SPEAKER_01: 0:12

Welcome back to another episode of The Burn. I am Ben Newman, and you know how we do this every single week. We bring you a story of an athlete, an entertainer, a celebrity, an author, a business owner, somebody who has helped us realize that why and purpose is not enough. It's that underlying burn that ignites your why and purpose that causes you to show up on the days you don't feel like it, and especially after you win. Now, when I say this is like a long time coming, this is a long time coming. I don't know who, why, or who's been putting these obstacles in the way of my man Icky Johnson and I haven't the opportunity to meet, but we've had to do virtual, we've done virtual stages together. He's been on the mental toughness forum. He was supposed to come and speak at Kansas State and then COVID hits. He came to speak at Alabama when I was working at Alabama. Of course, he picks a day that I'm not there, like just can't make it work. But now we've got him on the bird, he can't go anywhere, and he's coming to boot camp live with us in Texas. We are going big as Texas. So if you're gonna go big like Texas, you got to have Inky Johnson with you. So Inky, long time overdue. Welcome to the burn.

SPEAKER_00: 1:31

My God, man, I'm honored, I'm grateful. I can't thank you enough, man. As you know, man, you're somebody that I have a tremendous amount of respect for, just in terms of what you do, but also, man, who you are, you know. And so I'm honored to be on, man, and thank you so much for the time.

SPEAKER_01: 1:48

Oh man, the the the time is our blessing. And I just I just want to take this back to what I remember. It's over 10 years ago now. ET starts talking about Inky Johnson, starts dropping these clips. And I'm always, you know, I love speakers, I love the craft. I'm like, wait a second, like who is this Inky Johnson? And I I mean, I got goosebumps thinking about it. And I just I hear your words and the raw energy, the passion, the fire, the fuel. And it was like, man, this is unbelievable. So for me, like it's one of those things, I just knew how big this was gonna become for you. I knew you were gonna be world renowned. I knew it was like I saw one video, and I'm like, dude, this guy's gonna be all over the world. And now you have. But here's what I want to share, which maybe many people don't specifically ask you about. I still see the same joy, fire, passion, and energy, and in your smile and in your eyes when you speak as you did back then. And you and I are on a lot of stages, and we're around a lot of people, they come with their canned speech, they deliver it, they're in and they're out. But like there's a fire and a passion you have. Where does that come from for you? How have you continued to carry that on?

SPEAKER_00: 3:08

I would say um it comes just from the journey to getting to the point to where I connected to a different purpose. And what I mean by that is I never thought I would be doing the work that I'm doing. And so I remember speaking to a young man, Ben, and he was like, Man, what do you mean? Like you never thought you would be speaking? I was like, Yeah, man, I never thought that I would be speaking, you know, the rooms that I'm in, traveling the way that I'm traveling. I never thought I played ball. I thought I would just go off, play ball, have a career, fade off into the sunset. And so the way that has happened and the things that have happened, it's humbling. You know, like when people come up to me and say, hey man, I watch a video with my son. Hey, man, I sent this clip to my daughter. Hey, man, we were having dinner the other night, me and my family, man, and we watched this and we talked about it. Like, that's humbling for me because I never thought that I would be doing what I'm doing. And so when things happen and transpire the way that they transpire, every time I go into a room, I feel as if I'm there on assignment. Every opportunity I get, I'm there on assignment. It's almost as if, you know, my injury happened. Then a lot of people look at that day and that that incident and say, okay, man, he got injured. Like it's a football injury. But my life changed. And a lot of people don't realize that. Like my life literally changed. I almost lost my life. I was literally fighting for my life. Like a lot of people see the paralyzed right arm and hand. They don't think about I got cut six times down my left eye. They don't think about I got cut one time across the left side of my neck, one time across the right, twice through my right ribs, cut out my right peck, bottom of my armpit to the bottom of my hand, 350. Like they sliced and diced me and gutted me like a fish. My life changed. The next day I woke up, I didn't even look the same. And so for one path to end and another path to begin that you never imagine, it's a certain level of humility that comes along with that. Like I tell people, people that are elite at what they do, just winners, man, like people that know how to win. Any situation you throw at them, people that know how to process it. Like, I feel like one of the traits that every winner has is humility, right? And the type of humility that gets up every single day and competes with the person that they were yesterday. The type of humility, it doesn't matter what they've accomplished. The type of humility, it doesn't matter how much money you got. The type of humility, it doesn't matter how many games you won. It doesn't matter what you did last year. The type of humility that gets up every single day, and they're grateful for the opportunity, and they get up and they sharpen that axe to try to be better. They got that burn, man. And you say burn, that that's that burn, baby. That's that burn, man.

SPEAKER_01: 5:56

It just I I love I just love hearing you speak because it's the passion piece. And this is where so many people they have what what you just shared. They have that fire in them, they just haven't connected to it because most people, I want everybody to hear me now. Most people, when you face challenge and adversity, you make a choice to not go find your greatest strength. So picture this. Inky is on the phone with his mom, getting ready to take the field at the University of Tennessee, projected to be a first-round draft pick, money buttoned up, everything is gonna be taken care of, gonna take care of the family, and goes and experiences the injury that he just expressed to you. And then he makes a choice to allow that to become his greatest strength. And that is what you now feel when he speaks and when you're in his presence. Inky, why what? Why? Like, you know, my mother dying, I would give anything to have my mother back. I and my mom, the strength she had to divorce my dad, who was a drug addict, alcoholic, manic depressive, bipolar. When I'm a six-month-old baby boy and she's got the courage to have divorced, and then she dies from a rare disease. Like, I could have given up on life too. I could have decided that, like, this just isn't for me. I'm just nobody would blame me if I went down the wrong path. Nobody would have blamed you. You had your life taken away from you, the money to but we just decided to fight. And I now realize my greatest strength is the adversity that I faced. Why do you think people struggle to take their adversity and allow it to give them perspective for strength the way that you have?

SPEAKER_00: 7:47

I think um I think it's challenging, man. Like when people go through struggles, adversity, opposition, change, uncertainty, you know, oftentimes we spend a lot of time just trying to figure it out. Like, why am I going through this? Why did I have to go through this? What does this mean? And I think the gift of adversity and the gift of opposition and the gift of struggle is oftentimes it gives you time to reflect. And so even in my own life, just speaking from personal experience, every time I go through adversity and opposition, I reflect. And I remember when I went through my injury and my arm got paralyzed. And I was like, man, okay, what is this? Like, what does this mean? Like, I get up one day and I can no longer use my right arm and right hand. I was right hand dominant. What is this? And I'm reading, and it was saying, Life is not a quest for power, life is not a quest for prestige, but merely a quest for meaning, right? And it said, How do you give suffering? How do you give adversity? How do you give opposition? How do you give uncertainty meaning? You give it meaning by the way that you respond to it. And oftentimes the reason that it's so challenging when we go through struggles, adversity, and opposition to process it and respond in the right fashion is we don't give it the right meaning. That's why I said my arm and my hand was paralyzed, my heart isn't. My arm and my hand is paralyzed, my dedication isn't, my commitment level isn't. That was just me giving meaning to the struggle. That was just me giving meaning to the adversity. That was just me giving meaning to the opposition that I was dealing with. Something to get me up every single day and put me in a space and place with my perspective to help me process what I was going through in such a fashion that I would give it meaning. Like I got something wrote down in my pad, like I always had my journal with me. It says, you always can control what you feel about what happens to you. Right. Oftentimes we hear the quote that says, Life is never about what happens to you. It's about how you respond to it, right? But regardless of what happens to you, you always can control what you feel about what happens to you, right? How you process it, the meaning that you give to it, in spite of struggle, in spite of adversity, in spite of opposition. I think oftentimes it's a matter of perspective and perception, and foundationally, what's the meaning that you're gonna give to your struggle, right? Are you gonna waste the experience or are you gonna use it, right? Are you gonna waste the opposition or are you gonna use it? And so that's what I would say about it, man.

SPEAKER_01: 10:20

And I I just I love the the perspective, the words, and then I I love the action. So that that's one of the things that I love is that you don't just bring words to individuals, you help them think about whether it be mental agility, perseverance, but the the action that you must choose. And there's another video that I remember like there, there's the initial video that came out, and then the second video, I always think about this with you. You were out in your driveway doing a workout, ATL Atlanta Heat, and you're you're going up and down. I think it's a new house you're in now, but you're going up and down this driveway carrying medicine balls, and it's like most people who can't use their right arm would never be like, Hey man, I'm gonna go get this work in with these big old medicine balls, right? They would just choose to do something else. Like, let me get on this exercise bike and just pedal. So it's action that you choose to take even when something's difficult. That it's way harder for you than me to do that workout, but you don't look at it that way. You go, I got a workout to do. So, how important is it to make sure that you don't just mentally get yourself locked in, but you back it up with action to prove to yourself that you can. How important has that been for you, man?

SPEAKER_00: 11:43

Um, it's it's extremely important because I think action is everything, man. Like, you know, like when people say things and if there's no action attached to it, it's hollow. But I firmly believe like behavior always goes before action, right? Behavior always goes before action. How we speak, how we see, how we process, just the behavior that we have about certain things, it always precedes action. And so my behavior about opposition, my behavior about life, my behavior just about the quest of just trying to be a better individual has always been every single day I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna just try to figure out how I can be better today, right? The aggregation of marginal gain. Getting up every single day and looking for marginal ways to become better as a man, right? That just doesn't mean, oh man, I'm gonna get up every single day and try to just come and be just so great. No, I'm looking for marginal ways to become better at what I do. That's always been my behavior, right? Behavior precedes action. And so the action always follows it up. My process, how I respond, how I show up, that's always been me. And so even when, like we were just talking prior to recording, just about a situation and an incident that I went through and I said something to you. I said, Man, you know, I'm just trying to be obedient to the process because I know how I am. I'm a competitor, I like to move, I like to go, right? And I went through something to the where they were like, hey man, you need to rest, right? You need to sit down and just chill and just heal and go through your process and take advantage of this time. But I'm not wired that way. I'm wired every single day almost. I get up and I work out. Every single day, I'm doing something, unless something interrupts that. That's how I'm wired. And so for the first couple of days, if I could be honest with you, Ben, my dad had to be at the house, my mom had to be at the house, my cousin had to call me. Of course, my wife is at the house. And all of them that morning, when I woke up, when I got home from the hospital, they were like, hey man, sit your butt down. We know we know you're gonna try to get more. Sit down, no, uh-uh. What you need, right? And that's how I'm wired because that's my behavior, that's my process, and that's how I think about life. It's all action that has to follow up the words. And oftentimes, man, it could be challenging. But I would say, man, give yourself a shot. I told a guy yesterday, I said, Man, courage, it the quote that says, courage is not always the voice that roars. Sometimes courage is a small, still voice at the end of the day saying, I'm gonna try again tomorrow. And sometimes in our action, when we try things or we're trying to adapt new behavior or adopt a new normal, sometimes it's challenging because you're trying to change, you're trying to steer the ship, man. You're trying to change behavior, you're trying to change habits. And so sometimes it could be discouraging, but keep showing up, man. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. You deserve it. Not anybody else, but you deserve it.

SPEAKER_01: 14:41

One, one, one final question. You you referenced uh a handful of uh actual verses, it sounds like to me earlier. You said you were reading, but uh on the burn, we are open with faith. So uh I'm cool with you being open with faith because we are open with faith on the burn. So you were you were quoting from the Bible. That's true. How important, and I'm in the Bible every morning myself too. And uh, for those that that don't know, you know, I'm a I'm a Jew for Jesus. So John Gordon, our dear friend, which is where we got connected originally through his power positive summit, he brought me to Christ in 2008, completely changed my life. So he and I always joke, we're Jews for Jesus. You hang with us, you'll be all right, you're duly protected. So we're open about faith on the burn. But how important has faith been? I think sometimes people in the world today they they hide or they do it behind closed doors rather than recognizing once I realize the power of my faith and I could have an open voice with faith, and I don't even have to say it from the stage, people know it. Just like when you said it, I knew it. He's reading from the Bible, even though it's coming from his mind. That's the Bible. Like, so how important has faith been for you to know that no matter what adversity comes your way, your baby girl, your baby boy, which I say baby girl, baby boy, our kids are about the same, but I remember those first videos that came out. We were joking before we started recording. I'm like, it's been so long we've been connected. Like, I remember when your kids were like this. How important has faith been for the strong marriage, the great father, the great businessman, the great entrepreneur, for you to continue to fight through adversity. How important has your faith been?

SPEAKER_00: 16:24

Man, it's it's it's everything, Ben. Like, and also, man, let me say this. I'm glad you brought up John Gordon, man, for connecting us. John is sort of the earth guy, man. Great dude, forever grateful for him connecting us and just having that thought. But um, man, my faith, it's been vital just in my development, in my walk, in my journey in terms of just processing things. Like um when my injury happened years ago in college, I was in spiritual discipleship. And I had been in spiritual discipleship for three years prior to my injury, you know, career in an injury when it happened. You know, I was already processing things differently. I was already talking differently, I was already seeing life a little bit different. And so when it happened, my response was based upon three years of spiritual discipleship, which I'm grateful. You know, the guy is James Mitchell. Right now, he's the chaplain and spiritual advisor for the Patriots. But at the time, he was working with us in college, and he's still my guy until his day. But it put me on a path, man, that helped me see myself outside of athletics, and it helped me just bring order and structure to my life. It gave me probably the most important routine, just in terms of my development, my growth, and just my mental engineering when I encounter situations that sometimes didn't make sense, that sometimes was hard to process and understand, not only with me, but indirectly with my wife or with my children or with the family member or with the friend. You know, it's one of those things that's been vital just in terms of me processing things and always being able to bring life back to center, you know, and look at it with the right perspective and always knowing that, hey, man, um, some good can come out of this, right? It's like optimism. I was studying optimism because you hear people talk about, you know, being positive or being optimistic. I'm like, man, what is being optimistic? Like, what is that? And it was like the ability to stay fully committed to a belief system and always understand that things are gonna work out even when things are hard. And that's that's James chapter one. It's considerate pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of any kind. Testing of your faith goes on to produce perseverance, perseverance must finish this race so that you may be complete and lacking nothing. You won't need perseverance if you're not gonna go through any challenges. And so, by the way, when it's saying perseverance, it's letting you know you're gonna go through challenges. That's Romans 8:28. When it says, and we know that all things work to the good of those who love the Lord who are called according to his will and his purpose. And so every single day, being able to take life and process it and just bring it back to center, situation and circumstances, bring it back to center, shaping my perspective and understanding that man, things are gonna be okay and being fully committed to the belief system that God is still good, man. God is still good, in spite of God is still good.

SPEAKER_01: 19:22

Well, I'm I'm blessed for my faith, I'm blessed for John Gordon and him connecting us, which has led us to this path to continue to impact. And even through all the obstacles, we're about to finally make this thing happen. And it might just be too much for the people in the room, but uh wait, man. October 7th in Texas, it is about to go down. So I just I appreciate you, man. It literally for 10 years it felt it feels like we have known each other. It's probably people hearing this part, they're gonna be like, wait, you guys have never met in person. We have still never met in person. It is wild. So I uh I I cannot wait. It's gonna be incredible, and uh, I just I I appreciate you. I appreciate you so much. I appreciate you, Ben Man. Got a lot, a lot of respect for you, man, and what you do. Thank you. I got I got a lot of a lot of respect for you and how you show up every day. So, for everybody listening, if you aren't following Inky Johnson already, there's just something wrong with you, I'm telling you. But uh we're gonna make sure that every possible way for you to be connected to all of the amazing things he has done and he will do will be in the show notes. Make sure that you guys connect because this is the real, authentic, powerful, raw energy, burn and fire that the world needs more of, especially during times like these when there's too much hatred, too much pain, too much talk, too much media trying to tell us that we can't. We need voices like Yankees in this world helping us understand what lies within. I'm gonna share one quote and then we're gonna wrap this up. The Bible verse from James that I love, same book, James 1.12, just to tighten it up, he went with right at the beginning. I'm gonna take you to James 1.12 as blessed is the man who perseveres under trial. So when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Thank you for continuing to be a steward of faith in the midst of adversity, to be able to carry what I know with the number of people that you impact in this world can be a heavy crown. But I also have so much respect that you don't even worry about the crown because nothing is going to stop you from continuing to impact the world. So, Inky, I appreciate how you show up in the world. To everybody listening, this has been the burn. Every single week we bring you a story like Inky's to help you understand that burn and fire. That's what ignites why and purpose and causes you to show up on the days you don't feel like it, and especially after you win. Until next week, this has been the burn.