Shawn Stevenson: Welcome to The Model Health Show, this is fitness and nutrition expert Shawn Stevenson here, with my amazing producer, my dancing producer right now and cohost of The Model Health Show Jade Harrell. What's up Jade? 
 
Jade Harrell: What's up Shawn? It's just so cool, every time you crack the mic and say, "Welcome to The Model Health Show," it never gets old for me, I love it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Thank you, I'm glad. Well how are you doing today? 
 
Jade Harrell: Today I am wonderadiant.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: Wonderadiant, alright, tell me about this. 
 
Jade Harrell: I feel wonderful and radiant. It's a good time. [laugh] 
 
Shawn Stevenson: So it's a good time.  
 
Jade Harrell: Yeah.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: But it is a good time, especially when we get to be here in the studio. 
 
Jade Harrell: I'm trying to contain myself. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Trying to contain yourself- open the container. 
 
Jade Harrell: Okay, I just love when you crack the mic and say, "Welcome to The Model Health Show."  
 
Shawn Stevenson: I receive that, I appreciate that. So it's like when we say crack it open, have you ever had, so I've got this teenage son, right he's all about his games, and so he's taking his lunch, he's got his meal prepped,  he's eaten like a beast, training like a beast, but sometimes he don't open those containers from lunch, he just leave them there, hidden in the kitchen, you open it and what do we do-  it clears the room, right you open a window, open a door or do something. Also, some people who listen and also know about that infamous shaker bottle, don't leave a shaker bottle. 
 
Jade Harrell: And take out the little washer, the stuff that gets underneath the little washer. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: I always just take them, rinse them off immediately, but I'm a good one, I'm a good one, because I've learned my lesson and that's kind of what today show is about, it's learning somebody's valuable lessons, and I'm really excited about this episode, because we're talking about something that all of us, every single person listening needs to tap into to achieve your greatness, because time is of the essence, you've got a certain amount of time here on the planet and to reach your full potential, or just enjoying the process of reaching that potential is really what it's all about, but we're going to come across numerous barriers in this process; it's part and parcel of the deal, like ok, you get this human experience boom here you go enjoy yourself but- you're going to have to overcome some stuff. And this is actually the greatest gift that you've been given, because it's going to help to develop qualities in you that are dormant, that are latent, that have not been expressed, that are going to help you to live and truly appreciate this life at a whole new level.  
 
Today we're going talking about the four barriers to break through, when building your body and your life. I'm really excited about that, but first let's give a quick shot of to our show sponsor Onnit.com, head over to onnit/com/model for 10 percent off all of your health supplements right now I have in my hand the Total Gut Health supplement, so they put it all together in one little fancy package, and on the back side we've got a quote from Hypocrites known as the father of modern medicine, he says, "a wise person considers that health is the greatest of blessings", and this total gut health is one of my favorite things because of the fact that it's so easy to travel with.  
 
So I've got a bunch of these that I just travel with in my bag when I'm out on the road, and if I ever find myself in a spot because I, over all the experience I've had of experimenting, I've tried so much stuff as you guys know, that's part of the experience of being able to provide something like this, doing the stuff first hand, I've done some stupid stuff with experimenting with different foods, with different diets, with different supplements. Some things have turned out great, some things have hurt me. And so, having some digestive struggles a couple of years ago and working over time to get those things sorted out, and having really robust and vigorous healthy digestion now is such a great gift seeing what the other side looks like, but one of things that I still enjoy especially with more dense meals is to take some digestive enzymes.  
 
And so they've actually packaged it up, they've got enzymes here, they've also got some detained hydrochloride, so that's kind of like supporting that the "stomach juices" all right, so helping your body, and we can do of course entire show about this, we talked about it several times, but to really dive in and talk about that process, but some people experience indigestion thinking it's too much stomach acid but in fact it's not enough. And so, we've got to make sure that we're encouraging our body to produce enough of that stomach acid to break down your food number one, but also to destroy pathogens that might be trying to stowaway to catch a ride on your train, right, on your body train, on your meat train.  So that's why it's important as well. 
 
And they also have some probiotics in here as well, the five major strains that they found across the board to be most beneficial to the greatest amount of people. because the thing is, when it comes to probiotics, it depends on you, you know there's a lot of species, there's thousands and thousands of species of these bacteria, and now we know today that it's kind of like a rain forest in your gut, and many of these species are right now they are extinct, and many of them are in danger. So how can we support them, obviously our nutrition, obviously getting the right probiotic support is welcome be very helpful. So check out the Total Gut Health from Onnit, it's just one of the great things that they have. They have also as you know, the Shroom Tech Sport, Shroom Tech Iimmune, they have the Hemp Force Protein, the mct oils that I use every single day, I use that emulsified mct oils for making my wife's favorite coffee drink, and also my teas as well, so to feed my cells. Make sure that you head over there, check them out onnit.com/model for 10 percent off. Now let's get to the iTunes review of the week. 
 
Jade Harrell: All right, well this one is from Higs 13, "I can't get enough of Shawn and The Model Health Show, wow, just wow. I discovered your podcast a few months ago and have been ravenously working my way through the episodes. You are truly inspiring with your extensive knowledge Shawn, but the thing I appreciate most about you is that you and your guests go against the grain of modern thinking and help people become truly healthier on the inside, which then translates to outward health. I'm a dental hygienist and last week I had a 52 year old male patient that came in with extremely high blood pressure, and on a list of about six meds including blood pressure medicine, he expressed to me that he was at a loss and didn't know what to do, and that he knows his lifestyle is very unhealthy, he said I think I'm just going to google some good diet plans. I immediately stepped in and felt called to point him toward your work, I spent about fifteen minutes discussing your knowledge, unique approach to health, and your podcast and book. I wrote it all down for him, and he left with a smile and I could truly say he was excited about having hope with his health. I'm excited to see him in three months and see what he's learned from you. I feel good about recommending you to any one of my patients, I too am an advocate for my patients' overall health, so thank you for helping me reach my patients in a unique and powerful way. I'm 27 years old and can't tell you how glad I am that I discovered you this young. I feel like I have my whole life to implement the recommendations of your book and podcast and to pass it on to so many others in my life. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said have you heard The Model Health Show. I've already been making my own bone broth, addicted to mct oil, love my mushroom coffee and have been focusing on quality sleep. So many other things as well. Thank you Jade for your silly descriptive words that make me smile and your questions for Shawn during the show that I'm usually wondering myself; you are a shining gem and love your positive attitude. Cheers to you guys and your amazing work. Thank you." From Megan. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Wow, this just literally made my month, thank you so much for sharing that, big virtual hug to you and thank you for being of such great service. And I love the fact that you brought at the very beginning of going against the grain, you know, it's that Mark Twain quote of, "once you find yourself on the side of majority, it's time to pause and reflect," you know, and to ask questions that's the most important thing, having that curiosity, asking questions and looking at is something actually working, and if it's not, let's find another way. And so thank you so much for sharing that review. Everybody thank you for leaving these reviews over an iTunes I truly appreciate it.  
 
And on that note, let's get to our topic of the day. Today we're talking about the four barriers to break through when building your body and your life. So this is going to be relevant for several things, and you know that contrary to popular belief there is no specific diet, there's no specific exercise program, there is no magic number of sleep hours, there's no super special stress management practice that are going to get you the results you want without you having your mind focused on the end result, and focused on that goal, focused on your potential, focused on creating an empowering mindset, so that you do the things in the first place. It doesn't matter how fancy you can make your sleep, or how delicious you can make that sleep, if you don't have the mind set to actually put into practice. That's the difference, so that's why these shows are so important and these barriers, so these can help people to break through, we'll just start with stagnation; if you are feeling stagnation right now and not taking action to get the results that you want, and feeling that there's a barrier of entry to even have those results.  
 
Also plateaus, if you found that right now, you've made some progress in different areas of your life, but you're at a plateau you know, things are just kind of- I remember in fifth grade we had to make some like different land masses right, and my mom had this tendency to take over the project for me, she was really great at art, and so I was working on this kind of building, like you know the valleys and canyons and the plateau, I remember the plateau was a dopest looking one that she made. And I woke up to find my project basically done, you know, because she just went ham on it. But as I digress so that was my experience with plateaus, but of course I've experienced many first hand from my success and also my body, my relationships, plateaus can be cool at first, because you can enjoy being on top, right, but then all of the sudden, it just kind of gets boring there, you know, you kind of feel that same as you get stuck. So we're going to talk about, these strategies are going to apply to that as well, and also, things that may apply to your career and your relationships, as we know, both of those have a huge impact on your health and overall success in life as well. 
 
So there's a lot of things that these are going to apply to. But, the thing about barriers is that there's always a way over them, under them, around them or even straight through them. There's always a way. Those barriers are not the walls that are being built up around countries, you know that we are manufacturing, we are breaking down walls here, you know and that's what it's really about, breaking down those walls in your own psychology because little do we know so often there are these barriers in our mind, and sometimes they are like hiding in plain sight that are limiting us from reaching our potential, because we don't know that there is something on the other side of that.  
 
So we're going to talk about breaking through these barriers. And the first one we're going to cover today, number one is this interesting barrier that is called hesitation, right hesitation. There's this powerful statement as proverb that says, "he who hesitates is lost." And actually I just talked about this recently with my private group the fat loss members and I felt that this was a very potent and important topic and there's a big resonance from the team on this subject matter, because there's so many things that we are not taking action on, we're putting off until tomorrow, we're waiting even though it's right there in front of us, to reach out and grab it, to take that action and so many times.  
 
And I've seen this first hand in my life, if I'm not taking a certain action, somebody else is going to step up and do that for me, right but it might not be the residual effect that I wanted you know, so somebody might be talking about a subject matter that I have mastered and put together in a comprehensive way that is all inclusive, that no one feels left out, that no one feels like they can't do the thing, but someone is taken that material and put it in a way that it scares people, right, or it makes people feel like there's a huge barrier to entry, because it's too complex. But I didn't step up and share it in that moment, I didn't send that e-mail, I didn't make that contact, I didn't write that message, whatever it is, I didn't write that paper, I didn't write that article, I didn't put that book together. Right now as you're listening, is there something that you've been putting off that you know in your spirit you need to be doing, and you've been hesitant on taking action? And then, come to find out maybe this has happened before and come to find out someone else has done the thing, someone else has beat you to the punch. And as the immortal words of the sage Ricky Bobby would say, "if you're not first you're last", right the wise old Sage Ricky Bobby. 
 
Jade Harrell: I felt like that happened with the Matrix I mean yeah I felt like as soon as I had drafted out the script of this amazing story about this woman who came off the grid and turned out it really was a grid, there was the Matrix, and I mean they did a great job, but there 
were some things that I would have added like Keanu might have been Kiana, he was going to be a girl you know, I was totally there.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: Yeah, I like that. Oh my goodness. 
 
Jade Harrell: But yeah, many times over and when I heard you say that because I was listening tuning in in your private group when you talked about this, I felt dead, very deeply I know a lot of us struggle with it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Yeah and even in these movies that we love so much there are these barriers placed into the story line, Mr. Anderson, right, these things to overcome in the system, I love it, it's a great analogy. The thing is, even as we're hearing this what was the hesitation, you know, and that's what this is really about, is to for us to face this thing, that's blocking us from our blessings, it's blocking us from our progress and our success, and I'm going to encourage you to remember this statement which is to only put off doing today which you can die having left undone. Okay, only put off what you can do today, only put off what you are comfortable being able to die having left undone. And I encourage you, and I 
remember the statement from Dr Wayne Dyer when he said don't die with your music still in you, you know and going back to the very first statement- he who hesitates is lost, right. And I'll even take that a step further and say he or she come on now, he or she who hesitates loses. You've got to take right action. 
 
Now there are a couple of things here I want to share. So I am always looking for messages and inspiration, because we're just surrounded by these things and the other day I was checking out a clip of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, this is one of my little strategic messing around, right is like looking at these clips for me is like, because I'm not watching the television to see them, so I'll see like a little clip from that, or from Conan, I love Conan and he had Big Shawn, the rap artist Big Shawn on the show, and he was talking about his new project and he really has this enlightened point of view, and his new project is called I Decided. I Decided. Now, he shared this story about him being "discovered" and him kind of being on the grind like he would call into this radio station in Detroit, he's from Detroit and there was this battle that would happen each week and then whoever wins gets to be on the radio, with their skills, right. And so he was consistently doing this, even though he wasn't supposed to be, like his mom would be like don't you do that, I want you to be home on Friday, sure enough, you know he's there doing this thing. And now Kanye West comes to the studio and this was many years ago, maybe six years ago, whatever it was, and he found out and because he'd been up at the radio station so many times, he was able to get in because he told a little fiber he left his phone there, right and so they let him in, and he saw Kanye, he knew what he came there for, right and he had an opportunity in front of him, and he could either speak up to his potential mentor or let that moment pass. And he stopped and he said, hey you know you, he said who he was, I'm sure he was nervous, but of course Kanye is kind of like in his own zone, he's not trying to be interrupted in his season, and he knew where he was going and he kind of put a little guilt trip on him he said like, man I bought your first album, he was like okay, okay go ahead, and he gave him, he was like give me sixteen bars, and he went in, he was like ten minutes went by, right with him just dropping lines and he didn't hesitate, he took action the moment opened up and the opportunity presented itself, and he acted. And then cut to it, it wasn't an easy process, it wasn't until two years later when he was signed by Kanye. But that initial moment, not having that hesitation, being able to step into the moment, regardless of fear, that's the key, he took action and today, you know so he wrote his latest album I Decided, and I don't know too much about it, but I just thought it was a really interesting story and a great example, you know and he said with the title our life really is, and the same thing that I say is a series of decisions that determine your ultimate destiny. And we get to choose. 
 
Jade Harrell: Absolutely, I was miserable leaving college, because I wasn't sure about what was coming, and was a little anxious about it, and we moved to a new city, we moved to Atlanta, no family no friends there. But I decided to get out and go out to a club one night, and just maybe meet some people, listen to music and get connected somehow to get over that funk I was in from leaving school and what was familiar. Well that night, and they're the regular DJs there, Lil Jon and Cersey, were the DJs. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: The Lil Jon? 
 
Jade Harrell: Yes, [makes familiar sound] he wasn't doing that so much then but it was the Lil Jon. And because of my background having been a DJ since high school, I decided to go up and just compliment them on their mixes and how they had the party flowing, and they said well how do you know this kind of thing, because it was just a whole different language, they were surprised, a girl DJ. Get up here, I mean, it was that moment. Now I took a sip of a long Island, but I did, and I got up there and that actually launched my opportunity to become DJ, Atlanta's hottest female DJ at the time, when there wasn't many lady DJs. I was scared, it was a full club of people, they were like come on, show us what you got. Here you go. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: That's so powerful. I love that. 
 
Jade Harrell: I swallowed the dart, and did it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Despite the liquid courage, a little liquid courage, this is so important in that hesitation is we're going to have fear, we're going to have reservations, but to do it anyway. Now that comes to the caveat, I'm not talking about, I'm saying be smart, but take action, if this is like I'm afraid of you know jumping off this cliff to you know whatever, bungee jump, that might be a healthier fear, you know but it's just really understanding like basic things like complimenting your mentor, or talking to that person you've always wanted to talk to, or sending that e mail that can push your career forward, you know reaching out to try to talk to publishers or the record company, or the potential internship, whatever the case might be you know, with that law firm that you've always wanted to work for. Having the courage to take action when you feel it, do it, and so let me ask the question- 
 
Jade Harrell: I would have felt worse if today I looked back on that moment, and I've had a few but the discomfort and fear of not doing it outweighed the chance I took for doing it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Cut to that story leading to The Model Health Show. 
 
Jade Harrell: Yeah, I mean, I would not have done it. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Exactly, so everybody listening, I'm going to ask a question where are you hesitating? Where are you hesitating? Signing up for that class? Hiring that coach? Purchasing that program? Attending that event? Where are you hesitating? If you think about it, do it, you know, even small things in our lives that we look at, like you're walking through your house and you see you know, there's some bunch of clothes sitting there on the chair, I don't know how I am going to get to it, it ends up being more clothes, and before you know it you no longer have a chair, right, it just looks like cousin It. Shout out to the Adams Family, I 
don't know if anybody knows about that one, do you remember The Adams Family movie? They could have kept that. I am just saying. So here it is, do it now, do it now, do it now the words of Og Mandino, do it now, do it now, do it now, if it comes up in your consciousness, take action. Last thing I want to say on this one before we move to the next one is the quality is great, quality I've seen in very successful people is speed of implementation, speed of implementation, it's highly unlikely when you write those notes down from this event you've attended or from this podcast you listen to, if you don't take action justly, you know very soon after having assimilated that information, more pages are going to get put on top of it, and you probably won't take action, all right, it's just the way that it is, it's just the nature of the be, so speed of implementation, do it now, do it now.  
 
Now let's go ahead and move on to the next barrier. So we talked about hesitation is one of those barriers that can end up with having our lives plateau, that stagnation all right, and blocking us from better health, better careers, better relationships and things like that. So another one of these barriers that we need to pay attention to them break through, is lethargy. Alright, lethargy. This is what's so interesting, we're coming from a wholistic perspective, understanding the whole thing,  this doesn't mean we're going to sprinkle some magic fairy dust, it's not what holistic means, it means the whole thing paying attention to the whole organism, all right. And so when we talk about lethargy, it's actually our number one driving force as humans is survival, right our number one driving force is survival. So once our survival needs are met, we can easily fall into a state of complacency, we can easily fall into lethargy because our needs are met, that's what drove our ancestors to take action, was survival. That's why we're going to go and hunt, that's why we're going to build homes, that's why we're going to proactively do things to keep our gene pool going on, right, raising our children, things like that. Today so much stuff is automated, so many of your needs are met, so why would you take action? And so that's why we kind of skate through doing that bare minimum, so once we get comfortable, we can lose our fire. Comfort is the killer of success, comfort is the killer of success. So, quick story about this so, many people know my story and it was in 2000, in the year 2000, in the year 2000 [singing] 
 
Jade Harrell: Go Shawn! That's fun, I love when you do that.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: That's futuristic, that's what that's supposed to be. Back in the day, 2000 was like that's the future, for sure we're going to have flying cars. All right, now so in 2000, this is when I received that diagnosis of degenerative bone disease, degenerative spinal disease, degenerative disk disease, so my body was deteriorating from the inside out basically, and for me I used my condition as validation that I didn't have to take action for myself. And so, having that validation enabled me to become very docile, to become very lethargic, to become extremely lazy and it was, again it could have been justified, anybody would understand; you're in this chronic pain, you have the spine of an 80 year old person in a 20 year old person's body, right, we understand. But that left out all of this opportunity for me to have the life that I have today. There would be no Model Health Show, there would not be all of the books and the programs and the lives impacted, if I didn't find a way to break through that barrier of lethargy.  
 
And so, I love this quote, it says, and this is from William Arthur Ward, "Freedom's enemies are waste, lethargy, indifference, immorality and the insidious attitude of something for nothing". The last part something for nothing, I was wanting somebody to come and fix me, save me from myself, come and help me so that I can live adjust life, right but the answer was not there, and the quote starts with freedom's enemies, I didn't have freedom, I was in a prison that I created for myself, because I used that as a permission slip to not do anything. And so, so many of us are just living life right In the middle where we are coasting by, doing the bare minimum and then relaxing from a hard day of coasting. And this costing was hard today, so I've got Netflix and chill, right, but actually, Netflix and chill, apparently it's a little kind of sneaky way to say knocking the boots. I mean like actually Netflix and chilling. So, and its not that there's anything wrong with that, we've got to have the important caveat here, and we'll talk more about this in a moment, but for me the real catalyst in breaking through this was- just kind of remembering that moment, for me. 
 
Jade Harrell: In that space in that room by yourself, nobody pulled you out of there, there was something that had to happen in there. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: I remembered my grandmother and all that she had instilled in me, and she was still harassing me at the time, calling me in my opinion at the time being that young 20 old, too much bother me asking me if I was all right, and I would be yes, alright, I'm fine, okay, buy grandma. But I wasn't all right, and she continuously told me, I remember she was the first person she taught me how to enjoy learning, you know, I remember this little Garfield writing book that she got me and I was like tracing those letters and I loved it, I loved writing, I loved it. And from that moment, that led to the writer today, you know thanks to her, but she would tell me that I'm going to do all these amazing things but my environment told me otherwise, but she installed me that I was there, she planted that seed. And here I was forfeiting all of the dreams from my ancestors, from my past, from the people who gave me the opportunity to be here, that was a huge catalyst for me. And also, the other part was the generations to come after me. I had a young son and daughter, all right my son was just born when I decided to wake up, so this is when I was 22 and a half, getting close to 23, and I just thought about how am I going to be example for him when I am not stepping up and fulfilling my own potential, how can I show him to do the same thing? So that's what helped me to break through that lethargy, is tying it to something bigger. And this is a big thing for a lot of these different barriers; and so for me, it was family, it was legacy, it was helping to give back that investment that was placed in me, that's what did it for me.  
 
Now, what I want to share here is also important, so what we want to utilize though with this idea of lethargy, it's not that comfort is bad, right, we just don't want to live there, we don't want to live there because life will find a way to get you uncomfortable if you don't lean into the discomfort, all right, so many things like we like surprises but problems are surprised that we don't like, we don't like problems though. But if you kind of proactively seek out that discomfort, it's amazing what happens in your life and you proactively develop this quality because you understand our basic human programming which is needs are met- chill. This is what is different about us, being an enlightened human being, right we have this capacity to think outside of our circumstances and to do more, to be more, to become more, right so what I want to encourage people to do, is find a way to blend this stuff, because today we've got so much opportunity for chilling, and being comfortable, it's good, but I want to encourage people to do is use strategic loafing, earn your chill.  
 
All right, so what I want you to do is be on fire so that you can chill, be on fire so that you can chill; stop resting from a hard day of nothing, there needs to be a counter balance there, that's where that grace lives, that's where that feeling of fulfillment lives, it's giving your gift, it's expressing and impressing upon the world your energy that is given you, and so that you are gifted with this time to relax and enjoy the moment, right. And so, that's what I want you to do, it's not don't watch your favorite show or whatever, but if your life has been a series of unfortunate events, but if it's been like that and it just seems like it's the same thing, you know my 2017 is my 2010, my 2001, whatever, if you are repeating the same thing over and over again, it's time to break that pattern, and to do so it's to really tie into your why, and why you need to step up and be more to get in that great shape that you know you can be in.  
 
And here's another quick thing is that the barrier of entry is so low for getting in shape now, because we know today that there are strategies to getting fit a whole lot faster, which we're going to come back to and talk in just a moment, so that's number one is to be on fire, so that you could chill, and for earlier man an excess use of energy was avoided, but we still had the same programming as I mentioned, and it might not be our natural inclination to get up and go run for the sake of running, that's important to understand. So what we must do is to tie our physical activity to something, so there's a wonderful episode that we did with Katy Bowman biomechanics supreme, she is just amazing, and talked about tying more activity into things that you need to do anyway, you know, so instead of driving to the store, maybe you walk to the store right, and you carry things back, like your ancestors would have done you tie an action that you need to do anyways into your kind of physical activity, or even the process of making the food- instead of buying the powdered cinnamon the ground cinnamon maybe you get cinnamon sticks and you ground it yourself, you know like finding ways that we can be a little bit more active doing the things that get us the comfort, that create the comforts that we already have. So, we'll put that show in the show notes for sure, make sure to check that one out. And also, tying it to things like you know I'm doing this for my kids, you know, like I mentioned earlier, I'm doing this for my significant other,  my husband, my wife, my significant other; I'm doing this to perform in the best way possible for my job, right, or I'm doing this to become the best version of myself for my mission here on the planet, of serving the community,  of helping the education system, of helping disadvantaged children, right, whatever it might be, is tying it to your mission, to your purpose, so you've got something that's more of a fire, something to add to that fire.  
 
Now I'm closing for this point about lethargy, it's really the polar opposite we want to go to, is the persistence to continue to take action, to be consistent in that action each day, moving us a little bit closer to the life that we want, to the person that we want to become. We're always in a process of becoming, if you think you arrive then you've already lost, it's not how it works, you know, and enjoying that process is such a gift and that's what I also want to add to this point, I already mentioned, still enjoy the process and you can enjoy the comforts, but proactively ensure that you are taking action to move yourself forward to become one percent better each day; make that your mantra, one percent battery each day.  
 
But a big part of this energy component of moving out of lethargy is also your nutrition, you know and making sure that you have all of your nutritional bases covered, your vitamins and minerals, your amino acids, it's so important because these are building blocks so when I see you, I'm seeing your minerals, when I see you, I see the proteins you've consumed or lack there of, so we want to make sure they we're getting high quality nutrients in. And so that's why we use Organifi, my family does as well, and so I've got right here which I always carry with me, so I've got my Total Gut Health that I travel with, I travel with my packets of mushroom elixirs and I also travel with my Organifi Go Packs. And so this is a Green Super food Blend that is in a whole league of its own and the thing that I don't mention about it, is the fact that actually this one packet has about a 14 percent of your daily requirement of fiber, all right. Now, we talk about fiber so first thing we think, well when I was younger I would think about old people, you need your fiber one huh, whatever, like why, we didn't understand what regularity meant or why it was important; but this fiber, why it's so important number one and we talked about this on past shows, is that there are hormone breakdown products that can get recycled in your body, like estrogen specifically, all right and your body is doing a lot of work because we can get into that state of being estrogen dominant and the main way they we're limiting estrogen is through your digestive tract, and you've got to have fiber to bind to those molecules and move them out of your system, so they're not recirculated, alright it's one of those really important things that we overlook so often, so we've got the organic wheat grass, we've got organic spirulina, we've got the organic chlorella, chlorella also, chlorella growth factors in there, it's a very dense source of chlorophyll and it's one of those powerful nutrients that is known blood builder, but chlorella specifically is one of the most valuable proven things that are effective in binding and removing heavy metals from your body. So that might be something of interest as well. So make sure that you're utilizing Organifi and again this is something that is a daily thing this is what I bring with me when I travel, it's what I give to my kids, make sure I sneak it into their smoothies, and also you know my kids even drink it straight as well, because it actually tastes good, compared to I've tried dozens and dozens of green super food blends over the years, you guys have no idea, companies that are long gone and also some that have stood the test of time, but this one actually tastes phenomenal. So head over, check him out its organifi.com/model, and you're going to get 20 percent off if you use the code model, use a code model, 20 percent of all of your purchases from Organifi.  
 
So, let's move on to the next one of these barriers. So we covered hesitation, we covered lethargy, so now we're going to move on the third one, the third barrier is mismanagement of time. Mismanagement of time. There is this powerful statement that says, "time waits for no one", when you hear that what do you think?  
 
Jade Harrell: That it will keep moving constantly, and whether you are on board or not, you know what I think of, recently we went to DC and so in the airport, you have the moving sidewalks, and if you don't get on, you have to wait, it's going to keep going, if you're not ready it's gone, or you'll get toppled over, so no it doesn't wait, and there's another quote that, "to manage your time is to manage your life; to waste your time is to waste your life." 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Yeah that's really what it's about, and we've said this before in the show too, it's not time management because time is just going to happen, there is nothing you can do about that.  
 
Jade Harrell: Are you in, are you with us, you want to come with? 
 
Shawn Stevenson: It's self management within this construct of time, what we experience as time, which was so fascinating, this is whole thing about time, I spent some time studying time and how even at higher elevations time is slower, so if there's a person they are twins, biologically similar in every way, but one is raised with a family down at the bottom of the mountain and one is raised at the top of the mountain, when they meet, at the age of 90, the one who lived higher up elevation he would actually be physiologically younger than his brother who was raised closer to the Earth. 
 
Time is a really fascinating phenomenon. The bottom line is time is just going to happen, time waits for no one, it's how you manage yourself within that time. And one of the things about human beings that we are great at, is efficiency. If left to our own devices, okay if left to our own devices in a natural world, that's the thing, but today the problem is that we are surrounded by devices, so if left to our own devices but today were surrounded by devices that are not our own.  And so we're regularly squandering our time on things that are not serving us, and that's really the key to understand.  
 
And sure, there is so much to see and explore in our new advanced technology, the movies, the TV shows, the social media etc, it's not about not enjoying these things from time to time, but when we are going to actually stop watching other people live their lives on television and social media, and start living ours, and that's really the key that I want to bring here because this barrier keeps a lot of people from success, because they're mismanaging their time by being so involved in entertainment, you know, like just for the sake of entertainment, and entertainment is wonderful, entertainment is wonderful, it's a part of our culture, there's been entertainment like forever, like people probably start off they were like doing a rock puppet show, right, whatever kind of primitive language we had. Now today we've got incredible Hulk looking real, like for real, you know like it bothers me, all right.  
 
So, now with that said, one of the things that I want to point us to is the word device, the word device itself comes from the old French word devise meaning division, separation, wish or desire, all right. So it's so crazy how these things are connecting us but they can also separate us from ourselves, specifically. So we want to put these things in their proper place and make sure that we're utilizing the strategies that I'm going to share with you, so number one is optimizing your time by chunking, and we did entire episode talking about this and the daily strategy for productivity which we'll put in the show notes, and it's one of my favorite episodes, actually I did a talk about this because it involves some of the strategies used by our ancestors that I did this talk at paleo effects.  
 
And so we'll put that in the show notes for you guys, but chunking specific task together that are related, because there's this reset time that happens when you go from one task to the other, there's this shifting cost that happens because your brain has to literally shift gears and move to other sections of your hemispheres to try to tie together, to do this other tasks, so chunking putting things together that are similar instead of bouncing all over the place all day, you know, really please hear this like chunk things together that are similar, so you can just execute on that thing and then move to the next thing. 
 
Another thing is this statement that has become more relevant to me today than ever before when there's so much opportunity. We were just talking about this before the show, we have so many things on the table right now, of events, of interviews and media, of- I can't reveal too much, but there's a lot on the table that's opportunity, but here is a statement to remember for you in your life when choosing between things- if it's not a 100 percent yes for you, then it's 1000 percent no, all right, if it's not a 100 percent yes, like everything is speaking to you in your heart and just like I want to do that, that's the thing, say no, because every time you say yes to something you are saying no to something else. So manage your time wisely, 100 percent yes or 1000 percent no, all right. So this is on the personal and career side as well.  
 
On the fitness side, time is no longer a barrier of entry, and we talked about this with Dr Gibala on the hit episode, so powerful man, and seeing how this one minute of hard exercise strategically done with the intervals equates to the physical fitness and transformation boost in your production of mitochondria and your muscles, your vo2 max, same change from one minute of hard exercise compared to one 150 minutes of traditional cardio exercise. It doesn't make any sense! But this is the science, the science backs this up, and it's not just what you do, but how you do it, right, so please understand there's no barrier of entry on the fitness side, it's just doing the thing right, doing the right thing, not doing a lot of things, right but doing the right thing. 
 
And also what I would encourage you to do is basically be a choosy lover with your fitness regime; I see you dancing, choosy lover shout out to the remake from Aliyah, and all of her inappropriate songs early in career when she was managed by R Kelly. We're going to close that chapter, we're not going to doggy ear any of the pages, and we're going to move on to, so be a choosy lover when it comes to your fitness regiment.  
 
So this is the thing to break through, this is another barrier is mismanagement of time, you've got to learn to manage yourself within the construct of time, so that you can be all that you can be, too much time is squandered with that social media, you know especially in the morning take control of your mornings, all right the first thing you do should not be going right over to your phone and looking at messages and texts because your goals for the day have now been shifted and put on the back burner to address other people's concerns. 
 
Jade Harrell: And that's so easy because those things are on the same place, for a while I was using my phone as my alarm, you know it's got all these great apps and things to help you through, but it was just too easy, that when I pick up the phone to turn off the alarm and then there's a notification or something that comes up, and then you're gone. So I had to get a separate alarm clock here to wake me up, so that I don't even go down that road. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Don't tempt me Frodo, alright, Gandalf I don't want that ring, don't even bring it over here, because I know what I'll do. I have good intentions going to my phone aka the ring of power or whatever, but when I put it on, yeah some drama is going to start, right so that's a great tip as well, you know utilizing like a real alarm clock instead of using your phone can be really helpful for a lot of people, but some people we do have the discipline to just you know hit the butt on your phone and put it down. But it's difficult because, and we talked about this, there is a very deep physiological addiction, you know like a biochemical soup that happens, like this chemistry soup that happens in our bodies because our devices are so wonderful and they call us because of dopamine is one part of the equation, and dopamine is all about seeking, dopamine drives us to seek.  
 
This is one of the important compounds in our bodies that has helped us to evolve, because it drives humanity to seek. Because when I said about our number one driving force is survival, we have other components of us as humans, this has helped us to create who we are today, and so we do have a drive to find out more, to learn more, to become more, to find out about ourselves. But it can be watered down especially due to distraction, right. So this dopamine drives us to seek and the internet is perfect for that, because there's infinite stuff to seek, social media specifically, because you keep on seeking, seeking, seeking your dopamine is like on fire, but you find things as well because if you didn't find something you just had this dopamine in balance, you'd go insane.  
 
But the internet is perfect because you always find something you know, every scroll, every time you scroll your phone on instagram or on facebook or whatever your favorite social media is, you find something new, and so it's just this super gratifying thing for your brain, you don't know, it's like it's cool, I'll just go to the next thing but it's creating this powerful feedback loop, it's like the more you look the more you'll find and you get a little opioid hit, it feel good but you don't know it, it is so small, but it's just enough to get you to be distracted when you don't need to be distracted, right, to just grab your phone habitually and start going to those sites. So, awareness is everything, you know, again huge fan, follow me on instagram for sure @shawnmodel, but it's just, we have to create a healthy relationship with these devices, because our connection is only going to grow with all the things we have access to. 
 
Jade Harrell: Look at our children, we have to teach that then, to our children or young people. My daughter, she accidentally left the phone in the car when she went to school, and we didn't, I didn't go back to the car right away because she called me from the school phone, but even after school, we were doing other things and she kept asking can I get back to the car, can I get back to the car. And I said but why, you've got your homework, we're together, we've got food, there's nothing else we need and she's no, I need my phone. And so I know for sure that this is their world, they're coming into the world with this, they don't know anything else, so you talked about those little doses, I mean from the very outset, we've got two year olds on tablets, so like you said, not only being aware but for those that wouldn't know how to make the distinction and realize what's going on. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: It's coming into the situation with more intelligence, it's not just oh and you pull my kid on the tablet while I do such and such, you've got to understand the ramifications, you've got to balance it, that's the key, you know. I love the relationship that my oldest son Jordan has, you know he's full on teenager like his phone is like life is there, you know, but because of how I prepped him, like last night we all just hung out together, his phone was downstairs, like we heard it ringing, you know what I am saying, and we were like  whose phone is that, you know, his phone is downstairs, he's just hanging out with us. But we had to create that structure and he had to embrace it which that required us to make it so that it was rewarding for him, sharing what can come from that, you know, sharing what would our desires and hopes are for our relationship with him, like all of these things were imbued in our relationship over time and it's wonderful, it's absolutely wonderful.  
 
So now with that said, that is one of the big ones to pay attention to, is time is management and we've got one more of these barriers that I want to cover with you guys today. So we covered hesitation, we covered lethargy, we covered mismanagement of time, and the final barrier that we're going to talk about today, that can keep you in a plateau, that can prevent you from taking action, to have the life that you truly desire and deserve, the final barrier is doubt. Doubt. Now, I want to start by saying even the most successful people in the world, and I've met many of them have doubts. So I want that to be clear, this isn't something that it just disappears once you reach some level of success, but this is a huge but-  
 
Jade Harrell: A big round one? 
 
Shawn Stevenson: I mean, there is a lot of JLo references that come in there, Beyonce, whatever it is, right but we're keeping it kosher. But, they break through them, and they don't make it a habitual pattern that they're stuck in when they have these doubts. The doubts come up, they move past them, don't make it a habitual pattern, because doubt is one of the things that easily becomes your base line, all right, so a great example is JJ Virgin in her book Miracle Mindset, she shares and she was a wonderful guest that we've had on show, and really just incredible story, we'll put that in the show notes, if you happen to have not heard that episode, how powerful, how powerful.  
 
So in her book, and her book was on New York Times best seller list for like 26 weeks or something you know and this was like first out of the gate, her book The Virgin Diet just like a huge mega hit, but she would still feel when she would go into different TV shows and when she'd go to these different events, she'd feel like she might be found out, like they might find out that I'm not that good. They might find out that I'm a fraud, I'm not enough, and she would feel this, she would feel this in the moment when she's about to go on stage, right, this really strange fear when she's done the work, she's done this service, right, she has the passion to give in a mission, but she would feel that she's not enough, she'd have these doubts about her capacity and her belief in herself. But here's the difference- she did it anyways, she did it anyways, and over time she was able to finally catch that voice that would come up, and that's the thing, it's like we're talking about this for you to become aware that it's there, instead of it just kind of being in the background, like whispering right, like blowing on your neck.  It's too hot. 
 
Jade Harrell: Did you feel something? 
 
Shawn Stevenson: Hot breath, whatever it is that doubt has some hot breath. Fogging up the windows- is that you fogging up the windows- no, it's my doubt fogging up the windows, turn on the defrost.  
 
All right, now, another story here and I just absolutely love this quote, but when I was on the plane traveling to DC, I was sitting across from Iyanla Vanzant, and she's got this mega hit TV show Iyanla: Fix My Life,  and she's a very long term friend of Oprah and all these different things, and we got off the plane, I didn't know if that was her, you know, but I helped her to get off the plane, you know people be trying to rush, whatever, she's a little bit older, you know she's you know, just she moves a little bit slower, and I'm just trying to facilitate her being able to get off the plane, I didn't know if this was her. And then I heard her speak, and I was like I know that voice, so we ended up striking up a conversation and I told her a little bit about my story, and she said oh yes when I told her my the spine issue, and where we are today you know with The Model Health Show, and all the wonderful things that are happening, she said oh yes, your crisis became your calling; your crisis became your calling.  
 
Jade Harrell: She said that to you! First of all, that moment right there that's an epic moment, let me just say, that's an epic moment.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: And, she understood that because she's seen it firsthand in her own life, and she has this quote she says that, "Everything that happens to you is a reflection of what you believe about yourself. We cannot outperform our level of self esteem, we cannot draw to ourselves more than we think we are worth." And she very powerfully articulates how doubt can limit us and our achievements in life, whether it's your physical health, which you can accomplish there or your financial health, your relationship health, your spiritual health whatever you think you are worth, is probably what you are going to receive, and this is the classic line from Henry Ford, "Whether you believe you can or believe you can't- either way you're right." So, being aware of this doubt and starting to call on your higher self and understanding that you are so much more, you are so much more than your circumstances are even right now, you're so much more than the person you are right now, no matter how great or not great things might be, you have so much more, you know and you have to understand that, and to move past that doubt. When the doubt hits, keep going, do it anyways. 
 
Jade Harrell: Be aware that it's there. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: So I've got a couple strategies for you to help you with breaking through doubt, self-doubt. Number one is what we've been saying already to do the thing anyways, that's number one. So when you're doubting that you are capable of achieving this particular thing, do it anyways, take action, embark on that journey, take action to do that thing anyways. Number two here, another tip here is when you're in a state of doubt, recruit some friends, recruit some friends to help you with this doubt. Recently the New Edition story came out, and so when the boys were little to two of the members went to see the talent show when the friend Bobby Brown was performing, and so they were just pumped, the audience is clapping, and he comes out on stage and he froze, he was froze, and he basically ran off stage to his mother you know, I think he was maybe eleven at the time, or whatever. And they see him the next day and they didn't tell him, they just asked so how was the show, but they were there, he was like man I killed it, you know how I do it. They were like no man, we were there, we saw you. And he's like well you guys were there, ok well, next time; and they were like whatever man, but how are you going to be different this time? And he was like you guys are going to be with me, that's going to give me the courage. And sure enough, you know that did become his courage. And shout out to New Edition they changed the game for me as a kid, you know I was all on- Michael Jackson was life, alright, until the New Edition N. E. Heartbreak came out, I knew about the Candy Girl. 
 
Jade Harrell: I was there, this is where we're connected. 
 
Shawn Stevenson: I know about the Mr Telephone Man, The Candy Girl, Popcorn Love. I knew about those things, I would hear them on the radio but I was all Michael Jackson world but when I saw that N. E. Heartbreak and the choreography. Yeah, I was on, there is going to be a microphone in my life, for sure. So, recruit some friends, that the big takeaway here. Another thing is to reprogram yourself talk, reprogram yourself talk, we've talked about this numerous times on the show, but just to highlight a couple of points- affirmations, you know to implant a positive statement in place of the negative that would come up, you know Dr Daniel Amen called these ants, automatic negative thoughts, right, and when you catch them immediately implant another statement; so affirmations can be incredibly valuable.  
 
Also, read, read, there's a certain way that your brain functions in reading materials that are affirmative, that helps to change your psychology. Listen, listen to audio books, podcasts, listen to great speakers you know, be in that environment, go to events and be in the presence of those things because it again helps to change our psyche and to affirm you. Watch as well, you know, there's great things on YouTube, now that we never had before, you can watch the greatest speakers, the greatest minds of our time, or the most affirmative, positive, motivational, people in the world, we have some of them on the show, shout out to Dr Eric Thomas aka E.T.  
 
And now another thing is to get around others who can inspire and affirm you, right, so your circle of friends, your close community, those are the people you want to be around, the ones who are going to affirm and inspire you, right. So you have to consciously do this, this is probably the most powerful one, is being in the environment of that. That's the most powerful one in my opinion. Now, finally here, one of the greatest gifts that we can give is encouragement to others, that's another way to overcome your own self doubt and to help to instill heart and courage within them, this is a great gift that we can give to our children, so they have tools to overcome their doubt, so they can head it off at the pass, we can give this to other people, not just our children, but our friends, our family, our community, other children who we see coming up, who might be in an interesting spot in their life to instill some of that courage and some of that heart for them to overcome their doubts, Because sure enough they are there. 
 
So, that's everything for today guys, these four barriers are, they are keeping some of us stagnant, they're there preventing someone some of us were taking action, right action to have the life that we truly deserve, to have the health and the body that we truly deserve, and it's just a matter of breaking through these barriers and there's always a way, whether it's around, over, under, straight through it. 
 
Jade Harrell: I go for obliterate it. If there is an obstacle you can obliterate it, change the landscape.  
 
Shawn Stevenson: You know, and the words of the wise poet Ice Cube, "You can do it, put your back into it." Guys, thank you so much for tuning in to the show today, I appreciate you so much, we've got some amazing shows, some amazing guests coming up, so make sure to stay tuned and please make sure to share the show out with your friends on twitter, facebook, instagram, wherever you like to hang out and give the gift of this encouragement. So I appreciate you so much, have an amazing day and I'll talk with you soon. 
 
And make sure for more after the show you head over to themodelhealthshow.com that's where you can find the show notes, and if you've got any questions or comments make sure to let me know and please head over to iTunes and give us a five star rating and let everybody know that our show is awesome, and you're loving it; and I read all the comments so please let me comment there, and take care everybody, I promise to keep give you more powerful, empowering, great content to help transform your life, thanks for tuning in.