November 10, 2025 • 52 mins
What if the title that means the most isn’t on your business card, but in a kid’s voice calling you “Coach”? That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with elementary PE teacher and motivational speaker Justin Pickens—a story that moves from childhood adversity to classroom joy, from chasing status to choosing significance.
Justin opens up about growing up around incarceration and mental illness, then maps the lifelines teachers and coaches threw him. He explains why PE, done right, is more than games: it’s science-backed health literacy, dopamine and serotonin through movement, and daily doses of motivation that turn skills into habits. We dig into his two-year detour out of education—financial advising and fast-food management—where he met every metric and still felt empty. The moment former students greeted him as “Coach” brought him home to a Title I gym, where he teaches mostly English learners and proves that structure, joy, and care can change trajectories.
We also explore how a speaker earns trust in minutes, the difference between extra-mile and extra-intentional teachers, and a practical career cadence: every three to five years, reconnect and repurpose or go and grow. Justin shares honest feelings about AI in education—useful for personalization, powerless at replacing human warmth—and names the quiet wealth of time affluence and mental affluence. For anyone running low on fuel, he offers simple resets: gratitude, healthier habits, less social media, and the reminder that kids still crave real connection more than curated feeds.
If you believe caring adults can break cycles and build futures, this one will refill your cup. Follow the show, share it with a colleague who needs encouragement, and leave a review telling us how you’re choosing significance this week.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_03 (00:00):
You know, we're living in a society where I may
have had a tough childhood, butI never had a childhood with a
cell phone.
And we're learning, like, it'sour job as adults right now to
protect these kids fromdepression and loneliness that
is occurring and form community.
That is where I really am gladthere's a thing in Kansas City
(00:23):
started called fight club.
And it's where groups ofteenagers, men at high schools
are just getting together andjust simply talking and airing
out.
Like this is what I'm goingthrough.
We're fighting suicide.
So the need to help young peopleis always going to be there.
SPEAKER_04 (00:44):
Welcome to the Mic'ed Up and Motivated Podcast,
where we interview passionateprofessionals who empower young
people, impact lives, and createpositive change in schools,
organizations, and communities.
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Everybody in here has a talent and you have a
gift, and you were given thatgift so that you can go change
the world.
SPEAKER_03 (01:17):
If you've ever thought that you need a pep talk
from your PE teacher, I'm theguy for you.
So my niche is caring adults,which means I love filling the
cup of educators, those who pourinto others.
My job is through raw emotionalstorytelling to inspire,
encourage, and motivate you tobe the best for your students
(01:38):
and for your family outside ofthe classroom.
I'm happy to be here with Jason.
We're gonna have a great timeagain.
Justin Pickens, motivationalspeaker, elementary PE teacher
by day, motivational speaker toadults by night.
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
Mr.
Justin Pickens, how you doing,sir?
Happy to have you on the Mic'edUp and Motivator podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (01:56):
Dude, I don't I don't want to steal uh Dave
Ramsey's line, Jason, but trulyI'm too blessed to be stressed
better than I deserve.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
There you go, man.
Well, it's been a long timecoming, man.
I've been able to see you onLinkedIn, which I love LinkedIn.
You get a chance to see all theamazing work that people are
doing from you know differentparts of the of the world,
really.
And so you caught my eye, man.
I saw the amazing things youwere doing uh in your field.
And I said, I have to have thisthis guy on my podcast and get
(02:26):
to know him a little bit, findout a story and get some
insight, man, some some fuel formyself.
So I appreciate you you'recoming on and blessing us with
your presence.
And I'm excited to hear yourstory, excited for our audience
to hear your story.
So tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
SPEAKER_03 (02:43):
Yeah, so I'll start off with right now where I'm at,
and then we'll talk about mystory uh leading up to where I
am right now.
So, as I said in myintroduction, I'm Justin
Pickens.
I'm an elementary PE teacher byday, motivational speaker by
night.
I speak mainly to caring adultsand educators within schools,
but I'll also speak uh to youthgroups uh once in a while as
(03:07):
well, because everybody needs apep talk from their PE teacher.
But right now, uh elementary PEteacher at a Title I school,
we're about 65 to 70 percentEnglish language learners.
We're a title school, whichmeans we're low income, and I
couldn't ask for a better job.
I started off as a uh seniorgovernment history teacher 15
(03:29):
years ago, and God kept saying,you need more patience.
So he just kept going from 12thgrade to 11th to 10th uh to
middle school, and then now Ican uh say that I've taught all
grades, K through 12, and then Ilead a lot of professional
developments uh with adultteachers.
So my coolest things are when Ido local professional
(03:51):
developments for teachers,sometimes I only take a half
day, and I'll go in a suit and atie to go speak at a local
school, and then I will run uh adrive back to my school because
I'm only taking a half day,right?
And during my lunch period, Iwill change out of my suit and
tie uh that I just presented in,and I'll put on my shorts and
(04:12):
then I'll go right into teachinga kindergarten class.
And kindergartners don't care ifI was on the stage in front of
two people or 2,000.
All they want to do is come inand have a blast.
So truly, uh, it's amazing.
I have a wife named Kendra,she's my rock.
Uh, I met her uh my last year ofcollege.
It was a blessing in disguise.
(04:32):
I was a super senior, and I mether uh when she was a freshman
when I was a super senior.
So if I would have graduated ontime, wouldn't have uh crossed
paths.
So everything happens for areason.
And we have three wonderfulkids.
Uh, my son is five, uh, mydaughter is two and a half, and
we got a 14-day old baby uhwho's just the best baby in the
(04:56):
world.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Oh, congratulations! Oh man, I love it, man.
That that that is so awesome.
So there's a lot that you toldme, and I I just want to just
first of all commend you on allthat you have done and are
doing.
You're when I'm as you weretelling me about all the things
that you do, I was like, I wasthinking to myself, like, okay,
this is a real life superhero.
(05:17):
Like you're changing your case,you're like, and then when you
were talking about how how Godsaid you need more patience, and
you started to go down the list,I'm like, okay, is that patience
like in terms of like beingpatient or patience in terms of
like more people?
And it seems like you were likeyou were like you had that
opportunity to receive morepatience in terms of students
(05:39):
that you're able to work with.
So that's pretty awesome, man.
And and to hear the amazingstuff that you're doing with
your family as well.
Your son had a chance to comeon.
I had a chance to meet himbefore we started the podcast.
You're just doing some amazingstuff.
So I want to start.
I like I like to you know startoff with you know diving into
the defense.
(06:00):
So let's let's let's do this,man.
Is it hard?
Is it hard for you just beingable to do all those things and
be just this amazing person toso many people with the heart?
SPEAKER_03 (06:12):
Yes, absolutely.
Anything, and that's how youknow you're doing it right.
Yeah, I was told by a mentor theother day that uh you should be
going home exhausted, not onlyas a teacher, as a husband, as a
man, but you should be hittingyour pillow and have worked so
hard that day that you just fallasleep immediately.
So, yeah, if you're gonna doanything, it it should be hard.
(06:34):
Now, with that being said, itdoesn't mean that it doesn't
fill my tank.
Uh, I think I talked about how15 years in education has given
me patience, but it's myperspective that has changed.
And a lot of it is myperspective on who's filling my
cup.
So you call me Superman, butholy cow, Jason, the elementary
(06:56):
teachers I work with, they arethe real superheroes.
Yeah.
Uh, the perspective of goingfrom high school to middle
school to elementary has givenme a perspective on everybody
from administrators toelementary teachers and just how
hard they work to make itpossible that I just get to have
the most fun with my kids in myclass.
(07:17):
My vision for PE is to makefuture fit 50-year-olds uh that
love health and wellness andunderstand that they have one
body and it's their job andresponsibility to take care of
it.
But no, you know, beingsuperhero is a great compliment,
but like I'm only as strong asthe people who support me.
So I just want to give a shoutout to anybody listening,
(07:38):
especially if you're at RollingRidge Elementary.
Uh, those are the people whofill me up.
And then as far as my speakingjourney goes, whether I'm
leading a breakout session orkeynoting a back to school
convocation, it's truly beenother people who have encouraged
and nudged me to tell me that Ihave a story worth sharing that
continues to motivate me to dothat.
SPEAKER_02 (08:01):
Oh, I love that.
I'm so I'm so inspired.
And this is the one of thereasons I love doing this
podcast and interviewing peopleuh from different areas and
walks of life.
I get to hear their story and Iget my cup filled up as well.
So, as you were talking, onething that really stood out,
first of all, just giving ashout out to your colleagues and
(08:22):
the students at your at yourschool, man.
That's that's awesome.
That's amazing.
I bet you're like one of thefavorite teachers at your
school.
SPEAKER_03 (08:30):
Oh, I mean, PE is a hard subject for people to mess
up, Jason.
So uh my job is to serve others,and if I can be uh a great
teacher while doing that, but myjob is to truly serve the people
that I meet.
So I hope that they like me.
Uh that's definitely one thingthat you like, but uh more than
(08:51):
anything, I just hope that theyremember Coach Pickens' love and
uh wanted to serve them as bestas he could.
SPEAKER_02 (08:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So talk a little bit about thetransition, like going from a PE
teacher to a speaker.
I know there's a lot ofsimilarities there, but what
would you say is the toughesttransition between that?
SPEAKER_03 (09:10):
Yeah, so the biggest transition is when you're a PE
teacher, you have content thatyou're trying to get across,
you're trying to have fun.
Again, my job is to make futurefit 50-year-olds.
We don't just play games, uh,although that's what we do a lot
of.
I mean, we're moving, we'relearning about how to take care
of our body for the future.
We're learning about uh what toput in our body, what not to put
(09:30):
in our body, and then howscientifically moving your body
helps release chemicals,dopamine, uh working out with
other people reduces releasesserotonin.
So that's all my day job.
But to be honest, Jason, everyclass gets a motivational speech
from me every single day.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:47):
Uh the speaking side is mainly to adults, but I speak
to kids.
The speaking side is a littlebit different, and the biggest
reason it's different is becausethey don't know me and they
don't have a relationship withme.
So a lot of times when I speak,I have to start off with a story
where I get real vulnerable realfast because I don't have that
(10:09):
time to build up that reputationof I'm a great guy, you should
trust me.
I have to usually do that withinthe first five minutes.
So that's a little bit differentwhether you're talking to adults
that don't know you.
You just haven't had time tobuild that up.
So uh, like you when you speak,I I bet you probably have five,
six minutes to really uh gaincredibility.
SPEAKER_02 (10:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:33):
And and and that's the biggest difference.
Uh I I was telling you before,you know, when I talk to
teachers, sometimes I'm in asuit and tie.
And I've had times where I'vespoken to teachers in the
morning in a suit and tie, andthen I've driven back to my
school in the afternoon and puton, you know, gym shorts.
SPEAKER_02 (10:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:50):
But, you know, the story is so much bigger than
that because, you know, what Ispeak on a lot is what teachers
have done in my life.
And growing up, you know,dysfunction was a word that kind
of shaped my upbringing, mychildhood.
Uh, nobody uh listening, or ifyou're watching this, if you see
(11:11):
me, I don't look like the kidwho had a dysfunctional life.
If anything, I look like theall-American kid, and that's the
image I tried to portray.
But truth be told, you know,both my parents dropped out in
10th grade, both my parents havebeen to prison, I've been to
foster care, and for the mostpart, we lived in abject
poverty.
And it's poverty is one thing,but a lot of it is the
(11:34):
dysfunction of growing up withtwo parents who struggled with
mental illness.
My mom, and and I always say Ilove my parents, and they did a
lot of great things, but my momstruggled in her own right with
manic depressive bipolardisorder, and then my dad
struggled with a lot of angerissues, and then he couldn't
control his substance uhaddictions, which all ultimately
(11:56):
led him to the Missouri StatePenitentiary twice.
So when people just hear myupbringing, they always ask,
like, how did you do it?
How did you overcome?
And to be honest, my entire lifeI always beat my chest and I
would say things like, Well, I'mjust built different, uh, I'm
more resilient.
But the more research I've doneand the more I look back at my
(12:16):
past, at all the breadcrumbs,it's not about what I've done.
It's about all the protectivemeasures that the community,
teachers, and coaches, alongwith my parents, put into me.
SPEAKER_02 (12:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
And that's what I try to highlight when I go to
schools.
Now, I went into schools andbecame a teacher for all the
right reasons.
But after 13 years, I also leftteaching.
And that is one of the biggestthings that gives me credibility
with teachers because I had astrong why.
I was at the top of my game, Iloved my job, and I still left
(12:50):
the profession for two years toexplore other careers.
Uh, eventually I came back.
So I have a little bit ofcredibility that I've had those
thoughts, even with my big why,that I've I've left.
Like I've had those days whereI'm like, am I living up to my
potential?
Is this it?
And the fact is, I came backbecause this is it.
(13:13):
Education and pouring into youngkids is what I was made to do.
They say a career is what youget paid to do, a calling is
what you were made to do.
There's the day you were born,and then there's the day you
find out why you were born.
Yeah.
And it took me two years, twoyears of having uh different
careers.
One where I cried every monthfor four, every day for four
(13:34):
months, I cried in my office asa financial advisor.
Oh, wow.
Um, and it took that perspectiveto kind of reshape.
So, my whole goal is when I talkto caring adults, is to say,
your job matters, you matter.
Here's some practical tips tohow to thrive rather than just
survive.
But you don't have to go uhleave education like I did for
(13:54):
two years to get a differentperspective.
You can shift your focus rightnow because let's be honest, a
lot of people just need adifferent perspective shift.
Some people they need to go andgrow in different areas, but a
lot of people just need torepurpose and reconnect right
where they're at.
That could be in their marriage,that could be uh with their
children, that could be withtheir church, their community.
(14:17):
Uh, because sometimes, you know,the grass isn't always greener
uh on the other side.
So I always tell people thatevery three to five years, you
either need to reconnect orrepurpose right where you're at,
or it may be time to go andgrow.
SPEAKER_02 (14:30):
Yeah.
Oh, I I love that.
I I love that.
And we're gonna dive deeper intoyour your personal story, one.
I'm I'm glad you had a chance toallude to some of the things
that you you faced growing up.
But when I hear you talk aboutthat, I'm the image that came to
my mind is that you know, uh,you're like a utility baseball
player where you you can playevery position, you can do
(14:52):
everything on the field, man.
And those people areindispensable.
I I I think about like the workyou do with teachers and
educators, then going back tothe the students and navigating
those two worlds, I give you alot of credit because that takes
a lot of skill, a lot of grace,uh, and I'm not not a lot of
(15:12):
people can do that.
You know, so where do you thinkthat comes from?
Your ability to go from youknow, navigating the crazy world
of working with adolescents,fifth graders, kids, and then
going to educators and beingable to reach them on their
level and inspire them.
How are you able to do that?
SPEAKER_03 (15:31):
It's pretty simple.
I just uh speak as if I were inthe audience.
Yeah.
What would resonate with me?
What would connect with me?
What would keep my attention?
Because if I if I if I speak toyou, I want to make you laugh,
cry, and give you hope.
Because if you make me cry thewhole time, oh, it might be a
(15:52):
great movie, but I'm gonna leavea little dreary.
If you make me laugh the wholetime, it may not hit me in the
heart like it's supposed to, uh,and give me the hope I need.
So really, it's just to behonest, a God-given ability and
a gift to pour into other peopleby putting myself in their shoes
with what resonates with me asan audience member and what will
(16:14):
resonate with them.
Because Jason, I am the worstaudience member.
I was at church today, and Iknow I have a face that says I
don't want to be here, but thatcouldn't be further from the
truth.
Like I may be sitting there,deadpan face, but I'm so
excited, I'm leaning in, I'mlistening, and as a speaker, you
know, that whether somebody'snodding their head and smiling
(16:36):
the whole time or looking at melike I they're mad, it just
reminds me to keep going becauseno matter what somebody's
outward expression looks likeduring my speech, uh, it
resonates with everybodydifferent.
But that's the truth.
What would I want to sit throughthat keeps my attention, that
tugs on my heart strings andmakes me laugh a little bit?
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
And and I have to admit, my Istruggle with that at times
because I'm I'm very uhpassionate.
Um I express myself, I'm in highenergy.
But when I don't see, you know,that same energy being re
reciprocated, I kind of worry,like, okay, are they are they
getting this?
(17:16):
Is it resonating?
Is it, you know, but like yousaid, some people process things
differently.
You know, you may have somebodywho sits there and they're
they're they're taking it in andthey're processing, and you may
have somebody who can you canopenly see how they are are
feeling about your message orwhat you're doing.
So I definitely can relate tothat as well.
So tell me a little bit abouthow you you talked about uh when
(17:39):
you the financial office, wheneither the the time when you
were crying and tell me take meto that moment.
Like when did you know, okay,it's time for me to do something
else?
I'm not fulfilled here.
I gotta step out on faith, Igotta really pursue what it is
in my heart.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
Yeah, so I'll I'll go back to you know why I left
education.
I will never forget it.
I was at a high school footballpractice, living out my dream,
uh, fulfilling, you know, mycalling to breathe life into
young men and help create men ofsubstance and character.
But I was on the field and therewas a whirlwind of things going
(18:16):
around.
Number one, I had had my firstchild and life was just hitting
me in the face.
I mean, sleepless, uh, notenough time between me and my
wife to go around.
Now we have a kid that needschildcare, and we have to start
communicating better becausewhen you're just oh husband and
wife, you could show up homewhenever you want to show up.
(18:37):
So I was getting used to thatlife.
Financial strain was there, youknow.
I still think teachers can makea great living as long as
they're good stewards with theirmoney.
But for the first time, we had alittle bit of financial strain.
And then um, I just rememberbeing at football practice with
all this stuff going around, andI was coaching JV, and I
remember we had no linemenwhatsoever, and we were getting
(19:01):
sacked every play.
And I just have this thought inmy head, is this it?
Like, is this it?
Am I living up to my potential?
And I think no matter whatcareer you're in, you get to a
point in a place where you'relike, is this it?
Is this what I'm supposed to bedoing?
Am I living up to my potential?
Some people call that a midlifecrisis.
(19:22):
Uh, on the other side, my bestfriend knows this from high
school, but my best friend onthe other side, he was a driving
motivator as well because he hadgone into the business world and
he had actually started his owncompany that was doing very well
financially.
And it's hard whenever you lookaround.
And sometimes, I'll be honest,Jason, it really was an issue of
(19:43):
pride.
I had a personal issue withpride.
I deserved more, I wasn'tgetting the recognition I
deserved.
Maybe my paycheck should havemore zeros, so my value to the
world goes up.
Oh, yeah.
And ultimately, I would say, youknow, I might have left for
money to go be a financialadvisor, but the more I reflect
(20:05):
on it, I really left educationbecause I was prideful.
And when I was told entering anew career, that you're gonna be
great at this, you're smart,you're charismatic, you're
funny, all those were things Iwanted to hear, regardless of
what profession I was in.
I had just not heard them insuch a long time that I leaned
in and then I left.
(20:26):
I traded my whistle and my gymfor uh, you know, the seventh
floor elevator, uh corporateoffice with a window, you know,
your your typical what you thinka financial advisor looks like.
But it was the first time in myentire life, Jason, where I
couldn't work with young peoplewho could do nothing for me.
(20:47):
So in financial advising, whichpeople need financial advisors,
financial advisors don't makemoney unless they're working
with people who have moneybecause you're getting a certain
percentage of what money you'remanaging.
Yeah.
So I now had to go the exactopposite.
Rather than working with youngpeople who could do nothing for
(21:08):
me, I could only work with olderpeople typically who had built
up a self-made career and hadearned money, but I could only
work with older people who hadhad money.
Still, the job is there for areason because those people earn
that money and they deserve tobe good stewards of it.
But for me, I knew that everyperson I looked at, I was
(21:29):
judging them.
Can this person help my businessmove forward by what they have
to offer me?
So I did that for nine months.
Uh, I always tell peoplenumerically I was succeeding, I
was hitting my targets, 150%above expectations.
But spiritually, mentally, andemotionally, I was drained every
(21:50):
day.
I could teach for 12 hours, andas a financial advisor, I would
only work for four and I wouldjust be exhausted, like just the
mental toll it takes.
Uh, a lot of people don'tconsider that when they choose a
profession.
For me, since I know teaching isa calling, it fills me up.
The mental drain on me as ateacher is not there like it is
(22:11):
for a lot of people.
Uh, so then I was getting readyto leave financial advising and
go back to the classroom.
And all of a sudden, somebodytold me, like, hey, go have
coffee with my brother.
He has an avenue where you cango guide young men.
And I was like, but stay in thebusiness world.
And I was like, all right, well,I'll go have coffee with
anybody.
So I go have coffee with thisguy, and he's like, come lead
(22:34):
young men with me.
And I was like, All right, kindof like when I was a high school
football coach.
And he's like, Yep, except we'regonna do it in a business
setting.
And I'm like, all right, well,tell me more.
How do I lead young men in abusiness setting?
And the answer was fast food.
Uh the answer was actuallyChick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:52):
And to be honest, it was another pride issue where I
heard Chick-fil-A.
I uh was intrigued by it becauseit's a great company, great
values, great vision.
Who hasn't heard of Chick-fil-A?
And then I heard the possibilityof how much money you could make
later on down the road if youever were your own owner
operator.
So I said, all right, this mustbe my dream.
(23:14):
Because side note, my dadactually shoveled chicken guts
at Tyson's chicken for about 10years up until his death.
And I thought that this was somestorybook ending where he was
gonna go be the chicken gutshoveler and I was gonna go be
the chicken king and kind ofthis full circle moment.
(23:35):
Right.
But when I got into therestaurant, I had never worked
in the restaurant industrybefore.
So if anybody's listening tothis and has, they're like, ooh,
he didn't know what he wasexpecting.
It is one of the toughestindustries, period.
End of story.
Wow, it never turns off.
There's always green, yellow,red, depending on how fast
(23:56):
you're getting the orders out.
And I worked at Chick-fil-A,which is the best of the best
fast food.
There's always this steady humof stress.
But to be honest, I managed tworestaurants and I would hire
kids to work.
And I actually hired formerstudents of mine who I taught in
health class about how to eathealthy, and then I would hire
(24:18):
them and then convince them totry to upsize combo meals that
were processed food andunhealthy.
It was wild, right?
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:26):
But I'll never forget when former students
would come in, whether I hadthem, you know, 12 years ago or
three months ago, they'd alwayscome in and they would say the
words, coach, how you doing?
And that word just stuck out inmy mind of like, I will never be
held as high on a pedestal aswhen I was a teacher and a
(24:47):
coach.
And uh that's what I was trulyafter.
I wasn't, you know, earning alot of money might have given me
status, but it didn't give mesignificance.
SPEAKER_02 (24:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:59):
And when those former students would come in
and say, We miss you, you werethe best, that made me realize
my job was full of significance,and that's what I was missing.
So, you know, long story short,we ended that after about nine
or ten months.
And in the middle of the schoolyear, I got a call uh that a PE
(25:20):
teacher had uh left andresigned, and that there was an
opening in January, the middleof the year, and it was an
elementary school.
I never taught elementary.
I told my wife, I said, Hey,God, I want to go back to
teaching, but you know, God, Idon't know about elementary.
And he's like, Well, you'regonna come follow my plan.
And I will tell you, uh, I hadnever worked harder in my entire
(25:44):
life in the first two months Iwas at that school.
Yeah, uh, I didn't know how towork with elementary kids.
I didn't understand how theyneed stickers and this and that.
Uh, but I learned, I adaptedbecause when you take extreme
ownership of your classroom, itpays off.
I studied what I should do to bea great elementary PE teacher.
And ultimately, right now infront of you, I can say I
(26:06):
genuinely love the age level uhand get a lot out of it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:12):
Yeah.
Wow, that is so powerful.
That is so powerful.
And just to hear how atdifferent points in your life
you you know, in a lot of ways,you know, felt like you were,
you know, contradictingyourself.
It was like, I'm this is notreally where my heart is.
And and to to see that you hadthe the courage and the bravery
(26:34):
to like step out and say, youknow, I'm I'm not doing this,
I'm I'm going down another path.
Like that's so amazing.
I know a lot of people whoprobably would not be able to do
that.
One of the things that reallystood out about what you said,
and you alluded to it before,you know, talking about your
support system with your family,uh, when you transition from
(26:57):
financial advisor and you wantedto go back into education, uh a
lot of times when you're you'rein a in a career field where
you're making money and you'regoing you're transitioning to
another career field where youyou might not be making as much
money as the previous position.
You may have some people whowill say no, you have to stay
(27:19):
here because for financialreasons, right?
Talk about if that was uh athing for you and how did you
overcome that, and how did yourfamily, your wife specifically,
and your support system uh giveyou that that encouragement, you
know, that that sense of ofbelief that you can do and
transition from that withoutworrying about the finances.
SPEAKER_03 (27:41):
Yeah, so you know, in the Bible it says do not
worry about tomorrow fortomorrow has for today has
enough worries of its own.
And I will say that number one,my wife has been a rock.
So to go from a coupleprofessions where the promise of
money is very high, uh, I I Ihonestly did feel like a loser
and a quitter, and like I didn'tI didn't do my wife justice,
(28:05):
right?
Uh, but the more I struggledwith those career fields, the
more I would come home, just notmyself, not the same energy, not
the same motivation.
I was not the same person to myfamily.
And I don't know if you've everbeen kind of rock bottom
identity crisis where you'rejust not, you're kind of
(28:26):
lethargic.
And instead of being present athome, I was just there.
So honestly, whenever you knowmy wife saw me like this, she
was the first one to say, Hey,we can stick this out, you can
do hard things.
But after a while, she was like,Justin, I want you back.
And she fully supported me inevery aspect uh of what this
(28:49):
would look like.
And you know, although moneymight be tighter and we might
not have financial affluence,we've always been provided for,
always, and we always will beprovided for.
Uh, but what teaching offers istime affluence.
That's not something that'stalked about enough, and I know
that now.
(29:10):
Yeah, the amount of timeaffluence.
So, Jason, like the ability forme to when I leave my school,
shut my brain off is huge.
Now, don't get me wrong, as afirst-year teacher, for the
first five years, I was probablygoing early, staying late,
working on lesson plans at nightbecause I was a social studies
teacher as well.
I get that life, yeah.
But I have time affluence, andmore than anything, I have
(29:33):
mental affluence where I don'thave to worry about my business
failing or succeeding based offthis next client or prospect.
Now, there's things out of mycontrol in the government that
could keep me up at night whenit comes to funding, but I'm not
gonna let that, you know.
I can only control what I cancontrol.
So I don't stay awake at nightwith government funding.
(29:56):
I I know enough that I'm gonnaland on my feet.
I'm a talented individual, ashumbly as I can say that.
I will be able to provide for myfamily, whether it's moving
boxes at UPS, cutting downtrees.
Like I'll find a way to get itdone.
Yeah.
So I would say the timeaffluence I get back as a PE
(30:16):
teacher and the joy of fluencehas compounded to where,
although, yes, we'd love to besitting pretty, but here's
another thing I learned withfinancial affluence.
I told God, I said, God, if Iever make over X amount of
money, I'm going to give all ofit away.
And that was true.
I was like, God, I've been ateacher for so long.
I only want to make like doublemy salary.
(30:38):
I'll give the rest away.
But God wanted my heart.
And my heart wasn't to give outof my abundance.
My heart was to give a certainpercentage of no matter what I
made, to trust him.
And that's where I had kind ofgotten it wrong.
And I heard this the other daythat if you were to win the
lottery, would you still work atyour job?
(31:00):
And I pondered that for a littlebit.
And it's like, where is yourheart?
Because if I knew I was takencare of financially, would I
still be given, giving myself tomy community, those who could do
nothing for me?
And a lot of us would say, nope,I'd retire and I'd go to a
beach.
And maybe that's why you're nothaving all this financial
(31:20):
success, because the real reasonyou're here on earth is to pour
into others and serve them.
And you can't do that from abeach.
SPEAKER_02 (31:27):
Yeah, I love that question.
And like that, I really thatthat really hit me.
That like that's the real litmustest.
Like, and it goes back to whatyou were saying.
Like it, your calling, like ifyou're if you're pursuing your
calling, if you're aligned withwhere God wants you, you're not
working, right?
And so though those people arelooking for that outlet, they're
(31:47):
playing a lotto, hoping to win alotto.
And the moment they do, theyquit.
Well, the job.
Well, are you really doing whatyou love?
Are you really there?
Are your feet really plantedthere?
And so I love that that questionthat you pose.
That's the real limits, Tessa.
You know, I just love how youyou talked a little bit about
your journey, you're a lot aboutyour journey and how you've
(32:09):
overcome a lot.
And I want to do this before wego on break.
Uh, just kind of talk a littlebit about your journey as a
young person.
You talked about your your yourparents and and it just that how
that helped shape who who youare today.
SPEAKER_03 (32:28):
Yeah, so as a as a young person, grew up with uh a
lot of dysfunction.
I had a younger brother and anolder sister, but uh a lot of
things that happened where everytime my dad used
methamphetamines, uh times wouldget really hard.
There's a thing called meth ragethat happens where we would be
living in Missouri one day andthen on the next day be going
(32:50):
out to California to live withmy aunt.
Uh we spent time in women'sbattered shelters.
But the one thing that I alwayssay when I go speak to teachers
is I talk briefly about what Iwent through because that
matters, but I talk about theteachers who poured into me.
My kindergarten teacher, MissBirdsong, Miss Royce, my first
grade teacher, my second gradeteacher, Miss Smith, Miss
(33:11):
Davidson, who you know got me tomy 12s on my multiplication
tables, Miss Hege in fifthgrade, Miss Schaefer, Miss
Buckingham, you know, and MissHutcheson.
Like you just go down the list,Mr.
Franken, Coach Franken, who ismy PE teacher.
And then I talk about here thethe people in high school that
they were either the extraintentional teacher, because
(33:32):
there's a difference.
There's the extra intentionalteacher, and then there's the
extra mile teacher.
The extra mile teacher a lot oftimes needs more time, yeah, but
the extra intentional teacherjust goes the extra mile to
learn your name, ask follow-upquestions.
And, you know, for the mostpart, even though I moved back
and forth, I saw differentplaces, I never thought of
(33:55):
myself as an underdog.
And statistically, it was onlyas an adult where I learned
statistically some studies, say,not all, and you can go back and
forth on trauma research.
But the truth is, I had a harderchildhood.
So that would make growing upand becoming something out of
myself that much harder.
So, for example, I have a halfbrother, he went to prison.
(34:16):
My younger brother struggledwith alcoholism and almost
didn't make it out of hissituation.
So I say this that statisticsare don't share the entire
picture because it's about whatdid go right.
And Jason, I had Coach Wilkie.
He was a guy who would drivethree hours to come watch me
play college football.
(34:37):
I had Miss Stansel.
Uh, she was my math teacher.
And as soon as I turned 18, shebought me my first Bible.
Uh, I can just go down the listof everybody who has poured into
me.
Uh, and I can tell other storiesabout like when I was 20 years
old, my dad passed away, and Ihad to plan an entire funeral by
myself as a 20-year-old, but allthe community came around and
(35:01):
uh, you know, kind ofencompassed me.
And really, it's about proppingother people up, letting them
know that I they're seen, heard,and valued.
And I try to take less off of meand put more onto them.
Uh, and now don't get me wrong,I'm a grinder.
Uh, you know, if it doesn'tchallenge you, if it doesn't
(35:22):
change you, I specifically takethe direction of doing hard
things, but it's only becauseI've known that because other
people have poured into me aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
You are listening to the Miked Up and Motivated
podcast with Jason A.
Dixon and featured guest JustinPickens.
SPEAKER_02 (35:45):
Welcome back to the Miked Up and Motivated Podcast.
We're here with Mr.
Justin Pickens, who has beenamazing and just telling us his
story, bringing us into hisworld.
Coach, you have been soinspiring, man.
And we're talking off-air justhow amazing.
Uh you're giving me my myflowers and my compliments,
which I I truly appreciate.
(36:06):
But man, I I look at you and I'mlike, you are so amazing.
You're doing so many amazingthings, and uh, you've even
inspired me.
And so talk a little bit aboutwhere you see this journey
taking you next.
What's on the horizon for CoachPickens?
SPEAKER_03 (36:24):
Yeah, great question, Jason.
So, again, if you're justjoining us, I'm Justin Pickens.
I help break cycles and buildfutures.
I do that uh by being anelementary PE teacher by day and
a motivational speaker,specifically towards caring
adults and educators by night.
So, you know, what's what's onthe horizon?
That's always the big question.
(36:45):
If you've been listening, you'veheard how 13 years in education,
two years left, and now I'vekind of found my calling.
Uh, my speaking business, youknow, is growing.
It's it's snowballing.
I've done a lot of back toschool convocations.
Uh, I've spoken to futureeducators, so that's a big one
too.
Is there's a group calledEducator Rising.
(37:08):
And I just spoke at one of theirevents and I had people coming
to me saying, like, you're notjust another boring speaker,
like you're storytelling.
Like, I was on the fence aboutthis.
Is a high school girl said, Iwas on the fence about being an
educator, and then you spoke,and now it's what I want to do.
And I never want to convincesomebody to do something or to
enter a field or to stay in acareer field where they're
(37:30):
they're not gonna be happy.
Yeah, but to be honest, liketeaching is still a wonderful
profession.
I think a lot of people spendtoo much time on social media
being bogged down.
Uh, but yeah, speaking's uhtaking off.
I'm getting you know morewell-known, more engagements are
happening.
(37:51):
Uh, I've even, you know, at thisdate in the recording, uh, I've
had some speaker uh agents kindof just reach out and test the
waters.
But to be honest, like I I lovewhere I'm at, and I'm just gonna
take it one step at a time.
I want to stay in the classroomas long as I can.
Uh, one of the things is you geta lot of these motivational
(38:11):
speakers, especially forteachers, they go around and uh
they're not in the classroomanymore.
And I understand why thathappens.
It's because it's hard to do twofull-time jobs at once.
I get it.
And my family needs me to needme more than uh, you know,
audiences or my classroom.
But I'm gonna stay in the theclassroom as long as I possibly
(38:32):
can until uh it forces my handto choose one or the other.
But I will say the longevity ofmaking connections with my
elementary kids is going toleave ripple effects in their
life forever.
But it's really cool when you'rea speaker, when even though you
get like maybe 60 minutes, youcan genuinely change a person's
life in that moment.
(38:53):
Now, the hardest thing withspeaking is sometimes you don't
get to come back and follow up.
SPEAKER_02 (38:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (38:59):
But it's really cool of like, well, what if I fill up
a room full of a thousandteachers at this convocation?
If I fill them up and then theycan go fill up the other kids,
then I'm kind of just you knowmultiplying my effects.
So great question.
Who knows where we're at?
But if you were to ask me, I'mgonna still be teaching and then
inspiring uh and step on anystage that somebody asked me to
(39:22):
uh step on.
Uh, like, you know, it's beenreally cool this last couple
weeks.
I spoke at a future educatorconference, I spoke at a PE
conference, and then I'mspeaking at a men's weekend
church retreat.
So that's like three differentaudiences, three different
talks.
It's hard to prepare for thatmany talks, but it fills me up
(39:42):
knowing that that I can inspire.
SPEAKER_02 (39:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I I would say the one ofthe reasons you're able to do
that is because even just duringthis podcast, your humility and
your authenticity, your heart,it's like you are genuinely, I
can I can see like you like thisis like you believe you you pour
(40:06):
from your heart, right?
And and I think that's why yourmessage resonates with so many
people from across different uhdemographics, uh different
audiences, man.
I can I can truly see that.
And I, you know, again, Ibelieve this is just the
beginning for you.
More doors are gonna open.
So you're listening, JustinPickens.
He's on he's on the up and up,so you better get them right
(40:28):
now.
Those bookies won't be over forvery long, man.
You're gonna read books.
So I you know what?
I I love to hear about thatstuff.
Yeah, talk a little bit aboutthose people.
And again, you you talked aboutit beforehand, but talk a little
bit more about those people whoreally left an imprint on your
life, who gave you theconfidence, you know, gave you
(40:49):
the the who empowered you to bein this position right now.
SPEAKER_03 (40:54):
No, great question.
Uh, so you know, I I gotta giveshout out and give credit where
credit's due.
Number one, as my best friendfrom high school, Chris Martin,
it was the best of both of usbeing good human beings who are
also very competitive.
So I say every single teenageboy needs to have you, and you
don't need a ton of bestfriends, you just need one.
(41:17):
Uh, you just need one to kind ofmotivate, push, and inspire.
So he pushed me, you know.
We worked together, we worked ona farm together, we went to
school together, playedbasketball together.
And I tell you what, that farmerthat hired us got the best money
ever because he hired two boysfor five dollars a piece to go
work their butts off, who canconstantly had a competition.
(41:40):
Who could do more hay bales?
Who could do more this?
And it's just like I bet he wasjust sitting back being like,
Oh, this is the best investmentI've ever made in my life.
Yeah.
But having a best friend whobelieved in me filled me up.
My my dad, even though hestruggled, he loved watching me
succeed in sports and he wouldplay catch with me every chance
he got, even if he wasexhausted.
(42:02):
He wasn't always there, but whenhe was there, he was so proud of
me.
Uh, my mom, even though shestruggled quite a bit, she did
her best to protect us when mydad was at his worst sometimes.
Yeah.
And although she struggled, shestill did her best to always
encourage us.
My parents always told me fourthings.
They always said, uh, when yougo to college, they didn't use
(42:23):
the word if, they said when yougo to college.
Don't know how we're gonna payfor it, but when.
Uh, they always said, do as Isay, not as I do.
Uh they always said you don'thave to stop what you don't
start.
And then they always said,listen to your teachers and
coaches.
And those four things stuck outwith me huge.
Uh, other people who fed into mylife, uh elementary teachers,
(42:45):
but specifically in high school,Miss Scoville, Coach Wilkie,
Coach Smith, uh, the Bergenfamily, uh, all these people
went the extra mile.
And I'm probably leaving somenames out.
I'm so sorry if I am.
And then as an educator, one ofthe biggest uh blessings of my
entire life was to meet a mannamed Ron Peters.
(43:08):
This was uh year eight ofteaching.
I was still a fiery coach.
Uh, I was probably yelling alittle too much at kids in
middle school basketball,getting after kids.
And Ron, you know, he was a58-year-old para.
Uh, sorry if I got your agewrong, Ron, but Ron was older.
This was his, he was on the tailend of his career.
(43:28):
He was getting ready to retire,and he was a paraprofessional.
And he truly taught me thatleadership knows no title, and
your title may put you in aleadership position, but it
doesn't give you influence.
SPEAKER_04 (43:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (43:41):
Ron was quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to
anger.
I watched him coach four sports,uh, track, football, boys'
basketball, girls' basketball,and he did it with composure and
compassion.
And he proved to me that youdidn't have to yell.
Now, I'm energetic, but I don'thave to yell and demean people
to be a good coach.
Yeah.
(44:01):
Ron Peters made me a betterhusband, a better father, a
better um mentor to youngpeople.
And he did that all by justsimply sharing a coaching office
with me throughout my time.
Now, I always say Ron Peters isbattling the terrible disease
known as Parkinson's, which hastaken his ability to speak uh
loudly.
It's taken his ability to havecontrol over his own body.
(44:24):
But if anybody's ever watchingthis, I always just want to say
be Ron a Ron Peters, be somebodywho is always uh uplifting
others and is isn't expectinganything in return.
And that's what Ron did for me.
SPEAKER_02 (44:40):
Oh, I love that.
I love that.
And and what he poured into you,man, you you you're taking it
and you're multiplying it.
You're you're I'm I I love that.
And I can relate because I havea coaching background as well.
I was a yeller, I was fiery, youknow.
I thought I had to do this toget get the best out of them.
And and like you, I learned,man, it's not about how how how
(45:03):
much you yell.
You know, I learned it's trulyabout building those
relationships, gaining theirtrust.
And so when you say that, thatreally hits home for me, that
resonates.
And again, shout out to RonPeters, man, and all the people
that you you talked about thatare poured into you.
I know they're proud of you,man.
So let me ask you a few morequestions before we we end the
(45:24):
podcast.
So when you look at thelandscape of your profession,
your industry where you um youdo your work, what are things
that that uh that excite you?
And then what are some thingsthat kind of kind of worry you a
little bit?
SPEAKER_03 (45:43):
Yeah, some things that excite me are just the
ability every day that there'skids out there that need to a
mentor.
They need to be coached, theyneed connection, and they need
to be inspired.
You know, we're living at asociety where I may have had a
tough childhood, but I never hada childhood with a cell phone.
And we're learning, like it'sour job as adults right now to
(46:05):
protect these kids fromdepression and loneliness that
is occurring and form community.
That is where I really am glad.
There's a a thing in Kansas Citystarted called Fight Club.
And it's where groups ofteenagers, men at high schools
are just getting together andjust simply talking and airing
(46:25):
out like this is what I'm goingthrough.
We're fighting suicide.
So the need to help young peopleis always going to be there.
SPEAKER_02 (46:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (46:34):
Uh something that excites me and also makes me
nervous because I don't knowabout it is you know, AI is
coming.
Uh I don't think I you're evergoing to be able to replace
human connection, but I do thinkthat AI is a powerful tool for
learning.
And if used right, we can, youknow, we we don't have to teach
the way we used to teach, whichis one classroom, one teacher,
(46:57):
you know, we all we all move atthe same pace, even though we
try our best to uh scaffold andstrategically uh, you know, give
kids what they need.
But AI is gonna be thereregardless, and it can help or
it can hurt us.
And, you know, I'm I'm excitedabout what that's gonna look
like.
Now, a lot of people might beworried about, man, what if AI
(47:18):
takes my job?
What if this?
And I've just got thisperspective of, so what?
You know, if it does, I willland on my feet and somebody
will need some encouragement.
I know a lot of people areworried about that, Jason.
A lot of educators, they'reworried about tomorrow.
And I don't know what that'sgonna look like, but I just know
(47:38):
that humans in general are stillgoing to need connection outside
of AI.
So, so yeah, that if thatanswers your question, I'm
excited that tomorrow, no matterwhat, I got kids coming to my
classroom that need me, and Ineed them just as much.
And I'm gonna ride that high aslong as we can and I'll adapt
(47:59):
and grow and learn uh just likeanybody else is going to in this
nation.
And the cream will rise to thetop.
You'll you you either win oryou'll learn, and that's what's
gonna happen over the next, youknow, two to I used to say like
five to ten years, but as fastas technology moves, you know,
two to two to five years, right?
So yeah, that that's what I'mexcited and nervous about as
(48:21):
well.
SPEAKER_02 (48:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I I I love that you you saidthat.
And when I hear you talk aboutthat, you you epitomize my three
S's.
I talk about when it comes tostudents creating a culture or
an environment or classroomwhere they feel safe, they feel
seen, and they feel supported.
And and when you made thisstatement about, you know, when
(48:43):
when you go into that classroom,you're gonna have kids that need
you, and and it it's it's notabout all the outside influences
that you're worried about.
It's like you gotta be in themoment, you gotta do what you
need, because these kids aregonna need all of you.
And so I I I love that aboutyou, and you and you epitomize
that and you embody that.
So let me let me ask you thisquestion, uh, this final
(49:06):
question.
And because I know you you lovespeaking to educators and
adults.
So let's say um you we havepeople listening to the podcast,
we're educator, a parent, amentor, a youth pastor, anyone
that works with uh uh a youngperson and they're kind of uh
(49:27):
discouraged, they're kind ofworried, they're not uh not
really getting their messageacross, they're not reaching
them.
What would Justin Pickens say tothat that person to keep them
going, to keep the fuel in theirfire?
SPEAKER_03 (49:42):
I'd say the pendulum is swinging back.
It used to be where teachers andcoaches and youth pastors were
the primary source of an adultfigure that people would look
after and model after.
And then it swung to socialmedia.
But I think this generation isfinding out that social media uh
(50:03):
influencers don't have it allfigured out.
They are understanding uh thatyou can be anybody you want to
be on that, you know, Instagramor TikTok stage, but they're
starting to wonder like, Iactually want to feel connected
to the people right in front ofme.
And you know who I'm gonna lookup to?
The people who are right infront of me who are joyful.
(50:26):
Uh, I would also say practice anattitude of gratitude every
single day because there areover 10,000 elementary PE
teachers in America, and half ofthem might be miserable at their
job.
But every day I'm driving toschool, I'm practicing my
attitude, I'm staying in theword, I'm listening to some
forest frank.
Today's gonna be a good day.
(50:48):
Nothing's gonna, and I justprepare myself mentally that,
yeah, challenges will come, butI'm not an underdog, I'm an
overcomer.
And today's gonna be a good day,no matter what comes.
So fill your cup with someattitude and some gratitude.
Get off social media.
We don't have just a teacherburnout problem, we have a human
(51:09):
burnout problem.
I guarantee if you startedeating healthier and got off
social media, you know you needto do that, nothing else.
If you just ate healthier andstarted uh it got completely off
social media, give that a tryfor three months and you will be
a happier person and better atyour job.
SPEAKER_04 (51:26):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the
Mic'ed Up and Motivated Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (51:33):
You have people waiting on you to cross over to
the other side so you can reachback and grab them.
You know, we're living in a society where I may
have had a tough childhood, butI never had a childhood with a
cell phone.
And we're learning, like, it'sour job as adults right now to
protect these kids fromdepression and loneliness that
is occurring and form community.
That is where I really am gladthere's a thing in Kansas City
(00:23):
started called fight club.
And it's where groups ofteenagers, men at high schools
are just getting together andjust simply talking and airing
out.
Like this is what I'm goingthrough.
We're fighting suicide.
So the need to help young peopleis always going to be there.
SPEAKER_04 (00:44):
Welcome to the Mic'ed Up and Motivated Podcast,
where we interview passionateprofessionals who empower young
people, impact lives, and createpositive change in schools,
organizations, and communities.
SPEAKER_01 (00:57):
Everybody in here has a talent and you have a
gift, and you were given thatgift so that you can go change
the world.
SPEAKER_03 (01:17):
If you've ever thought that you need a pep talk
from your PE teacher, I'm theguy for you.
So my niche is caring adults,which means I love filling the
cup of educators, those who pourinto others.
My job is through raw emotionalstorytelling to inspire,
encourage, and motivate you tobe the best for your students
(01:38):
and for your family outside ofthe classroom.
I'm happy to be here with Jason.
We're gonna have a great timeagain.
Justin Pickens, motivationalspeaker, elementary PE teacher
by day, motivational speaker toadults by night.
SPEAKER_02 (01:50):
Mr.
Justin Pickens, how you doing,sir?
Happy to have you on the Mic'edUp and Motivator podcast.
SPEAKER_03 (01:56):
Dude, I don't I don't want to steal uh Dave
Ramsey's line, Jason, but trulyI'm too blessed to be stressed
better than I deserve.
SPEAKER_02 (02:03):
There you go, man.
Well, it's been a long timecoming, man.
I've been able to see you onLinkedIn, which I love LinkedIn.
You get a chance to see all theamazing work that people are
doing from you know differentparts of the of the world,
really.
And so you caught my eye, man.
I saw the amazing things youwere doing uh in your field.
And I said, I have to have thisthis guy on my podcast and get
(02:26):
to know him a little bit, findout a story and get some
insight, man, some some fuel formyself.
So I appreciate you you'recoming on and blessing us with
your presence.
And I'm excited to hear yourstory, excited for our audience
to hear your story.
So tell me a little bit aboutyourself.
SPEAKER_03 (02:43):
Yeah, so I'll start off with right now where I'm at,
and then we'll talk about mystory uh leading up to where I
am right now.
So, as I said in myintroduction, I'm Justin
Pickens.
I'm an elementary PE teacher byday, motivational speaker by
night.
I speak mainly to caring adultsand educators within schools,
but I'll also speak uh to youthgroups uh once in a while as
(03:07):
well, because everybody needs apep talk from their PE teacher.
But right now, uh elementary PEteacher at a Title I school,
we're about 65 to 70 percentEnglish language learners.
We're a title school, whichmeans we're low income, and I
couldn't ask for a better job.
I started off as a uh seniorgovernment history teacher 15
(03:29):
years ago, and God kept saying,you need more patience.
So he just kept going from 12thgrade to 11th to 10th uh to
middle school, and then now Ican uh say that I've taught all
grades, K through 12, and then Ilead a lot of professional
developments uh with adultteachers.
So my coolest things are when Ido local professional
(03:51):
developments for teachers,sometimes I only take a half
day, and I'll go in a suit and atie to go speak at a local
school, and then I will run uh adrive back to my school because
I'm only taking a half day,right?
And during my lunch period, Iwill change out of my suit and
tie uh that I just presented in,and I'll put on my shorts and
(04:12):
then I'll go right into teachinga kindergarten class.
And kindergartners don't care ifI was on the stage in front of
two people or 2,000.
All they want to do is come inand have a blast.
So truly, uh, it's amazing.
I have a wife named Kendra,she's my rock.
Uh, I met her uh my last year ofcollege.
It was a blessing in disguise.
(04:32):
I was a super senior, and I mether uh when she was a freshman
when I was a super senior.
So if I would have graduated ontime, wouldn't have uh crossed
paths.
So everything happens for areason.
And we have three wonderfulkids.
Uh, my son is five, uh, mydaughter is two and a half, and
we got a 14-day old baby uhwho's just the best baby in the
(04:56):
world.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
Oh, congratulations! Oh man, I love it, man.
That that that is so awesome.
So there's a lot that you toldme, and I I just want to just
first of all commend you on allthat you have done and are
doing.
You're when I'm as you weretelling me about all the things
that you do, I was like, I wasthinking to myself, like, okay,
this is a real life superhero.
(05:17):
Like you're changing your case,you're like, and then when you
were talking about how how Godsaid you need more patience, and
you started to go down the list,I'm like, okay, is that patience
like in terms of like beingpatient or patience in terms of
like more people?
And it seems like you were likeyou were like you had that
opportunity to receive morepatience in terms of students
(05:39):
that you're able to work with.
So that's pretty awesome, man.
And and to hear the amazingstuff that you're doing with
your family as well.
Your son had a chance to comeon.
I had a chance to meet himbefore we started the podcast.
You're just doing some amazingstuff.
So I want to start.
I like I like to you know startoff with you know diving into
the defense.
(06:00):
So let's let's let's do this,man.
Is it hard?
Is it hard for you just beingable to do all those things and
be just this amazing person toso many people with the heart?
SPEAKER_03 (06:12):
Yes, absolutely.
Anything, and that's how youknow you're doing it right.
Yeah, I was told by a mentor theother day that uh you should be
going home exhausted, not onlyas a teacher, as a husband, as a
man, but you should be hittingyour pillow and have worked so
hard that day that you just fallasleep immediately.
So, yeah, if you're gonna doanything, it it should be hard.
(06:34):
Now, with that being said, itdoesn't mean that it doesn't
fill my tank.
Uh, I think I talked about how15 years in education has given
me patience, but it's myperspective that has changed.
And a lot of it is myperspective on who's filling my
cup.
So you call me Superman, butholy cow, Jason, the elementary
(06:56):
teachers I work with, they arethe real superheroes.
Yeah.
Uh, the perspective of goingfrom high school to middle
school to elementary has givenme a perspective on everybody
from administrators toelementary teachers and just how
hard they work to make itpossible that I just get to have
the most fun with my kids in myclass.
(07:17):
My vision for PE is to makefuture fit 50-year-olds uh that
love health and wellness andunderstand that they have one
body and it's their job andresponsibility to take care of
it.
But no, you know, beingsuperhero is a great compliment,
but like I'm only as strong asthe people who support me.
So I just want to give a shoutout to anybody listening,
(07:38):
especially if you're at RollingRidge Elementary.
Uh, those are the people whofill me up.
And then as far as my speakingjourney goes, whether I'm
leading a breakout session orkeynoting a back to school
convocation, it's truly beenother people who have encouraged
and nudged me to tell me that Ihave a story worth sharing that
continues to motivate me to dothat.
SPEAKER_02 (08:01):
Oh, I love that.
I'm so I'm so inspired.
And this is the one of thereasons I love doing this
podcast and interviewing peopleuh from different areas and
walks of life.
I get to hear their story and Iget my cup filled up as well.
So, as you were talking, onething that really stood out,
first of all, just giving ashout out to your colleagues and
(08:22):
the students at your at yourschool, man.
That's that's awesome.
That's amazing.
I bet you're like one of thefavorite teachers at your
school.
SPEAKER_03 (08:30):
Oh, I mean, PE is a hard subject for people to mess
up, Jason.
So uh my job is to serve others,and if I can be uh a great
teacher while doing that, but myjob is to truly serve the people
that I meet.
So I hope that they like me.
Uh that's definitely one thingthat you like, but uh more than
(08:51):
anything, I just hope that theyremember Coach Pickens' love and
uh wanted to serve them as bestas he could.
SPEAKER_02 (08:57):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So talk a little bit about thetransition, like going from a PE
teacher to a speaker.
I know there's a lot ofsimilarities there, but what
would you say is the toughesttransition between that?
SPEAKER_03 (09:10):
Yeah, so the biggest transition is when you're a PE
teacher, you have content thatyou're trying to get across,
you're trying to have fun.
Again, my job is to make futurefit 50-year-olds.
We don't just play games, uh,although that's what we do a lot
of.
I mean, we're moving, we'relearning about how to take care
of our body for the future.
We're learning about uh what toput in our body, what not to put
(09:30):
in our body, and then howscientifically moving your body
helps release chemicals,dopamine, uh working out with
other people reduces releasesserotonin.
So that's all my day job.
But to be honest, Jason, everyclass gets a motivational speech
from me every single day.
SPEAKER_02 (09:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (09:47):
Uh the speaking side is mainly to adults, but I speak
to kids.
The speaking side is a littlebit different, and the biggest
reason it's different is becausethey don't know me and they
don't have a relationship withme.
So a lot of times when I speak,I have to start off with a story
where I get real vulnerable realfast because I don't have that
(10:09):
time to build up that reputationof I'm a great guy, you should
trust me.
I have to usually do that withinthe first five minutes.
So that's a little bit differentwhether you're talking to adults
that don't know you.
You just haven't had time tobuild that up.
So uh, like you when you speak,I I bet you probably have five,
six minutes to really uh gaincredibility.
SPEAKER_02 (10:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:33):
And and and that's the biggest difference.
Uh I I was telling you before,you know, when I talk to
teachers, sometimes I'm in asuit and tie.
And I've had times where I'vespoken to teachers in the
morning in a suit and tie, andthen I've driven back to my
school in the afternoon and puton, you know, gym shorts.
SPEAKER_02 (10:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:50):
But, you know, the story is so much bigger than
that because, you know, what Ispeak on a lot is what teachers
have done in my life.
And growing up, you know,dysfunction was a word that kind
of shaped my upbringing, mychildhood.
Uh, nobody uh listening, or ifyou're watching this, if you see
(11:11):
me, I don't look like the kidwho had a dysfunctional life.
If anything, I look like theall-American kid, and that's the
image I tried to portray.
But truth be told, you know,both my parents dropped out in
10th grade, both my parents havebeen to prison, I've been to
foster care, and for the mostpart, we lived in abject
poverty.
And it's poverty is one thing,but a lot of it is the
(11:34):
dysfunction of growing up withtwo parents who struggled with
mental illness.
My mom, and and I always say Ilove my parents, and they did a
lot of great things, but my momstruggled in her own right with
manic depressive bipolardisorder, and then my dad
struggled with a lot of angerissues, and then he couldn't
control his substance uhaddictions, which all ultimately
(11:56):
led him to the Missouri StatePenitentiary twice.
So when people just hear myupbringing, they always ask,
like, how did you do it?
How did you overcome?
And to be honest, my entire lifeI always beat my chest and I
would say things like, Well, I'mjust built different, uh, I'm
more resilient.
But the more research I've doneand the more I look back at my
(12:16):
past, at all the breadcrumbs,it's not about what I've done.
It's about all the protectivemeasures that the community,
teachers, and coaches, alongwith my parents, put into me.
SPEAKER_02 (12:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (12:28):
And that's what I try to highlight when I go to
schools.
Now, I went into schools andbecame a teacher for all the
right reasons.
But after 13 years, I also leftteaching.
And that is one of the biggestthings that gives me credibility
with teachers because I had astrong why.
I was at the top of my game, Iloved my job, and I still left
(12:50):
the profession for two years toexplore other careers.
Uh, eventually I came back.
So I have a little bit ofcredibility that I've had those
thoughts, even with my big why,that I've I've left.
Like I've had those days whereI'm like, am I living up to my
potential?
Is this it?
And the fact is, I came backbecause this is it.
(13:13):
Education and pouring into youngkids is what I was made to do.
They say a career is what youget paid to do, a calling is
what you were made to do.
There's the day you were born,and then there's the day you
find out why you were born.
Yeah.
And it took me two years, twoyears of having uh different
careers.
One where I cried every monthfor four, every day for four
(13:34):
months, I cried in my office asa financial advisor.
Oh, wow.
Um, and it took that perspectiveto kind of reshape.
So, my whole goal is when I talkto caring adults, is to say,
your job matters, you matter.
Here's some practical tips tohow to thrive rather than just
survive.
But you don't have to go uhleave education like I did for
(13:54):
two years to get a differentperspective.
You can shift your focus rightnow because let's be honest, a
lot of people just need adifferent perspective shift.
Some people they need to go andgrow in different areas, but a
lot of people just need torepurpose and reconnect right
where they're at.
That could be in their marriage,that could be uh with their
children, that could be withtheir church, their community.
(14:17):
Uh, because sometimes, you know,the grass isn't always greener
uh on the other side.
So I always tell people thatevery three to five years, you
either need to reconnect orrepurpose right where you're at,
or it may be time to go andgrow.
SPEAKER_02 (14:30):
Yeah.
Oh, I I love that.
I I love that.
And we're gonna dive deeper intoyour your personal story, one.
I'm I'm glad you had a chance toallude to some of the things
that you you faced growing up.
But when I hear you talk aboutthat, I'm the image that came to
my mind is that you know, uh,you're like a utility baseball
player where you you can playevery position, you can do
(14:52):
everything on the field, man.
And those people areindispensable.
I I I think about like the workyou do with teachers and
educators, then going back tothe the students and navigating
those two worlds, I give you alot of credit because that takes
a lot of skill, a lot of grace,uh, and I'm not not a lot of
(15:12):
people can do that.
You know, so where do you thinkthat comes from?
Your ability to go from youknow, navigating the crazy world
of working with adolescents,fifth graders, kids, and then
going to educators and beingable to reach them on their
level and inspire them.
How are you able to do that?
SPEAKER_03 (15:31):
It's pretty simple.
I just uh speak as if I were inthe audience.
Yeah.
What would resonate with me?
What would connect with me?
What would keep my attention?
Because if I if I if I speak toyou, I want to make you laugh,
cry, and give you hope.
Because if you make me cry thewhole time, oh, it might be a
(15:52):
great movie, but I'm gonna leavea little dreary.
If you make me laugh the wholetime, it may not hit me in the
heart like it's supposed to, uh,and give me the hope I need.
So really, it's just to behonest, a God-given ability and
a gift to pour into other peopleby putting myself in their shoes
with what resonates with me asan audience member and what will
(16:14):
resonate with them.
Because Jason, I am the worstaudience member.
I was at church today, and Iknow I have a face that says I
don't want to be here, but thatcouldn't be further from the
truth.
Like I may be sitting there,deadpan face, but I'm so
excited, I'm leaning in, I'mlistening, and as a speaker, you
know, that whether somebody'snodding their head and smiling
(16:36):
the whole time or looking at melike I they're mad, it just
reminds me to keep going becauseno matter what somebody's
outward expression looks likeduring my speech, uh, it
resonates with everybodydifferent.
But that's the truth.
What would I want to sit throughthat keeps my attention, that
tugs on my heart strings andmakes me laugh a little bit?
SPEAKER_02 (16:56):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that.
I love that.
And and I have to admit, my Istruggle with that at times
because I'm I'm very uhpassionate.
Um I express myself, I'm in highenergy.
But when I don't see, you know,that same energy being re
reciprocated, I kind of worry,like, okay, are they are they
getting this?
(17:16):
Is it resonating?
Is it, you know, but like yousaid, some people process things
differently.
You know, you may have somebodywho sits there and they're
they're they're taking it in andthey're processing, and you may
have somebody who can you canopenly see how they are are
feeling about your message orwhat you're doing.
So I definitely can relate tothat as well.
So tell me a little bit abouthow you you talked about uh when
(17:39):
you the financial office, wheneither the the time when you
were crying and tell me take meto that moment.
Like when did you know, okay,it's time for me to do something
else?
I'm not fulfilled here.
I gotta step out on faith, Igotta really pursue what it is
in my heart.
SPEAKER_03 (17:55):
Yeah, so I'll I'll go back to you know why I left
education.
I will never forget it.
I was at a high school footballpractice, living out my dream,
uh, fulfilling, you know, mycalling to breathe life into
young men and help create men ofsubstance and character.
But I was on the field and therewas a whirlwind of things going
(18:16):
around.
Number one, I had had my firstchild and life was just hitting
me in the face.
I mean, sleepless, uh, notenough time between me and my
wife to go around.
Now we have a kid that needschildcare, and we have to start
communicating better becausewhen you're just oh husband and
wife, you could show up homewhenever you want to show up.
(18:37):
So I was getting used to thatlife.
Financial strain was there, youknow.
I still think teachers can makea great living as long as
they're good stewards with theirmoney.
But for the first time, we had alittle bit of financial strain.
And then um, I just rememberbeing at football practice with
all this stuff going around, andI was coaching JV, and I
remember we had no linemenwhatsoever, and we were getting
(19:01):
sacked every play.
And I just have this thought inmy head, is this it?
Like, is this it?
Am I living up to my potential?
And I think no matter whatcareer you're in, you get to a
point in a place where you'relike, is this it?
Is this what I'm supposed to bedoing?
Am I living up to my potential?
Some people call that a midlifecrisis.
(19:22):
Uh, on the other side, my bestfriend knows this from high
school, but my best friend onthe other side, he was a driving
motivator as well because he hadgone into the business world and
he had actually started his owncompany that was doing very well
financially.
And it's hard whenever you lookaround.
And sometimes, I'll be honest,Jason, it really was an issue of
(19:43):
pride.
I had a personal issue withpride.
I deserved more, I wasn'tgetting the recognition I
deserved.
Maybe my paycheck should havemore zeros, so my value to the
world goes up.
Oh, yeah.
And ultimately, I would say, youknow, I might have left for
money to go be a financialadvisor, but the more I reflect
(20:05):
on it, I really left educationbecause I was prideful.
And when I was told entering anew career, that you're gonna be
great at this, you're smart,you're charismatic, you're
funny, all those were things Iwanted to hear, regardless of
what profession I was in.
I had just not heard them insuch a long time that I leaned
in and then I left.
(20:26):
I traded my whistle and my gymfor uh, you know, the seventh
floor elevator, uh corporateoffice with a window, you know,
your your typical what you thinka financial advisor looks like.
But it was the first time in myentire life, Jason, where I
couldn't work with young peoplewho could do nothing for me.
(20:47):
So in financial advising, whichpeople need financial advisors,
financial advisors don't makemoney unless they're working
with people who have moneybecause you're getting a certain
percentage of what money you'remanaging.
Yeah.
So I now had to go the exactopposite.
Rather than working with youngpeople who could do nothing for
(21:08):
me, I could only work with olderpeople typically who had built
up a self-made career and hadearned money, but I could only
work with older people who hadhad money.
Still, the job is there for areason because those people earn
that money and they deserve tobe good stewards of it.
But for me, I knew that everyperson I looked at, I was
(21:29):
judging them.
Can this person help my businessmove forward by what they have
to offer me?
So I did that for nine months.
Uh, I always tell peoplenumerically I was succeeding, I
was hitting my targets, 150%above expectations.
But spiritually, mentally, andemotionally, I was drained every
(21:50):
day.
I could teach for 12 hours, andas a financial advisor, I would
only work for four and I wouldjust be exhausted, like just the
mental toll it takes.
Uh, a lot of people don'tconsider that when they choose a
profession.
For me, since I know teaching isa calling, it fills me up.
The mental drain on me as ateacher is not there like it is
(22:11):
for a lot of people.
Uh, so then I was getting readyto leave financial advising and
go back to the classroom.
And all of a sudden, somebodytold me, like, hey, go have
coffee with my brother.
He has an avenue where you cango guide young men.
And I was like, but stay in thebusiness world.
And I was like, all right, well,I'll go have coffee with
anybody.
So I go have coffee with thisguy, and he's like, come lead
(22:34):
young men with me.
And I was like, All right, kindof like when I was a high school
football coach.
And he's like, Yep, except we'regonna do it in a business
setting.
And I'm like, all right, well,tell me more.
How do I lead young men in abusiness setting?
And the answer was fast food.
Uh the answer was actuallyChick-fil-A.
SPEAKER_02 (22:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (22:52):
And to be honest, it was another pride issue where I
heard Chick-fil-A.
I uh was intrigued by it becauseit's a great company, great
values, great vision.
Who hasn't heard of Chick-fil-A?
And then I heard the possibilityof how much money you could make
later on down the road if youever were your own owner
operator.
So I said, all right, this mustbe my dream.
(23:14):
Because side note, my dadactually shoveled chicken guts
at Tyson's chicken for about 10years up until his death.
And I thought that this was somestorybook ending where he was
gonna go be the chicken gutshoveler and I was gonna go be
the chicken king and kind ofthis full circle moment.
(23:35):
Right.
But when I got into therestaurant, I had never worked
in the restaurant industrybefore.
So if anybody's listening tothis and has, they're like, ooh,
he didn't know what he wasexpecting.
It is one of the toughestindustries, period.
End of story.
Wow, it never turns off.
There's always green, yellow,red, depending on how fast
(23:56):
you're getting the orders out.
And I worked at Chick-fil-A,which is the best of the best
fast food.
There's always this steady humof stress.
But to be honest, I managed tworestaurants and I would hire
kids to work.
And I actually hired formerstudents of mine who I taught in
health class about how to eathealthy, and then I would hire
(24:18):
them and then convince them totry to upsize combo meals that
were processed food andunhealthy.
It was wild, right?
SPEAKER_02 (24:25):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:26):
But I'll never forget when former students
would come in, whether I hadthem, you know, 12 years ago or
three months ago, they'd alwayscome in and they would say the
words, coach, how you doing?
And that word just stuck out inmy mind of like, I will never be
held as high on a pedestal aswhen I was a teacher and a
(24:47):
coach.
And uh that's what I was trulyafter.
I wasn't, you know, earning alot of money might have given me
status, but it didn't give mesignificance.
SPEAKER_02 (24:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (24:59):
And when those former students would come in
and say, We miss you, you werethe best, that made me realize
my job was full of significance,and that's what I was missing.
So, you know, long story short,we ended that after about nine
or ten months.
And in the middle of the schoolyear, I got a call uh that a PE
(25:20):
teacher had uh left andresigned, and that there was an
opening in January, the middleof the year, and it was an
elementary school.
I never taught elementary.
I told my wife, I said, Hey,God, I want to go back to
teaching, but you know, God, Idon't know about elementary.
And he's like, Well, you'regonna come follow my plan.
And I will tell you, uh, I hadnever worked harder in my entire
(25:44):
life in the first two months Iwas at that school.
Yeah, uh, I didn't know how towork with elementary kids.
I didn't understand how theyneed stickers and this and that.
Uh, but I learned, I adaptedbecause when you take extreme
ownership of your classroom, itpays off.
I studied what I should do to bea great elementary PE teacher.
And ultimately, right now infront of you, I can say I
(26:06):
genuinely love the age level uhand get a lot out of it.
SPEAKER_02 (26:12):
Yeah.
Wow, that is so powerful.
That is so powerful.
And just to hear how atdifferent points in your life
you you know, in a lot of ways,you know, felt like you were,
you know, contradictingyourself.
It was like, I'm this is notreally where my heart is.
And and to to see that you hadthe the courage and the bravery
(26:34):
to like step out and say, youknow, I'm I'm not doing this,
I'm I'm going down another path.
Like that's so amazing.
I know a lot of people whoprobably would not be able to do
that.
One of the things that reallystood out about what you said,
and you alluded to it before,you know, talking about your
support system with your family,uh, when you transition from
(26:57):
financial advisor and you wantedto go back into education, uh a
lot of times when you're you'rein a in a career field where
you're making money and you'regoing you're transitioning to
another career field where youyou might not be making as much
money as the previous position.
You may have some people whowill say no, you have to stay
(27:19):
here because for financialreasons, right?
Talk about if that was uh athing for you and how did you
overcome that, and how did yourfamily, your wife specifically,
and your support system uh giveyou that that encouragement, you
know, that that sense of ofbelief that you can do and
transition from that withoutworrying about the finances.
SPEAKER_03 (27:41):
Yeah, so you know, in the Bible it says do not
worry about tomorrow fortomorrow has for today has
enough worries of its own.
And I will say that number one,my wife has been a rock.
So to go from a coupleprofessions where the promise of
money is very high, uh, I I Ihonestly did feel like a loser
and a quitter, and like I didn'tI didn't do my wife justice,
(28:05):
right?
Uh, but the more I struggledwith those career fields, the
more I would come home, just notmyself, not the same energy, not
the same motivation.
I was not the same person to myfamily.
And I don't know if you've everbeen kind of rock bottom
identity crisis where you'rejust not, you're kind of
(28:26):
lethargic.
And instead of being present athome, I was just there.
So honestly, whenever you knowmy wife saw me like this, she
was the first one to say, Hey,we can stick this out, you can
do hard things.
But after a while, she was like,Justin, I want you back.
And she fully supported me inevery aspect uh of what this
(28:49):
would look like.
And you know, although moneymight be tighter and we might
not have financial affluence,we've always been provided for,
always, and we always will beprovided for.
Uh, but what teaching offers istime affluence.
That's not something that'stalked about enough, and I know
that now.
(29:10):
Yeah, the amount of timeaffluence.
So, Jason, like the ability forme to when I leave my school,
shut my brain off is huge.
Now, don't get me wrong, as afirst-year teacher, for the
first five years, I was probablygoing early, staying late,
working on lesson plans at nightbecause I was a social studies
teacher as well.
I get that life, yeah.
But I have time affluence, andmore than anything, I have
(29:33):
mental affluence where I don'thave to worry about my business
failing or succeeding based offthis next client or prospect.
Now, there's things out of mycontrol in the government that
could keep me up at night whenit comes to funding, but I'm not
gonna let that, you know.
I can only control what I cancontrol.
So I don't stay awake at nightwith government funding.
(29:56):
I I know enough that I'm gonnaland on my feet.
I'm a talented individual, ashumbly as I can say that.
I will be able to provide for myfamily, whether it's moving
boxes at UPS, cutting downtrees.
Like I'll find a way to get itdone.
Yeah.
So I would say the timeaffluence I get back as a PE
(30:16):
teacher and the joy of fluencehas compounded to where,
although, yes, we'd love to besitting pretty, but here's
another thing I learned withfinancial affluence.
I told God, I said, God, if Iever make over X amount of
money, I'm going to give all ofit away.
And that was true.
I was like, God, I've been ateacher for so long.
I only want to make like doublemy salary.
(30:38):
I'll give the rest away.
But God wanted my heart.
And my heart wasn't to give outof my abundance.
My heart was to give a certainpercentage of no matter what I
made, to trust him.
And that's where I had kind ofgotten it wrong.
And I heard this the other daythat if you were to win the
lottery, would you still work atyour job?
(31:00):
And I pondered that for a littlebit.
And it's like, where is yourheart?
Because if I knew I was takencare of financially, would I
still be given, giving myself tomy community, those who could do
nothing for me?
And a lot of us would say, nope,I'd retire and I'd go to a
beach.
And maybe that's why you're nothaving all this financial
(31:20):
success, because the real reasonyou're here on earth is to pour
into others and serve them.
And you can't do that from abeach.
SPEAKER_02 (31:27):
Yeah, I love that question.
And like that, I really thatthat really hit me.
That like that's the real litmustest.
Like, and it goes back to whatyou were saying.
Like it, your calling, like ifyou're if you're pursuing your
calling, if you're aligned withwhere God wants you, you're not
working, right?
And so though those people arelooking for that outlet, they're
(31:47):
playing a lotto, hoping to win alotto.
And the moment they do, theyquit.
Well, the job.
Well, are you really doing whatyou love?
Are you really there?
Are your feet really plantedthere?
And so I love that that questionthat you pose.
That's the real limits, Tessa.
You know, I just love how youyou talked a little bit about
your journey, you're a lot aboutyour journey and how you've
(32:09):
overcome a lot.
And I want to do this before wego on break.
Uh, just kind of talk a littlebit about your journey as a
young person.
You talked about your your yourparents and and it just that how
that helped shape who who youare today.
SPEAKER_03 (32:28):
Yeah, so as a as a young person, grew up with uh a
lot of dysfunction.
I had a younger brother and anolder sister, but uh a lot of
things that happened where everytime my dad used
methamphetamines, uh times wouldget really hard.
There's a thing called meth ragethat happens where we would be
living in Missouri one day andthen on the next day be going
(32:50):
out to California to live withmy aunt.
Uh we spent time in women'sbattered shelters.
But the one thing that I alwayssay when I go speak to teachers
is I talk briefly about what Iwent through because that
matters, but I talk about theteachers who poured into me.
My kindergarten teacher, MissBirdsong, Miss Royce, my first
grade teacher, my second gradeteacher, Miss Smith, Miss
(33:11):
Davidson, who you know got me tomy 12s on my multiplication
tables, Miss Hege in fifthgrade, Miss Schaefer, Miss
Buckingham, you know, and MissHutcheson.
Like you just go down the list,Mr.
Franken, Coach Franken, who ismy PE teacher.
And then I talk about here thethe people in high school that
they were either the extraintentional teacher, because
(33:32):
there's a difference.
There's the extra intentionalteacher, and then there's the
extra mile teacher.
The extra mile teacher a lot oftimes needs more time, yeah, but
the extra intentional teacherjust goes the extra mile to
learn your name, ask follow-upquestions.
And, you know, for the mostpart, even though I moved back
and forth, I saw differentplaces, I never thought of
(33:55):
myself as an underdog.
And statistically, it was onlyas an adult where I learned
statistically some studies, say,not all, and you can go back and
forth on trauma research.
But the truth is, I had a harderchildhood.
So that would make growing upand becoming something out of
myself that much harder.
So, for example, I have a halfbrother, he went to prison.
(34:16):
My younger brother struggledwith alcoholism and almost
didn't make it out of hissituation.
So I say this that statisticsare don't share the entire
picture because it's about whatdid go right.
And Jason, I had Coach Wilkie.
He was a guy who would drivethree hours to come watch me
play college football.
(34:37):
I had Miss Stansel.
Uh, she was my math teacher.
And as soon as I turned 18, shebought me my first Bible.
Uh, I can just go down the listof everybody who has poured into
me.
Uh, and I can tell other storiesabout like when I was 20 years
old, my dad passed away, and Ihad to plan an entire funeral by
myself as a 20-year-old, but allthe community came around and
(35:01):
uh, you know, kind ofencompassed me.
And really, it's about proppingother people up, letting them
know that I they're seen, heard,and valued.
And I try to take less off of meand put more onto them.
Uh, and now don't get me wrong,I'm a grinder.
Uh, you know, if it doesn'tchallenge you, if it doesn't
(35:22):
change you, I specifically takethe direction of doing hard
things, but it's only becauseI've known that because other
people have poured into me aswell.
SPEAKER_00 (35:31):
You are listening to the Miked Up and Motivated
podcast with Jason A.
Dixon and featured guest JustinPickens.
SPEAKER_02 (35:45):
Welcome back to the Miked Up and Motivated Podcast.
We're here with Mr.
Justin Pickens, who has beenamazing and just telling us his
story, bringing us into hisworld.
Coach, you have been soinspiring, man.
And we're talking off-air justhow amazing.
Uh you're giving me my myflowers and my compliments,
which I I truly appreciate.
(36:06):
But man, I I look at you and I'mlike, you are so amazing.
You're doing so many amazingthings, and uh, you've even
inspired me.
And so talk a little bit aboutwhere you see this journey
taking you next.
What's on the horizon for CoachPickens?
SPEAKER_03 (36:24):
Yeah, great question, Jason.
So, again, if you're justjoining us, I'm Justin Pickens.
I help break cycles and buildfutures.
I do that uh by being anelementary PE teacher by day and
a motivational speaker,specifically towards caring
adults and educators by night.
So, you know, what's what's onthe horizon?
That's always the big question.
(36:45):
If you've been listening, you'veheard how 13 years in education,
two years left, and now I'vekind of found my calling.
Uh, my speaking business, youknow, is growing.
It's it's snowballing.
I've done a lot of back toschool convocations.
Uh, I've spoken to futureeducators, so that's a big one
too.
Is there's a group calledEducator Rising.
(37:08):
And I just spoke at one of theirevents and I had people coming
to me saying, like, you're notjust another boring speaker,
like you're storytelling.
Like, I was on the fence aboutthis.
Is a high school girl said, Iwas on the fence about being an
educator, and then you spoke,and now it's what I want to do.
And I never want to convincesomebody to do something or to
enter a field or to stay in acareer field where they're
(37:30):
they're not gonna be happy.
Yeah, but to be honest, liketeaching is still a wonderful
profession.
I think a lot of people spendtoo much time on social media
being bogged down.
Uh, but yeah, speaking's uhtaking off.
I'm getting you know morewell-known, more engagements are
happening.
(37:51):
Uh, I've even, you know, at thisdate in the recording, uh, I've
had some speaker uh agents kindof just reach out and test the
waters.
But to be honest, like I I lovewhere I'm at, and I'm just gonna
take it one step at a time.
I want to stay in the classroomas long as I can.
Uh, one of the things is you geta lot of these motivational
(38:11):
speakers, especially forteachers, they go around and uh
they're not in the classroomanymore.
And I understand why thathappens.
It's because it's hard to do twofull-time jobs at once.
I get it.
And my family needs me to needme more than uh, you know,
audiences or my classroom.
But I'm gonna stay in the theclassroom as long as I possibly
(38:32):
can until uh it forces my handto choose one or the other.
But I will say the longevity ofmaking connections with my
elementary kids is going toleave ripple effects in their
life forever.
But it's really cool when you'rea speaker, when even though you
get like maybe 60 minutes, youcan genuinely change a person's
life in that moment.
(38:53):
Now, the hardest thing withspeaking is sometimes you don't
get to come back and follow up.
SPEAKER_02 (38:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (38:59):
But it's really cool of like, well, what if I fill up
a room full of a thousandteachers at this convocation?
If I fill them up and then theycan go fill up the other kids,
then I'm kind of just you knowmultiplying my effects.
So great question.
Who knows where we're at?
But if you were to ask me, I'mgonna still be teaching and then
inspiring uh and step on anystage that somebody asked me to
(39:22):
uh step on.
Uh, like, you know, it's beenreally cool this last couple
weeks.
I spoke at a future educatorconference, I spoke at a PE
conference, and then I'mspeaking at a men's weekend
church retreat.
So that's like three differentaudiences, three different
talks.
It's hard to prepare for thatmany talks, but it fills me up
(39:42):
knowing that that I can inspire.
SPEAKER_02 (39:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, I I would say the one ofthe reasons you're able to do
that is because even just duringthis podcast, your humility and
your authenticity, your heart,it's like you are genuinely, I
can I can see like you like thisis like you believe you you pour
(40:06):
from your heart, right?
And and I think that's why yourmessage resonates with so many
people from across different uhdemographics, uh different
audiences, man.
I can I can truly see that.
And I, you know, again, Ibelieve this is just the
beginning for you.
More doors are gonna open.
So you're listening, JustinPickens.
He's on he's on the up and up,so you better get them right
(40:28):
now.
Those bookies won't be over forvery long, man.
You're gonna read books.
So I you know what?
I I love to hear about thatstuff.
Yeah, talk a little bit aboutthose people.
And again, you you talked aboutit beforehand, but talk a little
bit more about those people whoreally left an imprint on your
life, who gave you theconfidence, you know, gave you
(40:49):
the the who empowered you to bein this position right now.
SPEAKER_03 (40:54):
No, great question.
Uh, so you know, I I gotta giveshout out and give credit where
credit's due.
Number one, as my best friendfrom high school, Chris Martin,
it was the best of both of usbeing good human beings who are
also very competitive.
So I say every single teenageboy needs to have you, and you
don't need a ton of bestfriends, you just need one.
(41:17):
Uh, you just need one to kind ofmotivate, push, and inspire.
So he pushed me, you know.
We worked together, we worked ona farm together, we went to
school together, playedbasketball together.
And I tell you what, that farmerthat hired us got the best money
ever because he hired two boysfor five dollars a piece to go
work their butts off, who canconstantly had a competition.
(41:40):
Who could do more hay bales?
Who could do more this?
And it's just like I bet he wasjust sitting back being like,
Oh, this is the best investmentI've ever made in my life.
Yeah.
But having a best friend whobelieved in me filled me up.
My my dad, even though hestruggled, he loved watching me
succeed in sports and he wouldplay catch with me every chance
he got, even if he wasexhausted.
(42:02):
He wasn't always there, but whenhe was there, he was so proud of
me.
Uh, my mom, even though shestruggled quite a bit, she did
her best to protect us when mydad was at his worst sometimes.
Yeah.
And although she struggled, shestill did her best to always
encourage us.
My parents always told me fourthings.
They always said, uh, when yougo to college, they didn't use
(42:23):
the word if, they said when yougo to college.
Don't know how we're gonna payfor it, but when.
Uh, they always said, do as Isay, not as I do.
Uh they always said you don'thave to stop what you don't
start.
And then they always said,listen to your teachers and
coaches.
And those four things stuck outwith me huge.
Uh, other people who fed into mylife, uh elementary teachers,
(42:45):
but specifically in high school,Miss Scoville, Coach Wilkie,
Coach Smith, uh, the Bergenfamily, uh, all these people
went the extra mile.
And I'm probably leaving somenames out.
I'm so sorry if I am.
And then as an educator, one ofthe biggest uh blessings of my
entire life was to meet a mannamed Ron Peters.
(43:08):
This was uh year eight ofteaching.
I was still a fiery coach.
Uh, I was probably yelling alittle too much at kids in
middle school basketball,getting after kids.
And Ron, you know, he was a58-year-old para.
Uh, sorry if I got your agewrong, Ron, but Ron was older.
This was his, he was on the tailend of his career.
(43:28):
He was getting ready to retire,and he was a paraprofessional.
And he truly taught me thatleadership knows no title, and
your title may put you in aleadership position, but it
doesn't give you influence.
SPEAKER_04 (43:41):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (43:41):
Ron was quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to
anger.
I watched him coach four sports,uh, track, football, boys'
basketball, girls' basketball,and he did it with composure and
compassion.
And he proved to me that youdidn't have to yell.
Now, I'm energetic, but I don'thave to yell and demean people
to be a good coach.
Yeah.
(44:01):
Ron Peters made me a betterhusband, a better father, a
better um mentor to youngpeople.
And he did that all by justsimply sharing a coaching office
with me throughout my time.
Now, I always say Ron Peters isbattling the terrible disease
known as Parkinson's, which hastaken his ability to speak uh
loudly.
It's taken his ability to havecontrol over his own body.
(44:24):
But if anybody's ever watchingthis, I always just want to say
be Ron a Ron Peters, be somebodywho is always uh uplifting
others and is isn't expectinganything in return.
And that's what Ron did for me.
SPEAKER_02 (44:40):
Oh, I love that.
I love that.
And and what he poured into you,man, you you you're taking it
and you're multiplying it.
You're you're I'm I I love that.
And I can relate because I havea coaching background as well.
I was a yeller, I was fiery, youknow.
I thought I had to do this toget get the best out of them.
And and like you, I learned,man, it's not about how how how
(45:03):
much you yell.
You know, I learned it's trulyabout building those
relationships, gaining theirtrust.
And so when you say that, thatreally hits home for me, that
resonates.
And again, shout out to RonPeters, man, and all the people
that you you talked about thatare poured into you.
I know they're proud of you,man.
So let me ask you a few morequestions before we we end the
(45:24):
podcast.
So when you look at thelandscape of your profession,
your industry where you um youdo your work, what are things
that that uh that excite you?
And then what are some thingsthat kind of kind of worry you a
little bit?
SPEAKER_03 (45:43):
Yeah, some things that excite me are just the
ability every day that there'skids out there that need to a
mentor.
They need to be coached, theyneed connection, and they need
to be inspired.
You know, we're living at asociety where I may have had a
tough childhood, but I never hada childhood with a cell phone.
And we're learning, like it'sour job as adults right now to
(46:05):
protect these kids fromdepression and loneliness that
is occurring and form community.
That is where I really am glad.
There's a a thing in Kansas Citystarted called Fight Club.
And it's where groups ofteenagers, men at high schools
are just getting together andjust simply talking and airing
(46:25):
out like this is what I'm goingthrough.
We're fighting suicide.
So the need to help young peopleis always going to be there.
SPEAKER_02 (46:34):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (46:34):
Uh something that excites me and also makes me
nervous because I don't knowabout it is you know, AI is
coming.
Uh I don't think I you're evergoing to be able to replace
human connection, but I do thinkthat AI is a powerful tool for
learning.
And if used right, we can, youknow, we we don't have to teach
the way we used to teach, whichis one classroom, one teacher,
(46:57):
you know, we all we all move atthe same pace, even though we
try our best to uh scaffold andstrategically uh, you know, give
kids what they need.
But AI is gonna be thereregardless, and it can help or
it can hurt us.
And, you know, I'm I'm excitedabout what that's gonna look
like.
Now, a lot of people might beworried about, man, what if AI
(47:18):
takes my job?
What if this?
And I've just got thisperspective of, so what?
You know, if it does, I willland on my feet and somebody
will need some encouragement.
I know a lot of people areworried about that, Jason.
A lot of educators, they'reworried about tomorrow.
And I don't know what that'sgonna look like, but I just know
(47:38):
that humans in general are stillgoing to need connection outside
of AI.
So, so yeah, that if thatanswers your question, I'm
excited that tomorrow, no matterwhat, I got kids coming to my
classroom that need me, and Ineed them just as much.
And I'm gonna ride that high aslong as we can and I'll adapt
(47:59):
and grow and learn uh just likeanybody else is going to in this
nation.
And the cream will rise to thetop.
You'll you you either win oryou'll learn, and that's what's
gonna happen over the next, youknow, two to I used to say like
five to ten years, but as fastas technology moves, you know,
two to two to five years, right?
So yeah, that that's what I'mexcited and nervous about as
(48:21):
well.
SPEAKER_02 (48:21):
Yeah, yeah.
I I I love that you you saidthat.
And when I hear you talk aboutthat, you you epitomize my three
S's.
I talk about when it comes tostudents creating a culture or
an environment or classroomwhere they feel safe, they feel
seen, and they feel supported.
And and when you made thisstatement about, you know, when
(48:43):
when you go into that classroom,you're gonna have kids that need
you, and and it it's it's notabout all the outside influences
that you're worried about.
It's like you gotta be in themoment, you gotta do what you
need, because these kids aregonna need all of you.
And so I I I love that aboutyou, and you and you epitomize
that and you embody that.
So let me let me ask you thisquestion, uh, this final
(49:06):
question.
And because I know you you lovespeaking to educators and
adults.
So let's say um you we havepeople listening to the podcast,
we're educator, a parent, amentor, a youth pastor, anyone
that works with uh uh a youngperson and they're kind of uh
(49:27):
discouraged, they're kind ofworried, they're not uh not
really getting their messageacross, they're not reaching
them.
What would Justin Pickens say tothat that person to keep them
going, to keep the fuel in theirfire?
SPEAKER_03 (49:42):
I'd say the pendulum is swinging back.
It used to be where teachers andcoaches and youth pastors were
the primary source of an adultfigure that people would look
after and model after.
And then it swung to socialmedia.
But I think this generation isfinding out that social media uh
(50:03):
influencers don't have it allfigured out.
They are understanding uh thatyou can be anybody you want to
be on that, you know, Instagramor TikTok stage, but they're
starting to wonder like, Iactually want to feel connected
to the people right in front ofme.
And you know who I'm gonna lookup to?
The people who are right infront of me who are joyful.
(50:26):
Uh, I would also say practice anattitude of gratitude every
single day because there areover 10,000 elementary PE
teachers in America, and half ofthem might be miserable at their
job.
But every day I'm driving toschool, I'm practicing my
attitude, I'm staying in theword, I'm listening to some
forest frank.
Today's gonna be a good day.
(50:48):
Nothing's gonna, and I justprepare myself mentally that,
yeah, challenges will come, butI'm not an underdog, I'm an
overcomer.
And today's gonna be a good day,no matter what comes.
So fill your cup with someattitude and some gratitude.
Get off social media.
We don't have just a teacherburnout problem, we have a human
(51:09):
burnout problem.
I guarantee if you startedeating healthier and got off
social media, you know you needto do that, nothing else.
If you just ate healthier andstarted uh it got completely off
social media, give that a tryfor three months and you will be
a happier person and better atyour job.
SPEAKER_04 (51:26):
Thank you for listening to this episode of the
Mic'ed Up and Motivated Podcast.
SPEAKER_01 (51:33):
You have people waiting on you to cross over to
the other side so you can reachback and grab them.
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!
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.