March 24, 2025 • 33 mins
🎧 Episode Overview
What if burnout wasn’t a sign of weakness—but a signal to shift?
Dr. Matthew Arau knows what it’s like to carry the weight of expectations, excellence, and exhaustion. From directing award-winning bands to leading educators through a global crisis, he looked like he had it all together. But inside? He was breaking.
In this soul-deep conversation, we talk about the birth of Upbeat Global, how mindfulness practices saved his sanity, and how the simple act of writing “GET” on a to-do list became the spiritual spark that reignited his life and leadership.
💥 Whether you're in music, business, or ministry—this episode will help you slow down, breathe deep, and lead better.
💡 Key Takeaways from This Episode
🔴 When Music and Leadership Collide
Matthew’s journey from high school band director to national leadership coach Started when he fused music education with personal growth practices to change toxic culture into thriving student leadership.
🔴 From Pandemic Panic to Purpose
During COVID-19, Matthew found himself guiding educators through impossible challenges. His burnout became fuel for something bigger: teaching mindfulness and mindset across the nation.
🔴 The Origin of “GET”
A cold Wisconsin morning. A memory of 9/11. A to-do list that became a gratitude list. And a new mantra was born: “I GET to.”
🔴 G = Gratitude | E = Enthusiasm | T = Treasure
This acronym became more than a mindset—it became a movement. School districts, entrepreneurs, and leaders now use “GET” to reframe stress and unlock joy in the moment.
🔴 Your Dream Must Be Bigger Than Your Doubt
You don’t need to wait until you feel ready. You just need to care more about the mission than the fear.
📚 Resources & Guest Info
🌐 Take the Quiz: https://www.powerofget.com
📕 Book: Upbeat: Mindset, Mindfulness, and Leadership in Music Education and Beyond
📔 Upbeat Daily Journal & Planner
📲 Socials: @MatthewArau
💼 Website: https://www.upbeatglobal.com
🎯 Final CTA
If this episode hit you deep—share it with a friend who needs a reset.
Rate, review, and subscribe to Grace in the Grind.
Let’s lead well, live fully, and never forget—we GET to do this.
🔔 New episodes drop weekly.
Follow Jim on socials @LeadWithJim and grab a free leadership resource at www.leadwithjim.com.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
(00:22):
Welcome to Grace in the Grindwhere we're here to tell the inspiration
inspiring stories behind someof the most successful entrepreneurs.
And today we have my friendnew to the show, Matthew.
Welcome to the show, Matthew.
Hey.
It is so great to join you, Jim.
Just an honor to be on your show.
Yeah, man.
So take about 60 to 90 secondsto let the audience know who you
(00:43):
are and what you do.
Hi, everybody.
I'm Matthew Rao and I'm thefounder and CEO of Upbeat Global.
I'm an author, I'm a speaker,I'm a coach.
I'm also a university professor.
I teach at Lawrence Universityin Appleton, Wisconsin where I head
up music education and conductthe band.
So wear multiple hats.
And I love serving highachieving leaders who are facing
(01:06):
overwhelm, stress and just atouch of burnout, who still want
to get more out of life andstill want to give more and make
a big impact.
And so it really is a passionof mine to serve and add value to
people so that they can reachtheir optimal performance and achieve
their full potential.
So with that being said, let'sdive into some questions here because
(01:27):
it brings up some cool stuffbecause you're, as a former music
guy, I was a trumpet playerfor a while, so I got some passion
connection there.
But you're also a coach, so Ido coaching as well.
So you've got these two fardifferent reaching things in one
creative band and one, you'rein the personal development leadership
space on how to overcomeburnout, overwhelm stuff.
(01:49):
How did those two come together?
Like, how did that you decideone day when you woke up and said,
I just want to do this?
Well, it's definitely a process.
And there were some thingsthat happened overnight, but like
many things in life, it was,it's been a journey.
And I decided I wanted to be aband director.
When I was in college andmoved out to Colorado, I taught band
(02:10):
for 15 years, middle schoolband and high school band.
And this idea of likeleadership and coaching and music
actually fused together abouthalfway through my public school
music teaching career when Istarted something in collaboration
with my high school studentscalled the Leadership Symposium.
The reason we started it iswhen I took over the program, there
was a toxic culture and wereally needed to improve the culture.
(02:33):
And we went about it by,coached, and trained my students
in the areas of leadership andpersonal development growth.
And that ended up transformingthe culture of the program in every
aspect.
So that was really cool.
So that's, like, where it began.
I also just have always had apassion for leadership.
I have a political sciencemajor in addition to my music majors.
(02:53):
So I've always had that co interest.
And I just originally didn'tknow how they would ever combine.
And then I did my doctoratedegree in conducting and started
teaching at LawrenceUniversity 11 years ago.
And I've had the opportunityto teach a leadership course at the
university level.
And I would started presentingand speaking about the leadership
(03:15):
symposium that I created as ahigh school director.
I started sharing that withmusic educators.
That was the beginning of myspeaking career.
And then it's just reallyexpanded since then.
So then how did you come tothe place?
So there's a lot inleadership, like, we can really unpack
a lot of leadership, but youfocus on overwhelm, stress, and burnout.
Like, what.
Where did that develop from?
(03:36):
Yeah, so during the pandemic,I think, is where it really came
home to me about the need to serve.
And when the pandemichappened, I was called upon by the.
What's called the nationalassociation for Music Education to
lead webinars to help inspireand motivate educators, music educators
(03:57):
at the time who were goingthrough some really tough times.
If we can remember thepandemic, it was very challenging
for music teachers.
Think of choral teachers.
Students need to be reallyspread out.
Everybody's wearing masks.
The morale was really low.
Even for a period of time.
We couldn't even rehearsedtogether this.
All the students were online,and it just really lowered morale.
And so a lot of teachers weregoing through stress, overwhelmed,
(04:20):
facing burnout, consideringleaving the profession.
And so I began coaching in thearea of mindfulness in particular,
and mindset.
And through that, I startedteaching online courses.
And teachers shared with methat what I was sharing with them
help them move from stress andoverwhelm and burnout to this new
(04:44):
level of excitement for whatthey were doing.
And it led them back to their purpose.
Some people rediscovered me ordiscovered a new purpose and a new
calling through my coachings.
And so that inspired me tocontinue to make a difference.
So what have you experienced?
And do you experience burnoutif you experience overwhelm?
(05:05):
Obviously, we all experience stress.
So what were your experiencesduring that time or even before that?
Said, you know what?
I can help others like, howdid you get through that?
Unpack that for me.
Yeah, for sure.
As a high school band directorback in Colorado, I led what you'd
call maybe like a high poweredband program with the marching band.
And, and the marching band islike massive amount of hours.
(05:28):
It was pretty much seven daysa week.
We were the state championmarching band and had achieved national
recognition and superregionals in marching band.
And so the stress level isextremely high as a high school band
director.
So I had gone through that,but I had developed coping skills
I guess I would share alongthe way that helped me through that
(05:48):
and included yoga, includedmeditation and mindful practices
that I was implementing.
So it really helped me as Iwas facing my own stress and overwhelm
during the pandemic.
Of course, I also went througha lot of similar challenges as people
as we had to change gearscompletely and reimagine what it
meant to teach, because wewere used to teaching in person and
(06:11):
especially music, making musicin person.
All of a sudden we couldn't.
And now we're online andfinding ways to move forward.
And what motivated me wasactually serving others.
I actually had this calling orcompulsion to help teachers during
this really challenging time.
And what began as helpingteachers, then expanded to now being
(06:33):
able to serve not just musicteachers, but entire school districts
and then athletic departments,executives, corporations and entrepreneurs.
So out of curiosity, because Iwas a teacher during the pandemic
and I remember those times, ohmy gosh.
So you're teaching all theseteachers how to do this, get mindset,
shift all those things.
(06:53):
So did you find that theseteachers were now teaching it to
their students?
What was the bleed down from that?
Like, what was the impact ofthe students based on what you were
doing with the teachers?
I love that question.
Many teachers were excited toshare what they were learning to
help themselves with their students.
And it was amazing for me tohear the feedback.
(07:15):
I got to teach online coursesto teachers from grades K through
12, so kindergarten through12th grade.
My experience was teachingmiddle school and high school.
And all of a sudden I'mhearing how teachers are teaching
mindful breathing techniquesthat they've been using for themselves
to their students and how thatbrought us centering and calming
and refocusing for their students.
(07:37):
And then I would hear storieson top of that where students then
would go home and teach theirparents these calming, mindful breathing
techniques.
So the ripple effect was, wasreally cool and heartening to hear.
So out of all of this, youhave a book, you wrote a book, right?
So it's Called Upbeat.
Yeah.
So explain that.
Where?
Well, at what point did thatcome out of?
(07:59):
Okay, I appreciate that.
So this is.
I'm showing visually the book here.
It's Upbeat Mindset,Mindfulness and Leadership in Music
Education and Beyond.
And this was an outgrowth fromthe first class I was invited to
teach as an online course wascalled Mindfulness for the Music
Educator.
And at the time, there reallyweren't resources specifically for
(08:21):
music educators on mindfulness.
And so I drew on otherresources, mindful teachers.
And we then brought it intothe music field.
And the teachers that weretaking the online course said to
me, matthew, could you putthis in a book?
Could you write a book?
And I'd been asked to write abook before to share the ideas that
(08:41):
I've been teaching.
Kind of the format of what.
The structure of what I'vebeen teaching was called Upbeat Leadership.
And I developed a workbookthat people could print out and use
in professional development orwith their students.
But I'd never written a book.
And the reason there, or maybethe excuse that I had, was I didn't
have enough time.
But during the pandemic, Ifound that I actually had time because
(09:03):
I was teaching from home.
And so because I was at home,I actually had more time.
I had the classes that I wasteaching, but then in between the
classes, I had this block oftime that was available.
And since there was a demandfor a resource to help and support
teachers, I personally feltthis calling.
(09:23):
It really was a calling, likea compulsion, like, I have to do
this.
I really felt like now ornever, I will never have this block
of time again.
And I'm sure that you canconnect with that idea of having
a calling.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And so it really was.
And I dedicated myself towaking up early every morning at
5am I would meditate.
(09:45):
A journal.
In the summer, I'd go for a swim.
And then I.
My journaling actually endedup evolving into content that made
up the book Upbeats.
Sweet side question, becauseyou do work with high achievers.
This is for music educators.
Where did that shift happen?
Nice.
Like, where did we go?
For music educators and beyond.
(10:06):
Yeah.
Great.
Great.
So I think it's reallyimportant to begin where you are,
like, where your niches.
And this was actually adiscussion that I had with the publishers
was, do I include musiceducation in the title?
Because I felt that everythingthat I was sharing this book is universal.
Right.
The whole.
The book's in three parts, andpart one is called Ignite.
(10:29):
Part two is Inspire, and partthree is Lead Ignite.
Part one is all about theinner world of the reader.
And chapter one is choose yourupbeat, which is we can choose our
thoughts, we can choose our attitude.
Right.
We can choose our upbeat in life.
And when we choose our upbeat,it actually changes the course of
our day.
Right?
It changes the way it changesour perception.
And chapter two is the powerof get.
(10:50):
Chapter three, superchargeyour morning.
Chapter four is sustain yourupbeat all day.
All of these concepts areuniversal for everyone, which is
why the idea of adding andbeyond came about.
Right?
And so I started being askedto lead professional development
and coach music teachers.
And then music teachers wouldsay, this is so valuable for everybody.
Could you come talk to myentire school or could you come and
(11:11):
do a presentation for myentire school district?
And then I started being askedto give talks at the university level
as word got out that I wasdoing this.
And then I got called to coach.
The senior executives at myuniversity, which included the president,
the vice president of everydivision, the head of athletics,
and then the head of athleticsenjoyed the coachings that I was
(11:32):
doing on building a positiveculture and strengthening leadership,
mindset and mindfulness.
He said, can you come do apresentation for all the coaches
in the university?
As I had these opportunities,it just highlighted that these are
universal messages that canmake a positive difference for everyone.
And that planted the seed forme that almost a calling that I need
(11:55):
to share this with more people.
And that led to starting toshare with companies and corporations
and entrepreneurs.
So just as a side note to you,the audience who are listening, we
want to make sure that youunder we will put all of this in
the show notes, the link tothe book and things like that, especially
for those of you who haven'tare not watching visually but listening
audio.
Everything's in the show notes.
Make sure you get it easy foryour access.
(12:16):
So let's jump back in withsome questions here.
So you're rapidly starting tobuild things.
People are inviting you to speak.
Things are happening quickly.
Was there ever a point whereyou started feeling like you were
an imposter?
Like the deep struggles ofmaybe I'm not good enough or cut
out for this?
Yes, for sure.
It's a big task to to come outand speak to people that have never
(12:37):
met you before, oftentimes inan area that isn't my expertise.
For example, I went out to LosAngeles to co present with a mentor
of mine named Dr.
Rob McClellan and he invitedme to co present for a summit, a
business summit for folks thatare in the the wellness and healthcare
(13:00):
Business for the elderly.
And that's an area that I'mmuch less familiar with.
And I wasn't sure how it wasgoing to go.
So I definitely felt that stress.
I felt that stress of life andalso that pressure that I better
deliver.
I better deliver.
What I found, Jim, is thatoftentimes it's like stage fright
or that anxiety we get before performance.
(13:21):
And as a trumpet player, Idon't know if you ever.
Did you ever feel that before?
Like a big concert?
Oh, everyone.
Yeah, every time.
Okay.
See, you're familiar with thebutterflies and the nerves and all
that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
And I've actually learned alot about stress.
I guess it's an area that I'm.
That I focus on.
And there's a great bookcalled the Upside of Stress, and
the author talks about thathow we view stress actually impacts
(13:42):
how stress affects us physiologically.
So if you can look at stressas a positive and realize that this
is actually excitement brewingin your body, if you view stress
as excitement, then it becomesthat if you view stress as a negative,
that it's hurting your body,then it will.
And so I like to spin it onits head and think, I'm feeling,
like, the nerves, the butterflies.
(14:03):
And that's because I care somuch, and I share that with students.
I say, the reason you'renervous is because you care so much.
Now, sometimes we're nervousbecause we're not prepared.
Let's be honest, right?
We could have prepared more.
And we're like, oh, my gosh,they're going to discover that I
didn't prepare enough.
And so there's two sides to that.
But I like to think aboutstress going into a speaking engagement
or a coaching or trainingengagement as just, like, I really
(14:26):
want to do a good job and Icare so much.
Once I start speaking andstart working with people, I realize
that people are people.
And when we get real, and Ilike to get real and authentic really
quickly.
So I like to get past all ofthe shields that we might put up,
the armor, the.
Whatever the hierarchy is inthe room.
Let's just get real.
(14:47):
We've all been through challenges.
We're all going throughchallenges right now.
In fact, if I ask, if I askedyou or if I asked a room of people
to say, how many of you havesomething, like, on your heart right
now or a weight that you'recarrying or something that's on your
mind?
Inevitably every hand will goup that everybody's got something
on their mind.
And when you see that, yourealize, hey, I'm not alone.
We have a lot more in commonthan we have different.
(15:08):
And once you get to that humanelement, when it's heart to heart,
eyeball to eyeball, soul tosoul, that helps me get past the
imposter syndrome.
Also, I think sometimesimposter syndrome is when you focus
on yourself rather thanfocusing on who you're trying to
serve.
And I think if you can keepthe focus on serving others and offering
value, then you can moveoutside of your head and into your
(15:31):
heart.
And I find that really helps.
That's good.
That's really good.
So then this brings up aquestion which I find because again,
as a fellow trumpet player, assomebody who's been in this, I like
the butterflies because Iactually had an old mentor said,
if you don't feel thebutterflies, you should worry because
then you move into arroganceand things like that.
But with that being said,there's a fine line between stress
(15:53):
being excitement and stressbeing the most terrible thing that
you've had ever.
Right?
The anxiety and all those things.
What procedures, guardrails,boundaries, do you put on your life
to help protect you fromallowing that excitement to move
over into something much more harmful?
Yeah, that's a great question.
Because stress can impact usin many negative ways.
(16:17):
And physically our health canhave grave impacts if we're in this
stress level for a long periodof time.
And that's the challenge withalmost today's society, which is
a go go, right.
They're always under the next thing.
It's high achievement basedand we don't often create those spaces
(16:37):
of repose or there's spacesfor rejuvenation or rest in our lives.
So I think it's reallyimportant to integrate moments.
Whether it's for me, it's in the.
It's in the morning.
I have a meditation routineand mindful breathing technique.
One of the mindful breathingtechniques I use is the box breath
where you breathe in your nosefor four counts, hold your breath
for four counts, out yourmouth for four counts, hold your
(17:00):
breath for four counts, andthen repeat it in your nose.
And so it's called the boxbreath because it's in for four,
hold for four, out for four,hold for four.
And so the four by four ideais why it's called the box breath.
And I do that for about five,six minutes, just focusing on the
breath.
And also do a mindfulbreathing technique where I hum really
(17:21):
loudly.
I actually cough out my cheeksby breathing my nose and then hum.
And when you hum, it ignitesthe vagus Nerve.
And the vagus nerve is.
This really is the longestcranial nerve that comes from our
brain down, down the brainstem, through our spinal cord and
into our.
Even into our digestive,through our lungs and into our digestive
system.
And so when we breathe downlow and it really expand from our
(17:45):
abdomen, it's igniting thevagus nerve.
And that's a good thingbecause that is the digest and rest
nerve.
And so it helps us calm downand center.
It also ignites what's calledthe parasympathetic nervous system,
which allows us to reallyfunction at our highest level.
When we're living thatparasympathetic nervous system, we
(18:06):
actually see a lot of possibilities.
When we're in a state of fearor high stress, what happens is our
amygdala takes over.
They call it amygdala hijack.
And we're not able to think as creatively.
We're not as good in likerelationships and communication.
It's that stress feeling thatyou have when it's like every.
(18:26):
Your vision becomes supernarrow and you can't see these opportunities
and possibilities.
And that's the challenge whenyou're living in a stress environment
all the time.
So if you can create a routinewhere you're doing some nervous system
regulation breathingtechniques throughout the day or
in the morning and beforegoing to bed, because it's really
important to protect oursleep, that can really help us in
(18:48):
this world that seems to justbe going faster and faster.
We need to find ways to slow down.
And I actually just finishedreading this beautiful book by Matthew
Kelly called Slowing down tothe Speed of Joy.
I love that idea.
So my last guest, GeorgeBryant, we actually just talked something
about that, not that book.
So we will put that book inthe thing in the show notes.
(19:09):
But we were actually talkingabout creating space to be contemned.
That was the whole episode.
Wow.
And so I love that that'sechoed here.
That's beautiful.
To slow down to be withyourself is how he put it.
So high paced, high achievers, fast.
Do you find you are caught inthe midst of this and you're running
(19:30):
at 5 million miles an hour andyou're trying to do more and more,
or do you have time where youtake those spaces maybe throughout
the day that says I want to bemore contemplative, slow down, be
with myself as opposed to producing?
Do you have those times?
I'm really intentional.
I'm very intentional with howI use my time in the day.
And so what I do is I'll setAside time, we'll call it blocks
(19:52):
of time, which are for being productive.
And I find that if I can putaway the distractions and just be
really focused with intent onwhat I want to produce or achieve
during that time, then I cancreate a space of repose in between
those blocks of time.
And I think that's really important.
I think one of the challengeswe have is the amount of distractions.
(20:13):
In today's world, there'snever been amount of distractions
we have.
And it's amazing what adistraction can do.
Like a ping on our phone or welook at our phone to come back to
where we were can take many minutes.
Even if you look at your phonefor five seconds, it can take many
minutes to get back to thatfocused area.
So that's why it's reallyimportant to try to put distractions
(20:33):
away, be fully present, whichis really what mindfulness is about,
is being in the moment, beingpresent, being highly aware and engaging
with our senses and then being there.
I think so often we're eitherworried about what happened in the
past, right?
We're stressed about whathappened in the past, which is something
we can't change, or we'reworried about a future that hasn't
(20:55):
happened yet, instead of beingfully present and treasuring the
moment that you have.
And I think that's reallyimportant to think about.
I think if we can all justtreasure the moment, which is really
what the power of get is thatI share in my book, like you and
I get to have this moment together.
It's the only moment that's guaranteed.
(21:16):
In fact, for our listeners whoare listening to your podcast, this
moment right now is the onlymoment that's ever guaranteed in
life.
The present, right now.
How often do we miss thepresent because we're thinking about
the future?
We're worried or concernedabout something that happened in
the past, and you might misswhat's right in front of you.
That's powerful.
I'm sitting here laughing tomyself because there are so many
(21:38):
distractions, especially ifyou're one of the neuro spicy flavors
of life like myself.
You start out on X looking forsomething important to what you're
trying to build, create, andthen an hour later you're finding
duck memes.
It's wow, that was the bestthree minutes of my life over in
the last hour.
So I get it totally.
So let's like, I'm with you, man.
I'm with you.
(21:58):
I will not confirm nor denythat happens often as it is power
of get.
So you're building all this stuff.
Where did this come out for you?
The power of get.
Like I get to, I've heard thisover and over.
But like, where did it becomereal for you?
Yeah, and it, it's actually I,I remember the exact moment.
(22:20):
It was like a revelation orenlightenment for me.
And it was on September 12, 2020.
I like, I know the date.
So September 12, 2020.
I woke up in our home inNeenah, Wisconsin and I wanted to
go for a swim that morning.
We have a swimming pool, butbecause we're in Wisconsin, because
(22:41):
of the weather, the pool'sonly open from like May to the end
of September.
I love to go for a swim every day.
If we're gonna have a pool,I'm gonna use it.
But when I woke up, it wasfreezing cold.
It was 40 degrees, it wasraining and windy.
And so in my mind I was like,shoot, I'm not going to be able to
go for a swim.
So I made some tea and did amorning meditation.
And I got out a notebook.
So I got a note out a notebookjust like this.
(23:01):
Just got out a notebook andstarted journaling, just reflecting.
And because it was September12, I thought about the day before
September 11, 2020.
But I didn't journal about theday before.
I journaled about 9, 11.
And so that brought me back towhen I was a middle school band director
in my fifth year of teachingin September 2001.
And when I got to school thatmorning, of course I had no idea
(23:24):
that our lives were about tochange forever.
When I went, the principal hadshared that something strange about
how somebody had flown intothe one of the towers in New York
and that's all they knew.
And we both.
That's really weird.
So I went into my band room,turned on the TV and I could see
the towers and the imagesimprinted in my mind of seeing that
it was beyond our imagination.
(23:46):
And then my students startedcoming into the room.
They were 11 year old students.
Can you imagine 11 year oldstudents seeing this on TV?
And we didn't get ourinstruments out, we just sat there
in silence and watched in real time.
And at the end of that firstclass together, we saw the first
tower crumble in flames.
(24:06):
We had no words, just.
And then the next band came inand again, sixth grade students,
11 year olds.
@ the end of that class, wesaw the second tower crumble in flames
and we had no words todescribe how we felt.
And then I had a plannedperiod in lunch, followed by two
seventh grade bands and twoeighth grade bands.
With seventh graders startedcoming into the room.
Now we're talking 12, 13 year olds.
(24:28):
And one of the students lookedat the.
That the TV was on and shesaid, can we turn the TV off?
We've been watching the newsin every class and it's so hard.
I said, that's a great idea.
So I turned the TV off and wegot our instruments out this time
and we started warming up ourinstruments and we got out our band
method book.
You remember that Jim, fromback in.
I still have it.
Yeah.
(24:48):
And so it turned out that inthis book, number six, and we were
just.
The beginning of the book isbeginning of the year.
So number six in the book wasthe first piece to teach the three
four time signature, whichmeans three beats in a measure.
And it was also a piece titledAmerica How.
How much of a.
Something happening in America.
And the piece that day was America.
Yeah.
Wow, that's.
(25:09):
That's pretty.
That's.
Yeah, I.
I remember when I was.
It was 2001 to 9 11.
I was actually active dutymilitary when it happened.
And yeah, we were.
It was.
Needless to say, that wasStress Management 101 the entire
time.
The intensity of that, beingon active duty.
Yeah.
So, yeah, your story is so powerful.
And then.
(25:30):
So we played that in the 8th graders.
We played Amazing Grace.
Yeah.
Can you imagine?
And then.
So anyways, by.
By reflecting on 911 being inthe midst of a pandemic, it just
changed my whole mindset about everything.
And I started making a to dolist in my.
In.
In the notebook, which I wouldoften do.
Right.
In the to do list, I justadded one word and that word was
get.
And that changed everythingfor me.
And it wasn't like my to dolist changed.
(25:51):
What changed was my mindset.
And it read something like this.
Like, I get to email Sarah, Iget to call Mark.
I get to study my music, I getto teach my classes.
And then I wrote, I get todance in the rain and I get to go
for a swim.
And as I.
And so I did, I went outsidein the freezing cold and I.
And I went for a swim.
And as I was swimming, I wasthinking about all that I get to
do, right?
And the power of getting.
I realized I get to have this breath.
(26:12):
I get to have.
I get to have this life in music.
I get to inspire others.
And I just, I started reallytreasuring my life in a new way with
a new perspective.
And I got out of the pool, Ithought, wow, this is so powerful.
What if I added meaning toeach of those letters, which is what
I did.
So G is for gratitude, right?
To live my life with gratitude.
I thought about how many timeshave I felt appreciation for somebody
(26:34):
and kept it to myself.
So I decided I'm not going tokeep it to myself anymore.
And E is for enthusiasm.
And this is such a powerful word.
I looked it up actually when Iwas writing my book to see the origin
of the word.
I just wanted to know.
And enthusiasm comes from the Greeks.
It's a Greek origin and thusmeans God.
N means within.
(26:54):
And the ASM means essence,which is amazing.
So enthusiasm means theessence of God within us.
That's what enthusiasm means.
I want to live that way.
And then T is for treasure, totreasure the people in our lives.
But here's what it's something.
A lesson I learned during thepandemic, which is that many of us
have forgotten that we are atreasure, that each one of us is
(27:15):
a treasure.
We're so focused often onlooking for the treasure outside
of us.
Like we're going to find it.
It's over there.
It's outside of us.
But I realized, you know what?
The treasures within each oneof us, we just sometimes forget that,
that we have a beautiful lightwithin to shine brightly.
And when we do shine thatlight brightly encourages others
to shine their own light.
And I think that's a reallyimportant thing.
(27:37):
And so that's where the powerof get came from.
And it just has changed mylife since that moment.
I just, I live every moment isa get to moment.
Like when I woke up thismorning, I thought I get to have
this conversation with Jim.
And it woke me up with thislevel of enthusiasm.
It was very exciting.
And I've shared this with others.
They've shared with me.
Matthew has changed the way I parent.
(27:58):
I think about every momentwith my children as a get to.
There's school districts thatare telling me that they're adopting
upbeat.
They're becoming upbeat school districts.
What does that mean?
They say, matthew, we want tochange from a half two school district
to a get to school district.
It's a whole mindset shift.
That is.
And, and it's.
So that's where it came from.
And that's how it's, that'show it continues to evolve and develop,
(28:20):
man.
I appreciate that.
So to the audience, if youmade it this far into listening,
this is the part of the showwhere we actually talk about the
wisdom bomb.
Hashtag wisdombomb.
And if you follow me onFacebook, you've known what this
is.
This is a portable Truth thatwe just drop.
I drop one every day thatsays, here's a portable truth you
can apply to your life.
With that being said, Matthew,what is a hashtag wisdombomb that
(28:41):
you would give to the audience?
Jim, thanks for this opportunity.
First of all, let me just givea big shout out back to you.
Your wisdom bombs every dayare just so powerful, and I look
forward to them.
And it's just the inspirationthat you find to create something
original every single day is just.
It's really.
I don't know, it's just.
It's moving, meaningful, and inspiring.
(29:02):
So thank you.
Oh, thank you for the kindwords, my friend.
Yeah.
Thanks for your consistencyand commitment just to helping and
serving others.
I really appreciate it.
I just posted this.
This came to me just a coupledays ago, and so I'll share this.
It means a lot to me.
I wrote, when your dream is sobig, your dreams overpower your doubt.
(29:23):
That's where the magic happens.
Stay focused on your dream.
I was thinking about that.
We talked about imposter syndrome.
I think we all experience doubt.
Yeah, but how do you overcome doubts?
It's not like we're ever goingto not have doubt.
But you know what it is?
It's like when your dream isbigger than your doubt.
Or you could say when yourpurpose is bigger than your doubt,
(29:43):
when your calling is biggerthan your doubt, when your reason
for being here is bigger thanyour doubt, that's where the magic
happens.
That's powerful.
So you heard that here, guys.
Make sure your dream is biggerthan your doubts, guys.
So with that being said,Matthew, how do we find you?
Hit us up with all the deets, man.
All right, all right.
I know you're gonna drop someFacebook links and Twitter and LinkedIn
(30:05):
and Instagram and all that.
And I'm on all thoseplatforms, which is great.
I'm gonna encourage thelisteners to go to powerofget.com
powerofget.com and this ispretty amazing platform that I've
built for you.
And when you go topowerofget.com, share your email
and your name, and you willthen immediately have access to what's
(30:28):
called the Get Quiz.
The Get Quiz.
And it's a leadership quiz.
Only four questions.
And I think we all want togrow as leaders.
We wouldn't be listening tothis podcast if we didn't want to
grow personally and develop ourselves.
So I developed a leadership quiz.
Answer four questions and youwill get a tailored response about
your leadership style andstrengths and areas to continue to
(30:49):
grow in.
And you also be able to stayconnected to me and the messages
from Upbeat Global.
And because I don't wantthings to be one and done, I'm all
about creating relationshipsand conversation and collaboration
and so I want to encourage youto powerofget.com of course I'd be
excited for you to get anopportunity to check out my books.
The first one is UpbeatMindset, Mindfulness and Leadership
(31:11):
and Music Education and Beyond.
This is all over Amazon.
You can get on Kindle or in paperback.
You can also get the UpbeatDaily Journal so you can really engage
every day with an upbeat mindset.
The subtitles, personalreflections for inspiration and transformation
and then this is a gamechanger for people.
(31:31):
This is the Upbeat DailyPlanner, the ultimate organizer for
your get to do's and you canget a 15 bundle package on all of
these together if you go tothis gia music com forward slash
upbeat and that's a way youcan get all three of those or combinations
(31:52):
and get bundle pricing.
But if you can reach out to meon social media, message me and I
just love being connected.
My website's Upbeat Global.
So guys, you heard it said.
All of those things we willput in the show notes.
Whether it be to get the booksto go to his website to go any of
his socials to connect, everyone of them will be easy accessible
(32:13):
in the show notes.
Take the quiz.
I did.
I thought it was fun.
Really insightful.
I'm a trailblazer according tothe quiz.
Let me know in the commentswhat your leadership style is once
you take it because I'd becurious to know.
And with that being said,thank you Matthew for being on Grace
and the Grind.
We really appreciate thewisdom and knowledge that you've
brought today.
Thank you Jim.
It's been an honor.
And with all of that beingsaid guys, you have been listening
(32:35):
to Grace in the Grind wherewe're telling the inspiring stories
behind the story of somesuccessful entrepreneurs.
Make sure whatever platformyou are listening or watching this
to, hit some likes, hit somesubscribes and share it to a friend.
We'll see you on a future episode.
This has been Grace and the Grind.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
(32:55):
If you did, make sure to likerate and review and we'll be back
soon but in the meantime findus on social media.
Eadwithjem Take care ofyourself and we'll see you next time
on Grace in the Grind.
Welcome to Grace in the Grind,the podcast where we dive deep into
the journeys of heart centeredand purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
We're here to equip andencourage you on your journey.
So let's get started and findthe grace within the grind.
This is Grace in the Grind.
And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
(00:22):
Welcome to Grace in the Grindwhere we're here to tell the inspiration
inspiring stories behind someof the most successful entrepreneurs.
And today we have my friendnew to the show, Matthew.
Welcome to the show, Matthew.
Hey.
It is so great to join you, Jim.
Just an honor to be on your show.
Yeah, man.
So take about 60 to 90 secondsto let the audience know who you
(00:43):
are and what you do.
Hi, everybody.
I'm Matthew Rao and I'm thefounder and CEO of Upbeat Global.
I'm an author, I'm a speaker,I'm a coach.
I'm also a university professor.
I teach at Lawrence Universityin Appleton, Wisconsin where I head
up music education and conductthe band.
So wear multiple hats.
And I love serving highachieving leaders who are facing
(01:06):
overwhelm, stress and just atouch of burnout, who still want
to get more out of life andstill want to give more and make
a big impact.
And so it really is a passionof mine to serve and add value to
people so that they can reachtheir optimal performance and achieve
their full potential.
So with that being said, let'sdive into some questions here because
(01:27):
it brings up some cool stuffbecause you're, as a former music
guy, I was a trumpet playerfor a while, so I got some passion
connection there.
But you're also a coach, so Ido coaching as well.
So you've got these two fardifferent reaching things in one
creative band and one, you'rein the personal development leadership
space on how to overcomeburnout, overwhelm stuff.
(01:49):
How did those two come together?
Like, how did that you decideone day when you woke up and said,
I just want to do this?
Well, it's definitely a process.
And there were some thingsthat happened overnight, but like
many things in life, it was,it's been a journey.
And I decided I wanted to be aband director.
When I was in college andmoved out to Colorado, I taught band
(02:10):
for 15 years, middle schoolband and high school band.
And this idea of likeleadership and coaching and music
actually fused together abouthalfway through my public school
music teaching career when Istarted something in collaboration
with my high school studentscalled the Leadership Symposium.
The reason we started it iswhen I took over the program, there
was a toxic culture and wereally needed to improve the culture.
(02:33):
And we went about it by,coached, and trained my students
in the areas of leadership andpersonal development growth.
And that ended up transformingthe culture of the program in every
aspect.
So that was really cool.
So that's, like, where it began.
I also just have always had apassion for leadership.
I have a political sciencemajor in addition to my music majors.
(02:53):
So I've always had that co interest.
And I just originally didn'tknow how they would ever combine.
And then I did my doctoratedegree in conducting and started
teaching at LawrenceUniversity 11 years ago.
And I've had the opportunityto teach a leadership course at the
university level.
And I would started presentingand speaking about the leadership
(03:15):
symposium that I created as ahigh school director.
I started sharing that withmusic educators.
That was the beginning of myspeaking career.
And then it's just reallyexpanded since then.
So then how did you come tothe place?
So there's a lot inleadership, like, we can really unpack
a lot of leadership, but youfocus on overwhelm, stress, and burnout.
Like, what.
Where did that develop from?
(03:36):
Yeah, so during the pandemic,I think, is where it really came
home to me about the need to serve.
And when the pandemichappened, I was called upon by the.
What's called the nationalassociation for Music Education to
lead webinars to help inspireand motivate educators, music educators
(03:57):
at the time who were goingthrough some really tough times.
If we can remember thepandemic, it was very challenging
for music teachers.
Think of choral teachers.
Students need to be reallyspread out.
Everybody's wearing masks.
The morale was really low.
Even for a period of time.
We couldn't even rehearsedtogether this.
All the students were online,and it just really lowered morale.
And so a lot of teachers weregoing through stress, overwhelmed,
(04:20):
facing burnout, consideringleaving the profession.
And so I began coaching in thearea of mindfulness in particular,
and mindset.
And through that, I startedteaching online courses.
And teachers shared with methat what I was sharing with them
help them move from stress andoverwhelm and burnout to this new
(04:44):
level of excitement for whatthey were doing.
And it led them back to their purpose.
Some people rediscovered me ordiscovered a new purpose and a new
calling through my coachings.
And so that inspired me tocontinue to make a difference.
So what have you experienced?
And do you experience burnoutif you experience overwhelm?
(05:05):
Obviously, we all experience stress.
So what were your experiencesduring that time or even before that?
Said, you know what?
I can help others like, howdid you get through that?
Unpack that for me.
Yeah, for sure.
As a high school band directorback in Colorado, I led what you'd
call maybe like a high poweredband program with the marching band.
And, and the marching band islike massive amount of hours.
(05:28):
It was pretty much seven daysa week.
We were the state championmarching band and had achieved national
recognition and superregionals in marching band.
And so the stress level isextremely high as a high school band
director.
So I had gone through that,but I had developed coping skills
I guess I would share alongthe way that helped me through that
(05:48):
and included yoga, includedmeditation and mindful practices
that I was implementing.
So it really helped me as Iwas facing my own stress and overwhelm
during the pandemic.
Of course, I also went througha lot of similar challenges as people
as we had to change gearscompletely and reimagine what it
meant to teach, because wewere used to teaching in person and
(06:11):
especially music, making musicin person.
All of a sudden we couldn't.
And now we're online andfinding ways to move forward.
And what motivated me wasactually serving others.
I actually had this calling orcompulsion to help teachers during
this really challenging time.
And what began as helpingteachers, then expanded to now being
(06:33):
able to serve not just musicteachers, but entire school districts
and then athletic departments,executives, corporations and entrepreneurs.
So out of curiosity, because Iwas a teacher during the pandemic
and I remember those times, ohmy gosh.
So you're teaching all theseteachers how to do this, get mindset,
shift all those things.
(06:53):
So did you find that theseteachers were now teaching it to
their students?
What was the bleed down from that?
Like, what was the impact ofthe students based on what you were
doing with the teachers?
I love that question.
Many teachers were excited toshare what they were learning to
help themselves with their students.
And it was amazing for me tohear the feedback.
(07:15):
I got to teach online coursesto teachers from grades K through
12, so kindergarten through12th grade.
My experience was teachingmiddle school and high school.
And all of a sudden I'mhearing how teachers are teaching
mindful breathing techniquesthat they've been using for themselves
to their students and how thatbrought us centering and calming
and refocusing for their students.
(07:37):
And then I would hear storieson top of that where students then
would go home and teach theirparents these calming, mindful breathing
techniques.
So the ripple effect was, wasreally cool and heartening to hear.
So out of all of this, youhave a book, you wrote a book, right?
So it's Called Upbeat.
Yeah.
So explain that.
Where?
Well, at what point did thatcome out of?
(07:59):
Okay, I appreciate that.
So this is.
I'm showing visually the book here.
It's Upbeat Mindset,Mindfulness and Leadership in Music
Education and Beyond.
And this was an outgrowth fromthe first class I was invited to
teach as an online course wascalled Mindfulness for the Music
Educator.
And at the time, there reallyweren't resources specifically for
(08:21):
music educators on mindfulness.
And so I drew on otherresources, mindful teachers.
And we then brought it intothe music field.
And the teachers that weretaking the online course said to
me, matthew, could you putthis in a book?
Could you write a book?
And I'd been asked to write abook before to share the ideas that
(08:41):
I've been teaching.
Kind of the format of what.
The structure of what I'vebeen teaching was called Upbeat Leadership.
And I developed a workbookthat people could print out and use
in professional development orwith their students.
But I'd never written a book.
And the reason there, or maybethe excuse that I had, was I didn't
have enough time.
But during the pandemic, Ifound that I actually had time because
(09:03):
I was teaching from home.
And so because I was at home,I actually had more time.
I had the classes that I wasteaching, but then in between the
classes, I had this block oftime that was available.
And since there was a demandfor a resource to help and support
teachers, I personally feltthis calling.
(09:23):
It really was a calling, likea compulsion, like, I have to do
this.
I really felt like now ornever, I will never have this block
of time again.
And I'm sure that you canconnect with that idea of having
a calling.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And so it really was.
And I dedicated myself towaking up early every morning at
5am I would meditate.
(09:45):
A journal.
In the summer, I'd go for a swim.
And then I.
My journaling actually endedup evolving into content that made
up the book Upbeats.
Sweet side question, becauseyou do work with high achievers.
This is for music educators.
Where did that shift happen?
Nice.
Like, where did we go?
For music educators and beyond.
(10:06):
Yeah.
Great.
Great.
So I think it's reallyimportant to begin where you are,
like, where your niches.
And this was actually adiscussion that I had with the publishers
was, do I include musiceducation in the title?
Because I felt that everythingthat I was sharing this book is universal.
Right.
The whole.
The book's in three parts, andpart one is called Ignite.
(10:29):
Part two is Inspire, and partthree is Lead Ignite.
Part one is all about theinner world of the reader.
And chapter one is choose yourupbeat, which is we can choose our
thoughts, we can choose our attitude.
Right.
We can choose our upbeat in life.
And when we choose our upbeat,it actually changes the course of
our day.
Right?
It changes the way it changesour perception.
And chapter two is the powerof get.
(10:50):
Chapter three, superchargeyour morning.
Chapter four is sustain yourupbeat all day.
All of these concepts areuniversal for everyone, which is
why the idea of adding andbeyond came about.
Right?
And so I started being askedto lead professional development
and coach music teachers.
And then music teachers wouldsay, this is so valuable for everybody.
Could you come talk to myentire school or could you come and
(11:11):
do a presentation for myentire school district?
And then I started being askedto give talks at the university level
as word got out that I wasdoing this.
And then I got called to coach.
The senior executives at myuniversity, which included the president,
the vice president of everydivision, the head of athletics,
and then the head of athleticsenjoyed the coachings that I was
(11:32):
doing on building a positiveculture and strengthening leadership,
mindset and mindfulness.
He said, can you come do apresentation for all the coaches
in the university?
As I had these opportunities,it just highlighted that these are
universal messages that canmake a positive difference for everyone.
And that planted the seed forme that almost a calling that I need
(11:55):
to share this with more people.
And that led to starting toshare with companies and corporations
and entrepreneurs.
So just as a side note to you,the audience who are listening, we
want to make sure that youunder we will put all of this in
the show notes, the link tothe book and things like that, especially
for those of you who haven'tare not watching visually but listening
audio.
Everything's in the show notes.
Make sure you get it easy foryour access.
(12:16):
So let's jump back in withsome questions here.
So you're rapidly starting tobuild things.
People are inviting you to speak.
Things are happening quickly.
Was there ever a point whereyou started feeling like you were
an imposter?
Like the deep struggles ofmaybe I'm not good enough or cut
out for this?
Yes, for sure.
It's a big task to to come outand speak to people that have never
(12:37):
met you before, oftentimes inan area that isn't my expertise.
For example, I went out to LosAngeles to co present with a mentor
of mine named Dr.
Rob McClellan and he invitedme to co present for a summit, a
business summit for folks thatare in the the wellness and healthcare
(13:00):
Business for the elderly.
And that's an area that I'mmuch less familiar with.
And I wasn't sure how it wasgoing to go.
So I definitely felt that stress.
I felt that stress of life andalso that pressure that I better
deliver.
I better deliver.
What I found, Jim, is thatoftentimes it's like stage fright
or that anxiety we get before performance.
(13:21):
And as a trumpet player, Idon't know if you ever.
Did you ever feel that before?
Like a big concert?
Oh, everyone.
Yeah, every time.
Okay.
See, you're familiar with thebutterflies and the nerves and all
that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
And I've actually learned alot about stress.
I guess it's an area that I'm.
That I focus on.
And there's a great bookcalled the Upside of Stress, and
the author talks about thathow we view stress actually impacts
(13:42):
how stress affects us physiologically.
So if you can look at stressas a positive and realize that this
is actually excitement brewingin your body, if you view stress
as excitement, then it becomesthat if you view stress as a negative,
that it's hurting your body,then it will.
And so I like to spin it onits head and think, I'm feeling,
like, the nerves, the butterflies.
(14:03):
And that's because I care somuch, and I share that with students.
I say, the reason you'renervous is because you care so much.
Now, sometimes we're nervousbecause we're not prepared.
Let's be honest, right?
We could have prepared more.
And we're like, oh, my gosh,they're going to discover that I
didn't prepare enough.
And so there's two sides to that.
But I like to think aboutstress going into a speaking engagement
or a coaching or trainingengagement as just, like, I really
(14:26):
want to do a good job and Icare so much.
Once I start speaking andstart working with people, I realize
that people are people.
And when we get real, and Ilike to get real and authentic really
quickly.
So I like to get past all ofthe shields that we might put up,
the armor, the.
Whatever the hierarchy is inthe room.
Let's just get real.
(14:47):
We've all been through challenges.
We're all going throughchallenges right now.
In fact, if I ask, if I askedyou or if I asked a room of people
to say, how many of you havesomething, like, on your heart right
now or a weight that you'recarrying or something that's on your
mind?
Inevitably every hand will goup that everybody's got something
on their mind.
And when you see that, yourealize, hey, I'm not alone.
We have a lot more in commonthan we have different.
(15:08):
And once you get to that humanelement, when it's heart to heart,
eyeball to eyeball, soul tosoul, that helps me get past the
imposter syndrome.
Also, I think sometimesimposter syndrome is when you focus
on yourself rather thanfocusing on who you're trying to
serve.
And I think if you can keepthe focus on serving others and offering
value, then you can moveoutside of your head and into your
(15:31):
heart.
And I find that really helps.
That's good.
That's really good.
So then this brings up aquestion which I find because again,
as a fellow trumpet player, assomebody who's been in this, I like
the butterflies because Iactually had an old mentor said,
if you don't feel thebutterflies, you should worry because
then you move into arroganceand things like that.
But with that being said,there's a fine line between stress
(15:53):
being excitement and stressbeing the most terrible thing that
you've had ever.
Right?
The anxiety and all those things.
What procedures, guardrails,boundaries, do you put on your life
to help protect you fromallowing that excitement to move
over into something much more harmful?
Yeah, that's a great question.
Because stress can impact usin many negative ways.
(16:17):
And physically our health canhave grave impacts if we're in this
stress level for a long periodof time.
And that's the challenge withalmost today's society, which is
a go go, right.
They're always under the next thing.
It's high achievement basedand we don't often create those spaces
(16:37):
of repose or there's spacesfor rejuvenation or rest in our lives.
So I think it's reallyimportant to integrate moments.
Whether it's for me, it's in the.
It's in the morning.
I have a meditation routineand mindful breathing technique.
One of the mindful breathingtechniques I use is the box breath
where you breathe in your nosefor four counts, hold your breath
for four counts, out yourmouth for four counts, hold your
(17:00):
breath for four counts, andthen repeat it in your nose.
And so it's called the boxbreath because it's in for four,
hold for four, out for four,hold for four.
And so the four by four ideais why it's called the box breath.
And I do that for about five,six minutes, just focusing on the
breath.
And also do a mindfulbreathing technique where I hum really
(17:21):
loudly.
I actually cough out my cheeksby breathing my nose and then hum.
And when you hum, it ignitesthe vagus Nerve.
And the vagus nerve is.
This really is the longestcranial nerve that comes from our
brain down, down the brainstem, through our spinal cord and
into our.
Even into our digestive,through our lungs and into our digestive
system.
And so when we breathe downlow and it really expand from our
(17:45):
abdomen, it's igniting thevagus nerve.
And that's a good thingbecause that is the digest and rest
nerve.
And so it helps us calm downand center.
It also ignites what's calledthe parasympathetic nervous system,
which allows us to reallyfunction at our highest level.
When we're living thatparasympathetic nervous system, we
(18:06):
actually see a lot of possibilities.
When we're in a state of fearor high stress, what happens is our
amygdala takes over.
They call it amygdala hijack.
And we're not able to think as creatively.
We're not as good in likerelationships and communication.
It's that stress feeling thatyou have when it's like every.
(18:26):
Your vision becomes supernarrow and you can't see these opportunities
and possibilities.
And that's the challenge whenyou're living in a stress environment
all the time.
So if you can create a routinewhere you're doing some nervous system
regulation breathingtechniques throughout the day or
in the morning and beforegoing to bed, because it's really
important to protect oursleep, that can really help us in
(18:48):
this world that seems to justbe going faster and faster.
We need to find ways to slow down.
And I actually just finishedreading this beautiful book by Matthew
Kelly called Slowing down tothe Speed of Joy.
I love that idea.
So my last guest, GeorgeBryant, we actually just talked something
about that, not that book.
So we will put that book inthe thing in the show notes.
(19:09):
But we were actually talkingabout creating space to be contemned.
That was the whole episode.
Wow.
And so I love that that'sechoed here.
That's beautiful.
To slow down to be withyourself is how he put it.
So high paced, high achievers, fast.
Do you find you are caught inthe midst of this and you're running
(19:30):
at 5 million miles an hour andyou're trying to do more and more,
or do you have time where youtake those spaces maybe throughout
the day that says I want to bemore contemplative, slow down, be
with myself as opposed to producing?
Do you have those times?
I'm really intentional.
I'm very intentional with howI use my time in the day.
And so what I do is I'll setAside time, we'll call it blocks
(19:52):
of time, which are for being productive.
And I find that if I can putaway the distractions and just be
really focused with intent onwhat I want to produce or achieve
during that time, then I cancreate a space of repose in between
those blocks of time.
And I think that's really important.
I think one of the challengeswe have is the amount of distractions.
(20:13):
In today's world, there'snever been amount of distractions
we have.
And it's amazing what adistraction can do.
Like a ping on our phone or welook at our phone to come back to
where we were can take many minutes.
Even if you look at your phonefor five seconds, it can take many
minutes to get back to thatfocused area.
So that's why it's reallyimportant to try to put distractions
(20:33):
away, be fully present, whichis really what mindfulness is about,
is being in the moment, beingpresent, being highly aware and engaging
with our senses and then being there.
I think so often we're eitherworried about what happened in the
past, right?
We're stressed about whathappened in the past, which is something
we can't change, or we'reworried about a future that hasn't
(20:55):
happened yet, instead of beingfully present and treasuring the
moment that you have.
And I think that's reallyimportant to think about.
I think if we can all justtreasure the moment, which is really
what the power of get is thatI share in my book, like you and
I get to have this moment together.
It's the only moment that's guaranteed.
(21:16):
In fact, for our listeners whoare listening to your podcast, this
moment right now is the onlymoment that's ever guaranteed in
life.
The present, right now.
How often do we miss thepresent because we're thinking about
the future?
We're worried or concernedabout something that happened in
the past, and you might misswhat's right in front of you.
That's powerful.
I'm sitting here laughing tomyself because there are so many
(21:38):
distractions, especially ifyou're one of the neuro spicy flavors
of life like myself.
You start out on X looking forsomething important to what you're
trying to build, create, andthen an hour later you're finding
duck memes.
It's wow, that was the bestthree minutes of my life over in
the last hour.
So I get it totally.
So let's like, I'm with you, man.
I'm with you.
(21:58):
I will not confirm nor denythat happens often as it is power
of get.
So you're building all this stuff.
Where did this come out for you?
The power of get.
Like I get to, I've heard thisover and over.
But like, where did it becomereal for you?
Yeah, and it, it's actually I,I remember the exact moment.
(22:20):
It was like a revelation orenlightenment for me.
And it was on September 12, 2020.
I like, I know the date.
So September 12, 2020.
I woke up in our home inNeenah, Wisconsin and I wanted to
go for a swim that morning.
We have a swimming pool, butbecause we're in Wisconsin, because
(22:41):
of the weather, the pool'sonly open from like May to the end
of September.
I love to go for a swim every day.
If we're gonna have a pool,I'm gonna use it.
But when I woke up, it wasfreezing cold.
It was 40 degrees, it wasraining and windy.
And so in my mind I was like,shoot, I'm not going to be able to
go for a swim.
So I made some tea and did amorning meditation.
And I got out a notebook.
So I got a note out a notebookjust like this.
(23:01):
Just got out a notebook andstarted journaling, just reflecting.
And because it was September12, I thought about the day before
September 11, 2020.
But I didn't journal about theday before.
I journaled about 9, 11.
And so that brought me back towhen I was a middle school band director
in my fifth year of teachingin September 2001.
And when I got to school thatmorning, of course I had no idea
(23:24):
that our lives were about tochange forever.
When I went, the principal hadshared that something strange about
how somebody had flown intothe one of the towers in New York
and that's all they knew.
And we both.
That's really weird.
So I went into my band room,turned on the TV and I could see
the towers and the imagesimprinted in my mind of seeing that
it was beyond our imagination.
(23:46):
And then my students startedcoming into the room.
They were 11 year old students.
Can you imagine 11 year oldstudents seeing this on TV?
And we didn't get ourinstruments out, we just sat there
in silence and watched in real time.
And at the end of that firstclass together, we saw the first
tower crumble in flames.
(24:06):
We had no words, just.
And then the next band came inand again, sixth grade students,
11 year olds.
@ the end of that class, wesaw the second tower crumble in flames
and we had no words todescribe how we felt.
And then I had a plannedperiod in lunch, followed by two
seventh grade bands and twoeighth grade bands.
With seventh graders startedcoming into the room.
Now we're talking 12, 13 year olds.
(24:28):
And one of the students lookedat the.
That the TV was on and shesaid, can we turn the TV off?
We've been watching the newsin every class and it's so hard.
I said, that's a great idea.
So I turned the TV off and wegot our instruments out this time
and we started warming up ourinstruments and we got out our band
method book.
You remember that Jim, fromback in.
I still have it.
Yeah.
(24:48):
And so it turned out that inthis book, number six, and we were
just.
The beginning of the book isbeginning of the year.
So number six in the book wasthe first piece to teach the three
four time signature, whichmeans three beats in a measure.
And it was also a piece titledAmerica How.
How much of a.
Something happening in America.
And the piece that day was America.
Yeah.
Wow, that's.
(25:09):
That's pretty.
That's.
Yeah, I.
I remember when I was.
It was 2001 to 9 11.
I was actually active dutymilitary when it happened.
And yeah, we were.
It was.
Needless to say, that wasStress Management 101 the entire
time.
The intensity of that, beingon active duty.
Yeah.
So, yeah, your story is so powerful.
And then.
(25:30):
So we played that in the 8th graders.
We played Amazing Grace.
Yeah.
Can you imagine?
And then.
So anyways, by.
By reflecting on 911 being inthe midst of a pandemic, it just
changed my whole mindset about everything.
And I started making a to dolist in my.
In.
In the notebook, which I wouldoften do.
Right.
In the to do list, I justadded one word and that word was
get.
And that changed everythingfor me.
And it wasn't like my to dolist changed.
(25:51):
What changed was my mindset.
And it read something like this.
Like, I get to email Sarah, Iget to call Mark.
I get to study my music, I getto teach my classes.
And then I wrote, I get todance in the rain and I get to go
for a swim.
And as I.
And so I did, I went outsidein the freezing cold and I.
And I went for a swim.
And as I was swimming, I wasthinking about all that I get to
do, right?
And the power of getting.
I realized I get to have this breath.
(26:12):
I get to have.
I get to have this life in music.
I get to inspire others.
And I just, I started reallytreasuring my life in a new way with
a new perspective.
And I got out of the pool, Ithought, wow, this is so powerful.
What if I added meaning toeach of those letters, which is what
I did.
So G is for gratitude, right?
To live my life with gratitude.
I thought about how many timeshave I felt appreciation for somebody
(26:34):
and kept it to myself.
So I decided I'm not going tokeep it to myself anymore.
And E is for enthusiasm.
And this is such a powerful word.
I looked it up actually when Iwas writing my book to see the origin
of the word.
I just wanted to know.
And enthusiasm comes from the Greeks.
It's a Greek origin and thusmeans God.
N means within.
(26:54):
And the ASM means essence,which is amazing.
So enthusiasm means theessence of God within us.
That's what enthusiasm means.
I want to live that way.
And then T is for treasure, totreasure the people in our lives.
But here's what it's something.
A lesson I learned during thepandemic, which is that many of us
have forgotten that we are atreasure, that each one of us is
(27:15):
a treasure.
We're so focused often onlooking for the treasure outside
of us.
Like we're going to find it.
It's over there.
It's outside of us.
But I realized, you know what?
The treasures within each oneof us, we just sometimes forget that,
that we have a beautiful lightwithin to shine brightly.
And when we do shine thatlight brightly encourages others
to shine their own light.
And I think that's a reallyimportant thing.
(27:37):
And so that's where the powerof get came from.
And it just has changed mylife since that moment.
I just, I live every moment isa get to moment.
Like when I woke up thismorning, I thought I get to have
this conversation with Jim.
And it woke me up with thislevel of enthusiasm.
It was very exciting.
And I've shared this with others.
They've shared with me.
Matthew has changed the way I parent.
(27:58):
I think about every momentwith my children as a get to.
There's school districts thatare telling me that they're adopting
upbeat.
They're becoming upbeat school districts.
What does that mean?
They say, matthew, we want tochange from a half two school district
to a get to school district.
It's a whole mindset shift.
That is.
And, and it's.
So that's where it came from.
And that's how it's, that'show it continues to evolve and develop,
(28:20):
man.
I appreciate that.
So to the audience, if youmade it this far into listening,
this is the part of the showwhere we actually talk about the
wisdom bomb.
Hashtag wisdombomb.
And if you follow me onFacebook, you've known what this
is.
This is a portable Truth thatwe just drop.
I drop one every day thatsays, here's a portable truth you
can apply to your life.
With that being said, Matthew,what is a hashtag wisdombomb that
(28:41):
you would give to the audience?
Jim, thanks for this opportunity.
First of all, let me just givea big shout out back to you.
Your wisdom bombs every dayare just so powerful, and I look
forward to them.
And it's just the inspirationthat you find to create something
original every single day is just.
It's really.
I don't know, it's just.
It's moving, meaningful, and inspiring.
(29:02):
So thank you.
Oh, thank you for the kindwords, my friend.
Yeah.
Thanks for your consistencyand commitment just to helping and
serving others.
I really appreciate it.
I just posted this.
This came to me just a coupledays ago, and so I'll share this.
It means a lot to me.
I wrote, when your dream is sobig, your dreams overpower your doubt.
(29:23):
That's where the magic happens.
Stay focused on your dream.
I was thinking about that.
We talked about imposter syndrome.
I think we all experience doubt.
Yeah, but how do you overcome doubts?
It's not like we're ever goingto not have doubt.
But you know what it is?
It's like when your dream isbigger than your doubt.
Or you could say when yourpurpose is bigger than your doubt,
(29:43):
when your calling is biggerthan your doubt, when your reason
for being here is bigger thanyour doubt, that's where the magic
happens.
That's powerful.
So you heard that here, guys.
Make sure your dream is biggerthan your doubts, guys.
So with that being said,Matthew, how do we find you?
Hit us up with all the deets, man.
All right, all right.
I know you're gonna drop someFacebook links and Twitter and LinkedIn
(30:05):
and Instagram and all that.
And I'm on all thoseplatforms, which is great.
I'm gonna encourage thelisteners to go to powerofget.com
powerofget.com and this ispretty amazing platform that I've
built for you.
And when you go topowerofget.com, share your email
and your name, and you willthen immediately have access to what's
(30:28):
called the Get Quiz.
The Get Quiz.
And it's a leadership quiz.
Only four questions.
And I think we all want togrow as leaders.
We wouldn't be listening tothis podcast if we didn't want to
grow personally and develop ourselves.
So I developed a leadership quiz.
Answer four questions and youwill get a tailored response about
your leadership style andstrengths and areas to continue to
(30:49):
grow in.
And you also be able to stayconnected to me and the messages
from Upbeat Global.
And because I don't wantthings to be one and done, I'm all
about creating relationshipsand conversation and collaboration
and so I want to encourage youto powerofget.com of course I'd be
excited for you to get anopportunity to check out my books.
The first one is UpbeatMindset, Mindfulness and Leadership
(31:11):
and Music Education and Beyond.
This is all over Amazon.
You can get on Kindle or in paperback.
You can also get the UpbeatDaily Journal so you can really engage
every day with an upbeat mindset.
The subtitles, personalreflections for inspiration and transformation
and then this is a gamechanger for people.
(31:31):
This is the Upbeat DailyPlanner, the ultimate organizer for
your get to do's and you canget a 15 bundle package on all of
these together if you go tothis gia music com forward slash
upbeat and that's a way youcan get all three of those or combinations
(31:52):
and get bundle pricing.
But if you can reach out to meon social media, message me and I
just love being connected.
My website's Upbeat Global.
So guys, you heard it said.
All of those things we willput in the show notes.
Whether it be to get the booksto go to his website to go any of
his socials to connect, everyone of them will be easy accessible
(32:13):
in the show notes.
Take the quiz.
I did.
I thought it was fun.
Really insightful.
I'm a trailblazer according tothe quiz.
Let me know in the commentswhat your leadership style is once
you take it because I'd becurious to know.
And with that being said,thank you Matthew for being on Grace
and the Grind.
We really appreciate thewisdom and knowledge that you've
brought today.
Thank you Jim.
It's been an honor.
And with all of that beingsaid guys, you have been listening
(32:35):
to Grace in the Grind wherewe're telling the inspiring stories
behind the story of somesuccessful entrepreneurs.
Make sure whatever platformyou are listening or watching this
to, hit some likes, hit somesubscribes and share it to a friend.
We'll see you on a future episode.
This has been Grace and the Grind.
We hope you've enjoyed the show.
(32:55):
If you did, make sure to likerate and review and we'll be back
soon but in the meantime findus on social media.
Eadwithjem Take care ofyourself and we'll see you next time
on Grace in the Grind.
Host
Jim Burgoon
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