#2 Larry Sargent Jr: Faith, Triple E (Education, Exposure, Experience), Know Who You Are

[0:00] now my childhood fascination is to learn
[0:03] about people
[0:04] i started the channel to share stories
[0:06] of different people
[0:08] their
[0:09] education background their career
[0:11] journey their goal setting process and
[0:14] how they dream to become something and
[0:17] then
[0:18] became
[0:20] uh following
[0:22] whatever execution process that they
[0:24] have followed in today's interview you
[0:27] will learn about larry sergeant jr his
[0:30] education background his internship that
[0:32] he'd done during the college his first
[0:35] job to the current job at adventure what
[0:39] inspired him
[0:41] how he find himself who he is from there
[0:46] he went to acquire skills
[0:49] and experience in multiple companies to
[0:52] finally land at advent health that
[0:54] matches not only his skills but the
[0:56] value system he recently shared a story
[0:59] where he helped his family members
[1:02] um
[1:03] to set goals he
[1:06] said we're not going to do resolution
[1:08] we're going to do goals and then he
[1:11] coached each one of his family members
[1:14] to achieve their goal
[1:16] um the funny part of the story is
[1:18] everyone but him achieved their goal and
[1:21] now his family is helping him to achieve
[1:25] his goal so without any further delay
[1:28] let me introduce larry
[1:36] i wanted to start with your education
[1:38] background
[1:39] i
[1:40] was i finished my high school
[1:43] education at uh later high school in
[1:46] tampa florida having done my first two
[1:48] years at hillsborough high school in
[1:50] nashville tennessee finished that
[1:53] that education the high school diploma
[1:55] but even though i wanted to go to
[1:57] college i wasn't quite
[1:59] ready to go uh at 18 and so
[2:03] i wanted to work a little bit more and
[2:06] get some money and just kind of
[2:08] know what that feels like uh and so i
[2:11] worked
[2:12] for about a year i worked at a bank and
[2:15] i did some odd jobs on the side i even
[2:17] did some babysitting
[2:19] of kids who were a little bit older and
[2:21] i collected all my money uh and once i
[2:24] received my acceptance uh to florida a m
[2:27] i went to uh florida in them in 1991 and
[2:30] left in 96.
[2:32] uh it took me five years because i was
[2:34] paying
[2:35] uh as i go as i went through
[2:38] uh and so yeah so finished off in 96
[2:42] august and then i went right into
[2:44] corporate america in october
[2:47] when you were doing a schooling
[2:50] what you wanted to become
[2:53] well i actually didn't really know um my
[2:58] father asked me that question i think
[2:59] when i was 13
[3:01] and i said well you know dad i can play
[3:03] an instrument um i have good
[3:05] communication skills i love math i like
[3:08] my computer um
[3:10] you know i'm pretty good at sports and
[3:12] so i was so i flipped a question on him
[3:14] and i said hey what what should i be and
[3:17] so this was like 80
[3:19] it was like 86 maybe uh and he said well
[3:23] you know larry the hardest and highest
[3:26] job in the united states is the
[3:28] president of the united states so
[3:30] whatever you do make sure you always
[3:32] qualify to be the president of the
[3:34] united states and then it doesn't really
[3:36] matter if you miss it uh so you aim for
[3:38] that really high target and if you don't
[3:41] become president you can become
[3:42] president of your own company president
[3:44] of existing company a senator or
[3:46] congressman you know so if you go a
[3:48] little low
[3:49] uh lower than that it should be okay
[3:52] and uh so i really we never really had
[3:54] any more discussion uh about it uh but
[3:57] it wasn't until i got until high school
[4:00] that i saw a list of
[4:03] careers and job opportunities and they
[4:06] listed um you know if you have a good
[4:09] grades in math or your strong sat score
[4:11] in math
[4:13] here's some uh
[4:15] jobs that you might
[4:16] be interested in and they interesting
[4:18] enough they had uh the salary the yearly
[4:21] salary right there in in the in the row
[4:24] i looked at computer programmer and it
[4:27] was like 35k and i was like hey that's
[4:30] more that i make right now so when i go
[4:32] to college i'm going to major in
[4:33] computers
[4:35] and that's literally how i how i make
[4:36] that decision your first job was
[4:40] mcdonald's 16 and then what happened
[4:43] next
[4:45] so um
[4:46] i went i did mcdonald's for just that
[4:49] year
[4:50] uh i also worked as a bagger at a
[4:52] grocery store
[4:54] i want to say that was um
[4:56] uh cash and carrying back cash and carry
[4:59] was a a grocery store in tampa
[5:01] uh then i worked at sunbank uh i was a
[5:04] tale teller uh what was your age during
[5:07] this time larry oh this is all 16
[5:09] through 18.
[5:10] 18 and 19. yeah uh and then when i got
[5:14] to college i did internships uh for two
[5:18] reasons one because uh i was
[5:21] in my dad's organization in rhodes and
[5:23] they did internships so that was kind of
[5:25] their value system hey the best way to
[5:26] prepare yourself for the job in the
[5:28] future is to do internships while you're
[5:29] getting your education in college so i
[5:32] did four internships i did an internship
[5:34] every summer
[5:36] while i was at florida a m and they vary
[5:43] the first one i did with the soil
[5:44] conservation service uh which was part
[5:46] of the united states department of ag
[5:48] culture uh and that was in uh
[5:53] fort collins colorado sorry i had to
[5:55] think about that um
[5:57] then i did a second one with cargill and
[6:00] cargill is a trading company and so they
[6:03] trade the world's brain and that was in
[6:05] minnesota
[6:06] uh then i did a second internship with
[6:09] cargill in tampa and then my last
[6:11] internship was with eli lillian company
[6:13] and subsequently after i finished that
[6:15] uh internship they offered me an
[6:16] opportunity to work there uh and so
[6:19] that's so when i went back for my last
[6:22] year at florida a m
[6:24] i had um
[6:26] you know i already had the job in hand i
[6:28] just had to finish you know my
[6:29] coursework uh and then i could go on uh
[6:32] to the corporation the one thing i i
[6:34] would say because i'm looking at your
[6:36] title of wisdom
[6:38] is
[6:39] that
[6:40] i had i
[6:42] not had i known but if someone had
[6:43] pulled me aside and asked me the
[6:45] question again what do i want to do in
[6:48] college i would have said you know i
[6:49] really don't know
[6:51] but i'm on a train and i'm not sure how
[6:53] i can get off of it right i had a major
[6:55] you know i had grades i'd done
[6:56] internships you know i really didn't i
[6:59] really didn't kind of figure out what i
[7:01] was good at um what i was passionate
[7:03] about and what people would pay me for
[7:06] uh until literally the end of my first
[7:09] job at eli lillian company
[7:11] i left the company and you know i was in
[7:14] the process of moving my stuff back to
[7:16] tampa from
[7:18] indianapolis
[7:19] and
[7:20] they had a career center there
[7:22] and in the career center i took a number
[7:24] of tests to determine you know whether i
[7:27] was introverted or extroverted whether
[7:30] or not i was more people-focused or more
[7:31] task focused uh and they they did kind
[7:34] of the myers-briggs things and that
[7:36] generated a list of items that uh or
[7:39] jobs that i might be good for and one of
[7:42] them was being an entrepreneur well i
[7:44] never had any
[7:46] programming or taste of being a business
[7:48] owner i even know how to do that but
[7:50] there were things on there that kind of
[7:51] confused me like lawyer and you know
[7:54] public speaker and just you know these
[7:55] kind of things and i was like you know
[7:57] what i i never have really thought about
[8:00] kind of doing those things um but one
[8:03] thing i did notice is a lot of those
[8:05] jobs were very people focused and people
[8:08] intense intense
[8:10] and so what i decided to do uh because i
[8:12] was i was heavily into technology was
[8:15] kind of curve my i.t career to being in
[8:19] a position where i could work more with
[8:20] people and less with uh technology
[8:24] and it was a little scary because you
[8:26] know i you know i had a pretty good
[8:27] resume i did c c plus plus i was good
[8:30] with a lot of the rational tools that
[8:32] are now owned by ibm
[8:34] uh you know so i and i was deep into
[8:36] configuration management and uh creating
[8:38] the build and automating bills for
[8:41] developers and stuff like that and so um
[8:43] but i had to be very honest was that
[8:45] wasn't the most fulfilling part of the
[8:47] job the most fulfilling part of the job
[8:49] was coming together as a team organizing
[8:51] everybody and moving forward
[8:53] to get uh projects done and so
[8:56] um
[8:57] if i were to advise people
[9:00] or younger people now even as early as
[9:02] high school is to kind of figure out
[9:04] those circles right uh what you are good
[9:07] at uh what you are passionate about and
[9:09] then what people will pay you for and do
[9:11] some investigation into
[9:14] uh who you are as a person and what your
[9:17] uh strengths and skills or even just
[9:19] your personality type is like because
[9:21] that can guide you towards um getting
[9:24] into a career that will be a little more
[9:27] fulfilling and and kind of towards your
[9:30] bend like towards towards you um i think
[9:33] tony dungy was right and he wrote a book
[9:36] called uncommon that he understands that
[9:39] as a coach working with football players
[9:42] that sometimes football players make a
[9:44] decision to go
[9:46] after a contract with another football
[9:48] team because the amount of money they're
[9:50] gonna get is huge right like maybe
[9:52] you're making 10 million dollars with
[9:53] the current company current football
[9:54] team you're in and then another another
[9:56] team is going to offer you 50. you know
[9:58] he understands that but he said
[10:00] as crazy as it's going to sound i'm
[10:02] going to make sure you read this right
[10:04] you shouldn't always choose a job just
[10:05] because the money is good right they're
[10:08] more
[10:08] things to
[10:10] the the journey and the path and life
[10:12] that you're on than just making
[10:14] ridiculous sums of money and when i
[10:16] first read that i had no belief in that
[10:18] i thought i was heretic i was that was
[10:20] that was crazy
[10:22] but you're now getting older i'm like
[10:24] there's some wisdom there's definitely
[10:25] some wisdom larry honestly i'm still
[10:27] trying to figure out what excites me
[10:28] most i have enjoyed each and every job
[10:31] that i have done whether it was a
[10:32] programming whether it was
[10:34] managing people project management or
[10:38] what i do now with activation telling a
[10:41] story like telling a story about you um
[10:44] what i'm doing right now learning about
[10:46] you and translating that in a story
[10:49] that other people will hear and bless
[10:51] that i can do this and and i'm enjoying
[10:54] it we reached to your first job
[10:57] and from there to advent health what all
[11:00] happened larry oh wow that's a lot uh so
[11:04] uh when i arrived at eli lilly was 96
[11:08] and i left in 2000 uh so i was there
[11:11] four years
[11:12] uh and then from there i worked as a
[11:14] consultant as well as um you know
[11:17] several different uh opportunities to
[11:19] work at different companies i mean there
[11:21] are a lot um
[11:24] in one capacity another as a
[11:26] configuration manager release manager or
[11:28] project manager i worked at probably
[11:30] five or six different companies because
[11:32] uh every couple of years uh somebody
[11:36] would call me and say hey we'll offer
[11:37] you ten thousand dollars more or
[11:40] offer you this new location or this new
[11:42] package or give you exposure to this
[11:44] technology so i was trying to really
[11:45] build my resume so i didn't stay
[11:48] long at any company i was probably
[11:50] two to four years at a company and then
[11:53] i moved on to something else because i
[11:55] had made a decision after working at
[11:57] lily that i wasn't interested in
[11:59] pursuing um
[12:01] uh career growth in terms of becoming
[12:04] like a manager or director or vice
[12:06] president i didn't have those
[12:08] aspirations what i wanted to do was work
[12:10] with a great group of people on a team
[12:13] and then be able to do something as a
[12:15] part of that team and so project
[12:16] management put me in the best position
[12:18] to do that but i think that was also
[12:20] good because
[12:22] you know i just started a family i got
[12:23] married in 2001 and my first kid came in
[12:26] 2004 so i was also you know becoming uh
[12:29] learning to become a husband and become
[12:30] a dad you know houses cars you know kind
[12:33] of those things were happening as well
[12:35] as my career was going on um
[12:37] i think the age from 20 to 40
[12:40] represents the busiest time in
[12:41] everybody's life uh and so
[12:45] in all that busyness
[12:47] my career aspirations didn't get lost
[12:49] but again i was trying to bend all this
[12:52] i.t um experience into a more people
[12:56] focus or people front uh forward role
[12:58] versus the the role that i had in the uh
[13:02] strong technology and application
[13:03] development
[13:05] so
[13:06] it would be
[13:08] 2019 so that 18-year period where i had
[13:11] all these different experiences uh
[13:14] and that helped me uh get to evan health
[13:17] and only to find out that evan health
[13:20] was probably the company i would have
[13:22] wanted to start with
[13:24] because of the value system of the
[13:26] company uh i did not become a follower
[13:30] of jesus christ until i was 25 so that
[13:33] puts me at about 1997 and it was at that
[13:36] point that i realized that you know the
[13:38] value system that i had now
[13:41] i needed to find that some place and if
[13:43] it meant that i had to go through
[13:45] several different companies uh then i
[13:47] would do that so i'm trying to do two
[13:50] curves the first curve is trying to get
[13:52] my career towards
[13:54] my uh skill set and then find a company
[13:58] that matches my value set so i was
[14:00] trying to do both of those things
[14:02] at the same time
[14:04] and so it took it took a while uh and
[14:06] then i got here at admin health like i
[14:09] said in 2019 uh and
[14:12] really haven't looked back it's been an
[14:14] awesome journey up at this point
[14:21] you you did say that you have done a lot
[14:23] of certification along the way um
[14:26] can you highlight some of those um the
[14:28] one that helped you and how did you find
[14:31] that what certification you should be
[14:33] doing
[14:34] yeah that that was that's really good um
[14:38] when i finished with eli lillian company
[14:41] i took a job in
[14:44] osmar florida with a company called
[14:47] nielsen media and research and of course
[14:49] they did the tv ratings
[14:51] while i was there they were in a process
[14:53] of heavily investing into their i.t
[14:55] people
[14:56] and one of the things they wanted us all
[14:59] to be very familiar with were the rules
[15:01] of engagement around doing meetings and
[15:03] so i got exposed there to a set of
[15:06] training around facilitation management
[15:09] and that
[15:10] uh helped me uh take all of my normal
[15:14] and natural people skills and apply it
[15:17] to managing and running meetings
[15:19] everything from making sure that i
[15:21] followed up with people and tasks
[15:24] to making sure i got the minutes out as
[15:27] well as uh making sure i had all of the
[15:30] participat all of the participants
[15:32] participate and speak in the meetings
[15:34] now it sounds really small but there's a
[15:37] science behind running a meeting in fact
[15:40] i usually
[15:41] take out that facilitative management
[15:44] book and i read it every once in a while
[15:46] just to make sure i'm you know
[15:48] continuing to do the things that i know
[15:51] uh will be successful in running uh
[15:54] meetings and then of course i add my own
[15:56] style to it
[15:58] uh because that's you know that's kind
[16:00] of who you are you add your own style to
[16:02] these meetings and so if you're in a
[16:04] meeting with me it should be very
[16:05] different than a meeting with someone
[16:07] else but i still
[16:09] even though we're all remote i still
[16:11] think that uh having good facilitation
[16:14] management skills making sure that
[16:15] everyone feels that you are in the group
[16:18] and in the
[16:19] team together doing a project i think is
[16:22] critical
[16:23] in fact i think i was on a call
[16:25] very recently where i said because i'm
[16:28] extroverted and i'm focused on the goal
[16:31] and i'm very competitive and i'm very
[16:32] driven i admire people who can kind of
[16:35] calmly step back and look at uh look at
[16:38] you know the project and see what is
[16:40] missing uh and i depend on those people
[16:42] and i look for those people uh in my
[16:45] meeting because they can they're gonna
[16:46] help me and the project team get better
[16:49] and so that was one of the big things
[16:52] that that helped me out
[16:53] the other training that i received i
[16:55] actually went to a seminar with my wife
[16:58] and for the first time um
[17:01] we were exposed to the teachers of doc
[17:04] teaching of dr rome rome and he did the
[17:08] uh i think he did the personality plus
[17:10] book and so we went to one of his
[17:11] seminars
[17:12] and uh so we both found out that you
[17:15] know my wife is more introverted i'm
[17:16] more extroverted uh and so that that
[17:18] helped us out a lot and we took that and
[17:21] we went we got a book called uh the love
[17:24] languages i can't remember the arthur
[17:26] and so we read that too because we found
[17:28] out that um i'm a person uh who likes
[17:32] affirmation and she's a person who likes
[17:34] acts of service and that not only helped
[17:36] us understand who we were but who the
[17:38] other person was and then how to kind of
[17:40] speak their love language and so we took
[17:42] just those two books if i just took
[17:44] nothing else the book on love languages
[17:47] and the book on personality types we
[17:49] actually applied that not to our
[17:50] marriage but also to our raising up of
[17:53] our children
[17:54] i would say the other thing that i got
[17:56] was some uh introduction to project
[17:58] management training uh that was really
[18:00] uh really good i haven't taken the pmp
[18:03] test yet
[18:05] but i have all the training and all the
[18:06] books and you know i've been studying uh
[18:09] to take the test and hopefully i'll take
[18:10] the test uh this year um but so that was
[18:14] was key uh to getting
[18:16] a lot of uh to get where i am now and
[18:20] like i said i don't have a a divider
[18:22] between what i learned in the work at
[18:24] work and what i learned outside of work
[18:26] if i learn it and i can apply it i'll
[18:28] apply to every environment i'm in
[18:30] because i think it'll help me be
[18:32] successful in whatever i'm doing um
[18:34] you know
[18:36] one of the other trainings i received
[18:37] was i took the
[18:39] dave ramsey financial peace course and i
[18:42] took that with my wife in 2011 and it
[18:45] was
[18:46] absolutely mind changing because it
[18:49] brought my wife and i value system
[18:51] together around how to manage money and
[18:53] then of course
[18:54] we were able to
[18:56] get out of a lot of debt uh with section
[18:58] of the house uh we were able to take our
[19:00] first missionary trip uh and we did we
[19:03] helped some orphans uh in jamaica and
[19:06] that was wonderful um
[19:08] gosh and then we started teaching it and
[19:10] so then i found that i had kind of
[19:12] another skill set which was i was really
[19:14] good at uh not just communicating but
[19:17] also teaching particularly things that
[19:18] i'm very passionate about on my value
[19:20] system and so since
[19:22] 2016 i've been teaching uh very
[19:25] regularly at my uh church
[19:27] um
[19:29] you know the the principles uh according
[19:31] to
[19:32] uh the bible which is uh what dave
[19:34] ramsey is uh
[19:36] you know stating uh around financial um
[19:40] financial personal financial
[19:42] responsibility etc etc
[19:44] and um i think
[19:46] you know when it's all said and done
[19:48] that will probably be the thing that i
[19:51] kind of pursue
[19:52] if you want to call it a second career
[19:54] or a parallel career i'll continue to do
[19:57] that
[20:01] [Music]
[20:03] i want to jump into something that you
[20:05] are great at is um the time management
[20:09] procrastination how how you handle all
[20:12] that i heard something that said proper
[20:15] planning prevents poor performance
[20:18] so if i want to wake up in the morning
[20:21] and work out i have to make sure my
[20:24] car has gas
[20:26] uh i have my clothes laid out or wearing
[20:29] them to bed
[20:30] and i have to set my alarm
[20:33] so because i'm
[20:34] uh
[20:35] spontaneous if i want to be structured i
[20:38] have to kind of
[20:39] really
[20:40] spend focus time to to do that
[20:44] but procrastination
[20:45] for me is not so much
[20:48] i don't want to do it or i put it off
[20:50] but what happens to me is i'm heading
[20:52] down the path and then other things come
[20:53] and distract me so distractions are a
[20:55] very thing for me like oh i have to do
[20:57] some other things so other things kind
[20:59] of pull me away from the things that i
[21:01] wanted to do so i have to learn my thing
[21:03] is i have to learn to be more
[21:05] intentional and prioritize the things
[21:07] that have to be done uh i think i heard
[21:09] dave ramsey said there are things that
[21:11] are urgent and they're things that are
[21:12] important you have to be able to manage
[21:14] which are the things that are urgent
[21:16] versus the things that are important
[21:18] because there are some things that are
[21:20] neither urgent or important and they
[21:22] should never get on your list
[21:25] and there's some things that are
[21:26] important but not urgent and you need to
[21:28] make sure you prioritize them in the
[21:29] right way so that's the battle i'm
[21:31] fighting i wish i was fighting the
[21:33] procrastination battle that means i knew
[21:35] i'd know the things i need to do but uh
[21:37] the problem is i'm trying to do
[21:38] everything and too much and getting
[21:40] distracted and missing the important
[21:43] stuff that i that i really want to do
[21:45] you know do you make lists
[21:47] on paper on a software what software do
[21:50] you use
[21:51] yeah i definitely have
[21:53] a list and
[21:55] back in the days i used to have a
[21:57] franklin planner
[21:59] and i took the stephen covey uh
[22:02] program
[22:03] i'm flipping through my notes here to
[22:04] show you my task list i have a task list
[22:07] of things that i'm i'm trying to do and
[22:10] um so i kind of use that i still like to
[22:13] use the paper i know a lot of people use
[22:16] software and
[22:17] what have you i use my on my phone i
[22:20] keep my calendar advice events so we
[22:22] have a family calendar and so everybody
[22:24] has a phone now and so we all are adding
[22:27] things to the calendar so we can let
[22:29] each other know where we're going to be
[22:30] what's important what needs to be done
[22:32] but i still use um
[22:34] uh you know a legal notepad and i have
[22:37] a's and b's and then i have d's and
[22:40] these are what i call domestics meaning
[22:42] all the things that maybe i can do in
[22:44] between meetings or at lunch or
[22:46] something uh to you know i'm at home so
[22:48] i can kind of do some things here uh so
[22:51] yeah that's that's really i still use uh
[22:53] handwriting pen and paper i i probably
[22:57] could do something else but that that
[22:58] helps me that helps give me structure
[23:00] and the real power of it is not waking
[23:03] up in the morning coming to work or
[23:05] turning on my laptop and building a list
[23:08] it's at the end of the day building a
[23:10] list so when i wake up in the morning
[23:12] and come here i can just look at my list
[23:14] okay that's right that's from yesterday
[23:16] i need to do that right that's the real
[23:18] power of having a list not the list as
[23:20] you go but the list at the end of the
[23:22] day you're trying to kind of sweep
[23:25] everything that did
[23:27] onto the to the paper in your mind uh
[23:30] and and that lets me let work go right
[23:34] because if i don't do that then at eight
[23:36] o'clock i'm trying to get on my computer
[23:38] because i'm thinking you know what i'm
[23:39] sure there was one more task i needed to
[23:41] do
[23:41] uh so that list uh helps me out a great
[23:45] deal and and i still forget things right
[23:48] but without the list i'd be in real bad
[23:50] shape
[23:53] [Music]
[23:56] goal setting what's your method uh for
[23:59] the big goal or sounding like f so i
[24:01] have my family responsibilities my faith
[24:03] responsibilities i have um
[24:06] financial responsibility uh physical
[24:09] fitness responsibilities and then i have
[24:10] fun and friends right so
[24:13] in my world i try to operate goals in
[24:16] kind of those five areas uh and really
[24:19] the goal is kind of the last thing the
[24:21] first thing i want to think about is the
[24:23] strategy then the tactics and then the
[24:25] goal right or sometimes maybe the goal
[24:28] and then the tactics right because i
[24:29] need to know the what and kind of the
[24:31] why and then i talk about the how and
[24:33] then the goal is really the how plus a
[24:36] date so i kind of have that stack in my
[24:38] brain and so
[24:39] as i think about my family for example i
[24:42] think about the
[24:43] goals i want to the things i'd like to
[24:45] do with my wife and the great part about
[24:47] that is i can sit down with her and say
[24:49] hey these are things i'm thinking what
[24:51] are you thinking and then we can kind of
[24:53] either merge our things together and it
[24:55] always makes me laugh when we have the
[24:57] same thoughts so that means good you
[24:59] know we're kind of on the same page
[25:01] with my kids i have to push them a
[25:03] little bit uh my oldest one is a little
[25:05] more self-directed as
[25:07] uh probably he should be uh this is his
[25:09] last year that he's going to college uh
[25:11] but my other two are just kind of like
[25:12] well you know they're kind of more
[25:14] casual so i kind of have to get them
[25:16] formalized and structured financially
[25:18] you know i have to make sure i'm
[25:20] supporting my children in their goals
[25:23] and what they want to do
[25:24] and then making sure
[25:26] because we sit down a lot as our job i
[25:29] have to make sure that every day i do
[25:30] some kind of stretching or exercises
[25:32] because that allows me to perform
[25:34] my uh ability to do my job and i can be
[25:37] there for my family so everything is
[25:39] kind of connected one of the things i
[25:41] need to get back to do and again this is
[25:44] the prioritization thing is i need to
[25:46] read more books uh there used to be a
[25:48] time when i would read a book a month um
[25:50] but
[25:52] not only do i
[25:54] have i not been able to do that recently
[25:56] you would think during the pandemic i
[25:57] would have done it more but i think i
[25:58] was just doing a pandemic it was a panic
[26:01] gimmick for me i didn't do i like let go
[26:04] of all my my good habits um
[26:07] i need to get back to the reading a book
[26:09] of months
[26:11] and it can be about anything i don't
[26:12] have to have a structure like i like
[26:14] autobiography
[26:15] uh i probably need to read another book
[26:17] on parody kids because i can get some
[26:18] different ideas
[26:20] into
[26:21] what i'm doing
[26:22] with my children um
[26:25] so yeah i need to kind of get back to
[26:27] some of that self-improvement stuff uh
[26:30] that i that i used to do
[26:31] um but yeah my goals are always around
[26:34] those areas finding friends like like
[26:37] thanksgiving is coming up so i want to
[26:38] make sure i invite all of my friends who
[26:41] feel comfortable who've been vaccinated
[26:43] who don't mind
[26:44] coming over uh you know
[26:46] my wife and i are going to be
[26:47] celebrating anniversary make sure i take
[26:50] care of that you know just as long as i
[26:52] just i just kind of think around my
[26:53] little circle okay what am i doing with
[26:55] my physical fitness what am i doing with
[26:57] my family what am i doing with my faith
[26:59] what am i doing with my friends and how
[27:01] am i having fun
[27:02] as long as i stay in that little bubble
[27:04] i'm good to go
[27:11] last two questions larry
[27:13] how do you see your journey
[27:15] your career journey so far
[27:19] you know it's it's funny you used to say
[27:21] that i i feel like i'm
[27:24] not halfway done
[27:26] but in a lot of ways i'm kind of getting
[27:28] started
[27:30] that sounds crazy like i i think like
[27:32] i'm at a a new kind of a beginning
[27:35] or
[27:37] how can i say this a little better so
[27:39] everything has a season right so you
[27:41] have spring summer fall winter and i
[27:43] believe i'm like in the beginning of the
[27:46] fall right
[27:47] and the reason i say that is
[27:49] uh this is the first time where
[27:51] i'm being invited to weddings and
[27:54] funerals right whereas maybe 10 15 years
[27:57] ago it was all weddings you know all
[27:58] weddings um
[28:01] i'm at the point where
[28:03] i'm seeing the cycle change over right
[28:05] like my kids are graduating from high
[28:07] school and i can think back when i
[28:08] graduated from high school
[28:10] and so um the demands for resources
[28:16] for
[28:17] me and my wife or from us are going to
[28:19] start to shrink because my kids are
[28:20] going to be able to get their own
[28:22] resources and do their own thing and so
[28:24] i want to make sure i support them in
[28:26] their journey but to be honest with you
[28:29] there would be no way i could take the
[28:31] knowledge and information i have now and
[28:33] give it to myself at 25 because it
[28:35] wouldn't make any sense i would be at 25
[28:38] would ask questions well how do you know
[28:39] this and how does this work and that
[28:40] like i would have all these questions
[28:43] with the wisdom and stuff that i i know
[28:45] right now versus now i have the
[28:48] experience of falling down and getting
[28:50] up and you know dusting myself off and
[28:52] like okay that didn't work and then
[28:54] trying something else so i would
[28:56] probably say i'm at the beginning of the
[28:57] fall of this of this season and
[29:01] this season for me is about uh
[29:04] teaching
[29:05] what i know to others
[29:07] and then kind of getting ready to
[29:08] transition to my final career path which
[29:11] i think would be uh teaching period uh
[29:14] maybe not in the public school system
[29:16] maybe not nothing that formal but being
[29:18] in a place where i could give back to
[29:20] young people uh or people my age or
[29:23] people just a little younger than me so
[29:25] they can make different decisions
[29:33] last question
[29:34] what will be your advice to the viewers
[29:38] my audience the college student or the
[29:41] people who are in job and uh want to do
[29:44] more and trying to grow themselves uh 10
[29:48] years from now 20 years from now
[29:50] yeah so i would first you have to always
[29:53] go what go back to the mall right uh do
[29:56] you remember how you would go into the
[29:58] mall and there would be this thing
[29:59] called the directory and on the
[30:01] directory would be that red dot and it
[30:02] would say you are here right you have to
[30:04] be able to understand where you are
[30:07] if you're in uh
[30:09] zero to twenty right you're in the sun
[30:11] you're in the spring of your life right
[30:13] you're responsible for getting education
[30:15] exposures and experience but the
[30:18] education you have to get is in two
[30:20] parts you have to learn about the world
[30:21] around you so all the classes you're
[30:23] taking and you have to learn who you are
[30:26] right because if you have one
[30:28] meaning the college degree or the high
[30:30] school diploma but you don't know who
[30:32] you are and what you can do with your
[30:34] talents and skills and ability you're
[30:36] actually handicapped right because you
[30:38] don't know how to apply that according
[30:41] to
[30:41] uh your skills and talents so you need
[30:43] both things you need to have a firm
[30:45] understanding of who you are and a firm
[30:46] understanding of what you've learned in
[30:48] terms of high school and your exposure
[30:50] and stuff like that now if you're in the
[30:52] next phase 20 to 40 uh this is kind of
[30:54] like the most busiest time of your life
[30:57] because you're finishing up your
[30:59] education or you're going back for more
[31:01] uh you're probably starting your new job
[31:03] you probably made decisions about
[31:04] whether or not you want to get a spouse
[31:06] you're probably having kids new car new
[31:08] house i mean it just kind of comes at
[31:10] you right uh and then if you're involved
[31:13] in ministry or activism or you're
[31:16] climbing the corporate america coming to
[31:17] corporate ladder i mean you're starting
[31:19] your own company there's a lot of things
[31:21] that happen between 20 and 40 and you
[31:23] have opportunities to travel and just do
[31:26] uh great things again
[31:28] gotta go back to that piece who are you
[31:31] who what's important to you what's your
[31:33] value system and then what are your
[31:35] talent skills and abilities
[31:37] that is key um our our brothers and
[31:40] sisters in egypt wrote everywhere they
[31:42] could know thyself know thyself right uh
[31:45] the greek said to their own self be true
[31:47] i mean you gotta find that out uh
[31:50] because that is the information remember
[31:52] information age that's the information
[31:54] that will allow you to make decisions so
[31:56] you'll be able to look at opportunities
[31:58] and say okay this one says i can be a
[32:00] lawyer this one says i could be an
[32:01] accountant right
[32:03] i really don't like
[32:05] numbers so maybe i want to go the lawyer
[32:07] path right they both pay good money you
[32:09] know maybe i want to start my own
[32:12] business and i'm content with maybe
[32:14] having a small business right i don't
[32:16] have to have a corporation but i like
[32:18] coming to work every day i like being my
[32:19] own boss and i like creating a great
[32:21] product or service and giving it to
[32:23] people man if you know that about
[32:25] yourself then you need to pursue that
[32:27] right uh because it's it's it's
[32:30] depressing uh and i think even um david
[32:32] oakley said something to be in a job
[32:35] that takes from you uh you know or that
[32:38] doesn't give you energy you need to be
[32:40] in a situation where the job gives you
[32:42] energy or leaves you neutral and then
[32:44] there are other things in your life that
[32:46] give you energy and help you stay
[32:48] positive and
[32:50] get a lot of fulfillment so in that 20
[32:52] to 40 space
[32:54] not having strong knowledge of who you
[32:57] are will slow you down or handicap you
[32:59] uh and it will uh
[33:02] you know cause you maybe to make
[33:03] decisions that you might not have made
[33:05] had you know more about who you were um
[33:08] i had a friend say this you want to find
[33:10] the sweet spot
[33:11] between um
[33:13] what you
[33:14] are good at what you're passionate about
[33:17] and what people will pay you for if you
[33:18] figure out where those three lines come
[33:20] together or those three circles come
[33:21] together you're in great shape what's
[33:24] your what's your advice for me
[33:26] uh
[33:27] 40 to 60 you didn't say anything about
[33:29] them
[33:31] i'm in that group
[33:34] people figure together we figure out
[33:36] together yeah so so i think for me um
[33:40] um
[33:41] i i know that you know i'm not uh trying
[33:44] to be you know david oakley or trying to
[33:46] be duncan that that's not the goal uh
[33:50] for me uh and i knew that a long time
[33:52] ago so let me share my last story and
[33:54] and i think this this will sum it up
[33:57] um
[33:58] i went to crooms academy of i.t design
[34:01] for their teach-in and i spoke a little
[34:03] bit about money for one of the classes
[34:05] and i had a student really challenge me
[34:08] and she said she raised a hand and asked
[34:10] a question she says well what can i do
[34:12] my family is poor there's no way i could
[34:14] do all the things you're talking about
[34:16] because we don't have any money i don't
[34:18] have any money my parents don't have any
[34:19] money you know they couldn't even drive
[34:20] me here if it wasn't for the bus i
[34:22] wouldn't be able to come here you know i
[34:24] i have the school
[34:26] food plan uh that's free because my
[34:28] family's so poor
[34:30] and i said i totally understand what
[34:33] you're talking about my family too was
[34:35] on public assistance uh when we were you
[34:38] know very early in the 80s um and so i
[34:41] noticed her hand
[34:42] she had these nails and and they were
[34:44] they were beautiful and i said can you
[34:46] raise your hand for me again and she did
[34:48] and i said do you do your own nails or
[34:50] do you pay for them and she says oh no i
[34:53] do my own nails
[34:54] and so then i asked the rest of the
[34:56] ladies in the class i said how many of
[34:58] you guys pay
[35:00] to have your nails done and pretty much
[35:02] 100 of them raise their hands
[35:05] and so then i said how many of you will
[35:07] be willing to pay her
[35:09] uh instead of the people you're paying
[35:11] now to have your nails look as good as
[35:13] hers and 100 of those young people uh
[35:16] young ladies raised their hand and so
[35:18] then i said well congratulations you now
[35:20] have a business doing nails uh get back
[35:23] to me and let me know how that works and
[35:25] she was stunned
[35:26] right she was stunned right and like she
[35:29] couldn't even speak wow she kind of
[35:31] stared at me right and so then the class
[35:34] was over and i finished talking and i
[35:36] wiped the board i shook the hand of the
[35:37] teacher for allowing me to speak and i
[35:38] went out to the hallway
[35:40] and the young lady comes up to me she
[35:42] gave me a hug and she said thank me she
[35:44] thanked me so much and she was crying
[35:46] because she had no idea that she had
[35:49] figured out
[35:50] talents skills and abilities that
[35:53] somebody would be willing to pay for to
[35:55] help her earn more income
[36:00] wow
[36:05] now if you if you're a follower of jesus
[36:06] christ i would also add one other pillar
[36:09] and that is you got to know who god is
[36:10] so number one you gotta get your faith
[36:12] together find out who who god is and
[36:16] what god feels about you wherever you
[36:17] are with your faith okay you know you
[36:18] gotta get that in place
[36:20] the other two is you gotta get your
[36:22] education what i call your triple e you
[36:24] know you gotta get your education
[36:26] exposure and experience because you can
[36:28] be educated but not exposed and so when
[36:30] you meet people places or things that
[36:32] are different it freaks you out right
[36:34] you don't know how to handle it um so
[36:36] you got to get your education exposure
[36:38] and experience and experience is just
[36:39] doing things and failing or doing things
[36:41] and succeeding right and the last piece
[36:43] is know thyself know who you are know
[36:46] your talent skills abilities uh your
[36:48] personality types your love languages
[36:50] your apology languages all that that
[36:52] makes up this person inside of you uh
[36:55] and then you
[36:56] got that triangle and you're you're
[36:58] ready to go my experience has been that
[37:01] each religion is having something that
[37:04] kind of teaches that how the soul part
[37:07] of your
[37:08] life work so larry one thing i want to
[37:11] mention that what i really really really
[37:14] like about this interview and talking to
[37:16] you
[37:17] is the clarity you have
[37:20] about yourself
[37:22] the things that you have done and then
[37:25] the clarity about your thought process
[37:27] the way you speak the way
[37:30] you articulate things and uh um
[37:34] the way you believe on them you know i i
[37:37] have to say this that um i've been
[37:39] really lucky uh that i got exposed to
[37:42] some great people along the way
[37:44] on my path of getting here
[37:47] well thank you so much larry this this
[37:49] was amazing thank you thank you thank
[37:51] you so much
[37:53] namaste sir take care
[37:56] i learned that too
[37:57] [Laughter]
[38:01] and and i don't care who you are i'm
[38:02] going to say this so you have a
[38:03] recording south indian cooking is the
[38:06] best cooking on the planet whoever was
[38:09] the guy who created chana masala and
[38:11] rossum we need to find that guy and make
[38:13] him a statue make a statue for that guy
[38:16] you mix
[38:17] you actually make south india and north
[38:19] india chana masala is not it's north
[38:22] what
[38:23] is uh south south okay we'll take both
[38:26] then
[38:33] you