EPISODE SUMMARY
Join scientist and mindset & high-performance coach Claudia Garbutt and sales expert, performance coach and author Shawn French as they talk about Shawn’s book “Unstoppable”.
In this episode we talk about:
– The UNSTOPPABLE framework for creating massive
success in your life and business
– How mindset & success habits create your results
– The power of alignment, ownership & discipline
EPISODE NOTES
Shawn grew up in Northern California where he grew to love the game of Baseball. He earned an athletic scholarship to Louisiana State University, America’s premier baseball school at the time. While Shawn was in Louisiana, he battled multiple injuries which should have ended his playing career. He chose to dig his heals in and do the hard work. After months of rehabilitation on his shoulder and conditioning he made it back to field for his Senior season.
After his playing career he enjoyed many years teaching high school and coaching baseball. Although he loved coaching, Shawn felt there was something more out there for him. Shortly after this revelation he was hired into an outside sales position in the HCM space and immediately became a top performer. In his 5 years in that industry, he finished in the top 5% 3 times and the top 10% twice.
After his time in the HCM industry he sought out another challenge and switched industries (Medical Device Sales) at the onset of the Pandemic. That same year he finished in the top 10% of the company.
In 2021, he leveled up even more and finished the top 1% of the sales force.
Shawn attributes his sales success to having the right Mindset on a day-to-day basis with a strong emphasis on High Performance Habits. He has reinvented himself multiple times and his passion is helping others to do the same.
His book “Unstoppable” details how he went from rock bottom and dead broke to 6-figures in just 7 months.
Unstoppable by Shawn French – Get the book here:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/theshawnfrench/
Website:
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Transcript
00:00.000 –> 01:59.578 Claudia Garbutt
Hey everyone, and welcome back to a brand new episode of The Wired for Success podcast, where we talk about all things science, self-development and entrepreneurship that help you get to that next level of success in your life and business business.
And today, I’m thrilled to bring you another “Leaders are Readers Wired For Success Book Club” feature. As you might know, if you’re a regular listener of this podcast, this segment is dedicated to introducing you to the best books from the science, self development and entrepreneurship categories that help you get wired for success.
And this means I invite top scientists, thought leaders and super successful entrepreneurs to discuss their latest books so that we can explore new ideas and proven frameworks together. If you have any questions for our featured author, please make sure to drop your questions into the chat or into the comments and we will come back to them later.
With all that said, it’s time to introduce today’s featured author. My guest today is sales expert, performance coach, international speaker, podcast host, and author Shawn French. Shawn attributes his sales success to having the right mindset on a day-to-day basis with a strong emphasis on high performance habits.
He has reinvented himself multiple times and his passion is helping others do the same. Today we are going to discuss his book “Unstoppable”, which details how he went from rock bottom and dead broke to six figures in just seven months.
Personally, I believe that success leaves clues, as Tony Robbins said, and that people who succeed at the highest level are doing something differently than everyone else. So let’s look for those clues in Shawn’s story today.
Welcome, Shawn, and thank you so much for being on my show today!
01:59.614 –> 02:02.450 Shawn French
Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m excited.
02:02.450 –> 02:03.966 Claudia Garbutt
I’m so excited too!
02:04.148 –> 02:06.798 Shawn French
I’ve been waiting for it! This is cool. This is going to be fun!
02:06.944 –> 02:24.006 Claudia Garbutt
This is going to be so much fun. Shawn, what does this book mean to you personally? I mean, reading it, it felt like it must have been a very therapeutic experience writing it. But what did writing it actually feel like?
02:24.188 –> 03:59.570 Shawn French
You know, it’s really funny. While I was writing it, it wasn’t any type of feeling. It was just “this is my journey”, this is how I felt and this is the circumstances I was in. So I implemented certain habits that I know we’re going to get into on a day-to-day basis, regardless of how I felt. And it led me to making high six figures in six months. Now, here’s where the emotion kicked in: When this book was published and it started going out, people were buying it and posting about it. Which was so unbelievable and humbling. The feedback was: “Just the amount of heart and the amount of authenticity and vulnerability in your words is absolutely incredible. Your story is very relatable and it blessed me.” And that’s when I started getting the physical tingles in my skin. When people talk about my book, such as when you just asked me about that feeling. That feeling comes back every single time someone text messages me, emails me about the book. That feeling of just love just overwhelms me because I know my story is super relatable and it needed to get out there. So it’s the first of many, but I am elated at the response so far.
03:59.570 –> 04:25.910 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah, it definitely resonated with me a lot. And one of the motives that came up over and over in your book was how traumatic experiences from our past often influence our present and our future. So what do you see as maybe the one to three key experiences in your childhood that fundamentally shaped the way that you saw yourself and the world in general?
04:25.910 –> 07:24.390 Shawn French
Well, I think trauma does a lot of things, right? It can do a lot of things, but the two major ones are propel you to success or leave you at rock bottom, right? And it’s everybody’s choice. No matter how big the trauma was. That is your story. Your mess is your purpose, and your purpose is somebody else’s roadmap to success, first and foremost. But the things that I would say that impacted me heavily were, one: There was a lot of negative motivation in my family coming from my father. He said: “If you don’t become a Major League Baseball player, you’re not going to be anything because you don’t have any other skills.” So negative motivation created this chip on my shoulder that until I learned how to really manage that, it burned a lot of relationships. But what it did for me is it was like you just put fuel in the jet. Full throttle. I’m going to show you and prove you wrong. So I would say that was a key principle for me, the negative motivation. The other one was the shaming. Just the “not good enough programs” that I had from my dad. My dad did a lot of good things too. So don’t get me wrong. He taught me how to work. He taught me how to be a man, provide for my family no matter what. But, specifically, the trauma aspect was, I created perfectionist complex. It was always, hey, you’re doing great, but you did this wrong in this game and this wrong and this wrong. And what I think he was trying to say was like, hey, listen, don’t be seduced by success. Let’s really be happy about the results, but also understand that your growth is not done. But as a child, as a teenager, you’re looking at it like, I’m not good enough. I have to be perfect, right? I would seek so much approval from other people. Hey, was that good? I hit that ball hard. Like, hey, how do I look on this swing? How was that? In my senior year, we have these awards and I got Paul Perfectionist. I was puffing my chest and thought it was really cool. And in my late 30s, early forties, I realized that was actually a dig on me. That is a big one. The other one was I think it’s a lot of body shaming, just to be quite honest. It would be like, hey, you still have fat here and there, you pick me apart. All those things kind of created who I am, the good and the bad of me.
07:24.390 –> 07:26.010 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah, definitely.
07:26.010 –> 07:32.250 Shawn French
But those are the three things for me that I battle on a dayt-to-day basis. Still.
07:32.250 –> 09:39.030 Claudia Garbutt
I know it’s so hard, right? And it’s just so interesting how those early experiences create our core beliefs. I mean, a lot of those early experiences, they happen between the ages of zero and seven, and they are, in fact, pre-verbal. Which means that you learned a lot of your core beliefs before you even had words to describe your experiences. So your mind coded your experiences in sounds or in images, and most importantly, in feelings. And it’s so important to understand that our experiences are translated into actual biology via the pattern of neuronal connections in your brain, for instance. And that’s what makes it so hard to change later on. It’s not impossible, but it definitely requires effort to change the wiring later on. So as a child, your brain is still under development, and certain functions, like logical reasoning, they are not fully developed yet. So it’s easy for you to pick up other people’s opinions or judgments and mistake them for the truth. And you might hear someone say that you’re not smart enough, or that you’re a fat kid or something like that, and this becomes your truth, even though it’s just somebody else’s opinion. And adopting those negative opinions or going through negative experiences that make you feel inferior, humiliated, embarrassed, or disconnected creates the basis for seriously limiting beliefs about yourself and about your ability to create the life that you want to live. And in your book, you mentioned a realization that I think a lot of high achievers really resonate with, and that’s that people judge you based on your performance. So what were the consequences of this realization? And how did this one thought change how you showed up, how you felt about yourself and how you lived your life?
09:39.030 –> 10:45.442 Shawn French
It’s a great question. Early on, you don’t really think about it. You’re out there playing baseball, and no matter what you do, you think you’re doing good, right? Until you get to about ten years old and you realize, like, man, I’m not very good at this. This specific aspect of my game I’m terrible at. And when those mistakes are made in front of people, what do little kids do? They feel that shame. They feel “I’m not good enough”. They cry, right? But as I got older, it wasn’t really an issue because I turned into be a really good baseball player. So for me, the added benefit was like, hey, if you’re going to judge me on my performance, then you’re going to freaking love me because I’m a dude. I can flat out play. Now, that’s where that starts to also create some type of backlash as well, right? Because when you go through a bad season or an injury or something like that to where you’re not performing at your best or you literally can’t play, then who the hell are you?
10:45.576 –> 10:46.830 Claudia Garbutt
Exactly.
10:46.830 –> 11:41.670 Shawn French
And I dealt with that when I had my first injury and my blood clot. I was in the hospital on Thanksgiving, for crying out loud. And I remember when they were doing the test to see, is this a blood disorder? Because if this is a blood disorder, you’re never playing baseball again. I’m like, what do you mean? Give me a pill. Let’s go. But the problem was, if my blood was clotting due to disorder, I would have to be on a blood thinner the rest of my life. And with that being said, I wouldn’t even be able to shave with a razor, because if I got nicked, the blood wouldn’t stop. It wouldn’t clot. So my point of that is the second part is or is this just a trauma related incident where you may have heard it somehow and just didn’t know? Now, at that point, I’m thinking, if it’s the former, who am I?
11:41.670 –> 11:42.178 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah.
11:42.264 –> 12:18.990 Shawn French
No one. Literally. I am not even a person without this sport. So to your question, it’s great when things are going well, but if you don’t have a solid foundation of who you are as a human being, and when something like that happens, it’s hard to recover from. And you’re hurt emotionally, you’re hurt physically. What do hurt people do? They hurt people, right? And so it sets it sets us up a huge forest fire that is so hard to contain and stop.
12:18.990 –> 14:29.350 Claudia Garbutt
I know that’s so hard. That’s what I see a lot. Because when you define your worth through your performance alone, when things don’t work out the way that you want, that leaves you with this emptiness inside and this question of who am I if I don’t perform well? Right? So I find that this belief that other people judge you based on your performance, it’s something that can have really paralyzing consequences. I mean, for you, you said it drove you more to an overcompensation pattern, so it fueled you. But for many people, it can be really paralyzing because it creates this immense pressure to perform well and to fulfill other people’s expectations. And it leads people to struggling with imposter syndrome and perfectionism, and even to create this elaborate public persona that’s designed to hide their doubts and their fears. And that just portrays a confidence that they don’t actually feel. And the downside is that it requires a ton of energy to keep up that shiny facade, to pretend to be someone you’re not. And there’s so many people out there who achieve, let’s say, financial success, for instance, but they never feel wealthy or successful. It’s kind of like their life got an upgrade, but their internal programming didn’t get the memo and is still stuck feeling those old feelings. And that’s actually something that’s very common and that I help my clients with, because upgrading their internal script, if they don’t do that, they are so likely to sabotage themselves sooner or later. And you mentioned that feeling disconnected and out of alignment was something you struggled with when you first got into sales, when you were new to sales, right? So can you tell us a little bit about what happened in that nice little town in southwest Florida when you just couldn’t get out of your truck? And what did you change going forward?
14:29.520 –> 14:31.622 Shawn French
Oh, my gosh. When I couldn’t get out of my truck?
14:31.766 –> 14:34.590 Claudia Garbutt
Yes. I love that story.
14:34.590 –> 17:45.130 Shawn French
There’s been multiple moments like that with me. I’m not going to pull any punches. There, like, multiple moments of me driving around and having an emotional breakdown. Imposter Syndrome comes into play, right? And all these this is too big. And the pressure of performing, because now your job is on the line. You’re an adult now, right? And you have children. And if you don’t perform and you don’t make sales, you don’t have a job. You can’t pay your mortgage or your rent or your car, or how about food for your kids? So, for me, it was really strange. I went into back into sales after a short hiatus. I was coaching for ten years as a baseball coach and a high school teacher. And I realized once my son was born, my first child, I have three now, a boy and two girls. I was like, I’m like going home at night after a baseball game. He’s asleep, and I’m leaving to get to school before he’s even awake. So there’s times where I wouldn’t see my child for four days. And I’d lived with him, and it was empty. It was empty. Feeling mixed in with the fact that we weren’t winning much, I was like, Why am I even doing this? These kids, I don’t feel they’re really getting much out of it. Looking back at it now, I served my purpose, and those kids grew because of what we did on the field. It wasn’t about a win or a loss. It was about the experience, the process. Right. But when I switched over, you’re talking about having to go from coaching kids to, okay, now I’m in a full fledged performance based career. And although I know I have the abilities to do it, I have the skills, the communication skills, I have the energy to where people are drawn to. And everybody around me is saying how great I’m going to be. I got all the training. But when you get out there in your truck and you’re driving around and you’re going to make those calls, it gets real quickly and you realize there’s another human being that doesn’t even want to look at you, much less buy your service. So I think for me, those three months, those first three months, like the first month I sold three or four payrolls. And then the next month, zero, and then the next month, two. And I remember the specific time you’re talking about. It was a rainy day in the fall. I think it was September. And I was in Marco Island, Florida. And I’m driving around and I had this whole plan. I’m going to go see this accountant. I’m going to go see this current client. I’m going to go call this customer. I’m going to go to the chamber, ask them for referrals. And I was driving around for like, 2 hours. I just couldn’t get out of my damn vehicle. And I pulled over to the public sparking lot. I just had a real conversation with myself, like, what’s going on? Full on, just panic and tears.
17:45.130 –> 17:47.410 Claudia Garbutt
Been there, done that…
17:47.410 –> 19:45.250 Shawn French
Yeah, it was not a quick process. It was like an hour long of me being the guy crying in the parking lot at Publix and people looking at me and knocking on the window like, are you good? Publix is a store, a supermarket here in the States. And it’s the real story. They were knocking on my window like, bro, you good? Just keep moving. I’m having a moment here. And finally at the end, I’m like, no, I’m good, man. I’m just in sales. And they laugh. I’m like, here’s my card. Call me. It’s funny. So after that, I pulled my stuff together so I can actually drive home. I’m like, look, I’m done for the day. I’m going to go back to the office or go home, I don’t know which. But I called my, um, boss, Dan. And I had known Dan from the baseball circuit. He was an acquaintance at the time. Now he’s a brother to me. He’s one of my closest friends, one of the very few people I trust my children with and love him dearly. And I called him. I said, bro, I had a day, man. A day – what happened? And I told him the whole story. I was like, I need to talk to you. Can I come in? Are you in the office? Still going there? And I’m like, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m going to give you my two weeks notice. I’m going to go back to doing what I know how to do. Something that I’m marginally good at, right? I know baseball. I know the workflow. I know everything about it. I just want to be in that element. This is just isn’t for me. He said to me something so powerful. He goes, I told you I was going to give you a year, and I know you’re going to kill it. You’re going to be so good at this. He’s like, But I’m going to require you to give me a year as well. He goes, respectfully, I can’t hold you hostage. You’re a man. You have a child, but you’re not going anywhere.
19:45.250 –> 19:48.550 Claudia Garbutt
I love that story.
19:48.550 –> 21:39.670 Shawn French
I was like, Bro, I’m going to lose everything. I can’t make any money. He’s like, well, if you don’t sell one payroll every month, you make exactly what you did while you were a teacher, actually, to $5,000 rates. I was like, you’re right. I started operating on that mindset. Even if I don’t sell anything, I’m still making more money than I did when I was teaching. So I told myself, I was like, you know what? They require us to make eight or ten calls a day, right? I’m going to make, like, 20 to 30. And I have these yellow notepads. You know, those big ones? I was like, I’m going to bring one along with me, and I’m going to write down everything I do, specifics of everything. I’m going to send it to Dan every single day. The second day, he’s like, Shawn, you don’t have to send this to me. I trust you. I was like, Listen, man, I’m doing this for me. This is my accountability exercise. This is how I’m doing it. That was September. Early September: Decent month. Nothing great. October. I absolutely exploded. Didn’t know what I was doing, right? I won ten payrolls that month for $20,000 in revenue. And then November must be a slow month late. It’s eleven payrolls for 22 grand. December, I did, like, 25 or 26 grand. January, 62 grand. February 14, march 57. April, 60 something. And then in May, 30 something grand. Ended up being in the top 10% of that company that year. In seven months. In those seven months, I literally became a top performer in that organization, making six figures.
21:39.670 –> 22:44.750 Claudia Garbutt
That’s amazing. I love that story. Yeah, I love that you share the fears and the insecurities as well, because that’s what people resonate with. Because usually we only see the success stories. We see the last step in the process. We don’t see all the trials and tribulations that led there. And I think it’s so important to come to a place in your life where you dare to be you, to be authentic, and to be unapologetic about who you really are. Because that is what allows you to truly connect with others, to inspire them, and to form those deep, meaningful relationships. Right? Of course, that’s easier said than done. Maybe you can just outline your framework for becoming unstoppable. What are your core ingredients for creating this sustainable success?
22:44.750 –> 26:13.570 Shawn French
Being 1000% authentic. It’s authentic me. When I started this journey of writing this book and doing the podcast, and coaching other salespeople and entrepreneurs and professionals, or even just individuals that want to grow in their life, I told myself, I will always be honest. I will always share my whole journey. I won’t leave anything out, and I’ll be completely transparent at all times. And so with that, I think it’s very liberating, because to your point, about two minutes ago, big success stories, that’s all you hear. No one talks about how hard it is. Still, every single day, nobody talks about they can be making seven figures and still feel like they’re not good enough. These are real things, and if we don’t address them, then you are dead where you stand. You’re not going to grow, and you’re lying to yourself. Right? And that’s the one thing that I promised myself I would never do. And so when I was writing this book, I’m like, what do I struggle with? What did I struggle with and how did I overcome those things? To become a top sales professional in the human capital management industry and now in the medical industry, right? Because I think there’s something there. And for me, it was, okay. Journey into the mind. How am I thinking? What are my limiting beliefs? How do I overcome them? Right? And what habits did I focus on? Mindset, determination, discipline, clarity, intention. All these things that everybody talks about. They talk about them for a reason, right? Because when you focus on those things, you don’t think about the bad stuff. You’re so locked in on your process that you don’t have time for your emotions or how you feel. And the benefit of that is you move in spite of your feelings every single day. I don’t wake up in the morning and scan my body to see how I feel. I literally set an alarm every night for 04:00 a.m. And when that sucker goes off, I already decided. I don’t have to put my alarm clock on another side of the room to go get it. I don’t have to do a five second method. We decided. And when people ask me, like, I can’t wake up early, I’m like, well, no, you can. You just choose not to because you’re looking at it differently. You’re looking at it as, what are you giving up? Instead of what am I gaining? And so the big trigger that I think every single time I have that issue is like, okay, what is my process that you have to stick to every single day, no matter what? No matter what happens? What are the three things that you have to get done. Do them regardless. Right. The other thing is, what would the Shawn French that God has in his mind, that he created, what would he do in this moment? He surely wouldn’t not go do the work in his life and in his business and on his fitness and his nutrition and his relationship with his wife and children. He wouldn’t leave that on the back burner. He would attack every single situation. And that’s how I built a framework of unstoppable.
26:13.570 –> 26:17.066 Claudia Garbutt
Those are great tips. Thank you so much for sharing!
26:17.198 –> 26:19.110 Shawn French
Yeah, absolutely.
26:19.110 –> 27:13.462 Claudia Garbutt
I think that taking full responsibility for your own life and changing your narrative to an empowering one is something that we just cannot emphasize often enough or enough, because people often put too much focus on those external things, like getting another degree, getting another pay raise, getting married, or whatever else they think needs to happen in their lives that will finally make them complete. But often those things won’t change how they feel about themselves or only for a short period of time. And at the end of the day, what matters most is how you feel about yourself when you’re all by yourself and no one is watching, right? So getting out of that victim mentality is probably among the first things everyone has to do.
27:13.656 –> 27:57.490 Shawn French
Yeah, absolutely. Look, it’s that moment, right? That moment where you realize it’d be self just responsible for the decisions that you made. Like right now, everything we have in our life is a reflection on our internal beliefs, how we feel about ourselves, and how we, I guess, took action maybe two to five, um, years ago. This isn’t a product of what I decided to do last night. I’m right here with you because of a decision I made two years ago. Right? This is delayed gratification. This is one of my favorite interviews I’ve ever done. So thank you.
You’re an amazing interviewer.
I want to stop the interview and just acknowledge you for who you are. You’re incredible.
28:03.430 –> 28:04.370 Claudia Garbutt
Thank you!
28:04.540 –> 28:29.050 Shawn French
Absolutely. And that happened because you gave yourself permission to do that, and you worked at it. And it doesn’t matter how hard you fall, because you’re going to get kicked in the kneecaps, you’re going to get kicked in the teeth in life. And the bottom line is, you have to look at yourself. I hope everybody listening understands this. You have to look at yourself and say, how did I create that scenario?
28:29.050 –> 28:29.702 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah.
28:29.836 –> 28:45.550 Shawn French
How did I create that person cutting me off? Maybe you left five minutes too late. That’s on you, bro. Had you left on time, you would not have gotten cut off. Why give that person the one-finger salute when it’s your fault? But when we operate like that, that’s empowering.
28:45.550 –> 30:09.670 Claudia Garbutt
So true. That’s one of the best questions to ask yourself regularly: How did I contribute to the situation that I am in right now? I think you and I are very similar in how we approach our goals and how we help others achieve their goals. So in my coaching, I kind of do the same thing that you are probably doing. So we assess the current situation. We talk about what works and what doesn’t work right now, we set smart goals, and then we map out an action plan, and I hold them accountable for keeping the promises that they gave to themselves. So it’s a deceivingly simple process, right? But a lot of people just don’t follow through. And for a long time, I thought that discipline and tenacity were the only things you needed in order to reach your goals. But more and more, I’m realizing that this is just partially true. Yes, you do need discipline and tenacity and everything, but it’s so much easier if you can make your process fun, because motivation gets you started, discipline keeps you going, but fun makes the entire process worthwhile and enjoyable. So when you can get into flow, we can achieve our goals with so much more ease. So what are your thoughts on that?
30:09.670 –> 30:11.834 Shawn French
Wow, that’s a lot.
30:11.992 –> 30:12.746 Claudia Garbutt
I know.
30:12.868 –> 31:37.550 Shawn French
Here’s the thing. I believe in dreaming big and setting goals that scare the absolute you know what out of me, right, that’s going to entice me to move on every single day basis. The M-word I can’t stand. Motivation is a fleeing emotion. It’s a feeling. You could sit here on this interview right now and pump me up and I can be excited, and then I can get off the interview and my dog throws up and I got to go to vet and all the motivation is gone. So the thing is, like you said, the discipline the discipline and drive is what is going to carry you through in order to be successful. That’s all it is. I don’t want to do everything I do every single day. As much of a blessing as it is to go to the post office numerous times a week and fill out postage, that’s not something that’s fun. The fun part is when that book gets in their hands. Think about that. I think about all the love that I’m putting into this addressing of the envelope as part of the process. For right now, that’s the process. I’m writing every note, personally signing it with love. That’s discipline.
31:37.550 –> 31:40.458 Claudia Garbutt
And it’s how you make it fun, though, isn’t it?
31:40.604 –> 31:45.258 Shawn French
Exactly. I mean, listen, it’s not going to always be fun. You know that.
31:45.404 –> 31:46.266 Claudia Garbutt
I know that.
31:46.328 –> 32:09.342 Shawn French
If you can enjoy the process. I’m going to tell you right now, there are times in my current journey when I look at myself like, oh, my gosh, this is not good enough. There’s another level. Like, what am I doing wrong? But the five year ago me would look at me and go, dude, you ungrateful little twerp. Right?
32:09.476 –> 32:09.990 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah.
32:10.100 –> 32:24.230 Shawn French
I think that’s a lot of it, too. And you spoke about things that make it fun. And the drive, the discipline. But there’s one more thing. There’s one more thing along the journey.
32:24.230 –> 32:25.206 Claudia Garbutt
What is it?
32:25.328 –> 32:26.450 Shawn French
Grace.
32:26.450 –> 32:27.210 Claudia Garbutt
Yes!
32:27.380 –> 33:17.330 Shawn French
Give yourself some grace. And when I say that, I get goosebumps because there’s too many people that don’t give them self grace, and I am one of them, and that’s why it’s emotional to me. So when people hear me speak about things and when they say, oh, my gosh, I really needed to hear that, that real really hit me. Why do you think I made it? I’m struggling with that, like, right now. And that’s okay, because a lot of people think that, well, if I’m going to be this authority, then the masses need to think, I have it all figured out every second of the day. And to your question earlier, how do I keep it real? I was like, I don’t have it all figured out.
33:17.330 –> 33:18.654 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah, nobody has.
33:18.752 –> 33:19.494 Shawn French
Nobody does.
33:20.494 –> 34:04.490 Shawn French
You have to admit it. I struggle with this too. That’s what makes someone like me and you so qualified to coach people, because we go through it still, and we take our experiences and test out theories and ways we can get better, then we give them to somebody else is what I’ve done. May work, may not. But with all that is, if you’re not giving yourself an extraordinary amount of grace, then you’re going to struggle, and you’re going to be frustrated, and you’re never going to love yourself fully, and you’re never going to love the body of your work. That was truly sad.
34:04.490 –> 34:22.850 Claudia Garbutt
Yeah. I think that’s what a lot of perfectionists, including myself, struggle with occasionally. The same or a similar struggle is maybe trusting the process when you don’t see results yet, because you have to stay committed before you see results, right?
34:22.850 –> 35:52.070 Shawn French
Oh, my God, I want to hug you right now! That’s the thing. It’s like the delayed gratification of your results is delayed for a reason. You got to put in the work. You have to put in the action. Right? And a lot of times, it is so dark and so lonely in this journey, and you feel like you’re all alone even though you’re in the house with three children and a beautiful wife. I’m all alone. But there’s time, right? What I mean by there’s time is it is a thing that goes by regardless. So do the damn work. Do it with love, passion, and drive and determination. And guess what? Your next call could be a $50,000 payday. You don’t know that. So why not be prepared? Why not expect it? Why not put that good energy out there instead of the, man, it’s not really happening. Like, am I the guy? Am I the girl? Should I do something different? And it’s funny because I thought about that the other day. It’s like, man, maybe this isn’t like, maybe I’m doing something wrong. And I thought about it, I’m like, oh, no, something big is about to happen. Every time I think that, I absolutely go to a different stratosphere. So you heared it here first: Something big is about to happen.
35:52.070 –> 36:20.514 Claudia Garbutt
That’s amazing. I’m looking forward to hearing what it is. I mean, staying committed is one thing, but we also have to be flexible enough and honest enough with ourselves to admit when things are not working so that we can pivot or adjust what we are doing. Right. And this is something that I find really difficult. How do we know when it’s time to power through? And how do we know when it’s time to pivot or quit? What do you think?
36:20.612 –> 37:45.210 Shawn French
The time to power through and pivot is the time when okay, these are just my emotions. Like, I have more in the tank and we have more in the tank than we give ourselves credit for. Right. So just moving in spike now there’s days where you’re just sick to your stomach and it’s almost like every time you speak, you feel like your face is morphing and you feel like a total weirdo man. Walk away. You know what? Go do something you love. Go do something that if you like to do. Go fishing for an hour. If you like to sit there and binge on Netflix, I’m going to say something very contrary and very unpopular right now. Yes, you can binge watch on Netflix and be successful. Yes, you have to schedule it into your day. Right. If it’s at night, do it. But if there’s specific days where you just can’t get out of your own way, why would you continue to push when you can go for a run, go fishing, watch American Horror Stories, whatever it is, and then be renewed tomorrow and absolutely attack your process? To me, it’s a no brainer.
37:45.210 –> 37:49.690 Claudia Garbutt
So it leads us back to give yourself grace on your bad days, right?
37:49.800 –> 37:50.110 Shawn French
Yeah.
37:50.160 –> 38:04.306 Claudia Garbutt
So where do you find fuel in an empty tank, as you said? Do you have a mental cookie jar like David Goggins, or do you have another technique that you do have?
38:04.428 –> 39:37.030 Shawn French
Yeah, here’s the thing. I got that from David Goggins, and I have my own cookie jar that I pull all my blue post notes out of it when I feel like I’m suffering from the imposter syndrome at the current moment. Wow, I went through that damn over. I forgot about that. What a badass. Right? So there’s that, but then there’s also just leaning into the hard things, right? My cookie jar is just what I put into myself. If I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is hard, like something that is not the most fun thing to do, then I build that resilience. I build that mental toughness. I get more reserve fuel in my tank, right? Because I sit there and I was like, dude, I’m done. I’m done. I’m calling to quit saying no. One more, Shawn. One more. Like, literally one more call, one more email, one more text message, one more recording, one more something. And that one more could be me reaching out to somebody and saying, hey, I love what you’re doing. You don’t know me. This may sound weird to you because men don’t do this often enough, but I want to let you know that I love your content. I love what you’re doing for the people. You seem like a man or a woman that truly wants more for people, not from people.
39:37.030 –> 39:53.234 Claudia Garbutt
That is great. And I like to do the same thing. Start with the hard stuff. But how do you make sure that you don’t burn out? So what does a typical day in your life look like? And what are the non-negotiables that you build your life around?
39:53.392 –> 41:43.506 Shawn French
What does my typical day look like? 4:30 weight room. Leave weight room. So I do my lift and then I do my interval cardio. Come home, make the kids breakfast, make my breakfast, eat with my children. Non-negotiable. Every meal they are here. I’m at the table. It’s a non-negotiable for me. There’s no way I’m not going to sit at this table with my children. Non negotiable. So lifting for me, non negotiable. My children, nonnegotiable. Coffee with my wife. Not missing it. I’m not missing it. I make my wife’s coffee every single morning. And I’m glad to do so because we’ve been doing that for almost a decade. And it’s something that’s an act of service. It’s an act of me doing something for my wife. Something so small that I really enjoy. The rest of my day is finding ways to make more sales in my career, right? In my medical device career. Contacting surgeons, contacting nursing teams, contacting practice managers. Then when I get home, it’s dinner time. I’m at the table with my children. I cook the dinner, my wife cooks dinner. We enjoy each other. Right? I put the kids down. It’s back to work. Right around 10:00 p.m.. When I say back to work, I’m working on content for my business. I’m thinking on ideas, what the next book is going to be. Right? I’m thinking about all these different things that I can implement and do, reach out to help people. And then I watch TV with my wife, do the same thing.
41:43.688 –> 42:09.186 Claudia Garbutt
I like that you have your priorities straight and you know exactly what your non negotiables are. Because to a lot of people, the small things are the ones that they give up the easiest. Then this is a slippery slope to losing your relationships or these kind of things that just impact your entire life, your relationships and everything.
42:09.308 –> 43:06.590 Shawn French
Yeah, 100%. And here’s the thing. When you’ve been with somebody for so long, or you have children, you tend to take those relationships for granted. Right. You make your own coffee. Now, kids, I’m not going to sit at the table with you today. I’m not going to make your lunch today. I got other things to do. But here’s how you do it for now. You do things that fill your heart. There’s things that I love in this world like beating the heck out of my body because I love the sweat. I love my family. I love people. I genuinely love people. People talk about people being inherently bad. No. They’re not. They are inherently amazing. And everybody has a story and a reason why they project onto the world the way they are. Right. And if I can just channel those three things in a day, it’s impossible for me to burn out.
43:06.590 –> 43:14.358 Claudia Garbutt
I love that. I love that so much. Yeah. It’s fun. It’s fun to connect, right?
43:14.444 –> 43:16.190 Shawn French
Yeah. Absolutely.
43:16.190 –> 43:31.670 Claudia Garbutt
Now, with all that you have achieved so far, what does success look like to you in the future or right now or where do you want to take it in the future? So what are your goals that you hope to achieve within, say, the next one or two years?
43:31.670 –> 44:44.478 Shawn French
Well, I think for the business, for the brand, is to be globally recognized 100%. Continue to speak on international stages. Come to Germany for a big event, hang out with you, have a couple of beers. I don’t know More than anything, it is helping millions of people. Impacting the masses to where I’m a household name. Not for the ego driven part of it, for the simple fact that, like, hey, Shawn doesn’t know who I am but he changed my life. See, Andy Frisella is that way for me. He probably doesn’t know I exist, but I started listening to him in 2015/16, his very first podcast, The MFCEO Project. And I realized I was destined for more of my life. That’s my business goal, right. My relationship goal, my family goal is to be able to pick up whenever the hell we want and go wherever the hell we want.
44:44.504 –> 45:14.810 Claudia Garbutt
That’s so good. Yeah. And it’s so freeing to have this flexibility right now. What I really, really love about your book is that you’re not holding back and that you’re really sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of the journey. And you dare to share your fears and insecurities, as well as all the steps that you took to overcome them. And that takes a lot of courage and commitment.
45:14.810 –> 45:15.714 Shawn French
Thank you.
45:15.872 –> 45:50.250 Claudia Garbutt
Thank you for writing this book. I think there are so many gurus out there who tell you that in order to become successful, all you have to do is to have positive thoughts all day long. But you and I know that this is only half the truth. The other half is taking ownership of your life and taking consistent, inspired action that gets you closer and closer to your goals every day. It doesn’t matter where you start. It matters what you move towards.
45:53.312 –> 45:58.926 Claudia Garbutt
Is there anything else that you would like to share with our listeners today?
45:59.108 –> 47:18.590 Shawn French
Absolutely. You’re never going to think positively. All day long are going to pop into your head, and that is the enemy trying to keep you down. And you have two choices: You have negative thoughts, come in onto your frequency constantly, but every single time they do, you have to act in a positive manner. Say. No, that’s not true. I’m going to go do this and I’m going to give myself some more evidence to support that. That’s not the case. That’s not my story. I make my own story. Right. So, again, thoughts are random, but thinking is not.My good friend Craig Siegel always says that thoughts are random. Thinking is not right. So when those thoughts come into your head, just understand you’re more powerful than that negative thought. That is your subconscious coming, your limiting beliefs, your core beliefs about yourself. Because somebody told you a story about you years ago, you need to start working on beating that, because that is not God’s intention for you. He didn’t create you to feel less than anybody or anything, he created you to thrive.
47:18.590 –> 47:27.594 Claudia Garbutt
That’s right. You have to become the best version of yourself and get rid of those old limiting beliefs. Right?
47:27.692 –> 47:30.846 Shawn French
Absolutely. They’re useless. Get them out of there.
47:31.028 –> 47:42.498 Claudia Garbutt
Yes. It’s faulty programming running in the background of your mind. So where can our listeners find you online if they would like to connect with you?
47:42.584 –> 48:11.130 Shawn French
Oh, I would love that. I’m on LinkedIn and Facebook: Shawn French. Then on Instagram @theshawnfrench, on Twitter @shawnmfrench. And then on Ticktock @theshawnfrench.
48:11.130 –> 48:22.822 Claudia Garbutt
Perfect. Again, thank you so much, Sean, for writing this book, for sharing your story with us today, and for all the great work that you do to help others. It’s been an honor having you on the show.
48:22.956 –> 48:28.774 Shawn French
It’s been a blessing. And thank you so much. This has been a fun 45 minutes.
48:28.812 –> 48:31.642 Claudia Garbutt
It went so fast!
48:31.776 –> 48:33.030 Claudia Garbutt
Good.
48:33.030 –> 48:34.162 Claudia Garbutt
Take care.
48:34.356 –> 48:38.000 Shawn French
You too. Bye.
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