to themorning workouts, everybody else
comes to the afternoon runs,everybody else comes to the
afternoon runs, everybody elsecomes to the two-a-day practices
.
But if we want to be the best,we have to do more than what
everybody else is doing.
And I was like as a 10th graderI'd never heard anything like
I'd never heard of such a thing.
(14:09):
And then another buddy of ourswhose name is Doug Doug Neese,
and we were just out playing.
So when we go out to do thisextra stuff, like there's no
coaches, it's just a handful ofus, and I'm trying to cover him
in the parking lot, you know,with football, and he's running
full on sprints, like we're inthe Olympics or something, and
(14:29):
I'm like we're just out hereplaying around.
Man, you're killing me, can youslow it down?
Dial it back a little bit?
And he was like why would Iever do that?
He takes off sprinting again andhe's like you play how you
practice, and if you want tooperate in excellence, he takes
(14:53):
off again.
He's like you got to go fulltilt all the time.
And so between those two things, man, more is required.
We want more, but are wewilling to do more?
Everybody wants, mentally, tobe an All-American, but very few
people are actually willing todo what it takes all day, every
day to become one.
Greg Jones (15:09):
So if you think about this in your business
journey and for other folks thatare listening out there, how do
you apply that?
Jeff Cooper (15:15):
Yes, sir, man, that's real.
So when things happen that I'mnot expecting to or that I don't
want to happen you have no ideahow much I say that phrase to
myself hey, everybody wants tobe an all American, but very few
people are willing to do whatit takes.
So when you get a no orrejection, it doesn't feel good.
Hey, but everybody you knowwants to win, but very few
(15:39):
people are willing to do what ittakes to win.
So you come up with anotherstrategy.
You keep going, you're tired,it's 10 o'clock at night and you
have something, an email comethrough and you don't feel like
it.
Hey, nobody feels like it.
But if you want to win, youhave to do the things that most
people are not willing to do.
And so I'm like okay, thatmakes sense, I definitely want
(16:01):
to win.
Greg Jones (16:14):
So at 10 o'clock at night, pull out the laptop and
start putting together theproposal, or responding to the
email, or crafting a message, oror whatever it happens to be.
So saying all of that, jeff,that's excellent advice.
How do you provide margin inyour life?
How do you provide balance?
How do you?
Jeff Cooper (16:28):
rest.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes sir.
That's good, that's good,that's rich.
So I'm able to rest in the Lord.
So I spend two hours most ofthe time, two hours in the
morning, whether it's listeningto podcasts, listening to a
message, reading the Bible.
(16:49):
If I'm teaching somewhere,oftentimes that's the time when
I'm in preparation, so I spendthat time with the Lord.
It's very reinvigorating to meand it fuels me and creates a
sustenance and it's interesting.
So, if you go to the buildingpeople first, and that our life
is not really about our work,our life is about the
(17:14):
interactions and the experiencesthat we have with the people,
and that fuels me, oddly enough,and so, as I focus on people
throughout the day, it kind ofre-energizes me.
Now, transparently, I do work alot of hours between a handful
of jobs and so I can do a betterjob at carving out some time to
(17:37):
create a more consistent rhythmof rest for me.
But I do get fueled allthroughout the day because I'll
stop work I don't know who'slistening, but I'll stop work in
a heartbeat to have aconversation with someone or to
give some advice or to sharesomething that I'm heartbroken
about, and just to have thattype of connection and
interaction and that type ofthing fuels me.
Greg Jones (18:01):
Man, that sounds like a nugget right there.
I'm going to take that as a keyas well.
So I don't know if you had fouror five or six, but I pulled a
few more out of there.
Yes, sir, did we cover all ofthe keys?
Yes, sir.
Jeff Cooper (18:11):
That you have.
Yes, sir, I wrote down three,and then the one overarching,
overarching, okay, the .111.
.111.
Greg Jones (18:18):
All right.
So, jeff, man, this has been agreat conversation.
Somebody out there hopefullyout there, if you're listening,
you know you've heard some ofthe things that Jeff has shared
and your mind, your heart,something inside of you, is
swirling around and saying, man,I need something different.
And so hopefully this wasencouraging, inspirational to
you, but also kind of a heartcheck or maybe as I would say
(18:39):
you know a gut check.
Or maybe, as I would say, youknow a gut check, you know.
I got to check out where I'm atnow, what I'm doing now For
somebody that may be listening.
Jeff Cooper (18:54):
That's in that place, jeff.
What would you?
say would be a next step.
Prayer, I would say, isdefinitely the next step.
You know, they say recognizingthe problem or recognizing the
opportunity for growth is 50% to80% of the solution.
And so if we can self-evaluatewhere we are, self-evaluate our
(19:15):
motivation in life and thenreally see what we're doing
because I know this is keys tosuccess.
But this transcends whateveryour type of business is,
whatever your vocation, whateveryour profession is to just take
a hard look and see if you'rereally focusing, If you trust in
God, if you trust in a creatorthat's higher than you, that
(19:37):
gives purpose, and if you'rereally focusing on enhancing
people's lives and buildingpeople, because you have to
build people first.
That's the priority.
And is that what you're doing inyour day to day business?
Are you focused on you versusbuilding others?
And then, are you not beinglazy, basically not
(20:00):
procrastinating?
Are you condensing timeframes,doing the things that you need
to do?
And are you putting in work,Whatever that looks like?
Because success is not evereasy, and I think a lot of us
expect it to be easy and expectto accomplish things that no one
has ever accomplished by doingthe same things that everyone
else can do, and that's notreally how it works doing the
(20:24):
same things that everyone elsecan do, and that's not really
how it works.
Greg Jones (20:26):
Well, and, if nothing else, you said that
today a number of times and it'ssynced in that.
You know everybody wantssuccess, but are they willing to
put in the work to get there?
Everybody wants to be anAll-American, but are very few
people actually ever know whatit takes to become an
All-American.
So, man, thank you for sharingthat out.
I get this question all thetime, and so I've been asking
our guests.
You know people want to get incontact with you.
They want to learn more aboutyour businesses.
(20:47):
Yes, sir, learn more about whatyou're doing with people first.
Whatever the case is, how dothey reach out to you?
Jeff Cooper (20:53):
Yes, sir, yes sir, Probably a good way is to go to
our Web site.
Just like home rentals.
So if you go to WWW dot, justlike home rentals.
So if you go towwwjustlikehomerentals, you can
click on.
There's a tab that says Rhythmof Rest.
You can learn about some thingsthat our organization is doing
to help create a space fordirectors and leaders of
(21:13):
nonprofit organizations, forclergy and for foster parents
and foster families where theycan plug in and get some type of
rhythm of rest, because theywork tirelessly, 20 hours a day,
consistently, seven days a week, for little pay and need a
break.
If you're interested in fundingsomething like that, there's a
link.
(21:33):
You have an opportunity to helpfund and create spaces where
they can go to Thunder Games andstay at nice houses and get
retreats and breaks, and thenyou can always hit contact us,
which will come directly to meas well, and you can learn a
little bit more about what I dofrom leadership development and
some other things also.
Greg Jones (21:52):
Wow, Well, man, Jeff , thank you so much, man, for
being with us today.
It's been absolutely mypleasure to have you on as one
of our guests and, as I saidearlier, man, just as a true
friend.
So, man, I appreciate you somuch.
I do ask that you know, at somepoint I'd love to have you back
on the show, get an update,drop another .111, or another
(22:16):
six, seven and eight keys,whatever that may be on your
heart, man.
Know that you're always invitedto come back and be with us here
at Three Keys for your journey.
Jeff Cooper (22:24):
It's been a complete honor.
I just pray this is a blessingfor somebody out there in this
listening audience and if you goto that Web site and hit,
contact us if you have anyquestions at all about any of
the three keys that we shared orany additional questions that
you might have, man, I'd behumbled and honored to be able
to respond and help out in anyway that I can.
Greg Jones (22:45):
All right, remember to check out our website at
OCFOinfo.
That's where all the podcaststhat we have, including this one
, will be linked up, and we lookforward to seeing.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Thanks for joining Three Keys for your Journey.
Tune in next time for anotherepisode.
Success meets strategy and leadership takes
center stage.
Today's conversation is withJeff Cooper, all-american
athlete, top 1% sales leader andexpert.
Communicated with the passionfor helping individuals and
teams unlock their potential,with years of corporate
experience and a proven trackrecord in leadership development
and strategic growth.
(00:23):
Record in leadershipdevelopment and strategic growth
.
Stay tuned as he will shareinsights, tools and stories that
will inspire and empower you onyour journey to excellence?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Are you ready to unlock your potential?
Tune in to Three Keys for yourJourney podcast, where business
owners share invaluable insightsand empowering strategies to
guide you toward success.
Based in Oklahoma City, ourhost, greg T Jones, will inspire
and motivate you every week.
Get ready to join ourconversation as we build
(01:05):
community together.
Greg Jones (01:09):
Jeff Cooper, we got you in the house.
Yes sir, yes sir, Welcome tothe podcast my brother, welcome,
welcome, welcome, I mean,there's only one, Jeff Cooper.
Jeff Cooper (01:17):
Oh man, it's such an honor to be here with the one
and only Greg Jones.
Greg Jones (01:21):
And I have to say this, like now when you get to
know Jeff, you can even call himCoop.
Yes sir, yes, sir, wow, man,it's a pleasure to have you on
our podcast today and, man, I'mjust thrilled to have you here.
Man, we think about just lifein general and there are a few
(01:42):
people that come your way, thatyou can actually call friends,
man, and you're one of thoseguys, man, you're one of those
cats, as we would say yes, sir,yes sir, absolutely and I'm
honored to say the exact samething about you One of a handful
.
But our listening audience man,a lot of people do not know Jeff
Cooper is.
So take a few minutes and, justyou know, introduce yourself.
(02:04):
Tell us who you are.
Jeff Cooper (02:10):
Yes, sir, yes, sir, man, that's quite a question.
Who am I?
My name's Jeff Cooper.
I love the Lord tremendously,so really I'm a servant of the
King.
Faith is extremely important tome, and so I'm a business owner
.
I work in corporate America.
I've worked full-timevocational ministry, but my life
is ministry, and so that's whoI am, that's what I do.
I have two daughters.
I have one granddaughter who's18 months, and I love my family.
(02:34):
I have a nephew who's now here,a freshman at Oklahoma
University, so he and his familylive in St Louis, so it's neat
to have him here in town with usas well too.
Greg Jones (02:45):
Well, that's great.
Now, I'm not a grandparent yet,but tell for our listening
audience, what does it mean tobe a grandparent?
Jeff Cooper (02:54):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
So it's really neat.
I had a chance overThanksgiving, pretty much had my
granddaughter for about a week,and it's neat to see your
children, my daughter Jordan,jordan, my daughter Jordan.
I know you have a daughternamed Jordan as well.
My Jordan is an amazing motherand to see that flesh out in my
(03:19):
granddaughter is just one of themost rewarding, neatest
experiences on the planet.
I mean, my granddaughter wasalmost perfect for this entire
week.
I mean, she listened, shedidn't whine, she didn't cry.
She was almost perfect and itwas just a function of walking
out.
You know what her mother hasbeen teaching her and how her
mother has been shepherding herfor 18 months.
(03:41):
So I don't think there's agreater joy.
Greg Jones (03:43):
Wow, Well, thank you for sharing that, Jeff.
Now also part of your life isspent, I think, one of the
things that I, when I thinkabout you.
I think about people first, yes,sir, and people come first and
you try to put them first andyou try to live your life in
such a way to where you have theopportunity to share with them
things that have been put inplace in your heart.
(04:03):
And just being obedient to thatand I've experienced it myself
several times and I know that'sthe way you walk and live, and
so, you know, part of ourpodcast today is for our
listening audience.
Somebody out there is listeningand we think about keys to your
journey, and I narrow it downto three.
You may have way more thanthree, but, as you thought about
(04:24):
our conversation today, arethere some things that you think
have been instrumental to youalong your journey.
Jeff Cooper (04:32):
Yes, sir, absolutely.
And you've given me a heads uptalking about three keys on the
journey, so I apologize, I kindof have four.
The first one, I think we'llcall it point one.
One one.
The first one, I think we'llcall it 0.111.
Three ones, three ones.
Greg Jones (04:46):
Yes, sir, 0.111.
Yes, sir, okay, I like that.
Jeff Cooper (04:48):
That's the first one and it's overarching.
I can't talk about keys forsuccess without talking about
the first one.
I mentioned earlier that faithis extremely important to me,
and so trusting the Lord anddoing what he says that is the
basis of everything in my life.
That's the number one key tosuccess.
Greg Jones (05:08):
Talk about this for a minute and just elaborate when
I hear that word trust in.
Yes sir, give me the point.
Point, point, point.
How do you trust in?
Jeff Cooper (05:21):
the Lord.
Yes, sir, yes sir, that's good,that's good.
So the point one, one one, it'sthe father, the son and the
Holy spirit, um, trinity, threein one, um, which is faith, that
that I have.
And so just doing what he saysand knowing that he's got
everything taken care of, um,there.
There was a moment in my lifenot too many years ago, probably
(05:43):
about six years ago.
There was a moment in my lifenot too many years ago, probably
about six years ago, less thanthat, five years ago and so I'd
been saving up some money.
I was in full-time ministry, youknow, church plant, part of a
church plant.
So, as you know, oftentimes inchurch plants, you know there's
not a salary for a pastor.
You basically spend money toserve the community, community
builders as the organization,and just pouring money in and
(06:06):
serving.
I had a little bit of moneysaved up in Dallas, had a house
and that was going to be myretirement, because I know that
in ministry you're not going tomake a ton of money and that's
fine.
So I had this house set asidefor my retirement and it came
time to come up with some moremoney to build the church and
serve the community.
So I thought I'll just sell thathouse.
(06:26):
And then I thought I can't sellthat house because that's what
I'm going to retire on once Ihit 65.
And then I felt like the Lordtold me so you've trusted me to
take care of you up until nowand you think I'm going to stop
taking care of you when you hitthe age 65?
I've got you covered, and sothat rang true with me.
(06:49):
So I sold the house.
And then, lo and behold, fiveyears later we went from the one
house that we sold to actually10.
And it's not about the housesat all, it's just about trusting
God.
Greg Jones (07:06):
Now you mentioned houses.
Is this part of your business?
Jeff Cooper (07:10):
Yes, yes.
One of the businesses that wehave is called Just Like Home
Rentals, where we have 11 homesright now that we rent out.
Greg Jones (07:20):
Wow, yes sir, yes sir, and that's a testimony
right there within itself.
Yes sir, yes sir, but it startswith trusting God.
Jeff Cooper (07:27):
Trusting God.
Yes, sir, so that's kind of theoverarching, you know.
The point one, one one.
Greg Jones (07:32):
Okay.
Jeff Cooper (07:33):
Love it.
Yes, sir, but the first key tosuccess, I say, is building
people first and being committedto building people first.
And we've heard that people arethe most important asset of any
organization, of any business,and I believe that, to its core,
people are the most importantasset, are what makes the world
go round, and so not just inbusiness, but in life.
(07:56):
And so if you always invest inpeople, that's what life is
about.
And there's a quote, howardHendricks, one of my old
professors at Dallas TheologicalSeminary, he said that the
measure of you as a leader isnot what you do, but what others
do because of what you do.
And so putting people first andpouring into people and
(08:17):
building people is essentiallymy life's mission.
So that's number one key tosuccess.
Greg Jones (08:24):
Love it.
Number one I got it Okay.
Jeff Cooper (08:27):
What about the number two?
Number two condensed timeframes.
There's major value if you wantto be successful in life, in my
opinion, in condensingtimeframes, and actually this
came about many, many years ago,probably in 1993.
I was listening to a successtape.
I guess I'm giving away my agejust a little bit.
(08:49):
It was cassette 12 cassettecassette tape by Brian Tracy
called the psychology ofachievement, and one of the
things that he said is thatsuccessful people have a
lifestyle of doing things now.
They don't procrastinate, theydon't wait, they do it now.
You know they do things now andand I've adopted that and talk
(09:12):
about it as condensing timeframes you know you don't wait
before you do something.
Take five minutes and do itright now, because what happens
is you never know what tomorrowis going to bring.
So why put off something tilltomorrow when you can accomplish
it today?
You need to leave room fortomorrow to do what tomorrow
might bring.
Greg Jones (09:30):
Well, thank you for that.
That's a confirmation because Itry to live by that same
principle and I love what yousaid because it's so true.
If I can take time to do it now, go ahead and do it, knock it
out.
Knock it out, man for somebodyout there.
Jeff Cooper (09:44):
That just changed your life.
I know, yes, sir, yes sir.
And one of the unique thingsabout operating that way is not
only do you make room and createspace, you never know what
timing is like.
You never know what timing islike.
You never know what somebody'sgoing through, what they're
doing at a particular moment.
They might have time to respondright now, they may not have
time for the next three weeks,and so what might take normal
(10:05):
people nine months to accomplish, you can accomplish in nine
days if you do things right awayand if you do them now.
And the other thing here's asecret that it does is it
teaches people how to work withyou.
If you respond right away, thenthey respond right away.
If you take a week to thinkabout it, contemplate, it's
crazy.
People feel like they can takea week to think about something,
(10:27):
and then when they get back tosomeone, they expect them to
respond immediately.
You just took a week thinkingabout this, meditating on it,
and why would they respond in anhour when it took you a week?
So we want to respond in fiveminutes and then maybe they'll
get it done in five hours.
We hope it's going to takelonger than what you did, but it
(10:47):
sets a model, an example, andit creates a system of
condensing time frames whichexpedites your journey to
success.
Greg Jones (10:55):
Wow, I just want to let that sit for a minute.
Jeff Cooper (10:59):
That's good, that's good, that's good stuff.
That's good stuff, yes sir,that's really good stuff.
It's been a blessing for metremendously, and the funny
thing is that people think thatwhat it does is okay.
I can wait nine months.
It doesn't have to happen innine days.
For me, Nine months is okay.
But what we don't realize isthere's so many steps and so
(11:21):
many pitfalls and so manyobstacles that occur over nine
months.
It ends up not happening mostof the time.
So it's usually not thedifference between it being done
in nine days or nine months.
It's the difference in betweenit being done in nine days or
not at all.
Wow, Wow.
Greg Jones (11:37):
Yes, sir, and for those of you that are listening
that may deal with that idea ofprocrastination, this is a good
tip or tool that you can beginto adopt, because if you start
living that way, you tend not toprocrastinate, yes, sir, and
everything else you say fallsright in line.
It gets done and you make spaceright.
(11:59):
Yes, sir, you create space fortomorrow to be tomorrow.
Yes, sir, wow, especially ifyou're living by a .111.
Jeff Cooper (12:05):
Yes, sir, oh, that's good, that's good.
And if I'm transparent, I hadto adopt that philosophy,
because what happens in my life?
If I don't do something now, Iforget about it and I'm not
getting it done at all, someonewill call me back two months
later.
Hey, did you ever?
Oh man, I forgot about it.
So I actually have to do thingsat the moment, because once an
(12:26):
hour goes by, I don't know ifI'm going to remember.
Greg Jones (12:29):
That's good, especially as we get a little
older.
Yes, sir.
Jeff Cooper (12:41):
Yes, I didn't want to say that part, but those are
facts.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, real talk.
All right, what's our nextpoint?
And number three is more isrequired, more is required, and
so this is how I flesh this out,and I'll tell you I'll give
credit where this came from.
All three of mine came fromsomewhere.
We had Brian Tracy, we hadHoward Hendricks, and then we
have Albert Appiah and DougNeese, but so one of the things
that I always say is everybodywants to be an All-American, but
(13:04):
very few people are willing todo what it takes to become one.
And where that came about.
I was a sophomore in highschool.
I had just moved here to theOklahoma City area and there was
a buddy of mine, albert Appiah,and he used to always want to
work out and do extra sprintsand extra lifting.
We played football for context,and so there's workouts in the
(13:26):
morning, there's running time inthe morning and two-a-day
practices, and after all of thatand in between all of that, he
wanted to work out more.
And would say we just worked out, we just ran.
Why am I going to stay upanother two hours?
Why am I going to come back onour lunch break?
It's our lunch break, he wouldsay.
Cooper, he said if we want tobe the best, we have to do more
(13:48):
than what everybody else does.
Everybody else comes to themorning workouts, everybody else
comes to the afternoon runs,everybody else comes to the
afternoon runs, everybody elsecomes to the two-a-day practices
.
But if we want to be the best,we have to do more than what
everybody else is doing.
And I was like as a 10th graderI'd never heard anything like
I'd never heard of such a thing.
(14:09):
And then another buddy of ourswhose name is Doug Doug Neese,
and we were just out playing.
So when we go out to do thisextra stuff, like there's no
coaches, it's just a handful ofus, and I'm trying to cover him
in the parking lot, you know,with football, and he's running
full on sprints, like we're inthe Olympics or something, and
(14:29):
I'm like we're just out hereplaying around.
Man, you're killing me, can youslow it down?
Dial it back a little bit?
And he was like why would Iever do that?
He takes off sprinting again andhe's like you play how you
practice, and if you want tooperate in excellence, he takes
(14:53):
off again.
He's like you got to go fulltilt all the time.
And so between those two things, man, more is required.
We want more, but are wewilling to do more?
Everybody wants, mentally, tobe an All-American, but very few
people are actually willing todo what it takes all day, every
day to become one.
Greg Jones (15:09):
So if you think about this in your business
journey and for other folks thatare listening out there, how do
you apply that?
Jeff Cooper (15:15):
Yes, sir, man, that's real.
So when things happen that I'mnot expecting to or that I don't
want to happen you have no ideahow much I say that phrase to
myself hey, everybody wants tobe an all American, but very few
people are willing to do whatit takes.
So when you get a no orrejection, it doesn't feel good.
Hey, but everybody you knowwants to win, but very few
(15:39):
people are willing to do what ittakes to win.
So you come up with anotherstrategy.
You keep going, you're tired,it's 10 o'clock at night and you
have something, an email comethrough and you don't feel like
it.
Hey, nobody feels like it.
But if you want to win, youhave to do the things that most
people are not willing to do.
And so I'm like okay, thatmakes sense, I definitely want
(16:01):
to win.
Greg Jones (16:14):
So at 10 o'clock at night, pull out the laptop and
start putting together theproposal, or responding to the
email, or crafting a message, oror whatever it happens to be.
So saying all of that, jeff,that's excellent advice.
How do you provide margin inyour life?
How do you provide balance?
How do you?
Jeff Cooper (16:28):
rest.
Yes, sir, yes, sir, yes sir.
That's good, that's good,that's rich.
So I'm able to rest in the Lord.
So I spend two hours most ofthe time, two hours in the
morning, whether it's listeningto podcasts, listening to a
message, reading the Bible.
(16:49):
If I'm teaching somewhere,oftentimes that's the time when
I'm in preparation, so I spendthat time with the Lord.
It's very reinvigorating to meand it fuels me and creates a
sustenance and it's interesting.
So, if you go to the buildingpeople first, and that our life
is not really about our work,our life is about the
(17:14):
interactions and the experiencesthat we have with the people,
and that fuels me, oddly enough,and so, as I focus on people
throughout the day, it kind ofre-energizes me.
Now, transparently, I do work alot of hours between a handful
of jobs and so I can do a betterjob at carving out some time to
(17:37):
create a more consistent rhythmof rest for me.
But I do get fueled allthroughout the day because I'll
stop work I don't know who'slistening, but I'll stop work in
a heartbeat to have aconversation with someone or to
give some advice or to sharesomething that I'm heartbroken
about, and just to have thattype of connection and
interaction and that type ofthing fuels me.
Greg Jones (18:01):
Man, that sounds like a nugget right there.
I'm going to take that as a keyas well.
So I don't know if you had fouror five or six, but I pulled a
few more out of there.
Yes, sir, did we cover all ofthe keys?
Yes, sir.
Jeff Cooper (18:11):
That you have.
Yes, sir, I wrote down three,and then the one overarching,
overarching, okay, the .111.
.111.
Greg Jones (18:18):
All right.
So, jeff, man, this has been agreat conversation.
Somebody out there hopefullyout there, if you're listening,
you know you've heard some ofthe things that Jeff has shared
and your mind, your heart,something inside of you, is
swirling around and saying, man,I need something different.
And so hopefully this wasencouraging, inspirational to
you, but also kind of a heartcheck or maybe as I would say
(18:39):
you know a gut check.
Or maybe, as I would say, youknow a gut check, you know.
I got to check out where I'm atnow, what I'm doing now For
somebody that may be listening.
Jeff Cooper (18:54):
That's in that place, jeff.
What would you?
say would be a next step.
Prayer, I would say, isdefinitely the next step.
You know, they say recognizingthe problem or recognizing the
opportunity for growth is 50% to80% of the solution.
And so if we can self-evaluatewhere we are, self-evaluate our
(19:15):
motivation in life and thenreally see what we're doing
because I know this is keys tosuccess.
But this transcends whateveryour type of business is,
whatever your vocation, whateveryour profession is to just take
a hard look and see if you'rereally focusing, If you trust in
God, if you trust in a creatorthat's higher than you, that
(19:37):
gives purpose, and if you'rereally focusing on enhancing
people's lives and buildingpeople, because you have to
build people first.
That's the priority.
And is that what you're doing inyour day to day business?
Are you focused on you versusbuilding others?
And then, are you not beinglazy, basically not
(20:00):
procrastinating?
Are you condensing timeframes,doing the things that you need
to do?
And are you putting in work,Whatever that looks like?
Because success is not evereasy, and I think a lot of us
expect it to be easy and expectto accomplish things that no one
has ever accomplished by doingthe same things that everyone
else can do, and that's notreally how it works doing the
(20:24):
same things that everyone elsecan do, and that's not really
how it works.
Greg Jones (20:26):
Well, and, if nothing else, you said that
today a number of times and it'ssynced in that.
You know everybody wantssuccess, but are they willing to
put in the work to get there?
Everybody wants to be anAll-American, but are very few
people actually ever know whatit takes to become an
All-American.
So, man, thank you for sharingthat out.
I get this question all thetime, and so I've been asking
our guests.
You know people want to get incontact with you.
They want to learn more aboutyour businesses.
(20:47):
Yes, sir, learn more about whatyou're doing with people first.
Whatever the case is, how dothey reach out to you?
Jeff Cooper (20:53):
Yes, sir, yes sir, Probably a good way is to go to
our Web site.
Just like home rentals.
So if you go to WWW dot, justlike home rentals.
So if you go towwwjustlikehomerentals, you can
click on.
There's a tab that says Rhythmof Rest.
You can learn about some thingsthat our organization is doing
to help create a space fordirectors and leaders of
(21:13):
nonprofit organizations, forclergy and for foster parents
and foster families where theycan plug in and get some type of
rhythm of rest, because theywork tirelessly, 20 hours a day,
consistently, seven days a week, for little pay and need a
break.
If you're interested in fundingsomething like that, there's a
link.
(21:33):
You have an opportunity to helpfund and create spaces where
they can go to Thunder Games andstay at nice houses and get
retreats and breaks, and thenyou can always hit contact us,
which will come directly to meas well, and you can learn a
little bit more about what I dofrom leadership development and
some other things also.
Greg Jones (21:52):
Wow, Well, man, Jeff , thank you so much, man, for
being with us today.
It's been absolutely mypleasure to have you on as one
of our guests and, as I saidearlier, man, just as a true
friend.
So, man, I appreciate you somuch.
I do ask that you know, at somepoint I'd love to have you back
on the show, get an update,drop another .111, or another
(22:16):
six, seven and eight keys,whatever that may be on your
heart, man.
Know that you're always invitedto come back and be with us here
at Three Keys for your journey.
Jeff Cooper (22:24):
It's been a complete honor.
I just pray this is a blessingfor somebody out there in this
listening audience and if you goto that Web site and hit,
contact us if you have anyquestions at all about any of
the three keys that we shared orany additional questions that
you might have, man, I'd behumbled and honored to be able
to respond and help out in anyway that I can.
Greg Jones (22:45):
All right, remember to check out our website at
OCFOinfo.
That's where all the podcaststhat we have, including this one
, will be linked up, and we lookforward to seeing.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Thanks for joining Three Keys for your Journey.
Tune in next time for anotherepisode.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
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