FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT. Matthew Januszek 1:06 David, thank you so much for agreeing to join us on the escape your limits podcast. I know you've got a very limited time, and I've got a ton of questions to ask. So if it's okay, for you, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go straight into it. And we'll make the most of this sort of 30 minutes or so that we've got together today. David Meltzer 1:27 I prefer that... That's wonderful, thank you. Matthew Januszek 1:30 Excellent. So So first thing I like to ask, there's a lot of people at the moment that may have lost most of their jobs that may have lost their businesses, or maybe their businesses are going through a huge amount of turmoil at the moment. So it's a difficult time for a lot of people. What I'd like to ask you is what was it like to wake up the day after you realized you'd lost over 100 million dollars, a Top Golf Course, the scheme, mounting 30 houses and a bunch of condos, David Meltzer 2:00 I will tell you that it was a lot easier than waking up two years earlier. Hungover with a wife that was going to leave me because I had lost track of who I was and what I wanted to become. I actually was prepared. When I lost everything I was much more prepared. Because I knew I had control of my mindset, my heart set, I had a plan of what to think, say and do and believe. And I had one thing going for me, you know, I had always been able to make money I had made money, nine months out of law school was a millionaire. So losing my money was my fear losing my life, and my wife was a far greater fear for me. And that really happened two years earlier, when my wife told me for the first time in my life that she wasn't happy, and that I was not the person that she wanted to marry or be married to. And I should take stock in who I was. And once I took stock in who I was and started living by those values, and starting to build principles and strategies and consistent disciplines in my life, I actually was pretty prepared. The hardest part of losing everything, though, was the fear of losing my job because I'd been running the most notable sports agency in the world. And I felt that being a bankruptcy CEO was not the best image for athletes to see. But Leigh Steinberg decided that it was okay and he would keep me on. But the worst part about it. This blew my mind. I forgot to take my mom's house. The only reason I ever wanted to be rich was to buy my mom house and a car. I forgot to take her outside of my my name. So I had to go tell my mom Not only that, I had lost everything. And but more importantly, that she was going to have to move. And if to me, thought that was going to be the end of my relationship with my mom and maybe even the end of my mom, I thought she wouldn't be able to handle it. But as usual, I don't know what I don't know. And it ended up being one of the greatest experiences of my life. Because when I told my mom in tears what had happened. without blinking, she looked at me and asked me, are you okay? Do you need anything? Can I give you some money. And that's when I learned what true love was what true unconditional love was that my mom truly would give her life for me. And then everything else in my life had been in negotiation, a trade that even the times that I gave was just to receive and I had just witnessed someone that truly understand and understood what true unconditional love was. Matthew Januszek 4:38 Right? So I listened to and read a lot about you and the same and you made about you know, when when when you when he did go bankrupt, he was prepared and it sounded like he was already on a different journey. Although, you know, this this sort of thing kind of happened in the middle of it. So what what was that sort of turning point in your eleifend and how did it feel to, to, you know, to then come up against when when you were, I guess mentally turning around to to be hit with the bankruptcy? David Meltzer 5:11 No, it's a pain I had it is, you know, I say that pain is not a stop sign a lot of people they do fold I know one of my uncle's uncle mentor of mine has told me years since has been almost 15 years. He said, You know, a lot of guys wouldn't have made it. You know, with with that a lot of guys would have spiraled, it would have been so easy for you. Just to go the other direction. You know, I'm just so proud of you. And for me, it was understanding the consistent, everyday persistent without quit enjoyment of the pursuit of my potential, understanding five daily practices that I'd started to institute in my life of taking inventory of my own values, gratitude, forgiveness, accountability and inspiration. To live with the perspective of finding light, love and lessons and everything and forgiving myself, knowing that that pain is just an indicator, not a stop sign. It's a turn signal, pushing me in a better place a better direction to make my situation better, to understand that I'm in control of my life, that I'm accountable for everything that I attracted to myself. And I had great lessons to learn because pain itself is just an indicator that you have lessons to learn. And you know, those lessons will keep on coming until you learn them and pain will stay until you learn them. So I had a completely different mindset, utilizing those values. And then the biggest change in my life was radical humility. You know, I joke around but the two things that will change your life you learn before you're three, one of my favorite books out there is everything you ever needed to know you learn in kindergarten, I now think that everything you really need to know, you learned before you were three. And that's number one. To be grateful. I wake up every morning and say thank you, I go to bed every night and say thank you, I pray to God for at least 10 people I can help. But the second thing beyond gratitude, is to ask, you know, ever since I've been three people told me you got to say thank you. Oh, don't forget to ask. I think one of the biggest obstacles hurdles, void shortages, interference that people have between them. And everything else that they want in an abundant universe, is they're just afraid to ask for it. They have no humility, and asking for help. And people ask me How the hell did you lose over 100 million dollars? I'll tell you, I didn't ask for help. I didn't know what I didn't know. And I was too afraid to ask for it. Matthew Januszek 7:40 You're so you're from all accounts and you know, people who are listening can look into this. But you're you're very intelligent guy, you've you know, you've got been to law school, you've you've had a number of successful businesses. And as you said yourself, you didn't really feel as though you had an issue, making money, which isn't the case for most people. What What would you say to some people that, you know, I would classify as being very intelligent, and I wouldn't probably put myself in that same level, but I certainly wouldn't, you know, to get where you are. It's quite impressive. What would you say to people that probably don't feel as though they're, you know, they're naturally gifted up in up in here, but yet, you know, they're starting from the bottom. And they, you know, they want to have this, you know, financial success, that you've got to be able to help themselves, but also to help other people, which is a big part of what you do, I believe, David Meltzer 8:33 yeah, no doubt, you know, I shifted that paradigm of giving to, the more I receive, the more I can give. And I think the biggest transition that anyone needs to know, there's IQ, and I appreciate people that can recognize I was born genetically with a high IQ, quantum memory, you know, a true DNA genetically ancestrally. You know, my great grandparents, were extremely academic, my siblings all went to the Ivy League. So I understand IQ is a gift. But there's plenty of smart people that are broke. And please, everyone think about it. Then there's EQ, which is emotional intelligence, and, you know, being able to utilize emotional intelligence.