Record Setting Formulas

In this episode of Live On Purpose Radio, Dr. Paul interviews Dr. Brandon Kelly, author of The Distinctive Watermark Principles. When life serves up challenges and obstacles, our success depends on applying correct principles and moving forward no matter what. Brandon shares how to face it, pace it, and ace it. Visit Brandon at www.thebrandonkelly.com and use the code “DrJ10” for a 10% break on his products and services just for Live On Purpose Radio listeners. Thank you Brandon!

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Welcome to Live On Purpose Radio with doctor Paul Jenkins, Jenkins, where you will hear inspiring stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Feed your mind with a regular dose of positive energy and show up for your life every day on purpose. Living on purpose means that you have a purpose and you do it intentionally. And now, here's your host, doctor Paul. Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to live on purpose radio. This is doctor Paul Jenkins, the shrink who expands your life. We're living on purpose here today at live on purpose radio. I'm promoting pathological positivity. I've invited a guest to join me today whom I met through the National Speakers Association.

This is Brandon Kelly. Brandon is a successful businessman, entrepreneur. He is a speaker, trainer, and coach, as well as an author, and there's much more than that. But welcome to the show, Brandon. Well, good afternoon, and, thanks, doctor Jeffries.

I'm thrilled to be here and excited to see how we can help your your listeners have some proof positive in everyday living. Proof positive. And and you've got the proof in your own life. Right? I've I've had several hurdles and setbacks that, would knock me down, but I managed to get back up.

And then realizing that I could get back up, I set several records, and that's been kind of the driving force for for me in my life. Right. You know, one of the things that caught my attention, Brandon, is we got to know each other, through the NSA. I'm always on the lookout for inspiring stories. And I know that for you things started out pretty early in life with some challenges.

You were telling me about some things that happened when you were just a toddler and trying to bounce back from those and then there have been several other things through your life. Can you give us a little summary of where you've been and and then just what it takes to get back up? Talk about that a little. Yeah. That's that's a great question.

As we look at things, I want you to imagine that when you're just shy of two years old, a truck runs a red light and puts you in the hospital with life threatening injuries. I'd broken virtually every bone on the right side of my body. I cracked my skull. Uh-huh. And, I'd actually had a bone fragment pushing on my spine.

And because of all of that, and this is back in the late seventies, that, the doctor said I was gonna be a vegetable the rest of my life. I wasn't gonna walk. I wasn't gonna talk. In fact, it took more than two hundred stitches just to put my face back together, and and people just said that it wasn't gonna be worth the time and effort for my life. Oh, boy.

My parents managed to, to keep keep me plugged into the the monitors and stuff a little bit extra, and and then so doing, I kind of ended up walking like Forrest Gump, you know, kinda swinging your leg around, and and I had one leg that just didn't grow as fast as the other. And so I kind of looked a little odd. Mhmm. Does does that make sense? Does that give you a good picture where I'm at?

That creates a bit of a visual. And this is this is when you were just two years old is when this started. It it was two years old. It it took me till I was about five years old to actually be able to, walk again, went through several surgeries, several different things in my life. And and again, the odds were always stacked against me.

I wasn't supposed to make it. Well, here comes sixth grade, and in sixth grade, I had a coach by the name of coach Hamlet. And and he saw that I had this weird little jump when I tried to play basketball or in his gym class and things. And he turned to me and he said, Brandon, we need to teach you how to fix that. And so he taught me how to jump and soar above everybody else and and took a gamble and put me in the high jump.

And and to get the understanding of that, the first couple weeks of practice and even the competition, I was having a tough time clearing the three foot mark, which is kind of where we begin, you know, all of the competition levels at. Mhmm. And and so he sat there, and he taught me how to see above the bar. And to see the bar not only as my friend, but as a measuring measuring stick to our success. And I thought about that, and and I I wasn't sure how to practice it.

But I learned that if I'll face my hurdles and figure out what it takes to win, that I can do it. Well, we fast forward to the end of the season, and I was able to, go to a competition that was a statewide competition in Wyoming. Mhmm. And ultimately, my friend and I made it, through the the starting round and into the finals. It took us about two hours.

And in that two hour time frame, I would sit there and envision myself clearing the bar, that it was my friend, that I was gonna sail past it, and it was just gonna be a magnificent event. And I did so. Now my friend, Charmaine, he would sit there, and he would go charging at it, and he was a big six foot tall kid, you know, and and had a lot of extra weight to him, and I was only five foot two, five foot three. Mhmm. And and and he would hit the bar the first time and knock it over.

The second time, he would go charging at it like a mad bull, and then he'd wrap his legs around the big pole and just miss the whole bar and and be in a lot of pain. You know what I mean? Yeah. And and finally, for whatever reason, I I felt inspired to put my arm around him and say, Charmaine, it's gonna be okay. All you need to do is just jump a little bit higher.

Put a little bit more extra effort in it, and leave a couple seconds before you normally have been. Mhmm. You'll clear the bar. Well, before you knew it, he had just knocked out at six foot three, one inch shy of the state record. Oh, wow.

And and so here we were. We had been competing very fiercely against all the competitors for two hours, and and ultimately, I was out of gas. My my coach came over to us, and and he said some things that I've never forgotten. Do you mind if I share that with your listeners? That would be great.

Yeah. He came to me, and he he said that, are you gonna go home with first place, or are you gonna go home with first place in a record? The choice is up to you. You're on the stage of life. You need to decide which one you're gonna win with.

Because I'd already won first place at that point, and and so... That was already wrapped up, It it was pretty much wrapped up. You know, I could quit right then, and I knew I'd have first place. Mhmm. Or was I gonna go home, you know, with the equivalent of the gold medal in in the elementary competition?

And and I sat down, kind of really did some deep soul searching, and I didn't know what to tell the coach. And and finally, without knowing what I said, I said raise it to six foot five, a full inch above the the state record. And as I did that, I thought to myself, what on earth did I just do? I've just raised the bar. I don't have any more gaff.

I am completely out of energy, and my strength has completely waned at this point. Problem was that I had just thrown down the gauntlet, and I knew that from from that contemplation, I knew I had to sit there and be successful. And I had only one chance. I knew I only had one run left with me. And so I just stared or stared at that that obstacle for what seemed like hours, and finally the warning buzzer went off that if I didn't go, the the meet was over.

Mhmm. And and so I... Without thinking about it, I tore after, winning that that high jump. And I sailed past it and actually cleared it by a full two inches. And I...

And at that point, when when the coach was hugging me and all of my, teammates were hugging me and shouting out, you know, how successful we'd been, Mhmm. I realized that that was a defining moment in life, that we can all see above the bar, and no no matter how big the hurdle, there's actually a formula to be successful. Would you like to see the the, the formula? I'm hoping you're gonna share it with us. Well, hopefully your your listeners will grab a pen and, kinda stop what they're doing because this is gonna be some powerful advice.

The first thing we need to do in this formula is face our hurdle. And so as we face it, we need to measure up. We need to see exactly, is it gonna be worth our effort and our intent to to win? As we face those different hurdles in life, the next obstacle or or next thing that a a track star would do is they would pace it out. So they would start at the finish line and then then walk backwards and know exactly how many paces, how fast they need to take it, and how much energy they need to put in to clear that hurdle.

So this is kinda like doing the diligence. And I'm Exactly. I'm having a little bit of a memory myself, Brandon, because I tried high jumping. I I didn't get into it like you did, but I did try it. And it makes a difference where you start.

So pacing it out, measuring it. Mhmm. Exactly. And then the final part is to ace it. So to ace it, you need to focus on being number one, not just on being number one in the the finish line, but setting a worldwide record.

You know, what I'm impressed with right now is that the Olympics are going on over there in Sochi, and so many of these athletes have spent years and years and years in an untold dedication focusing on being successful, but that last one tenth of a second quicker, doing things stronger, doing things better and faster, so that they can ultimately stand on that podium. And and so if we will take this formula of face our problems, face our hurdles, pace them off, see exactly what type of energy that we needed it, and then ace it, you know, by becoming the best and having the best people around us to support us on our staff and in our endeavors. Only then can we go home with that gold medal around our neck, and that's that's what I love. That's what I I got to get ready to compete for, the Olympics in high jump, and then had a dump truck that decided to run through a red light and hit me at 55 miles an hour two weeks before the the final competition. Oh, wow.

And so I look at this and I just go, you know, we've we've got a lot of great potential within us, and we can all be seeds of greatness through, you know, having planted, planted like an acorn that will become into an oak tree and be strong for the future. I like the analogy that you're sharing, and we can learn a lot through sports and sports analogies, but you're really teaching a principle here that has a lot to do with life, with business, with relationships. And it starts with facing it. So what you're really talking about here Brandon is finding a way to take it on without running and hiding, without pretending that it's not there. Sure it's challenging, but you're saying that first step is to just face it.

Absolutely. You know, and there again to take that sports analogy, especially with the Olympics right now, a lot of people will, get on the ice and fall, you know, a 100 times and they get up a 101. They'll get on the snow or the snowboard, and they'll fall down, and they'll hurt themselves, and they'll have an injury. And and they'll have that fleeting moment of doubt. But, ultimately, they still have that desire to win and to overcome that and prove that they were good enough to, you know, really suppress their doubters.

That's right. And that becomes the inspiring content that we all remember when we see someone up against those kinds of odds and they just pick it up and keep going. And and that's something we all get to do at different times in our life because, wow, how often are we gonna get hit by a dump truck? Now you literally were hit by a dump truck. Yes.

I was. Twice, actually. Twice. Right? Yep.

What's up with that anyway? I mean, you're... Are you just accident prone? What's going on, Brandon? I I would say it was more the law of attraction.

Maybe you just needed to learn that lesson.... In my life. I don't know. Yeah. Big things.

And you know what? There's some opposition that that naturally comes up anytime we take on something big. Chances are we're gonna run into some fairly big hurdles too. Have you noticed this as well? That the the bigger the goal, the bigger the hurdles?

Absolutely. And and there's sometimes that those goals may take us a year or two or three to achieve. And and like I said, it feels like we're getting run over or the speed bump of life is kind of putting us in a hole. And and the reality is is if we'll keep focused on on how big that dream is, each of us has a massive power of greatness inside us. And and if we will realize that, regardless of where we're at in our lives today, you know, whether we're just working in a job or whether we're managing employees or or whatever that is in our life, if we will take a hold of that success and realize that we are gonna have hurdles, but if we look at those hurdles and look at everything that you can win from them, we'll become successful just like, Thomas Edison in embedding the light.

He found 2,000 ways that it didn't work, but all he needed was one driving reason to be able to have light at night. Mhmm. And that's what we all need. We need to have that bright, the focus, the intent to be successful and and many of us have had problems in life, we just need to learn to overcome them. That's absolutely right.

We've got a great start on this. We'll be back in just a minute. Thank you for listening to Live On Purpose Radio. We're so glad to have you here. Please come by the website, doctorpauljenkins.com, spelled with a d r.

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So before that break, Brandon, as we were talking about this formula that you've come up with, and it's based on your experience from from excelling at the high jump. Face, pace, ace. Hey, those rhyme. That's probably just a coincidence. Right?

It was all part of the plan of being successful, but, yes, they do rhyme. Well, it's like in that, there was just a little quotation there in the, in the halftime segment, talking about how success is not accidental. It's a result of persistence, it's a result of intention and determination, and it applies across the board. One of the things that I love about this show, Brandon, is that we talk about principles. Principles are natural laws.

They're always on. They always work. Now techniques will vary depending on the context because sometimes the game changes on you and you get to change your technique, but the principle stays the same. What are some of these principles for you that come to the surface as being the most important? That is a great question, and and it's interesting that you bring the principles up because the title of my new book is called The Distinctive Watermark Principles, How to Stand Out and Set Records Everywhere You Go.

And in that, I document the three different principles that help you succeed in everything that you can do. And we take the basis from the high jump that we talked about before, And and I want you to realize there's three different types of watermarks. You know, the first watermark, actually started with with, realistically, the invention of the world, and that's where the water meets the sand or meets the the edge of the land. You know, whether it's at a lake or in an ocean. And and the interesting thing is is that through high tide and when things are going well, you can see a high mark there, and you can see when the water's recessed a little bit.

And... But the great thing about that that true principle there is that if you look at the side of the cliff or the side of the the Earth there, you'll actually see that there's a lot more space that you can go to set the the record higher. And so you have to dig within yourself, and and I call that dig in to win. And so the first thing we need need to do is to dig in to win. We need to identify what principles, what things is it that we want to win at so that we can be successful?

Whether it's being the best accountant or the best salesperson, best manager, whatever it is, we need to measure that greatness. Okay? Now... That's just to be clear, so you're talking about getting some clarity about what it is you actually want to succeed in doing. Exactly.

So so part of the book, we talk about being in the Hall of Fame, the Hall of Shame, or the Hall of No Name. Okay? And in in those three, you know, do we wanna be the greatest, say, salesperson? And so what did it take to do that? Then...

Was it a ton of huge accounts, or was it was it more little small accounts that you can do every day, the bread and butter type of things? Mhmm. You know? Did you wanna be the hall of shame, the one person that got fired for doing something stupid or crazy, you know, going against the boss, whatever that was? And the Hall of No Name is the worst place actually to be, because that's where you've not really made a contribution, you're not on anybody's radar, and you haven't really had any major success other than staying in a position for one, two, ten, twenty years, and staying under the radar.

Okay? And so as we look at that, we need to define what exactly do we want to win, and why do we want to win it. Okay? And that actually leads us to the second watermark principle, which started in about twelve eighty AD. Now back then, you started to have people that were becoming quite wealthy off of, spice trades and international trade and things like that, and and being at the ports in Italy and stuff.

And and so they wanted to be able to create a mark that was truly distinctive that wherever it was could be recognized. K. And today, we kind of call that a brand or a brand image mark, but it really started with the watermark. And so we wanna be distinctive in everything that we do, and and whether that's a five star general or whether that's, an Olympic gold medalist, and and... Or we we had the opportunity to to meet with somebody here a while ago that taught us about seven star...

Or seven star, success instead of just a standard five star or five diamond success at a at a hotel. Uh-huh. And so all of those are the principles of distinction. How are you going to distinct... Distinctively stand out from everybody else?

K. And that's k. That's really about branding. It's about coming up with something that is uniquely yours. Absolutely.

It's about being the best in everything you do. You know, whether you're... Say you're typing a story. Maybe your your idea there to be the best is to type, you know, 10 words faster a minute, or 20 or 30, and you start to add those little improvements in, everything that you'd be the best at helps you truly define your distinctive mark. Okay?

Mhmm. And then the third watermark is is knowing that, you know, what records are worth keeping and which records are worth owning. Now some records, you know, we're not talking about the ones that are at the postal office or at the police, office as well. Okay? Yeah.

Right. We're we're we're talking about those ones that in in the book of business, the book of life, are like the Guinness Book of World Records. Which ones do you wanna be remembered for? And so as you start to look at these and put these three distinctive watermark principles together, you'll realize that everything that you do, you're able to get in and be successful, to win, and to really leave your mark. And and that's the ideal premise of the book is that once you've actually set that high record, you have an obligation to go back and mark the way to help other people, win and succeed.

Yeah. You know, as you're sharing this, Brandon, I'm thinking about a number of people who have inspired me and how they have done just what you're talking about here. They got really clear about their own project, if we can call it that. What is it that they are going to commit themselves to excellence in doing? And then as they achieve that, they are willing to then share it with other people in a way that empowers them also to be successful.

And that's what I was thinking about as you shared this this last piece with the the watermark principles, and that's an interesting concept. Where would you say that people should start? Let's just say they don't have they don't have a clear view right now about what it is that they what they wanna do. What can they do to get started? Well, that's a great question, and then I would...

I'm gonna answer that with a little bit of a joke and say turn to page, 82 on my book Yeah. Because it actually helps them lay that out. Mhmm. But the reality is... Well, and I know that you've handled this question.

That's why I wanted to throw it out there to you. Go ahead. No. And it it is a great question. And as we look at that, sometimes we find that we're just going through life.

We don't know what we like. We don't know what we compete in. I've seen a lot of people that compete in just armchair wrestling with the the remote and figuring out how many channels they can get through in a minute, and I don't think that really counts. So what we need to do is I call it our most... Or our 10 most wanted list.

And and that might come from our hobbies, that might come from activities that we enjoy, groups and associations that we belong to. And so what we wanna do is figure out the 10 different things that really light your fire. Turn the fire on within is is what I call it. And and so as we start to look at that, we take the 10, and then it's kind of like a basketball, March Madness bracket where we take that from 10 down to five and five down to three, and then we work on our top three things at any given time. And so we'll find as we start to pursue this success, you know, you start to want to be better in other things and in other avenues, and now all of a sudden, you can say you're successful in multiple arenas instead of just in one or two little topics.

Mhmm. But narrowing it down would be part of that process. And and and I'm thinking about myself because there are so many things that I'm interested in, but one of the problems I run into is I try to do too much. So you're saying, yeah, take your top 10 or whatever, and then let's narrow it down so that you've got a little more focus on a few areas as you experience success in those, and you can you can branch out from there. Exactly.

In fact, we've taken a couple of those principles and worked with them with, different clients, out in the real work world. And and one of the segments that I teach on is called millionaire time management. And and there's five different steps of time management, but the one that eludes most people, is is they don't take the time to plan to be successful. Plan to be successful. You have to plan to succeed, and succeed...

Or success is is timed and planned. Interesting. Well, and I believe this. I know that success is not something that is just a chance occurrence, but this concept of plan to be successful. So that sets up an expectation in your own mind.

Right? Absolutely. And so the way you train will bring the fame, and, you know, if if you only train a little bit every day, then you'll only get little results. If you train, you know, intensively every day, you'll get great results. And and so the same is true as we look to to be successful with that.

In fact, I had a client that, he he had millions of things going on. Well, not millions, but he was just Yeah. Always trying to put out fires. Right. And he he didn't think he needed a plan.

He he called himself a great firefighter. No matter the fire that came out, he could put in and be successful. Well, he had accidentally dropped a client and and their activity and and forgotten about them, and it was kind of a big client, and it was a big deal. And and he was pursuing losing a lot of his business because of that. And so we sat down with with Scott, and we said, okay, Scott, we need to identify some things, and we need to block out times.

And and then we taught him the learning legos or the building legos of time management, and taught him how to color block his time so that smaller amounts of time were used to put out fires, and more of his time was put into building his skills and building his clientele, and he went from, you know, just kind of an average performer to where he was making fourteen, fifteen thousand dollars every single month having record months, month after month. Nice. Simply because he managed to to put his time and then decide, okay, what am I gonna be famous for? Mhmm. So...

And and... Go ahead. I'm just thinking that focus is so important because there are so many things, like you said, with this client, so many things that will jump in and consume our time and our resources unless we're really clear about what it is that we want and, as you said earlier, to plan to succeed. I like that direction. As we're as we're wrapping up here, Brandon, I I wanna make sure people have a way to get in touch with you.

Probably through your website is the best best way to do that. Would you say so, or is there something else? No. That is the best way. And so if people will go to, the brandonkelly.com, and that's thebrandonkelly, you'll learn about the different speaking events and opportunities that we have for people, but more importantly about how we can come in and help your business improve 10, 20, and even a 100%, in in success as well as performance, and we'd love to meet with them.

In fact, for for your listeners only, we're gonna do a special promotion. Oh, nice.... Again, I want I want them to grab their pen, and this is just for you. Okay? So we'll give them that second to do that.

But, again, it's the Brandon Kelly. I'm the one and only... Because there's only one. That's v. The redhead with the goatee, as as you'll see on on the website.

Right. But I want them to write down the code doctor J10. BRJ10. The letter J and the number 10. K.

And if they will enter that in on the website, they'll get 10% off of any of the services. We'll have the book out here soon, and then we've actually got some new measuring devices to help accelerate your success. Beautiful. And thank you for that offer, Brandon. That's a that's a great benefit to our listeners.

So the brandonkelly.com, the one and only brandonkelly.com. Remember that discount code, b r j 10 for a special offer from Brandon Kelly. Brandon, thank you so much for joining me. Everybody go out there and live on purpose.