February 21, 2025 • 42 mins
James Bracken IV, is an inspirational young man and successful host of the 'You Can Too' podcast. James shares his journey of starting his podcast at 17 and growing it to nearly 300 episodes, featuring top thought leaders like Seth Godin and Evan Carmichael. He discusses the importance of persistence, following intuition, and making the podcast a mutual win for guests. James also touches on his personal growth, the impact of reading and coaching, and his method of developing self-trust and intuition through meditation and self-awareness practices. The episode offers valuable insights into podcasting, personal development, and staying true to one's mission.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Your intuition is like a stillsmall voice, and the more that
(00:02):
you trust it, the louder thatvoice gets, and so the more that
you can trust that intuition.
For so many people, they don'ttrust it when they hear it, and
so that voice gets smaller andquieter.
And so, when opportunities arisein their life, they don't see
them or they don't trustthemselves to step into them
because they're not listening totheir intuition.
(00:28):
Welcome to The Wayfinder Showwith Luis Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that lead them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
(00:50):
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
James Brackin IV (01:03):
Welcome back to the Wayfinder show.
I'm your host, Luis Hernandez.
And today we're joined by JamesBracken IV, and he is the host
of the You Can Too podcast.
On his pod, he shares inspiringstories from exceptional
individuals to explore whatthey've overcome, are currently
overcoming, and they show youhow you can too.
(01:23):
Coming up on nearly 300episodes, You Can Too has
featured Interviews with notableguests such as Seth Godin,
Hollywood medium Tyler Henry,Matt D'Avella, Noah Kagan, Gary
Brekka, Evan Carmichael, BruceLipton.
Case Kenny, Derek Sivers, MarkSisson, and James Altucher, and
many more.
(01:45):
Wow, that's a big mouthful.
James, welcome to the WayfinderShow.
Man, it's so great to be withyou.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited for thisconversation.
We've been connected for a whileand just excited to chat.
Yeah, likewise.
Yeah, and you've sent us a lotof great guests for our show as
well.
And, so I'm really grateful toyou for that.
Thank you very much.
(02:05):
Let's just, I'm I can't, I knowyou've gotten this question a
million times, but I got to ask,like, how do you get some of
these are like the biggestthought leaders in the world
right now, right?
Especially like in the business,marketing space and all and
such.
How have you been able to getthem on your show?
Yeah, it's a great question.
(02:26):
The podcast that I was going tohave right after this
conversation was with a guynamed Greg Brayden, who is a
massive, massive person inspirituality and consciousness
and all that other kind ofstuff.
So I think a lot of it reallyhas just been, I really say it's
the, it's doing the work.
A lot of people want like a, areally simple answer.
(02:48):
Like my pitch is perfect orpeople just love me or whatever.
I don't know what they'relooking for with that answer.
But most of it is just reachingout and following up.
There was a Chris Voss, who'sthe FBI negotiator.
I, it took me a whole year toget him on the show, just
following up month after month.
And so many people, Seth Godin,so many others that just, it
took a long.
Time to get them on.
(03:09):
And I think just giving people areason to come on.
I think a lot of podcasts arejust releasing an episode and
hoping to have a person on thatpodcast, but not really looking
for why do I want this person onmy show?
What kind of impact can theybring to my audience?
And how can my mission,collaborate with their mission.
And so that's what I try to do.
I try to make it make sense forthem.
Cause I started my podcast whenI was 17 years old, like they
(03:31):
have no reason to come on myshow.
So I guess my, my, my thought ishow can I make this a win for
them as just much as it's a winfor me as well.
Yeah.
Oh, that's such sage advice.
It's incredible that you startedat 17 and that our listeners
don't know this.
I asked you before the show butwhen we start putting the video
out there, they'll see you're ayoung guy yourself.
(03:53):
That was only four years ago.
I think you've been our youngestguest now but with an incredible
amount of success.
And luckily now we can go have abeer together, but I couldn't
have done that too long ago, Butyeah, how did you, I'm just
curious, how did you startcoming up with this?
I know you didn't start the showby having all of these big
(04:16):
guests on, you started doing ityourself.
And what was the inspiration andwhat led to, to where it went?
Yeah.
I think so it was 105 soloepisodes and I think that gave
me a lot of credibility to thenreach out to people and say,
Hey, I've done a hundredepisodes.
They don't need to know if I hada person on or if it was solo
(04:36):
episodes, but just showing upweek after week doing the work
and really it shows commitmentand resilience and showing up
because most podcasts don't evenget past episode seven, let
alone episode 100.
And so you're doing amazingthings as well by just literally
showing up.
Just doing the work.
Coming down this route, it wassomething that I felt called to
do.
Really it wasn't something thatI felt that I needed to do or
(04:57):
something that I didn't reallythink it was much of an option.
It was more of I need to dothis.
And I don't really know how toexplain that much.
It was, like a calling.
I think growing up, I told mymom, my sister, when I was
really, young, and I don'tremember telling my mom, my
sister have told me this, asI've gotten more into this
space, that I used to tell themI want to be a motivational
speaker.
And the more I grow up, the lessthat really resonates with me,
(05:18):
but in some shape or form,that's what I've done through
coaching and through podcasting.
I've just, put my What I feeldownloaded into the world and
providing an outlet for otherpeople to do the same.
And so it was more of a, anaffirmation.
I told myself you can too justby seeing other people do
extraordinary things.
And we're always told toquestion our ability and to
(05:40):
doubt ourselves.
and everything else.
And so I think the core of whatmost people really need is
belief in themselves, belief inwhat is possible, and belief in
the future.
And so that's what I hope toinstill, and by doing that for
myself, and hopefully doing itfor others as well.
So it was more of something Ifelt like I needed to do.
It wasn't really much of anoption, if that makes sense.
It makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
Did you ever have the feelingbeing as young as you are,
(06:02):
reaching out to these, thesethought leaders who are at their
prime?
Hey, who am I to reach out tothese people?
Do you know that kind ofimposter syndrome?
Yeah people have asked me a lotand honestly, no I've never once
thought who am I to speak withthis person like Seth Godin, for
example, he responded within 30minutes Yeah, and he goes on a
(06:25):
good amount of podcasts that areover 100 episodes And so I knew
that I had to wait until 100episodes to at least reach out
to him but I think I joined acoaching program before I even
got into podcasting.
That was what really gave me thecourage to start it.
And so investing into a coachingprogram more money than I had in
my bank account, more thandouble I had in my bank account.
It was like I'm taking a leap onmyself to step into coaching.
(06:50):
I can do the exact same thingwhen it comes to podcasting.
And no, I think it was my worstthought is, okay, they say no.
And they say, no what really isthe downside of that?
I, my mindset has always beenfrom the start is it's not, if
it's going to happen, it's whenit's going to happen.
So even the people that havesaid no, thus far in three years
from now, I bet there'll be onthe show.
(07:11):
And we probably before that, alot of the guests that I've had
on thus far, I didn't think I'dbe able to get so soon.
And so I know, I think it'salways just when it's.
Going to happen mindset.
Yeah.
Oh, man, that's really great Ithink a lot of us suffer from
You know what I described, youknow that imposter syndrome like
(07:31):
when I was young it was becauseI was too young now I'm old and
I think oh i'm too old, and Butwe all suffer from that kind of
thing But I think when you'resuccessful it really is when you
just can just stick to it andpersevere and you know that's
how I was able to get my bestPartner in life my wife just
(07:52):
keep going after her so she saidyes, right?
Like Eventually you're doing theright things to align yourself
to get these folks To be in yourworld.
So yeah me being naive in thebeginning was something that
really helped me because it waslike it was never a thought out
of I mean if they say no, it'sit's Rejection is just allowing
(08:17):
you to say like honestly, I seenit.
I did a course not too long agoOn getting guests because I've
had so many people ask me andone of the things I speak about
is Rejection is probably a goodthing because a lot of the
people that I've got told no Isjust reminding me that i'm
probably not ready to have themon the podcast I wouldn't be
able to provide the conversationthat they deserve to be able to
impact my audience in the waythat I want to.
(08:39):
And I think it's more of ablessing than anything, because
it just reminds me that I needto keep going.
Excellent.
I wonder, what there's somethingabout that 100th episode you
mentioned.
I think, actually, we met afterI Without my hundredth episode
it was around the year mark youreached out to us and said hey
(08:59):
We got this great guestcongratulations, and I think it
was a year or a hundred episodesI can't remember and and that
just launched that took us to awhole nother level like from
there More people startedreaching out.
We got we our guest started getit we're bigger names.
It just really took us to adifferent level.
What is it that you think suchmilestones, what is it about
(09:24):
them that they represent thatreally take us to another level?
I think it shows that there is,I think it's have you ever heard
of Infinite Games by SimonSinek?
That mindset, I've never readthe book.
I actually have the book, but Ihaven't read it.
(09:45):
That perspective, I think has,really resonated so deeply with
me.
And I think for a lot of peopleit does when it comes to
podcasting, because even if youhave no sponsor, if you're not
making Any kind of money fromthe podcast.
If you're not building abusiness behind it, you're still
getting something from thepodcast, the conversations you
learn so much.
I, for me, probably for you, fora lot of podcasters, I find that
(10:07):
before the podcast, they haveenergy.
They're excited to have theconversation, but after the
podcast, they even more, theyhave more energy than they had
before it.
And so it's a sign that it'ssomething that's giving you
energy, and a lot of people aredoing things that drain their
energy.
And a hundred episodes, andyou're still excited just as you
were at the beginning, it justreminds you of how far you've
come, how far you have to go,and just getting even more
excited about the future,because once you're a hundred
(10:29):
episodes in, you're deep intoit.
Most people don't even get tothat point, and so I think it
just, it reminds you of whereyou started and how excited you
are for the future.
Yeah.
Yeah, I wasn't a verydisciplined person at your age,
so that's why I really admireyou.
I wish I had your discipline,right?
(10:49):
But as I got older, one of thethings I learned try something
that you're interested in for ayear, and if you can commit to
it for a year, and you're stillexcited, Or more excited than it
typically will will be somethingthat's worth a worthwhile
pursuit, right?
So that happened to me with myrunning vent journey.
And then with the podcast aftera year, I was much more excited
(11:12):
than I, even when I started andnow we're approaching two years
and and I'm even more excitedabout what's good it's wild, but
the way I started, also, isdifferent than my reasons for
starting are probably a littlebit different than they are for
continuing.
Now, do you have that?
(11:35):
Yeah, I think so.
I think if you're, if your mind,if you're not open to changing
your mind about why you're doingsomething, or what you want to
do, I think you're just closingyourself off to so many more
opportunities.
And that can be in anything inbusiness and life and
relationships, whatever it maybe.
I think for me, the podcast isjust, like I said, it gives me
energy.
It started off as like a publicjournal.
(11:56):
Like I was learning so manythings from working with
coaching clients and workingwith coaches myself.
Early on in my life that I justfelt like I needed to give like
a way of providing value topeople and more So it was really
for myself when I first startedAnd now i'm doing more
interviews and seeing it as away to build relationships with
people that I just wouldn't haveotherwise been able to get in
(12:16):
the room with and providing anoutlet for people that You know
are impacting so many otherpeople and just finding my ways
of doing so so yeah, absolutelyI think it should change.
Yeah, what i'm There's a fewways we can take this
conversation, I'm curious aboutwith you, but let's start with
your origin story, because I'mjust fascinated by the fact that
(12:39):
you're getting coaching and suchat a very early age, and I
didn't think about gettingcoaching till like my 40s,
right?
And I know I'm not unusual, sowhat led you to that wisdom?
Yeah, me either.
I didn't even know what a coachwas when I got my first coach.
I just again, the me beingnaive, not knowing what it was,
(13:01):
but knowing that what I've seenin so much of my life isn't what
I wanted.
I think one of the thingsgrowing up was I didn't really
have There wasn't really anyoneI looked to and thought, this is
the kind of life I want to live,or they have this, they have a
great relationship, or they havea really good job.
There was no one in my lifereally that I saw.
And so knowing that what was notworking for so many other people
(13:23):
was not the path I wanted to godown, I needed to do something
different.
I, ne throughout my entireschooling.
And if you're seeing us onYouTube, you see how many books
I have behind me.
This is just like a third of howmany books I have, because I
realized there's forms and waysto rewrite my narrative about
who I tell myself I am andwhat's possible for my life.
And there's so many things thatit's got excited about just this
(13:45):
possibility of just creating somuch impact for myself and for
other people.
And so I started reading books,started listening to podcasts
and at the end of one of thepodcasts, they were talking
about a coaching program.
Now I had no idea what a coachwas, but it, like viscerally
felt right to me.
It just felt like the thing thatI was supposed to do.
I hopped on a sales call, I gotsold, ended up in a coaching
program not too long to learnhow to become a coach.
(14:07):
17 years old, I have no lifeexperience, what gives me the
right to be able to do that?
Again, it was me being naive andnot really thinking about who am
I to do this, but more over thefew years that I was like
learning so much, I felt itwould be a disservice, and one
of my first coaches told methis, you do a disservice by not
bringing your unique gifts intothe world.
And so that really stuck withme, because it made me think, If
(14:30):
I am going to let my fear and myimposter syndrome, my self
doubt, all of that kind of stuffhold me back, it's not only
holding me back, but it'sholding me back from helping the
people that need my help.
And when he framed it like that,it made me really rethink about,
okay I'm dealing with everythingthat every person would deal
with, and fear, anxiety, allthat kind of stuff of, am I
worthy of helping these kind ofpeople?
(14:51):
But when he put it in that kindof framing, it made me think I'm
pretty selfish if I'm not goingto help people, because I need
to get out of my own way.
And That's how I got intocoaching.
And then once I realized that Istarted, I thought if I'm going
to start posting on social mediafor my coaching, I might as well
start the podcast because I'vealways felt inclined to do that.
And so that's how I went downthat path, but I definitely
didn't know what a coach was anddidn't have any intention of
(15:12):
doing it either, but it was Iknew college wasn't the path for
me.
I knew I wanted to create a lifethat was not like anyone that I
knew.
And I had to do something no oneelse really did, so everyone
went this way, and I went acompletely different way.
Wow.
What were the early influences?
People, podcasts, books, whatwhat?
(15:33):
What were they that reallystarted to change?
Yeah Eckhart Tolle, Joe Dispenzaa lot of those kind of people
that really just made me rethinkmy internal narrative about
myself and about how I feltabout myself, how I felt about
the future, about the world thatkind of stuff.
My first coach was a guy namedRob Dial, who hosts the the
(15:55):
Mindset Mentor Podcast.
Hundreds of millions ofdownloads one of the biggest
podcasts in the world and it'sjust similar to me It was just a
public journal.
He doesn't really do Interviews,he just rambles on whatever he
feels people need to hear andresonated with me at the time
Doesn't really resonate with meanymore, but I was really
helpful for my evolution at thatage for sure So now it looks
(16:19):
like about halfway through yourjourney You went from it being a
personal journal to more of justinterview style and it seems
like now it's mostly interviewswhat a I'm curious as to along
not now that most it's probablyabout half and half It looks
like your episodes or personaljournal versus interview style.
(16:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
How do you feel about eachstyle?
And what do you feel you'regonna go to moving forward with
it?
Yeah, I think it's right now.
It's pretty much one interview aweek, and then every when I feel
like doing a Solo episode I'llput one out there.
I haven't really felt Excitedabout doing it and so I'm
leaning into what feels rightfor me right now, and that's
(17:01):
doing interviews And I think forme it's interviews or something.
I've really find it.
It is an infinite game It's likeeven if I were to lose and
whatever that means inpodcasting I am connecting with
people that I would have no wayof connecting with no
possibility of getting in theroom if I didn't have a way of
providing value to them.
(17:21):
And so the podcast is that wayof providing value to people
that I would just have no way ofgetting in contact with.
And so I felt the more I doubledout on that, the more
relationships I'm able to build,the more people I will be able
to get on and the more peoplethat I'll be able to impact
through their audience andothers and stuff like that.
And so I found it's a littlebit.
So for me to impact more people,it seems like the progressive
(17:41):
route to go down.
Yeah.
There's a couple of recurringthemes as you answer some of
these questions.
And one of them with you is, youjust have a natural, like an
incredible self awareness andself confidence and,
intuitiveness about.
It doesn't seem like youactually have a plan laid out,
(18:02):
you just go with what, whatfeels right in your gut.
Is that fair?
Very.
Yeah.
How, where does that come from?
I don't know.
I, think when I, feel like Ilive two lives, if that makes
sense.
They say that you live two livesand the second one starts when
you realize you only have one.
(18:23):
Growing up, I lost a lot offamily.
My father, uncle both passed at37 years old, grandfather passed
a few months before hisretirement.
And so I saw mortality.
age, multiple different times,completely unexpected.
And so it was like life showingme just putting it straight in
my face.
Hey, you have to listen toyourself when you feel this is
the thing that you should do.
(18:43):
And when I went down thecoaching route, it was the first
time I actually trusted myintuition in something that my
entire life I never had.
And so ever since then, I'venever really been a I've never,
I'm never when people ask mebecause I'm so young, where are
you going to be five, 10 yearsfrom now?
I can't predict where I'm goingto be a month from now,
(19:04):
physically or mentally or jobwise, whatever it may be.
Like I know I'm going to be inColumbia next month.
I don't know where I'm going tobe in February, still undecided
on that.
And so it, to think about whereI'm going to be five years, 10
years down the road, it justcould never be.
It can never be concrete and sotrusting my intuition and just
(19:24):
going going with the flow goingday to day and going with what
feels right feels like the onlything that I can do.
And most of the spiritualleaders that I speak to, it
seems like they're on a similarpath just trusting what they
feel their heart wants them tomove towards and not letting
their mind make them secondguess what they think they
should do.
Because I think everyone knowsdeep down what they, what is the
(19:44):
right path for them, but that'swhat a meditation teacher said
in my podcast is your intuitionis like a still small voice.
And the more that you trust it,the louder that voice gets.
The more that you can trust inintuition for so many people
they don't trust it when theyhear it And so that voice gets
smaller and quieter And so whenopportunities arise in their
life They don't see them or theydon't trust themselves to step
(20:06):
into them because they're notlistening to their intuition And
so I think the more I can do itJust the more I'll feel in
alignment with myself Even if itisn't the quote unquote right
path to go down at what's whatfeels right in the moment.
Yeah Wow, there is justincredible amount of wisdom
there, right?
Many of us we spend our wholelives trying to uncover what
you've already realized so earlyon.
(20:28):
It's just incredibly enviable.
So what are some of the as yourjourney, as you've grown
tremendously, what are some ofthe influences you look at now,
that you've uncovered thatweren't there four years ago?
Who are they?
(20:48):
And what are they?
That's a big question.
Yeah.
Someone that has been verypivotal in my life, I just look
back because I have so manyfreaking books of people that
have impacted me.
I think there's so many,honestly.
I think the one thing that I'vedone really a lot this year, I
went to Hawaii for about fourmonths this year, and My time
(21:10):
there made me really connectwith myself and almost
disconnect from outsour outsidesources, books, podcasts, all
that kind of stuff.
And so I think more than everthe person that I look to is
more of myself.
If that makes sense.
I'm always looking out for newinformation and I'm never
concrete on what I believe to betrue, but I think just my
intuition has developed evenmore and my trust within myself
(21:32):
has really grown.
And so I think it's more so offinding a way to not look
outward so much for the answers,but trusting what I feel is the
answer within myself.
Do you have a practice for that?
Meditation or anything?
Yeah, meditation visualization,going on walks without
headphones breath work, so manythings.
(21:56):
Yeah, but meditation has been areal a real big thing for me and
visualization in that sense.
Yeah.
Any regular routines?
Morning routines, eveningroutines.
Yeah.
After I, every single day afterI eat breakfast, I go on like a
digestion walk, I guess youcould call it.
And I, pray.
(22:16):
And then usually most days I've,probably meditated over 150
hours this year.
So meditations definitely playeda massive role and meditation
can look like going on a walkwith no headphones.
It's anytime that I'm notlistening to anything because I
find that's a meditation.
You can be doing dishes andthat's a meditation.
It's just being where you are.
And I think a lot of people,we're always, we're have, we're
(22:38):
watching YouTube or we'relistening to a podcast or we're
listening to music.
We're always having something inour ears.
And so how are we ever going tobe able to develop that
intuition within ourselves if wealways have something outside of
us that we're listening to?
And so just spending more timewith myself and developing that
for sure.
Yeah.
So you got a lot of books there,even though that's only a third
(22:59):
of them.
What if you were to pick threefrom the pile that you'd make
have had the most influence onyour life or that you'd
recommend to others, what wouldthat be?
Yeah.
Breaking the habit of beingyourself.
Joe Dispenza is one that Ithink, even if you were to read
(23:19):
half of it, the first half ofthat book, it would change the
way that you think aboutyourself entirely.
That book was sotransformational for me.
Even when I first read it, Ididn't even understand what it
meant, but it like, reallyresonated with me at a deep
subconscious level.
So that's one.
Another one that I recommend alot is Psycho Cybernetics by a
(23:41):
guy named Maxwell Maltz.
That came out in 1964, I think.
It's a real old one.
But that one's a really big one.
I think for a lot of people thatare maybe not so confident or
self conscious or they're intheir thoughts a lot, I think
would be a really helpful book,which is most people.
And then the third one is a mixbetween to I've actually made a
(24:03):
YouTube video on this not toolong ago of obstacles the way I
remember reading that book andit was just such an amazing
reminder of how much ourperspective really just, it
really shapes our lifeexperience as a whole and I
don't think we put that into, wedon't take responsibility for
that enough in our lives, ourperspective.
And then lastly, I would say anew earth by Eckhart Tolle.
(24:24):
That's a book that I haveconstantly said that if I were
to read that book every singleday and just read a few pages of
it My suffering that Iexperience in this life would
decrease immeasurably.
Because it's just a reminder ofso many things that we need to
be reminded of.
Really?
I haven't read that.
I haven't actually read any ofthem.
No, I read Obstacles Away.
(24:45):
But Eckhart Tolle, I think, ismore well known for The Power of
Now, right?
Which is a prettytransformational book.
Power of Now.
Yes, sir.
I think this Yeah, it wasamazing.
So I would say that a new earthis like just a different form
and just different sayings ofThe power of now because all of
(25:06):
his work is just reminding youto get back to where you are and
let go of You know the thoughtsthat were we identify with and
so that's why I say that becauseso much we're so identified I'd
that we're never reallyconscious.
And so that book's a goodreminder for sure.
Interesting.
It's a another interesting thingI posted on our weekly
newsletter this week Today isone of my favorite things to do
(25:26):
is just stop by a good bookstoreI use this particular used
bookstores and this past weekendI went and stopped by one and
found the magic of thinking bigwhich is a book I'd always heard
about but I never read but itwas like I got the first edition
one from 1959 there And inthere, it's pretty neat to see
(25:46):
how they wrote books then and inthe back page is the author's
favorite five books on there.
And one of them that was onthere was Psycho Cybernetics.
So I had never heard of thisbook and I made a note to, hey,
look it up.
So now it's funny how in oneweek I'm hearing a reference to
that book twice.
(26:07):
I have to check it out.
Yeah, I I've read The Magic ofThinking Big as well.
Great book.
And it's just, again, so much ofbooks, and this is why I said it
earlier when you asked me of whodo I look to now?
So much of, I've read for somany years that this year I
didn't read that much because itwas when you get to a certain
point, you realize that moreinformation isn't the answer.
(26:29):
You just need to be reminded ofthe information that you already
know.
And Psycho Cybernetics was oneof those books, though, that is
Yeah, I listened to theaudiobook of that.
I don't have the physical copy.
It's 11 hours long and I've Ittook forever to get through and
there's so many concepts thatare really difficult to
internalize or want to reallyaccept, but I think it's a book
(26:50):
every single person needs toread, truthfully.
Okay.
Very good.
And that was really wise yourcomment about that before as
well, about it's true.
All these self help books, onceyou read them they end up being
the same thing, right?
They just get repurposed, forgenerations really, how many,
(27:10):
the habit forming books every 10years there's a new one that
comes out and it's the great newfrom atomic habits to the power
of habit.
It's essentially the same thing.
And these are age oldprinciples, I think that we all,
Need to just absorb andinternalize.
So that's really wise whatyou're saying about maybe not
taking it in and just absorbingit.
(27:31):
Yeah, I think at the beginningit's really good to to, listen
to books and to get newinformation because when you
have no basis and yourinformation is flawed, because
we're all taught things that arenot accurate or not helpful for
our evolution, I think it'sreally good to have books to
reframe what you think to betrue and to question your
beliefs for sure.
But after a certain extent, Ithink it only leaves you.
(27:54):
Seeking more when the answersare within, not outside, and I
think that's something peopledon't really want to accept, so
they continue to look outside,don't want to take
responsibility, but yeah, forsure.
Do you have a book in you and inyour future?
Absolutely, yeah.
There's so many things I'd liketo write on.
Yeah, absolutely.
(28:14):
I don't know when it'll be, Idon't know how many it'll be,
but I will absolutely be writingbooks in the future.
Okay, very good.
I'm curious with yourperspective, we I, hate, I feel
like I've been leading backtowards, society and politics a
little bit more lately, but Ihave to ask this.
(28:36):
We've recently had, by the timethis airs it'll we'll have a new
president in place, so theelection won't be as fresh.
But I think we, had an electionthat was very surprising and
shocking to a lot of people,right?
And it's quite, it's.
I'm talking, I'm going, I'mhaving a lot of conversations
(28:57):
with different people on bothsides of the aisle who are
almost forming like a third sideof the aisle now, right?
And, it's really making peoplerethink the way they think about
society, politics, all that.
Maybe that it isn't a dualisticsociety.
That there's people can be goodand bad.
(29:19):
There's more than just one orthe other.
So and with the way you'respeaking, you speak to this,
right?
You're it's i'm curious aboutyour take on society's awakening
towards that right now.
Yeah it's so timely.
I had a podcast with a guynamed.
(29:39):
Dr.
Kirk gray Last week and he wrotea book called outraged on
politics and moral understandingand I might have to introduce
you because it was such afascinating conversation Because
I think it is a it's a difficultthing for people to accept that
there's duality in life.
There's polarity There is goodand bad and there's good and bad
(29:59):
in everyone No one people don'twant to believe that there's bad
within themselves, but there's adark side to every single one of
us That's why there's the shadowand most people are unaware of
it.
I think It's difficult becausewe're fed.
I think anything that we see inmedia is.
usually an illusion in some way.
It's, clouded by bias in so manyways that most people, we can't
(30:22):
have conversations anymore.
We can't, it's, so much moreabout our identity than it is
about finding common ground.
And I think that COVID reallymade it difficult because we got
so detached from havingconversations with people from
the other side that we can'teven initiate a conversation,
(30:43):
let alone find or be open tobeing wrong.
And I think that's what's reallydifficult is.
When we're so identified withwhat we believe to be true, what
we know to be true to ourselves,we're already Blocking ourselves
off from another opportunity.
And that's why, for me, I'm likeso politically homeless because
I, there's so many things that Ibelieve on this side.
(31:06):
There's so many things I believeon this side and there is no
right thing for me.
I think it's just more so aboutbeing able to being wrong.
And I think in a world where wehave to be so politically
correct and we have to be soconcrete in our beliefs that
we're never going to find commonground for concrete and what we
know to be true because We'renot open to another opportunity
(31:30):
or another way of being yeah.
Yeah again.
I think that's so wise you useda term They're politically
homeless, which i've started tohear more and more and I think
it's a great one.
I feel like i've always beenpolitically homeless and it
wasn't I, tried to be acontrarian devil's advocate type
anyways, just try to take theother side just because I think
(31:51):
it keeps my mind more open, butwhen it comes to politics,
especially in an election year,it's always, it's not
acceptable, right?
It's like you can't you, can'tdisagree.
There's only one way with mostpeople and it's alarming, but I
think there's something aboutthis particular election to
(32:11):
happen that just really forcedpeople to think, wow, like, why,
what am I missing?
And I think that's a veryhealthy thing.
And I hope we, we start beingpolitically homeless becomes
socially acceptable and more ofthe majority.
I think every party should haveto earn our vote.
Every single time, not justbecause, and not counting us
(32:34):
identifying with a that memberof that tribe, right?
Yeah.
I think the difficulty with thatis when we are identified with a
side, that being open to theother side is a betrayal to
ours.
And so then, it's a, it goes somuch deeper than the fear of, is
(32:55):
this right?
Is this wrong?
But it's more we need to have atribe, because evolutionarily,
we needed it.
And so if we're on our side, butwe're open to the other side,
it's betrayal to our own side.
And, but we don't want to getkicked from our side, because
we're not gonna be accepted bythe others.
Side and so then we're lost andwe're by ourselves and then
we're not safe And so I thinkit's so much deeper than just
(33:16):
being right or wrong or havingcertain political beliefs But so
much deeper than people reallyrecognize.
That's for sure.
Yeah, that's a hadn't eventhought of it that way That's a
great way to put it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're at least we'reafraid Of, being perceived as
betraying that side, right?
Because within family, we fight,we have different beliefs, we
(33:37):
hold on, and we get backtogether.
We're still family, right?
But you're right.
That's interesting.
What about, so you I heard yourepisode on the wisdom you've
gained from 200 episodes on yourpodcast.
And you had a great questionabout, in there that, Maybe
(33:58):
we'll start to incorporate onthe Wayfinders show because I
really liked it and it was abouthaving a belief in something
What is something you believebefore that you don't have
anymore, what you're working onnow or and what's something that
stayed the same and maybe evengrown stronger?
What are those for you?
(34:20):
Yeah, I think the belief that Ihave Changed my mind on is that
the answers I'm looking foroutside of me when I first
started I Was really lookingoutside of myself for answers
from other people that wereahead of me and whatever that
means in business As in life,and I was always looking outside
of myself for about what Ishould do in business, about how
(34:42):
I can help clients, about what Ishould do with the podcast, like
so many other things, andthere's so many people that have
a lot of great information thatyou, I think coaches are
amazing, I'm a coach, like Ihire coaches, there's a reason
for it, but I think at the endof the day, coaching is just a
one of my coaches would tell meis it's permission and
reminders.
It's giving people thepermission that they can give to
themselves, but we fail to do somuch and reminders about who you
(35:04):
are deep down really inside.
And I think a lot of the timewe're trying to be ourselves.
We're trying to becomeourselves.
But I think it's getting back toourselves.
And so I think that's the corething that I really had to.
unlearned and I'm continuouslytrying to remember in myself is
that I have all the answers.
That's why I've listened to lesspodcasts and haven't read many
books this year because I'm notsearching as much anymore.
(35:28):
And the thing that has, Thebelief that's only got stronger
is that our beliefs really shapeour reality the more
conversations that I have withpeople The more reminded that
whatever we believe to be trueabout ourselves is almost always
limiting And so if we can justnot attach ourselves so much to
what we believe to be true aboutourselves There's so much more
(35:50):
possibility and we are just weare so capable as humans And I'm
I have a podcast like I saidwith a guy named Greg Brayden
coming up soon and diving intohis work I'm just continuously
reminded of Just howinconceivably abundant we are as
humans.
And I just don't think thatnarrative is, talked nearly
(36:10):
enough about.
Amazing.
So with that, let's go get intoour Wayfinder four, just our
four regular wife, our rapidfire questions.
The first one is just a hack,that maybe using to cheat life
with every day.
Genuinely walks withoutheadphones.
(36:33):
If you have more conversationswith yourself, like literally
speaking to yourself as though,you're having a conversation.
I just think havingconversations with yourself, I
think is really powerful.
Great.
How about a favorite?
Could be book, show, activity.
I just went to a Steelers gamethis weekend, so I am the
(36:55):
biggest Steelers fan.
Oh no.
Favorite team.
Yes, sir.
But you're not from that area,right?
You're from upstate New York?
I'm not.
I'm in New York, but my, my,like I said, my father passed
when I was six, and he was thebiggest Steelers fan, I got all
of his Steelers stuff, and itwas in my blood before I knew
it.
Okay.
(37:15):
Yeah they're doing great.
Yeah, they they're making I'm inDenver, and they made us look
pretty dumb with letting,Russell Wilson.
With Russ, yeah.
What about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
(37:37):
I know that's not too long ago.
It stayed true for a while.
Yeah All that matters is how youfeel about yourself when you're
by yourself.
Oh, wow.
Elaborate on that.
A lot of the time, we are drivenby what we think other people
think of us, yet we can Neveractually know what they're
thinking about us.
(37:58):
We're and one of the biggestregrets of the dying is that I
wish I lived a life true tomyself and not one Others
expected of me and we're sodriven by what we think is the
right thing to do what we thinkis politically, right socially
whatever it is And we're soworried about what other people
think of us That we don't thinkabout the most important
relationship that we have in ourlives and that's with ourselves
(38:18):
And so if nothing else, how isyour relationship with yourself?
And I don't think that's nearlyprioritized enough.
That's excellent.
What about A big opportunitythat you're pursuing right now.
I, travel's big.
I'm going to Austin, Texas nextyear for about a month for a
(38:41):
emotional intelligence, coachingthat I invested a lot of money
into.
So I would say that's the thingthat's just most exciting or
opportunity that I'm going to bediving into next year.
And then the podcast and so manyother things, but that's what's
top of mind right now.
Any, you seem to be verypresent, but I'm just curious
(39:05):
any, big things with the podcastcoming down the pipeline?
Any changes, or you're justgonna follow the news?
Yeah yeah, I'm gonna try to dosome, I'm going to do some in
person interviews next year, Ihaven't done the in person yet.
So that's definitely somethingI'm looking forward to and
excited about.
(39:25):
Cause I think the energy is justa lot different in person versus
online.
I think online's awesome andit's provided me with the
opportunity to speak with somany people.
We're doing it online right now.
But in person I think is likethe next level of, podcasting
for me next year.
Yeah, I've been thinking of thatas well.
How, do you plan to do that?
Are you just gonna build astudio?
For me it's difficult.
(39:48):
No, because where I live, I'm inupstate New York.
And so You're not going to seemany people come to upstate New
York, it's definitely not aplace you go to, so I'll either
go to New York City I have afriend that has a studio and
then also renting a studio isn'ttoo terrible, I think it's like,
most studios are 100 to 200bucks an hour, or whatever it
may be, Like I said, I'll be inAustin for about a month next
(40:11):
year, and Austin, Texas is agreat place to do in person
interviews because most peopleare there, it's a mecca.
And then a few hours from NewYork City, I'm just going to
make it more of a priority.
I never really thought it wasmuch of a am I really going to
gain much more from going to doit in person versus online?
But I think the relationshipsyou can build, you're able to
have a lot more of aconversation that's just heart
to heart, down to earth whenyou're in person versus being
(40:33):
online, either in Austin, Texasor New York City will be the
priority.
What about, so if people want toknow a little bit more about
you, find your podcast, allthat, how can they find you,
James?
Absolutely.
James Bracken IV is on prettymuch all socials.
Even my, YouTube is where Ipoint most people when it comes
(40:55):
to the podcast, but you can tooon all platforms, Spotify, apple
Podcasts, all that kinda stuff.
You can see me.
But, excellent.
James, this has been a realpleasure.
Pleasure.
I had no idea what a absolutepowerhouse You When we first
started when you first startedsending us guests really, and
wow, I'm blown away, man.
(41:16):
It's really exciting.
I feel like, I feel there'sgoing to be a day not in the not
too distant future when you'regoing to hit a tipping point and
everybody's going to be going tothe James to the, you can't to
show or just discovering JamesBracken if they haven't already.
And I'm going to be able to say,yeah, I had him on the show
(41:37):
before it was all there.
Cause you, you are an absoluteforce in.
It's a real pleasure to know youand to have you on The Wayfinder
Show.
Back at you, man.
Really received.
Thank you for all the nicewords, and thank you for having
me on your podcast as well.
Hopefully your audience got somevalue.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you.
(42:01):
We hope you've enjoyed TheWayfinder Show.
If you got value from thisepisode, please take a few
seconds to leave us a 5 starrating and review.
This will allow us to help morepeople find their way to live
more authentic and excitinglives.
We'll catch you on the nextepisode.
Your intuition is like a stillsmall voice, and the more that
(00:02):
you trust it, the louder thatvoice gets, and so the more that
you can trust that intuition.
For so many people, they don'ttrust it when they hear it, and
so that voice gets smaller andquieter.
And so, when opportunities arisein their life, they don't see
them or they don't trustthemselves to step into them
because they're not listening totheir intuition.
(00:28):
Welcome to The Wayfinder Showwith Luis Hernandez, where
guests discuss the why and howof making changes that lead them
down a more authentic path orallow them to level up in some
area of their life.
Our goal is to dig deep andprovide not only knowledge, but
actionable advice to help youget from where you are to where
you want to be.
(00:50):
Come join us and find the way toyour dream life.
James Brackin IV (01:03):
Welcome back to the Wayfinder show.
I'm your host, Luis Hernandez.
And today we're joined by JamesBracken IV, and he is the host
of the You Can Too podcast.
On his pod, he shares inspiringstories from exceptional
individuals to explore whatthey've overcome, are currently
overcoming, and they show youhow you can too.
(01:23):
Coming up on nearly 300episodes, You Can Too has
featured Interviews with notableguests such as Seth Godin,
Hollywood medium Tyler Henry,Matt D'Avella, Noah Kagan, Gary
Brekka, Evan Carmichael, BruceLipton.
Case Kenny, Derek Sivers, MarkSisson, and James Altucher, and
many more.
(01:45):
Wow, that's a big mouthful.
James, welcome to the WayfinderShow.
Man, it's so great to be withyou.
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited for thisconversation.
We've been connected for a whileand just excited to chat.
Yeah, likewise.
Yeah, and you've sent us a lotof great guests for our show as
well.
And, so I'm really grateful toyou for that.
Thank you very much.
(02:05):
Let's just, I'm I can't, I knowyou've gotten this question a
million times, but I got to ask,like, how do you get some of
these are like the biggestthought leaders in the world
right now, right?
Especially like in the business,marketing space and all and
such.
How have you been able to getthem on your show?
Yeah, it's a great question.
(02:26):
The podcast that I was going tohave right after this
conversation was with a guynamed Greg Brayden, who is a
massive, massive person inspirituality and consciousness
and all that other kind ofstuff.
So I think a lot of it reallyhas just been, I really say it's
the, it's doing the work.
A lot of people want like a, areally simple answer.
(02:48):
Like my pitch is perfect orpeople just love me or whatever.
I don't know what they'relooking for with that answer.
But most of it is just reachingout and following up.
There was a Chris Voss, who'sthe FBI negotiator.
I, it took me a whole year toget him on the show, just
following up month after month.
And so many people, Seth Godin,so many others that just, it
took a long.
Time to get them on.
(03:09):
And I think just giving people areason to come on.
I think a lot of podcasts arejust releasing an episode and
hoping to have a person on thatpodcast, but not really looking
for why do I want this person onmy show?
What kind of impact can theybring to my audience?
And how can my mission,collaborate with their mission.
And so that's what I try to do.
I try to make it make sense forthem.
Cause I started my podcast whenI was 17 years old, like they
(03:31):
have no reason to come on myshow.
So I guess my, my, my thought ishow can I make this a win for
them as just much as it's a winfor me as well.
Yeah.
Oh, that's such sage advice.
It's incredible that you startedat 17 and that our listeners
don't know this.
I asked you before the show butwhen we start putting the video
out there, they'll see you're ayoung guy yourself.
(03:53):
That was only four years ago.
I think you've been our youngestguest now but with an incredible
amount of success.
And luckily now we can go have abeer together, but I couldn't
have done that too long ago, Butyeah, how did you, I'm just
curious, how did you startcoming up with this?
I know you didn't start the showby having all of these big
(04:16):
guests on, you started doing ityourself.
And what was the inspiration andwhat led to, to where it went?
Yeah.
I think so it was 105 soloepisodes and I think that gave
me a lot of credibility to thenreach out to people and say,
Hey, I've done a hundredepisodes.
They don't need to know if I hada person on or if it was solo
(04:36):
episodes, but just showing upweek after week doing the work
and really it shows commitmentand resilience and showing up
because most podcasts don't evenget past episode seven, let
alone episode 100.
And so you're doing amazingthings as well by just literally
showing up.
Just doing the work.
Coming down this route, it wassomething that I felt called to
do.
Really it wasn't something thatI felt that I needed to do or
(04:57):
something that I didn't reallythink it was much of an option.
It was more of I need to dothis.
And I don't really know how toexplain that much.
It was, like a calling.
I think growing up, I told mymom, my sister, when I was
really, young, and I don'tremember telling my mom, my
sister have told me this, asI've gotten more into this
space, that I used to tell themI want to be a motivational
speaker.
And the more I grow up, the lessthat really resonates with me,
(05:18):
but in some shape or form,that's what I've done through
coaching and through podcasting.
I've just, put my What I feeldownloaded into the world and
providing an outlet for otherpeople to do the same.
And so it was more of a, anaffirmation.
I told myself you can too justby seeing other people do
extraordinary things.
And we're always told toquestion our ability and to
(05:40):
doubt ourselves.
and everything else.
And so I think the core of whatmost people really need is
belief in themselves, belief inwhat is possible, and belief in
the future.
And so that's what I hope toinstill, and by doing that for
myself, and hopefully doing itfor others as well.
So it was more of something Ifelt like I needed to do.
It wasn't really much of anoption, if that makes sense.
It makes a lot of sense.
Yeah.
Did you ever have the feelingbeing as young as you are,
(06:02):
reaching out to these, thesethought leaders who are at their
prime?
Hey, who am I to reach out tothese people?
Do you know that kind ofimposter syndrome?
Yeah people have asked me a lotand honestly, no I've never once
thought who am I to speak withthis person like Seth Godin, for
example, he responded within 30minutes Yeah, and he goes on a
(06:25):
good amount of podcasts that areover 100 episodes And so I knew
that I had to wait until 100episodes to at least reach out
to him but I think I joined acoaching program before I even
got into podcasting.
That was what really gave me thecourage to start it.
And so investing into a coachingprogram more money than I had in
my bank account, more thandouble I had in my bank account.
It was like I'm taking a leap onmyself to step into coaching.
(06:50):
I can do the exact same thingwhen it comes to podcasting.
And no, I think it was my worstthought is, okay, they say no.
And they say, no what really isthe downside of that?
I, my mindset has always beenfrom the start is it's not, if
it's going to happen, it's whenit's going to happen.
So even the people that havesaid no, thus far in three years
from now, I bet there'll be onthe show.
(07:11):
And we probably before that, alot of the guests that I've had
on thus far, I didn't think I'dbe able to get so soon.
And so I know, I think it'salways just when it's.
Going to happen mindset.
Yeah.
Oh, man, that's really great Ithink a lot of us suffer from
You know what I described, youknow that imposter syndrome like
(07:31):
when I was young it was becauseI was too young now I'm old and
I think oh i'm too old, and Butwe all suffer from that kind of
thing But I think when you'resuccessful it really is when you
just can just stick to it andpersevere and you know that's
how I was able to get my bestPartner in life my wife just
(07:52):
keep going after her so she saidyes, right?
Like Eventually you're doing theright things to align yourself
to get these folks To be in yourworld.
So yeah me being naive in thebeginning was something that
really helped me because it waslike it was never a thought out
of I mean if they say no, it'sit's Rejection is just allowing
(08:17):
you to say like honestly, I seenit.
I did a course not too long agoOn getting guests because I've
had so many people ask me andone of the things I speak about
is Rejection is probably a goodthing because a lot of the
people that I've got told no Isjust reminding me that i'm
probably not ready to have themon the podcast I wouldn't be
able to provide the conversationthat they deserve to be able to
impact my audience in the waythat I want to.
(08:39):
And I think it's more of ablessing than anything, because
it just reminds me that I needto keep going.
Excellent.
I wonder, what there's somethingabout that 100th episode you
mentioned.
I think, actually, we met afterI Without my hundredth episode
it was around the year mark youreached out to us and said hey
(08:59):
We got this great guestcongratulations, and I think it
was a year or a hundred episodesI can't remember and and that
just launched that took us to awhole nother level like from
there More people startedreaching out.
We got we our guest started getit we're bigger names.
It just really took us to adifferent level.
What is it that you think suchmilestones, what is it about
(09:24):
them that they represent thatreally take us to another level?
I think it shows that there is,I think it's have you ever heard
of Infinite Games by SimonSinek?
That mindset, I've never readthe book.
I actually have the book, but Ihaven't read it.
(09:45):
That perspective, I think has,really resonated so deeply with
me.
And I think for a lot of peopleit does when it comes to
podcasting, because even if youhave no sponsor, if you're not
making Any kind of money fromthe podcast.
If you're not building abusiness behind it, you're still
getting something from thepodcast, the conversations you
learn so much.
I, for me, probably for you, fora lot of podcasters, I find that
(10:07):
before the podcast, they haveenergy.
They're excited to have theconversation, but after the
podcast, they even more, theyhave more energy than they had
before it.
And so it's a sign that it'ssomething that's giving you
energy, and a lot of people aredoing things that drain their
energy.
And a hundred episodes, andyou're still excited just as you
were at the beginning, it justreminds you of how far you've
come, how far you have to go,and just getting even more
excited about the future,because once you're a hundred
(10:29):
episodes in, you're deep intoit.
Most people don't even get tothat point, and so I think it
just, it reminds you of whereyou started and how excited you
are for the future.
Yeah.
Yeah, I wasn't a verydisciplined person at your age,
so that's why I really admireyou.
I wish I had your discipline,right?
(10:49):
But as I got older, one of thethings I learned try something
that you're interested in for ayear, and if you can commit to
it for a year, and you're stillexcited, Or more excited than it
typically will will be somethingthat's worth a worthwhile
pursuit, right?
So that happened to me with myrunning vent journey.
And then with the podcast aftera year, I was much more excited
(11:12):
than I, even when I started andnow we're approaching two years
and and I'm even more excitedabout what's good it's wild, but
the way I started, also, isdifferent than my reasons for
starting are probably a littlebit different than they are for
continuing.
Now, do you have that?
(11:35):
Yeah, I think so.
I think if you're, if your mind,if you're not open to changing
your mind about why you're doingsomething, or what you want to
do, I think you're just closingyourself off to so many more
opportunities.
And that can be in anything inbusiness and life and
relationships, whatever it maybe.
I think for me, the podcast isjust, like I said, it gives me
energy.
It started off as like a publicjournal.
(11:56):
Like I was learning so manythings from working with
coaching clients and workingwith coaches myself.
Early on in my life that I justfelt like I needed to give like
a way of providing value topeople and more So it was really
for myself when I first startedAnd now i'm doing more
interviews and seeing it as away to build relationships with
people that I just wouldn't haveotherwise been able to get in
(12:16):
the room with and providing anoutlet for people that You know
are impacting so many otherpeople and just finding my ways
of doing so so yeah, absolutelyI think it should change.
Yeah, what i'm There's a fewways we can take this
conversation, I'm curious aboutwith you, but let's start with
your origin story, because I'mjust fascinated by the fact that
(12:39):
you're getting coaching and suchat a very early age, and I
didn't think about gettingcoaching till like my 40s,
right?
And I know I'm not unusual, sowhat led you to that wisdom?
Yeah, me either.
I didn't even know what a coachwas when I got my first coach.
I just again, the me beingnaive, not knowing what it was,
(13:01):
but knowing that what I've seenin so much of my life isn't what
I wanted.
I think one of the thingsgrowing up was I didn't really
have There wasn't really anyoneI looked to and thought, this is
the kind of life I want to live,or they have this, they have a
great relationship, or they havea really good job.
There was no one in my lifereally that I saw.
And so knowing that what was notworking for so many other people
(13:23):
was not the path I wanted to godown, I needed to do something
different.
I, ne throughout my entireschooling.
And if you're seeing us onYouTube, you see how many books
I have behind me.
This is just like a third of howmany books I have, because I
realized there's forms and waysto rewrite my narrative about
who I tell myself I am andwhat's possible for my life.
And there's so many things thatit's got excited about just this
(13:45):
possibility of just creating somuch impact for myself and for
other people.
And so I started reading books,started listening to podcasts
and at the end of one of thepodcasts, they were talking
about a coaching program.
Now I had no idea what a coachwas, but it, like viscerally
felt right to me.
It just felt like the thing thatI was supposed to do.
I hopped on a sales call, I gotsold, ended up in a coaching
program not too long to learnhow to become a coach.
(14:07):
17 years old, I have no lifeexperience, what gives me the
right to be able to do that?
Again, it was me being naive andnot really thinking about who am
I to do this, but more over thefew years that I was like
learning so much, I felt itwould be a disservice, and one
of my first coaches told methis, you do a disservice by not
bringing your unique gifts intothe world.
And so that really stuck withme, because it made me think, If
(14:30):
I am going to let my fear and myimposter syndrome, my self
doubt, all of that kind of stuffhold me back, it's not only
holding me back, but it'sholding me back from helping the
people that need my help.
And when he framed it like that,it made me really rethink about,
okay I'm dealing with everythingthat every person would deal
with, and fear, anxiety, allthat kind of stuff of, am I
worthy of helping these kind ofpeople?
(14:51):
But when he put it in that kindof framing, it made me think I'm
pretty selfish if I'm not goingto help people, because I need
to get out of my own way.
And That's how I got intocoaching.
And then once I realized that Istarted, I thought if I'm going
to start posting on social mediafor my coaching, I might as well
start the podcast because I'vealways felt inclined to do that.
And so that's how I went downthat path, but I definitely
didn't know what a coach was anddidn't have any intention of
(15:12):
doing it either, but it was Iknew college wasn't the path for
me.
I knew I wanted to create a lifethat was not like anyone that I
knew.
And I had to do something no oneelse really did, so everyone
went this way, and I went acompletely different way.
Wow.
What were the early influences?
People, podcasts, books, whatwhat?
(15:33):
What were they that reallystarted to change?
Yeah Eckhart Tolle, Joe Dispenzaa lot of those kind of people
that really just made me rethinkmy internal narrative about
myself and about how I feltabout myself, how I felt about
the future, about the world thatkind of stuff.
My first coach was a guy namedRob Dial, who hosts the the
(15:55):
Mindset Mentor Podcast.
Hundreds of millions ofdownloads one of the biggest
podcasts in the world and it'sjust similar to me It was just a
public journal.
He doesn't really do Interviews,he just rambles on whatever he
feels people need to hear andresonated with me at the time
Doesn't really resonate with meanymore, but I was really
helpful for my evolution at thatage for sure So now it looks
(16:19):
like about halfway through yourjourney You went from it being a
personal journal to more of justinterview style and it seems
like now it's mostly interviewswhat a I'm curious as to along
not now that most it's probablyabout half and half It looks
like your episodes or personaljournal versus interview style.
(16:40):
Yeah.
Yeah.
How do you feel about eachstyle?
And what do you feel you'regonna go to moving forward with
it?
Yeah, I think it's right now.
It's pretty much one interview aweek, and then every when I feel
like doing a Solo episode I'llput one out there.
I haven't really felt Excitedabout doing it and so I'm
leaning into what feels rightfor me right now, and that's
(17:01):
doing interviews And I think forme it's interviews or something.
I've really find it.
It is an infinite game It's likeeven if I were to lose and
whatever that means inpodcasting I am connecting with
people that I would have no wayof connecting with no
possibility of getting in theroom if I didn't have a way of
providing value to them.
(17:21):
And so the podcast is that wayof providing value to people
that I would just have no way ofgetting in contact with.
And so I felt the more I doubledout on that, the more
relationships I'm able to build,the more people I will be able
to get on and the more peoplethat I'll be able to impact
through their audience andothers and stuff like that.
And so I found it's a littlebit.
So for me to impact more people,it seems like the progressive
(17:41):
route to go down.
Yeah.
There's a couple of recurringthemes as you answer some of
these questions.
And one of them with you is, youjust have a natural, like an
incredible self awareness andself confidence and,
intuitiveness about.
It doesn't seem like youactually have a plan laid out,
(18:02):
you just go with what, whatfeels right in your gut.
Is that fair?
Very.
Yeah.
How, where does that come from?
I don't know.
I, think when I, feel like Ilive two lives, if that makes
sense.
They say that you live two livesand the second one starts when
you realize you only have one.
(18:23):
Growing up, I lost a lot offamily.
My father, uncle both passed at37 years old, grandfather passed
a few months before hisretirement.
And so I saw mortality.
age, multiple different times,completely unexpected.
And so it was like life showingme just putting it straight in
my face.
Hey, you have to listen toyourself when you feel this is
the thing that you should do.
(18:43):
And when I went down thecoaching route, it was the first
time I actually trusted myintuition in something that my
entire life I never had.
And so ever since then, I'venever really been a I've never,
I'm never when people ask mebecause I'm so young, where are
you going to be five, 10 yearsfrom now?
I can't predict where I'm goingto be a month from now,
(19:04):
physically or mentally or jobwise, whatever it may be.
Like I know I'm going to be inColumbia next month.
I don't know where I'm going tobe in February, still undecided
on that.
And so it, to think about whereI'm going to be five years, 10
years down the road, it justcould never be.
It can never be concrete and sotrusting my intuition and just
(19:24):
going going with the flow goingday to day and going with what
feels right feels like the onlything that I can do.
And most of the spiritualleaders that I speak to, it
seems like they're on a similarpath just trusting what they
feel their heart wants them tomove towards and not letting
their mind make them secondguess what they think they
should do.
Because I think everyone knowsdeep down what they, what is the
(19:44):
right path for them, but that'swhat a meditation teacher said
in my podcast is your intuitionis like a still small voice.
And the more that you trust it,the louder that voice gets.
The more that you can trust inintuition for so many people
they don't trust it when theyhear it And so that voice gets
smaller and quieter And so whenopportunities arise in their
life They don't see them or theydon't trust themselves to step
(20:06):
into them because they're notlistening to their intuition And
so I think the more I can do itJust the more I'll feel in
alignment with myself Even if itisn't the quote unquote right
path to go down at what's whatfeels right in the moment.
Yeah Wow, there is justincredible amount of wisdom
there, right?
Many of us we spend our wholelives trying to uncover what
you've already realized so earlyon.
(20:28):
It's just incredibly enviable.
So what are some of the as yourjourney, as you've grown
tremendously, what are some ofthe influences you look at now,
that you've uncovered thatweren't there four years ago?
Who are they?
(20:48):
And what are they?
That's a big question.
Yeah.
Someone that has been verypivotal in my life, I just look
back because I have so manyfreaking books of people that
have impacted me.
I think there's so many,honestly.
I think the one thing that I'vedone really a lot this year, I
went to Hawaii for about fourmonths this year, and My time
(21:10):
there made me really connectwith myself and almost
disconnect from outsour outsidesources, books, podcasts, all
that kind of stuff.
And so I think more than everthe person that I look to is
more of myself.
If that makes sense.
I'm always looking out for newinformation and I'm never
concrete on what I believe to betrue, but I think just my
intuition has developed evenmore and my trust within myself
(21:32):
has really grown.
And so I think it's more so offinding a way to not look
outward so much for the answers,but trusting what I feel is the
answer within myself.
Do you have a practice for that?
Meditation or anything?
Yeah, meditation visualization,going on walks without
headphones breath work, so manythings.
(21:56):
Yeah, but meditation has been areal a real big thing for me and
visualization in that sense.
Yeah.
Any regular routines?
Morning routines, eveningroutines.
Yeah.
After I, every single day afterI eat breakfast, I go on like a
digestion walk, I guess youcould call it.
And I, pray.
(22:16):
And then usually most days I've,probably meditated over 150
hours this year.
So meditations definitely playeda massive role and meditation
can look like going on a walkwith no headphones.
It's anytime that I'm notlistening to anything because I
find that's a meditation.
You can be doing dishes andthat's a meditation.
It's just being where you are.
And I think a lot of people,we're always, we're have, we're
(22:38):
watching YouTube or we'relistening to a podcast or we're
listening to music.
We're always having something inour ears.
And so how are we ever going tobe able to develop that
intuition within ourselves if wealways have something outside of
us that we're listening to?
And so just spending more timewith myself and developing that
for sure.
Yeah.
So you got a lot of books there,even though that's only a third
(22:59):
of them.
What if you were to pick threefrom the pile that you'd make
have had the most influence onyour life or that you'd
recommend to others, what wouldthat be?
Yeah.
Breaking the habit of beingyourself.
Joe Dispenza is one that Ithink, even if you were to read
(23:19):
half of it, the first half ofthat book, it would change the
way that you think aboutyourself entirely.
That book was sotransformational for me.
Even when I first read it, Ididn't even understand what it
meant, but it like, reallyresonated with me at a deep
subconscious level.
So that's one.
Another one that I recommend alot is Psycho Cybernetics by a
(23:41):
guy named Maxwell Maltz.
That came out in 1964, I think.
It's a real old one.
But that one's a really big one.
I think for a lot of people thatare maybe not so confident or
self conscious or they're intheir thoughts a lot, I think
would be a really helpful book,which is most people.
And then the third one is a mixbetween to I've actually made a
(24:03):
YouTube video on this not toolong ago of obstacles the way I
remember reading that book andit was just such an amazing
reminder of how much ourperspective really just, it
really shapes our lifeexperience as a whole and I
don't think we put that into, wedon't take responsibility for
that enough in our lives, ourperspective.
And then lastly, I would say anew earth by Eckhart Tolle.
(24:24):
That's a book that I haveconstantly said that if I were
to read that book every singleday and just read a few pages of
it My suffering that Iexperience in this life would
decrease immeasurably.
Because it's just a reminder ofso many things that we need to
be reminded of.
Really?
I haven't read that.
I haven't actually read any ofthem.
No, I read Obstacles Away.
(24:45):
But Eckhart Tolle, I think, ismore well known for The Power of
Now, right?
Which is a prettytransformational book.
Power of Now.
Yes, sir.
I think this Yeah, it wasamazing.
So I would say that a new earthis like just a different form
and just different sayings ofThe power of now because all of
(25:06):
his work is just reminding youto get back to where you are and
let go of You know the thoughtsthat were we identify with and
so that's why I say that becauseso much we're so identified I'd
that we're never reallyconscious.
And so that book's a goodreminder for sure.
Interesting.
It's a another interesting thingI posted on our weekly
newsletter this week Today isone of my favorite things to do
(25:26):
is just stop by a good bookstoreI use this particular used
bookstores and this past weekendI went and stopped by one and
found the magic of thinking bigwhich is a book I'd always heard
about but I never read but itwas like I got the first edition
one from 1959 there And inthere, it's pretty neat to see
(25:46):
how they wrote books then and inthe back page is the author's
favorite five books on there.
And one of them that was onthere was Psycho Cybernetics.
So I had never heard of thisbook and I made a note to, hey,
look it up.
So now it's funny how in oneweek I'm hearing a reference to
that book twice.
(26:07):
I have to check it out.
Yeah, I I've read The Magic ofThinking Big as well.
Great book.
And it's just, again, so much ofbooks, and this is why I said it
earlier when you asked me of whodo I look to now?
So much of, I've read for somany years that this year I
didn't read that much because itwas when you get to a certain
point, you realize that moreinformation isn't the answer.
(26:29):
You just need to be reminded ofthe information that you already
know.
And Psycho Cybernetics was oneof those books, though, that is
Yeah, I listened to theaudiobook of that.
I don't have the physical copy.
It's 11 hours long and I've Ittook forever to get through and
there's so many concepts thatare really difficult to
internalize or want to reallyaccept, but I think it's a book
(26:50):
every single person needs toread, truthfully.
Okay.
Very good.
And that was really wise yourcomment about that before as
well, about it's true.
All these self help books, onceyou read them they end up being
the same thing, right?
They just get repurposed, forgenerations really, how many,
(27:10):
the habit forming books every 10years there's a new one that
comes out and it's the great newfrom atomic habits to the power
of habit.
It's essentially the same thing.
And these are age oldprinciples, I think that we all,
Need to just absorb andinternalize.
So that's really wise whatyou're saying about maybe not
taking it in and just absorbingit.
(27:31):
Yeah, I think at the beginningit's really good to to, listen
to books and to get newinformation because when you
have no basis and yourinformation is flawed, because
we're all taught things that arenot accurate or not helpful for
our evolution, I think it'sreally good to have books to
reframe what you think to betrue and to question your
beliefs for sure.
But after a certain extent, Ithink it only leaves you.
(27:54):
Seeking more when the answersare within, not outside, and I
think that's something peopledon't really want to accept, so
they continue to look outside,don't want to take
responsibility, but yeah, forsure.
Do you have a book in you and inyour future?
Absolutely, yeah.
There's so many things I'd liketo write on.
Yeah, absolutely.
(28:14):
I don't know when it'll be, Idon't know how many it'll be,
but I will absolutely be writingbooks in the future.
Okay, very good.
I'm curious with yourperspective, we I, hate, I feel
like I've been leading backtowards, society and politics a
little bit more lately, but Ihave to ask this.
(28:36):
We've recently had, by the timethis airs it'll we'll have a new
president in place, so theelection won't be as fresh.
But I think we, had an electionthat was very surprising and
shocking to a lot of people,right?
And it's quite, it's.
I'm talking, I'm going, I'mhaving a lot of conversations
(28:57):
with different people on bothsides of the aisle who are
almost forming like a third sideof the aisle now, right?
And, it's really making peoplerethink the way they think about
society, politics, all that.
Maybe that it isn't a dualisticsociety.
That there's people can be goodand bad.
(29:19):
There's more than just one orthe other.
So and with the way you'respeaking, you speak to this,
right?
You're it's i'm curious aboutyour take on society's awakening
towards that right now.
Yeah it's so timely.
I had a podcast with a guynamed.
(29:39):
Dr.
Kirk gray Last week and he wrotea book called outraged on
politics and moral understandingand I might have to introduce
you because it was such afascinating conversation Because
I think it is a it's a difficultthing for people to accept that
there's duality in life.
There's polarity There is goodand bad and there's good and bad
(29:59):
in everyone No one people don'twant to believe that there's bad
within themselves, but there's adark side to every single one of
us That's why there's the shadowand most people are unaware of
it.
I think It's difficult becausewe're fed.
I think anything that we see inmedia is.
usually an illusion in some way.
It's, clouded by bias in so manyways that most people, we can't
(30:22):
have conversations anymore.
We can't, it's, so much moreabout our identity than it is
about finding common ground.
And I think that COVID reallymade it difficult because we got
so detached from havingconversations with people from
the other side that we can'teven initiate a conversation,
(30:43):
let alone find or be open tobeing wrong.
And I think that's what's reallydifficult is.
When we're so identified withwhat we believe to be true, what
we know to be true to ourselves,we're already Blocking ourselves
off from another opportunity.
And that's why, for me, I'm likeso politically homeless because
I, there's so many things that Ibelieve on this side.
(31:06):
There's so many things I believeon this side and there is no
right thing for me.
I think it's just more so aboutbeing able to being wrong.
And I think in a world where wehave to be so politically
correct and we have to be soconcrete in our beliefs that
we're never going to find commonground for concrete and what we
know to be true because We'renot open to another opportunity
(31:30):
or another way of being yeah.
Yeah again.
I think that's so wise you useda term They're politically
homeless, which i've started tohear more and more and I think
it's a great one.
I feel like i've always beenpolitically homeless and it
wasn't I, tried to be acontrarian devil's advocate type
anyways, just try to take theother side just because I think
(31:51):
it keeps my mind more open, butwhen it comes to politics,
especially in an election year,it's always, it's not
acceptable, right?
It's like you can't you, can'tdisagree.
There's only one way with mostpeople and it's alarming, but I
think there's something aboutthis particular election to
(32:11):
happen that just really forcedpeople to think, wow, like, why,
what am I missing?
And I think that's a veryhealthy thing.
And I hope we, we start beingpolitically homeless becomes
socially acceptable and more ofthe majority.
I think every party should haveto earn our vote.
Every single time, not justbecause, and not counting us
(32:34):
identifying with a that memberof that tribe, right?
Yeah.
I think the difficulty with thatis when we are identified with a
side, that being open to theother side is a betrayal to
ours.
And so then, it's a, it goes somuch deeper than the fear of, is
(32:55):
this right?
Is this wrong?
But it's more we need to have atribe, because evolutionarily,
we needed it.
And so if we're on our side, butwe're open to the other side,
it's betrayal to our own side.
And, but we don't want to getkicked from our side, because
we're not gonna be accepted bythe others.
Side and so then we're lost andwe're by ourselves and then
we're not safe And so I thinkit's so much deeper than just
(33:16):
being right or wrong or havingcertain political beliefs But so
much deeper than people reallyrecognize.
That's for sure.
Yeah, that's a hadn't eventhought of it that way That's a
great way to put it.
Yeah.
Yeah, we're at least we'reafraid Of, being perceived as
betraying that side, right?
Because within family, we fight,we have different beliefs, we
(33:37):
hold on, and we get backtogether.
We're still family, right?
But you're right.
That's interesting.
What about, so you I heard yourepisode on the wisdom you've
gained from 200 episodes on yourpodcast.
And you had a great questionabout, in there that, Maybe
(33:58):
we'll start to incorporate onthe Wayfinders show because I
really liked it and it was abouthaving a belief in something
What is something you believebefore that you don't have
anymore, what you're working onnow or and what's something that
stayed the same and maybe evengrown stronger?
What are those for you?
(34:20):
Yeah, I think the belief that Ihave Changed my mind on is that
the answers I'm looking foroutside of me when I first
started I Was really lookingoutside of myself for answers
from other people that wereahead of me and whatever that
means in business As in life,and I was always looking outside
of myself for about what Ishould do in business, about how
(34:42):
I can help clients, about what Ishould do with the podcast, like
so many other things, andthere's so many people that have
a lot of great information thatyou, I think coaches are
amazing, I'm a coach, like Ihire coaches, there's a reason
for it, but I think at the endof the day, coaching is just a
one of my coaches would tell meis it's permission and
reminders.
It's giving people thepermission that they can give to
themselves, but we fail to do somuch and reminders about who you
(35:04):
are deep down really inside.
And I think a lot of the timewe're trying to be ourselves.
We're trying to becomeourselves.
But I think it's getting back toourselves.
And so I think that's the corething that I really had to.
unlearned and I'm continuouslytrying to remember in myself is
that I have all the answers.
That's why I've listened to lesspodcasts and haven't read many
books this year because I'm notsearching as much anymore.
(35:28):
And the thing that has, Thebelief that's only got stronger
is that our beliefs really shapeour reality the more
conversations that I have withpeople The more reminded that
whatever we believe to be trueabout ourselves is almost always
limiting And so if we can justnot attach ourselves so much to
what we believe to be true aboutourselves There's so much more
(35:50):
possibility and we are just weare so capable as humans And I'm
I have a podcast like I saidwith a guy named Greg Brayden
coming up soon and diving intohis work I'm just continuously
reminded of Just howinconceivably abundant we are as
humans.
And I just don't think thatnarrative is, talked nearly
(36:10):
enough about.
Amazing.
So with that, let's go get intoour Wayfinder four, just our
four regular wife, our rapidfire questions.
The first one is just a hack,that maybe using to cheat life
with every day.
Genuinely walks withoutheadphones.
(36:33):
If you have more conversationswith yourself, like literally
speaking to yourself as though,you're having a conversation.
I just think havingconversations with yourself, I
think is really powerful.
Great.
How about a favorite?
Could be book, show, activity.
I just went to a Steelers gamethis weekend, so I am the
(36:55):
biggest Steelers fan.
Oh no.
Favorite team.
Yes, sir.
But you're not from that area,right?
You're from upstate New York?
I'm not.
I'm in New York, but my, my,like I said, my father passed
when I was six, and he was thebiggest Steelers fan, I got all
of his Steelers stuff, and itwas in my blood before I knew
it.
Okay.
(37:15):
Yeah they're doing great.
Yeah, they they're making I'm inDenver, and they made us look
pretty dumb with letting,Russell Wilson.
With Russ, yeah.
What about a piece of advice foryour younger self?
(37:37):
I know that's not too long ago.
It stayed true for a while.
Yeah All that matters is how youfeel about yourself when you're
by yourself.
Oh, wow.
Elaborate on that.
A lot of the time, we are drivenby what we think other people
think of us, yet we can Neveractually know what they're
thinking about us.
(37:58):
We're and one of the biggestregrets of the dying is that I
wish I lived a life true tomyself and not one Others
expected of me and we're sodriven by what we think is the
right thing to do what we thinkis politically, right socially
whatever it is And we're soworried about what other people
think of us That we don't thinkabout the most important
relationship that we have in ourlives and that's with ourselves
(38:18):
And so if nothing else, how isyour relationship with yourself?
And I don't think that's nearlyprioritized enough.
That's excellent.
What about A big opportunitythat you're pursuing right now.
I, travel's big.
I'm going to Austin, Texas nextyear for about a month for a
(38:41):
emotional intelligence, coachingthat I invested a lot of money
into.
So I would say that's the thingthat's just most exciting or
opportunity that I'm going to bediving into next year.
And then the podcast and so manyother things, but that's what's
top of mind right now.
Any, you seem to be verypresent, but I'm just curious
(39:05):
any, big things with the podcastcoming down the pipeline?
Any changes, or you're justgonna follow the news?
Yeah yeah, I'm gonna try to dosome, I'm going to do some in
person interviews next year, Ihaven't done the in person yet.
So that's definitely somethingI'm looking forward to and
excited about.
(39:25):
Cause I think the energy is justa lot different in person versus
online.
I think online's awesome andit's provided me with the
opportunity to speak with somany people.
We're doing it online right now.
But in person I think is likethe next level of, podcasting
for me next year.
Yeah, I've been thinking of thatas well.
How, do you plan to do that?
Are you just gonna build astudio?
For me it's difficult.
(39:48):
No, because where I live, I'm inupstate New York.
And so You're not going to seemany people come to upstate New
York, it's definitely not aplace you go to, so I'll either
go to New York City I have afriend that has a studio and
then also renting a studio isn'ttoo terrible, I think it's like,
most studios are 100 to 200bucks an hour, or whatever it
may be, Like I said, I'll be inAustin for about a month next
(40:11):
year, and Austin, Texas is agreat place to do in person
interviews because most peopleare there, it's a mecca.
And then a few hours from NewYork City, I'm just going to
make it more of a priority.
I never really thought it wasmuch of a am I really going to
gain much more from going to doit in person versus online?
But I think the relationshipsyou can build, you're able to
have a lot more of aconversation that's just heart
to heart, down to earth whenyou're in person versus being
(40:33):
online, either in Austin, Texasor New York City will be the
priority.
What about, so if people want toknow a little bit more about
you, find your podcast, allthat, how can they find you,
James?
Absolutely.
James Bracken IV is on prettymuch all socials.
Even my, YouTube is where Ipoint most people when it comes
(40:55):
to the podcast, but you can tooon all platforms, Spotify, apple
Podcasts, all that kinda stuff.
You can see me.
But, excellent.
James, this has been a realpleasure.
Pleasure.
I had no idea what a absolutepowerhouse You When we first
started when you first startedsending us guests really, and
wow, I'm blown away, man.
(41:16):
It's really exciting.
I feel like, I feel there'sgoing to be a day not in the not
too distant future when you'regoing to hit a tipping point and
everybody's going to be going tothe James to the, you can't to
show or just discovering JamesBracken if they haven't already.
And I'm going to be able to say,yeah, I had him on the show
(41:37):
before it was all there.
Cause you, you are an absoluteforce in.
It's a real pleasure to know youand to have you on The Wayfinder
Show.
Back at you, man.
Really received.
Thank you for all the nicewords, and thank you for having
me on your podcast as well.
Hopefully your audience got somevalue.
Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you.
(42:01):
We hope you've enjoyed TheWayfinder Show.
If you got value from thisepisode, please take a few
seconds to leave us a 5 starrating and review.
This will allow us to help morepeople find their way to live
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