July 7, 2026 • 46 mins
Former NFL Player Tyrone Smith reveals the shocking truth about professional sports that no one talks about - and how it became his blueprint for life success. Picture this: a 13-year-old boy so devastated by his parents' divorce that he stops bathing for two and a half weeks, fighting at school and spiraling out of control. That same boy would later tackle 320-pound linemen in the NFL while weighing just 185 pounds. The transformation didn't happen by accident - it happened because of one coach who dared to be vulnerable first. Tyrone's story will shatter everything you think you know about achieving success, especially his controversial take on why the NFL's brutal reality ("not for long") actually prepared him for entrepreneurial triumph.
What Tyrone discovered about "controlled chaos" will change how you approach every challenge in your business and life. He shares the exact moment on his rookie field when he knew his NFL career was temporary - and how that knowledge became his greatest asset. From missing a promised visit as a kid to becoming the mentor who always shows up, his journey reveals why vulnerability isn't weakness but the ultimate competitive advantage. Plus, discover the $6.99 app that revolutionized his networking strategy and the framework that's helping thousands navigate life's biggest transitions.
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Connect with Tyrone Smith:
Website: tyronesmith24.com
Email: tsmith_24@icloud.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/achieving-success-with-olivia-atkin--5743662/support.
What Tyrone discovered about "controlled chaos" will change how you approach every challenge in your business and life. He shares the exact moment on his rookie field when he knew his NFL career was temporary - and how that knowledge became his greatest asset. From missing a promised visit as a kid to becoming the mentor who always shows up, his journey reveals why vulnerability isn't weakness but the ultimate competitive advantage. Plus, discover the $6.99 app that revolutionized his networking strategy and the framework that's helping thousands navigate life's biggest transitions.
Want to grow your podcast, land more guest appearances, and save hours every week? The Podcast Growth Partner helps podcasters, guests, and podcast teams create stronger content, prepare smarter, and grow strategically.
Start your free 3-day trial: PodcastGrowthPartner.com
Want personalized podcast strategy support? Book a free clarity call: MeetwithOlivia.me
Connect with Olivia Atkin & Achieving Success:
Website: Achieving-Success.com
Facebook Community: The Podcaster’s Powerhouse Community For Business Owners
Facebook: Olivia Atkin | Achieving Success
LinkedIn: Olivia Atkin | Achieving Success
Instagram: @_achievingsuccess
Connect with Tyrone Smith:
Website: tyronesmith24.com
Email: tsmith_24@icloud.com
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/achieving-success-with-olivia-atkin--5743662/support.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hello everyone, Welcome to Achieving Success with Olivia Acken. I'm
your host, Olivia Acken. Each week we will discuss the
Row map of achieving your personal and professional success. We
give you real life stories on growing personally and professionally
to achieve your life and career goals with the help
of some top notch guests. Today we are speaking with
(00:26):
Tyrone Smith. Tyrone is a former NFL defensive back. He
spent years competing at the highest level of professional football,
where discipline, structure, and mental toughness weren't optional. They were
survival skills. He's his time in the league gave him
a front row seat of what it truly takes to
(00:46):
perform under pressure, navigate identity, and face the reality of
life when the uniform comes off. After leaving the NFL,
Tyrone made a deliberate shift from football to purpose driven work,
using to focus on mentorship, leadership development, and personal growth.
Drawing directly from his own transition out of professional sports,
(01:09):
he began working with youth and adults to help them
build direction, confidence, and accountability beyond athletics. He is the
author of the book of Outside the Huddle, where he
lays out a practical framework for creating a game plan
for life, especially for those navigating change, loss of identity,
(01:30):
or uncertainty after about what's next today. Tyrone's work centers
on impact, helping people apply the lessons of discipline, resilience,
and commitment to build meaningful personal and professional lives long
after the game ends. You can find Tyrone by going
to his website Tyrone Smith twenty four dot com or
(01:51):
by emailing him at t Smith Underscore twenty four aticloud
dot com. Hello, Tyrone, it's fantastic having.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You on the show today, Olivia.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Thanks to having me Man, you did a phenomenal job
with the introduction I tried.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We got to highlight all your awesomeness sure to start
off the show, can you tell me what success means
and looks like to Terror and Smith?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
What success means it looks like? To me?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I mean, it's actually it's it's an individual thing. I
think and believe because when I think about success, I
think about what are the specific goals and dreams and
hopes and aspirations that the individual may have in regards
to defining success in their life. And I believe if
the individual reached those specific goals and dreams that actually
may have that deemed them, that deemed them to be successful.
(02:40):
I believe that's success. So success is really different from
one person to another.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I couldn't agree more. I think success doesn't only only
differentiate from one person to another, it really differentiates in
the season of life you're in and as you grow.
Because I think there's especially in today's society, and I'd
love to know what you think. There's so many people
(03:06):
out there that are trying to sell you the golden ticket.
If you do bam, bam, bam, you'll make it to
the NFL. If you do bam, bam, bam, your business
will make eight figures a year. If you you know
these like what seems very simple and easy, which orange right,
But there's so much out there that makes it like
(03:28):
this is what you should strive for, not this is
what is the right fit for you, your lifestyle, what
your goals are. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I agree with you one hundred percent, because social media
has made it like, you know, a microwave instance of success.
You know, like let me have it right now, let
me get it instantaneously. But I truly feel and believe
anything and life worth having is gonna take hard work, dedication, drive,
and commitment. It's not gonna happen overnight. There's gonna be
a role throughout the journey. There's gonna be specific role
(04:00):
locks and things that you actually overcome to achieve what
it is that you actually want. So it's about putting
work in and a lot of times people don't want
to work. That's why you have so many instances on
TikTok and social media with these quick schemes in regards
to success. But the reality is it's going to take
work and time and dedication, and sometimes it's.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Also forcing your own hand and what I mean by
that as well as I'll give you an example. We
have my boyfriend and I have our dog. His name
is Tough. He's actually he always sits next to me
while I work, so he's like right over there. But
I remember, months before we got him, my boyfriend asked
(04:42):
me the exact question I ask every single guest when
we start the show. And we were talking about the
business and podcasting and all this stuff, and he turned
to me and he was like, well, of you, what
does success mean and look like to you? What does
it look like, you know, five years from now? And
I was like, well, I want to get to a
point in the business. Coming from an NFL background and
(05:05):
working in pro sports and then corporate, you're working those
ten to twenty hour days constantly. And when you start
a business, everyone tells you put in the blood, sweat tears,
And for me, I was like, oh, blood sweat tears,
that's easy. Try working in the NFL and like, you know,
getting your foot in there, and then tell me about this.
I already got that. Great, we're good. And I was like,
(05:28):
it's you know, gaintail point where I can work max
eight hours a day, four days a week, right, And
I said it, and really I also said like four hours.
I was like maybe even four hours. And my boyfriend
looked at me. He's like, Olivia, do you ever think
you'll just be able to work four hours a day
every single day? You and your personality, Like come on now.
(05:51):
I was like, okay, well max a dad eight. He's
like that's better, that's more you. But fast forward, you know,
handful months when we did our dog and we well
we fostered him first and we've got him Saturday. At
five o'clock Monday morning, my boyfriend went underway, so I
(06:11):
had to go out on deployment underways another word for
deployment for five days. And I had this dog we had,
he had family, he would come visit right before that.
So I'd taken two weeks off work and I was like,
oh my god, what am I gonna do? Like I've
all these balls up in the air, Like how am
I going to juggle this? Because this new you know,
(06:32):
he was ten months at the time, but puppy needed
my attention. There was no one to hand that work
off load off too, And so very quickly I was like, oh,
here's the time, Like I have to work less hours.
I can't just sit down at the computer six am
and worked till seven o'clock at night straight through. And
so sometimes it's like the situation you're in that also
(06:55):
gives you clarity as well.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Right, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I'm because sometimes you know, we're putting in situations what
it actually like forced us to actually like rethink what
it is we actually want to do. And so I
truly feel to believe if you're a goal oriented and
if you have a big picture perspective in mind in
regards to what you want on a life, when you
have those unforeseen situations you're able to actually hit the
reset button and pivot.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yes, And talking about pivoting, I want to go before
the pivot happened for you. And I don't even know
if I would really call it a pivot, but you
experienced success in a very visible, high touch arena, as
I would call it. And really starting out in football.
(07:39):
What drew you to football and what did the game
represent early for you and beyond the sport itself.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Man, I just had this this fascination with the game
of football because I think maybe because of the control chaos.
You know, you here it is you in all this
equipment and you're actually running to each other and hitting
each other really hard. So I had this fascination from
the game of football as a young age because my father,
who passed five years ago, he really liked, loved football.
That was his lifelong dream as well, was to make
(08:09):
it to the NFL, but unfortunately he had some injuries
he endured while in high school, and so he always
watched football when I was a kid in the living
room laying on the floor in this oversized pillow like
watching the games. And I will always go and sit
under my dad on this big, oversized pillow and just
like watch the football games with him. But as I
watched the games, I just had this magnification for the
(08:29):
game of football, and so as a kid, it was
actually my lifelong dream to play in the NFL. And
I remember after watching football, I would get some toilet
paper out of the restroom and put him in my
front pockets like thigh pass and go and mimic what
I saw on the television screen with my friends playing
in the front yard of the backyard, just actually dreaming
and visualizing the one day possibly playing in the NFL.
(08:51):
But that dream became a reality. But me getting to
the NFL was a journey within himself. Also because I
was his kid that was undersized. I was over look
I wasn't expected to actually like achieve anything in the
game of football. I was on the B team multiple years,
and I didn't even actually play vosity football until my
senior year in high school. I wasn't a two year
(09:11):
or three year letterman. I didn't play till my senior year.
But I played so well my senior year at Willrich
High School and here in Houston. And for being in
the independent school district, what I had where I had
received a fifthy division one offers as a one year
start on vosity in high school, and that really came
from just my dedication, my love, and my drive for
(09:31):
the game of football, despite the fact that people didn't
see me actually achieving my dreams going to college to
even eventually get to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It was a true jow and the blessing.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You mentioned a word that put a truth smile on
my face when you said it, and I was like,
I've never heard that, but it is one hundred percent true.
You described, you know, the game of football as controlled chaos,
so beyond just playing in game, right, but being in
the realm of pro sports NFL in general. In your opinion,
(10:08):
what makes it that controlled chaos?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I mean, you you think about it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You have guys that are just slamming and ramming into
one another.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
For the sake of a game.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But yet it's controlled, but it's chaotic at the same time.
I mean, you gotta think about I mean, think think
about for a moment. Here it is when I played,
I was weighing one hundred and eighty five pounds and
I have to tackle a running back. But in order
for me to tackle a quarterback, there's a guy bout
three hundred and thirty pounds coming towards me, trying to
(10:43):
block me, trying to destroy me. And I'm trying to
get to the running back to destroy the quarterback. But
I have to get in past this guy who weighs
three hundred and twenty to thirty pounds. But yet, in
my mind, I believe I can defeat this guy, regard
of his size, regard of his.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Way, I can get through him.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Now that that's that's chaotic for me to actually like
think that, think like that, But in reality, I believe
that I could dominate him, get past him when new
around him to actually make a tackle.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's chaotic, that's crazy, but it's controlled.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And that being said, how do you think that level
of controlled chaos now plays out for you know, take
that mindset and put it in entrepreneurs or individuals, because
I think so many of us look at things and
we're like, either that's chaotic or we have this under control,
(11:32):
But a lot of it is actually in that middle
of controlled chaos. So how you know, doing speaking, helping others, Now,
how do you identify that control chaos outside of football
and being able to handle it?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So when I think about control chaos aside the football,
think about you know, for the entrepreneur, for the individual,
or for the business man of woman, that's something that
you actually want to achieve and that you want to do,
and you want to think out the box. It may see,
it may seem grand to you, it may seem grand
to the next person. But if it's something you really
want to accompass and achieve, you're gonna figure out what
is gonna take in regard to the practical steps that
(12:12):
you need to execute to achieve what is you actually
won't like in business or in life, no matter how
big the obstacle, no matter how big the challenge, if
it's something that you won't something that you actually want,
something that you actually believe that you can achieve, you're
gonna find a way to.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Make it happen. You're gonna have to.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You're gonna have to figure out what are the tools,
what are the steps, what are in the visits that
you actually need on your team to actually allow you
to operate at a high level based on what you
actually want for your life or your business.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I love that because I think it is so important
as well to really identify what those steps are, what
those tools are? Who are those people? Right? And so
many times when we're in that level of controlled chaos,
we're just like, oh, I gotta do that, So I
gotta do that, but we're not thinking, Okay, how am
I moving the needle with each action? What is the
(13:04):
best way? Like I'll give you an example of like
kind of that. I don't even know if this really
fully falls under it, but it made it resonated with me.
So I'm gonna go with it and we'll see where.
At least so from my days of even before I
started working in the NFL, every holiday, not like Christmas,
but like you know, New Year's, Thanksgiving, things like that,
(13:28):
I would text people that I had built relationships with,
whether it was networking, whatever it might be, to just
be able to be like, yeah, I'm thinking of you.
You know, we might have not talked in three four months,
but here's a touch point and let's have a quick conversation. Well,
when I started doing this, it was like over ten
(13:48):
years ago, right, and every message was manual to this
past for ten years, every time I would do one
of those, I would do it manually and I could
text out to on those days like at least one
hundred people. I never knew my numbers for sure. I mean,
granted it wasn't everyone in my contact list, but it
was at least, you know, a percentage. And even when
(14:14):
I met my boyfriend, remember the first Thanksgiving we did,
and it was at his parents' house and we wake
up in the morning and everyone's kind of just sitting
on the couch and I was like, Okay, I'm going
to start doing these text And I spent four hours
sending texts, going through my phone, sending the text By
the time I got done, it was like I was
probably two or three hours into it. And then I'd
(14:37):
like one hundred responses I had to respond to and
my eyes are going CROSSI and I'm like, oh my god.
And so it took me like four hours to actually
do it. But you never know where a conversation could lead,
of what that could mean to someone, so on and
so forth. So I've always been like, that is what
I do. Even if it takes me four hours on Thanksgiving,
(14:59):
it could help someone. Right. Well, I've recently, you know,
in October, found out about an app called Reach and
this app sends out those solo text messages to each
individual person. But you can go into the Reach app
and create groups. So now I have like five groups,
(15:20):
a holiday group, a Perspective client group, the cap Alpha,
Theta girls that I advise at a few different universities.
And instead of sending you know, one hundred different messages
out or even four messages out when I have to
do a touch base with them on certain things, it's
write one email or write one text and then pick
(15:42):
your list and then hit send to each individual and
it goes directly into my text messages, sends it to
that person as if it was that one individualized text.
But it breaks down my time. My holiday ivry lost.
My holiday list is three hundred and seventy five people. Okay,
now I'm like, no wonder it was taking me four
(16:03):
hours and then like five minutes I've all this text
sent out, so it's still like to me, that's also
an example of controlled chaos by using the tools and
the right tools in front of you to be like,
oh this is great, you know, save myself time to
be present in other areas.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I need that app for real. I've done the same.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I need it like it's like I get to a
point like I try to do the same thing while
I missed everybody on chrism I'm like, well, man, I
got them on Christmas. I'm not gonna hit them on
New Years. I just hit them on Christmas. I would
do the same thing. So I need that app.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Also, yeah, and I'll tell you and i'll give you
the link afterwards. But it's called the rache app, and
it's six ninety nine a month, so there is a fee.
But honestly, I'm like the time I save and then
I'm like, okay, we're the other groups, right. I was like, oh,
if I'm saving, if I'm spaying six ninety nine a month,
what else can I make simplified? So it challenged me
(16:59):
to be like, oh, I advise a few university chapters
for cap Alpha Thetaste, and I do monthly touch bases
with each one of them in text at least once
a month. And I'm like, okay, well they're all getting
the same message every single time. I've been doing this
for the past ten years. Can I put like, I'll
just create them a group.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
The cost of that isn't just for holidays, it's not
just for prospects. I'm leveraging every touch point and so
I like it because it allows you to real and
it also allows you to create template messages. So if
you know, like oh, I mean sense this message or
you know, potentially repeatedly, I can save that so I
(17:42):
don't have to retype it out every single time. Like
my touch base email messages to the girls. I'm like,
I'm literally saying that the same exact thing every single month.
They like it, and I'm like, Okay, now I don't
even have to retype it. It's a template. Good to go,
but it's agree So going off of that as well,
(18:05):
you know, whether it's entrepreneurship or in the NFL. Especially
in the NFL, it demands discipline, structure, and toughness. What
were some of your biggest lessons taught while you were
playing football that most people don't see from the outside,
especially if they're just watching I don't want to say
like just watching the game of football, but are a
(18:27):
fan of football.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
A lot of the things that people don't realize in
the game.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
There are a lot of like detailed things that actually
go into being like a professional athlete or even like
a Division one athlete. So when you think about like
the countless time that you must actually sacrifice to actually
be at your best, it requires a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I was actually sharing with the group actually just last.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Week at a presentation where I talked about, you know,
anything in life worth having is going to require sacrifice,
and I share with them that there were moments that
I was sacrifice working out during the holidays. I was
sacrificed getting up at at four thirty or five o'clock
in the morning just to get my day going.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Even when I.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Played professional football in the off season, I just didn't
do traditional off season workouts. I would do like a
I would do a dedicated track workout as well along
with my football conditioning and my football workout that I
would actually do. I mean, there's countless time that you
actually have to sacrifice in regards to like your m
time and your film study, eating right because one of
(19:31):
the things I wanted to do. I wanted to make
the most olivia out of the opportunity that I actually had.
So when I played professional football, I wasn't I wasn't
stand up blade, I wasn't I wasn't going out a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I wasn't smoking.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I mean, I wasn't drinking I was I wasn't a
lot of things that I didn't do because I wanted
to be at my best, because I realized I only
had a small window. There was only the NFL stance
for it, not for long. You're not guarantee you to
play for a long so you got this small window.
So it's all about how can you actually maximize your
(20:05):
opportunities in this moment that you have to make the
most out of a lifelong dream that I actually had.
So I want to be at my best. I'm not
saying that I was perfect, but when I'm saying I
want to be at my bust in this moment, in
this time I had played in the National Football League.
It's a professional football player from nineteen ninety sixty two
thousand and So when you think about like the countless
(20:26):
sacrifices and an individual make there are a lot that
people can actually share with others that nobody else may
not even think about it. And so it just boils
down to, like I said, anything worth having, it takes
time and dedication, but it also takes a great deal
of sacrifice with.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
That mindset, you know, trying to optimize the time you
have the opportunity to follow that passion. What were what
was that mental preparedness as well, like when you were playing.
And this is conversations I always have athletes, So I'd
love to have your perspective on this. Were you aware
(21:05):
you know it might not last that long? Let me
start to frame what I can leverage from this to
my next opportunity. Or was that not on your mind
at all?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
No, for sure, it was definitely on my mind because
I knew. I remember my rookie year when I played
for the forty nine. I remember my rookie year. We
were at a mini camp and I remember walking the
football field and just just praying to the Lord, just
kind of just being thankful. At the moment, I was
kind of like in this moment, right, it was that
(21:40):
have to practice, everybody. I'm just walking up and down
the football field. And as I was walking up and
down the football field, I realized and I knew in
that moment in nineteen ninety six, which is my rookie year,
I knew that it would only last for a brief moment.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I didn't know how long that moment was going to be.
I mean for me it was just four years.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I mean for some guys just one year years, three years,
ten years, twelve, some guy's twenty Tom Brady. But I
mean for me that moment on the last for four years,
but I knew there was so much more that I
want to do with my life outarted the game of football.
So in that moment, I knew I had the maximize opportunity,
and I knew if I did it the right way,
I can use the NFL as a platform for me
(22:20):
to do other things, like the work that I'm actually
doing right now.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
And that's the thing people don't even realize as well.
I remember my rookie season. I called my rookie season
the first year I worked in the league. I worked
directly with the players in player engagement. So I started
the Monday after the draft, just when all the guys
come in. And I remember my boss at the time
(22:44):
was David Tyree for the New York Giants, and he
walks in the room and very certain he takes all
the rookies bees. I'm going to tell you one thing,
unless you're the number one pick, you no dedicated see
at the end of the day, like keep that inn.
Whether something can happen you know physically too during before
(23:06):
game one hits or you know, a walk on outperforms
the third round draft pick. The round draft pick. You're
not safe, Like, don't get that level of cockiness. You
have to understand that. And I mean, fast forward to
the last day of training camp, last play right before
you know you're you're done until the season starts. And
(23:29):
one of the guys who made it was I think
a walk on. He was definitely not drafted. They were
practicing and I was sitting out there because our in
our cafeteria area, the cafeteria area looks out onto the
practice field, and all of a sudden, David Tyree comes
running inside because and I'm like, what's going on? And
(23:50):
he's like Ben's career is over. I'm like, wait, what's happened.
And then the last play of the last practice, which
he had made it to, he had gotten hurt and
they knew immediately he had like torn his acl and
David was just like he's done. Like I can't believe this.
(24:13):
This kid has so much prospect to his potential career
and he'll never play. And I was like, what do
you mean he'll never play? And he's like this is
going to take a twelve month recovery and in all reality,
now you know twelve months has gone by without him playing,
and this, that and the next he's done. He's never
coming back, and he did never come back. So I'm
(24:35):
in tell people, whether it's NFL other sports are just
like life. You never know when the last day is
going to be the last day, right right? So you
know you had mentioned as well, taking those opportunities you
had in that platform you had with the NFL and
(24:55):
understanding the power that that helped, wait it held, and
taking that into the next thing you were going to do.
So how did having the platform of playing in the
NFL help you do that arc into what you're doing now?
Was it a clear like, oh, this is what I'm
(25:16):
going to do next, and you knew that from day
one or was there some bumps around along the road
where having that NFL potentially hurt you or helped you
to get to the place you are now and how
you're helping people now.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Well with the work I do now, I knew it
was something I always wanted to do, but I knew
being a former NFL player, it would actually help me
actually spand my reach in regards to those I would
actually serve because as a kid, I had a dream
of actually making it to the NFL. And I remember
one time I was growing up, there was a guy
who's he's in the NFL right now. He went to
(25:52):
the high school that I actually went to, and I
remember my older brother told him I wanted to meet
him because I was fascinated by the play. How well
this young man played. He was All American in high school.
He went on a player, have an amazing college career
and played in the NFL. He's now in the Hall
of Fame. But I remember when I was a kid,
my brother told him to come visit me one Saturday afternoon.
(26:13):
And my brother told me he was gonna come by
and visit me, and he never showed up. I waited
all day. He never showed up, and I remember telling myself,
I was like, if I ever have an opportunity to
actually make it to the NFL and be successful, if
I tell a young person I'm going to show up,
I'm going to show up. And I remember as I
was waiting for him, I was like wondering, what was
he going to say to me that day? What was
(26:35):
he going to say to me was going to actually
impact or inspire my life? And if he would have
showed the day, showed up that day and said some
amazing things. I can assure you, Olivia, I would remember
what he said, but he never showed up. So I said,
if I have the opportunity to impact the lots of
young people, I'm going to be all in and if
I make a commitment to show up, I'm going to
show up. And when I do show up, I'm going
to speak life and encourage and empower them wherever they are.
(26:59):
So with that said, I had an idea of what
I wanted to do in regards to impact the young people.
Because I was a kid that was picked on, I
was antagonized, I was bullied, I was expected to achieve
anything or expected to do anything. So for me to
make it, I wanted to give back to the younger
versions of myself who would deal with the same things
I was dealing with when it's going through. So with
me making to the NFL, it started with me pretty
(27:19):
much going around telling my story about being an underdog
or bout being an underachieved, about achieving and how I
was able to achieve things in my life based on
my dedication, my drive, and my commitment, and a lot
of young people could actually resonate with my story, and
so from me telling my story, it allowed me to
create a platform to actually impact young people in the.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Group set in schools.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
And that's how everything actually started with us and go
inc with my wife and I and some of my
former teammates launching the program over twenty five years ago.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I love that because it also demonstrates, you know, a
lot of times I ask people about their experiences, whether
it's in the recordings or outside in different rooms, and
I'm like, have you lived the experience where you know?
This is why I'm doing it, This is why it
drives the needle and the impact that can actually make
(28:10):
for someone, and for you, it sounds like that little
boy stuck with meaning yourself. I'm stuck with you and
always stay it in the back of your mind because
so many people when we're on this journey, and I'll
use like I was recently asked why I stay with
the individuals I serve in my business and like why
(28:33):
I bring certain conversations onto the podcast And I know,
and I'm like, listen, if I only brought on one
kind of person, right, only the former NFL players, If
I only brought on people who are making seven eight
figures and they're thirty years in right, and those thirty
year entrepreneurs, they might not be going through the same
(28:55):
exact thing someone needs to hear today that isn't in
that place, right, And it's like we on need to
be champions for our voice and helping others. So for you,
when you go in and speak, what do you feel
helps resonate the most with young students, with young athletes,
(29:19):
for individuals who go, yeah, I could see myself doing
that and really get the empowerment up.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I think the biggest thing just speaking for me is vulnerability.
What I tend to do when I speak, I speak
from a place of vulnerability, a place of genuineness, a
place of transparency where I can be just authentitic with
the young people who I speak to or even the adults,
because I use real relevant life examples from my life
(29:46):
that I actually present, like in a moment, in the
situation and in the scenario, how I've lived and how
I've experienced.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
It and have grown from it.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
So just being vulnerable, I can say for me personally,
actually helps individuals because I I mean, I haven't experienced
everything in life, but I'm like about ninety percent when
it comes to like a lot of different experiences that
one may deal with, go through and actually have to overcome.
So being vulnerable one just being authentic and men just
giving up myself to my audiences really allow me to
(30:16):
actually establish the genuine connection.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
And I'm going to ask a follow up question on
that because that sounds great and I feel like a
lot of people will go, okay, but how do you
have the confidence to be vulnerable like that? Or how
do you practice the vulnerability? So what would you say
gave you the confidence or the capacity or the strength
(30:40):
whatever term you want to use to walk into a room,
whether it's on a podcast or speaking to students or
speaking to adults to say, yeah, you know, I might
be Tyrone Smith who played in the NFL, but I'm
gonna be really vulnerable about my journey who I am
and show up as I am.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
To give you that picture, I would say, growing up,
there was somebody that actually showed me how to be vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I had a coach. His name was Dennis Bradley.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
He was my coach when I was thirteen years old
in middle school at Christmas Color Middle School.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And I remember my mom and my dad.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know they were separated and going through a divorce,
and at this particular moment in the time of my life,
I really didn't I didn't too much care about school.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
I didn't care about life. I didn't really care about
a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Because here it is, my mom and my dad were
being separating about the divorce, and I thought that they
would be together forever. And I remember I was just
going through things. I was mad at the fact that
they were divorced. I was acting not in school. I
was fighting all the time. I was getting in trouble
all the time, and they got to a point that
I even stopped taking the bath. I stopped bathing, Olivia.
(31:46):
That was a moment in time when I was in
the eighth grade and thirteen years old. I didn't bathe
for two and a half weeks, and I didn't babe
with two and a half weeks because I was mad
and angry, didn't know how to deal with my emotions
with the fact that my parents got divorced, and so
I'm fighting school when i'm acting out, I'm not bathing right,
And so I remember one day I actually had missed
the bus and I had to walk to school, and
(32:08):
here in Houston.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Here in Houston, Texas gets hot and human. I had
to walk the school.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
I hadn't bathed in two and a half weeks, Olivia,
I hadn't brust my teeth in two and a half weeks.
And it's hot and it's humid, and I'm walking to school.
So you can imagine. I wasn't smelling my best. And
I walked to school two and a half miles. I
missed the bus and I smelled myself. I wasn't smelling good.
And my coach, he had saw me come to school
and he pulled me aside. He smelled, he could smell me,
(32:34):
and he was like, Tarron, what's going on? And I said,
you know, He asked me, what were you What are
you dealing with? What are you going through? Because I
was I wasn't acting. I wasn't acting myself.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I was told him.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I was like, I told him my mom and my
dad were getting divorced. And he was like, what I
want you to realize. I understand, Tyrone, you have no
control over the fact that your mom and dad are
getting a divorce. It's hurtful, but I need you to understand.
I need you to take control over you. You can
control your attitude, you outlook the perspective and your behavior.
I need you to control you, he said. And why
(33:04):
are you not bathing? I said, because I'm like I
was crying out for attention. I wanted my mom and
my dad to see me, to smell me, and to
see what was going on with me, but they were
disregarding me because they had their own stuff going on.
And So in my relationship with coach Dennis Brandley and
being vulnerable and just actually talking to him about what
I was dealing with it going through it kind of
(33:24):
gave me this sense of transparency and authenticity by myself
where I can kind of share, you know, things that
are going on in my life, but things that actually
happened in my life to actually help somebody else out
along the way. So when it comes to like speaking
to an audience or speaking to a group, I think
being vulnerable actually helps me in regards to bridge and
a genuine connection for whatever it is I may make
communicate and say, I.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Also believe that it not only is like you mentioned,
breaks down that wall on bridges that God, but it
also makes people go Okay, if he could do it,
I could do it. Too, right, And I think that's
important to understand a level of transparency as well. Is like,
especially in today's society, which going back to what we
(34:07):
were speaking about earlier, is everything You only see the
NFL athletes when they're NFL athletes, right. You don't see
all the work, all the years, all the hours of practice,
all the discipline, all the things that go into it.
You see them show up on game day on TV.
You you know, And that's a pure example. Is like that,
(34:30):
There's a lot of work that goes into it. And
when you can speak from a place of like, this
is all the things I was struggling, This is all
the journeys I had to go through to be in
that game on that Sunday afternoon, it's like, oh, okay,
if he could go through that, I can figure out
a way to go through that as well. I want
(34:52):
to talk about your book for a moment, The Outside
the Huddle. So you talk about creating a game plan
for life. What does that actually look like in practice
for someone who feels stuck or uncertain about what's next?
And why did you decide to write that book and
specifically call it Outside the Huddle?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, but I actually wrote the book books, I wanted
to kind of get people practical skills and perspective about
things that are pretty much utilized long on the way
to actually help me right by sized pieces in regards
to teachable moments and life lessons and life experiences along
the way, which are practical principles that have actually been
(35:36):
a guide in my life. And so Outside the Huddle
was really designed to just share that specifically, Like I
talk about having the purpose, a plan, the process, pif
all people practice process and pausing their life. So I
wrote the book and I want people to pretty much
get outside of their mind and get outside of their
perspective for whatever it is they actually may want for
their life. But the principles right each step is really
(35:59):
something that people need to really think about in regards
like their goals and their dreams and aspirations, because a
lot of times we're so stuck on what it is
that we actually want to do, but we don't actually
get out of our own way, we don't get outside
of ourselves to kind of really see what is it
actually gonna take. And the first thing I talk about
in the book is that you know, I talk about
purpose because I truly feel and believe that everybody in
(36:19):
life has a specific purpose. But to understand what your
purpose is, you actually gotta see it and be still
and create the plan for whatever it is you can
actually see yourself doing, because I truly feel we're all
given something.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
But yet along the way, how do you get to
that place?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Because like, for instance, yeah, you know that I played
professional football and that I had a desire to play
professional football, But before that, I actually thought that my
purpose in life Olivia was to be a professional.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Wrestler, But that wasn't reality for me. Right.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
I truly feel and believed that football was a part
of my purpose, but it wasn't my ultimate purpose. I
truly believe that my ultimate purpose was actually to be
a game changer, to actually impact the lives of others
based on the experiences I went through and the things
that I actually deal with that I can actually help
support somebody else based on what the dealer with and
going through.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's actually like my ultimate purpose. But when you think
about it, I.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Had to at some point sit down and really strategize
and really write I would it is I actually saw
myself doing, and I knew that I wanted to actually
work with young people when I was younger, based on
the experiences that I actually went through in my life,
and like, I'm looking at your backdrop it says achieving success.
It reminds me of my room when I was in
high school. And when I was in high school, I
(37:34):
used to write write all kind of like personal quotes.
In order to achieve, you must believe, believe in yourself.
The first step to success starts today. So I used
to write all these quotes and I used to put
them on my wall to live you and I used
to look at those different things as GUIDs, as role
maps to the bigger picture purpose that I actually had
(37:54):
for my life. So I think the biggest thing is
to really understand and know your purpose. You got to
be quiet, you got to be still, and sometimes you
have to get outside of yourself and even talk to
somebody else who may see something new that you haven't
actually seen yourself that can actually be a support for
you alone the way also, and.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That even reminds me. I'm, you know, talking about podcasting
a lot and podcasts consulting, which I do. People go, oh, so,
what's the benefit of podcasting or tell me about podcasting.
Why did you decide your passion is in podcasting, right,
I get that question, Like, my passion is podcasting, right,
I do it every day. There is a level of that,
(38:32):
you go, but the true passion is helping people use
their voice to make an impact and knowing that they're
not alone in this journey. And they're like, wait, what,
and I'm like yeah, And the way I do that
is through podcasting, helping people use their voice in this platform.
And I was like, if podcasting went away tomorrow, podcasting
(38:53):
is no longer a thing that anyone listened to, anyone did,
there would be another way to help people use their
voice to make an impact. But I think there's also
a level people have to understand, and you brought this
up in saying that story is we have to understand.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
What is the.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Vehicle that's moving that we're passionate about, because there is
a level of that, right, right, And what is the
true mission that is helped drop like fueling that.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Vehicle to move, right?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
And I think that that that reminds me of a
quote it's in the pursuit of your passion. It is
a prescription of your purpose, right, in the pursuit of
your passion, It's a prescription of your purpose and the
pursuit of what you what you desire, what you do,
what drives you and motivates you. Right, can be the
prescription of your purpose based on what you can do
big picture, long term.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
But the thing about it is like only you know that, right,
Only you know that.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
But then it's about you for feeling it by making
the necessary steps and move to actually align with what
is you want and be consistent about it.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
You got to be consistent.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
So I can't believe there are times almost up. But
I want to end with this one question. If someone
listening right now feels like they're standing out of crossroads,
whether it's in their career, identity, or purpose, what's the
first step you did encourage them to take.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I truly feel somebody's at a crossroad and they don't
really know what to do with themselves or with their life.
I would encourage them to find somebody that they can
truly sit down and talk to that they actually trust,
because sometimes there are people that actually see things in
us that we don't actually see in ourselves, and yet
at the same time we need somebody to kind of
actually help to just decipher what it is we may
(40:44):
need to do who really know us, like genuinely like
know us to kind of help just rethink or repurpose
or reset what it is that we made to do
as individuals.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So if I would tell the individual, if you're.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Stuck right now, find somebody that you authentically know that
you can actually connect with to help be a guide
and support for you making the transition in regards to
your life based.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
On where you are right now.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
I love that in Tyrone. How can people get in
touch with you if they wan't connect with you?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
You can connect with me through my website Tyronsmith twenty
four dot com. You can connect with me on x
at Tyrone twenty four, on ig at Tyrone twenty four
Underscore seven.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Thank you Tyrone for all of your insight today.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
No thanks for having me Olivia.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
This was an amazing opportunity to connect with you and
just being a part of Achieving Sex podcast Achieving Success
Prodcasts and it has been a joy with you.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
I'm like, we could have really gone down a whole
nother rabbit hole on the way you give talks and
all this, but we only got a limited time, so
you know, we covered a lot of different aspects that
I think can be very beneficial for all of us
to get in our momentum, get in our zone, drive
ourselves through purpose. And a few of those key takeaways
(42:00):
from today's conversation include control chaos, helps you figure out steps,
helps you figure out what are the tools, what are
the people need? And Tyrone brought this up through talking
about football and how playing in the game is really
(42:20):
controlled chaos, but playing in the game of life also
creates a level of controlled chaos, and it's how you
handle it, how you leverage the tools, the resources, the
people that you are playing the game with. They can
really help you understand and go from chaos to or
(42:41):
control to controlled chaos and really help you move the needle.
And I love how he brought that up through using football,
but it really applies to all of us in every
single day life as well as the NFL stands for
not for long. And I love how Tyron brought that
up because it's so true and so many people see
(43:03):
individuals like Tom Brady and go oh they get to
play for so long. They get this, they get that
in reality, as Tybone brought up in his experience, he
knew from day one even making it onto that field
was going to be an accomplishment, and he knew from
the story he shared with us then that first day
walking onto the field, he knew it was going to
(43:23):
be a good time, but not guaranteed a long time
and what he was going to do by having that platform.
So one of my challenges I'm going to also leave
you today with if you didn't have if you took
the NFL analogy, if not for a long time, whether
you're in business, whether you're a speaker, anything you were doing,
(43:46):
would that look different from what you're doing today and
how you're serving if you did not have something for
a long time. Relationship and how you show up in
that relationship, work, how you build your business, would it change?
And if so, start making those small changes as well
as always show up if you tell someone you're going
(44:07):
to show up. I think this is so important in
any form of any relationship, even if you don't know
the person. Your word is everything. How do you want
people to remember your word by? Think about when Tyrone
told that story of him as a little kid. To
this day, he remembers that experience, and that experience could
(44:30):
have shaped him in a very different way as he said,
it could have provided very different insight. It's something he
would have carried on with him. So think about that.
Do you want to be the person that shows up
and you have the memory of the conversation you had,
or how you showed up and you were authentically yourself
or transparent like Tyrone does in all of his talks,
(44:52):
or do you want to be the person remembered as
they said they would show up and they didn't even
There's times I remember people I've even in my calendar
and I'm like, they didn't show they didn't show up.
I emailed them, I followed up five times. You know,
I've had people who ask to work with me, like
they want my business. And I've recently gotten a call.
(45:14):
The guy missed two calls and then immediately tried to
go into selling me, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
where's the relationship building? You didn't You also missed calls
that you booked twice, and now you want me to
trust you. And so all those little things get remembered
as well as when you speak give a level of vulnerability,
people resonate with vulnerability. And I love how Tybrone brought
(45:37):
this up because I think we all want to be heard,
we all want to be understood, we all want to
know that someone else has gone through the things were
going through. So having the confidence, having the spirit of knowing,
like Tybrone said that it could touch one person to
help them keep going is so important. This was a
great episode with our top notch guest Tyrone Smith. Thank
(46:00):
you for listening and have a successful day.
Hello everyone, Welcome to Achieving Success with Olivia Acken. I'm
your host, Olivia Acken. Each week we will discuss the
Row map of achieving your personal and professional success. We
give you real life stories on growing personally and professionally
to achieve your life and career goals with the help
of some top notch guests. Today we are speaking with
(00:26):
Tyrone Smith. Tyrone is a former NFL defensive back. He
spent years competing at the highest level of professional football,
where discipline, structure, and mental toughness weren't optional. They were
survival skills. He's his time in the league gave him
a front row seat of what it truly takes to
(00:46):
perform under pressure, navigate identity, and face the reality of
life when the uniform comes off. After leaving the NFL,
Tyrone made a deliberate shift from football to purpose driven work,
using to focus on mentorship, leadership development, and personal growth.
Drawing directly from his own transition out of professional sports,
(01:09):
he began working with youth and adults to help them
build direction, confidence, and accountability beyond athletics. He is the
author of the book of Outside the Huddle, where he
lays out a practical framework for creating a game plan
for life, especially for those navigating change, loss of identity,
(01:30):
or uncertainty after about what's next today. Tyrone's work centers
on impact, helping people apply the lessons of discipline, resilience,
and commitment to build meaningful personal and professional lives long
after the game ends. You can find Tyrone by going
to his website Tyrone Smith twenty four dot com or
(01:51):
by emailing him at t Smith Underscore twenty four aticloud
dot com. Hello, Tyrone, it's fantastic having.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
You on the show today, Olivia.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Thanks to having me Man, you did a phenomenal job
with the introduction I tried.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
We got to highlight all your awesomeness sure to start
off the show, can you tell me what success means
and looks like to Terror and Smith?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
What success means it looks like? To me?
Speaker 3 (02:17):
I mean, it's actually it's it's an individual thing. I
think and believe because when I think about success, I
think about what are the specific goals and dreams and
hopes and aspirations that the individual may have in regards
to defining success in their life. And I believe if
the individual reached those specific goals and dreams that actually
may have that deemed them, that deemed them to be successful.
(02:40):
I believe that's success. So success is really different from
one person to another.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
I couldn't agree more. I think success doesn't only only
differentiate from one person to another, it really differentiates in
the season of life you're in and as you grow.
Because I think there's especially in today's society, and I'd
love to know what you think. There's so many people
(03:06):
out there that are trying to sell you the golden ticket.
If you do bam, bam, bam, you'll make it to
the NFL. If you do bam, bam, bam, your business
will make eight figures a year. If you you know
these like what seems very simple and easy, which orange right,
But there's so much out there that makes it like
(03:28):
this is what you should strive for, not this is
what is the right fit for you, your lifestyle, what
your goals are. Right.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
I agree with you one hundred percent, because social media
has made it like, you know, a microwave instance of success.
You know, like let me have it right now, let
me get it instantaneously. But I truly feel and believe
anything and life worth having is gonna take hard work, dedication, drive,
and commitment. It's not gonna happen overnight. There's gonna be
a role throughout the journey. There's gonna be specific role
(04:00):
locks and things that you actually overcome to achieve what
it is that you actually want. So it's about putting
work in and a lot of times people don't want
to work. That's why you have so many instances on
TikTok and social media with these quick schemes in regards
to success. But the reality is it's going to take
work and time and dedication, and sometimes it's.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Also forcing your own hand and what I mean by
that as well as I'll give you an example. We
have my boyfriend and I have our dog. His name
is Tough. He's actually he always sits next to me
while I work, so he's like right over there. But
I remember, months before we got him, my boyfriend asked
(04:42):
me the exact question I ask every single guest when
we start the show. And we were talking about the
business and podcasting and all this stuff, and he turned
to me and he was like, well, of you, what
does success mean and look like to you? What does
it look like, you know, five years from now? And
I was like, well, I want to get to a
point in the business. Coming from an NFL background and
(05:05):
working in pro sports and then corporate, you're working those
ten to twenty hour days constantly. And when you start
a business, everyone tells you put in the blood, sweat tears,
And for me, I was like, oh, blood sweat tears,
that's easy. Try working in the NFL and like, you know,
getting your foot in there, and then tell me about this.
I already got that. Great, we're good. And I was like,
(05:28):
it's you know, gaintail point where I can work max
eight hours a day, four days a week, right, And
I said it, and really I also said like four hours.
I was like maybe even four hours. And my boyfriend
looked at me. He's like, Olivia, do you ever think
you'll just be able to work four hours a day
every single day? You and your personality, Like come on now.
(05:51):
I was like, okay, well max a dad eight. He's
like that's better, that's more you. But fast forward, you know,
handful months when we did our dog and we well
we fostered him first and we've got him Saturday. At
five o'clock Monday morning, my boyfriend went underway, so I
(06:11):
had to go out on deployment underways another word for
deployment for five days. And I had this dog we had,
he had family, he would come visit right before that.
So I'd taken two weeks off work and I was like,
oh my god, what am I gonna do? Like I've
all these balls up in the air, Like how am
I going to juggle this? Because this new you know,
(06:32):
he was ten months at the time, but puppy needed
my attention. There was no one to hand that work
off load off too, And so very quickly I was like, oh,
here's the time, Like I have to work less hours.
I can't just sit down at the computer six am
and worked till seven o'clock at night straight through. And
so sometimes it's like the situation you're in that also
(06:55):
gives you clarity as well.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Right, I agree with you.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
I'm because sometimes you know, we're putting in situations what
it actually like forced us to actually like rethink what
it is we actually want to do. And so I
truly feel to believe if you're a goal oriented and
if you have a big picture perspective in mind in
regards to what you want on a life, when you
have those unforeseen situations you're able to actually hit the
reset button and pivot.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yes, And talking about pivoting, I want to go before
the pivot happened for you. And I don't even know
if I would really call it a pivot, but you
experienced success in a very visible, high touch arena, as
I would call it. And really starting out in football.
(07:39):
What drew you to football and what did the game
represent early for you and beyond the sport itself.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Man, I just had this this fascination with the game
of football because I think maybe because of the control chaos.
You know, you here it is you in all this
equipment and you're actually running to each other and hitting
each other really hard. So I had this fascination from
the game of football as a young age because my father,
who passed five years ago, he really liked, loved football.
That was his lifelong dream as well, was to make
(08:09):
it to the NFL, but unfortunately he had some injuries
he endured while in high school, and so he always
watched football when I was a kid in the living
room laying on the floor in this oversized pillow like
watching the games. And I will always go and sit
under my dad on this big, oversized pillow and just
like watch the football games with him. But as I
watched the games, I just had this magnification for the
(08:29):
game of football, and so as a kid, it was
actually my lifelong dream to play in the NFL. And
I remember after watching football, I would get some toilet
paper out of the restroom and put him in my
front pockets like thigh pass and go and mimic what
I saw on the television screen with my friends playing
in the front yard of the backyard, just actually dreaming
and visualizing the one day possibly playing in the NFL.
(08:51):
But that dream became a reality. But me getting to
the NFL was a journey within himself. Also because I
was his kid that was undersized. I was over look
I wasn't expected to actually like achieve anything in the
game of football. I was on the B team multiple years,
and I didn't even actually play vosity football until my
senior year in high school. I wasn't a two year
(09:11):
or three year letterman. I didn't play till my senior year.
But I played so well my senior year at Willrich
High School and here in Houston. And for being in
the independent school district, what I had where I had
received a fifthy division one offers as a one year
start on vosity in high school, and that really came
from just my dedication, my love, and my drive for
(09:31):
the game of football, despite the fact that people didn't
see me actually achieving my dreams going to college to
even eventually get to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
It was a true jow and the blessing.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
You mentioned a word that put a truth smile on
my face when you said it, and I was like,
I've never heard that, but it is one hundred percent true.
You described, you know, the game of football as controlled chaos,
so beyond just playing in game, right, but being in
the realm of pro sports NFL in general. In your opinion,
(10:08):
what makes it that controlled chaos?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
I mean, you you think about it.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
You have guys that are just slamming and ramming into
one another.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
For the sake of a game.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
But yet it's controlled, but it's chaotic at the same time.
I mean, you gotta think about I mean, think think
about for a moment. Here it is when I played,
I was weighing one hundred and eighty five pounds and
I have to tackle a running back. But in order
for me to tackle a quarterback, there's a guy bout
three hundred and thirty pounds coming towards me, trying to
(10:43):
block me, trying to destroy me. And I'm trying to
get to the running back to destroy the quarterback. But
I have to get in past this guy who weighs
three hundred and twenty to thirty pounds. But yet, in
my mind, I believe I can defeat this guy, regard
of his size, regard of his.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
Way, I can get through him.
Speaker 3 (10:58):
Now that that's that's chaotic for me to actually like
think that, think like that, But in reality, I believe
that I could dominate him, get past him when new
around him to actually make a tackle.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
That's chaotic, that's crazy, but it's controlled.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
And that being said, how do you think that level
of controlled chaos now plays out for you know, take
that mindset and put it in entrepreneurs or individuals, because
I think so many of us look at things and
we're like, either that's chaotic or we have this under control,
(11:32):
But a lot of it is actually in that middle
of controlled chaos. So how you know, doing speaking, helping others, Now,
how do you identify that control chaos outside of football
and being able to handle it?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
So when I think about control chaos aside the football,
think about you know, for the entrepreneur, for the individual,
or for the business man of woman, that's something that
you actually want to achieve and that you want to do,
and you want to think out the box. It may see,
it may seem grand to you, it may seem grand
to the next person. But if it's something you really
want to accompass and achieve, you're gonna figure out what
is gonna take in regard to the practical steps that
(12:12):
you need to execute to achieve what is you actually
won't like in business or in life, no matter how
big the obstacle, no matter how big the challenge, if
it's something that you won't something that you actually want,
something that you actually believe that you can achieve, you're
gonna find a way to.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
Make it happen. You're gonna have to.
Speaker 3 (12:28):
You're gonna have to figure out what are the tools,
what are the steps, what are in the visits that
you actually need on your team to actually allow you
to operate at a high level based on what you
actually want for your life or your business.
Speaker 1 (12:41):
I love that because I think it is so important
as well to really identify what those steps are, what
those tools are? Who are those people? Right? And so
many times when we're in that level of controlled chaos,
we're just like, oh, I gotta do that, So I
gotta do that, but we're not thinking, Okay, how am
I moving the needle with each action? What is the
(13:04):
best way? Like I'll give you an example of like
kind of that. I don't even know if this really
fully falls under it, but it made it resonated with me.
So I'm gonna go with it and we'll see where.
At least so from my days of even before I
started working in the NFL, every holiday, not like Christmas,
but like you know, New Year's, Thanksgiving, things like that,
(13:28):
I would text people that I had built relationships with,
whether it was networking, whatever it might be, to just
be able to be like, yeah, I'm thinking of you.
You know, we might have not talked in three four months,
but here's a touch point and let's have a quick conversation. Well,
when I started doing this, it was like over ten
(13:48):
years ago, right, and every message was manual to this
past for ten years, every time I would do one
of those, I would do it manually and I could
text out to on those days like at least one
hundred people. I never knew my numbers for sure. I mean,
granted it wasn't everyone in my contact list, but it
was at least, you know, a percentage. And even when
(14:14):
I met my boyfriend, remember the first Thanksgiving we did,
and it was at his parents' house and we wake
up in the morning and everyone's kind of just sitting
on the couch and I was like, Okay, I'm going
to start doing these text And I spent four hours
sending texts, going through my phone, sending the text By
the time I got done, it was like I was
probably two or three hours into it. And then I'd
(14:37):
like one hundred responses I had to respond to and
my eyes are going CROSSI and I'm like, oh my god.
And so it took me like four hours to actually
do it. But you never know where a conversation could lead,
of what that could mean to someone, so on and
so forth. So I've always been like, that is what
I do. Even if it takes me four hours on Thanksgiving,
(14:59):
it could help someone. Right. Well, I've recently, you know,
in October, found out about an app called Reach and
this app sends out those solo text messages to each
individual person. But you can go into the Reach app
and create groups. So now I have like five groups,
(15:20):
a holiday group, a Perspective client group, the cap Alpha,
Theta girls that I advise at a few different universities.
And instead of sending you know, one hundred different messages
out or even four messages out when I have to
do a touch base with them on certain things, it's
write one email or write one text and then pick
(15:42):
your list and then hit send to each individual and
it goes directly into my text messages, sends it to
that person as if it was that one individualized text.
But it breaks down my time. My holiday ivry lost.
My holiday list is three hundred and seventy five people. Okay,
now I'm like, no wonder it was taking me four
(16:03):
hours and then like five minutes I've all this text
sent out, so it's still like to me, that's also
an example of controlled chaos by using the tools and
the right tools in front of you to be like,
oh this is great, you know, save myself time to
be present in other areas.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I need that app for real. I've done the same.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I need it like it's like I get to a
point like I try to do the same thing while
I missed everybody on chrism I'm like, well, man, I
got them on Christmas. I'm not gonna hit them on
New Years. I just hit them on Christmas. I would
do the same thing. So I need that app.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Also, yeah, and I'll tell you and i'll give you
the link afterwards. But it's called the rache app, and
it's six ninety nine a month, so there is a fee.
But honestly, I'm like the time I save and then
I'm like, okay, we're the other groups, right. I was like, oh,
if I'm saving, if I'm spaying six ninety nine a month,
what else can I make simplified? So it challenged me
(16:59):
to be like, oh, I advise a few university chapters
for cap Alpha Thetaste, and I do monthly touch bases
with each one of them in text at least once
a month. And I'm like, okay, well they're all getting
the same message every single time. I've been doing this
for the past ten years. Can I put like, I'll
just create them a group.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Now.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
The cost of that isn't just for holidays, it's not
just for prospects. I'm leveraging every touch point and so
I like it because it allows you to real and
it also allows you to create template messages. So if
you know, like oh, I mean sense this message or
you know, potentially repeatedly, I can save that so I
(17:42):
don't have to retype it out every single time. Like
my touch base email messages to the girls. I'm like,
I'm literally saying that the same exact thing every single month.
They like it, and I'm like, Okay, now I don't
even have to retype it. It's a template. Good to go,
but it's agree So going off of that as well,
(18:05):
you know, whether it's entrepreneurship or in the NFL. Especially
in the NFL, it demands discipline, structure, and toughness. What
were some of your biggest lessons taught while you were
playing football that most people don't see from the outside,
especially if they're just watching I don't want to say
like just watching the game of football, but are a
(18:27):
fan of football.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
A lot of the things that people don't realize in
the game.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
There are a lot of like detailed things that actually
go into being like a professional athlete or even like
a Division one athlete. So when you think about like
the countless time that you must actually sacrifice to actually
be at your best, it requires a lot.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I was actually sharing with the group actually just last.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
Week at a presentation where I talked about, you know,
anything in life worth having is going to require sacrifice,
and I share with them that there were moments that
I was sacrifice working out during the holidays. I was
sacrificed getting up at at four thirty or five o'clock
in the morning just to get my day going.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Even when I.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Played professional football in the off season, I just didn't
do traditional off season workouts. I would do like a
I would do a dedicated track workout as well along
with my football conditioning and my football workout that I
would actually do. I mean, there's countless time that you
actually have to sacrifice in regards to like your m
time and your film study, eating right because one of
(19:31):
the things I wanted to do. I wanted to make
the most olivia out of the opportunity that I actually had.
So when I played professional football, I wasn't I wasn't
stand up blade, I wasn't I wasn't going out a lot.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
I wasn't smoking.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I mean, I wasn't drinking I was I wasn't a
lot of things that I didn't do because I wanted
to be at my best, because I realized I only
had a small window. There was only the NFL stance
for it, not for long. You're not guarantee you to
play for a long so you got this small window.
So it's all about how can you actually maximize your
(20:05):
opportunities in this moment that you have to make the
most out of a lifelong dream that I actually had.
So I want to be at my best. I'm not
saying that I was perfect, but when I'm saying I
want to be at my bust in this moment, in
this time I had played in the National Football League.
It's a professional football player from nineteen ninety sixty two
thousand and So when you think about like the countless
(20:26):
sacrifices and an individual make there are a lot that
people can actually share with others that nobody else may
not even think about it. And so it just boils
down to, like I said, anything worth having, it takes
time and dedication, but it also takes a great deal
of sacrifice with.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
That mindset, you know, trying to optimize the time you
have the opportunity to follow that passion. What were what
was that mental preparedness as well, like when you were playing.
And this is conversations I always have athletes, So I'd
love to have your perspective on this. Were you aware
(21:05):
you know it might not last that long? Let me
start to frame what I can leverage from this to
my next opportunity. Or was that not on your mind
at all?
Speaker 3 (21:19):
No, for sure, it was definitely on my mind because
I knew. I remember my rookie year when I played
for the forty nine. I remember my rookie year. We
were at a mini camp and I remember walking the
football field and just just praying to the Lord, just
kind of just being thankful. At the moment, I was
kind of like in this moment, right, it was that
(21:40):
have to practice, everybody. I'm just walking up and down
the football field. And as I was walking up and
down the football field, I realized and I knew in
that moment in nineteen ninety six, which is my rookie year,
I knew that it would only last for a brief moment.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I didn't know how long that moment was going to be.
I mean for me it was just four years.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
I mean for some guys just one year years, three years,
ten years, twelve, some guy's twenty Tom Brady. But I
mean for me that moment on the last for four years,
but I knew there was so much more that I
want to do with my life outarted the game of football.
So in that moment, I knew I had the maximize opportunity,
and I knew if I did it the right way,
I can use the NFL as a platform for me
(22:20):
to do other things, like the work that I'm actually
doing right now.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
And that's the thing people don't even realize as well.
I remember my rookie season. I called my rookie season
the first year I worked in the league. I worked
directly with the players in player engagement. So I started
the Monday after the draft, just when all the guys
come in. And I remember my boss at the time
(22:44):
was David Tyree for the New York Giants, and he
walks in the room and very certain he takes all
the rookies bees. I'm going to tell you one thing,
unless you're the number one pick, you no dedicated see
at the end of the day, like keep that inn.
Whether something can happen you know physically too during before
(23:06):
game one hits or you know, a walk on outperforms
the third round draft pick. The round draft pick. You're
not safe, Like, don't get that level of cockiness. You
have to understand that. And I mean, fast forward to
the last day of training camp, last play right before
you know you're you're done until the season starts. And
(23:29):
one of the guys who made it was I think
a walk on. He was definitely not drafted. They were
practicing and I was sitting out there because our in
our cafeteria area, the cafeteria area looks out onto the
practice field, and all of a sudden, David Tyree comes
running inside because and I'm like, what's going on? And
(23:50):
he's like Ben's career is over. I'm like, wait, what's happened.
And then the last play of the last practice, which
he had made it to, he had gotten hurt and
they knew immediately he had like torn his acl and
David was just like he's done. Like I can't believe this.
(24:13):
This kid has so much prospect to his potential career
and he'll never play. And I was like, what do
you mean he'll never play? And he's like this is
going to take a twelve month recovery and in all reality,
now you know twelve months has gone by without him playing,
and this, that and the next he's done. He's never
coming back, and he did never come back. So I'm
(24:35):
in tell people, whether it's NFL other sports are just
like life. You never know when the last day is
going to be the last day, right right? So you
know you had mentioned as well, taking those opportunities you
had in that platform you had with the NFL and
(24:55):
understanding the power that that helped, wait it held, and
taking that into the next thing you were going to do.
So how did having the platform of playing in the
NFL help you do that arc into what you're doing now?
Was it a clear like, oh, this is what I'm
(25:16):
going to do next, and you knew that from day
one or was there some bumps around along the road
where having that NFL potentially hurt you or helped you
to get to the place you are now and how
you're helping people now.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Well with the work I do now, I knew it
was something I always wanted to do, but I knew
being a former NFL player, it would actually help me
actually spand my reach in regards to those I would
actually serve because as a kid, I had a dream
of actually making it to the NFL. And I remember
one time I was growing up, there was a guy
who's he's in the NFL right now. He went to
(25:52):
the high school that I actually went to, and I
remember my older brother told him I wanted to meet
him because I was fascinated by the play. How well
this young man played. He was All American in high school.
He went on a player, have an amazing college career
and played in the NFL. He's now in the Hall
of Fame. But I remember when I was a kid,
my brother told him to come visit me one Saturday afternoon.
(26:13):
And my brother told me he was gonna come by
and visit me, and he never showed up. I waited
all day. He never showed up, and I remember telling myself,
I was like, if I ever have an opportunity to
actually make it to the NFL and be successful, if
I tell a young person I'm going to show up,
I'm going to show up. And I remember as I
was waiting for him, I was like wondering, what was
he going to say to me that day? What was
(26:35):
he going to say to me was going to actually
impact or inspire my life? And if he would have
showed the day, showed up that day and said some
amazing things. I can assure you, Olivia, I would remember
what he said, but he never showed up. So I said,
if I have the opportunity to impact the lots of
young people, I'm going to be all in and if
I make a commitment to show up, I'm going to
show up. And when I do show up, I'm going
to speak life and encourage and empower them wherever they are.
(26:59):
So with that said, I had an idea of what
I wanted to do in regards to impact the young people.
Because I was a kid that was picked on, I
was antagonized, I was bullied, I was expected to achieve
anything or expected to do anything. So for me to
make it, I wanted to give back to the younger
versions of myself who would deal with the same things
I was dealing with when it's going through. So with
me making to the NFL, it started with me pretty
(27:19):
much going around telling my story about being an underdog
or bout being an underachieved, about achieving and how I
was able to achieve things in my life based on
my dedication, my drive, and my commitment, and a lot
of young people could actually resonate with my story, and
so from me telling my story, it allowed me to
create a platform to actually impact young people in the.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Group set in schools.
Speaker 3 (27:40):
And that's how everything actually started with us and go
inc with my wife and I and some of my
former teammates launching the program over twenty five years ago.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
I love that because it also demonstrates, you know, a
lot of times I ask people about their experiences, whether
it's in the recordings or outside in different rooms, and
I'm like, have you lived the experience where you know?
This is why I'm doing it, This is why it
drives the needle and the impact that can actually make
(28:10):
for someone, and for you, it sounds like that little
boy stuck with meaning yourself. I'm stuck with you and
always stay it in the back of your mind because
so many people when we're on this journey, and I'll
use like I was recently asked why I stay with
the individuals I serve in my business and like why
(28:33):
I bring certain conversations onto the podcast And I know,
and I'm like, listen, if I only brought on one
kind of person, right, only the former NFL players, If
I only brought on people who are making seven eight
figures and they're thirty years in right, and those thirty
year entrepreneurs, they might not be going through the same
(28:55):
exact thing someone needs to hear today that isn't in
that place, right, And it's like we on need to
be champions for our voice and helping others. So for you,
when you go in and speak, what do you feel
helps resonate the most with young students, with young athletes,
(29:19):
for individuals who go, yeah, I could see myself doing
that and really get the empowerment up.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
I think the biggest thing just speaking for me is vulnerability.
What I tend to do when I speak, I speak
from a place of vulnerability, a place of genuineness, a
place of transparency where I can be just authentitic with
the young people who I speak to or even the adults,
because I use real relevant life examples from my life
(29:46):
that I actually present, like in a moment, in the
situation and in the scenario, how I've lived and how
I've experienced.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
It and have grown from it.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
So just being vulnerable, I can say for me personally,
actually helps individuals because I I mean, I haven't experienced
everything in life, but I'm like about ninety percent when
it comes to like a lot of different experiences that
one may deal with, go through and actually have to overcome.
So being vulnerable one just being authentic and men just
giving up myself to my audiences really allow me to
(30:16):
actually establish the genuine connection.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
And I'm going to ask a follow up question on
that because that sounds great and I feel like a
lot of people will go, okay, but how do you
have the confidence to be vulnerable like that? Or how
do you practice the vulnerability? So what would you say
gave you the confidence or the capacity or the strength
(30:40):
whatever term you want to use to walk into a room,
whether it's on a podcast or speaking to students or
speaking to adults to say, yeah, you know, I might
be Tyrone Smith who played in the NFL, but I'm
gonna be really vulnerable about my journey who I am
and show up as I am.
Speaker 3 (30:59):
To give you that picture, I would say, growing up,
there was somebody that actually showed me how to be vulnerable.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
I had a coach. His name was Dennis Bradley.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
He was my coach when I was thirteen years old
in middle school at Christmas Color Middle School.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
And I remember my mom and my dad.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
You know they were separated and going through a divorce,
and at this particular moment in the time of my life,
I really didn't I didn't too much care about school.
Speaker 2 (31:22):
I didn't care about life. I didn't really care about
a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Because here it is, my mom and my dad were
being separating about the divorce, and I thought that they
would be together forever. And I remember I was just
going through things. I was mad at the fact that
they were divorced. I was acting not in school. I
was fighting all the time. I was getting in trouble
all the time, and they got to a point that
I even stopped taking the bath. I stopped bathing, Olivia.
(31:46):
That was a moment in time when I was in
the eighth grade and thirteen years old. I didn't bathe
for two and a half weeks, and I didn't babe
with two and a half weeks because I was mad
and angry, didn't know how to deal with my emotions
with the fact that my parents got divorced, and so
I'm fighting school when i'm acting out, I'm not bathing right,
And so I remember one day I actually had missed
the bus and I had to walk to school, and
(32:08):
here in Houston.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Here in Houston, Texas gets hot and human. I had
to walk the school.
Speaker 3 (32:12):
I hadn't bathed in two and a half weeks, Olivia,
I hadn't brust my teeth in two and a half weeks.
And it's hot and it's humid, and I'm walking to school.
So you can imagine. I wasn't smelling my best. And
I walked to school two and a half miles. I
missed the bus and I smelled myself. I wasn't smelling good.
And my coach, he had saw me come to school
and he pulled me aside. He smelled, he could smell me,
(32:34):
and he was like, Tarron, what's going on? And I said,
you know, He asked me, what were you What are
you dealing with? What are you going through? Because I
was I wasn't acting. I wasn't acting myself.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
I was told him.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
I was like, I told him my mom and my
dad were getting divorced. And he was like, what I
want you to realize. I understand, Tyrone, you have no
control over the fact that your mom and dad are
getting a divorce. It's hurtful, but I need you to understand.
I need you to take control over you. You can
control your attitude, you outlook the perspective and your behavior.
I need you to control you, he said. And why
(33:04):
are you not bathing? I said, because I'm like I
was crying out for attention. I wanted my mom and
my dad to see me, to smell me, and to
see what was going on with me, but they were
disregarding me because they had their own stuff going on.
And So in my relationship with coach Dennis Brandley and
being vulnerable and just actually talking to him about what
I was dealing with it going through it kind of
(33:24):
gave me this sense of transparency and authenticity by myself
where I can kind of share, you know, things that
are going on in my life, but things that actually
happened in my life to actually help somebody else out
along the way. So when it comes to like speaking
to an audience or speaking to a group, I think
being vulnerable actually helps me in regards to bridge and
a genuine connection for whatever it is I may make
communicate and say, I.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Also believe that it not only is like you mentioned,
breaks down that wall on bridges that God, but it
also makes people go Okay, if he could do it,
I could do it. Too, right, And I think that's
important to understand a level of transparency as well. Is like,
especially in today's society, which going back to what we
(34:07):
were speaking about earlier, is everything You only see the
NFL athletes when they're NFL athletes, right. You don't see
all the work, all the years, all the hours of practice,
all the discipline, all the things that go into it.
You see them show up on game day on TV.
You you know, And that's a pure example. Is like that,
(34:30):
There's a lot of work that goes into it. And
when you can speak from a place of like, this
is all the things I was struggling, This is all
the journeys I had to go through to be in
that game on that Sunday afternoon, it's like, oh, okay,
if he could go through that, I can figure out
a way to go through that as well. I want
(34:52):
to talk about your book for a moment, The Outside
the Huddle. So you talk about creating a game plan
for life. What does that actually look like in practice
for someone who feels stuck or uncertain about what's next?
And why did you decide to write that book and
specifically call it Outside the Huddle?
Speaker 3 (35:15):
Yeah, but I actually wrote the book books, I wanted
to kind of get people practical skills and perspective about
things that are pretty much utilized long on the way
to actually help me right by sized pieces in regards
to teachable moments and life lessons and life experiences along
the way, which are practical principles that have actually been
(35:36):
a guide in my life. And so Outside the Huddle
was really designed to just share that specifically, Like I
talk about having the purpose, a plan, the process, pif
all people practice process and pausing their life. So I
wrote the book and I want people to pretty much
get outside of their mind and get outside of their
perspective for whatever it is they actually may want for
their life. But the principles right each step is really
(35:59):
something that people need to really think about in regards
like their goals and their dreams and aspirations, because a
lot of times we're so stuck on what it is
that we actually want to do, but we don't actually
get out of our own way, we don't get outside
of ourselves to kind of really see what is it
actually gonna take. And the first thing I talk about
in the book is that you know, I talk about
purpose because I truly feel and believe that everybody in
(36:19):
life has a specific purpose. But to understand what your
purpose is, you actually gotta see it and be still
and create the plan for whatever it is you can
actually see yourself doing, because I truly feel we're all
given something.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
But yet along the way, how do you get to
that place?
Speaker 3 (36:35):
Because like, for instance, yeah, you know that I played
professional football and that I had a desire to play
professional football, But before that, I actually thought that my
purpose in life Olivia was to be a professional.
Speaker 2 (36:45):
Wrestler, But that wasn't reality for me. Right.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
I truly feel and believed that football was a part
of my purpose, but it wasn't my ultimate purpose. I
truly believe that my ultimate purpose was actually to be
a game changer, to actually impact the lives of others
based on the experiences I went through and the things
that I actually deal with that I can actually help
support somebody else based on what the dealer with and
going through.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
That's actually like my ultimate purpose. But when you think
about it, I.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Had to at some point sit down and really strategize
and really write I would it is I actually saw
myself doing, and I knew that I wanted to actually
work with young people when I was younger, based on
the experiences that I actually went through in my life,
and like, I'm looking at your backdrop it says achieving success.
It reminds me of my room when I was in
high school. And when I was in high school, I
(37:34):
used to write write all kind of like personal quotes.
In order to achieve, you must believe, believe in yourself.
The first step to success starts today. So I used
to write all these quotes and I used to put
them on my wall to live you and I used
to look at those different things as GUIDs, as role
maps to the bigger picture purpose that I actually had
(37:54):
for my life. So I think the biggest thing is
to really understand and know your purpose. You got to
be quiet, you got to be still, and sometimes you
have to get outside of yourself and even talk to
somebody else who may see something new that you haven't
actually seen yourself that can actually be a support for
you alone the way also, and.
Speaker 1 (38:11):
That even reminds me. I'm, you know, talking about podcasting
a lot and podcasts consulting, which I do. People go, oh, so,
what's the benefit of podcasting or tell me about podcasting.
Why did you decide your passion is in podcasting, right,
I get that question, Like, my passion is podcasting, right,
I do it every day. There is a level of that,
(38:32):
you go, but the true passion is helping people use
their voice to make an impact and knowing that they're
not alone in this journey. And they're like, wait, what,
and I'm like yeah, And the way I do that
is through podcasting, helping people use their voice in this platform.
And I was like, if podcasting went away tomorrow, podcasting
(38:53):
is no longer a thing that anyone listened to, anyone did,
there would be another way to help people use their
voice to make an impact. But I think there's also
a level people have to understand, and you brought this
up in saying that story is we have to understand.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
What is the.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Vehicle that's moving that we're passionate about, because there is
a level of that, right, right, And what is the
true mission that is helped drop like fueling that.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
Vehicle to move, right?
Speaker 3 (39:29):
And I think that that that reminds me of a
quote it's in the pursuit of your passion. It is
a prescription of your purpose, right, in the pursuit of
your passion, It's a prescription of your purpose and the
pursuit of what you what you desire, what you do,
what drives you and motivates you. Right, can be the
prescription of your purpose based on what you can do
big picture, long term.
Speaker 1 (39:49):
Right.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
But the thing about it is like only you know that, right,
Only you know that.
Speaker 3 (39:54):
But then it's about you for feeling it by making
the necessary steps and move to actually align with what
is you want and be consistent about it.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
You got to be consistent.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
So I can't believe there are times almost up. But
I want to end with this one question. If someone
listening right now feels like they're standing out of crossroads,
whether it's in their career, identity, or purpose, what's the
first step you did encourage them to take.
Speaker 3 (40:23):
I truly feel somebody's at a crossroad and they don't
really know what to do with themselves or with their life.
I would encourage them to find somebody that they can
truly sit down and talk to that they actually trust,
because sometimes there are people that actually see things in
us that we don't actually see in ourselves, and yet
at the same time we need somebody to kind of
actually help to just decipher what it is we may
(40:44):
need to do who really know us, like genuinely like
know us to kind of help just rethink or repurpose
or reset what it is that we made to do
as individuals.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
So if I would tell the individual, if you're.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Stuck right now, find somebody that you authentically know that
you can actually connect with to help be a guide
and support for you making the transition in regards to
your life based.
Speaker 2 (41:05):
On where you are right now.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
I love that in Tyrone. How can people get in
touch with you if they wan't connect with you?
Speaker 3 (41:11):
You can connect with me through my website Tyronsmith twenty
four dot com. You can connect with me on x
at Tyrone twenty four, on ig at Tyrone twenty four
Underscore seven.
Speaker 1 (41:24):
Thank you Tyrone for all of your insight today.
Speaker 2 (41:28):
No thanks for having me Olivia.
Speaker 3 (41:29):
This was an amazing opportunity to connect with you and
just being a part of Achieving Sex podcast Achieving Success
Prodcasts and it has been a joy with you.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
I'm like, we could have really gone down a whole
nother rabbit hole on the way you give talks and
all this, but we only got a limited time, so
you know, we covered a lot of different aspects that
I think can be very beneficial for all of us
to get in our momentum, get in our zone, drive
ourselves through purpose. And a few of those key takeaways
(42:00):
from today's conversation include control chaos, helps you figure out steps,
helps you figure out what are the tools, what are
the people need? And Tyrone brought this up through talking
about football and how playing in the game is really
(42:20):
controlled chaos, but playing in the game of life also
creates a level of controlled chaos, and it's how you
handle it, how you leverage the tools, the resources, the
people that you are playing the game with. They can
really help you understand and go from chaos to or
(42:41):
control to controlled chaos and really help you move the needle.
And I love how he brought that up through using football,
but it really applies to all of us in every
single day life as well as the NFL stands for
not for long. And I love how Tyron brought that
up because it's so true and so many people see
(43:03):
individuals like Tom Brady and go oh they get to
play for so long. They get this, they get that
in reality, as Tybone brought up in his experience, he
knew from day one even making it onto that field
was going to be an accomplishment, and he knew from
the story he shared with us then that first day
walking onto the field, he knew it was going to
(43:23):
be a good time, but not guaranteed a long time
and what he was going to do by having that platform.
So one of my challenges I'm going to also leave
you today with if you didn't have if you took
the NFL analogy, if not for a long time, whether
you're in business, whether you're a speaker, anything you were doing,
(43:46):
would that look different from what you're doing today and
how you're serving if you did not have something for
a long time. Relationship and how you show up in
that relationship, work, how you build your business, would it change?
And if so, start making those small changes as well
as always show up if you tell someone you're going
(44:07):
to show up. I think this is so important in
any form of any relationship, even if you don't know
the person. Your word is everything. How do you want
people to remember your word by? Think about when Tyrone
told that story of him as a little kid. To
this day, he remembers that experience, and that experience could
(44:30):
have shaped him in a very different way as he said,
it could have provided very different insight. It's something he
would have carried on with him. So think about that.
Do you want to be the person that shows up
and you have the memory of the conversation you had,
or how you showed up and you were authentically yourself
or transparent like Tyrone does in all of his talks,
(44:52):
or do you want to be the person remembered as
they said they would show up and they didn't even
There's times I remember people I've even in my calendar
and I'm like, they didn't show they didn't show up.
I emailed them, I followed up five times. You know,
I've had people who ask to work with me, like
they want my business. And I've recently gotten a call.
(45:14):
The guy missed two calls and then immediately tried to
go into selling me, and I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa,
where's the relationship building? You didn't You also missed calls
that you booked twice, and now you want me to
trust you. And so all those little things get remembered
as well as when you speak give a level of vulnerability,
people resonate with vulnerability. And I love how Tybrone brought
(45:37):
this up because I think we all want to be heard,
we all want to be understood, we all want to
know that someone else has gone through the things were
going through. So having the confidence, having the spirit of knowing,
like Tybrone said that it could touch one person to
help them keep going is so important. This was a
great episode with our top notch guest Tyrone Smith. Thank
(46:00):
you for listening and have a successful day.
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