May 9, 2025 • 38 mins
What does it take to rise from sleeping on a chair in the Bridgeport, CT projects to becoming a three-time All-American, professional athlete, author, entrepreneur, and pastor? Chuck Hatchett's transformative journey reveals the power of resilience in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Born to a teenage mother and raised in crowded project housing where drug dealers told him "no one makes it out of here," Chuck developed an extraordinary work ethic that earned him recognition as a four-star linebacker with approximately 60 college scholarship offers. His path took a heartbreaking turn when academic challenges forced him to return home from the University of Oregon, followed by going undrafted by the NFL despite consistent interest from NFL teams.
Rather than allowing rejection to define him, Chuck embraced these setbacks as opportunities for growth. "There's no such thing as failure to an individual that never gives up," he shares, a philosophy that guided him to success in the Canadian Football League and beyond. A profound spiritual experience at age 20 became the foundation for his life's work, including founding WON Nutrition and developing the M3 Mindset mastery program now implemented in schools and organizations.
Perhaps most remarkable is Chuck's extraordinary discipline. Rising at 3:30 AM daily, beginning with Bible study and weight training, he structures every minute intentionally. "Discipline is everything. If you have discipline, you can literally win at every aspect of your life," he explains. This approach has enabled him to author four books, mentor dozens of young people, and raise his children with his wife Virginia—all while continuing to pursue athletic excellence as an Olympic hopeful in shot put.
Chuck's story isn't just about overcoming obstacles; it's about transforming them into stepping stones toward an extraordinary life of purpose. As he looks toward the future, he remains focused not on specific outcomes but on becoming the person prepared for whatever opportunities arise: "The individual that I'm becoming will be prepared."
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
you.
Hi everybody, I'm Adrian Branchand welcome to another episode
of the Climb, a show thatcelebrates the resilience of men
and women and how they overcome, how they get to where they're
going.
They don't allow potholes andobstacles to stop them.
This show is intentional aboutbringing you guests where you
can identify and have some touchpoints.
(00:56):
We want you to come away fromthis show saying if they can do
it, I can do it too.
If they can overcome, I canovercome as well.
Having said that, we want tointroduce you to a guy who's
close to me.
I'm so proud of him.
He's a colleague, he's a friendand at 35, he's already so
accomplished.
But you're going to connectwith how he's overcome.
(01:19):
His name is Chuck Hatchett andhe's a fascinating person.
He's been a three-timeAll-American at the University
of New Haven football linebacker.
He's played professionalfootball over in Canada for the
BC Lions.
He's married to his lovely wife, virginia, and they're three
children.
And then watch this folks.
He's already written four books.
(01:39):
He's an entrepreneur, he's apastor I need a Gatorade, we
hadn't even introduced him yetand also he's just an all-around
good guy.
So, chuck, welcome to the show,brother, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me, man,if I put any more mustard on
that introduction, you'd be ahot dog.
I'm running out of superlativesfor you.
You put a little bit on it.
(02:02):
Well, chuck, tell us, I knowyou're from the Northeast.
I'm a DC guy from the Northeastas well.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
East Coast Tell us about your story and growing up
in Connecticut, I would say youknow Connecticut's a beautiful
place.
It's the four-season state, forsure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
True, the four-season that we experienced here.
Now it's snowinging.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
oh, it's not fun, uh, but you know, growing up in
connecticut it was um, it wasfun, good and different and, you
know, at times dangerous for meI lived in frishport,
connecticut.
Not sure if you know anyoneknows where that's at, but they
look at connecticut's little doton the map and then you open
that up a little bit and uh,it's the biggest city in the
(02:48):
connecticut, I'm not mistaken.
And uh, in bridgeport is knownfor a lot of the bad things that
happened there.
It's not known for all thegreat things that used to happen
back then, because brisbane wasknown for a lot of great
businesses that used to thrivethere and the academic system
was pretty good too, but todayit's not so much.
(03:08):
So I grew up in the projectsand to a single mother, my mom.
She was only 14 years old whenshe had me Wow and we lived in a
three-bedroom, one-bath projecthousing apartment for several
years and I was with mygrandmother and my aunts and my
uncles and my great-grandmotherat the same time and it was a
(03:30):
lot of fun in that house.
But the house was definitelypacked and it was not easy to
find a place to sleep.
So I always know I find myselfat times finding different
places to sleep, whether it's ona bunk bed, until the springs
just start to come up and startstabbing you in the side,
sleeping on the floor.
But you know, we have a project, you get roaches and mice, you
(03:50):
get all types of stuff, and thenI end up sleeping on a chair, a
sit-up chair, such as whatwe're sitting in right now for
several years.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So Connecticut is definitely home, but it has a
fair share of what's going on.
Let me park there for a minute.
I had a teammate, wes Matthewswon the championship from
Bridgeport, connecticut, and hehad a toughness about him.
He was a great guy, but he hada toughness.
Chuck, before we go any furtherin the story, I never knew that
detail.
Mom was only 14 years olderthan you, so you two almost grew
up together.
I want to say, but then notbeing a destination town or
(04:26):
people thinking that you're notgoing to be like Yale University
, that's not too far from you,right there.
What did that do?
What was the mindset for you?
Because you could have foldedthe tent and said man, I'm out
of here.
Nobody thinks I'm going to doanything anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, that's such a great question.
It was very tough to have astrong mindset and one to get me
to where all the accolades thatyou just named, because in the
projects you know, we would hearfrom other guys that were drug
dealers, gangbangers, and theywill see me do a little workouts
outside because we didn't haveno room to put, like the weight
(05:03):
room set.
So I'll work out with weightroom set outside in the projects
, in the back, and it would getrustic because the rain will
come on, but I'll still use it.
Anyway, my hands are turningorange, one of the things I'll
hear all the time say yo listen,chuck, you should just stop,
because no one makes it out ofhere.
Wow, wow Also when you dosomething pretty good, people
(05:25):
just just glance over it likethat's nothing, who cares.
So there wasn't muchencouragement and also there was
a lot of downplaying of all thethings that you were trying to
strive for.
But I had a great, great family, my mom.
She was my biggest cheerleadermost of my whole life I would
say mostly because my wife is mybiggest cheerleader now.
My uncles, my uncles were bigathletes.
(05:47):
Uncle Andre, he played football, my uncle Glenn played track
and they were always there at alot of my games and rooting me
on and pushing me forward.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I want to jump ahead.
So this is an interesting story.
You were able to accelerate andbe in position for a
scholarship for Oregon.
However, it was a heartbreakingstory because of one class.
You had to come back home, tellus about Oregon and going all
the way from the East Coast tothe West Coast and then coming
back East.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It actually goes a little bit farther back.
Coming out of high school, Iwas a four star linebacker, so I
was pretty good.
I got offered about 60 or sofull scholarships from various
schools, such as Oklahoma,virginia Tech, uva.
A lot of different schools, alot of great schools, and I
couldn't accept one of thembecause I didn't have the right
grade coming out of high school.
(06:38):
I had a great SAT score, but Idid not have the right GPA to
mix with the SAT score, so Ichose to go to a junior college
in California, santa Monica,shout out to Coach T, who's in
heaven right now.
So we went over there and hadthe opportunity to make a name
for myself again, and now allthe schools are coming back.
(07:00):
So there was a war between avirtual war, I would say between
Kansas State University andUniversity of Oregon.
Of course I chose Oregonbecause they got the great
uniforms.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And Uncle Phil Knight .
Don't forget the NILs before itwas popular.
Yeah, exactly, we always lovedthe NILs.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I chose to go to Oregon.
Get there, okay, okay, wow time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And they sent me back home.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
They said you're on academic probation and one of
two things only can happenEither A you stay here but you
got to pay for the wholesemester.
B you go back home and you getyour grades right at your local
(07:52):
community college and try andearn your scholarship back.
It's not waiting for me, butyou can try and earn it back.
Of course I'm from the project.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I didn't have no money at all.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I went home and I went to the local community
college, hoosatonic, and I didwell, I did really well actually
.
I got on the beans list.
It took 17 credits that fall.
I was hurt, heartbroken,because I didn't have the
opportunity to play football forthat whole season and I called
back and they said no.
They said we would rather takea guy that's a freshman and we
(08:29):
have him for five years and turnhim into you over the course of
five years instead of havingyou for only two football
seasons.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Stay there for a second, stay there for a second.
So you're coming out again withrespect, 14-year-old mom,
bridgeport, connecticut, andyou've got to grind.
You finally get to Oregon it'snice to be wanted.
Kansas State, oregon Power 5teams it's nice to be wanted.
You get there second timecalculus You're trying and it
(08:56):
failed.
You were rejected.
And then you finally overcomeFor the listeners.
Tell us what was your mindset,what was the steps, what was
your self-talk?
Were you saying man, that's notthe end of my story, that's not
the end of my story?
How did you overcome that?
Again, because this is whatthis show is all about, chuck.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh yeah.
So you know, I don't think.
At the beginning I thought tomyself that the beginning I
thought to myself that thisisn't the end of my story.
I definitely was.
I was hurt, very hurt by thedecision that you know had
transpired and I didn't knowwhat to do.
But I knew that I had to dosomething.
And my mom, she told me rightto my face.
(09:39):
She said look, you know, thisis not over.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Okay, you will get through this.
And and I didn't believe her atthat time.
Yeah, you know, apparently theysay all the cute, sweet things
all the time.
They're supposed to say that,yeah, and I'm her only kid, I'm
the only child, oh, I say thesethings.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But she was right and all I had to do was, you know,
wake up grinding a lot harderthan the next person, grinding a
lot harder than I've always had, because that was the way my
life had to transpire.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So you weren't afraid of hard work at the time.
You weren't afraid of thatgrind.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
No, that's how I grew up.
I grew up like that and my mom,she instilled that strongly
into me and it didn't matter tome at all.
I was excited.
I mean, people think thatbecause I was a good football
player, it's because I wasblessed with a lot of talent.
Yes, that's a part of it, but Ihad to work so hard to really
get to a high level where I canbe sought out by these high
(10:40):
schools and even from playprofessional as well.
So I just worked hard everysingle day.
I worked out like I do now,three times a day.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And now you came back home University of New Haven
and then was a three-timeAll-American linebacker.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yes, yeah.
So I was a preseasonAll-American, went All-American
each year all the years that Iwas there, and they brought me
there when they brought theprogram back.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Oh okay, the program wasn't even in existence at the
time.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
They didn't have a football team since 2000 or
something like that, if I'm notmistaken.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I think it's been on hiatus for like eight, ten years
, got it and they finallybrought it back to the NCAA and
any team that's new to the NCAA.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
there's Probation.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, I'm sorry I cut you off.
I thought it was probation.
Anytime, it's new.
You got a hold for a year, so Icut you off.
I'm sorry, chuck, say that oneagain.
They did the hold in here.
You're right, it was probation.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
But they brought me in for the actual season.
So when I came, they were readyto start their regular first
season in the NCAA.
And that means that a teamshould be terrible.
They should be completelyterrible.
Right, I get there and you knowwe had a pretty decent team.
We win every game undefeated.
(11:57):
We're undefeated, go to theplayoffs.
Our coach goes head coach ofthe year.
I'm the number one linebackerin the country.
I lead the country in tacklesand our defense is number one
defense in the country for sevenweeks.
And then we dropped down afterlosing the first round of the
playoffs.
To like paying him a five-yearpenalty.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now, at the same time , there's some parallel things,
because you're no dumb jock,you're sitting there getting
your education and it is innutrition and psychology.
So tell us about that parallelexperience, because you know as
athletes a lot of timesbasketball, you play for two
hours and you have 22 hours allto yourself.
(12:38):
Football, outside of all thetraining, you train for four
hours and then you've got 20hours all to yourself.
How were you able to balancethat other part of your life?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Honestly, you just have to figure it out.
You have to learn to understandthat this is only what your
life, honestly, you just youhave to figure it out.
You have to learn to understandthat this is only what your
life is about.
Your life is about school andfootball, especially being in
college.
You're not there for no otherreason, but you know a lot of
college students.
They go to college.
They think that they're therefor the school, the sports and
the party, and can you party?
(13:11):
For sure.
But when you get to therealization of I'm not really
here for anything else besidesschool and sports, then you can
actually really hone in on allthe stuff that you got to deal
with and be able to do a greatjob.
So I've experienced all thepartying stuff out in.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
California and out there.
Could you dance?
While you're talking aboutparty, could you dance Thumbs up
?
I'm being silly.
Okay, the shoulders, theshoulders.
Okay, the shoulders.
The body's too big.
It looked weird.
Let me ask you this one, chuck.
You allow me to be silly withyou.
(13:48):
Then, after a success, bigsuccess, about 20 minutes from
home.
Then you tried out for the NFL.
The Jets and Atlanta didn'tmake it.
A lot of people could sayfailed, could have rejected.
However, you found success inthe Canadian Football League.
Again, before we go to thatsuccess in Canada, what was that
(14:10):
mindset like when you didn'tmake it, when you got cut?
Tell us about that.
I remember being angry.
I was angry with my agent.
Oh, yeah, my agent.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I had the opportunity to sign with Joe Flacco's agent
and I didn't, because I gottricked, I would say, and even
swept off my feet from an agentOkay, I hope you were using a
(14:50):
fork.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
You weren't using your hands, chuck.
Don't tell me you were using afork.
You weren't using your hands,chuck.
Don't tell me you were usingyour hands.
I didn't even know how to grabthe stuff, right, okay, so I'm
sitting there and I said howshould I dress?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
He said you wear whatever you want.
I'm wearing a hoodie, peopleare wearing like ice clothes.
Okay, I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
But you know they took be good.
We should be a pro trainer andI figured to myself oh, this is
going to be great.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But come to find out he was not one of the greatest
agents, not even a great oneperiod, and so I was mad at him.
I was mad at God, because Ithought that this was my track
record, which I was going to begoing to, but I finally got to a
place where everything wasgoing to start to work out.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And you're 22, 21, 22 , 23 at the time, 22 years old.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Okay, 22 years old and so I'm watching a draft and
everybody just knew that I wasgoing to get called by the
Patriots in round.
Seven Patriots came to campusevery week.
They were on campus every weekjust to see me checking in with
coaches, trainers, professors,you name it.
And they're checking in with me.
So they're like yeah, we'regonna take you between six round
(16:01):
and seven round.
We really like you, you know.
So just hang tight.
One phone call on draft night.
Thankfully, the day after I gota call from the Jets so I get
on down there to camp and I'mdoing my thing.
But then they realized theydon't want a linebacker, so they
released me.
They called and said hey, wewant to try to look at you and
(16:23):
the Chargers wanted to look atme as well as a fullback, but I
didn't have any film as afullback.
So then all that stuff wasgoing on for several months and
then no contract came out of it.
So I was really hurt, got a job, started working, but I never
gave up on my dream.
I said there's still anopportunity, I'm not too late.
I'm not too late, I just got tokeep working hard.
I worked hard.
(16:46):
I got invited to your town.
I was in maryland of themaryland dc area and for a
workout with the BritishColumbia Lions.
Oh, they invited me so most guyspaid for these type of camps.
It was free for me and theywere expecting me to show out
and I actually did.
And they called me that sameweek when I went to church I'm
sitting in church service and Iget a phone call I run to the
(17:08):
bathroom.
They said we sent you thiscontract, you got to sign it.
It was a really nice contractand it flew me over All rookie
honors.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You had big success there.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
It helped us win a really biggame out in Calgary and a couple
sacks on the quarterback.
I just led the league intackles, especially that week,
and it was huge.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Let me pivot real quick.
So after your playing career,this is when it really gets
interesting, because all of asudden you're a young guy but
you're still an entrepreneur.
When did faith come into play?
Or you always were sensitive tothe things of God and the
people of God.
And then where, since being 35,and I say this in celebration
(17:53):
for the next 12 years how wereyou able to write three or four
books, to get married and raisebeautiful daughters and remember
, tell Uncle A says, shoot itevery time, tell Charlotte,
shoot it every time.
There you go, pass later.
But how were you able tosimultaneously, through the
heartbreak, continue?
(18:14):
I think about this real quick.
To this point, chuck, they saypick your grind.
You're either going to grindfor success or you're going to
grind in heartbreak andrejection.
And I'm hearing your story andyou're not afraid to grind from
college, from Bridgeport, fromheartbreak, from not being
drafted to having the wrongagent.
(18:35):
I had that myself.
I had a hockey agent thatdidn't know anything about
basketball, but you continue topick the right kind of grind.
So tell us about after that.
And you got into the ministryand, man, you have just been
blowing it out.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I've been grateful to grow up in a family
where they dragged us to church.
I would say my grandma didn'tplay that.
She did not play that at all.
We couldn't even watch cartoons.
We could watch TV first for 30minutes, and then we could watch
cartoons.
And so I grew up.
I believe that I was sensitiveto the things of God, for sure,
(19:12):
but I was not a Christian.
But the Lord radically saved mewhen I was 20 years old.
I came home one summer frombreak in California and I went
to church on the hottest day andone of the most amazing
encounters I've ever had andfrom that moment, my whole life
just changed.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Could you say as much without being weird or spooky,
or so?
Could you tell us what happened?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, I tried not to be weird or spooky.
So that day was a record heatday in Connecticut.
I still remember because wealways were raised to watch the
news before we go outside, so weknow how to dress.
So I watched the news that thatday and they were talking about
it was a world record heat daysince 1970, in the 1970s, and it
(19:59):
was like it was 99 degrees,zero mile per hour wind, and at
the church that I went to was alittle storefront church that
had wooden pews, no fan, no ac,no vents, and remind you,
there's zero mile per hour wind.
So I go to church.
As I'm sitting in church, myhearing goes lost.
So I'm touching my ears and I'mthinking that I'm dying in
(20:21):
church and I thought to myselfwhat a way to die.
I'm dying in church.
Maybe I'll go to heaven.
Within moments I feel thispresence come around me and then
the book starts flipping in mylap like this and it slams on
Psalm 1.
And that's why I didn'tidentify that, because there was
nothing that can cause thepages to flip, let alone open my
(20:43):
Bible.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Oh, it was flipping by itself, by itself, with no
wind.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, wind, no air.
It was the hottest day and itwas zero mile per hour wind.
There's no ACs and no fan inthe church.
You're just sitting theresweating the whole time, and so
I stand on Psalm 1.
My hearing came back withinmoments.
The church service was over.
I didn't hear not one part ofthe message.
Everybody was clapping.
Pastor said have a great, greatweek.
(21:09):
I'm like I didn't hear anything.
I don't know what's going on.
So I started reading thatscripture and the Lord was
affirming me, but rebuking me atthe same time.
He said, blessed are those whodo not walk, sit or stand with
the sinners.
And you know that's what I wasdoing, anyway, you know, even
though I was trying not to dowhat they did, but I would be
more blessed if I did not evenwalk with them or stand with
(21:30):
them or sit with them.
Blessed if I did not even walkwith them or stand with them or
sit with them, which is andpeople, they get that mixed up
where they think well, aren'tyou supposed to be telling the
sinners about the Lord?
Yes, he's telling you to nothave fellowship with them.
That's different.
Like you literally choosing togo to the club to have a good
time, but instead you bringingthem to church, like you can
(21:50):
still, you know, hang out withthem in a sense.
Got it to church Like you canstill, you know, hang out with
them in a sense, Got it, butdon't let them change you, right
?
Wow, and that all happened,changed me from there and at 20
years old I got the gospel andmy whole life just changed for
the better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
When did you?
Because you also got married ata young age.
So when did you start to engageyour family?
When did you start to writeyour books?
And then I know I'm asking alot here, and then you've got to
tell us about One Nutrition andhim.
Go back to starting with thefamily.
When did the family, the missus, come into play?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
My wife.
She's been my girl since wewere 20 years old.
She and I went through middleschool and high school together.
She was one of the beautifulshe was the most beautiful girl
in our school Just did not dateher because she was the first
Bible club starter in our school, one of the top smartest
students in our school.
But she didn't talk to nobodyand I was afraid of rejection so
(22:43):
I would not approach her at all.
So I did not approach her andthen, you know, we ended up
working with each other.
So we ended up getting in, westarted dating and we got
engaged, got married right afterthe draft.
Right after the draft, we gotmarried.
We were about so.
Then we ended up havingchildren for us three years
later.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Charlotte came into the picture, and then Violet
came three years after that, andthen Evangeline came two and a
half years later.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Did you know that you had an entrepreneurial spirit?
Because now you have anutrition company and you got to
tell us the name and the originof it.
I love what it is.
Tell us what it is and how yougot the name of that.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, so it's One Nutrition like U-1-W-O-N and it
stands for wellness or nothing.
Our goal is for you to reallystrive for wellness, because
there's really nothing else inlife.
A lot of people wish that theyhad certain things in their
lives, but not realizing thatthe best attribute and the best
asset to you is your health andyour wellness.
(23:46):
If you don't have that, but youhave a million or a billion
dollars in the bank, what usesit to you?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
because you can't even spend it, you can't even
enjoy it.
Can't enjoy it Exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So that's where we came up with that name.
And then the word won, becausetrue wellness is true winning,
and so it was like oh, that'sperfect, so wellness or nothing,
but you truly won if you arestriving for wellness, and our
goal is to really help you bewell physically on the inside,
physically on the inside.
And so I'm a nutrition anddietetics major from school, and
(24:14):
I was a pre-med major to start,so I was studying to be a
doctor first, but then Iswitched it over to nutrition
and dietetics to learn morehuman sciences as well as
nutrition science as well.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
How'd you get that H-I-M?
That's the other part of it aswell.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, so H-I-M.
People were like, oh, that'scocky.
I so it's him People are likeoh, that's cocky.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I said no, it stands for heaven in motion.
Oh Heaven in motion.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Wow, so him is really pointing to him.
So the I is the arrow pointingup.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Okay, Arrow.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
M.
So it's him.
Heaven in motion.
The goal is to put heaven inmotion.
We want to do the things thatJesus said.
He said to the people thatwould come to him.
He said if you fed that personwho was hungry, you fed him.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If you gave that person who was thirsty something
to drink.
You gave it to him.
If you hold that person who wasnaked, you did it to him.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
You visited that sick person or that person that was
in jail.
You did it to him, and a lot oftimes.
We want to do all the glamorousthings in church, right or of
Christ.
We want to, you know, do theprophetic stuff.
We want to do the big preaching, the big speaking thing.
What about doing these thingsthat really matter to the Lord,
which is taking care of thoseindividuals?
Not on camera, no one sees it,no one knows about it.
(25:24):
Don't toot your horn at all,only between you and the man
upstairs.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Let me ask you this, chuck so were you able to leave
the past behind?
So the heartbreak where youjust identify?
Well, let me go back.
So if you had one word whereyou said in the draft it was
angry because you didn't getwhat you were thinking, like the
Patriots.
If it was one word when youfell short from Oregon and had
(25:50):
to transfer back east, what wasthat one word?
With the rejection at the time?
For the mindset, I would say itwas self-pity.
Okay, so there's self-pitythere.
When you were in high school,going through the Rikes and had
to grind and when did yourealize, like whoa man, this
neighborhood is on.
It's like don't start, nothingwon't be nothing.
(26:11):
What was that one word that youwould associate with you
growing up right there inBridgeport?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's hard because my family were the ones that were
like the big game.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So they brought the noise, they brought the noise.
Okay, I wasn't really a personthat was seen on the outside
looking in, I was on the insidelooking out, got it.
I watched that get made.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I watched people get shot, all types of stuff For me.
I was always told by my mom mymom didn't play that and said
you will not be like so-and-so,Got it, Got it.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And then you know my uncles and them.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
they will always be like.
You know, you're the one and Ididn't like that at first,
because I didn't like peoplethinking that I'm somebody
special over anyone else,Because everyone was special in
my opinion.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
But they were always treating me like that.
They were just like.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You can't hear this, you can't watch this, you can't
see this Don't come this way.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Got it so you knew where it was.
Now bringing this up, I thinkthis is fascinating.
Tell us about this one, Chuck,because you got your degree in
nutrition, but also you wereaware of psychology, and now you
have an M3 program that youruniversity may use as a
curriculum and the schoolsaround there.
(27:32):
Tell us about that and thegenesis of it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, it's amazing, we actually did it at UNH
already.
So I did their businessbusiness class where I talk,
know, mastering mindful mindsetsfor leaders and teams.
But, um, you know, it cameabout because I struggled with
mental health when I was a kid.
I almost killed myself when Iwas 16.
Witnessing, you know, my daddoing those crazy things to my
(27:58):
mother and watching what my momgone through and all the other
stuff that transpired.
So I literally almost succeededat killing myself.
Thank God that I didn't and asI got older.
I started realizing that manyother young people and even
adults are dealing with this,but no one's helping them
process it.
And I was fortunate to be ableto process all the stuff that I
(28:18):
went through in my life and so Ithought who am I to keep this
information to myself?
So that's when I developed M3to get into schools first and
then it just expanded to leadersand teams.
I got a chance to speak atPSE&G it's an energy company.
I went in New Jersey, wasteaching them about positive
leadership, teaching that toUniversity of New Haven about
(28:40):
leadership of leaders, that toUniversity of New Haven about
leadership of leaders that havea strong mindset, that are
combating against mindsetkillers and, of course, dealing
with the mindset builders tohelp you war off those mindset
killers.
And then, of course, helpingteens and young adults deal with
a rich mindset versus a poormindset.
We also deal with mindsetkillers, but we also teach them
(29:01):
the art of goal setting.
A lot of people say that theygoal set but they don't know the
art of it.
There's a reason why manypeople don't get their goals
because they don't understandthe art of it, and if that were
true, that people would know howto deal with their goals.
They would succeed every fiveseconds.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
We don't see that Double down on that one, because
you one time told me that youset your appointments or you set
your schedule almost two weeksin advance.
So give us, give us a day whereyou're still a highly
competitive Olympic hopeful,where you just tried out for it
and fell short this past summer,but you're still working out at
(29:38):
a high level.
You are an entrepreneur, a dadand a pastor.
So give us a Monday throughSaturday kind of scenario in
your time, because time has tobe so important.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Time is very, very important.
So everything, every minute tome counts and every minute to me
is precious.
So I wake up at 3.30 in themorning from Monday through
Friday, every single morning,and I start my time, my day,
reading the bible first, whileI'm walking on my treadmill, and
then I pray, then I get I doone, one very hard task, one of
(30:11):
the hardest tasks I have for anhour and then I go work out, um,
and so that that's every singleday, that that's like that,
right.
But then there's at least fourdays out of the week that I'm
reaching out to individuals toencourage number one.
And then the other part isthere's always.
You know, I'll give myselfbetween nine and nine hours and
(30:32):
eight and nine hours to do work,whether it's certain business
work or, you know, speaking insomewhere, in some capacity, for
that matter.
But my kids I play with themabout five or six times a month.
So I make sure that's scheduledbecause that's so important.
And obviously there are threeof them, so they don't
necessarily need dad to play intheir playroom all the time, but
(30:53):
it's very important to me thatthey see that because it keeps
their youthfulness.
And then my wife and I we go ondates often several times a
month and we have talks everysingle night.
We and she and I will gettogether, put the kids to sleep
and we'll have these elaborateconversations, some of them
funny, some of them serious, notlike serious between us, but
(31:14):
about something that happened inthe day or whatever.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And it's interesting just paying off that point with
you and the missus that you guysalso have fellowship with other
young couples at your house, somuch so that you got to shoo
them away sometimes about thatone and the leadership that you
have.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, yeah, we would mentor a lot of people our age,
our age range or a little bityounger, and they would be at
the house.
But it was always like thatwhen I was doing youth ministry
back in the day we started doingthat, we realized that true
leadership can actually happenif someone follows you and knows
you regular day to day.
I can teach you leadershipuntil the cows come home, but
(31:54):
unless you're someone thatreally gets it which there's
only a few in each group thatwill really get it, I really
need you to be with me to seeand so we did that with people
our age young adults and it'sbeen awesome.
We'll get about 40 or so comingover to the house, feed them,
teach them, get a whole bunch ofgood open-ended questions and
(32:15):
answering, and then people hangout and do whatever.
Usually summertime they stickaround in the pool or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Let me ask you this one, chuck.
I wrote this one down and I'dlove to hear your response and
your answer to it.
It might be one and the same.
The first one is how hasfailure shaped you?
And the other one is what's themost important lesson you've
learned in your life?
So one is how has failureshaped you and what's the most
(32:42):
important lesson you've learnedin your life?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So one is how has failure gears?
But there's no such thing asfailure to an individual that
never gives up.
So that has changed my way ofthinking, of understanding.
(33:09):
Whenever I have a setbacksomewhere, that's just an
opportunity for me to learn moreand to develop more and to get
right back out there.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I like that because you had a quote.
I wrote down one of your quotesGrowth isn't about failure, but
what you learn in the process.
What are you becoming?
That's right.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Exactly.
And another question you saidfailure.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yeah, what's the most important lesson you've learned
in your life?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yeah, I would say the most.
The best one that I've learnedin my life is discipline.
Discipline is everything.
If you have discipline, you canliterally win at every aspect
of your life.
Discipline in your eating youwill have better health and, of
course, better body right.
Discipline with your time, asfar as how you spread it out.
(33:56):
Discipline in yourrelationships.
Discipline in your training ifyou're an athlete.
Discipline on your job.
Discipline in yourrelationships.
Discipline in your training ifyou're an athlete.
Discipline on your job.
Discipline is the greatestasset to any person, and
everyone has it, and noteveryone.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Everyone doesn't use it, and so I choose to use it
every single opportunity that Iget a few more questions before
we shut it down, because you youhave just been on on fire.
First, 35 years in the booksand all All-American.
As we mentioned, you've been anauthor and now they're using
that in your curriculum and thestate of Connecticut that you're
(34:30):
so proud of.
What does the next five to tenyears look like for Chuck Lord
willing?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Lord willing.
I'm not too sure, but I do knowone thing If I'm still alive
and if I'm still healthy, it'sgoing to look good.
I'll tell you that right now,the things I'm striving for.
I'll probably have several morebooks out there In five, ten
years.
My oldest daughter should beabout 15 years old at that time,
(34:59):
so I'll probably be doing abunch more Uber driving with my
kids, so you got to stay inshape.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Keep up with the kids .
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I'm always around.
My kids never feel the absenteefather.
They know that their dadsmothers them so much to the
point where my oldest daughter alot of times says Dad, can mom
take me to my basketball game?
You always have to take me, I'malways going to take you.
You're not going to give my jobup to your mother, but, yeah, I
(35:29):
would say the next five yearsor so it looks very bright, lord
willing.
I don't know what it entails.
The only thing I know is thatthe individual that I'm becoming
will be prepared.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Oh, I'm loving that.
I'm loving that.
Chuck, this has been fantastic.
Where can the listeningaudience find you?
Where can they find your books?
Where can they find you ifthey're looking for you online?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, they can go to chuckhatchetcom.
Simple is my name.
First and last name ischuckhatchetcom.
They can find my books, theycan find the M3 curriculum on
there.
They can sign up for thenewsletter.
We'll be sending out a bunch offree stuff just to help people,
encourage people.
The books right here this isthe one that just came out.
It was God and my.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Sport.
Give us a bullet point.
What is that one Chuck Give us?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
a bullet point.
This one is an athlete'spromotion 100 days.
So usually there's 100 days inthe sport, from preseason all
the way to championship, andthis will help encourage you to
discover where the Lord is inyour sport because he's always
there.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Alright, give me the heading Number 24, that's my
basketball number.
Look at number 24.
What do you say as a bulletpoint for number 24?
Day 24.
What do you say as a bulletpoint for number 24?
Day 24.
What do you say on that one?
Real quick, just a bullet point.
Divine assurance.
Ah, I like it.
I like it, Divine assurance.
(36:55):
Well, chuck, chuck, you arespecial.
You are as good as advertised.
You are the real influencer.
It's not those celebrityhubbubs, big mouths, it's guys
like you that never quit andkeep going.
Thank you so much for coming onhere today, man.
You are a blessing, and thankyou for being a colleague and a
(37:17):
friend.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
I appreciate you Seriously.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Well, folks, you've heard it, that's Chuck Hatchett.
And look him up.
You can find him.
He's the real deal, Really.
If you enjoyed this show, go toAdrianBranchSpeakscom or find
us at Adrian Branch Speaks onthe website and have a good time
with the podcast as well.
You can find the CLIMB podcastwherever it's available Again,
(37:42):
adrianchbranchespeakscom, andlook on the social web at
Adrianch Branch Speaks.
It has been awesome.
We sure appreciate you and formy climbers out there, remember
this Be encouraged and keepclimbing.
We'll see you next time.
Everybody, you
you.
Hi everybody, I'm Adrian Branchand welcome to another episode
of the Climb, a show thatcelebrates the resilience of men
and women and how they overcome, how they get to where they're
going.
They don't allow potholes andobstacles to stop them.
This show is intentional aboutbringing you guests where you
can identify and have some touchpoints.
(00:56):
We want you to come away fromthis show saying if they can do
it, I can do it too.
If they can overcome, I canovercome as well.
Having said that, we want tointroduce you to a guy who's
close to me.
I'm so proud of him.
He's a colleague, he's a friendand at 35, he's already so
accomplished.
But you're going to connectwith how he's overcome.
(01:19):
His name is Chuck Hatchett andhe's a fascinating person.
He's been a three-timeAll-American at the University
of New Haven football linebacker.
He's played professionalfootball over in Canada for the
BC Lions.
He's married to his lovely wife, virginia, and they're three
children.
And then watch this folks.
He's already written four books.
(01:39):
He's an entrepreneur, he's apastor I need a Gatorade, we
hadn't even introduced him yetand also he's just an all-around
good guy.
So, chuck, welcome to the show,brother, I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me, man,if I put any more mustard on
that introduction, you'd be ahot dog.
I'm running out of superlativesfor you.
You put a little bit on it.
(02:02):
Well, chuck, tell us, I knowyou're from the Northeast.
I'm a DC guy from the Northeastas well.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
East Coast Tell us about your story and growing up
in Connecticut, I would say youknow Connecticut's a beautiful
place.
It's the four-season state, forsure.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
True, the four-season that we experienced here.
Now it's snowinging.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
oh, it's not fun, uh, but you know, growing up in
connecticut it was um, it wasfun, good and different and, you
know, at times dangerous for meI lived in frishport,
connecticut.
Not sure if you know anyoneknows where that's at, but they
look at connecticut's little doton the map and then you open
that up a little bit and uh,it's the biggest city in the
(02:48):
connecticut, I'm not mistaken.
And uh, in bridgeport is knownfor a lot of the bad things that
happened there.
It's not known for all thegreat things that used to happen
back then, because brisbane wasknown for a lot of great
businesses that used to thrivethere and the academic system
was pretty good too, but todayit's not so much.
(03:08):
So I grew up in the projectsand to a single mother, my mom.
She was only 14 years old whenshe had me Wow and we lived in a
three-bedroom, one-bath projecthousing apartment for several
years and I was with mygrandmother and my aunts and my
uncles and my great-grandmotherat the same time and it was a
(03:30):
lot of fun in that house.
But the house was definitelypacked and it was not easy to
find a place to sleep.
So I always know I find myselfat times finding different
places to sleep, whether it's ona bunk bed, until the springs
just start to come up and startstabbing you in the side,
sleeping on the floor.
But you know, we have a project, you get roaches and mice, you
(03:50):
get all types of stuff, and thenI end up sleeping on a chair, a
sit-up chair, such as whatwe're sitting in right now for
several years.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So Connecticut is definitely home, but it has a
fair share of what's going on.
Let me park there for a minute.
I had a teammate, wes Matthewswon the championship from
Bridgeport, connecticut, and hehad a toughness about him.
He was a great guy, but he hada toughness.
Chuck, before we go any furtherin the story, I never knew that
detail.
Mom was only 14 years olderthan you, so you two almost grew
up together.
I want to say, but then notbeing a destination town or
(04:26):
people thinking that you're notgoing to be like Yale University
, that's not too far from you,right there.
What did that do?
What was the mindset for you?
Because you could have foldedthe tent and said man, I'm out
of here.
Nobody thinks I'm going to doanything anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Yeah, that's such a great question.
It was very tough to have astrong mindset and one to get me
to where all the accolades thatyou just named, because in the
projects you know, we would hearfrom other guys that were drug
dealers, gangbangers, and theywill see me do a little workouts
outside because we didn't haveno room to put, like the weight
(05:03):
room set.
So I'll work out with weightroom set outside in the projects
, in the back, and it would getrustic because the rain will
come on, but I'll still use it.
Anyway, my hands are turningorange, one of the things I'll
hear all the time say yo listen,chuck, you should just stop,
because no one makes it out ofhere.
Wow, wow Also when you dosomething pretty good, people
(05:25):
just just glance over it likethat's nothing, who cares.
So there wasn't muchencouragement and also there was
a lot of downplaying of all thethings that you were trying to
strive for.
But I had a great, great family, my mom.
She was my biggest cheerleadermost of my whole life I would
say mostly because my wife is mybiggest cheerleader now.
My uncles, my uncles were bigathletes.
(05:47):
Uncle Andre, he played football, my uncle Glenn played track
and they were always there at alot of my games and rooting me
on and pushing me forward.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I want to jump ahead.
So this is an interesting story.
You were able to accelerate andbe in position for a
scholarship for Oregon.
However, it was a heartbreakingstory because of one class.
You had to come back home, tellus about Oregon and going all
the way from the East Coast tothe West Coast and then coming
back East.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
It actually goes a little bit farther back.
Coming out of high school, Iwas a four star linebacker, so I
was pretty good.
I got offered about 60 or sofull scholarships from various
schools, such as Oklahoma,virginia Tech, uva.
A lot of different schools, alot of great schools, and I
couldn't accept one of thembecause I didn't have the right
grade coming out of high school.
(06:38):
I had a great SAT score, but Idid not have the right GPA to
mix with the SAT score, so Ichose to go to a junior college
in California, santa Monica,shout out to Coach T, who's in
heaven right now.
So we went over there and hadthe opportunity to make a name
for myself again, and now allthe schools are coming back.
(07:00):
So there was a war between avirtual war, I would say between
Kansas State University andUniversity of Oregon.
Of course I chose Oregonbecause they got the great
uniforms.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
And Uncle Phil Knight .
Don't forget the NILs before itwas popular.
Yeah, exactly, we always lovedthe NILs.
Okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
So I chose to go to Oregon.
Get there, okay, okay, wow time.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
And they sent me back home.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
They said you're on academic probation and one of
two things only can happenEither A you stay here but you
got to pay for the wholesemester.
B you go back home and you getyour grades right at your local
(07:52):
community college and try andearn your scholarship back.
It's not waiting for me, butyou can try and earn it back.
Of course I'm from the project.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I didn't have no money at all.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I went home and I went to the local community
college, hoosatonic, and I didwell, I did really well actually
.
I got on the beans list.
It took 17 credits that fall.
I was hurt, heartbroken,because I didn't have the
opportunity to play football forthat whole season and I called
back and they said no.
They said we would rather takea guy that's a freshman and we
(08:29):
have him for five years and turnhim into you over the course of
five years instead of havingyou for only two football
seasons.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Stay there for a second, stay there for a second.
So you're coming out again withrespect, 14-year-old mom,
bridgeport, connecticut, andyou've got to grind.
You finally get to Oregon it'snice to be wanted.
Kansas State, oregon Power 5teams it's nice to be wanted.
You get there second timecalculus You're trying and it
(08:56):
failed.
You were rejected.
And then you finally overcomeFor the listeners.
Tell us what was your mindset,what was the steps, what was
your self-talk?
Were you saying man, that's notthe end of my story, that's not
the end of my story?
How did you overcome that?
Again, because this is whatthis show is all about, chuck.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
Oh yeah.
So you know, I don't think.
At the beginning I thought tomyself that the beginning I
thought to myself that thisisn't the end of my story.
I definitely was.
I was hurt, very hurt by thedecision that you know had
transpired and I didn't knowwhat to do.
But I knew that I had to dosomething.
And my mom, she told me rightto my face.
(09:39):
She said look, you know, thisis not over.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Okay, you will get through this.
And and I didn't believe her atthat time.
Yeah, you know, apparently theysay all the cute, sweet things
all the time.
They're supposed to say that,yeah, and I'm her only kid, I'm
the only child, oh, I say thesethings.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
But she was right and all I had to do was, you know,
wake up grinding a lot harderthan the next person, grinding a
lot harder than I've always had, because that was the way my
life had to transpire.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
So you weren't afraid of hard work at the time.
You weren't afraid of thatgrind.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
No, that's how I grew up.
I grew up like that and my mom,she instilled that strongly
into me and it didn't matter tome at all.
I was excited.
I mean, people think thatbecause I was a good football
player, it's because I wasblessed with a lot of talent.
Yes, that's a part of it, but Ihad to work so hard to really
get to a high level where I canbe sought out by these high
(10:40):
schools and even from playprofessional as well.
So I just worked hard everysingle day.
I worked out like I do now,three times a day.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
And now you came back home University of New Haven
and then was a three-timeAll-American linebacker.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yes, yeah.
So I was a preseasonAll-American, went All-American
each year all the years that Iwas there, and they brought me
there when they brought theprogram back.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Oh okay, the program wasn't even in existence at the
time.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
They didn't have a football team since 2000 or
something like that, if I'm notmistaken.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
I think it's been on hiatus for like eight, ten years
, got it and they finallybrought it back to the NCAA and
any team that's new to the NCAA.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
there's Probation.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Okay, I'm sorry I cut you off.
I thought it was probation.
Anytime, it's new.
You got a hold for a year, so Icut you off.
I'm sorry, chuck, say that oneagain.
They did the hold in here.
You're right, it was probation.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
But they brought me in for the actual season.
So when I came, they were readyto start their regular first
season in the NCAA.
And that means that a teamshould be terrible.
They should be completelyterrible.
Right, I get there and you knowwe had a pretty decent team.
We win every game undefeated.
(11:57):
We're undefeated, go to theplayoffs.
Our coach goes head coach ofthe year.
I'm the number one linebackerin the country.
I lead the country in tacklesand our defense is number one
defense in the country for sevenweeks.
And then we dropped down afterlosing the first round of the
playoffs.
To like paying him a five-yearpenalty.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now, at the same time , there's some parallel things,
because you're no dumb jock,you're sitting there getting
your education and it is innutrition and psychology.
So tell us about that parallelexperience, because you know as
athletes a lot of timesbasketball, you play for two
hours and you have 22 hours allto yourself.
(12:38):
Football, outside of all thetraining, you train for four
hours and then you've got 20hours all to yourself.
How were you able to balancethat other part of your life?
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Honestly, you just have to figure it out.
You have to learn to understandthat this is only what your
life, honestly, you just youhave to figure it out.
You have to learn to understandthat this is only what your
life is about.
Your life is about school andfootball, especially being in
college.
You're not there for no otherreason, but you know a lot of
college students.
They go to college.
They think that they're therefor the school, the sports and
the party, and can you party?
(13:11):
For sure.
But when you get to therealization of I'm not really
here for anything else besidesschool and sports, then you can
actually really hone in on allthe stuff that you got to deal
with and be able to do a greatjob.
So I've experienced all thepartying stuff out in.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
California and out there.
Could you dance?
While you're talking aboutparty, could you dance Thumbs up
?
I'm being silly.
Okay, the shoulders, theshoulders.
Okay, the shoulders.
The body's too big.
It looked weird.
Let me ask you this one, chuck.
You allow me to be silly withyou.
(13:48):
Then, after a success, bigsuccess, about 20 minutes from
home.
Then you tried out for the NFL.
The Jets and Atlanta didn'tmake it.
A lot of people could sayfailed, could have rejected.
However, you found success inthe Canadian Football League.
Again, before we go to thatsuccess in Canada, what was that
(14:10):
mindset like when you didn'tmake it, when you got cut?
Tell us about that.
I remember being angry.
I was angry with my agent.
Oh, yeah, my agent.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I had the opportunity to sign with Joe Flacco's agent
and I didn't, because I gottricked, I would say, and even
swept off my feet from an agentOkay, I hope you were using a
(14:50):
fork.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
You weren't using your hands, chuck.
Don't tell me you were using afork.
You weren't using your hands,chuck.
Don't tell me you were usingyour hands.
I didn't even know how to grabthe stuff, right, okay, so I'm
sitting there and I said howshould I dress?
Speaker 2 (15:00):
He said you wear whatever you want.
I'm wearing a hoodie, peopleare wearing like ice clothes.
Okay, I didn't know what to do.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
But you know they took be good.
We should be a pro trainer andI figured to myself oh, this is
going to be great.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
But come to find out he was not one of the greatest
agents, not even a great oneperiod, and so I was mad at him.
I was mad at God, because Ithought that this was my track
record, which I was going to begoing to, but I finally got to a
place where everything wasgoing to start to work out.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
And you're 22, 21, 22 , 23 at the time, 22 years old.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
Okay, 22 years old and so I'm watching a draft and
everybody just knew that I wasgoing to get called by the
Patriots in round.
Seven Patriots came to campusevery week.
They were on campus every weekjust to see me checking in with
coaches, trainers, professors,you name it.
And they're checking in with me.
So they're like yeah, we'regonna take you between six round
(16:01):
and seven round.
We really like you, you know.
So just hang tight.
One phone call on draft night.
Thankfully, the day after I gota call from the Jets so I get
on down there to camp and I'mdoing my thing.
But then they realized theydon't want a linebacker, so they
released me.
They called and said hey, wewant to try to look at you and
(16:23):
the Chargers wanted to look atme as well as a fullback, but I
didn't have any film as afullback.
So then all that stuff wasgoing on for several months and
then no contract came out of it.
So I was really hurt, got a job, started working, but I never
gave up on my dream.
I said there's still anopportunity, I'm not too late.
I'm not too late, I just got tokeep working hard.
I worked hard.
(16:46):
I got invited to your town.
I was in maryland of themaryland dc area and for a
workout with the BritishColumbia Lions.
Oh, they invited me so most guyspaid for these type of camps.
It was free for me and theywere expecting me to show out
and I actually did.
And they called me that sameweek when I went to church I'm
sitting in church service and Iget a phone call I run to the
(17:08):
bathroom.
They said we sent you thiscontract, you got to sign it.
It was a really nice contractand it flew me over All rookie
honors.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
You had big success there.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Yes, sir, yes sir.
It helped us win a really biggame out in Calgary and a couple
sacks on the quarterback.
I just led the league intackles, especially that week,
and it was huge.
Speaker 1 (17:32):
Let me pivot real quick.
So after your playing career,this is when it really gets
interesting, because all of asudden you're a young guy but
you're still an entrepreneur.
When did faith come into play?
Or you always were sensitive tothe things of God and the
people of God.
And then where, since being 35,and I say this in celebration
(17:53):
for the next 12 years how wereyou able to write three or four
books, to get married and raisebeautiful daughters and remember
, tell Uncle A says, shoot itevery time, tell Charlotte,
shoot it every time.
There you go, pass later.
But how were you able tosimultaneously, through the
heartbreak, continue?
(18:14):
I think about this real quick.
To this point, chuck, they saypick your grind.
You're either going to grindfor success or you're going to
grind in heartbreak andrejection.
And I'm hearing your story andyou're not afraid to grind from
college, from Bridgeport, fromheartbreak, from not being
drafted to having the wrongagent.
(18:35):
I had that myself.
I had a hockey agent thatdidn't know anything about
basketball, but you continue topick the right kind of grind.
So tell us about after that.
And you got into the ministryand, man, you have just been
blowing it out.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
Yeah, I've been grateful to grow up in a family
where they dragged us to church.
I would say my grandma didn'tplay that.
She did not play that at all.
We couldn't even watch cartoons.
We could watch TV first for 30minutes, and then we could watch
cartoons.
And so I grew up.
I believe that I was sensitiveto the things of God, for sure,
(19:12):
but I was not a Christian.
But the Lord radically saved mewhen I was 20 years old.
I came home one summer frombreak in California and I went
to church on the hottest day andone of the most amazing
encounters I've ever had andfrom that moment, my whole life
just changed.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Could you say as much without being weird or spooky,
or so?
Could you tell us what happened?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Yeah, I tried not to be weird or spooky.
So that day was a record heatday in Connecticut.
I still remember because wealways were raised to watch the
news before we go outside, so weknow how to dress.
So I watched the news that thatday and they were talking about
it was a world record heat daysince 1970, in the 1970s, and it
(19:59):
was like it was 99 degrees,zero mile per hour wind, and at
the church that I went to was alittle storefront church that
had wooden pews, no fan, no ac,no vents, and remind you,
there's zero mile per hour wind.
So I go to church.
As I'm sitting in church, myhearing goes lost.
So I'm touching my ears and I'mthinking that I'm dying in
(20:21):
church and I thought to myselfwhat a way to die.
I'm dying in church.
Maybe I'll go to heaven.
Within moments I feel thispresence come around me and then
the book starts flipping in mylap like this and it slams on
Psalm 1.
And that's why I didn'tidentify that, because there was
nothing that can cause thepages to flip, let alone open my
(20:43):
Bible.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Oh, it was flipping by itself, by itself, with no
wind.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, wind, no air.
It was the hottest day and itwas zero mile per hour wind.
There's no ACs and no fan inthe church.
You're just sitting theresweating the whole time, and so
I stand on Psalm 1.
My hearing came back withinmoments.
The church service was over.
I didn't hear not one part ofthe message.
Everybody was clapping.
Pastor said have a great, greatweek.
(21:09):
I'm like I didn't hear anything.
I don't know what's going on.
So I started reading thatscripture and the Lord was
affirming me, but rebuking me atthe same time.
He said, blessed are those whodo not walk, sit or stand with
the sinners.
And you know that's what I wasdoing, anyway, you know, even
though I was trying not to dowhat they did, but I would be
more blessed if I did not evenwalk with them or stand with
(21:30):
them or sit with them.
Blessed if I did not even walkwith them or stand with them or
sit with them, which is andpeople, they get that mixed up
where they think well, aren'tyou supposed to be telling the
sinners about the Lord?
Yes, he's telling you to nothave fellowship with them.
That's different.
Like you literally choosing togo to the club to have a good
time, but instead you bringingthem to church, like you can
(21:50):
still, you know, hang out withthem in a sense.
Got it to church Like you canstill, you know, hang out with
them in a sense, Got it, butdon't let them change you, right
?
Wow, and that all happened,changed me from there and at 20
years old I got the gospel andmy whole life just changed for
the better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
When did you?
Because you also got married ata young age.
So when did you start to engageyour family?
When did you start to writeyour books?
And then I know I'm asking alot here, and then you've got to
tell us about One Nutrition andhim.
Go back to starting with thefamily.
When did the family, the missus, come into play?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
My wife.
She's been my girl since wewere 20 years old.
She and I went through middleschool and high school together.
She was one of the beautifulshe was the most beautiful girl
in our school Just did not dateher because she was the first
Bible club starter in our school, one of the top smartest
students in our school.
But she didn't talk to nobodyand I was afraid of rejection so
(22:43):
I would not approach her at all.
So I did not approach her andthen, you know, we ended up
working with each other.
So we ended up getting in, westarted dating and we got
engaged, got married right afterthe draft.
Right after the draft, we gotmarried.
We were about so.
Then we ended up havingchildren for us three years
later.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
Charlotte came into the picture, and then Violet
came three years after that, andthen Evangeline came two and a
half years later.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Did you know that you had an entrepreneurial spirit?
Because now you have anutrition company and you got to
tell us the name and the originof it.
I love what it is.
Tell us what it is and how yougot the name of that.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Yeah, so it's One Nutrition like U-1-W-O-N and it
stands for wellness or nothing.
Our goal is for you to reallystrive for wellness, because
there's really nothing else inlife.
A lot of people wish that theyhad certain things in their
lives, but not realizing thatthe best attribute and the best
asset to you is your health andyour wellness.
(23:46):
If you don't have that, but youhave a million or a billion
dollars in the bank, what usesit to you?
Speaker 1 (23:50):
because you can't even spend it, you can't even
enjoy it.
Can't enjoy it Exactly.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
So that's where we came up with that name.
And then the word won, becausetrue wellness is true winning,
and so it was like oh, that'sperfect, so wellness or nothing,
but you truly won if you arestriving for wellness, and our
goal is to really help you bewell physically on the inside,
physically on the inside.
And so I'm a nutrition anddietetics major from school, and
(24:14):
I was a pre-med major to start,so I was studying to be a
doctor first, but then Iswitched it over to nutrition
and dietetics to learn morehuman sciences as well as
nutrition science as well.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
How'd you get that H-I-M?
That's the other part of it aswell.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
Yeah, so H-I-M.
People were like, oh, that'scocky.
I so it's him People are likeoh, that's cocky.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I said no, it stands for heaven in motion.
Oh Heaven in motion.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
Wow, so him is really pointing to him.
So the I is the arrow pointingup.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Okay, Arrow.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
M.
So it's him.
Heaven in motion.
The goal is to put heaven inmotion.
We want to do the things thatJesus said.
He said to the people thatwould come to him.
He said if you fed that personwho was hungry, you fed him.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
If you gave that person who was thirsty something
to drink.
You gave it to him.
If you hold that person who wasnaked, you did it to him.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
You visited that sick person or that person that was
in jail.
You did it to him, and a lot oftimes.
We want to do all the glamorousthings in church, right or of
Christ.
We want to, you know, do theprophetic stuff.
We want to do the big preaching, the big speaking thing.
What about doing these thingsthat really matter to the Lord,
which is taking care of thoseindividuals?
Not on camera, no one sees it,no one knows about it.
(25:24):
Don't toot your horn at all,only between you and the man
upstairs.
That's it.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Let me ask you this, chuck so were you able to leave
the past behind?
So the heartbreak where youjust identify?
Well, let me go back.
So if you had one word whereyou said in the draft it was
angry because you didn't getwhat you were thinking, like the
Patriots.
If it was one word when youfell short from Oregon and had
(25:50):
to transfer back east, what wasthat one word?
With the rejection at the time?
For the mindset, I would say itwas self-pity.
Okay, so there's self-pitythere.
When you were in high school,going through the Rikes and had
to grind and when did yourealize, like whoa man, this
neighborhood is on.
It's like don't start, nothingwon't be nothing.
(26:11):
What was that one word that youwould associate with you
growing up right there inBridgeport?
Speaker 2 (26:19):
It's hard because my family were the ones that were
like the big game.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
So they brought the noise, they brought the noise.
Okay, I wasn't really a personthat was seen on the outside
looking in, I was on the insidelooking out, got it.
I watched that get made.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
I watched people get shot, all types of stuff For me.
I was always told by my mom mymom didn't play that and said
you will not be like so-and-so,Got it, Got it.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And then you know my uncles and them.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
they will always be like.
You know, you're the one and Ididn't like that at first,
because I didn't like peoplethinking that I'm somebody
special over anyone else,Because everyone was special in
my opinion.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
But they were always treating me like that.
They were just like.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
You can't hear this, you can't watch this, you can't
see this Don't come this way.
Speaker 1 (27:11):
Got it so you knew where it was.
Now bringing this up, I thinkthis is fascinating.
Tell us about this one, Chuck,because you got your degree in
nutrition, but also you wereaware of psychology, and now you
have an M3 program that youruniversity may use as a
curriculum and the schoolsaround there.
(27:32):
Tell us about that and thegenesis of it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Yeah, it's amazing, we actually did it at UNH
already.
So I did their businessbusiness class where I talk,
know, mastering mindful mindsetsfor leaders and teams.
But, um, you know, it cameabout because I struggled with
mental health when I was a kid.
I almost killed myself when Iwas 16.
Witnessing, you know, my daddoing those crazy things to my
(27:58):
mother and watching what my momgone through and all the other
stuff that transpired.
So I literally almost succeededat killing myself.
Thank God that I didn't and asI got older.
I started realizing that manyother young people and even
adults are dealing with this,but no one's helping them
process it.
And I was fortunate to be ableto process all the stuff that I
(28:18):
went through in my life and so Ithought who am I to keep this
information to myself?
So that's when I developed M3to get into schools first and
then it just expanded to leadersand teams.
I got a chance to speak atPSE&G it's an energy company.
I went in New Jersey, wasteaching them about positive
leadership, teaching that toUniversity of New Haven about
(28:40):
leadership of leaders, that toUniversity of New Haven about
leadership of leaders that havea strong mindset, that are
combating against mindsetkillers and, of course, dealing
with the mindset builders tohelp you war off those mindset
killers.
And then, of course, helpingteens and young adults deal with
a rich mindset versus a poormindset.
We also deal with mindsetkillers, but we also teach them
(29:01):
the art of goal setting.
A lot of people say that theygoal set but they don't know the
art of it.
There's a reason why manypeople don't get their goals
because they don't understandthe art of it, and if that were
true, that people would know howto deal with their goals.
They would succeed every fiveseconds.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
We don't see that Double down on that one, because
you one time told me that youset your appointments or you set
your schedule almost two weeksin advance.
So give us, give us a day whereyou're still a highly
competitive Olympic hopeful,where you just tried out for it
and fell short this past summer,but you're still working out at
(29:38):
a high level.
You are an entrepreneur, a dadand a pastor.
So give us a Monday throughSaturday kind of scenario in
your time, because time has tobe so important.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Time is very, very important.
So everything, every minute tome counts and every minute to me
is precious.
So I wake up at 3.30 in themorning from Monday through
Friday, every single morning,and I start my time, my day,
reading the bible first, whileI'm walking on my treadmill, and
then I pray, then I get I doone, one very hard task, one of
(30:11):
the hardest tasks I have for anhour and then I go work out, um,
and so that that's every singleday, that that's like that,
right.
But then there's at least fourdays out of the week that I'm
reaching out to individuals toencourage number one.
And then the other part isthere's always.
You know, I'll give myselfbetween nine and nine hours and
(30:32):
eight and nine hours to do work,whether it's certain business
work or, you know, speaking insomewhere, in some capacity, for
that matter.
But my kids I play with themabout five or six times a month.
So I make sure that's scheduledbecause that's so important.
And obviously there are threeof them, so they don't
necessarily need dad to play intheir playroom all the time, but
(30:53):
it's very important to me thatthey see that because it keeps
their youthfulness.
And then my wife and I we go ondates often several times a
month and we have talks everysingle night.
We and she and I will gettogether, put the kids to sleep
and we'll have these elaborateconversations, some of them
funny, some of them serious, notlike serious between us, but
(31:14):
about something that happened inthe day or whatever.
Speaker 1 (31:17):
And it's interesting just paying off that point with
you and the missus that you guysalso have fellowship with other
young couples at your house, somuch so that you got to shoo
them away sometimes about thatone and the leadership that you
have.
Speaker 2 (31:30):
Yeah, yeah, we would mentor a lot of people our age,
our age range or a little bityounger, and they would be at
the house.
But it was always like thatwhen I was doing youth ministry
back in the day we started doingthat, we realized that true
leadership can actually happenif someone follows you and knows
you regular day to day.
I can teach you leadershipuntil the cows come home, but
(31:54):
unless you're someone thatreally gets it which there's
only a few in each group thatwill really get it, I really
need you to be with me to seeand so we did that with people
our age young adults and it'sbeen awesome.
We'll get about 40 or so comingover to the house, feed them,
teach them, get a whole bunch ofgood open-ended questions and
(32:15):
answering, and then people hangout and do whatever.
Usually summertime they stickaround in the pool or something
like that.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Let me ask you this one, chuck.
I wrote this one down and I'dlove to hear your response and
your answer to it.
It might be one and the same.
The first one is how hasfailure shaped you?
And the other one is what's themost important lesson you've
learned in your life?
So one is how has failureshaped you and what's the most
(32:42):
important lesson you've learnedin your life?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So one is how has failure gears?
But there's no such thing asfailure to an individual that
never gives up.
So that has changed my way ofthinking, of understanding.
(33:09):
Whenever I have a setbacksomewhere, that's just an
opportunity for me to learn moreand to develop more and to get
right back out there.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, I like that because you had a quote.
I wrote down one of your quotesGrowth isn't about failure, but
what you learn in the process.
What are you becoming?
That's right.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Exactly.
And another question you saidfailure.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Yeah, what's the most important lesson you've learned
in your life?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yeah, I would say the most.
The best one that I've learnedin my life is discipline.
Discipline is everything.
If you have discipline, you canliterally win at every aspect
of your life.
Discipline in your eating youwill have better health and, of
course, better body right.
Discipline with your time, asfar as how you spread it out.
(33:56):
Discipline in yourrelationships.
Discipline in your training ifyou're an athlete.
Discipline on your job.
Discipline in yourrelationships.
Discipline in your training ifyou're an athlete.
Discipline on your job.
Discipline is the greatestasset to any person, and
everyone has it, and noteveryone.
Speaker 1 (34:09):
Everyone doesn't use it, and so I choose to use it
every single opportunity that Iget a few more questions before
we shut it down, because you youhave just been on on fire.
First, 35 years in the booksand all All-American.
As we mentioned, you've been anauthor and now they're using
that in your curriculum and thestate of Connecticut that you're
(34:30):
so proud of.
What does the next five to tenyears look like for Chuck Lord
willing?
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Lord willing.
I'm not too sure, but I do knowone thing If I'm still alive
and if I'm still healthy, it'sgoing to look good.
I'll tell you that right now,the things I'm striving for.
I'll probably have several morebooks out there In five, ten
years.
My oldest daughter should beabout 15 years old at that time,
(34:59):
so I'll probably be doing abunch more Uber driving with my
kids, so you got to stay inshape.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
Keep up with the kids .
Speaker 2 (35:08):
I'm always around.
My kids never feel the absenteefather.
They know that their dadsmothers them so much to the
point where my oldest daughter alot of times says Dad, can mom
take me to my basketball game?
You always have to take me, I'malways going to take you.
You're not going to give my jobup to your mother, but, yeah, I
(35:29):
would say the next five yearsor so it looks very bright, lord
willing.
I don't know what it entails.
The only thing I know is thatthe individual that I'm becoming
will be prepared.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
Oh, I'm loving that.
I'm loving that.
Chuck, this has been fantastic.
Where can the listeningaudience find you?
Where can they find your books?
Where can they find you ifthey're looking for you online?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
Yeah, they can go to chuckhatchetcom.
Simple is my name.
First and last name ischuckhatchetcom.
They can find my books, theycan find the M3 curriculum on
there.
They can sign up for thenewsletter.
We'll be sending out a bunch offree stuff just to help people,
encourage people.
The books right here this isthe one that just came out.
It was God and my.
Speaker 1 (36:15):
Sport.
Give us a bullet point.
What is that one Chuck Give us?
Speaker 2 (36:20):
a bullet point.
This one is an athlete'spromotion 100 days.
So usually there's 100 days inthe sport, from preseason all
the way to championship, andthis will help encourage you to
discover where the Lord is inyour sport because he's always
there.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Alright, give me the heading Number 24, that's my
basketball number.
Look at number 24.
What do you say as a bulletpoint for number 24?
Day 24.
What do you say as a bulletpoint for number 24?
Day 24.
What do you say on that one?
Real quick, just a bullet point.
Divine assurance.
Ah, I like it.
I like it, Divine assurance.
(36:55):
Well, chuck, chuck, you arespecial.
You are as good as advertised.
You are the real influencer.
It's not those celebrityhubbubs, big mouths, it's guys
like you that never quit andkeep going.
Thank you so much for coming onhere today, man.
You are a blessing, and thankyou for being a colleague and a
(37:17):
friend.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
I appreciate you Seriously.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Well, folks, you've heard it, that's Chuck Hatchett.
And look him up.
You can find him.
He's the real deal, Really.
If you enjoyed this show, go toAdrianBranchSpeakscom or find
us at Adrian Branch Speaks onthe website and have a good time
with the podcast as well.
You can find the CLIMB podcastwherever it's available Again,
(37:42):
adrianchbranchespeakscom, andlook on the social web at
Adrianch Branch Speaks.
It has been awesome.
We sure appreciate you and formy climbers out there, remember
this Be encouraged and keepclimbing.
We'll see you next time.
Everybody, you
Popular Podcasts
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
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!