Mike and motivational speaker Terry Tucker got together to discuss finding your life’s purpose and putting into action living that purpose. Terry recounted some experiences within his own life and how he found his true path amid a terminal diagnosis.
Terry Tucker’s Biography
Terry Tucker is a motivational speaker and author of Sustainable Excellence, Ten Principles to Leading Your Uncommon and Extraordinary Life. Over his career, he has worn many professional hats, including marketing executive, hospital administrator, working undercover in narcotics, SWAT team hostage negotiator, and business owner. His most recent experience is that of a cancer warrior. He strives to help others find and lead their uncommon and extraordinary lives through Motivational Check, his website.
In This Episode, You’ll Learn…
- The four truths of life and how to live well
- What is sustainable excellence?
- Why it’s important to find and define your purpose
- Why it’s essential to be honest and genuine
- Why it’s vital to be a team player
- Why it’s important to be a part of something bigger than yourself
- Why humility is a good character trait
- Ways to transform suffering into something better
- You can handle much more than you could ever imagine
- The 40% rule
- How to spin positive things out of negative situations
Quotables
- “I have reinvented myself numerous times over my professional career. One thing I’ve realized during all those changes is that we were not supposed to live common and ordinary lives. We were made to be uncommon and extraordinary. I’ve come to understand that pain and discomfort can make us stronger and more resolute, and we can use our struggles to make us better.” —Terry Tucker
- “Control your mind or your mind is going to control you.” —Terry Tucker
- “Embrace the pain and the difficulty that we all experience in life and use that pain and difficulty to make you a stronger and more determined individual.” —Terry Tucker
- “What you leave behind is what you weave in the hearts of other people.” —Terry Tucker
- “As long as you don’t quit, you can never be defeated.” —Terry Tucker
- “I think my purpose, as I’m more than likely coming to the end of my life, is to put as much goodness, as much positivity, as much motivation, and as much love back into the world as I can.” —Terry Tucker
- “You have to let go at some point in your life of certain things and let the experts take care of that.” —Terry Tucker
- “We’re all going to experience pain in our lives and it doesn’t have to be cancer pain, or, or even an illness. It could be a flunk, a test at school, you breakup with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, or you don’t get the promotion at work that you think you deserve. Pain is inevitable suffering. On the other hand, suffering is optional. Suffering is what you do with that pain.” —Terry Tucker
- “Everything you need to be successful in life is already inside. You just need to find it, pull it out and use it for your benefit.” —Terry Tucker
Links & Resources Mentioned…
- Terry’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-tucker-9b5605179/
- Motivational Check Website: https://www.motivationalcheck.com/
- Motivational Check FB: https://www.facebook.com/motivationalcheck
- Terry’s Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/terrytucker201
- Terry’s IG: https://www.instagram.com/sustainableexcellenceauthor/
- Terry’s Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GLGVTVS
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Episode #69
Mike O'Neill: Welcome back to the Get Unstuck & On Target Podcast. I'm Mike O'Neill with Bench Builders and we help business owners solve the tough people problems that're slowing their company's growth. Joining me today from Denver, Colorado is Terry Tucker. Terry is a motivational speaker and author. Terry has worn many professional hats. He's been an NCAA division, one college basketball player, a Citadel Cadet, a marketing executive, a hospital administrator, an undercover narcotics investigator, a SWAT team hostage negotiator, a business owner, and most recently a cancer warrior. Terry started the website motivationalcheck.com to help others find and lead their uncommon and extra ordinary lives. Welcome Terry.
Terry Tucker: Thanks Mike. I'm looking forward to talking with you today.
Mike O'Neill: Terry is, as I read all off, all the things that you have done professionally, we probably could do an entire podcast on each and every one of those. But let me go ahead and set the stage. What I would hope we would spend most of our time on. And that is, I would love for you to be able to share some aspects of what led to writing your book. The name of the book is Sustainable Excellence, 10 Principles for Leading Your Uncommon, an Extraordinary Life. And before we get into that, I rattle through life experiences professionally, but then I ended on cancer warrior. Would you share for our listeners a little bit about your cancer journey?
Terry Tucker: Sure. So 2012, as you mentioned, I was a basketball coach was a girl's high school basketball coach in Texas. And I had a callous break open on the bottom of my foot right below my third toe and being a coach you're on your feet a lot. So I didn't give it much thought initially, but after a couple of weeks, it didn't heal. I went to see a podiatrist, a foot doctor, friend of mine, and he took an x-ray and he said, Terry, I think you have a little cyst in there and I can cut it out. And he did. And he showed it to me a little gelatin sack with some white fat in it, nothing, you know, dark spots, no blood, nothing that gave either one of us concern, but he set it off to pathology. And then two weeks later I get a call from him. And as I mentioned, he was a friend of mine and the more difficulty he was having, explaining what was going on, the more frightened I was becoming until finally he just laid it out for me. He said, Terry, been a doctor for 25 years. I have never seen this form of cancer. You have your rare form of melanoma. That appears on the bottom of the feet or the palms of the hands. And he recommended that I go be treated at MD Anderson cancer center in Houston. And I did, I had the bottom of my foot excise, the tumor cutout and all the lymph nodes in my groin removed. And then when I healed my oncologist, put me on a drug treatment called interferon and I took a weekly interferon injection for almost five years. The downside of the interferon was that it gave me severe flu like symptoms for two to three days every week after each injection. So imagine having the flu every week for five years and that wasn't a cure. That was just to keep the disease from coming back, which eventually it did because I had to stop the interferon in 2017. Because I ended up in the intensive care unit with a fever of 108 degrees, which again, usually is not compatible with being alive, but I was at a level one trauma center and they were able to stabilize me. So that was 2017, 2018 had my left foot amputated because of the cancer 2019, it worked its way up my leg and my shin and I had two more surgeries. And then last year, 2020 and undiagnosed tumor in my ankle area grew large enough that a fractured my tibia, my shinbone and my only recourse right in the middle of the pandemic was to have my left leg amputated above the knee, and also found out that I had tumors in my lungs. And I know that doesn't sound very uplifting. It sounds kind of like a debbie downer story and in a lot of ways it is, but I really feel that cancer has made me a better human being.
Mike O'Neill: I appreciate you sharing that. I'd like to share with our listeners a quote that, you have made. And it reads, I have reinvented myself numerous times over my professional career. One thing I've realized during all those changes is that we were not supposed to live common and ordinary lives. We were made to be uncommon and extraordinary. I've come to understand that pain and discomfort can make us stronger and more resolute, and we can use our struggles to make us better. If we embrace our distress. You just shared five plus years of considerable distress. And as a result, it's led you to share what we're going to be talking about today. You, you've not only written a book, but you've also introduced me to what you characterize as the four truths. May we start with that? Would you share with our listeners, the four truths.
Terry Tucker: Sure. The four truths are what I've learned, I guess, over, you know, since 2012, I guess almost 10 years now of this cancer journey and the way I describe the role, the way I feel about them is they're kind of the bedrock of my soul. They're a good place to, to build a life off of. And I'll give them to you. I have them on a post-it note here on my desk. I see them every day and they're, they're just one sentence each. So the first one is control your mind or your mind is going to control you. The second one is embrace the pain and the difficulty that we all experience in life and use that pain and difficulty to make you a stronger and more determined individual. The third one is, is more of a, I guess, a legacy truth for lack of a better word. I think it's important for all of us to, to, you know, consider the end game, you know, how we're going to die. And, and what are people gonna say about us at our funeral? And the third one is. What you leave behind is what you weave in the hearts of other people. And then the fourth one is pretty self-explanatory it's this, as long as you don't quit you can never be defeated. So like I said, I use those four truths to kind of guide my life and help me make decisions on what therapies I, I should consider I should take. And, and you know, what projects I should be involved in, you know, when I'm not in therapies and things like that. So for me, they work. If you know, for your audience, if they work for your audience, please take them. And, you know, if there's one that works, take that and incorporate it in your life. And hopefully you're going to have a much better, much more determined, a much stronger life.
Mike O'Neill: I love those. Now these four truths are these truths that have spoken to you that you kind of just kind of put together. And they kind of are those four pillars that you try to live your life day to day by?
Terry Tucker: That's exactly it. I mean, I have learned them, most of them through cancer, the, the control, your mind that I learned when I was in high school and I had three knee surgeries in that. But yeah, there, there things that I've learned throughout, you know, I've, I've had a lot of time to kind of sit around and heal and I've used that time to kind of think and how has this impacted me and put these things together.
Mike O'Neill: So as you kind of reflect on those four truths, you reflect on how that's impacted you and your family. It led you to move beyond just four truths to put some concepts down in the form of a book. I'm going to read the title again, just so we know that Sustainable Excellence, 10 Principles to Leading Your Uncommon and Extraordinary Life. Can we start with the title there, sustainable excellence. What does that mean to you?
Terry Tucker: Yeah, and that's a, that's a great people. Always have, you know, what is excellence mean. And I talk about that in the introduction to the book. I don't know what excellence means. To me excellence is one thing to you, excellence may be something entirely different. And, I think it was Aristotle that said, you know, excellence is kind of like beauty. It's sort of in the eye of the beholder. You know, that person is excellent. Well, you would say that maybe I would in that. So I think excellence is something we have to, to come to. But when we get there, You know, so many people get to that sort of pinnacle, whatever that is in their life. Whether you know, you're in sports, it's a championship, whether you're running a company, whatever that ends up being, and then they stay. And you're, you're not going to get better. You're not going to be able to, to stay sort of at the top of the mountain, unless you continue to sustain that excellence. So what are you doing? I mean, you look at championship teams, you know, Hey, we won the national championship in football, in college. Great. What are we going to do? Maintenance. Well, you can't, if you maintain it, somebody else is going to surpass you. So you have to sustain it. You have to get better than you already are. So that's kind of where the title sustainable excellence came from.
Mike O'Neill: You go on, you've identified 10 principles for leading your uncommon in extra ordinary life. You're trying to point out to us that we have a choice of how we want to view these things uncommon, extraordinary life. Why does that resonate with you?
Terry Tucker: I remember a quote from Mark Twain, who said that the two most important days of our lives are the day we're born and the day we figure out why. And I just love that quote and it's something, you know, again, I don't have the market cornered. I don't have all the answers, but I, I, the, the, the 10 principles really came out of two conversations I had. One was with a former basketball player that had moved to Colorado where my wife and I live and she moved here with her fiance and we'd had dinner with them one night. And I remember saying to her, you know, I'm really excited that you're living close because I can watch you find and live your purpose. And she got real quiet for a while and she kind of looked at me and she was like, well, coach, what do you think my purpose. I said, I have no idea what your purpose is. That's what your life should be about. Finding the reason you were put on this earth and then living that reason. You know, we're not all born with the same gifts and talents, but we all have the ability to become the best person that we're capable of becoming. So that was one story. And then I had a young man in college, reach out to me on social media and wanted to know what I thought were the most important things he should learn to not just be successful in his job or in business. But in life in general. And I didn't want to give him that, you know, get up early work hard, help others. Not that those aren't important. They are. They're incredibly important. But I wanted to see if I could go deeper with them. So I thought about it for a while. It took some notes and eventually I had these 10 thoughts, these 10 ideas, these 10 principles, and I sent them to them and then I stepped back and I was like, well, you know, I've got a life story that fits underneath this principle, or I know somebody whose life emulates this principle. So literally during the time I was healing from the amputation of my leg, which was about a three month period between that and when I started chemotherapy for the tumors in my lungs, I sat down every day at the computer and I built stories underneath each of the principles. And they're real stores. I mean, they're, they're real people who, you know, exemplify what those principles mean. So I, I don't want people to think that, oh, you just made this up. No, these are real people that actually did this. And so that's pretty much how sustainable excellence came to be.
Mike O'Neill: I love that story. We went down the path of finding your, why have you found that your why has changed? And if so, how?
Terry Tucker: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, you, you talked a little bit about my resume and if you look, my first two jobs were in business. And my passion at that point in my life, my, my purpose I felt was to be in law enforcement. My grandfather was a Chicago police officer 1924 to 1954 was actually shot in the line of duty with his own gun. And my dad remembered the stories. My grandmother told them the knock on the door, Mrs. Tucker please grab your son, come with us. Your husband's been shot. So when I expressed interest of going down that path, my dad was like, oh, absolutely not. You're going to go to college. You're going to major in business. You're going to get a great job in business. Get married, have 2.4 kids and live in the suburbs and live happily ever after. Great. But that's the, that's what my dad wanted me to do. It's not what I wanted to do. So when I graduated from college, I ended up finding that first job in the corporate headquarters of Wendy's. But the downside was I spent the next three and a half years living with my parents, helping my mom care for my father and my grandmother who were both dying of different forms of cancer. So I had a choice. I graduated from college. Should I say, Hey, dad's sorry, I got to go blaze my own trail or out of respect and love for you and all you and mom have done for us. I will do what you want me to do. I will go into business. So those first two jobs. I did for my father. And then I sorta joke I did what every son did good son, waited till my father, passed away, and then I followed my own dreams. And so I switched at 37 years old to a career in law enforcement. So I felt that was my purpose. I always felt it was my purpose. And I was able to do that. Today I think my purpose as I'm more than likely coming to the end of my life. Is to put as much goodness, as much positivity, as much motivation as much love back into the world as I can. And it's conversations like you and I are having that hopefully make a difference in the lives of the members of your audience. And if they do that for me, today's been a good day.
Mike O'Neill: Well, it's already been a good day for me by just spending time with you. As we record this podcast. You shared professional journeys that took turns you were able to pursue a passion, but one of the things you're doing now is spreading that sense of you can do this, that sense of optimism, but you have peppered into it just real world. And the real world issues that you are currently deal with are real with a capital R. When you are asked to speak as a motivational speaker. I know that you have stories that you can share, you can take them straight out of your book. But what do you find when you are wanting people to really connect with what is you're sharing with them? Something that would stick with them. What do you find resonates such that as a motivational speaker, that you know, you've made a difference and their lives?
Terry Tucker: I think the most important thing when you're speaking to anybody is you have to be honest and you have to be genuine. And I, like I said, I don't, I don't have all the answers, you know, I don't have the market cornered. I remember many months ago, I read a great book called legacy, which is about the New Zealand national rugby team, who by all intents and purposes are the most successful sports franchise in any sport, in any country of all times. And they're called the all blacks because their uniforms are all black. And, and I'm reading this book and I took four pages of notes and here's this elite group of individuals. And when they add a member to their team, what they add is, you know, I'm thinking, well, you know, I don't know anything about rugby, but you're going to add a player that's technically good at whatever spot on the, on the, the, the team they're supposed to fill, but that's not what they do. They hire for two things. One is character. What kind of a person are you, you know, now, what kind of a player are you? What kind of a person are you outside of this game? And two they hire for humility. You know what? I don't have all the answers. I don't know everything. And I think their, their feeling is that's okay. You don't have to know us together. When we come together as a team, we will figure that out. So, you know, the kind of bravado that you see a lot in professional sports, you know, they look at me, it's all about me and that kind of stuff. That's not what they're about. And I guess maybe that's the reason they're one of the most successful sports franchises in history, because it's not about the individual, it's about the team collectively. And that's one thing I've learned playing team sports my entire life. Starting about nine years old and playing up through college, the importance of being part of something that's bigger than you, you know, you know, as, as a teammate, if you don't do your job, not only are you letting yourself down, you're letting your teammates down your coaches down your fans down, et cetera. And if you think about. The biggest team game that we all play is this game of life. So, you know, when I go for my, my clinical trial treatments, I know those treatments probably are not going to save my life. But they may save the life of somebody five or 10 years from now. And that to me is being part of something that's bigger than yourself. And I guess I'll end with this, you know, a lot of times in life, we have two handles that we can, we grasp things with, you know, okay, I'm going to treatment. Do I have to go to treat. Or do I get to go to treatment. For me you know, I mean, yeah, treatments suck. Pardon my French. But you know what? I get to do that because by getting to do that, I am hopefully having an impact on somebody that I never even know, but that gives my life a little bit more meaning.
Mike O'Neill: You have shared a number of sports analogies. The name of our business has bench builders. So you know, that I kinda light up with that, that is really a play on the critical importance of the strength of your bench, bench strength, who you can put into the, into the game. You mentioned the all blacks and that they're looking at humility as a characteristic. As I stepped back and I'm just thinking about what you just said. These are perennial champions. They have a legacy as being, and they are looking for not just talent, but humility. I suspect that what you have dealt with has humbled you in the process, but you also some said something about just genuineness and transparency. I'm looking at you as we're recording this and I'm looking at you straight in the eye and you're doing the exact same thing back. Your willingness to share what for many people is a very private journey and your willingness to share that. You get to share that story. And I love the way you, that you kind of kind of phrased it. You know, Terry, as we've kind of looked at the different things we could discuss, you've written a book in writing the book where you took those 10 things and you elaborate on them. What might have been some ahas that you had that you realized in writing a book that might not have happened otherwise?
Terry Tucker: Yeah, that's a, that's a great question. I, you know, having written a book it's, I've never, I've never given birth and I'm very glad I haven't, but that's the closest I've ever come. And I remember, you know, it was, I worked with a publishing company that I did not self publish the book and there were editors along the process. And there were three different editors and they, you know, they would be like, well, here, you should expand on this or you should take this out, are you sure? And I would get initially somewhat indignant, like, how dare you? I mean, this is my book and things like that. And, and I would always say, okay, let me sleep on it. And I'll let you know, in the morning and 99.9% of the time. I would do exactly what they told me to do because I kind of looked at it like they were the experts. I was not, I had no understanding of publishing and how it worked, and I wanted it to be the best book that I could possibly put out there. So why would I be, you know, you, you have to let go at some point in your life of certain things and let the experts take care of that. I mean, I, I, when I was coaching basketball, you always had one or two parents, one, or usually dad. You know, thought they knew more about basketball than I did. And so I really kind of stressed that at my parent meetings. It's like, look, I won't come to your job and tell you how to do yours. If you don't come to mind and tell me how to do mine. You know, don't coach from the stands, you know, that kind of an attitude. And when I wrote the book, I had two rules and these, and that's all I had, the first one was I will write one page at least one page every single day, except Sunday, I took Sunday off and number two, I will not edit until I have the first draft of the book done. And, you know, there were days when I sat down at the computer and I wrote absolute garbage. It was I'm writing and I'm like, why am I writing this? This is terrible. But then the next day I wrote something that was better or something that I thought, well, this is good. And so, you know, it's kinda, you know, that, that verse in the Bible about, you know, taking out the chaff and burning it, you know, and like what you're left with is, is the good seeds. And so that's kind of was my experience. It was like, well, I don't know what to do, but at some point in time, you have to give control over to the people who know what they're doing. And that was one of the biggest aha moments I had. Cause I thought I was just here. I wrote a book here, go ahead and publish it. No, it was a lot more. Let's bring experts, let's bring cover designers, let's do everything. And then you get your input, but these guys are the experts. Let them do what they were paying them to do.
Mike O'Neill: That's great guidance. I'm glad you had that. Aha. You know, you've already probably given us more than one example, but let me circle back on this. And that is, can you reflect on a situation where perhaps you got stuck and when that happened, what did you do to get unstuck?
Terry Tucker: Yeah, that's, that's a great question. I guess I go back, I'll give you this the four truths and I think I learned this in high school. I had three knee surgeries in high school and when I went back playing basketball, my mind was putting all this negative garbage into my, into my thoughts. You know, things like, Hey, you know, you had three knee surgeries, you probably a step slower and college coaches, aren't going to want to recruit you, you know, to play at their school. So, you know, I'm listening to what my brain is telling me. And, you know, at some point in time, I was like, no, wait a minute. I'm still playing at an elite level. And coaches are still contacting me about the possibility of playing for their college or university. So I needed to flip that switch. I needed to change that narrative and, and I've read several articles that say on any given day, we have 60 to 70,000 thoughts that go through our brain. And so, you know, to most of them, they just pass through and they're gone. But when you want, you know, when you want to be positive, when you want to turn that around and not just be, you know, all the world's terrible and you know, I'm in it and I'm like, you, you can be that way. You know, I always say. We're all going to experience pain in our lives and it doesn't have to be cancer pain, or, or even an illness. It could be a flunk a test at school, you breakup with your boyfriend or your girlfriend, or you don't get the promotion at work that you think you deserve. Pain is inevitable. Suffering on the other hand, suffering is optional. Suffering is what you do with that page. Do you take it and use it to make you a stronger and better individually? Or do you wallow in it and want people to feel sorry for you and feel sorry for yourself? And you know, Mike, you're looking at me right now. There's no S on my chest, I'm not wearing a Cape. You know? So I'm a human being. I have bad days. I cry. I get down. I feel sorry for myself. And when I do, I remember two stories and I'll tell them to you real quick. Number one is about a story, from Johns Hopkins university, back in the 1950s, there was a professor who did this experiment with rats, very simple experiment. He took rats and he put them in a tank of water that was over there head he wanted to see how long the rats could tread water. And the average rat treaded water initially for about 15 minutes. And just as the rats were getting ready to sink and drown, he reached in, grabbed them, pulled them out, dry them off, let them rest for awhile. And then he put them back in that exact same tank of water. The second time around those rats treaded water on average 60 hours. Think about that 15 minutes. That's all I can do. I'm done. I'm at the end of my rope. Can't go on any further. That's all I can do. But the second time around 60 hours, which says to me two things. One, the importance of hope in our lives, we have to believe that life is going to get better or that we're working towards something that is going to make our life better. And two just how much more our physical bodies can handle than we ever thought that they could. And the second part of that is I have a friend who's a former Navy seal, members of the military, for those in your audience who don't know what a seal is. Some of the toughest, most elite warriors that we have, and they talk about their 40% rule. Which basically says, if you're at the end of your rope, you can't run another lap or swim another mile or do another pushup. You're only at 40% of your maximum and you still have 60% left to give to yourself. So when all these negative things start coming into your mind, and I know they do for people, one change the narrative, flip the switch to something positive. No, wait a minute. I am better. I am, I'm doing this. Whatever the positive part of it is one. And then two realize you are so much more than you ever thought you could be in your life. Everything you need to be successful in life is already inside. Just need to find it, pull it out and use it for your benefit.
Mike O'Neill: Oh, I love this. The power of hope and the realization that when we think we've maxed out, we've got 60% more fantastic. You know, as you kind of reflect on what we've discussed and the kinds of things we could have discussed. What might be takeaways, do you want to make sure our listeners have regarding Terry Tucker and our conversation?
Terry Tucker: I'll leave you with this one last story. I I've always been a big fan of westerns growing up. You know, my mom and dad used to let me stay up and watch Gunsmoke and Bonanza and Wild, Wild West. 1993, the movie Tombstone came out and you may have seen it very popular movie. Starred Val Kilmer as a man by the name of John doc holiday. And Kurt Russell as a man by the name of Wyatt Earp. Now doc holiday and Wyatt Earp two living, breathing human beings who walked on the face of the earth. They're not made up characters for the movie. And doc was called doc because he was a dentist by trade, but pretty much doc holiday was a gunslinger and a card shark. And Wyatt had been a law man. His entire life. And these two men from entirely opposite backgrounds formed this very close friendship. And at the end of the movie, doc holiday is dying at a Sanitarium in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, which is about three hours from my house. The real Doc Holiday died at that sanitary. He's buried in the Glenwood Springs cemetery. And Wyatt at this point in his life is destitute. He has no money has no job. He has no prospects for a job. So every day comes to play cards with doc and the two men past the time, that way. And in this scene, they're talking about what they want out of life. And doc says, you know, I was in love with my cousin when I was younger, but she joined a convent over the affair, but she's all that I ever wanted. And he looks at Wyatt. This is, what about you Wyatt, what do you want? And Wyatt kind of nonchalantly says, I just want to lead a normal. And doc looks at him and says, there's no normal. There's just life and get on with living yours. Mike, you and I know people out there that are like, you know, they're holding back when this happens I'll have a normal life. When that happens all, have a successful life. When this happens, I have a significant life. What I would say to you is don't wait, don't wait for life to come to you. Get out there. Find the reason you were put on the face of this earth and live that reason. Because if you do at the end of your life, I'm going to promise you two things. One, you're going to be a whole lot happier. And two, you're going to have a whole lot more peace in your heart.
Mike O'Neill: I love it. It's pretty clear why you named your website? Motivational check.com, but I'd like to add. Motivational check.com. Can you explain that term check and how that fits into motivational check?
Terry Tucker: Yeah. When I was in the police academy, our defensive tactics instructor was, was kind of I don't even know what the word is. Unconventional, I guess would probably be the best way. I mean, he used to have us bring, a photograph of the people we love the most to class. And as we were learning to defend ourselves, we were to look at that photograph because he reasoned you'll fight harder for the people you love. Then you will fight for yourself. And the other thing he did was he instituted that phrase, motivational check so that whenever any of us got to the point where, you know, we were tired, we didn't feel good we hurt whatever it was. We could just scream out motivational check. And the rest of the class would respond with an 84. We were the 84th recruit class just to let that person know. It's like, Hey, we're all hurting. We're all in this together. And we're going to get through it together. So when I was looking for a name, a title for my, my blog, basically I thought motivational check would just be perfect. And everybody seems to like it.
Mike O'Neill: Well, I like it. It's memorable and I know our listeners will want to go and check that out. Terry, if they want to reach out to you to connect online, what's the best way for them to do that?
Terry Tucker: Probably the easiest way is to go to motivationalcheck.com. You can get access to my book there. You can get access to my social media sites. You can leave me a note or a message. So motivationalcheck.com would probably be the easiest way to get to me.
Mike O'Neill: All right. We will include that. I will also include if you're okay with this, your LinkedIn, profile. So if people want to connect with you there as, as well. Terry, thank you for sharing from your heart. Thank you for sharing your passion and sharing your why.
Terry Tucker: Well, Mike, thanks for having me on, like I said, hopefully our conversation is going to make a difference in somebody's life. And if it does today has been a great day.
Mike O'Neill: Well, I can already asure you. It has been a good day for me, and it will be a good day for those who actually listen.
Terry Tucker: Thank you.
Mike O'Neill: I also want to thank our listeners who will be listening to this podcast and who have joined us today. Every Thursday, we upload the latest episode to all the major platforms. So if you haven't already, please subscribe. Got a question for our listeners. Are people problems keeping you up at night? Let's talk, head to bench-builders.com to schedule a quick call. We'll explore ways to help you solve your people problems. So you can again, focus on growing your business. So I want to thank you for joining us and I hope you've picked up some tips from Terry that will help you Get Unstuck & On Target. Until next time.