Dec. 21, 2023

Overcoming Obstacles and Transforming Lives Through Health: A Conversation with Dai Manuel

Overcoming Obstacles and Transforming Lives Through Health: A Conversation with Dai Manuel

Are you ready to gain inspiration and practical tips for your own personal development and fitness journey? This episode holds the key!

In this podcast episode, Dr. Fitness invited Dai Manuel on the show to discuss his journey of overcoming personal challenges and transforming his life through health and fitness. Listen in as Dai shares insights into finding one's values, embracing a positive mindset, and becoming a role model for others. And be sure to stay tuned! This conversation delves into the power of resilience, goal-setting, and the impact of a healthy lifestyle on overall well-being.

Get ready to meet Dai Manuel - the ultimate super dad, husband extraordinaire, and all-around life enthusiast! Dai is on a mission to inspire and positively impact one million role models across the globe, encouraging them to lead a FUN-ctionally healthy life through education, community, and much encouragement. As an award-winning digital thought leader and author, Dai has mastered leading by example, always staying true to his values of Fitness, Family, Faith, Finances, and FUN. He knows firsthand how challenging it can be to juggle life's responsibilities while prioritizing health and happiness.

TIMESTAMPS
• [1:47] Dai Manual shares his personal transformation journey from morbidly obese teenager to health enthusiast, highlighting the importance of support networks and personal fulfillment.
• [4:44] Dr. Fitness and Dai discuss helping people uncover or stay true to their fitness values by understanding the science behind it.
• [11:47] Dai emphasizes the importance of finding joy in healthy habits and rituals, rather than feeling pressured by prescriptive advice.
• [19:22] Dai explains the importance of mindset in achieving fitness goals, citing the adage "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, but the second best time is now."

For more information on the Your Health Moment podcast, visit: https://www.yourhealthmoment.com/

Connect with Us!
Max Sturdivant, Podcast Host & Health & Wellness Coach -
Podcast Website: https://www.yourhealthmoment.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iam.drfitness
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamdrfitness/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@iamdrfitness1971

Dai Manual
Website: https://www.daimanuel.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/daimanuel
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/daimanuel
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/daimanuel
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@DaiManuelOfficial
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daimanuel/
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/daimanuel
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/daimanuel
Dai Manual’s podcast: https://2percentsolution.buzzsprout.com/

🤝 This podcast episode was brought to you by McGowan Spinal Rehabilitation Center

🎙️ Podcast Production by Dandelion Media

🔊 Audio Produced by Mountain Valley Media

Transcript

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  0:04  
Hello, and welcome to Your Health Moment podcast. I'm your host Max Sturdivant better known as Dr. Fitness. On this podcast, I want to give you the tools to start, continue, and never give up on your journey towards health. Now, whether you struggle with your weight, eating the right food, hydration, exercise, or even time management, you're in the right place, and I'm here for you. Now, let's dive right into this episode. 

This episode is brought to you by the McGowan Spinal Rehabilitation Centers. 

Thank you for joining us for another episode of Your Health Moment. I'm your host, Dr. Fitness. And as always, we're going to discuss all things Holistic Health, and Wellness. But yeah, today's not going to be any different than that. So what we're gonna do is, we have the pleasure of interviewing, Dai Manual. Now Dai is on a mission to inspire and positively impact 1 million role models across the globe, encouraging them to lead fun, functional, healthy, live through education community, and a whole lot of encouragement. And we're going to discuss some of the ways that Dai encourages people to lead, or to lead a functionally healthy life. So we're gonna get right into it and Dai before we do, though. Um, if you could do me a favor and just give us a quick bio about you, and you know, some of your values. And, you know, yeah, what's important in where, where are we doing this?

Dai Manual  1:47  
Oh, cool. Well, Dr. Fitness, Max, like, first of all, well, just to meet another person, it's just as into helping others and making an impact in the world. You know, selfishly, that's also why I'm very excited to be here and honored to be here, because you and I have similar values and similar desires and how we want to make an impact in the world. And, and I knew this long time ago, you know, at age 17, I went through while I was actually age 15, I started to Health Transformation myself, went from morbidly obese teenager, playing a lot of video games, watching a lot of movies, eating a lot of very nutrition poor yet calorie rich foods. So you know, after five years, it wasn't rocket science, how I got to that place of unhealth. But when I made the mental shift, to want to be in healthy, it's amazing. But it only took 20 months to release what took me six years to put on. And I like people to just keep that in mind when he is impressed.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  2:39  
You know, when you decide to change, that's impressive. Well, also my

Dai Manual  2:43  
age helped, right? Like I was 17. Puberty was kicking in. So I had a little bit of help with from that, but but also, I had a nice support network around me. And so that was very instrumental in seeing that change. But at 17, all of a sudden, I had people reaching out to me, like people double my age or more than domains, like my friends, my parents saying, hey, you've done this amazing change, do you think you could help us a little bit? You know, we want to get a little out there to impress. And that was the first time in my life, I felt like I had something of value to offer, you know, 17 years in life. And that was the first time I really felt like I had something that I could do that was special. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. And so at that point, it was pretty easy. It was like, Wow, this makes me feel really fulfilled. I feel really happy and joyful when I'm helping people this, I don't know what the rest of my life looks like. But I think this is gonna be a part of it, you know, helping people with this. And sure enough, you know, fast forward I'm now 47 There's been a lot of opportunity to help people and and through different means I've had a number of different businesses, I got into the retail side of fitness, where I was selling fitness equipment, accessories, wholesale, b2b and b2c as well as omni channel all across Canada and the E commerce space. Did that also for 17 years. And then after the fact I just got to a place where I felt like I wasn't being fulfilled by that choice anymore, career wise. And so I made some shifts about eight years ago. And now here I am in Vancouver talking to you and got both of the kids out of the house as of this fall over. So you know, just trying to figure out what's next.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:14  
Well, Vancouver, one of my favorite cities. Well,

Dai Manual  4:18  
next time you're in town, I mean, you're gonna get a workout in Max.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  4:22  
That's that town is really about health in lifestyle and, and quality of living. I mean, so to be in that environment. It's like, wow, that's just I could see you know, selling equipment in like Vancouver. It's not doesn't seem like it'd be that hard. It's totally health conscious.

Dai Manual  4:50  
There's pockets of it right like every place but Vancouver because we're such an outdoors. You know, we've had the Olympics here we've got the mountains, even though we have all the seasons. It's literally like Seattle, we're very much similar climate, you know, it's Pacific Northwest, we are rain forest, we get a lot of rain certain times of the year, but we don't get as much snow, the snow is actually in the mountains, which is nice. So you get that select, like, quite literally, I could go golfing in January, but also go up to the mountains and snowboard for the afternoon, you know. So I love that act of lifestyle and the outdoors here support it really well.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  5:24  
So when it comes to our listeners, from your experience, because like you've said, you've, you know, you've done this transformation thing when you were 17 years old, and was encouraging other people. So how do you help people to stay true to their values when it comes to fitness? Or to even uncover them? Because I think some people don't even know what their values are, when it comes to fitness? What are you? What are your thoughts about that? That's

Dai Manual  5:51  
a great observation. And it's very true, you know, it's very true. And, and I guess fitness, when we really think about what is fitness, fitness is a conduit, if you will, or a pathway to seeing certain markers in our life improve, you know, if you if you're sort of a data head and you'd like that more of the science to to change? Well, keep in mind when you start doing things differently than you've done before, you're usually going to get some different results. But fitness is a very intentional act, right? Like it's intentional, like we're like, I'm going to go do some fitness. And what do we mean by that? Well, I'm going to go and move my body with some purpose to elicit some sort of positive adaptation or evolution of my health, specifically, and we know that the best way to see some health markers move is, is moving our body, you know, and obviously nutrition, how we feel it that plays into it, how do we rest and recover that plays into it, but that first initial step that gives us instant feedback is exercise, you know, fitness moving our body? And I think it's one of those things like it wasn't a value of mine naturally. I mean, no, it was the furthest from it. I mean, video games or exercise? Oh, yeah, video games all the way, right, you know, at that age and. And to be fair, I was looking for those little dopamine escapes, you know, I was I was looking for those instant gratification moments, because I was feeling so just depressed, you know, and sad about my life and my current health situation. And I really felt hopeless. And I think it's that feeling that many of us feel, you know,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  7:21  
I think a lot of people can really relate to that in. And so I think I hear you saying, if you are a sign that a sign that fitness may not be of high value to you could be if you're depressed, maybe or

Dai Manual  7:51  
if it's a bridge to others, I think it's that way that I sort of looked at it, because there were certain aspects, like I wanted to feel just good in my own skin. That was sort of where things began, you know, I just I wanted to feel better about myself, I wanted to when I looked in the mirror, I didn't want to have to avoid my, you know, shield my eyes from seeing my reflection, I want to be able to look at that person looking back at me and say, I not only do I know you actually like you, you know, and, and I think it's that that idea that self reflection and introspection that can sometimes be very challenging when we're not feeling very hopeful, and not very in control of our own health. And so, you know, finding value in certain areas like family has always been a value. So when I really started thinking, and this is more when I got into my 20s and 30s. As I started to work with more individuals, I realized that it's aligning with other some of their more primary values. Fitness may not be a natural value for them, yet, yes, being the operative word, right. But there might be family as a huge value. And so it's tying in Okay, well, if your primary non negotiable, meaning that you never negotiate on that family commitment to that value, you know, we prioritize that one above others. Well, how can fitness help you get more out of that value and honor that value more effectively? Because I know I start talking to people like especially guys in her 40s. I'm a guy in my 40s. And we're starting to think about the second half of life right now. And I'm like, I want my second half of life to be better than my first half of life. I want to be the grandpa that picks my grandkids up, throws them around a little bit, have some fun kicks the ball, you know, is very active as active as I was with my own kids. And so for me fitness, yeah, is it a value in a way it is, but it's really a value that allows me to better honor my family values. And so that's something that I often ask people because I hear from a lot of people fitness and one of my values, I don't think it'll ever be one of my values, because some people just don't like exercise and that's fine. Find something else. You know, that gives you the same benefit. But but that's sort of where I was going with that sort of value proposition. Fitness is a value of mine, but I realized it wasn't that way when I started interesting

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  10:00  
now, because I noticed you mentioned family and and I saw that there were five apps. Yeah. Yeah. family finances. Fitness. Yeah. Faith Oh, yes. Well, we can get faith and find one more and fine. Oh, you know what? As crazy as it sounds, and it doesn't sound crazy, because everything you say makes total sense. And it's fantastic. So the really cool thing about it is when I meet with people, the one that they usually miss his fun.

Dai Manual  10:40  
Interesting, what do you think that is? Like? What are your thoughts have not

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  10:44  
been able to figure that out? But fun is not prioritized, right? I'm the same way for a lot of people that finances fitness, right? faith and family are right. But let's you were making the point just now that sometimes it takes understanding that fun is going to help those other aspects correct. So when you add fun in this is, I mean, this is a brilliant point, you've turned fun, into a way to really engage people, and in very pertinent activities, and things that they should value. I think it's fantastic. Thank

Dai Manual  11:37  
you. I mean, if we're not smiling at least once every day, there's room for improvement. You know, that's the wiser to look at it. Like this be be scarier. You know, when we're doing things and we feel joyful, fulfilled, happy doing those things. It takes far less convincing of ourselves to do those, you know, that motivation piece, I often hear people say, I just don't have any motivation. I'm like, Well, are you sure about that? Because I bet you there's some things that you love doing like, Hey, do you like Netflix? Yeah, I love Netflix. Wow. Okay. So, so got motivation? Do you have motivation to do things that you enjoy? Let's figure out ways that you can start to enjoy, you know, do things with joy in mind and have that as a byproduct of the act. But let's figure out let's try some new stuff, you know, even just get to know for a walk for 30 minutes a day and listening to an awesome podcast like this one, right? Like, you can cascade some of these commitments. So you're doing a few different things that benefit you in a few different ways. Because I often hear, I just don't have time to do this stuff, right? I don't have time to be healthy. I'm like, What are you talking about, you know, if you don't have the time, now, you're gonna have to make the time later, because it says none of us get out of that one alive, you know, quite literally and figuratively. So why not try to extend our health span by being proactive now? You know, just establish a healthier relationship with being healthy?

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  13:02  
Well, when you're explaining that to people, do they embrace it? Because you have this great energy? That I could see you're, you know, saying it? I haven't mastered that. But I'm telling you, you have an amazing energy annex. And I'm sure they receive it. Well, I have a feeling that when you present it,

Dai Manual  13:27  
well, I have enough energy for most of us, you know, and what I mean by that is, I think it's because I've embraced this lifestyle so much. It's just like, it is a lifestyle for me. Now. It's not even a thought like, oh, jeez, should I exercise today? It's like, I don't think about that. Right? Am I gonna start my day with this morning smoothie, which I have sitting here right beside me? No, it just I do that. You know, like, there's certain habits that have become more than just habits they've been ritualized. And so it's not even really a thought anymore. But my days feeling complete if I don't have them, but it sets me up really well. I know, it works for me. And I think that's the thing I really want to invite people to do. Because I do recognize and, you know, Max, you can speak to this really well, based on the conversations you've had on your podcast, especially, you know, we have all these different subject matter experts. And we all have the same goal in mind, we just want to help people. But sometimes the way we deliver our messages is quite prescriptive, like a doctor writing a prescription. Yeah, you go take these, you know, you don't take these, you're in trouble. So, go take these and so we feel like oh, I have to do this now. You know, and, and I think that have to failings are very motivating, right? Like it's, it's more exciting when we come to that conclusion ourselves. And we find the joy in it because it will pull us to keep doing it rather than us trying to push ourselves to do it every day. But it does take time and we have to be willing to do a little bit of work to figure out what is right for us. Just because this guy's got a morning routine that involves 10 things that he does every morning. Does that mean that's the right thing for you. Historically, speaking with some of the past clients that I've worked with Max, maybe you can speak to this but I know myself, I had the best of intentions to follow through, wow, this is great. I got this morning routine, I do it at 6am. Every day, there's all these Check, check, check, check, check, accomplished, I'm ready to crash my day. However, if I missed one or two things, I felt like a failure. I felt like I did something wrong. And I was in if it was a list of 10 things, and I got seven of those things done. Those seven things I did were awesome. But all I could think about were the three things that I didn't do. And that's the problem when we prescribe things, and we are like, very specific, like, you got to do it this way. You know, and if you don't do this, well, you're not gonna get rich. And I think health is such a personal subjective conversation. And yeah, we can objectify certain tat tips, tricks, hacks. But it is a personal journey. And I really love it when people self discover what health means to them. But that takes time, right? It's not like we have just the answer to give them but all we can do is tell them stories, give them examples and encouraged to try things until they find the right solution for that.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  16:05  
Wow. In Can you give me an example of one story that you would tell someone that hasn't found their motivation yet to exercise? Okay, so

Dai Manual  16:19  
there's one story and I think this one will resonate, especially with some of the people that are maybe hitting that 40 plus area, there was this gentleman, and he was a late father. And what I mean by that, you know, he started having kids in his 40s. And this is very common now. Like, we actually have a lot of friends that are in their 40s. And they're just having their second child or, you know, they've got toddlers in the home. And my wife and I, we started early. So we're a little bit different on the spectrum. But I do try to relate to those people in that situation. Because I know how my body's changed, my energy has changed as I've come into my 40s versus how I was in my early 30s, or my 20s, you know, just things change. And because of that I've had to change sort of how I commit to my health and do certain things, even fitness. But what I found was, here's this gentleman in his 40s with a young toddler. He's at the park one day is toddlers playing around, you know, not even five years old yet and you know, like kids will do, they're running around the plan. They're having fun. He's on the playground, he's sitting on the bench with another parent just sort of talking, you know, just just observing, watching the kids having a great time. And then all of a sudden, his son bolts towards the road. There's all these parked cars. It gets a small kid, but he's bolting to the towards the road, because they had kicked the ball that way. So he's just chasing the ball. The dad can see, there's a car coming down that road, the ball is heading straight into the middle of the roadway. There's all the parked cars, there's no way that car that vehicle can see this. The dad's like 3040 feet away from the kid, he stands up and he starts to run. He can't catch his kid. He was fortunate enough that the person driving that car saw the ball jet out stopped as the kid just literally feet in front of that bumper ran out to get the ball. Fortunately, the driver was aware was able to stop him down. But that Dad, I'll tell you mid 40s, all of a sudden realized, oh my goodness, I couldn't keep up to my five year old. I couldn't protect them. I'll tell you, he made a huge commitment, last 120 pounds, changed his life. Took him some time to do that. But I'll tell you, he's never gone back there. Because he wants to be the protector. He wants to be able to support his family. But at the same time, he wants to feel confident that he can do so. And so that was that moment where he realized oh my goodness, I've got to prioritize my health. I want to know like, this is real motivation. Exactly. And you know, in Delta, he was motivated in the gym all the time. I remember seeing him there all the time, like, what the heck's going on. And that's when he shared that story with me, you know, and I was like, holy smokes, I can see how that can make a huge shift. And but here's the unfortunate thing, Max, many of us wait and tell that oh moment. Like we're all just waiting to tell them we're at the rock bottom and then even then I'll just pick the rock up and I'll crawl under it, just to just to show that I can get a little bit lower. And then we all of a sudden are like okay, now now I'm ready to make some changes. Well, well, why wait, you know, like, why wait till that moment, is that the old adage goes, right? What's the best time to plant a tree? Well, 20 years ago, or today, right? Like when's the best time to get healthy? Well, probably yesterday or right now, you know, and, and so that's, that's what I like to encourage people with don't don't wait until you have a moment to start prioritizing your health. And, and usually people resonate with that, you know, but not everybody. Not everybody. There's some learners, right.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  19:56  
It's funny, but yeah, when you put it like that, it's really Easy to see that's really a great story. That's this goes right to the heart of it. When it comes to your whole life fitness manifesto book, um, is this one of the pillars and it for motivation? I mean, you

Dai Manual  20:16  
talk to that, yeah, like, I'm a big fan of mindset, because it's helped me a lot. But it's also caused me a lot of grief. Like, just to be honest, you know, like, as I know that there's certain things that keep me mentally in a good space, keep me feeling positive, keep me feeling sure of myself. Just just more clear and more confident, you know, because I think we all want clarity, when we feel clearer on things. We feel more confident. And when we feel more confident we yet we tend to take more decisive action. And is it always the right action? Oh, no, not always, you know, but but we're in a good enough headspace that we can adapt and learn. And we don't really necessarily look at it as mistakes we look at okay, well, it's just another way of how not to do that. Let me try it a different way. But because we're in more that positive mindset space, we just look at our situation, but more importantly, the world around us a little bit differently. But getting there to that place takes a little bit of effort, a little bit of work, might involve some change. And where I find this is where I've struggled. And I think a lot of other people struggle is the mindset around change. I think a lot of us tend to feel like a victim of change. You know, it's not like something that we signed up in the morning. Oh, yeah, this morning, I want more change on my, my menu, you know, please, we're rather change averse as a species, even though we have the resiliency in our DNA to handle lots of change. But sometimes we forget about that, right? We just forget about that. And, and so I again, going back to fitness, I think it's one of that great little conduits or activities that can build confidence, can build some of that positive feedback that we get when all of a sudden you know, that flight of stairs that I used to feel huffed and puffed up, you know, I remember at 15, you know, losing the weight, that first three months, the biggest change, I noticed that my home run was on the third floor in our high school third floor. I had a lot of stairs to walk up. We didn't have any elevators, you know, like there was a handicap elevator or you know, and, but that was reserved for the people with wheelchairs. So I was taking the stairs like everybody else. And I remember getting to the top and literally have a little bead of sweat coming down my brow, and my heart rate was palpitating, you know, and I'm like, geez, I'm 15 years old, this should not be happening.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  22:28  
Wow. But there's that the wake up call for you because it was one of them. Okay, and

Dai Manual  22:34  
Max, full disclosure, and everyone's listening watching us. I wanted a girlfriend, okay. So when you start talking about motivation, there's intrinsic, those internal drivers. And then there's extrinsic, those external motivators. For me, there was a lot of external motivation. I saw my buddies, you know, was getting closer to girls having girlfriends, and I was like, I want some of that, you know, but, and this is sad. And it's not to make people feel sad, but I just didn't love myself, you know, and until I could learn to love myself, I wasn't prepared to to welcome anybody else in my life. And so that was what I needed to start. I didn't know that at the time. But that's what I discovered, as I committed myself to getting healthier. I had to start feeding this muscle between the mind the ears, so to speak, you know, and that's when I started to read different things started to get around different people. I wish that I had access to a podcast like this when I was 15. But I'm a kid of the 80s. And what was podcasting back then? There were there wasn't anybody. I mean, we didn't really have an internet, right? So but I just know, this is such a treasure trove of amazing information that can help people. And back then, I mean, I went to the library to get books on fitness and nutrition. My kids still like dad, right? You just Google it. I'm like, I'm older, the Google kids, you know, are you older the TV too. And I'm like, you go there, you're not getting your university pay for it. So but but that all being said, you know, health is a rather subjective and personal journey. But I think we can come to some objective agreements on it. And and I know that you have some tenants, but this idea of values is what keeps us going and sustains the journey. You know, without the value piece. It's really easy to get distracted, do something else. But when we do things that are aligned with values, it's amazing how it just feels a little bit more effortless. And, and that's, I think, something that we should strive for, you know.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  24:24  
That's, that's fantastic. You know, thank you. I feel motivated and upbeat. I think I'm going to be one of them. 1 million follow your yard. Look into motivating cloth here, Matt. I'm really excited about that. On that note, why 1 million Why did you come with that particular

Dai Manual  24:46  
I think it's just a big number. You know, to be honest, I think it's like it's big. It is a big number but you know, as they talk about B hags, right are this big, hairy, audacious goal. That was a big one for me. You know, could I impact a million role models now not not a million people, but role models specifically, because it's amazing when you when we think about how we all learn, this is getting back to sort of the mindset piece, and that just how our brains work. We learn through modeling. So we see things and then we try to do them ourselves. We might watch a video tutorial, right? We, we read examples, but we're trying to model another behavior or habit or action. And then there's mentorship. You know, where we have people that coach support mentor us to learn to grow, to adapt to, to become more able to do certain things that we've identified, or we want to be able to do it. But those two are primary when it comes to how we learn and grow as people. That being known. Obviously, I want to be able to inspire mentors, because mentors are going to help one another is each one of those people help one or two people? Well, I've just exponentially shot that goal way higher than it was before. And I recognize if we have a lot more positive role models, modeling, and mentoring, the world is going to change. It's just going to change, you know, and we have lots of pockets this already happening. We see it happening. Maybe not quite so that tipping point yet, but I think it's getting there. You know, I really do the collective awareness and knowledge with podcasts like this, and some of the other mediums that are coming to the forefront. There's reason

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  26:21  
to be hopeful. I think so. You know, I do too. Yes, I agree. It's nicer

Dai Manual  26:26  
getting up in the morning being hopeful than the alternative. You know, it's just, I, I'm gonna be blindly optimistic that way at times. And but it served me well, you know, certainly well,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  26:40  
I'll tell you, hey, if someone wants to get your book, oh, the Whole Life Fitness manifesto book. I mean, you do coaching as well. And so we're, we're touching on this. So you coach. Because I got the point by building role models. I do get the impression to that part of the coaching that you're doing is for coaches. Yeah.

Dai Manual  27:06  
Yeah. I do work.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  27:11  
You know, so can you explain a little bit about that? Sure.

Dai Manual  27:14  
Right, well, so the first thing that the Holy fitness manifests is pretty much available wherever you can get books. But with my podcasts that launched two weeks ago, I recorded the whole audio book, and I've given it away. So those are some of my initial episodes I launched my podcast with is actually me narrating my book. So just an FYI, you don't even have to buy it. Now. I know my publisher hates me say that. But I own the rights. It's my books, I can do whatever I want. So I've given it away. For those that are interested, you know, just the 2% Solution podcast. So you don't have to buy it, you can just go listen to it. But all that being said, you know, if when I'm working with coaches, it's really just to try to inspire, educate and motivate but do it in a very structured way to help them better understand how can they leverage more modeling and mentorship in their own practices as a coach, you know, because I've always thought of myself more as a lifestyle mentor than a lifestyle or life coach, I tend to attract people that are looking to do similar things that maybe I've already have experienced and doing. So it's a little bit different than just coaching where we often have a formula or a blueprint, and we're the guiding people on that journey. While this mentorship piece might be a little bit more specific, you know, I battled with alcohol abuse for 15 years of my life. I live with a chronic autoimmune condition. I was morbidly obese. I'm a father of two young adult children. I had a business that was doing eight figures a year, like when you look at some of my backgrounds, you know, and I'm not here to talk about that, you know, extensive Oh, no, no, but it's it's relevant, it is relevant. So when I attract certain types of coaches is because they're looking to try to grow their own business and practices, but also become more effective as a mentor versus just being the coach. And so I tend to work with them individually through a one on one process. But you know, the stuff that really gets me excited, and the stuff I love the most is just working with individuals, you know, especially those people that are you know, they're on the verge of giving up, you know, or maybe they have given up again, right, they've tried it again, and I know what it's like to be there. And I think when you have somebody in your corner that's going to encourage you unconditionally. It's amazing how that motivation can start to become much more apparent and a bigger driving force in our lives because it's also someone else has believed in us. I mean, how many times do we just feel good when someone believes in us, you know, and that's something I want for everybody. So again, that sort of just extending the why of why I love doing this so much is there's fortunately for me at various pivotal moments in my life, that there was somebody there that believed in me, you know, and it made the change much more palette but palette but you know, I could I could stop giving more. Okay, there we go. I couldn't say that word. But you know what I mean? Yeah,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  30:04  
sure do. Yeah. Yeah. I am like, we're getting near the end here. Yeah. And I want to I don't want it to end because I'm really enjoying the conversation. There is enjoying the conversation. And wow, I mean, you just bring a lot of really great nuggets to the forefront.

Dai Manual  30:28  
Thank you try.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  30:30  
So what I would like is, is there something that I should have asked that you want to talk about? That, that I'm may have missed? Well,

Dai Manual  30:41  
I can do this really quickly. But you know, what are the best questions to ask oneself when you're feeling like it's time to make some big changes? I won't go in deep on this. But I will just explain the three questions. The first question. So you're, you're you're feeling like, Man, I need to make a change. You know, like, at 15 years old, morbidly obese, looking in the mirror, bawling my eyes out and like, I hate this person looking back to me. But if I want to make a change, I'm really the only person that can make this happen. I want to get healthy, I don't know how to do it, but I'm prepared. I'm going to do whatever it needs to be done to get healthy, you know, when we find ourselves in that place where like, Okay, I don't know what to do. But I know I'm ready to do something. The thing you got to ask yourself first is can I do this? Simple, right, it's gonna shine a light on probably some education is going to be to be gained a little bit of wisdom, right of applying that knowledge that you gain. Because as you get more confident and clear on what to do, that answer is going to be a yes. You know, can I do this? Can I do this thing to make some changes? Yeah, I can do this. Great. I feel confident today's question to you follow it up with if I actually do it, will it work? Because, again, a lot of us have past experience. And we might be pre determining our fate before we even started thinking that oh, geez. Well, I tried that one. And I tried that routine. I tried that program. I tried that course. Every time we got results, but then I just ended up coming right back where it was. I don't know if I could do this. Well, that, again, shows lack of confidence and clarity. So we have to work on that to get to a hell yes. You know, if I do this, will it work? Well, there's examples of other people that have done it. They've gotten results. I'm capable. I think I could follow their steps. I can model what they've done. Yeah, I think I can do this, too. Yes, yes. Can I do this? Yes. If I do it, will it work? Yes. This is the last question. Worth it. Now, when I'm talking to a team or a company, I can use the term it out there that's listening or watching this, I want you to look in the mirror. And when you're answering these groups, three questions, you're gonna say, am I worth it? That one, not so easy, right? Not so easy. So what I would say is, if you can't get to a hell yes, on that right out of the gate, that's okay. Three B, who do I need to get around to support me with this change. Because when you're not feeling awkward about yourself and your own value, get around a community of like minded people that are experiencing life similary wants similar things. And inevitably, they're gonna be able to model and mentor you to get to that place where all of a sudden, when you are look in the mirror and say, am I worth it? Because you've had 100 people screaming at you, you're worth it. All of a sudden, you're gonna start to believe it, I'm worth it, too. And those three questions are the same questions, I invite anybody and everybody to consider whenever you're starting to be on that precipice of feeling, there's time to make some changes. And so that's, that's where I'll leave it.

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  33:29  
Well, hey, I just am very appreciative that you're here and sharing this information, and I know it's going to go up, it's going to go the distance for people that are in that place where they're stuck, they need the motivation, they don't know where to go next. 123 I think will not be forgotten. Will definitely gonna highlight that in the show notes.

Dai Manual  33:59  
Dr. Fitness, man, you know, I just want to say thank you for the opportunity today to be here. And I've enjoyed this conversation very, very much. But I also get it there were two souls that are all in on this, you know, and I just want to put it out there publicly. I can't wait to continue the conversation, but we'll continue it on my podcast. And, and I'm looking forward to, you know, it's gonna be great. Hey,

Max Sturdivant/Dr. Fitness  34:23  
that'll be great. Hey, Dai. Thank you again for joining us. And I want to thank the listeners too, for tuning in to another episode of Your Health Moment. I look forward to speaking with you again next week. Take care and bye for now. 

Thank you for listening to this episode of Your Health Moment podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can visit our website, your healthmoment.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources that we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me on social media too. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes that you've been listening to. And don't be shy about requesting any other show topics that you might like to explore.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai