Making The Impossible Possible W/ Nick Vujicic

If you’re not getting a miracle, maybe it’s because YOU are the MIRACLE! I can't even begin to explain the excitement I have in sharing this highly-anticipated interview with you. In one of my last in-person interviews, before the "safer at home" order was implemented, I sat down with Nick Vujicic! You probably already know this awe-inspiring thought leader but just n case you have been under a rock, let me tell you... Nick Vujicic is one of the most inspiring human beings on the planet! This man has redefined what's possible by LIVING his impossible! Nick has no limbs, however, he still surfs, golfs, walks, swims, and fishes. He is a best-selling author, he's spoken in front of over 8 Million people across 74 countries and is a REMARKABLE man of Faith! THIS INTERVIEW IS FOR EVERYONE, including YOUNG PEOPLE! Nick's perspective on overcoming adversity will instantly CHANGE YOUR LIFE. In this interview, Nick shares a dark period of his life when, at just 10 years old, he attempted suicide and reveals how he came to overcome his biggest bully... HIMSELF! Nick's story is going to blow you out of the water and make you come alive again and inspire you to live in your PURPOSE. The stories shared in this interview are essential to our world today in how we handle this pandemic and how to interpret the meaning of this shared experience. Nick speaks on the turning point of his life and reminds us all of why we should count our BLESSINGS as we often lose what we aren’t grateful for. We talk about why having a powerful sense of purpose matters, the CRUCIAL key to his life that has helped him achieve and overcome and why LOVING and ACCEPTING yourself first and foremost is the #1 thing you need to do in order to live a FULFILLED life and serve others. "Challenges rebirth a revolution!" We have a CHOICE at how we look at our adversities and even though they may be creating pain, pain pushes us to ADJUST and make the changes we know we need to. This is a message of FAITH, GROWTH, and TRIUMPH that I KNOW you need to hear right now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and the Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 01

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 01

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:38Speaker 03

  This is the Ed Miler Show.

• 1:45Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back to Max Out, everybody. I am so excited to share this man to my left with you today. He's one of the most inspiring human beings on the spinning earth. And we've been trying to get together for so long. And finally, God permitted that to happen for the two of us here today. You all should know who he is, but if you don't, this man has spoken in front of eight and a half million people in 74 countries. He's a bestselling author and he's a remarkable man of faith and a great human being. This is Nick Voichich, everybody. Nick, thank you for being here, brother.

• 2:15Nick Vujicic?

  Fist bump.

• 2:15Ed Mylett?

  Fist bump, baby.

• 2:16Nick Vujicic?

  Love you. So nice to meet you, so glad to be here and hello to everyone.

• 2:21Ed Mylett?

  It's finally time and actually, we're gonna be together at some speaking engagements that we're both booked at. We're gonna talk about your speaking today a little bit as well because this is one of the great speakers. He's got an anointing and an amazing story too. And so I think we should probably start with the story of you and your birth, which you were born with tetra amelia syndrome.

• 2:41Nick Vujicic?

  Correct.

• 2:42Ed Mylett?

  And that was not expected. And so tell us a little bit about the birth process. I think the story with your mother is so touching and interesting. Makes me emotional when I've heard it and I want to share that story with our audience too, so go for it.

• 2:56Nick Vujicic?

  Sure, absolutely. I was actually born in Australia in 1982 and my mom was actually a nurse. So she knew all about pregnancy and delivery and she was actually in charge of the birth suite of hospitals in Australia. But when she was pregnant with her firstborn, me, they were so excited every time they did an ultrasound. Oh my gosh, they didn't even check that I had arms and legs or not. And so when I actually was born, that's when the room went quiet. And the doctor held me low enough so my mom couldn't see me, but my dad saw my shoulder. And they took me away quickly. And my mom's like, what's going on? And my dad, he walks out of the room, what's going on?

• 3:39Nick Vujicic?

  He says, my son, he has no arm. He said, no, your son has no arms or legs and we are so sorry. He will not walk, he will not go to school and we're sorry that you did not have an opportunity to abort your child. And so my dad and mom, they consolidated, they obviously wept. And then my dad wanted to say to the doctors, I want to go see him. Because they wouldn't let my mom see me at that time. He unwrapped me and he said, he's beautiful. And so I had a loving home from the day, day one.

• 4:14Ed Mylett?

  But day one, but I think part of it, if I'm, and correct me if I'm wrong. Dad was warmer initially and more ready for that moment than mom was, correct?

• 4:23Nick Vujicic?

  For sure. Like, it took her actually four months to actually hold me and feel okay to hold me. You know, when you go through grief, it's always about shifting and reframing your attitude to actually overcome not just facing adversities, but the perspective of even seeing, okay, how do I stay optimistic? How do I give hope a chance in this tragedy? And so my mom, we all had, you know, 24 first cousins around us. And everyone's like, don't worry, we're here for you. They had a great support around them. But my mom did have her days where she's like, this is a nightmare. I can't do this. How can I get through this? What, what happened? Why me? Why him? And so we all go through those grief and questions when tragedy hits.

• 5:08Ed Mylett?

  Wow. So, speaking of the attitude and adversity, the combination of those two things. I have to imagine, growing up, that there had to be a few moments where not everything was rosy for you. And so, just what was it like for you growing up? Did you, were you ridiculed, bullied? Did you end up going to school? What ended up being the situation?

• 5:29Nick Vujicic?

  Right. So, for the people who cannot see me right now on audio version, I have a little left foot, which is about six inches appendage on the, on the bottom left. And I'm able to walk. And, and they didn't know if I could walk, type, and now I swim, golf, fish. And, and now I can type 53 words a minute on a normal computer and...

• 5:48Ed Mylett?

  Do you really?

• 5:49Nick Vujicic?

  Yeah.

• 5:49Ed Mylett?

  You also surf.

• 5:50Nick Vujicic?

  Surf. Come on, man. Yeah, dude, I love it, man. I love the beach. Uh, we grew up near beaches all the time in Australia. But really, it was um a miracle where my mom felt convicted. Um, with that attitude shift of, okay, wait a second, my son who has no limbs, the government says he's not allowed to go to school. So she had a choice, but her attitude is no. Maybe one of the reasons, if only one reason, was that my son was born this way to actually challenge the government system to say, tell me why my limbless boy can't go to the mainstream school. They went to the courts and they changed the law. They should have, good. And so it was cool where that adversity was then embraced to then bring at least one other thing, but

• 6:35Nick Vujicic?

  um, when I went to school, I was the only one who looked like me. Sure. And I felt like I was the only one in the world that was like me. And it was wonderful when I'm at home and with my brothers and sisters and I had a couple of good friends at school, but for the most part, most kids made me feel uncomfortable and asked me questions and I really started thinking about my life. Um, I would be forced to just sit and think about life while I can't do everything that everyone's doing. I'm thinking, wait a second, the teachers who's standing next to me, they're here employed. My mom and dad are employed. What am I gonna be? What if I'm not employed? And so at ages six, seven, eight, I started asking the bigger questions.

• 7:20Nick Vujicic?

  I can't do everything. I can do some, but man, am I even gonna get married? Am I gonna be bullied for the rest of my life? And so these fears started creeping in for sure. About your self-esteem. Oh, it was very high highs and very low lows. It felt like I went through seasons. It was really dependent though on who I was with. And what I found though gradually over ages eight to 12, through my years of depression, that actually bottomed out at a, an attempted suicide at age 10. I realized that I was my biggest bully. Because someone only takes two or three seconds to tell you something negative. But then you need to understand, what am I gonna do?

• 8:02Nick Vujicic?

  Am I going to let that echo in my mind and start believing that echo? Or am I gonna say, no, I'm not defined by how I look. I may not be good at this, but I'm excellent at maths. I can't do this, but I can still do that. And so that's the battle in the mind that I feel like everyone goes through. Whether you have arms and legs or not, some of us are disabled with a crippling self-esteem.

• 8:27Ed Mylett?

  Wow, so true, brother. I think almost everybody relates to that. In your case, I think some people listening to you think, well, there was justification for you having these insecurities because you do look different. Your circumstances were different.

• 8:41Ed Mylett?

  I didn't know that you tried to commit suicide. That's the first time I've ever heard that before. I've done a lot of reading about you. I did not know that. Was there a moment after that where things began? See, I think you hear people on shows all the time. It's like, well, that was a defining moment and then nothing like that ever happens again in my life, right? You know what I'm saying? But have there been return moments over your lifetime where maybe you didn't get to that extreme, but you go back to having dark thoughts or insecure thoughts? And even to this day, does that ever happen anymore?

• 9:08Nick Vujicic?

  Yeah, look, as far as bullying is concerned, obviously I have a self-esteem, knowing the truth and holding on to the truth and seeing the track record of how a man without arms and legs can still live a life without limits. And not to say that everything is possible, but I'm living my possible. I've redefined impossible from what the world has said and what I thought I couldn't do. But now I'm living an awesome life. And I've got my ups and downs, Ed. We all have our ups and downs. There has been probably two or three crises since, but more in my adult age. When I first fell in love with someone and her father didn't give us the blessing. So she had a choice, tea intersection, the family or me.

• 9:50Nick Vujicic?

  Another time in 2011, entrepreneurs, you know, most of us, we lose the money at least once.

• 9:55Ed Mylett?

  That's for sure.

• 9:55Nick Vujicic?

  So I lost my money first in 2011. It was difficult. And so those crises still come and go every, you know, season of life and cycles. But those challenges rebirth a revolution really for not just bettering who I am, but really achieving the goals and dreams that I really have, which is to reach the world better. Now I'm a husband, I'm a father of four, trying to reach. I'm even inspired by people like you. Who are doing this as a nonprofit, inspiring people. That's what I want. I live to inspire people. It's my purpose, it's my purpose. Given life.

• 10:32Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 10:32Nick Vujicic?

  And to do that from home, that's awesome, but to also make sure that no matter what comes out of my mouth, don't ever feel like this motivational attitude coach never has his down days.

• 10:43Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 10:43Nick Vujicic?

  Um, but there was a turning point that I did have it as a teenager, getting out of that depression. Um, it was actually losing something that I wasn't thankful for. And it was the ability to walk for three weeks.

• 10:57Ed Mylett?

  Oh, I gotta hear this.

• 10:58Nick Vujicic?

  I played soccer, my favorite sport, um, and I was on the field and the ball came. And I jumped up in the air, stupid. I did this matrix, slow motion karate kid kick in the air. And I jump up and the ball hits my foot so hard, I sprained it.

• 11:14Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 11:15Nick Vujicic?

  Staring at the ceiling for three weeks, I'm like, wait a second.

• 11:18Ed Mylett?

  Really?

• 11:19Nick Vujicic?

  I really gotta be thankful for what I have instead of being angry for what I don't have.

• 11:24Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 11:24Nick Vujicic?

  And my parents always said, be thankful. They were refugees as children leaving former Yugoslavia. So they always said, be thankful. When I wanted something from the store, they wouldn't give it to me. They said, make your own money and buy it. So I'd vacuum the floor for $2 a week. I would figure it out. But to really be thankful for what you have, you know that saying, you don't know what you got till it's gone. And then the other thing that really sealed my path of hope was my faith decision in believing that there is a God who loves me, that heaven is real. And that even when you don't get a miracle, you can still be a miracle.

• 12:00Ed Mylett?

  Hmm.

• 12:00Nick Vujicic?

  And then it all started a speaking career out of a janitor who worked at my high school. I was 17 years old. And I just got voted onto the student government body. And he said, you got voted on the government body? I said, yes.

• 12:14Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 12:14Nick Vujicic?

  He said, you're gonna be a speaker. I said, you're crazy. And he said, what am I gonna speak about? I said, your story. I said, I don't have a story. He was the one who organized my first speech.

• 12:25Ed Mylett?

  Come on, come on.

• 12:26Nick Vujicic?

  Yep.

• 12:27Ed Mylett?

  You guys, I just, just replay this for a minute. These are things I didn't know. And you know that we have a lot of mutual friends. I've done a lot of reading on you. Couple of things strike me. One of what you, that we have to take inventory of what we are grateful for because it's so easily said. But especially in your case to say that that was the catalyst for change for you. The other part of it is, we're gonna talk about the fact that you have this unbelievable anointing and that not only do you speak, but you evangelize as well. But the fact that a janitor was the catalyst, someone whose career path was a janitor, becomes a catalyst to birth one of the great inspirational speakers of our time. Of our time, everybody. You know, that ought to be making you think, what's the difference you could make in another person's life? Because there's the Nick story,

• 13:10Ed Mylett?

  but then there's this person that was the janitor at the school, who will remain nameless, who has made a massive... That person's responsible for fifty, sixty, seventy million human beings hearing from you through all these different avenues of social media and speaking. So you can make a difference regardless of your place in the world. That is a remarkable story. Now, speaking of that, you and I have talked a lot about this attitude concept and adversity. And even right now, economically, the world may be changing right now. And, you know, I have this fundamental belief that sometimes you're supposed to go into times of adversity because the pain of that change causes you to do things that you should have been doing all along anyways. But if the adversity didn't present itself, you wouldn't make those adjustments or those changes.

• 13:54Ed Mylett?

  What's your philosophy about, you know, kind of attitude and adversity? Because obviously, you've dealt with your share of adversity in your life since birth. So what are your attitudes and how do you view that?

• 14:06Nick Vujicic?

  Unfortunately, I think we get into a rhythm of what we've always known for the last, let's say, three years. We're in this three-year mindset mode that what's been working is good. Me now, you know, like I said, a father, I don't want to travel as much. I actually have done thirty-five hundred speeches in seventy-four countries so far. I've traveled more than the average person and I love what I do. I want to inspire people. But I've always told my wife, I need to start something different. I need to do things different, go coaching, do podcasts, do whatever we need to do to stay closer to home. This year,

• 14:47Nick Vujicic?

  it's not that because Nick was proactive and he had a... Spare a hundred K to reposition, right? Because it takes money, it doesn't take time, it takes risk and then coaching. I didn't know many people at all personally, who's had a successful podcast and everyone's saying you're gonna do this. But unfortunately, the faucets have turned off in the speaking industry.

• 15:10Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 15:10Nick Vujicic?

  And I've been majorly affected. And so internationally especially, so we're like, okay. I wish I did this because I knew I should have done it, but it was too comfortable.

• 15:20Ed Mylett?

  Gotcha.

• 15:21Nick Vujicic?

  And me being, in my own mind, a CEO of a lack of proactivity. I did a disservice to me, I did a disservice to my family. And you know what, you know Lewis Howes.

• 15:33Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 15:33Nick Vujicic?

  He said, without me telling him about a, he didn't know that I was going through a crisis. And he said, you not even having a podcast, can you think of it as a disservice to everyone out there?

• 15:43Ed Mylett?

  Exactly right.

• 15:44Nick Vujicic?

  It's like, you don't know the story much of all the other major points. Because people only see me on stage or in my book. If you don't see me on stage, you don't see the book, you don't know my story.

• 15:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:54Nick Vujicic?

  Nick, people need to hear from you and so.

• 15:57Ed Mylett?

  They do.

• 15:57Nick Vujicic?

  We need to get sometimes through this bottleneck that forces open a revolution that will now help me actually achieve the dream that I wanted.

• 16:08Ed Mylett?

  Isn't it amazing how that works? It's so funny because, you know, people say, hey, these entrepreneurs, Ed, you must be this incredible visionary. Like you had these visions for all these things you want. I certainly had dreams.

• 16:17Nick Vujicic?

  Sure.

• 16:17Ed Mylett?

  And some visions. But I think the ones who actually arrive at the dream are the ones who respond in the times of adversity and make the course corrections and adjustments. I don't take failure as a personal failing. I take failure as a failing of strategy. And too many people take a failure where they don't, they miss a sale or their income drops or they have a bankruptcy or a relationship. That it's a failure of them as a human being.

• 16:43Nick Vujicic?

  Right.

• 16:43Ed Mylett?

  I have a God who loves me, who made me his image and likeness. I don't take these failures as if I'm a failure personally. My strategy is flawed, my behavior could even be flawed. But my behavior and my strategies don't mean that I can't win, that I can't be somebody. So I just want to totally, you know, second what you've said there. I completely believe that. And by the way, everyone, so you know, you can have Nick come speak to your organization or to your group. He'll also do webinars with them as well, so he could stay home and make that impact for you. And the podcast is coming here right with the release of this show is coming out as well too. So these are other ways that you'll get access to him. And at the end of the show, we're going to tell you where to find him. I want to go back for a minute because you said something that you sort of accepted kind of faith in God in your life at that time of adversity as well.

• 17:26Ed Mylett?

  And I just want to ask you directly, I know the answers, but I want them to hear this. In your life, for all the things you've achieved, all the lives you've impacted, the things you've had to overcome, how important has been your faith and your belief in God in your life?

• 17:41Nick Vujicic?

  To me, it's the most crucial part. And even though when I go on tour and the organizers say, now, you can't mention religion, you can't mention politics. And I understand that. And we've had hundreds of clients who are satisfied every time I get offstage. And people then Google me and then find out the nonprofit side, life without limbs. And so we have people who monthly support us, who believe in that mission field to know that believing in heaven and having forgiveness and peace with your creator, God, is the most important thing. Money comes and goes. And so we've actually felt that we need to go and make an influence into education systems with our social emotional learning curriculum called Attitude is Altitude. And anti-bullying for kids.

• 18:25Nick Vujicic?

  And then corporate, America, the worldwide corporate audience. Nick, motivate us, help us to redefine impossible. How did you get through what you did? How do we live also a life without limits? And then people Google me and then find out my other story, which is the more spiritual side. Not that I'm bait and switch. It's like, hey, these are the principles, these are the values. But yes, and my most important thing in my life is knowing that when my dad gets diagnosed with cancer in 2017, and to know, sorry, he actually got diagnosed in 2015, died at 2017. Knowing that heaven is real. I nearly died in 2016. And my first earthly goal was to pay off my house at 37.

• 19:09Nick Vujicic?

  Paid off a house that we bought lower 27, just about to sell now at high market. And not many 37-year-olds can say that. And so with... Thank you. And with all of that, though, big house, small house, house, no house, the soul. And so that's how important it is to me. But this is the amazing thing. It's understanding that when you do go through change, to believe something you don't see. To not panic. When an entrepreneur and a visionary like us, you and me, are going through something and then we're we're stopped in our tracks. One of the biggest debilitating mental things is numbness. And then numbness goes to like from shock to then wait a second.

• 19:53Nick Vujicic?

  Maybe it's also panic after that. It's like, what just happened? Wait a second, this is bigger than me. And it takes time to then get counsel when you go through change and adversity. Get advice from people where you wanna go. Get coaching from them. Figure out that new planet of podcasts, Nick. Figure it out, learn. And like you said, many of us though never recuperate it because that pressure of failing and the pressure of never having that success that I did have. The way that I term it is an attitude shift. That failure is my classroom and it's part of the journey and evolving to your full potential.

• 20:34Ed Mylett?

  Failure is my classroom.

• 20:36Nick Vujicic?

  Failure is my classroom.

• 20:37Ed Mylett?

  I love that. You know, I was stopping, I'm just watching you speak and it's interesting. I told you about Nick, my friend who also essentially is without his limbs and it just struck me, I just wanted to tell you. It's amazing when you're in the presence of somebody. I I forget. I forget. I just, I I forget like I I. When I was interviewing Nick, I told him the same exact thing. And I think that the reason I say that on the show to you is that we're all very aware of what we lack. We're all very aware. You may, you take the average human being, you say, make a list of ten things you're great at. It'll take them, you know, three days. You say, make a list of a hundred things you're not good at. They can do it in two minutes. So we're all very cognizant and aware of the things we lack.

• 21:21Ed Mylett?

  And I just want you all to know that the things that are remarkable about you when you're in the presence of other people dwarfs the things about you that you're not great at. They don't see them. You think they see them, but they don't. And so it's interesting. I don't see you that way. I don't see Nick that way. I see this greatness in front of me. I see this man who's an expert at redefining impossible, which I wanna talk about next. You're the epitome of it, brother. A little boy, this beautiful precious boy is born. And the doctor says to your father, "I'm sorry, we didn't tell you so you could abort him." And that very little boy, whose mother even at first wasn't sure about holding him or touching, that little boy goes to change millions and millions of lives. That's the definition, dude, of redefining impossible, right?

• 22:07Ed Mylett?

  Like, you've redefined no one that day who says, "I'm sorry you didn't abort this baby." That doctor's not thinking, "Yeah, 74 countries, millions of people, thousands of lives and souls changed." No one would think that, right? So, talk about that concept with you, about rising above and redefining that. I love the way you talk about this.

• 22:25Nick Vujicic?

  Look, I'm not gonna say her name, but I'm not the only one with the story, right? We've got a history. What I've learnt is I'm not the only one going through something, and I'm never telling anyone that I'm going through something worse than anybody. I tell teenagers all the time, "I believe it's worse being in a broken home than having no arms and legs." And so, someone who's gone through a broken home, I can't encourage them as much as someone who has come on the other side and say, "I know how that feels, me like a limbless boy." That's the beautiful thing. I've met another limbless boy, I've met 30 people. Now, he knows that if Uncle Nick can do it, then I can do it. And so, in that story, there is someone local here, actually, who lives close to here. I won't mention her name.

• 23:10Nick Vujicic?

  I'm about to see her tomorrow to be with her two boys. She has two boys from two different fathers, 'cause those fathers died at age 39, within five years of each other. One of cancer, one in a car crash. And so, I'm just about to spend some... Her boys are going in the pool with my boys tomorrow.

• 23:31Ed Mylett?

  Wonderful.

• 23:32Nick Vujicic?

  And for me, when I looked at her at her second husband's funeral, and I was able to speak at his memorial service, he was a dear friend of mine at 39 just now, only a couple of months ago.

• 23:43Ed Mylett?

  I'm sorry.

• 23:44Nick Vujicic?

  He, um...

• 23:47Nick Vujicic?

  She said to me, "If I went through this just to help one other widow..." And it's that understanding that it's not, man, another punch, I need to get up. It's understanding, okay, wait a second. It's not a luck chance or coincidence that I'm watching a podcast with Ed and Nick and I feel my life is impossible. I'm depressed, I'm isolated. I haven't told someone what my dad did to me and I haven't even forgiven him. I haven't forgiven myself of the things I've done wrong. They're still trapped in maybe the failure. Or my success, my business is successful, Nick and Ed. But I still haven't got something and more of what I love. I haven't found that.

• 24:28Nick Vujicic?

  And that's the purpose that we all need to find and say, look, when I don't get a miracle, it doesn't mean I can't be a miracle for someone else. And so millions of dollars or me helping little Daniel help him. When he was getting bullied at school, I went in my wheelchair and I ran them all over. No, I didn't. I went there and I did a quick fifteen minute speech about bullying, right? And now, not only did he go through the rest of his elementary and middle school unbullied because now he accepts himself. People stopped teasing him and they stopped teasing everyone else. I'm like, hey, guys, we're all valuable. We all have a purpose. We all have story and we can all make the world a better place. Money, drugs, sex, alcohol, pornography, fame and fortune.

• 25:13Nick Vujicic?

  If you put your happiness in temporary things, your happiness will be temporary. And so when you come back to the understanding that even the challenge is something that we shouldn't just say, I'm gonna ignore it, I'm gonna walk away from it, I'm gonna never address that, I'm never gonna, no. The sooner you address the things, even me, Ed, the speaker who's traveled around the world, it took me ten years to forgive the family who didn't think that I was good enough for their family, for her. And now I have an amazing wife. She's half Japanese, half Mexican, we call that Japsican. We've got four children, seven four and twin girls at two.

• 25:56Nick Vujicic?

  And I just want people to know, it's not that I'm a speaker to say, everything is possible. Just do it. No, take one day at a time, be thankful, do your best. Reframe the attitude for you on a daily basis. Don't be debilitated by panic. See what you know, learn what you don't know, and take a step forward.

• 26:17Ed Mylett?

  So good, brother. Going back to the janitor at your school. I keep thinking of him. Isn't that interesting?

• 26:23Nick Vujicic?

  He's beautiful, and I've met, I just met up with him after all those years. I went to his humble home. His name is Arnold. I have talked about him publicly and in my book. And he was the catalyst. And then after him, I just did speeches at schools.

• 26:40Ed Mylett?

  Were you good at first?

• 26:41Nick Vujicic?

  No, I, I was terrible. I would actually never watch me speak if I recorded it because I'm so, how would you say, the biggest critic.

• 26:51Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, me too. I still am that way.

• 26:53Nick Vujicic?

  And I was bad, though.

• 26:54Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 26:55Nick Vujicic?

  I wasn't good. After the, but I didn't want to listen to a motivational speaker because what I knew, straight up, if I listen to other people's content, then I'm not authentic. And I needed to buckle down, make my own content. And after I did my first three or 400 speeches all across Bismarck, Australia, we then got me a coach. My teacher, Aid's husband, was a coach, and he sewed into me 10 hours. And even when my parents said, "You're crazy. You'll never make money speaking. Do a double degree in accounting and financial planning," and I did. My father gave me wonderful wisdom, Ed.

• 27:36Nick Vujicic?

  He said, "Start an accounting firm, go into stock market, go into real estate, and get employees to be your hands and feet." I was six years old when he said, "You need to become a millionaire to survive." No one knows that my nonprofit doesn't even pay for my caregivers, and I have a family to feed. And so, he told me entrepreneurially, "You need to make it happen. Do your best." Went into the stock market at 16, went into real estate at 19. He taught me, "Just go for it," but they never thought that I'd ever be a speaker.

• 28:07Ed Mylett?

  That's crazy.

• 28:08Nick Vujicic?

  Crazy.

• 28:09Ed Mylett?

  That's crazy. So that was my next question, by the way, is involving entrepreneurship. That's something that...

• 28:15Ed Mylett?

  Can be missed with you. You're a serial entrepreneur. You're a great entrepreneur. Off camera, all we were talking about was entrepreneurial ideas and the power of that. And so many people get the type of advice. I don't, I think my parents, I could sense, my parents didn't tell me you weren't gonna make it as an entrepreneur. My dad now tells me, I didn't think you were gonna make it. They were so worried. I remember I loaded up a U-Haul and I was driving away to go to my first entrepreneurial venture. My dad tells me as I was driving away, he was telling my mother, God bless him, he'll be back soon. Why is he doing this? And so I think a lot of people sense this lack of support from family, lack of belief, maybe even lack of belief in themselves. What are your attitudes about that?

• 28:55Ed Mylett?

  Do you think most people should be pursuing entrepreneurship, a side hustle of something, some type, or a nonprofit of their own? What are your thoughts about that just to enrich their own life? How do you feel about that?

• 29:09Nick Vujicic?

  So you talk about it all the time. First of all, entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Sometimes you're an intrapreneurship, nine to five, every day. I'm just gonna be the best person I can be at what I have. That's fantastic. If though there is a dream to then do a side hustle, go into real estate, do this, do that, I would say go for it as long as the, first of all, your priorities are right. And so-

• 29:32Ed Mylett?

  What are those priorities?

• 29:33Nick Vujicic?

  So for me, right, I actually achieved my goal and dream when my dad was dying of cancer. When I nearly died 2016.

• 29:40Ed Mylett?

  Why did you almost die?

• 29:41Nick Vujicic?

  I had a negligent surgery go wrong in California after a benign tumor was removed.

• 29:46Ed Mylett?

  Okay, wow.

• 29:48Nick Vujicic?

  Didn't sue him, we just move on. Money's money, doesn't matter. So then 2016, I nearly died. 2017, my dad died and I had four children. And at the time, I actually wanted to get to a week where we got the bread and butter, we're doing the nonprofit. I wanna switch off my phone Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. I did it. I did it. I had 17 staff at the time and I did it for six months straight. And I would still win the status quo, but not enough oxygen or reserve in case some contracts cancel for cash flow on a rainy day. So for me, it's first of all, you gotta be true to yourself with what's most important to you. For me, faith, family, friends.

• 30:31Nick Vujicic?

  If you're not really conversing, if you're not really connecting, I think us human beings were created to connect. Life is never better alone. Doesn't matter, I'm not talking about married or not married. I'm talking about connecting with human beings, number one. Number two, going after your biggest dreams, my dreams of being married and having kids done. But really now, when you have a wife, as a, I'm looking, okay, I'm like, okay, what's my next venture? I want her to bless the idea. And when you have a spouse who loves you, who respects you because you love and respect them, there's a margin that you make from week to week or month to month, saying, look, I'm gonna try and hustle, I'm getting ready for a fifteen hour day

• 31:16Nick Vujicic?

  stretch. That I'm gonna do nine to five, I'm not gonna be able to do this and this and this as much, but I'm gonna do this because I feel like this is what I need to do. If that is in unison for your family, you run for that. And for as long as your thoroughbred heart beats for that, you keep on knocking. But there are triggers, triggers of success, triggers of weight pause, triggers of failure. At the trigger of failure, do you then go to an edit and say, what do you think I should do? No, your heart first will say eventually, let's wait, let's delay it. You know how timing is important. Not just the outside, the inside. I can tell you right now, if Nick Wojcicki started a podcast five years ago.

• 32:02Ed Mylett?

  No.

• 32:05Nick Vujicic?

  Now. Oh my gosh, now is the time. So, understanding and embracing that, that the timing and a closed door doesn't mean it's not gonna open again. But really, your spirit and your connection, um, if you're not married, then all you have to worry about is you, yourself and you. And then say, okay, I don't have other mouths to feed. This is how much risk I'm ready to take. This is the attitude of the time I'm gonna give myself. But hustle, go for it. No one's gonna make it happen except for you.

• 32:39Ed Mylett?

  You, my friend, have become a gigantic success in your life. In the things that I think matter, which is where you've measured it as well. But you have been a success as a family man. You've been success in your faith and also serving God. You've been a success financially. You've made a lot of money. You've traveled the world. You've influenced people. What has made you successful? You're not successful because you lack limbs, right? That's not why you're successful. But isn't it interesting? Like, I want to peel back.

• 33:08Nick Vujicic?

  Right, right.

• 33:08Ed Mylett?

  So when Marshall Faulk, the NFL Hall of Famer, sat next to me. Or Robert O'Neill killed Osama bin Laden. Or Stephanie McGranda runs the WWE. Or whoever I've had on the show that's maxing out certain areas of their life. Okay? You're no different than them in your way. With the humility that I know you're going to answer it with. If we're being real, are you just like a psycho-competitor? Is it your work ethic? Is it your ingenuity? Is it your anointing? Like, what is it that's made you max out so many different areas of your life? And I know that you feel like you haven't done it all the way that you want to, which we'll talk about next. But what is it about you? What's the special?

• 33:45Nick Vujicic?

  I think the key attitude is being present and being honest. And when you're a humble person, who can humbly say you're a humble person. That you have no greed, ego, need to prove nothing to nobody. And you honestly look at yourself and say, okay, this is who I am. This is what I have. No point in wishing this, wishing that. This is what I'm going to do to my best ability. I actually feel like I have a unique edge on any other person only because, again, of the struggle. The struggle we're in before anybody leaves the room.

• 34:26Nick Vujicic?

  So I became almost like an operator at age seven or eight, timing everyone, reading body language before someone moves out of the room. Please, can you get me a glass of water? Put a straw. And me remembering, wait a second, how do I do this? So I've been forced to figure it out. And not to depend on someone else or something else. How can I figure it out and see approach it from different angles? So when you have an attitude that approaches adversity, that is quite resilient. A resilient approach to adversity helps you to look at something and say, okay, these are the first three reasons why it seems extremely difficult.

• 35:12Nick Vujicic?

  And the average person is gonna say, okay, I have good enough reason not to.

• 35:18Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 35:18Nick Vujicic?

  No. Einstein said genius is when you're obsessed with impossible. And when you look at impossible, that's when you become fearless. And when you're fearless and you have the attitude and approach of any adversity, it doesn't mean you don't at least get a flavor on the tip of your tongue of panic or numbness in your mind. You go through, everyone's human, but quickly you wait a second. What about four, five, six? What if I did this? What if I did that? And so in the physical, when I needed something from the bookshelf and I told my mom, I can't get it. Can you get me? And she said, get it yourself.

• 36:01Nick Vujicic?

  It was the best thing when I thought, why not just have that? Given this way, she gave me a task. And when I did that in that mind, I would say reframing adversity. It's not a bad thing. It's not a barrier. It's a challenge. And people see me as strong. Anybody who's gone through adversity is strong. Why? Because you know what they've been through. If I am stronger because of what I've been through, you, if you will, more embrace the challenge today, being present, honest, and giving yourself a shot. Sometimes we are the ones, Ed, that never gives ourselves a shot.

• 36:42Ed Mylett?

  I totally agree with you. I'm gonna tell you one thing about you too. So clearly, I thought you might say part of that, which was that, hey, listen, you know, I didn't get things off the shelf. I had to learn to do things that weren't easy for me to do because of the lack of my limbs and other different things. I thought that you would say that. I'm gonna tell you something about you that maybe someone hasn't said to you that I want to say, that I want to acknowledge about you. You have a tremendous amount of personal presence and influence. It's why you're great on stage. It's why you're incredible one-on-one. It's why you're a great entrepreneur. And I find people with personal presence, isn't their size, or their deep voice, or anything like that. Personal presence are people who have grown to become very comfortable with themselves. And people who are very comfortable with themselves

• 37:26Ed Mylett?

  can be into you when they're communicating with you. They can make it about you, because they're comfortable. When you're uncomfortable with yourself, when you don't love yourself, when you don't embrace yourself, your entire time is spent trying to create a version of you to people where you're not present with them. You have that, and it's, and I think the hidden blessing of your life is because of some of the deficiencies at birth, growing up. You had to work harder than the average person on loving you and embracing what you did have. Ironically, it's what has made you such a person of influence. Because I sit next to everybody in these interviews, and I know when someone's talking to me, when they live it. There are people who say inspiring things, and then there are inspiring people. Those are two different things. You're an inspiring person,

• 38:12Ed Mylett?

  and your inspiration is because of who you actually are. So I just want to tell you, that's one thing about you that strikes me, right when we met, up until this moment, is your presence as a man. And I believe that's because you're so comfortable with yourself.

• 38:24Nick Vujicic?

  Can I dovetail on that? Because there are so many people who want to be successful, who want to be entrepreneurs, who get all the mechanics of, if you're a realtor, if you're this, if you're that, this is body language, eye contact, da-da-da, all the mechanics, all the science. It wasn't hard for me to work on that.

• 38:44Nick Vujicic?

  What you just said, no one else has brought up, you're the first one. And here is why. It's because when people judge me for how I looked, and they wouldn't even look me in the eye to see my soul. And when you know that I could tease someone else because of how they look, but I don't want to judge them, I want to look them in their eyes, appreciate them for who they are, and instead of being, you know, ba-ba-ba, I can't, you know, be involved in a sports activity, it's an elimination dodgeball thing or something like that, I had to sit out sometimes. I'm waiting for the first person who feels like, oh my gosh, I'm the worst kid at school today because I'm known today as the one who was first eliminated.

• 39:28Nick Vujicic?

  And I look at them, hey, good job.

• 39:32Nick Vujicic?

  Better luck next time. And we start talking. Cause I knew how much talking and opening up to someone helped me. I know how people judged me and then how I in turn judge myself. So I tried to unchain people's own personal judgment, which again is just an attitude shift.

• 39:50Ed Mylett?

  Gosh, brother, that's awesome. That is awesome, man. So I've read Life Without Limits twice. I read it when it originally came out and then I read it again here recently.

• 39:59Nick Vujicic?

  Awesome.

• 40:00Ed Mylett?

  And there's these things you list in there, having a powerful sense of purpose. Hope so strong that it cannot be diminished. Faith in God and the infinite possibilities. And then the love and self-acceptance. And there's other parts of the book as well. I want them to read the book to get it. So it's an incredible piece of advice that's in that book. But the last thing I want to ask you is, there's millions of people that are hearing this and watching this, who come to the show today not feeling great about their lives, themselves, what they've achieved, where they're going. They may not even feel like their future is very bright.

• 40:29Nick Vujicic?

  Right.

• 40:29Ed Mylett?

  And they look at you and all you've achieved and all you continue to achieve. If there was just a sliver of a word you could give them, if they ran into you at a Starbucks somewhere and said, hey, you've really made a difference in my life, but truthfully, I feel this way right now. What would be your message to those people that are listening or watching?

• 40:45Nick Vujicic?

  I just want you to know that when you go through adversity, I want you to know to hold on. I want you to know despite what you see, despite what you feel, despite what you know, you're here for a good reason. And it doesn't mean that all of life is good, but you're here through a good purpose. And you're like, well, wait a second. How could anything good come out of my life? Nick, I got this, I got that. Well, first of all, I'm not comparing my pain to you. But I have no arms and legs. And I had a choice to either be thankful for what I had, do my best and take one day at a time, or give up. And the smile that you see is real. The strength that you see in my eyes is real.

• 41:29Nick Vujicic?

  And not because I'm selling you anything, because I love you and I believe in you. Don't give up, keep going. If you need counseling, go get counseling. Maybe one of the things that you need to do to get out of a depression is also maybe going to help someone else in need that maybe cannot even thank you for that. And that then instigate purpose because to get out of depression or a funk that we're in, the one thing that I'm gonna leave you with is when you actually take the focus of what you're going through, not because you don't love yourself and not because of what you're going through is bad. But when you step out of that and say, okay, how can I go and help someone else? Feed a homeless person, be part of a nonprofit and serve over the weekend.

• 42:15Nick Vujicic?

  When someone looks at you who's in need and you've helped them fulfill that need, subconsciously and consciously, mentally, emotionally and spiritually, it is an affirmation of little steps to build back your self-confidence to get ready to say, "I can do this. I am someone." So despite what you see, feel and know, you can have forward thinking with a shift of attitude and action.

• 42:41Ed Mylett?

  Bang. Amen. That was so good, brother. Okay, so good. How do they get more of you? Before we leave today, how do they get more of you? Where do you want them to go?

• 42:52Nick Vujicic?

  I would love for everyone to go to nickvoytich.com. You can book me as a speaker, join us on our newsletter and then the podcast that is up and running right now. We're so excited. I don't know exactly what all my listeners want and we're gonna figure out more and more of that path and I'm gonna get some coaching from you as well.

• 43:13Ed Mylett?

  Absolutely.

• 43:13Nick Vujicic?

  But I'm ready to help people from weekly basis, multiple episodes, just to help people, even some humor. I feel like we need some humor.

• 43:23Ed Mylett?

  We do in this time. Absolutely.

• 43:25Nick Vujicic?

  And but just coming alongside of people and saying, Nick, your attitude keys, I need them to reach my full potential. So we're looking for speaking engagements, webinar opportunities here in America especially. And just find me on nickvoytich.com and social media. We have about 12 million social media fans.

• 43:44Ed Mylett?

  Is that all? That's a ton. That's awesome, brother. Congratulations. So find him, especially on Instagram, everybody, fist bump. That was awesome.

• 43:50Nick Vujicic?

  Love you.

• 43:50Ed Mylett?

  Love you, brother.

• 43:51Nick Vujicic?

  Thank you for what you do.

• 43:52Ed Mylett?

  Today was remarkable. Hey, everybody, I know you're probably following me if you're listening to this, but I want you to engage with me too. I bring you the best guests in the world. Just like this man to my left here today, Nick. And every day, I run a little drill on Instagram called the Max Out 2 Minute Drill. I do it to engage with you. I reply to more comments and I look at more DMs than anybody I think in social media. And I do it because I want to learn who you want sitting next to me, what content I can create, how I can serve you. Here's how it works. When I make a post every day on Instagram, turn notifications on because within the first two minutes, if you make a comment, you're enrolled to win. That's the first way you're enrolled. The second way you're enrolled is if you comment on other people's comments. That increases your chances because I want you engaging with each other. And third, if you miss the first two minutes, I only make five posts a week, 7:30 Pacific

• 44:37Ed Mylett?

  Time, 10:30 Eastern. Just make a comment on every post. At the end of the week, we take all the people who commented on every post. We pick a winner from that group as well. You can win flights on my jet, you can win tickets to come see me speak, coaching calls with me and my guests, Max Out gear, all kinds of really cool stuff just so that we can connect. So please participate. I hope you enjoyed today's program. Share it with everybody. Everybody needs to hear this message today from Nick and I. God bless you and Max out.

• 45:07Speaker 03

  This is The Admiring Show.