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Oct. 3, 2023

Ep88 Andrew L. Anderson - Unlocking Your Ultimate Purpose: Discover Your Life Mission

Explore the profound journey of self-discovery and discovering purpose in life in this captivating episode of Strategy + Action with host Jason Croft and guest Andrew L. Anderson!

 

In the first half of this thought-provoking episode, they dig into the power of creating a life's mission, unraveling its multifaceted layers and its profound connection to ideas like legacy and creativity.

 

Andrew Anderson shares his remarkable journey from never envisioning himself as an author to an awe-inspiring moment in the majestic Zion National Park, an incredible story of how he felt a divine calling that led to the birth of his book, "Strength of the Oak, Strength of the Willow."

 

Discover the transformative process of finding one's life mission and how it becomes a beacon of purpose, particularly during challenging times. Andrew's insight into guiding individuals seeking meaning and direction in their lives is truly enlightening.

 

Uncover the hidden truth that success in business and family can still leave you yearning for more without a clear life mission. Jason and Andrew delve into the idea that recognizing the purpose behind your pain can catalyze immense personal growth.

 

But here's the kicker – your life's mission doesn't need to be grandiose; it can be deeply personal and profoundly meaningful. Andrew hints at the idea that life missions can evolve and change over time, promising a deeper dive into the discovery process and its tangible impact on your life.

 

In the second half of this episode, Jason and Andrew venture further into the essence of a life mission – it's not just about the destination; it's the journey that matters. Discover the significance of finding a mission that stirs your soul and fuels your inner fire.

 

Andrew candidly shares his own journey of discovering his life mission at a young age and how it has been his guiding star ever since. Gain insights into the concept that a life mission can expand and evolve, encouraging you to embrace change and growth.

 

Andrew emphasizes the incredible value of serving others as a means to unveil your true passion and purpose. Don't worry if you haven't found your passion yet; by helping others, you might stumble upon your calling and the ultimate fulfillment you seek.

 

The episode concludes with Andrew's inspiring journey into coaching and speaking, born out of a challenging period in his life. Witness his remarkable transformation from teaching to real estate, and ultimately, to coaching and speaking – all thanks to the unwavering support and belief of someone who recognized his potential.

 

Get ready to embark on an incredible journey of self-discovery, growth, and purpose in this episode of "Strategy + Action." Explore the evolving nature of your life's mission and consider how service can unlock your true passion and direction in life.

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:05:12
Jason Croft
Andrew, welcome to the show.

00:00:05:14 - 00:00:09:00
Jason Croft
Yes, absolutely. You're there in wonderful Boise.

00:00:09:00 - 00:00:12:03
Andrew Anderson
Yes. Boise, Idaho.

00:00:12:05 - 00:00:30:17
Jason Croft
Yeah. It's so funny. Like, more and more just folks I know, like. And then, of course, in Internet land are, you know. Oh, yeah, we're in Boise. We're in Boise. Like, oh, my goodness. It's the it's the spot.

00:00:30:19 - 00:00:38:21
Jason Croft
Nice. Yeah, We'll be paying attention. We'll make sure you leave very soon. Yeah, I've got a I've got a good friend from from.

00:00:38:21 - 00:00:44:20
Andrew Anderson
High school in Nampa out there. So he's close by. He's been out there, loves it so much.

00:00:44:20 - 00:00:49:20
Jason Croft
So. It's wonderful. I appreciate you being on This is. This is going to be a blast.

00:00:49:22 - 00:00:51:14
Andrew Anderson
I'm really excited to.

00:00:51:19 - 00:00:54:05
Jason Croft
To dig into this topic with you.

00:00:54:05 - 00:00:56:06
Andrew Anderson
Today around.

00:00:56:08 - 00:00:58:05
Jason Croft
This idea of.

00:00:58:07 - 00:00:59:09
Andrew Anderson
Creating a life's.

00:00:59:11 - 00:01:15:02
Jason Croft
Mission. And it's I think it's one of those phrases, too. That's that's something that's it's very loaded, right? People bring in their own connotations around this. And I think it also seems something you know.

00:01:15:02 - 00:01:15:13
Andrew Anderson
It also.

00:01:15:13 - 00:01:33:10
Jason Croft
Feels like legacy and creative. You know, all these Oh, yes, someday ideas. And I think I think there's real power in bringing that into today and and letting that be a filter for your life moving forward.

00:01:33:10 - 00:01:41:22
Andrew Anderson
And I'm excited to to dig in and get your thoughts around this. But to give folks a nice geography year of of.

00:01:41:22 - 00:01:46:23
Jason Croft
Everything that you've got going on right now and you know from book and you know a little bit.

00:01:46:23 - 00:01:51:07
Andrew Anderson
Of what what got you to this place. Fill us in a little bit and.

00:01:51:09 - 00:01:57:05
Jason Croft
What's what's led you to do this type of work and being an author and speaker and all that good stuff.

00:01:57:05 - 00:01:58:03
Jason Croft
Well.

00:01:58:04 - 00:02:21:11
Andrew Anderson
If you'd asked me four years ago or 14 years ago, or you name it, if I would have ever been an author, I would have said no way. I mean, when I finished my master's degree, I thought, I will never write anything unless it's my own journal or a thank you note. Again. And it's funny how I was so set in my ways to not write that.

00:02:21:13 - 00:02:41:15
Andrew Anderson
It took it took an act of God. I mean, it took a it took a big calling for me to to answer that call and begin writing. I will speak and talk and coach and share and train and all day long. But but to put it down on paper, you know that it was a different story.

00:02:41:18 - 00:02:43:21
Andrew Anderson
So what was it what was that for? What happened.

00:02:43:21 - 00:02:44:22
Jason Croft
That you.

00:02:44:22 - 00:02:45:15
Andrew Anderson
Finally like?

00:02:45:15 - 00:02:46:22
Jason Croft
All right.

00:02:47:00 - 00:02:52:07
Andrew Anderson
I got it.

00:02:52:09 - 00:02:53:15
Jason Croft
Now I have in.

00:02:53:17 - 00:02:54:15
Andrew Anderson
Salt Lake right.

00:02:54:17 - 00:02:55:03
Jason Croft
Here.

00:02:55:05 - 00:02:56:03
Andrew Anderson
In Utah.

00:02:56:03 - 00:03:19:07
Andrew Anderson
incredible canyons, right? Just Red Rock, unlike anything in the entire world. And I had never been there before. And I always thought it was kind of weird, because I'm from the Rocky Mountains, and I like pine trees and lakes and deer. Yeah, exactly. So I'm on there and I'm being told that this is like spiritual land and like, you know, Native American and like and I was just like, yeah, whatever.

00:03:19:09 - 00:03:41:17
Andrew Anderson
But I'm standing in the Virgin River and I'm looking up at this Rock Canyon going on for hundreds of feet just as far as I can see. And I have one of these nature moments. We say, You got to go outside to go inside. And I'm standing there outside, and I just feel the magnificence and the grandeur of this incredible rock wall.

00:03:41:19 - 00:04:10:10
Andrew Anderson
And it brought a tear to my eye or two or ten. And I, I heard this. Whether it was a voice or a feel, I don't know what it was, but it was from it was from some power greater than myself that I call God. And the message was, Andrew, if you're experiencing this right now in front of a rock, imagine what people could experience when you fulfill the measure of your creation.

00:04:10:12 - 00:04:35:03
Andrew Anderson
And then I was just full on crying, and I knew immediately. And in fact, the title of the book came into my mind. Strength of the Oak Strength of the Willow. And I knew that there was at least one. There's a second book that I won't tell anyone about yet. It's secret, But I knew that this book needed to be written and that I needed to become a creator, no longer a consumer of media.

00:04:36:01 - 00:04:41:15
Andrew Anderson
Wow, That's powerful. That's amazing, because I'm I'm right there with you.

00:04:41:17 - 00:04:41:22
Jason Croft
In.

00:04:41:22 - 00:04:47:15
Andrew Anderson
Terms of That's where I'm in Colorado, Right, Right now. That's my idea of mountains.

00:04:47:15 - 00:04:51:10
Jason Croft
That's my idea of nature. And going out and you've.

00:04:51:10 - 00:04:51:22
Andrew Anderson
Inspired.

00:04:51:22 - 00:04:55:23
Jason Croft
Me a little bit to go right. I've been hearing the same thing.

00:04:55:23 - 00:04:58:11
Andrew Anderson
You got to go. And so that's that's great.

00:04:58:11 - 00:05:18:13
Jason Croft
And it's it's amazing. I think I think to to finally let that in. I think for for one, it's different for everybody. But for for some of us if yeah, we believe in what we do and how we can help people.

00:05:18:13 - 00:05:19:17
Andrew Anderson
And all of that.

00:05:19:19 - 00:05:37:02
Jason Croft
But there's, there's a little bit of arrogance built in right. If to to get to say, you know, I'm going to start a show, I need, you know, I need to stay in front of somebody, I'm going to write a book. Yeah. And when you're not wired that.

00:05:37:02 - 00:05:37:21
Andrew Anderson
Way of.

00:05:37:21 - 00:05:40:08
Jason Croft
That's the oh, look at me.

00:05:40:10 - 00:05:42:03
Andrew Anderson
They that's the reason to go do that stuff.

00:05:42:03 - 00:05:47:13
Jason Croft
Well, then it that those feelings are kind of built into there. And I think that's what.

00:05:47:15 - 00:05:49:08
Andrew Anderson
Stops us a little bit. I mean you had.

00:05:49:08 - 00:06:06:18
Jason Croft
Your, you know, hatred of. Right? Yes. Well, but I think that that's in there. And sometimes it takes exactly what you're describing, you know, to. All right. I'll I'll let it in because it's probably not the first time.

00:06:06:18 - 00:06:11:12
Andrew Anderson
You've had the thought in the pool, however quiet.

00:06:11:12 - 00:06:15:01
Jason Croft
Or anything it might have been.

00:06:15:03 - 00:06:21:09
Andrew Anderson
That's that's great. When we can finally let let that in, you know, and go and answer that.

00:06:21:09 - 00:06:22:18
Jason Croft
And so when you when you.

00:06:22:18 - 00:06:27:11
Andrew Anderson
Felt that and you had this knowing now like, okay, this I had to do this, like, well.

00:06:27:17 - 00:06:28:06
Jason Croft
Where do you.

00:06:28:06 - 00:06:36:17
Andrew Anderson
Go with that in terms of maybe, you know, the process, but also just like, what is this going to be? What is that next step?

00:06:36:17 - 00:07:02:23
Andrew Anderson
Yeah, I had no idea. In fact, I started going in the direction of the second book, and I sent a text. I got four older siblings, and incredible parents were all very close. I'm super fortunate to have that family unit. I sent them a text. I said, Hey, I feel called to to write two different books. And this first book is one that I need your feedback on, and I want you to share some thoughts and ideas with me on this topic.

00:07:03:01 - 00:07:12:06
Speaker 3
Crickets. This is from this is from like, you know, my my, my family and this is my, my, my biggest fans.

00:07:12:16 - 00:07:17:08
Jason Croft
Yeah, if anybody's going to support that, it's going to be there right?

00:07:17:08 - 00:07:18:11
Speaker 3
So I start putting.

00:07:18:13 - 00:07:46:13
Andrew Anderson
Some thoughts and it just and just nothing. You talk about writer's block or, you know, like for an artist, like where there's just nothing and I'm like, okay, fine, I get it, I get it. And I opened up the second book idea, and when I have the opportunity to speak or teach or facilitate and training in any manner, like when I get into that room and I open my mouth, I feel the energy of everyone just coming to me.

00:07:46:13 - 00:08:07:20
Andrew Anderson
And it's like, I know exactly what questions to ask and I know exactly where to take them. And that happened with this book. I open up a blank page in pages on my MacBook and I started writing and I had the same experience with my fingers in the screen in front of nobody as I do in front of people.

00:08:07:21 - 00:08:14:12
Andrew Anderson
And I get to to speak. And and it was a beautiful, beautiful process that I was not expecting.

00:08:15:07 - 00:08:17:23
Andrew Anderson
That's incredible. That's that's fantastic.

00:08:18:01 - 00:08:33:07
Jason Croft
And this is a this is a subtlety. And there's something that's interesting that's been in my mind for some things that I'm doing. But sometimes I think there's a little limitation in to in.

00:08:33:07 - 00:08:35:16
Andrew Anderson
Allowing a process like that.

00:08:35:18 - 00:08:38:23
Jason Croft
Especially when you are a speaker, coach, teacher.

00:08:38:23 - 00:08:40:00
Andrew Anderson
Of some kind.

00:08:40:02 - 00:08:42:10
Jason Croft
Because you can't teach someone to.

00:08:42:10 - 00:08:45:14
Andrew Anderson
Do that process that you just described. Right?

00:08:45:14 - 00:08:58:08
Jason Croft
You can't go step one, open. Step one, go to Zion National Park now, you know. Right. And and honestly, to be okay.

00:08:58:08 - 00:08:58:21
Andrew Anderson
With that.

00:08:59:01 - 00:09:09:07
Jason Croft
Like I'm doing something in a way that's unique for me, the way I have to do it and to to own that. Right. That's that's.

00:09:09:09 - 00:09:13:18
Andrew Anderson
Power. I love that. That process because as I've let that in.

00:09:13:18 - 00:09:24:03
Jason Croft
More and more, for me, it's speaking and it's, you know, talk, you know, through this this medium or another and just, oh, that's is this is how I'm supposed to do this.

00:09:24:03 - 00:09:28:04
Andrew Anderson
And it's not the way everyone else does it. I think that's that's strong.

00:09:28:04 - 00:09:31:08
Jason Croft
And I think that's the the teachable moment, right. In that.

00:09:31:08 - 00:09:32:05
Andrew Anderson
It's not a how to.

00:09:32:08 - 00:09:33:09
Jason Croft
Write a book. But here's.

00:09:33:09 - 00:09:34:03
Andrew Anderson
A how to.

00:09:34:03 - 00:09:36:03
Jason Croft
On to get your truth.

00:09:36:03 - 00:09:37:10
Andrew Anderson
Out there.

00:09:37:10 - 00:10:00:05
Andrew Anderson
elusive strength it's the strength of the willow. Right. And so the analogy of the oak and the willow, we understand the oak, it's, it's, you know, it's, it's got this strength that lasts for decades and sometimes millennia, right? The oak is one of the hardest words. It's ridiculously courageous and committed and it can't come down.

00:10:00:07 - 00:10:27:07
Andrew Anderson
And that's how I've led a lot of my life. But the the idea of the strength of the willow is not a competing it's a complimenting strength and it's graceful and it surrenders and it will house things to be and it submits and it says, okay, I don't know all the answers, but I'm going to let this storm pass through me and I'm going to let my leaves and branches do what they do.

00:10:27:07 - 00:10:48:23
Andrew Anderson
And if things fall down, then I'm immediately going to plant whatever fell. And that's what a willow tree does. When a branch falls, if it goes into the ground, it will immediately start to grow. That's why there's so many along riverbanks, because they just keep sending up new trees and their life doesn't last as long, but it reproduces a lot more than an oak.

00:10:49:01 - 00:11:08:09
Andrew Anderson
So that's that willow like strength of surrender, not giving up, but turning things over. Sewer and French means over and round. And that means to give back. I'm giving back control, getting control back over to a higher power than myself. And I surrender.

00:11:08:09 - 00:11:16:16
Jason Croft
Yeah. And I love that very purposeful distinction. You know, it could have been more of a.

00:11:16:18 - 00:11:17:21
Andrew Anderson
You know, a title of strength.

00:11:17:21 - 00:11:23:10
Jason Croft
Of the oak flexibility of the willow or, you know, it's, you know, describing that. But but two.

00:11:23:12 - 00:11:34:14
Andrew Anderson
Side by side, just what you describe, like it's just as strong in its way. I that's so powerful. I love that. I'd love to get into this idea that.

00:11:34:15 - 00:11:37:23
Jason Croft
In it's it's an area you help people.

00:11:37:23 - 00:11:42:17
Andrew Anderson
With correct me if I'm wrong, but this idea of having a life's.

00:11:42:19 - 00:11:43:21
Jason Croft
Mission.

00:11:43:23 - 00:11:52:23
Andrew Anderson
Around that I love to hear, you know, about yours, how you, you know, stand in that if that's defined and change or whatever that that is.

00:11:52:23 - 00:12:02:12
Jason Croft
And then, you know, let's get into, you know, why does that matter at all? You know, and maybe that's something that people.

00:12:02:12 - 00:12:06:20
Andrew Anderson
Can grab onto. And if they they have their own ideas of what that.

00:12:07:01 - 00:12:09:15
Jason Croft
Maybe we can inform that a little bit.

00:12:09:15 - 00:12:10:14
Jason Croft
Well.

00:12:10:16 - 00:12:33:00
Andrew Anderson
Like you, as you're learning, I am a lover of nature. And nature, whether we call her mother or father. But Mother Nature teaches some of the greatest master classes about life. And the oak is able to have the longevity and the strength that it does because of what happens from the very moment that the spring seed begins to sprout.

00:12:33:02 - 00:13:04:18
Andrew Anderson
An oak is different in that it will send down a taproot vertically before it ever begins. Growing lateral roots and those lateral roots are important to keep its foundation. It keeps it steady. But that taproot is important because it's going to the source of water and it will go to that source of water before it ever begins to grow verdant, horizontal and those lateral roots for stability or before it ever even sends a sprout up through to the earth.

00:13:04:20 - 00:13:28:13
Andrew Anderson
And I think a lot of people today are sending out lateral roots, their sense shooting out there. They're doing things without having that connection to that purpose, to that source. And so when I get to sit down with someone for the very first time, they don't say, Hey, will you please help me identify my life mission? They tell me.

00:13:28:13 - 00:13:29:13
Speaker 3
All the challenges.

00:13:29:13 - 00:13:46:02
Andrew Anderson
That they're struggling with, and then I get to help them recognize, you know, what is this all about? And so I love that oak analogy. And let's let's first and foremost get connected to that purpose and that meaning and be grounded in that.

00:13:47:00 - 00:13:51:18
Andrew Anderson
Yeah. It's a it's a beautiful analogy indeed. That's, that's fantastic.

00:13:51:20 - 00:13:54:03
Jason Croft
And so what is.

00:13:54:03 - 00:13:57:00
Andrew Anderson
That what does that process a little bit for.

00:13:57:00 - 00:13:59:22
Jason Croft
Getting them? Because for some people they've never thought about it.

00:13:59:22 - 00:14:01:01
Andrew Anderson
Right.

00:14:01:03 - 00:14:02:14
Jason Croft
It how do you get.

00:14:02:17 - 00:14:04:04
Andrew Anderson
Get them in that mindset.

00:14:04:04 - 00:14:25:06
Andrew Anderson
them there? Well, if their pain is great enough and off, ofttimes the clients that I work with, they have been through the painful things they've gone through, the counseling, the therapy, the break ups that the loss of this and that and, and and they are usually highly successful people that don't understand why I can't get past this.

00:14:25:06 - 00:14:52:07
Andrew Anderson
I can't get to the next level. And I help them understand that. Well, it's because you don't have that. You don't have that connection. And what is this all about? What is your life mission? In one statement and the most successful people you look around think that that person knows what they're doing, that they don't. They don't. And so when the pain is great enough, then then they're ready, right?

00:14:52:07 - 00:15:07:10
Andrew Anderson
They're able and willing to do something that they haven't ever done before. So that's a very simple segway. When I'm helping, you know, someone in a one on one or in a group saying to to recognize that need for that, that mission, that purpose.

00:15:07:16 - 00:15:13:11
Jason Croft
Well that's an interesting distinction too, because I think in a lot of.

00:15:13:13 - 00:15:15:03
Andrew Anderson
I'll say this work right, the.

00:15:15:03 - 00:15:22:20
Jason Croft
The inner work, it sometimes it's it's put.

00:15:22:20 - 00:15:24:22
Andrew Anderson
Out there too much that.

00:15:25:00 - 00:15:32:12
Jason Croft
You have to you have to do this or nothing works right. You know nothing in your life works. And we see.

00:15:32:12 - 00:15:36:04
Andrew Anderson
Time and time again right that successful monetarily.

00:15:36:04 - 00:15:40:08
Jason Croft
Person. But they don't have this. And maybe it's, you know, happiness.

00:15:40:08 - 00:15:41:08
Andrew Anderson
But they're.

00:15:41:09 - 00:15:41:14
Jason Croft
The.

00:15:41:14 - 00:15:46:02
Andrew Anderson
Pain they feel isn't getting there is not getting their business correct.

00:15:46:04 - 00:15:47:17
Jason Croft
And that's this unifying factor.

00:15:47:17 - 00:15:54:22
Andrew Anderson
And I think that's where what you're getting at is it's not a matter of you can't move forward at all in life. But wow, if.

00:15:54:22 - 00:15:55:21
Jason Croft
We can if we can.

00:15:55:21 - 00:15:57:20
Andrew Anderson
Tap into this.

00:15:57:22 - 00:15:59:20
Jason Croft
Well, then we bring everything.

00:15:59:22 - 00:16:02:03
Andrew Anderson
Together and we.

00:16:02:05 - 00:16:02:15
Jason Croft
We.

00:16:02:15 - 00:16:03:18
Andrew Anderson
Reduce those areas of.

00:16:03:18 - 00:16:05:07
Jason Croft
Pain.

00:16:05:09 - 00:16:32:00
Andrew Anderson
And those those moments of pain have a purpose. I am super fortunate to have seven children, five of which I help bring into this world. The other two are there bonus blessings in my life? And my wife brought them into my and I'm their father and I don't call them my stepchildren. But as I was present for the five births, this last one was just five weeks ago.

00:16:32:00 - 00:16:35:14
Andrew Anderson
Jason I got seven kids and I've got this little tiny, perfect baby.

00:16:35:14 - 00:16:37:08
Jason Croft
my goodness.

00:16:37:08 - 00:16:56:21
Andrew Anderson
remember saying to my wife in that moment of labor, because we are crazy people. When I say we, I mean she in that we do natural birth at home. And my wife is this just an just phenomenal warrior of a woman and and in the moment, right when as a husband you're like.

00:16:56:23 - 00:16:59:06
Speaker 3
I can't pretend to know what this is like.

00:16:59:06 - 00:17:22:12
Andrew Anderson
I don't even know what to say. All you're doing is praying because you can't do anything else. And and the words this time came out. The pain has a purpose. This pain has a purpose. And if I say something she doesn't like, I immediately know. She'll be like, I can just tell like it's not hitting. But when I said that and I'd never said it before, but I said this pain has a purpose.

00:17:22:14 - 00:17:45:21
Andrew Anderson
And she was grounded. She was rooted. She was remembering what this was all about. And most people don't. And I'm not talking about labor, I'm talking about work, I'm talking about family. All the places that we are working so hard at. And they don't have meaning and purpose to the pain they're going through. So what they do is one or two things.

00:17:45:21 - 00:18:13:11
Andrew Anderson
They either give up or they suppress it with something that doesn't serve them. And so when you can recognize that, okay, what is happening in my life right now is not happening to me, it's happening for me. It's connecting me into this mission. It's grounding me. I'm rooted and it is giving me the sustenance that I need to build this tree, this marriage, this child, this career, whatever that might be.

00:18:14:00 - 00:18:16:06
Andrew Anderson
I got.

00:18:16:08 - 00:18:26:04
Jason Croft
Strong. Let's paint a picture for folks on or on your definition of of a mission. Like, what does that tangibly look.

00:18:26:04 - 00:18:29:12
Andrew Anderson
Like for folks? Does it have to be this big?

00:18:29:14 - 00:18:30:15
Jason Croft
I'm going to go.

00:18:30:16 - 00:18:32:09
Andrew Anderson
Dig Wells somewhere.

00:18:32:14 - 00:18:51:03
Jason Croft
Or, you know, change the face of the earth. Well, or is it is it small? Is it personal? And then also, does it is it this one big, you know, giant life mission or is it, you know, do we set up a series of them? You know, not to be confused with.

00:18:51:05 - 00:18:52:23
Andrew Anderson
Goals or milestones, but.

00:18:53:18 - 00:19:14:01
Andrew Anderson
Yeah. So I the I am not the authority on yours or anyone else's life mission, right. I don't pretend to be what I when I am an authority on because I've done this with over 700 individuals in a one on one setting as well as thousands and in groups and and you know who knows how many now through the book and online.

00:19:14:01 - 00:19:23:04
Andrew Anderson
But what I do know how to do is help you find it. And Jason, are you willing to be a little bit vulnerable with your people right now?

00:19:23:04 - 00:19:28:15
Andrew Anderson
Oh, sure.

00:19:28:17 - 00:19:33:05
Jason Croft
And we can.

00:19:41:13 - 00:19:50:17
Jason Croft
We can. And if you're if you're not hearing this is because Jason edited it out. So it's fine. It's it's even

00:20:01:23 - 00:20:07:04
Jason Croft
you know, I've done different iterations and versions, but no

00:20:07:04 - 00:20:17:18
Andrew Anderson
going to do this in like, like 3 minutes and I'm watching the timer and it really is this simple. And, and I asked the question, Jason, what is passionate about?

00:20:17:18 - 00:20:21:03
Jason Croft
connection connecting people.

00:20:21:03 - 00:20:27:18
Andrew Anderson
And what's so important to you about being able to connect and connect people and with people?

00:20:27:18 - 00:20:28:14
Jason Croft
That's the.

00:20:28:14 - 00:20:31:05
Andrew Anderson
Juice. I mean, it lights me up. I get.

00:20:31:09 - 00:20:32:10
Jason Croft
Energy.

00:20:32:12 - 00:20:37:07
Andrew Anderson
From that every interaction. Strangers, dear friends.

00:20:37:07 - 00:20:39:23
Jason Croft
Like, hey, I. Yeah.

00:20:39:23 - 00:20:47:16
Andrew Anderson
And when you're feeling that juice and you're feeling lit up and you're able to to have that, what does that mean for you personally?

00:20:50:01 - 00:20:53:07
Jason Croft
Um, first thing that comes to mind is.

00:20:53:07 - 00:20:55:13
Andrew Anderson
That that I'm on the right track.

00:20:55:13 - 00:21:05:06
Andrew Anderson
you go. Okay, I love that. Now, I just asked three simple question. That's what your passion was, what that does for you and why you know, what what does that mean for you?

00:21:05:08 - 00:21:09:09
Andrew Anderson
And I can just take those those words and you can go back and you're going.

00:21:09:09 - 00:21:11:07
Speaker 3
To because you get to listen to this just like your.

00:21:11:07 - 00:21:31:01
Andrew Anderson
Listeners, and you can say, my mission in life right now, because I asked you about your passion. People don't lie about their passions. They can lie about other things, but they don't lie when you and when you ask people like, what do you do for a living? And they may like, you know, tell some white lies when you ask them, what are you passionate about?

00:21:31:03 - 00:21:50:15
Andrew Anderson
They don't make that stuff up. And so you're if I were to help you wordsmith this and you can go and do it on your own, but you would say, you know, my life mission is to connect with people in such a way that it not only lights them up, but it lights me as well, ensuring that I'm on the right track.

00:21:50:16 - 00:22:08:22
Andrew Anderson
So then every decision that you get to make in your life, every goal that you set is going to run through this filter of an eye, through making this decision, connecting with people in a way that lights me up and gives me that juice. So I know that I'm on the right track. And it's a it's a simple yes or no.

00:22:08:22 - 00:22:09:20
Andrew Anderson
Now, because we have that

00:22:09:20 - 00:22:11:01
Jason Croft
it.

00:22:11:03 - 00:22:14:23
Andrew Anderson
Now. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's powerful.

00:22:15:01 - 00:22:20:12
Jason Croft
Because it is something that even if there's tweaking words.

00:22:20:12 - 00:22:25:11
Andrew Anderson
Maybe like you said, right, That's, I mean, you could, you could apply that as.

00:22:25:11 - 00:22:29:22
Jason Croft
A daily filter, an interaction, you know, a minute by minute filter.

00:22:30:00 - 00:22:31:00
Andrew Anderson
Like, like you talked about.

00:22:31:00 - 00:22:33:08
Jason Croft
But also you can go as.

00:22:33:08 - 00:22:36:13
Andrew Anderson
Big as legacy end of life.

00:22:36:15 - 00:22:45:07
Jason Croft
Would I be fulfilled if the majority of my time on this earth was spent connecting with people and connecting them to each.

00:22:45:07 - 00:22:48:17
Andrew Anderson
Other in a way that only I could do it right, that.

00:22:48:19 - 00:22:52:05
Jason Croft
Let me up. Let them allow that

00:22:52:05 - 00:23:11:04
Andrew Anderson
the thing. Like everyone's going to start comparing themselves to you now because that's what we do by nature. But when I ask that question and all of your listeners, they can answer it. What are you passionate about? And and what does that do for you? And when you've got all of that, whatever you just answer.

00:23:11:04 - 00:23:38:14
Andrew Anderson
When you've got all that, what does that mean to you? I'm on the right track, right? And that's now a value of yours. I understand something about you that Jason has this desire to, whether we call it obedience or just to to feel like like he wants to know that he's doing what's right. And and that might look different because someone else may say, I'm passionate about ensuring that this orphanage gets built in this country in the next three years.

00:23:38:19 - 00:23:56:04
Andrew Anderson
And if I can do that, then I'm take me home, right. Like I'm good to go. So it could be very specific or it could be very broad. I have found working with so many individuals that it's often more broad, a life mission most times won't ever be completed. I mean, when are we going to say, Oh.

00:23:56:04 - 00:24:01:00
Speaker 3
Yeah, I accomplished this mission? I connected with enough people that led me up enough and had enough juice. I don't.

00:24:01:04 - 00:24:04:14
Andrew Anderson
I'm done.

00:24:04:14 - 00:24:06:08
Jason Croft
right?

00:24:06:08 - 00:24:12:22
Andrew Anderson
is more of a direction you're heading then an outcome that you're hoping to achieve.

00:24:13:06 - 00:24:14:15
Andrew Anderson
Yeah, I love that.

00:24:14:17 - 00:24:28:15
Jason Croft
And I hope that gives people permission to to take that exercise you just took me through and do that for, for themselves and well, and it may sound it may sound silly.

00:24:28:15 - 00:24:29:10
Andrew Anderson
But like.

00:24:29:12 - 00:24:33:17
Jason Croft
That, that's enough. You know, it doesn't have to.

00:24:33:19 - 00:24:35:11
Andrew Anderson
Always be this tangible thing.

00:24:35:11 - 00:24:39:03
Jason Croft
Now, with that North Star of here's.

00:24:39:03 - 00:24:40:21
Andrew Anderson
The direction, here's what I'm.

00:24:40:21 - 00:24:47:05
Jason Croft
Doing, those tangible things will come out of and they may shift.

00:24:47:05 - 00:24:55:11
Andrew Anderson
On what you've got now and maybe, you know, time to sit in and go, Wow, is my job lined up with that as my business is my.

00:24:55:13 - 00:24:55:21
Jason Croft
You know.

00:24:55:21 - 00:24:56:13
Andrew Anderson
My.

00:24:56:15 - 00:24:57:03
Jason Croft
Goals.

00:24:57:03 - 00:24:59:02
Andrew Anderson
In life lined up to that?

00:24:59:04 - 00:25:26:20
Jason Croft
Oh, we're kind of if I continue down this path, this is why this has been so hard. Oh, because it doesn't line up with what I'm really passionate about. How do you often in these in these one on ones, if someone doesn't, does it doesn't feel it, or do you ever do you ever kind of get that sense of like how there's the you're not role You know it's not it's not that you're.

00:25:26:20 - 00:25:28:10
Andrew Anderson
Not passionate about or.

00:25:28:10 - 00:25:35:10
Jason Croft
Something, but I feel like there's something deeper. Do you ever kind of go go down deeper with folks?

00:25:35:10 - 00:25:52:22
Andrew Anderson
not be three questions sometimes it may take me nine but when we get there we know it and I call it the world peace answer, right. You think of like these pageants and world peace. Like what's bigger than world peace, right? Yeah. So. So for you, I knew that we were there because you gave me the answer.

00:25:52:22 - 00:26:08:13
Andrew Anderson
I'll. No, I'll be on the right track. Boom. That's the validator. Right. And so when you said that, I was like, okay, like being out. I mean, what's more important than knowing that you're on the right track? Like, I knew it, like we got there. So for me, there's a sense of, is there anything deeper? Is anything beyond that?

00:26:08:13 - 00:26:31:20
Andrew Anderson
And the listener can, as they answer those questions, they can, you know, pose that same one to themselves. Is there anything deeper or more meaningful than that? And when the answer is no, then we've got it. We're golden. I mean, for you, is there anything, Jason, more important than connect with people in a way that lights you up and gives you that juice so that you know you're on the right track?

00:26:31:20 - 00:26:35:10
Jason Croft
I don't think so. Yeah,

00:26:45:22 - 00:26:53:07
Jason Croft
I've read it. I'll add in a whole bunch of applause story like, Yeah, yeah.

00:26:53:08 - 00:26:57:16
Andrew Anderson
I appreciate that. That's, that's great. And that I know resonates a lot with.

00:26:57:16 - 00:26:59:15
Jason Croft
Me too, because that's been a common theme for.

00:26:59:15 - 00:27:02:20
Andrew Anderson
Mine. But I've also not ever stated it that same way.

00:27:02:20 - 00:27:05:22
Jason Croft
That hasn't come up that way for me in terms.

00:27:05:22 - 00:27:07:01
Andrew Anderson
Of, Oh, that means I'm.

00:27:07:01 - 00:27:07:08
Jason Croft
On.

00:27:07:13 - 00:27:09:17
Andrew Anderson
The right track in everything that.

00:27:09:17 - 00:27:35:09
Andrew Anderson
So then my challenge to you, Jason, to listener would be to take that. And I take those words that we just pulled out in such a simple manner and then and ponder it, right? Meditate on it and go be in nature with it, pray about it, and then and then write something that moves you. The word motivate comes from the Latin word move area, which means to move, and nothing makes you move or motivate you outside yourself.

00:27:35:09 - 00:27:58:16
Andrew Anderson
There's no such thing as extrinsic motivation, right? Like the carrot, the stick. Know what's moving you is that desire inside, whether you're the donkey or the human right. There's a desire inside and you want to write words that move you. So for me, my life mission is to bless my brothers and sisters who I believe to be God's children, to live a higher level of spiritual strength.

00:27:58:18 - 00:28:27:14
Andrew Anderson
It's to influence as many as possible. And when I say those words, they move me. And every decision that I make at home and in the in my career, if it's moving me toward that direction, then I am in. And the decision has already been made for me. And so I challenge you and the listeners to take what you have, you know, elicited from those questions and write them down in a way that moves you and then memorize it so that when you share it like

00:28:27:14 - 00:28:29:02
Jason Croft
it.

00:28:34:20 - 00:28:36:06
Andrew Anderson
Yep.

00:28:36:08 - 00:28:41:11
Jason Croft
I well 100% 100%. I love it.

00:28:41:13 - 00:28:46:17
Andrew Anderson
Yeah that's fantastic. What was that that process.

00:28:46:17 - 00:28:55:06
Jason Croft
For you to, to land on that for you and then how did that shift things when.

00:28:55:07 - 00:28:56:20
Andrew Anderson
You're like oh this is it.

00:28:56:22 - 00:28:59:02
Jason Croft
And did or did it or like I'm.

00:28:59:02 - 00:29:00:16
Andrew Anderson
On the right track, you know, like already.

00:29:00:16 - 00:29:01:13
Jason Croft
Or

00:29:01:13 - 00:29:25:06
Andrew Anderson
Well, I am a unicorn. A lot of people figure things out and for me, like God has to smack me upside the head. And he knows that once I get it like that, I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to do it. And to help others do it as well. And so I think sometimes and he doesn't take a risk on me, so he just sends things in a very direct manner.

00:29:25:11 - 00:29:30:18
Andrew Anderson
I have known what my life mission is, Jason, since I was 14 years old,

00:29:30:18 - 00:29:31:23
Jason Croft
I'll,

00:29:31:23 - 00:29:32:22
Andrew Anderson
did.

00:29:33:00 - 00:29:36:16
Speaker 3
Like I thought when you got into adulthood that you knew what you were doing.

00:29:36:18 - 00:30:01:04
Andrew Anderson
And I am a unicorn, like most adults don't have that because they didn't have the mentorship and the leaders in their life like I did. And so mine came to me at the age of 14, and I tell the story in my book about, you know, being a freshman in high school and and not having any, like, real friends in my schoolmate, my close friends that I had grown up with.

00:30:01:04 - 00:30:20:04
Andrew Anderson
And they lived in the neighborhood. They were still in eighth grade in middle school. And when lunch time came around, it was time to sit with friends. Like my friends were there. And I really didn't jive well with the football players because I wouldn't know how sensitive I is. A blow dryer on my hair and I wear flowery shirts because my wife likes it and I'm okay with that, right?

00:30:20:06 - 00:30:38:23
Andrew Anderson
I didn't have that knucklehead like, you know, talk about girls and all this stuff that those are I just didn't fit in and I didn't have any friends. And what happened? What I was I instead of sitting by myself, because you don't want to do that in a cafeteria when you're a freshman in high school instead of sitting by myself.

00:30:38:23 - 00:31:00:21
Andrew Anderson
Jason, I would walk the halls and I pretend like I was going somewhere, like I was, you know, headed somewhere. So no one would ask me why I was alone. And one day I found myself in the boys bathroom and I went into the store and I shut that cold, heavy maroon door and latched that stainless steel latch.

00:31:00:23 - 00:31:20:14
Andrew Anderson
And I actually got up on top of the toilet. And I didn't want anyone to see that I was in there hiding and crying. And I don't know how long I was in there could have been a matter of minutes. Could have been the entire lunch period. But I just wept. I was so lonely, I was so depressed, I was so alone.

00:31:20:14 - 00:31:44:17
Andrew Anderson
And I was just it was it was awful. And I think everyone has a junior high story of some kind where they just hit rock bottom. Now, I, I was humble enough to talk to my parents about what I was going through, and teenagers didn't go to counseling or take medication at that time. That wasn't a thing in the in the, you know, late nineties.

00:31:44:19 - 00:32:03:14
Andrew Anderson
What they did is they put me in front of a great mentor at our church and I was able to receive some really powerful words from him that I believe came directly from God and he stated that life mission and I have that whole thing was recorded and written down and I carry that with me to this day.

00:32:03:16 - 00:32:33:02
Andrew Anderson
And it says those very words. Now, if something is given to you that direct, you are a highly responsible person, because as Spider-Man said, with great power comes great responsibility. And I was given that power and I knew exactly what that life mission was. And I've been trying to figure it out in different ways from 14 on. But I know I am here and I'm fortunate enough to have that given to me so I can help others identify what theirs is, because they don't probably have that person in their life like I did.

00:32:33:10 - 00:32:37:05
Andrew Anderson
Wow, that's fantastic. Yeah.

00:32:37:05 - 00:32:45:20
Jason Croft
What a what a Yeah. Filter direct like my goodness. Yeah. Because then.

00:32:45:22 - 00:32:47:08
Andrew Anderson
Not that the rest of high school.

00:32:47:08 - 00:32:55:18
Jason Croft
Becomes instantly easy for any means. Not at all. But there's. But, but talk about having something that gets you.

00:32:55:18 - 00:33:00:04
Andrew Anderson
Through that right that that even in those times just like.

00:33:00:06 - 00:33:07:17
Jason Croft
All right there's something bigger here. There's something bigger here. And I think that's that's what's missing for so many people.

00:33:07:19 - 00:33:09:22
Andrew Anderson
The benefit of that of that.

00:33:09:22 - 00:33:11:04
Jason Croft
Mission.

00:33:11:06 - 00:33:20:23
Andrew Anderson
That is not just, oh, now I know exactly what to do, but it's to allow you to get through to take that next step.

00:33:21:01 - 00:33:25:23
Jason Croft
You know, to you know, I don't know. I don't know what two steps ahead are, but I know one.

00:33:26:02 - 00:33:27:15
Andrew Anderson
Because I have this mission. I know I can.

00:33:27:18 - 00:33:30:22
Jason Croft
I mean, you go this direction.

00:33:31:00 - 00:33:32:12
Andrew Anderson
And sometimes that's everything.

00:33:32:12 - 00:34:02:03
Andrew Anderson
mean. Jason It really does even to this day, because now that I have these kids and you know, the oldest turns 15 tomorrow, she's getting her driver's license because in Idaho we give driver's licenses at 15 years old. So even today when things are happening, that life mission allows me, as I stated earlier in this interview, that it allows me to ask the question, why is this happening for me and my mission rather than why is this happening to me?

00:34:02:08 - 00:34:23:23
Andrew Anderson
And we go from being that victim to to the victor. Like this is building something for me that is allowing me to move forward. So whether it was the girl breaking up with me in high school, whether it was losing that state championship lacrosse game or whether it was, you know, my best friend, you know, making out with my girlfriend that I broke up with the day.

00:34:23:23 - 00:34:29:02
Speaker 3
Before, you know, whatever the high school thing is. And these are all real stories from my life.

00:34:29:04 - 00:34:42:02
Andrew Anderson
I am grounded with that taproot to that meaning, that purpose, that source. And I can ask, okay, why is this happening for me and what is there to learn?

00:34:42:20 - 00:34:46:19
Andrew Anderson
Yeah. That's so strong.

00:34:46:21 - 00:34:48:23
Jason Croft
And it's something else comes to mind.

00:34:48:23 - 00:34:50:23
Andrew Anderson
With it that.

00:34:51:01 - 00:34:56:20
Jason Croft
This definition of a life's mission, this idea of one that.

00:34:56:21 - 00:34:59:22
Andrew Anderson
That you've lined out for us. The other thing that I love about.

00:34:59:22 - 00:35:03:09
Jason Croft
It in it's.

00:35:03:11 - 00:35:06:12
Andrew Anderson
It's not the right word, but in its vagueness, right. In its.

00:35:06:14 - 00:35:08:02
Jason Croft
Bigness, you know, when it's.

00:35:08:02 - 00:35:10:17
Andrew Anderson
Not the I'm going to build this this right when it's.

00:35:10:17 - 00:35:14:20
Jason Croft
This direction, you know, vague sounds.

00:35:14:22 - 00:35:15:11
Andrew Anderson
Softer.

00:35:15:11 - 00:35:22:05
Jason Croft
Like I don't really care. But, you know, it's stronger than that. What it also.

00:35:22:05 - 00:35:23:18
Andrew Anderson
Allows for and I.

00:35:23:18 - 00:35:32:01
Jason Croft
Would encourage people to keep in mind it is is the, you know, shifting, growing, expanding in that as well.

00:35:32:01 - 00:35:32:10
Andrew Anderson
Because that.

00:35:32:10 - 00:35:35:09
Jason Croft
May lead you in a direction for for.

00:35:35:09 - 00:35:37:16
Andrew Anderson
25 years.

00:35:37:18 - 00:35:54:08
Jason Croft
To reveal the next one. Right. Or a bigger one or something else and make sure that we're not telling people like once you got it, like that's the you're you're you know, because that can that can that can paralyze people in the moment to.

00:35:54:08 - 00:35:55:07
Andrew Anderson
Come up with words like.

00:35:55:07 - 00:35:57:05
Jason Croft
Well, this has got to be oh man, this is the.

00:35:57:05 - 00:36:02:07
Andrew Anderson
Life thee I got to. I got. So I like both aspects of that.

00:36:02:07 - 00:36:34:04
Andrew Anderson
Yeah. Well, and that passion can change, but it often doesn't. Because if you were to have asked my parents, you know, like who knew me best and watched me raise me, if you had if you had asked them right. From a from a young age, as they saw me developing, they would have said, Oh, yeah, of course. Andrew was the kid that took the Vietnamese exchange student and played with him at recess when he couldn't speak English and then asked that kid to help him with his math because numbers are the same in any language.

00:36:34:04 - 00:36:51:23
Andrew Anderson
So I was I was serving and at the same time, this is great because this is what I do as a I'm a I'm business person. I you know, I'm going to ask Jason, like, who else do you think I should, you know, be speaking with, has a great podcast. Who do you know that I should be talking to because I'm here to serve your tribe.

00:36:51:23 - 00:37:12:07
Andrew Anderson
And I also recognize that you have things that you can do that will help me. And that mission I didn't know what it was when I was in third grade helping lap win from Vietnam like, but my parents would have been like, Oh yeah. Andrew That has always been his life mission. Whether I brought that with me from another life or my parents instill it in me.

00:37:12:09 - 00:37:43:06
Andrew Anderson
I think that life mission, it may take different forms, but it's always heading in the same direction. And you know what's funny, Jason? It's always about service because in that forest, the oak cannot exist without the animals, and the animals can exist without the yoke. They need each other, right? And then those microbiomes, like everything in the forest, is giving and receiving and serving, and if it stops giving, it dies.

00:37:43:08 - 00:37:57:12
Andrew Anderson
And so your life mission, just like Jason's, is to connect and mine is to bless people. And that in their spiritual strain that yours is probably going to be something to do with helping humanity in a service based manner.

00:37:57:12 - 00:37:58:12
Andrew Anderson
Yeah, that's.

00:37:58:12 - 00:38:02:23
Jason Croft
Another and that's another thing to keep in as you.

00:38:03:01 - 00:38:04:09
Andrew Anderson
Developing and just that.

00:38:04:10 - 00:38:08:03
Jason Croft
Have your your mind in the in that direction as you're.

00:38:08:05 - 00:38:10:20
Andrew Anderson
Answering the questions that you brought up.

00:38:10:20 - 00:38:12:04
Jason Croft
Here because.

00:38:12:06 - 00:38:12:16
Andrew Anderson
Yeah I.

00:38:12:16 - 00:38:14:19
Jason Croft
Mean I know for me.

00:38:14:19 - 00:38:16:13
Andrew Anderson
From gosh I remember.

00:38:16:13 - 00:38:18:11
Jason Croft
Being eight nine years old.

00:38:18:14 - 00:38:23:00
Andrew Anderson
Like sitting my grandmother down and my mother down.

00:38:23:00 - 00:38:23:14
Jason Croft
Who.

00:38:23:16 - 00:38:29:10
Andrew Anderson
Had I've been hearing both sides for, you know, like read about blah, blah, blah, and sitting them down, I.

00:38:29:10 - 00:38:34:05
Jason Croft
Still can picture them like sitting them on the couch. You two need to have a conversation.

00:38:34:05 - 00:38:34:13
Andrew Anderson
You need.

00:38:34:13 - 00:38:34:21
Jason Croft
To.

00:38:35:02 - 00:38:35:22
Andrew Anderson
Talk about this.

00:38:35:22 - 00:38:43:12
Jason Croft
And kind of, you know, that's at this time and that's been a theme right? You know, being that mediator being that. So it's it's.

00:38:43:12 - 00:38:44:07
Andrew Anderson
Fascinating.

00:38:44:09 - 00:38:52:03
Andrew Anderson
So Jason 111 other thought that someone's like I don't know what my passion is because that's that's that can be real

00:38:52:03 - 00:38:52:15
Andrew Anderson
Yeah,

00:38:52:15 - 00:39:07:23
Andrew Anderson
I'll share with you what Chad Heimer shared with me from his wheelchair. Chad Holmes is a dear friend, quadriplegic. He is in the National Speaker Association Hall of Fame Wall Street Journal, named one of the ten most influential speakers of all time.

00:39:08:01 - 00:39:26:21
Andrew Anderson
Chad Heim has said this to me and it rocked my world. He said, You don't know what your passion is. Go out and serve someone. And in that service you will find what it is that you're passionate about. And it may be connection like it is for you. And and that's not for me. That word doesn't even resonate.

00:39:26:21 - 00:40:01:12
Andrew Anderson
But you and I are both good people doing great things. You know, I believe that if you go and serve someone, you look around, you open your eyes today and you just become aware you're going to find someone or something that is calling for you to help. And in that call and in the answering of that call, you're going to find out what's your passion is in that ability to serve and to build up, you know, your brothers and sisters, humanity.

00:40:01:16 - 00:40:06:23
Andrew Anderson
So that's my challenge for those that are struggling to recognize what their passion is, go serve someone.

00:40:08:02 - 00:40:17:08
Andrew Anderson
it's beautiful. I like that. I appreciate that because that is that's is definitely a common aspect, you know.

00:40:17:10 - 00:40:26:14
Jason Croft
And again, it's another area where we can get, you know, caught up in while it needs to be this thing or, you know, and you can.

00:40:26:14 - 00:40:31:10
Andrew Anderson
Really that's a very actionable step to to achieve I love that.

00:40:31:12 - 00:40:37:08
Jason Croft
When did when did this but to I guess create a let's call it a business.

00:40:37:08 - 00:40:37:15
Andrew Anderson
Around.

00:40:37:15 - 00:40:48:10
Jason Croft
This when it comes to helping folks, you know one on one in speaking and writing the book like when did that sort of begin and take form for you?

00:40:48:10 - 00:40:49:10
Andrew Anderson
And what was that.

00:40:49:10 - 00:40:51:15
Jason Croft
First first version?

00:40:51:15 - 00:41:13:08
Andrew Anderson
chapter one is is called ground and your listeners can go. And we actually just launched the Audible book, which I got to narrate this week so they can get on Audible and listen to me. They can get it, you know, on the Kindle Digital version or the paperback but that the story that you can read about in chapter one called Grounded is I was a teacher for six years and I loved working with teenagers.

00:41:13:10 - 00:41:37:00
Andrew Anderson
And at the end of that teaching career, I just got my master's degree. My first wife decided that it probably wasn't good for us to be married anymore, and I didn't agree. And and that was okay. But we went through a six month separation and with our three beautiful little daughters that turned into a divorce and we moved states and I was no longer teaching anymore.

00:41:37:02 - 00:41:58:02
Andrew Anderson
And I had to go out and do something. And I got into real estate because I thought, you know, living in my parents basement and going through a divorce and having a 100% commission based job would be a good idea. I sold real estate for a year, which led me to coaching and I learned about and and hired and had great coaches in that first year.

00:41:58:04 - 00:42:24:05
Andrew Anderson
And then I was offered a position to start coaching and this was, you know, and you know, about eight, nine years ago and I did that for that local brokerage. And I started coaching nationally, four for Keller Williams. And then the last five years I've been able to take this on my own and it was because someone saw in me something that I could see in myself and said, Hey, I don't I don't know if selling real estate is going to be your your life mission.

00:42:24:07 - 00:42:39:10
Andrew Anderson
Would you like to be a coach? And she Stacey offered me that job and she saw that in me. And I will forever be grateful. So that's that's how I got into this, this coaching and speaking and writing world that I'm in right now.

00:42:40:13 - 00:42:41:19
Andrew Anderson
Oh, that's great.

00:42:41:21 - 00:42:43:20
Jason Croft
It's it's I.

00:42:43:20 - 00:42:47:23
Andrew Anderson
Love those stories, too. Of of because it is such a path of.

00:42:48:01 - 00:43:01:11
Jason Croft
I think coaching uniquely in its own way is so many there almost isn't a duplicate story to how to how we get into to to all of this.

00:43:01:13 - 00:43:02:09
Andrew Anderson
I love that.

00:43:02:09 - 00:43:26:17
Andrew Anderson
Yeah. And that in that time, you know, a lot of people go through, you know, turbulent moments like a divorce or or losing a job like that really could have they it could have been the end of me. I could have gone into all kinds of places like alcoholism or whatever. I could have taken my life. Like, people do that.

00:43:26:19 - 00:43:53:09
Andrew Anderson
And again, I understood my life mission. So I had to come back to that question, Why is this happening for me? What Seeds of Opportunity are present in this perceived problem that are just waiting to be unleashed? And I would have had no idea that this second marriage and these children in this career and this opportunity, I would never go back to the classroom as much as I loved it.

00:43:53:09 - 00:43:58:22
Andrew Anderson
I would never go back. And I'm so grateful that I went through those experiences.

00:44:00:11 - 00:44:01:20
Andrew Anderson
That's wonderful.

00:44:01:22 - 00:44:03:10
Jason Croft
I want to make sure we.

00:44:03:11 - 00:44:06:17
Andrew Anderson
Touch on as we as we wrap it up here.

00:44:06:19 - 00:44:15:01
Jason Croft
Certainly who needs to who needs to reach out? You know, I think I think there's a there is an answer.

00:44:15:01 - 00:44:15:16
Andrew Anderson
That.

00:44:15:18 - 00:44:22:20
Jason Croft
Everyone actually it could benefit. But who needs to reach out and how do they do so and and make sure.

00:44:22:20 - 00:44:24:14
Andrew Anderson
We we touch on some of the.

00:44:24:14 - 00:44:25:09
Jason Croft
New things that you've.

00:44:25:09 - 00:44:26:03
Andrew Anderson
Got.

00:44:26:05 - 00:44:28:04
Jason Croft
Formed for for folks.

00:44:28:04 - 00:44:57:20
Andrew Anderson
So if you're wondering, like, why am I still stuck, how come I can't figure this out? I've talked to these friends, these these leaders, these mentors, these pastors, whoever they may be. I've gone to the counseling that they're like, I've read the books, the self-help, like I've done the Seven Habits of highly Effective People. And I just there's either something wrong with me or I'm missing like, there's something missing.

00:44:57:22 - 00:45:15:19
Andrew Anderson
And if you don't know what that something is, this could be, if you wanted it to be one of the last self-help books that you read, because this will help you break through. It will help you transform and they'll help you be free. And then you want to go back and read the other books. That's fine, because they'll they'll build from there.

00:45:15:21 - 00:45:34:18
Andrew Anderson
But that person that feels like they need that breakthrough, that needs a transformation, that feels like they are experiencing that freedom that they desire most, that's the person that needs to pick out this book or jump into one of my courses or do the five day Gratitude challenge or pick up the Gratitude journal that we released this month as well.

00:45:34:20 - 00:45:44:10
Andrew Anderson
That's the person that I would love to be able to sit down and open one or bring them into my my immediate world online, wherever that may be.

00:45:44:10 - 00:45:49:12
Jason Croft
Fantastic. What's the best way for them to do that?

00:45:49:12 - 00:46:10:16
Andrew Anderson
Amazon, you can find me. Andrew Lee Anderson It's strength of the strength of the Willow, How to find Courage and Compassion in a Turbulent World. You can follow me on social media at Andrew L Anderson, 85 Anderson is spelled o n If you're wondering, I'm there every day, sharing things, producing, you know, great content and messages to two blessed lives.

00:46:10:17 - 00:46:16:06
Andrew Anderson
And then I want to give your listeners a gift, if that's okay. Jason We need to talk about this.

00:46:16:06 - 00:46:17:19
Andrew Anderson
Please, Please.

00:46:17:19 - 00:46:38:21
Andrew Anderson
to give your listeners a gift and they can email me personally. And my email is. Andrew And you put in your, you know, the podcast notes, but they can email me Andrew. Andrew L Anderson dot com And if you just put in that subject line, you know, Jason offer because I want them to remember that you were the one that helped them get this this gift.

00:46:38:23 - 00:46:57:18
Andrew Anderson
If they, if they send that email to Jason you know, or to Andrew Anderson. Andrew Andrew. Elinor Second subject line. Jason offer, then we're going to give them a gift, the first 30 minutes audio of the book, or they can get the, the PDF version of book. And if you fall in love in 30 minutes, then you can go and get the rest.

00:46:57:18 - 00:47:02:21
Andrew Anderson
But I want to allow everyone to have that opportunity to dive in immediately.

00:47:02:21 - 00:47:05:16
Andrew Anderson
I appreciate that so much.

00:47:05:18 - 00:47:08:11
Jason Croft
And on behalf of my audience, thank you so much.

00:47:08:11 - 00:47:12:09
Andrew Anderson
I encourage everyone to to go do that for sure. I'm excited for the audible version.

00:47:12:09 - 00:47:15:07
Jason Croft
I'm a big audible guy.

00:47:15:07 - 00:47:17:20
Andrew Anderson
So that's that's fantastic. And I'm.

00:47:17:20 - 00:47:20:07
Jason Croft
Glad. Big fan of the author reading it.

00:47:20:09 - 00:47:21:11
Andrew Anderson
A big fan of that too.

00:47:21:11 - 00:47:23:11
Jason Croft
So that's great.

00:47:23:11 - 00:47:29:05
Jason Croft
Andrew thank you so much for, for, for sharing your amazing story here and to.

00:47:29:06 - 00:47:39:21
Andrew Anderson
To help us with this concept of the life's mission that not only is is important and grounding and gives us that direction, but it's.

00:47:39:23 - 00:47:42:03
Jason Croft
The definition that's really practical.

00:47:42:03 - 00:47:42:17
Andrew Anderson
As well.

00:47:42:17 - 00:47:42:23
Jason Croft
I can.

00:47:42:23 - 00:47:43:14
Andrew Anderson
Use this.

00:47:43:14 - 00:47:45:19
Jason Croft
On a day to day basis.

00:47:46:14 - 00:48:03:13
Andrew Anderson
definitely welcome it's a it's a pleasure to, you know make new friends and connect with new people and and be a participant in that and that juice ride that you get when you're lit up and connecting. And I'm I'm grateful to be able to serve your tribe today.

00:48:03:13 - 00:48:07:00
Jason Croft
wonderful And we'll see you all next time

 

Andrew L. AndersonProfile Photo

Andrew L. Anderson

#1 Int'l Best Selling Author/Speaker/Coach

Everybody yearns to have at least one person in their life who believes in them; that they can do what they say they can do, who believes they can be the person they want to be. Andrew is that person. Andrew grew up in Boise, ID. He served a two-year service mission for his church to Belgium and France. He went on to receive a master’s degree in Education and loved teaching high school students for six years. Since 2015, Andrew has cultivated this teaching passion as a #1 international best-selling author, speaker and coach, helping individuals break through limiting beliefs, transform their lives and businesses and find lasting freedom. When away from work, you can find Andrew with his family on the soccer field, basketball court, recital halls, or the mountains of Idaho. His wife and six kids drive his Life Mission. At the end of the day, know this: Andrew will take a stand for your greatness more than you will stand for your own limitations. He will fight harder for your possibilities than you do.