Bryan McAnulty: Welcome to the Creator's Adventure, where we interview creators from around the world, hearing their stories about growing a business. Today I'm talking with Anthony Trucks about how to make a shift to become the person that you want. If you're at a place where you feel there's a big gap between where you wanna be and where you are right now, I'd encourage you to listen to this interview because Anthony brings a ton of motivating and actionable.

Hey everyone. I'm Bryan McAnulty. I'm the founder of Heights Platform. Let's get into it.

Hey everyone. We're here today with Anthony Trucks, a former foster child, NFL football player, competitor on American Ninja Warrior, author, fifth coach, and entrepreneur. And from foster care to the NFL to successful business owner. Anthony has accomplished what statistics would say is impossible. As a speaker and identity shift, Coach Anthony teaches people how to access the power of their identity to expand their capacity, happen to their full potential, and make shift happen.

Anthony, welcome to the show.

Anthony Trucks: Hey man. Thanks for having me.

Bryan McAnulty: So my first question for you is, this is a new thing I like to ask guests when they're on the show, What would you. Is the biggest thing that you did or that you are doing that's helped you achieve the freedom to do the things that you enjoy?

Anthony Trucks: Oh man. I can do hard work , like without freaking out. I sometimes, I teach my, my son right now, but I'm able to do hard things that most people would either pass up on or stop early, and I find ways to. To actually find the joy within them. So I'll do them more often, I'll do them longer, more consistently, and that 100% translates to a, a more enjoyable life in what I have in my life right now.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. I think we'll probably end up getting into some more details about that as we go on here, but would you say like, is that something you, you kind of always felt was like inherent in you or did you kind of discover that at some.

Anthony Trucks: No, I think you build it, man. I, I can't seriously sit here and say I woke up and anybody wakes up and goes, Man, I love doing hard things.

Like, it's not the normalcy, but as a kid, I, you know, I had a lot of weird stuff in my childhood, and so there's a point in time where I, I was able to create a great outcome into sports. And so that came from a lot of hard work. And after a while I started content. The dots, like the internal dots of if I do something, I am better.

And so either one of two things I would feel pride for having done the hard thing and I feel good about myself or the hard work I did translates to some to achievement and I'm happy for the achievement. So I equated those two to like, oh, if I do hard things and get a positive outcome, and then the next step of journey was more of like, Well, how do I not hate all the hard work the whole time?

Right? Every part of our life is, is riddled with consistent work prior to the achievement. And so if you hate the work leading up, the achievement's lackluster. So I was like, Well, how do I find ways to enjoy this, please? So then it was more of purposely reframing perceptions on situations to be able to go, Oh, that's the thing on my life.

I'm gonna do same things taking place, but I'm gonna look at it like this. And so that was a, a kind of a more built and conditioned perspective over time.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. So yeah, we, we read about you and you had a a very interesting life story. So from foster care to being adopted by an all white family to becoming a professional NFL player and a coach on your website, actually, you shared some chilling statistics about foster care kids and how up to 50% of kids placed in foster care end up homeless upon emancipation.

And 75% of prison inmates in the US are actually former foster care. Yeah. So can you share a little bit about your story and how you overcame those odds?

Anthony Trucks: Yeah, I mean it's weird cuz , looking back on it, I wouldn't say overcame them, but I did. Right. If you call it that, I'll make that make more sense. But I was given away as a kid obviously, and I grew up in a really poor, all white families.

We didn't have very much. And there was a point in time when I think I just got fed up, man. I was, I was I think 15 years old. I tried a couple years of playing the game of football. I was horrible. And my adoptive mama got diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So here I am, you know, my sixth foster home in a situation that didn't feel like I mattered.

And I was just, I had this thought of like, this just sucks. I do not like this experience. And what I do know, and I, the logic at least set in from me was, well, if I do nothing, I get more of this. But if I do something, I might get something different. That something different might not be great, but it might be amazing.

I was like, Let me just try to do things. And so, It started me just trying to do things. And so the overcoming part of it, the perspective wasn't to overcome statistics. I didn't know 'em at the time. The, the, the overcoming was overcoming the crappy feeling I had, realizing the only way to do it was just to take different actions.

And so that was kind of the way it led forward. And then in hindsight you go, Oh yeah, he overcame the situation. But really it was just like, I just wanted to feel better about myself, man. Got it.

Bryan McAnulty: So would you say that there. Key points in your life where you, you felt that you had to do that?

Anthony Trucks: Yeah, I mean, a lot of different places.

So football was the first one. I, I started the game and I was horrible. But I love the game and we've all done things in points in our life where I go, I'm, I'm inspired by this thing, or I'm curious about this thing. Or what if this took place? And our thoughts go wandering and our heart palpitates, it's so amazing.

And then we try it. And in trying it, we are met with the realization that we suck. Now, this happens in many areas. I mean, it happens in the guy picking up the girl, the girl trying to get the guy. You know, this happens in business, it happens in sports, happens in school, it happens in hobbies. I want to paint, but I can't, you know, paint a stick figure.

So these things take place. And so for me, the first instance of this was when I was playing football for the first time. Tried two years, I was horrible at it, and I do, but most of us do. And I go, I'm done with this. And I checked out and I was sleeping in class, not really focusing on anything. I was heading down the path to be one of those statistics you.

And then at one point in time something happened and I kinda snapped out of it. I was like, I don't wanna be that guy, man. I don't wanna fast forward my life and look back on my life and go, Oh, I'm a criminal, or I'm homeless, or I'm a bad dad or a bad husband. Like I gotta do something different. And so it led to me just saying, Well, what does, Like genuinely, what does a person who has a better life or they better good at football, what do they do?

At first I would football. What does a good football player? and I found there were certain things that I wasn't doing that a good football player does, which is, you know, lift weights, rent routes, catch footballs. But I didn't do 'em cuz it's like, that's not who I am. I'm not the guy that does that. But I had to do it.

And so the, the part of it that was interesting was leading in doing things that did not feel like me and it's uncomfortable, I'll call the imposter syndrome. Right? We all hear about that. It was this thought that, well, I'm not the person that does that, but the person that does that has the things I want where I guess I can't have it.

No, you just do those. So I leaned in and I did those things and it was, you know, against, I guess some ridicule from teammates and everybody. But the interesting thing is the more you do something, you make these small deposits of effort and energy each day. The return comes back in confidence, self-esteem, and a sense of I can do this.

It's who I am now. And so that was my first instance of it was football. And then later on it happened again in college. Football happened again in the pros, happened again in outsider. When I left the game of the nfl it happened in business. It's happened in relationship. It's happened many, many times where I.

I want this air of my life to improve. I don't feel like the person that does these things, All right, let's just do these things. And the more you do 'em, the more you become a person who does those things.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. That's awesome. I, I really like that way of kind of like reverse engineering into looking how, how you can become that.

I feel that I'm, I'm doing that myself right now, like in my own business, thinking about like, well, if I wanted to be at this level with our business, What are the things that the companies that are at that level, what are they doing that I'm not doing? Yeah. And like, how can I do those things and, and what do, what do I have to become to do those things?

And for me, it's also, it's not been only what do I have to do, but what do I have to stop doing? Because there might be things where I'm spending my time now that is not going to bring me to that ultimate goal.

Anthony Trucks: No matter what it's gonna be for all of us, it's gonna be pulling back from, Cause if you think about it, who we're operating as right now, I'm an identity guy who we're operating as right now is doing things that's creating this existence, this reality.

So if I want a different reality, right, I want to, whatever, it's higher, lower, something has to change. And typically it's gonna be, you just said, stopping doing things that feel so congruent with who I am right now. Now the good things that got me to this point, but to go. Something's gotta be different, but there's gonna be so things I have to stop doing to create space for things I need to do.

Right. Maybe it's, I gotta stop. Maybe for you, you have to stop doing things yourself and start delegating things that what you're still said about

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, it is essentially, I'll, I'll give an example. So for me, starting out in business I started my company when I was about 18 years old. I guess around 19, like 2009 is when we started as a web design studio.

And I always had this thought that like, I want to. Always, like within reach of everybody, I want to respond to every single email no matter what. And I still really deeply have a carer for my customers. I want to be able to interact with them as much as possible, but it's, it's just not possible at a certain level because I could just only do that all day and I would never get anything done.

And so eventually, I, I did learn how to delegate that We have a support team and, and all that now of. . But still, I, I got to the point that now I guess I went almost a little bit too far where like there's too much in my personal email that I just had to say like, Well, what if I ignore it? What would, what would happen?

Yeah. And at first I realized, well, nothing really bad happens. If there's a support thing, it goes to our support team. But still, like there's opportunities that, that are going to be important. So I'm figuring out, okay, well where's the pieces of that that are I. That I can make sure I have time for where I can delegate and, and how can I move that forward.

So it was a, that was one example, I guess of a big shift of something that, that's a big one early on, you think is, oh, this is super important to my identity, to what I have to do in business into. What actually ends up being completely different.

Anthony Trucks: Yeah. Well, I mean, the thing is, is your company has an identity outside of you.

Right? And if you were the one that developed that identity, begin with, all you have to do is train someone to maintain the identity. Right. Just interact the same way you did. I mean, as a customer, they don't know you used to be part of it. You know, they just, it's like, Oh, this is my email from this person who's part of the company.

And then yeah, the delegation portion, like for you, I would get somebody. A VA or team person inside of your email that's gonna help you not spend time on the things that don't matter. And they, you know, give them boundaries and, and, you know, certain stipulations of, here's what I do want to see, here's what I don't want to see.

And even have summit's a separate decision maker to where the things that get to your brain are the ones that are only important and really will, will dial in. And the reason is you're not sitting there with somebody doing that twiddling your thumbs. You're not hanging out of my ties. You're doing the work that moves the company ahead.

It creates the vision that keeps the vision in place. Tells people what it should look like. And then now the delegation is not just doing a job, it's like making the vision come to life. But if you're bogged down in emails, you can't spend time in that visionary space.

Bryan McAnulty: Yep, exactly. Yeah. And Like, you know, you've probably heard how like they say like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, like they wear this specific outfit all the time to not have to worry about that kind of thing.

I don't know if you have to go that far with certain things, but I do agree that there is this fatigue of making decisions throughout the day. It is. And the more decisions that you don't have to make, that somebody else can make for you, and the, that gives you the ability to focus on the decisions that you do have to make, that will.

The company, the brand, your life, whatever you want forward.

Anthony Trucks: Yeah. That, that, and the thing is, while we're talking about that from a standpoint of let's say, you know, CEO level, this is something that every human being that's in any operation needs to think about. So the decision fatigue aspect does tie into to, let's say the person who's a regular employee, right?

Regular job or the entrepreneur. And here's, here's how it. For a lot of us, we have certain hours of the day. Ink Magazine did a study and found out that in an eight hour day, most people are able to do on average two hours and 53 minutes of work. Let's say three hours. So you're talking about an eight hour day, Three hours.

Well, in that three hours, what are you doing? Well, most people. They're wasting time. They're, they're not doing, you know, perfect, amazing work. It's because what happens is they're deciding what I should do and here's why it's important. If I get up in the morning and I have a certain tank to, to deal with, if I have to go, well, do I get a workout in?

Do I do my meditation? Do I eat breakfast? You know, do I make, get these emails back? Do I, I'm asking questions that I'm deciding should I, So by 12 o'clock, whatever, I'm smoked, my brain's done. I can't do much more work. But if you say I am the kind of person identity stuff, I am the kind of person that gets an.

I do my meditation, I eat a solid break. It's who I am. I'm not deciding to do it. It's just what happens. Cuz that's who I am now. And then when it comes to noon, while somebody else has smoked, I still got 80% of my tank. So over a long haul, let's say that there's, you know, let's say a full eight hour day, right?

Where you can get three hours, I can get six. And so at the end of a year, I have two years to year, one of productive work. Who gets. And the only separation is that decision tank. And I think for me, identity is a big thing of how do I get you to get to a level of doing things are difficult because it's who you are not cuz it's a forceful thing anymore.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah. That's awesome. All right, so I wanna go into a little bit more about this. How so in your coaching business you help people kind of understand who they are and help them shift their identity to reach their. . And you walk us through the process of how you would help somebody from that point of realizing that they need to make a change.

Then understanding who they are and then actually making that shift.

Anthony Trucks: Yeah. Well, I don't think people, I need to tell you, you need to make a change. When you come to me, you realize you're not operating at full potential. Right? There's a another level to expand into, and that's, that's everybody, man. We all have those levels.

Some of us are comfortable where we're at, and some of us go, You know what, I, I want more. I know I can do more. I'm more intelligent. I'm more skilled than that person, but they're having, What's the difference? And it's usually not an intelligence thing, it's a who are you with the. And so for me, I step in and go, Let's take a look at who you are.

Me have actual like frameworks that unpack in visual aspects and numerically who you are in 10 different areas of life. And so you can see, oh, that's why I'm not having a, a solid harmony with my work and my my marriage, or I'm not in great shape or what I can see it. Then you go, Okay, great. Now this is who you are.

Now who do we want to? Right. We have to actually go, I tell people, you have to find individuals living life in a way that you admire, and then take a look between the lines of like, what are they actually doing? How do they dial in? And then you go, Okay, great. I see that. And at first you're gonna go, That's not me.

Yeah, yeah. I know we talked about this. I know it's not who you are. We're gonna make it who you are. Well, how do we do that? Same as everything else in life. Actions, man, actions and suffering. And so what we want to do is realize that all the things we're talking. It's at like a neurological level. There's a way that we are wired right now.

There's a way that we are we think through things, problems, opportunities, the way we see situations. Our brain is literally triggered the way if a, if a black cat walked across a screen right now, me and you both would process it differently. And so it's a wiring, it's happened through our life. And so I go, Well, how did that wiring happen?

Because that wiring what's gonna shift us? And I go, Well, experiences, man, that. Life experiences has, we wired who we are and will rewire who we are. So now if I go is who I am, so I want to be, and I'm wired in a certain way, Well, what do I do? Actions, which are experiences are gonna rewire us. So we just want to create an experience in a window of time that will guide you to do the actions, the habits, and build to where eventually where you go, That's not who I am.

You go, Oh, I'm the guy and guy that does that. And all it is was just a series of actions and habits over time. And that's the curated architect. Like really track thing. Cause if you. Created intentionally. It's different than any other part of life, cuz most of us, it happened accidentally. You started this company and you realize, I got some pro.

You're forced to create something in like a window of time. Okay, cool. I got that done. Okay, what's the next one? Right? As opposed to going, let me look down the road. A year, two years from now, what's it gonna look like? Who do I need to become? Alright, What actions on you? What happens? So I put in place, how do I wanna rewire myself?

Boom. I'm gonna do it intentionally this time. That's a whole different way of pursuing the future.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, I like. I like the example where you just said of how, like, for me, like that would force me into making the change. Right. So I think that the, the shift itself, that's the hard part. Once you make that, that new pattern and, and those new experiences to just be that successful person, it's not hard to be that successful person.

It's hard to shift in the process there. So what I like to tell some of our customers and Creator's is that to kind of help yourself along, Is, what can you do that will put you in a situation where you're forced to have to make that change? And so like an example is like that. A lot of people I see with course Creator's in particular, they don't get their course launched.

That's like the biggest reason I see people fair, not because their marketing's not good or something like that, it's just cuz they never actually got it out there. So yeah, I know what if you can get it out there and get even one person to buy it, to talk with. Or something like that. As soon as that happens, now you have that, that one customer, and they're asking, asking you about things.

They're saying, Hey, well can you tell me about this? Or, Hey, I wish your, your program had this and now you're in this position that you're forced to improve it. Where before you were just used to your day to day patterns. Oh, I'll get to that someday. And, but if you can get yourself, that one customer, get that product out there, now you're forced to make progress.

So I guess I would say to you is Like it's common for people to come up with excuses of how they can either assign some label to themselves or say that like, Oh, I'll get to this the next day. How can people detach themselves from that and, and kind of overcome those excuses?

Anthony Trucks: Well, there's, there's one question I had to ask myself.

That is actually one that leads in, and then I'll give you a more structural one, but we'll call it the philosophical one is there's a person that, that actually is doing this, right? So I would tell somebody, find somebody that, you know, that is at a level you want to be in. Maybe it's you maybe it's somebody that they see, it's in your, in your curriculum, or sorry, it's inside your, your company that's creating products like they wanna create.

And in the moment when you're supposed to do something, ask yourself. What would Bryan do in this moment right now? And the reason I ask that question is cuz people know what you would do if they've watched you enough. They'd paid attention if they know what you would do it. They would, it would outline them in action.

Now, they may not like the action. It may be scary, but they know what the action is, right? But if I ask them and go, What would future self do? Well, the problem is people can't actually see future self. The studies actually show you can't actually connect to that person the same way. So if you do that, you're just gonna be connected to the person that wants to make you feel comfortable.

So you go, Oh, that person would go and make more business cards and, you know, create more. Now, they wouldn't like that future self. You don't know what they would do, but I know what Bryan would do. He'd launch the stupid thing, you know, like, so there's this level there. Now I, I take it back to another level and I go, Why?

Why is someone not feeling comfortable putting into the. Typically it's because they haven't actually, you know, taken the step. And so there's this feeling of, well, what if I put this out and somebody buys it, they don't like it, they want their money back and I feel bad. I go, That's a possibility. But usually it's not the case.

Cuz information you have is so much greater. But also, here's the thing, I have this, this theory. It's it's one where we're building out and it really ties to the work I was talking. I call that that window of time when you're creating an experience, a dark work experience. I believe that we have to do certain work in the dark that allows us to shine in the light.

When I was 15 years old and I sucked in football, I got the NFL eventually because one window of time at 15 years old, I went to the dark man. I did unsexy, unsupported uns like unseen work. But I tell you, man, the deposits allowed me to come to the next moment of life when I was on the stage and. I have done too much work in the dark for you to take what's mine on the light.

There is no way I'm gonna have all this effort be wasted. Are you kidding? That's my football, my touchdown, my tackle. That's a mentality, right? But that is, it's, it's what I call dark energy. I have built that I deposited to where my return was. I'm gonna grip my teeth and take what's mine. Now, how does that tie to course creation?

Right. Well, I find that if, if you look at any athlete, myself included, like when it was game day, if I'd sweated and killed myself, I couldn't wait to get in the field, put me in the game, let's go to work, right? Not, I don't know if I'm a what if I, No, let's go. Right? So I go, Well, if someone doesn't feel comfortable putting the course out, what dark work haven't you done?

Where have you not deposited enough to where you are chomping at the bits and put it out? That might mean doing more surveys, asking more questions, having more people try it, getting more weird feedback before it goes into the true light of the world and you market it. But there'll be a point in time when you've put it out there and you've gotten so much feedback and you've done so much work, research study that you go, Oh the world's, this is gonna be amazing.

I gotta get it in people's hands. Hey, so now that's a complete 180 from, I don't launch it cuz of fear of imposter syndrome or what if it goes wrong to where I, I can't not put this out cuz I'm hurting people's lives by. And that is not a matter of simply just, it's what dark work have you done?

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, that's really powerful.

I, I feel I've went through a shift in that in the, the past year or so myself, where I, I see myself as a, a more introverted personality. I don't particularly like being like the center of stage and, and making videos, doing things like that. But I realized inside myself, I have these things that I wanna share, and I have this product that I've built that I have to tell people about it.

It's, it's my duty to, to tell people about it. Yeah. Because if people don't see this, if people don't learn this, then that effort's a waste. And so I've learned that I'm, I'm doing what I'm doing because. It's helping others. It's not about me wanting to, to be on a video or not, it's about the impact that I want to create for others.

Anthony Trucks: I get it, man. I, it's funnier saying that cuz I, this, this, this morning, I, I just, I'm traveling to around a lot. I just got off the stage yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee and I'm now in California from a speech and, and my wife and I, we have businesses that no one knows, Right. We have, you know, real estate stuff that we do.

And so like, I don't have to do this. I don't have to. But the thought of me not, it goes, man, then who was missing out on the ability to take what I've experienced and change their life? I was given a certain set of skills and abilities. Not like, you know, Liam, me in the movie, but like, I, but I have this skillset and I'm like, man, I, I, I feel like when I do this, the love I get is from someone saying, Thank you.

This changed my life. And so there's a certain point in which you work into a level where it is beyond you, but it's still for you. Right? It's beyond me getting the full benefit. I love the thank yous. I love the appreciation. I love watching somebody get what they get done. So for me, it's like, I can't not, And when you, when you put something out after a while, it is partially like I can't let go to waste.

But also, I can't hinder somebody's life from being better because I just wanna sit at my house and kick my feet up So I, I jump into the world and do this kind of stuff because I love the transformation people's lives have from it. Yeah.

Bryan McAnulty: That's great. Yeah. And I, I like the point that you mentioned earlier also about, This how people wanna be comfortable and, and kind of get stuck in like a rut of that almost.

Because I feel like psychologically everybody wants to avoid feeling bad. Everybody wants to avoid having something bad to happen to them. They, they just wanna feel comfortable and so that's bad. I would say like another way to look at everything that you're saying here is. . If you can see that goal that you have, and if it gets to a point that you realize you would be more uncomfortable from not going through the discomfort to try to reach that goal, then to just sit there and, and go about your life, then that's what can help kind of push you forward into making something happen.

Anthony Trucks: Yeah, it's a lot of things. There's a lot of things, man. You know what's funny is because we're such investment biased, . If we just give the work, we will not let ourselves not get the return. Right? If, say you go to the store and you know, there's, I don't know, it's a hot dog. Stand outside. If you give them $3, are you gonna walk away?

No. Even if you're not hungry, say, I'm gonna give you $3. I'm gonna get the hot dog. I'm gonna give it to somebody. I'm gonna give it to some, you know, I'm gonna do something with it. Cuz I gave the investment. And so for us, we're going, I want the feeling of confidence, the feeling of the, you know, I want that feeling.

I go. You don't get it unless you invest man. You have to give the energy and effort and typically that energy you give is not fueled by the emotion you design. Think about love. Like I have three kids. One's gonna college here in like three days. It's crazy. And when this kid was born, all of 'em were born.

All they were doing is pooping, eating, crying all day long. And you'd think, Well why? What's your kid? It's why you love it. And I go, Really? Let's think about this. Cuz even if it wasn't my kid, if I'm feeding this animal, whatever it is, and they're pooping crap, they're giving me nothing return. Well what?

What is the thing that developing love? It's my investment. I'm changing diapers, I'm soothing the child. I'm helping to go to sleep. I'm feeding it. So over time, this investment gets a return of the feeling and the connection of love. Therefore, I'll go to bed, I'll die for this thing. And so if you think about that same thing, the motion of love didn't usually start that.

It was like, Oh, I'm tired, but I gotta feed this thing. Right? You. But you do it. And after a while I get this loving feeling. And that really is what emotions are built off of. So if you want the emotion of confidence, the emotion that feels powerful to go kick into the. You have to deposit, and the deposit is gonna be effort.

It's gonna be reading more, researching more, dialing more things in, going to social media, testing more ideas to make sure they're clear and solid, and then putting it out there and getting feedback and taking the lumps. But when you've given that thing out to the world five times, taken five lumps, man, you just, I, I can't let all that be for nothing.

I want the return of confidence. And you get that little by little. And so where most people are, they're stuck at step one. It's like step one is the, That you need to take cause it's the first of a hundred. But I tell you, every step you take makes every step after it easier because you now go from a point of like, it was hard to do where it's hard not to do it anymore.

Bryan McAnulty: Yep. Got it. All right. So I wanna talk about a little bit what happens when things kind of go wrong. So you Basically you turned your life around, You started playing in nfl, but you still had these moments of doubt. We read about how like there was times when you wanted to quit. You even thought about actually ending your own life after your gym business failed.

If you think about like these moments in your life where you really get down, what helped you come back up? And would you say that there's any pattern in like the way of thinking that you could share with our audience of people who are experiencing similar emotion? Yeah. Where they just feel.

Everything kind of brought them down.

Anthony Trucks: Everything. It all sucks, man. I thought. Yeah, so I, I mean, yeah, I had the NFL go down and then I had, you know, my marriage fell apart and I wasn't a good father, and so I was like, No, I don't want, I'm done with this life thing, you know, at one point. And it all sucks and I mean, business stuff, you know, it's all been over the place.

But I will tell you this man, usually what takes place in those moments of like the dark, it's this feeling of helplessness and hopeful. Like, I, I have no hope. Therefore, it's like, why even try nothing can get better. Right? And then the helpless means even if I do try something, like I can't, it's not gonna pan out.

Never does. Right? Which ties to kind of the hope. And I think every time I was really in a bottom, that's where I kind of drifted off to. And so for me, I realized if I wanna get outta those places, I need to find a way to, to create hope and to create a little bit of, of feeling of control, right? How can I not feel helpless, but feel like I have some power even of a small.

And how can I create hope? And so what I noticed was whenever I was, and we all get in these dark modes, the first thing we do is we pull back from society, We tuck ourselves away to our holes. We want to interact with nobody. Cuz I don't wanna be a burden to my best friends and my people, right? I don't wanna make their life less than cuz I'm in a funky mood and so I pull away, which is interesting cuz think about when you're a human being and someone comes and you goes, Hey man, I'm having a bad day.

You go, let's talk about it cuz we want to help. So in our heads we're thinking people are gonna be rude to us and then when to hear our problems. But in reality, everybody loves to have that. Like, Oh, you, you wanna have me helping your dark time? Let's go. Like, Hey, how can I help? Right? There's that mentality to it.

And also, here's a cool thing is when people have conversations, when I confide in somebody, they have a different perspective. I believe perspective precedes enlightenment, the aha moments, and when someone can see my problem different than my brain is. Because me and you, if you, again, if you put one problem out here, we'd find a million different, different ways to solve it.

Cuz your brain's different than mine. You have a new perspective. And in doing so, you, my brain goes, Oh, I never thought of it that way. Hope. So, when I'm in those dark times, I reach out to people. I have conversations, I, I let people in. And because if I can get around you, you can gimme a new perspective.

It'll give me a little bit of hope. So I have this not hopelessness, I'm hopeful. I go, Oh, and something can be better. And then I can also lean on people to get. To work on this thing, I can find some control. And then the third thing of it all in the dark times is I borrow joy from people. Cuz usually when you go around your friends in a funky mood, they go, Oh, lets go get some ice cream.

Right? And they, they bring their joy to the situation and you, you get a little bit of it. So you go back to your life a little bit more joyful. You borrow some, And the reason I say borrow not take is because at some point when it's high enough, you'll find that someone notices you and you get to pass it on to them.

And so when people go into this place, you're talking. You gotta step back and go, Man, I can't, I can't silo myself. I've gotta reach out to humanity, interact with people, and then borrow some joy.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. I, I wanna say that I think you're spot on with all this, cuz I have an example, literally from yesterday, I was talking with somebody and and they were really down about something and it was exactly what you said that they were concerned that.

They, they didn't want tell me. They didn't wanna tell others about that, how they were feeling and, and everything. They thought like, we're gonna push them away. And I said, No. Like, I wanna help you. I, I wouldn't, I wouldn't want you to be here. And I'm not gonna say like, Oh, because you're, you're feeling bad.

I don't want you to be here. If, if anything, I'd rather you be involved with this. You know? And so it was that same kind of thing that, um it, when someone's down like. Reaching out to somebody, the person you're reaching out to, they, they wanna encourage that they're, they're not gonna say like, Oh, you're, you're depressed.

I, I don't want to help you. I don't want talk with you. I like that example.

Anthony Trucks: Yeah, man. It's, it's real life. It's, the thing is, I say this, a lot of us can all go, Oh yeah, that has happened. But it's funny, our brains in real time, we don't process that. We see so much and don't see the same things. Like we'll be president seeing it, but doesn't register sometimes.

So a lot of like, my time is spent like thinking through. Moments I've already relived and go, What didn't I see in this? What, what, what was not aware? And I, I guess it's some kind of like psychology, if you wanna call it studying, but it's like, it's pretty common sense when you really step back and you look at it kind of like a comedian does.

If you think about what's funny with comedians, they just look at real life and they frame it up and ways that are different that you never notice. And I go, That's hilarious. I've experienced that, but I never saw it that way. It's the same thing for all of us in life.

Bryan McAnulty: Yeah, that's a, that's a great analogy.

Comparing it to the com comedian. . So it seems like your, your latest shift happened kind of when you realized you wanted to give back and help others. And that seems like it led you to pursue this coaching career. And can you tell us a little bit about the the coaching business? I know we touched on it before, but who would you say is like your ideal client and how would you help them?

Anthony Trucks: Yeah, man, I, you know, ideal client's interesting cuz they always go like, I can help everybody and I can, but you can't at the same time. Cuz if you talk to everybody you talk to, The individuals I work best with are those who are executives, entrepreneurs, or athletes. And not to say everybody else can't get something in there, but those individuals have a different tick for how they desire to be, you know, better in some capacity.

But the tools that I use, they cover the basis for every human being that has an identity, right? So everybody, and most people aspire to be the athletes, the executives, and the entrepreneurs, right? So it fits in the same pocket, but I, I like to work with people who go, You know what? I can be. and that's the first part of it.

Like just someone's like, I can be better cuz there's this, this thought that like, you're okay as you are. Am I though? Like I could always get better in stuff, in every aspect. There's nothing wrong with that. I think football taught me this mentality of, most of us assume that if somebody finds a flaw or problem, you're horrible.

All of a sudden I go, Well I played football and every day we would go out to the football field as some of the best athletes in the world. But after practice I'd watch film of of things I messed up. . Was I a horrible player? No, I just had to work on that. Hey, line up more to the left. A strike here differently.

You gotta get the edge. You gotta see this thing. I didn't think, Oh, I can't ever go to the field again. No. I just said, Okay. When I go to the field already thinking I'm dope, here's how I can be more dope. You know?

Bryan McAnulty: It's almost exciting to make those discoveries. Yeah. Because now you say, this is how I can improve.

I was, I'm working, getting better, and now I've discovered how I can improve.

Anthony Trucks: Exactly. So part of it for a lot of people just Can you go in there and go, I can. , I can critique myself without being self critical. Like that's the thing. Can you, can you be critiquing of yourself in a way that doesn't make you think, Oh, I'm horrible.

Right? But then once that's done, the way that, that's part of our coaching structure is having someone come with that mindset and we help build it in. But then really what I step into and go, Okay, great, what I talked about earlier, Where are you at? Where do you wanna go? How do we create the experience to get you there?

How do I teach you rewire your, your brain? Because rewiring is an experience, and part of the experience also is achieve. So we work with people like they're actually achieving things, but achievement goes, Oh, you can do this. You are better at this. Here's a better way to think through this. So by the time that we've worked through something in the back end, they have got a great achievement.

They've either made more money, they've fixed relationship. They feel better about themselves, but they also, at the same time, they, they have the ability to do it again. There's this great statement I heard recently, I don't even remember who said it, but he says The first million is difficult, the second million is inevitable.

Because it's not about the achieving of a million dollars. It's the becoming of the person character wise, you know, intelligence wise, work ethic, production, who can make the million dollars when you do that? Yeah, you make the million. It's hard to become that person, but then you naturally do the things that just make it inevitable for the next one come in.

And so when I work through things with people, I am helping them become that person that has the achievement. It's difficult the first. But the next ones are inevitable cuz they just become the person who does those things. So we guide people through a process. I, I call it dark work experience. I helped architect and I helped execute and track that specific experience that leads you to that point of rewiring and achieving simultaneously.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. So when a new client starts working with you, would you say that there's like a common thread or misconception that they share that's blocking

Anthony Trucks: them? Potentially shifting our identity. Yeah. , the common thread is something I heard Tony Robb say, says, most people's problem is they think they shouldn't have problems.

So a lot of people come in and they won't go to the base of it. I, I, I've heard this thing also in their statement, it goes, it's hard to see the label when you're inside of the jar. And so a lot of us, we live in this jar and we don't realize what we're really being shown to the world, as you know. And so what happens is, as I work with people, And I'll point out this thing I noticed and the ego rears its head big time.

Oh, I'm good at that. I don't need help. You know, So the e go E, everyone's greatest obstacle. It's their ego. So the kind of golden thread is, I know I can be better, but the moment that I'm shown something that I need to improve upon. I will block everything to make sure I don't have to admit I have a chink in my armor.

It'd be like me going to the football field. I got, I did a play, I go to film. Coach says, You should have lined up here. No, I should have over here. I don't know. I'm talking about I could do this over and like being abrasive when really I've been, I should have been like, Ah, you're right. I should have been there.

The moment someone can get to that point, Oh, we're golden. But getting people to, to be okay being wrong, man, that's a problem cuz you think about all of our life, we don't. If you're in an argument with your wife or your spouse, you don't immediately go, You're right. Most of the time you battle for your position, even if you're wrong, like people will still battle even if they're wrong.

So like that does carry to other parts of your life. That's a label most people don't notice is you will defend your position. Even in the face of glaring proof, you're incorrect, surely to not be out of alignment or wrong. And so if you're so engaged with this mentality, I gotta be right, You'll stay right where.

Bryan McAnulty: That's a great point. I, I do think myself, I feel that my ability to forget about the, the ego and, and let that all go to the side has been something that's been a driver for some of the success that I've had. Oh, a hundred percent. And like, definitely it's the way you get the level you are. Like, it's not saying like you have to still have, it's okay to have this goal and, and wanna achieve something, but at the same time as you said, you have to be able to say like, Oh, am I wrong?

And just be willing to look into that without having to feel that you have to defend some identity that you have to be right all the time. So I like that. Yeah.

Anthony Trucks: Well if you think about this, I wanna make sure this is clear too. An ego isn't a bad thing. It just is. And I think a lot of us have framed it cuz we usually experience it or notice it more in the negatives.

Right? So the eagle is protecting parts of your I. Your identity is expressed through actions, right? And I express myself differently in my marriage and this podcast, my kids, you know, even in business. So what happens is that identity is being protected again by the ego. Now, parts of the identity are great.

My identity is the guy that goes, I'm gonna be here on time, ready to go with my tea. So me and Bryan go to work like we're here, right? That's part of my ego saying that's who Anthony is. Protect that part of the identity. But then let's say I walk outta here and I go into the house with my wife and.

Identity is expressing itself poorly as a husband cuz she needs something. And I go, Ah, it's your own problem, right? It'll still protect that part of my identity and if it's a poor part of identity. So the thing is, the ego is just a protector. So your questions most people should be, what kind of identity is it protected?

What segment is it protecting? And does that deserve to be protected? So for your business now, there's no way you create something you've created at the level you have without having to remove parts of your identity that go, you know it. I'm not the best for that. The company's so much smarter than me there, better than me there, right?

That's a part of the ego peeling back going, I cannot protect the part of the identity that says I gotta do everything, or we're gonna not help anybody. So that is definitely something you had to have done over time. But when you do it more intent, like if you go into your life now and start looking at where am I world?

Am I very adamant about holding something, some ground? What am I protecting? And then where can that be better for the future of my career, of my life, my relationships? You'll start navigating conversations different. You'll start seeing like you can actually create more shearly by. Let me peel back the ego and find a way to improve this area.

Bryan McAnulty: That's an awesome explanation. I really like that. Well, I think that's a good place to wrap it up, but one last question I have for you. One thing we like to do in the show is have each of our guests ask a question to the audience. So if you could ask anything to our audience, anything you'd wanna know about them about where they are, about anything you're just curious about, what would you ask?

Anthony Trucks: What would I ask them? I would, Oh, here's one I would ask. And it has to do with people's life lives. What they see and perceive is what is your scale for success? The reason I ask that question is most of us are borrowing the world's scale, and we're gonna completely feel let down every time we achieve because the world scale is never ending.

So even if you do achieve something, someone will come in and go, but you could have done. And so the question I ask people is, have you ever stepped aside and written down your own personal skill for success? So when you achieve it, even when, not if, when the world goes, but you could have done more, you can look at it and go, Yeah, but I did more than enough for what I wanted.

Bryan McAnulty: Awesome. That's a great question. Good thing to to think about. All right, Anthony. Well, this is a great interview. Where can people find you online if they wanna learn? .

Anthony Trucks: Yeah. Best places at Anthony Trucks on Instagram. I, that's where I'm at personally. Spend lot of time. We're in all the platforms and everything, but that's where I spend my time communicating with people.

Bryan McAnulty: All right. Awesome. Thanks so much Anthony.

Anthony Trucks: Welcome man. Thanks.

Bryan McAnulty: If you enjoyed this interview and won the chance to ask questions to our guests live, tune in on Tuesdays when new episodes premiere on the Heights Platform Facebook page. To learn more about the show and get notified when new episodes release, check out the Creator's Adventure dot com. Until then, keep learning and I'll see you in the next episode.