How to Turn the Knob of Leadership and Your Life: The Tanner Gers Interview
I can’t say enough about Tanner Gers. He posted the podcast of our conversation today. We had a great time talking about life and doing things. A bit of a love-fest between two people who admire and respect each other.
Before linking to the podcast, a few words about Tanner from his about page. If you’ve read Chapter 8 of Leadership Step by Step, you’ll see the connection this man’s story to my life, passion, and message.
About Tanner Gers
Thanks for stopping by and saying hello
You may have found me through my health & fitness site, coaching site, or have heard me on someone else’s podcast, but either way… I’m glad you’ve come to hangout.
Here’s the real background story that most don’t get to hear…
I was your typical all-American kid growing up, except for the fact that we never really had 1 place we called home. I’ve lived in Orlando and Jacksonville Florida, Mobile Alabama, Anaheim California, Houston Texas, I was born in Lafayette Louisiana, where we lived several different times, and then finally moved to Tucson Arizona, which was where I went to high school.
Yes, we lived all those places before I was in 9th grade…
I played every sport imaginable growing up, was incredibly bored throughout my k-12 experience, and the only reason I even made it into college was because of my math scores on the SAT. I’m great with numbers… Horrible at reading. Can you guess what happened soon after that?
Yeah, you’ve got to read in college, so that was short lived. After I headed back home, I partied in between punching in and out of my dead end jobs. My life was going nowhere and I finally realized it was going to be up to me to do something about it.
I was mature enough to know that I was going nowhere fast, so I made the choice to extract myself from the situation, see what I did there, of Tucson. I needed discipline. I needed focus. I needed to get the hell out of Dodge. Inspired by 9-11, I thought I could hit 2 birds with 1 stone and enlist into the military. I was proud of myself and finally getting my life on track, but then I lost control of my car.
It was the day after my little brother’s birthday and I was speeding back to my parents’ house. Long story short, a tree came through the windshield and impaled me in the face. My skull was cracked open so severely, you could see my brain. It was exposed to the air.
2 months later, I “woke up†in the traumatic brain injury unit of a rehab hospital in Tucson totally blind. I lost vision out of both eyes completely. I was left in the darkness. Eventually, I figured out that I still had talent, skills, a working brain, and potential, but it would be up to me to live a life worth living. So, that’s what I did.
This lead me to learn how to live blind, go back to college, become a serial entrepreneur, author, speaker, and even a professional athlete as a US National team athlete in track & field. I also play blind baseball and dabble in cycling.
Ultimately, I learned that in life, sometimes, you have to be creative to find success. But, everyone has creativity and success inside them. I hope the info on this site and the Creative Success Show helps you find it.
And, thanks for taking a listen
I love people who live life to its fullest and share it with others so they can too. That’s Tanner.
Click here to listen to the podcast!
Here are his podcast notes:
Think about something with me for a moment…
And as long as you’re not currently operating heavy machinery…
Close your eyes.
What’s in your life right now that you don’t love?
Anything you don’t like doing… Or maybe hate doing?
Mentally, imagine a rain shower head above you…
My brother has this amazing 4 shower head walk-in shower that’s the inspiration for this visualization…
And what if as the water falls down upon you…
All that stuff washed away?
What if, just by simply turning a couple knobs… You could change your experience just like that?
You’d probably have a lot of room, space, and time to think about and do the things you really want to do.
The things that you’d probably accomplish… If that other crap wasn’t mucking it up…
Like being a bestselling author…
Running marathons… Or even swimming across a river…
As the warm water washes away the things you don’t want…
You envision being a collegiate professor …
Or an artist with your work being displayed in museums, galleries, and even winning awards for it.
Some of you are helping build satellites… Working with NASA… As an astrophysicist…
Or, you left your job to bring your invention to market… Getting patents along the way…
And now it’s being used across 4 continents!
Then you reach forward… Turn the knob to the right… And you wipe the water from your eyes.
Is this just a vision of grandeur?
Would any one of these be impossible for you?
Or is that just you choosing to limit what’s possible for you?
Maybe it is…
As these are accomplishments anyone would be happy to have on their resume…
Let’s go a step further.
What if… What if you accomplished all these things?
Every single one of them…
Just you. 1 woman. 1 man…
When I was introduced to Josh Spodek… I was excited.
Incredibly excited… Because he reminded me of the thing I learned from Dr. Jim Afremow.
If you can spot greatness… Then you’ve got greatness inside of you as well.
We all do. We all have greatness inside each one of us.
And as Josh says… The trick to achieve it is simple.
The 1 trick behind him being able to say he’s done all of the aforementioned achievements…
Isn’t a trick at all. It’s simple.
And it’s best represented in a single two-letter word.
Do
Just keep doing. Doing and pursuing what it is that you want to be great at.
It can’t be that simple though… I refuse to believe it!
I’ve tried and tried.
Well maybe… That’s the problem.
You’re just trying.
You’re trying to be successful instead of just doing.
If you want to publish a book…
Then write.
If you want to get your Doctorate in astrophysics or your Master’s in Business…
(BTW Josh has both as well as multiple other degrees from Ivy League schools)
Enroll.
If you want to be a painter…
Paint.
If you want to eat better, live healthier, and lose weight…
Cook.
If you want to complete a marathon…
Run.
The limitations we put on ourselves as humans are incredibly suppressive, oppressive, and depressing.
You, me, and most of us come from a place of fear…
When we should just come from a place of courage.
Having the courage to write that first word…
The courage to go to school…
(I’m doing this personally right now… Full-Time!)
The courage to cook, paint, or to take that first step.
When you come from courage…
You arrive.
You arrive at understanding…
The understanding that living life isn’t about going through the motions like you’re a sleep-walking ambienized being…
But that the best and only way to live life is through living it.
So… Turn the knob…
And wash away those words and perceptions of limitation that you’ve been told…
That you’ve been sold…
And that you’ve adopted as your own.
You are meant for more…
If you can spot greatness…
You’ve got greatness inside you.
And achieving it begins and ends with this.
Do.
And without any further ado…
Allow me to introduce my friend
And author of the only book on leadership that actually helps you become a leader…
Dr. Joshua Spodek
The only leadership book with the exercises that actually build Leadership!
Leadership Step by Step: Become the Person Others Follow
And visit Josh’s Academy and Blog right here…
Do. Do right now. Do three things.
Get the book. Get on the blog. And get in the Academy.
You’ve got nothing to lose… But growth, leadership, and accomplishments.
Turn the knob in your life.
Click here to listen to the podcast!
Thank you, Tanner!
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