In this episode you’ll hear:

• How Jose has dealt with challenges (that most of us haven’t had to) and why he feels that those challenges led him to his purpose
• The questions you can ask yourself to find your “why” and your purpose 
• The questions that can disrupt your mindset, expand your thinking and look outside-the-box
• The questions you can ask yourself to see how you are indispensable now or in other words, absolutely necessary, very important and non-replaceable
• Why Jose believes that everything happens in divine timing when your aligned with your assignment

About Jose Flores

Jose Flores is CEO and Founder of Indispensable Now. He’s a mindset disruptor, dynamic international motivational speaker, and author. Jose speaks all over the world using his unique story of growing up with a physical disability and how you can use your mind to overcome anything. His main message is to never allow your struggle to become your standard and how to dominate your life and business.

If you’re inspired by this episode, I’d love to hear your biggest Aha! moments. Take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your social media and tag me, @christieturley!

LINKS:

Jose’s Book, Don’t Let Your Struggle Become Your Standard: How to Be Indispensable Even When the Odds Are Stacked Against You

Jose’s Website, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, & Twitter

Transcript:

Christie:
Welcome to the mind news podcast. I’m your host Christie Turley. Okay. And today I’m speaking with Jose Flores, as we speak about how to disrupt your mindset with some very Soul Searching thought provoking questions, we’ll hear how Jose was able to deal with some challenges that most of us haven’t had to and why he feels that those challenges have led him to his greater purpose. And we’ll also talk about why Jose believes that everything happens in divine timing when you’re aligned with your assignment Jose Flores is CEO and founder of Indispensable.

Christie:
Now he is a Mindset disruptor dynamic, international motivational speaker and author. Jose speaks all over the world using his unique story of growing up with a physical disability and how you can use your mind to overcome anything. His main message is to never allow your struggle to become your standard and how to dominate your life and business. So let’s go ahead and jump in. Alright, welcome to the show, Jose,

Jose:
Thank you so much for having me Christie how are you doing?

Christie:
I’m doing great. This is, this is going to be an awesome episode. So why don’t you start out and tell us a little bit about your story and how you got started and w we’ll dive into today’s topics.

Jose:
Yeah, absolutely. So again, thank you for having me and letting me hang out with you and your audience. I really appreciate it, but, you know, so for those of you watching or listening, you know, you’ll be able to, if you’re watching, you’ll be able to see that I am in a wheelchair as you’re listening, and I’m letting you know, I’m in a wheelchair. I am in a wheelchair, but it was due to a condition that I was born with called muscular atrophy. And basically what that does is the older I get the week and my muscles get. So when I was a young boy, I had a great childhood. I was able to walk and run and ride bike and do all the healthy, do other things that helped the young boys able to do. But in the back of my mind, I knew that I had this condition because at three years old, my mom noticed that I balked with a little, like with a little limp and everybody thought it was cute.

Jose:
And it was like, Oh, look at him. He looks like a little tough guy. And so, but she noticed that the limp wasn’t going away. So she took me to the doctor and they didn’t mind him doing a muscle biopsy on me and diagnosing me with the spinal muscular atrophy fast forward. You know, like I said, and childhood was great, come from a good family. Then I get into high school. And that’s when things really start to kick in for me, what, with this condition, that’s when it starts to become difficult for me to just do basic, you know, bodily movements. It’s like sitting and standing and going up and down the steps, getting dressed down on my own, things like that. And, you know, high school is tough, you know? Right. Because that’s where we’re all trying to figure out what we want to do, where we want to go, what we want to become.

Jose:
But the doctors had said when I was younger, that I would end up in the wheelchair by the age of 15. And they weren’t even expecting me to live past my teenage years. Yeah. But I do have good news because a, this year, back in February on the 25th, I celebrated my 43rd birthday.

Christie:
Congratulations. That’s truly, I mean, it’s funny how we all approach our birthdays with trepidation, but seriously, like that brings new perspective to just cherish every year.

Jose:
Yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. You know, and like I was saying, when in high school, I wasn’t thinking about college. I wasn’t thinking about a career. I wasn’t thinking about the future because I was just trying to survive the live till 19. Right. And so once I, you know, I graduated high school and then I moved from New York. I was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. So I’m a city boy, but now I live in Florida, sunny sunshine state. And I love it down here, but I moved from New York to Florida. And I’m, that’s when I lost my ability to walk when I was 22 years old. And that’s when I really things started really getting difficult because I’m like, now I’m like in a dark place, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

Jose:
I’m like, Oh man, what am I going to do? Now? My life is ruined. I’m not going to ever be able to do anything. Great. I’m not going to be able to do anything of significance. I’m not going to make any impact. I’m not going to make a difference. And all of my dreams were shattered and I started, you know, why my body was giving up on me. I was giving up on myself, really. I was giving up on my goals, my dreams, my ambitions, because I really thought that this wheelchair was just going to be the end of me. But that was the mindset that I had. Right. So it wasn’t until I shifted in, made a pivot with that old thinking, thinking, and, and then really just started saying like, okay, well, you know, a lot of the gears that kept me stuck in my life was because I was always focusing on the things that I couldn’t do and the things that I didn’t have in the abilities that I was losing.

Jose:
And it wasn’t until I switched to it and said, okay, Jose enough with the pity party. What can you do? And so that’s when I said, you know what? I still have a sound mind, and I still have a powerful voice. So I’m going to use that to make a difference. So that’s when I started, you know, that’s what led me to becoming an international motivational speaker and bestselling author consultant coach. And it just an awesome dude.

Christie:
Yeah, you certainly are. Awesome. Cool. I mean, really it’s remarkable and I’m sure you give a lot of inspiration to hundreds of thousands of people and you have a very successful career so way to go, really,

Jose:
You know, but I’m going to let you, I’m going to let your audience know and your listeners and viewers know that, you know, the Jose that, that you guys see today is not the Jose that I’ve always been. You know, and I, I wanted to emphasize that because that may be somebody listening, that they may have dreams or ambitions, and they may feel far off, or they may feel like they’re unattainable or unreachable. And I just want to let you know that everything in life, there is a process, you know, that you have to go through the process. And a lot of times people want to skip the process. They always fall for these, get rich, quick schemes and get money fast. And, you know, you have to go through the process in order to become successful. There is a process, and in order to become successful, you have to go through the process. There was no skipping the process to success.

Jose:
You have to be able to go through the process. And for me, I had to like, you know, every time, every couple of years, my, even up to up until today, you know, every couple of years, my body goes through a new shift of decreased mobility. So I always have through my whole entire life, I’ve had to learn how to adapt and adjust or adapt and adjust or adapt and adjust. Every time there was a new phase of decrease mobility, where I was able to do something and now the condition is kicking in even more. And now I can’t do something. So I have to figure out that I’m not only constantly adapting and adjusting, but I’m always figuring out new ways to do things and just be able to live independently, live a little more easily with maybe some equipment that I can purchase or get just going to help my life easier with the situation that I have to live.

Jose:
So, you know, again, you know, cause right now we’re living in, you know, I, I was, I was forced to do that. I didn’t have an option. I had to force. I was forced to learn how to adapt and adjust. And today, you know, even with this whole Corona crisis, that’s going on with this pandemic, the whole entire globe is being forced to adapt and adjust to a new way of, of living and, and doing things and going out in public and working and, and, and things as such. And so, you know, I don’t look at the negative that’s happening, right? Because every time we turned on a TV on the radio, we can focus easily to get this easily a focused on the negative and get sucked into that. And just like I was, I was always focusing on the negative, like I’m losing my body. My, my, you know, the muscles in my body are, are deteriorating.

Jose:
I can’t walk, I can’t do this focusing on the negative. And it wasn’t until I switch that it focused on the positive in my life really changed forever. So even those of you that are listening and struggling, cause I know that there’s a lot of people that have lost their jobs and, and, or I was, I had been cut short companies are closing businesses or shutting down, you know, trying to find a positive in this situation or whatever that looks like for you.

Christie:
Yeah, that’s so true. I mean, what you’ve gone through and, and us as humans, I mean, we all have our own version of the dark night of the soul and that’s really what you’re describing here. And even these micro cycles or seasons in your life where, you know it with you, it’s with your body, but with others, it could be their physical environment or their emotional environment, or, you know, changes in life. And this is how life is designed. And, you know, it’s like, we all go through, we’re constantly going through like our own version of like a spring, summer, fall, winter, you know, and that dark night of the soul is, is in, that is in that winter.

Christie:
And, and so I love what you said about having keeping a positive attitude. Are there, I mean, how, like, what was it that like, was there something in your mind that just collect when you’re in this dark night of the Soul cause this easy to wallow in it. Right. But how did it just click on for you that, Hey, I need to be positive. Is that something you read or?

Jose:
Well, no, it was just, it was just a state of my, the state of being, it was just my state of being, I was always focusing on the negative and for me, you know, I was getting disability checks and for me, I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was like, there’s no way I can live off a measly $850 a month. You know? So I said, you’ve got to do something with yourself. So I went out and got a job and, you know, we have over a 20 year corporate America, a background and experience from, from the bottom up all the way up to managerial positions, all the different types of departments. So I’m very, well-versed in the corporate America space and all that, but that’s because that’s all I thought I was capable of doing and just a desk job.

Jose:
But for me, I would just, what clicked for me was I was just sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I knew I wanted more. I knew that I was capable of doing more because I was a smart, I’m a, I’m a, I have a ton of common sense that can take you a long way, but I’m also smart and well read. I read a lot, I’ve looked into things are a research. So I did, it was just, I have a hunger inside me that there was a void that it was like, you have that it has to be more than just living in, dying in his wheelchair, collecting a government check and that’s it. Right? And so I, I want it more. So I went out and I got into corporate America and then I was kind of like stuck there for many years. And I don’t say that in a complaining type of way, ’cause, you know, working on my way from the bottom up, it’s provided me a very decent livelihood being that I was in a wheelchair, I made very good money, but again, there a something inside of me that said, this is more than this Jose, this is more than you can be doing more.

Jose:
You can be learning more, you can be becoming more. And so that’s when I really started looking into motivational speaking and, and that’s how I found my, my coach, my friend, my mentor, or the legendary Les Brown, who wrote the forward to my book. And I’ve been on tour with him now. So again, I just see all of that because I’m just a little Puerto Rican boy from Bronx, New York who was, you know, stricken with this condition that, that whose future wasn’t supposed to be bright, who is feature wasn’t supposed to look successful and here are great. And here I am, you know, successful to a certain level and, and, and, and doing great things, making impact and, and, and inspiring people in motivating people and encouraging people, you know, to learn more, do more and become more.

Jose:
And this is an amazing feeling when I, you know, they always say hindsight is 2020. So I’m looking back at my life and how far I’ve come in and you know, how much more I need to go. This is an amazing thing to do to sit back and reflect and say, wow, you know, it can happen for me. It can happen for any single one of you guys that are either watching or listening to this podcast.

Christie:
Yeah. That, that is a reflection it’s so important. And while we were on this topic, actually, have you ever thought, like, what would happen? Where would you be right now? What kind of career would you have right now, had you not had this condition? Like, where were you headed?

Jose:
You know, that’s, that’s a good question. You know, again, I’m from the Bronx, New York, that’s in the city. So I’m hanging around with, with, with, with, with, with the wrong people that were doing a lot of the wrong things. So, you know, I get that question a lot. And to be honest, if, if the, you know, I wasn’t in this wheelchair, I don’t even know if I can either be in jail or dead or ready, just because of the environment that I was in a group of people that I was hanging around. But again, when I moved to Florida, that was like life changing from me. You know, when I moved here, I was still able to walk in and do my thing. But then when I lost my ability to walk, you know, that’s what my mom would go to church and I really wasn’t into it, but I figured, let me just go with her and just to get out the house.

Jose:
But, you know, that’s when I became a man of faith and my relationship with my, with my Lord and savior Jesus Christ that helped me push through a lot of those dark days and just expanding my mind and just really thinking and reflecting and, and just understanding, gaining a higher level of understanding of sometimes things happen. And we know we don’t know why. Right. But that doesn’t mean that we just mope around and just walk around with the Whoa is me mentality. And it always negative. You know, sometimes you just have to push through. And that’s what I decided to do. You know, that that was what I chose to do. And in life you can make one choice and it can be a good choice or a bad choice, but either way, one choice can change your life. Completely.

Christie:
Totally. It’s those little things that can turn out to be big things you, you know, and yeah. And for every bad thing that happens to you, there’s usually, you know, a, a, a, an equally or better blessing on the other side and in your case, I mean, you’ve, you’re doing what you love, you know, I’m assuming you love it. Cause you’re impacting so many people and that’s gotta be really fulfilling. Yeah. So that’s, that’s amazing. So let’s talk a little bit too about the difference between you can easily give it up. You know, what’s the difference between in your mind giving up and quitting?

Jose:
Yeah. Well, you know, when you give up there’s this, this is a substantial difference between the two when you’re, when you’re quitting. Cause sometimes it’s good to quit things. And sometimes it’s like, if you smoke cigarettes, it’s good to quit. If you’re, if you drink alcohol heavily and then that’s something good to quit, right? But giving up, that’s when you put your dreams on life support. If you give up on your dreams and you give up on yourself, you are in essence suffocating, or potentially even killing your dreams because you’re just saying, Hey, I love doing this. This is what I wanted to do, but it’s so hard. I don’t want to deal with that anymore. And you just give up that’s, that’s the dangerous place to be in.

Jose:
Because again, we all have dreamed, you have goals. We all have visions, ambitions. We all want to reach a certain level of success, life, whatever that looks like for you guys. But the moment that you give up on your dreams, or it will give up on yourself, that’s when you just sat down. That’s when you make the choice to settle for where you are for what you have, and you don’t want to push forward anymore. And that’s where I, you know, that that’s the difference between quitting and giving up. Like I said, if you quitting something, sometimes quitting is good. Or like, if you’re working at something and that thing isn’t working, then you’re not going to just not stop doing it because you don’t want to tell yourself, well, I’m not giving up. Sometimes things just don’t work and you have to quit and you have to stop it.

Jose:
Right?

Christie:
Yeah. And in your case, you quit feeling sorry for yourself. And that was a good thing that sometimes it’s good to close a business or to end a relationship, you know? And, but how many people do you think have actually given up and they don’t realize it because they’re complacent. They don’t realize they’re in a box.

Jose:
That’s most of the people in our society or, or in the world, the best, the most people. And that’s why I always tell people, most people, they, they, they, they, they come to the word I’m looking for. Most people they’ll settle. They’ll be okay with settling. Even though deep down inside, they know they are they’re miserable. They know they are better than no they’re depressed. They’ll still stay there because at least that’s comfortable for them. They get so accustomed to being in that state that it becomes comfortable for them. So when they try to step outside of their comfort zone, now it’s like, Oh wow, this is awkward. Does this feel right? Let me go back into my comfort zone, back in to my misery, back in to my depression, back in to my unhappiness and all right.

Christie:
That would be, sometimes it could be happy. It could be like a warm blanket and it’s happy. They just don’t know that there’s something better to yeah, exactly.

Jose:
Exactly. Absolutely. Exactly. That’s why we have to constantly always be willing to stretch ourselves.

Christie:
So what would you tell someone? I mean, you talk to a lot of audiences. What would you tell someone that would just pierced their souls to get them to wake up and realize that they have something else inside of them?

Jose:
I’ll just tell them, Hey, let’s see. Now, according to what the doctor said, I’m not supposed to be here. And so every single morning that I, that I wake up and I can breathe on my own and take a deep breath. I’m excited for life guys. I’m passionate, I’m a fighter. I’m energetic. I don’t need to be motivated because I’m just excited to live and see another day of life. So if that’s you, if you have the ability to breathe on your own and wake up in your mind, isn’t a sound place. And there is nothing that should be stopping you from fulfilling your dreams from moving forward and crushing your goals on a daily basis.

Christie:
Yeah. And I think this is kind of leading us towards Your, you’re a fixed mindset versus growth mindset discussion that we are kind of talking about on our other call. Do you mind walking us through that and talking to a little bit about that?

Jose:
Yeah, absolutely. You know, the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, it should seem like it’s pretty obvious, right? Fixed means in place. Does it move? And that’s exactly what a fixed mindset is. It’s like, for example, my dad is, is, has a fixed mindset. He’s old school, he’s in his mid seventies and, you know, and he just has his own way of doing things, how he was brought up, how he, you know, how he was raised and there is no convincing. That means something, right. So he just has his fixed ways of doing things. And it’s a fixed mindset. Me, for example, you know, I, I have a, I have a growth mindset or an open mindset because I’m open to learning. I’m open to, and open to understanding, open, to gaining more information, more wisdom, and making shifts along the way.

Jose:
That’s what a growth mindset is. Those are the companies, those are the individuals that you’ll see, see succeeding and winning in life. Those are the companies like Google and Amazon in blue jeans and zoom Now even with this whole pandemic, right. That everyone is using zoom. So those are the companies that are willing to have an established that growth mindset and develop that growth culture within their organizations or within themselves that are going to allow them to succeed and continue winning in life and always be ahead of the pack.

Christie:
Yeah, for sure. And I, I once heard that a VC could easily tell if a company was going to make it or not, or if you wanted to invest in that company by how open-minded the entrepreneur was. And, and I’m, I’m sure a lot of people listening here are like, yeah, yeah. Like I’m pretty, open-minded, you know, a growth mindset, but I’d like to challenge you to look at, you know, every area of your life, you know, where am I having a fixed mindset, you know, in my relationships or, you know, at home, or, you know, out on the ball field versus an open mindset. Right. And just,

Jose:
Or even in your habits and your routines, right. That you have a fixed way of doing things. And maybe we just have to switch it up a little bit to, to, to, you know, to disrupt the norm,

Christie:
Right. Yeah. How important is disrupting the norm

Jose:
As far as that’s why I find myself the Mindset disruptor, because disruption is a good thing, you know, and again, I always kinda use my condition as, as an example, because through my whole life, my body has constantly been being disrupted by this condition. So again, disruption is a good thing because it pushes you, it forces you to think outside the box, it forces you to expand your thinking and your thought processes is it forces you to think a different type of way. Sometimes it even forces you to look at things differently. And so it’s, you know, that that disruption is like, even right now with the coronavirus, it’s a disruption on the planet. Right. But there’s good things that are happening, right. The earth is rejuvenating itself to see is getting a break.

Jose:
The air is getting a break, right? The, the air that we get to breathe that we take for granted. So many times that it’s cleaning itself and purifying itself, sort of the benefits that are going on there. Sometimes we don’t really think about it. Like we said earlier, there’s always for every negative, there’s a positive right now.

Christie:
Right. And I, I feel like there’s a lot of people right now that are reassessing their values and what’s important to them and what matters to them. And by being at home, maybe they’re, our kids are at home too. They’re there. Their whole schedule is disrupted. And it, when we can move from being annoyed that they’re home, because now you’ve got a homeschool of, this is just an example, you know, or being annoyed that you can’t go out and walk freely. Like you would want to, or go hiking on a trail that’s been closed, you know, looking at hate to say it, the bright side of things, you know, like looking for the joy and, and, and looking for that, that what we can be grateful for, which can be difficult.

Christie:
And if you can just start, like you were saying with your breath, I mean, how many of us can just speak grateful that we’re breathing? You know, you have a hard time finding something. Yeah.

Jose:
You know, for me, you know, and, and just touching on what you were saying just now, you know, when this whole pandemic kicked in and everyone started to get quarantine, you know, I was even telling my wife, cause we, like I said, we live down here by Miami and Florida, and I’ve never in my entire life, seen so many families riding bike together. And I’m talking about mother or father and children all together, riding bikes. And this is, to me, it was a beautiful thing. And it kinda brought me back to my childhood because I was born in the seventies. So, you know, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have all of these other gadgets, like in order for us to have fun, we had to get creative. We had to go outside play games, right. By climb, trees do all types of, you know, be very creative.

Jose:
And so when I saw that, I was just like, wow, this is amazing. And I’m thinking to myself, like, I really should’ve started to stopping some of these people in the same. Hey, what was the last time you actually rode bike together like this? And probably most of them would say, we never had to have, this is the first time. Right. But it was just such a beautiful thing to kind of see it, go back to the way things used to be for me as a child. And even before my time, like when families really spent time together and it wasn’t just, so go, go, go, go, go. We don’t have time for this. We don’t have time for that. And you know, that bond between, you know, parents and children and siblings and uncles and aunts, wasn’t a strong because of the demand that life gives on a lot of us that we have the work all the time, but now this time to be able to be home, you know, and now we can build those relationships and those bonds and make them stronger and do things that we thought we didn’t have time for it.

Jose:
Now we have the time to do that. So again, like some parents were like looking at it like, Oh my gosh, when the kids are home, we have to homeschool. It was, I’m so stressed out on the flip side. It’s like, now, you know, you have other parents that are thinking, wow, this is amazing because now I get to spend all this extra time. It kind of played catch up with my kids and really spend some quality time with them.

Christie:
Yeah. It is. It’s a, it’s an amazing blessing. And I hope, I hope, you know, what’s your perspective right now. I hope that people can look at it that way too and, and see the beauty and this incubation stay at home time that we have. Right. Yeah. So tell me a little bit more, you had your Your, the name of your company is Indispensable. Now let’s talk a little bit about that. Why did you choose that name? What does it mean? What’s, what’s the mission.

Jose:
Yeah. So the, the, the, the, the meaning of the company with the word Indispensable, first of all, it means being absolutely necessary, very important and non replaceableWhy, which are the three things that I did not feel when I was younger. I had to grow into that as an adult. I grew into understanding that I am an Indispensable as an individual, because there’s no one can be a better me than me. There’s only one of me I’m like authentically, genuinely made. Right. And so understanding that I wanted to, that’s why I named my company that I like, Indispensable like right now, not Indispensable next week, not Indispensable next week or a year or, or, or, or a month or a year, you know, right now you’re, Indispensable, ’cause you have, you have the value that you bring to the table.

Jose:
And I know a lot of times we’re going to hear that word Indispensable especially for me coming from corporate America, they always using that as a negative, like, no one has a Indispensable, if you’re not doing your job, we’ll get rid of you. And I kind of, we don’t really agree with that because, you know, a position or title may not be Indispensable, but every single human being is Indispensable right. Because no one can be replaced as a person like Mack in my position to be replaced. Absolutely. Can my title to be replaced? Absolutely. But can I be replaced as a person? Absolutely not. Cause there’s only one of me. So that’s the kind of angle I come from that, with that. And again, it’s because of the way I was the way I grew dealing with my condition and not feeling those things.

Jose:
I wanted to be able to help other people to understand that they are Indispensable and it’s right now, right now is the time to be that, to be that person that’s absolutely necessary, very important and non replace him, or whether it’s for your spouse, your children and your family, your loved one’s, your community, your neighborhood, your company, or whatever that is for you. You are Indispensable right now. And then when you look at the word Indispensable, I don’t have anything to show you right now, but you’ll see within that work, Indispensable, you’ll see two, in other words that are bolded out, when you see like, the logo that I used to have, it says is able, so is able, is built into the word Indispensable. So when I, one day I was kind of like just doodling on a notepad and it popped that’s when I was like, Oh, snap is able.

Jose:
And that even made it more powerful for me, because again, letting everyone know that they are able to do exceedingly abundantly what they can think or imagine if they apply themselves. And so it just made it that much more powerful. So, yeah, Indispensable now is the name of my company. And I use that as the foundation of my business, in my being and who I am and letting people know that they are absolutely necessary, very important and not replace over it because of the gifts, talents, and abilities that they were born and gifted with.

Christie:
What’s your advice to someone who is like, yeah. Jose I don’t know, like, I don’t know if I’m I’m Indispensable like, what are some exercisers or what are some questions that they need to ask themselves so they can truly believe and have that self-awareness that they truly are unique.

Jose:
Yeah, absolutely. First of all, I will say that you would need to work on getting rid of your limiting beliefs. That’s the first of all, because I had them, I’m pretty sure that you’ve had them Christie at some point we all have, we all go through that, that season of life, but get rid of the limiting beliefs, because that’s just going to hold you back even more. But one of the things that, that, or some of the things you can ask yourself to understand and start believing that you are Indispensable is asking yourself, what are you a very good at doing? Like extremely good things that come naturally to you, like things. And those are the things that you were born with, right? Cause some people know how to play instruments like at four or five years old. And then they become these, you know, these, these astronomical musicians write like Andrea Bocelli in Ray, Charles, who is blind and Stevie wonder, right?

Jose:
So you see these individuals that are extremely talented, but you know, there’s some talents and gifts that we were born with. And then there’s some talents and gifts that we can develop along our journey. So ask yourself, what am I great at doing? What am I good at doing? Because a lot of times we are good at doing something like, we may be good at drawing for example, but we just kind of Chuck it off to being like, ah, I’m kinda good at that, but it’s just like a hobby for me, but that’s, it’s not, it’s more than a hobby. It’s something that you’re both. I can’t draw. I’m not a good artist. Right? So maybe you can start looking into artistry and you can create a living off of that because a lot of times, or more times than not, Christie our gifts in our talents, in our abilities, the ones that we are born with, those are the ones that we can use to become successful in life, to become amazing individuals.

Jose:
And, and, and just developing those, those gifts, talents and abilities as we continue to grow and then making massive impact and becoming massively successful with those things. Like, for example, when I was in school, I always used to get in trouble for talking. Right. Who would of known all these years later, I’d be getting paid in making a living for talking. Right. So

Christie:
It’s exactly right. That’s exactly. What’s going through my head too. It’s like all these things that maybe we were chastised for, you know, or, or gifts that we hid or discarded ’cause we didn’t think they were important or someone we loved and didn’t think they were important, but like dusting those off and rediscovering them and bringing those to the table. You’re exactly right. Like who would of thought?

Jose:
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I use that as an example of all the time, because you know, like I said, I mean, I used to get in trouble for talking now I’m praised and paid for talking. Right. So, but I didn’t know that when I was a kid, I didn’t know that I’d be able to use my voice because to me, I was just like, well, we all have voices. We all have to use them to communicate, but I was never thinking, well, I can actually get paid for becoming an effective communicator and, and sharing my story and, and being able to, you know, teach people how to become leaders and how to be Indispensable and how to think positively and how to change their mind and how to make that pivot and how to just wake up and have an attitude of gratitude immediately upon waking up in the morning, which is, which can dictate how your days look.

Jose:
Right? So it’s about being very, very intentional and focused on what you really want in life and being not only intentional, but disciplined and committed to the process.

Christie:
Yeah. How how does one find what they really want in life? Not like what they think their supposed to be or what others think their supposed to be, but like, how do you do, like, what are some questions that you tell people to ask themselves to figure out what they truly are, are destined to do or be,

Jose:
Yeah. You know, that’s a great question because you know, we are not, cause I do one-on-one coaching as well as the group coaching one-on-one coaching. And a lot of the things that I ask my clients is I’ll tell them right away. Well, what is some of the things you love to do? If you didn’t, if money wasn’t an issue, what would you do tomorrow? And the rest of your life, if money, wasn’t an issue and not have them write those things down. And then I would ask them, what are some of the things that trouble you, or what are the things that aggravate, aggravate you or get you frustrated when you see and write those things down? Because a lot of times, you know, our, our, our, our destinies and our careers don’t come from good places. They come from bad places too.

Jose:
So for example, I have a F my wife and I have a friend of a couple that moved from the United States to Europe, to Amsterdam, completely different environment, completely different culture, but they had a heart and a passion to make an impact when it comes to human sex, slavery, and sex trafficking. Right? So that’s a bad thing. That’s a negative thing, but they want it to make an impact. So they left their comfort of hearing, of living in here in the United States. They both had very well, a good careers. There were very well off and they gave that all up to go to Europe and make an impact. And, and for something that’s considered and look upon as being bad. Right. And so I asked them to ask themselves those questions, what’s frustrating to you.

Jose:
What injustice do you see that, that really gets you angry and upset, and then figure out which, which one of those you would want to get involved with. Right? Maybe it’s just volunteering at some of those things in the beginning and kind of getting a feel for them. Because like you said, you may think that something is good for your, you may think you wanted to do something and then once you get into it, you’re like, Oh no, this isn’t really what I want. Right. And so you have to really get honest with yourself. You have to get 100% real with yourself and you have to dig deep within yourself, ask yourself those tough questions. Like, what is it really that I want out of life? Can you be surprised? I asked a lot of my clients too, like, do you know what your purposes?

Jose:
And you know, I deal with grownups and they are not nine times out of 10, but more don’t know their purpose than those that do as a grown adult. Right. So does your dad is going through life, accepting, settling for what’s going on? And there is no real like Hungary. There’s no real ambition. There is no real strive or drive for more. So they just go, you know, they were in a program like that, right. We go to high school, graduate, go to college or graduate, go to a job working 20 to 30 years retire. Hopefully you have a pension or a 401k. And then hopefully you live, you know, 10 years to be able to be able to enjoy it.

Jose:
Right. Because you say that most people, they die before, you know, within a 10 year span of them retiring, they’re, they’re passing away, statistically speaking. So it’s like, you work all day and you go to school, you work all these years to enjoy it. Or maybe for 10 years, those numbers don’t add up to me. It’s like this Corona virus thing, right? Like people were like, this is something off with the numbers. Like, you know, there’s more people that died from the flu. More people dying for car accidents, more people who are dying from HIV, more people dying from cancer. These numbers are not adding up. So people should be thinking like, when they’re thinking about retirement, like these numbers are not adding up. Right. That has to be something that I could be doing to be, you know, financially secure or financially free when I chose to retire right now.

Jose:
And I was just going to say, this is more people that we know that are just settling for that mediocrity and, and the average life instead of a really, you know, going after it and killing everything, metaphorically, speaking to the, killing, everything in life and crushing everything that they come in contact with so they can continue to get ahead and climb that mountain.

Christie:
Right. Yeah. Absolutely. And yeah, I, I, I hope during this time that we have during this coronavirus, no matter when actually someone’s listening to this, even if it’s way after we’ve gone through this, I just hope that you spend some time, invest some time really asking these questions that you’re posing here and disrupting your Mindset because you know, whether you have a job or a business, chances are, you’ve gotten into some kind of a rut or a routine. And, and that’s what you’re talking about here. Like what purpose that is such a huge word. How do you even, like, how do you, you walk someone through, what is your purpose?

Jose:
Yeah. Because you know, the purpose is what your supposed to be doing in life, right? That is what your purpose is. Your purpose is what your supposed to be doing in life. And most people, like I said, when you ask people what they want, they don’t even know what they want a lot of life. And when you ask people what they should be doing, they don’t even know what they should be doing. Right.

Christie:
Usually they know what they don’t want. Right.

Jose:
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That’s 100% accurate and purpose, you know, it is simple by definition. Purpose is basically the reason for which someone or for when something is done or for which something exists. Right. So ask us, what on earth am I here for? What is it, what on earth am I doing here? Like, what am I supposed to be doing? And what you’re supposed to be doing should bring you fulfillment and should bring you up some form of feeling, of being a reward, right? Because the reality is the 85% of Americans go to a job every single day that they hate going to 85%. That’s almost the entire United States.

Jose:
It’s very, very sad. Right. So when you are asking yourself these questions, like, what was I created for you now? What am I supposed to be doing on earth? Why am I existing? Right. And that, and, and you know, when you, when you’re ready to think about it, even those people that are committing suicide it’s because they don’t know why they’re existing. So they figured it. You know what, let me just end my life earlier because I’m not doing anything anyhow now, or I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing, and it’s sad. Right. But once you know what your supposed to be doing, let me tell you something Christie and all of you guys are gonna listen. And when, you know, without a shadow of a doubt, what your supposed to be doing and, and, and, and, and living your life to its fullest potential, you’re never going to want to go back.

Jose:
You are now like, like I was in corporate America for 20 years. Right. Why? Because for me, and I’m not judging or anything, because like I said, it was great, but I was, I was settling. I was settling for average, for mediocrity. And I was okay. And I was comfortable. And I knew how to do things with my eyes close. I was getting a decent amount of money doing it, but I knew I wanted more. And it took me some time to figure it out. So if you guys are, you know, no matter how old you are, and you may feel like, man, I’m this age or that age, and you feel like, you know, you missing out, or, you know, I remember when I started my entrepreneurship journey, I was like, Aw, man, I feel like I’m, I feel like I’m way ahead of them. You know, behind the eight ball, I feel like I started so late, but there’s, there’s no such thing as everything happens in end it’s timing, right?

Jose:
I’m a firm believer that I think that everything happens and it’s in its timing. And when its time for you to buy it at the same token, you know, you have to be able to put in the work and willing to put in the work to make sure that you are aligning with that timing as well, with that perfect timing that you are in alignment with your assignment. Right. I liked to say that when you’re in alignment with your assignment, that’s when powerful things happen, guys. That’s when powerful things happen. So if you’re in a place now where you don’t know what your purpose is, a where you feel stuck, where you don’t know what your supposed to be doing this, this, and this is a perfect time, right? Cause we all have to be home. This is the perfect time to sit back, reflect and ask yourself those deep questions and get specific when it that’s what I wanted to mention to get specific with it, you know, a year or people when new years comes around, like, Oh, I’m going to lose weight on that year.

Jose:
Oh, that’s great. How much? Oh, well, I don’t know. Maybe 10, 15, well, no it’s is it 10? Or is it 15? Like you have to get specific, you know, you’ve got to get detailed, but what you want and that, again, that’s a part of knowing what you want. When you ask someone a question and they can answer you directly. Right. Then you know, that, that person means Business. I, you know what my goal is to impact a million people right. This year. Okay, great. How are you going to do that? I’m going to get on podcasts. I’m going to start my own podcast. I’m going to do Facebook lives. I’m going to network. I’m going to be out and about and just interact with people, right? That’s the only way I’m going to be able to impact a million lives.

Jose:
There is that if I go out of my comfort zone, go out of my box and explore everything else outside of that. And, and, and that’s the only way it’s going to work. And that’s what I had been doing personally myself. I have my own podcast and thank you, Christie for bringing me on yours, but you know, I’m trying to do anything and everything that I can to get exposed so that people are exposed to me and exposed to my energy in my vibrancy and my a frequency and so that they can, you know, cause again, you know, we live in a, in a dark negative world. And if I can be that small, a beacon of light, a with the, where everywhere I go to everyone on me, then that’s exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of us.

Christie:
Yeah. And it’s like, even if you can wake just one person up, like it’s all worth it. You know, I totally agree. And I totally feel like we’re all here to experience joy. And so your purpose is definitely going to be in alignment with joy. What brings you joy? I couldn’t agree more.

Jose:
Yes, absolutely. You know, I’m going to just share this quick little story with you and your audience, because I think it’s, it’s, I think it’s fitting. Ah, but you know, I can ask the question a lot, a lot. Like when did you know that, you know, speaking was going to be your thing? When did you know that speaking was going to be, you know, your new career? And I remember when I first started speaking and I was speaking for free, I spoke for free so many times, but I was speaking at this high school for a bunch of kids and they have this thing called dual enrollment. So you are like in high school, half the day, and then you go to college classes the next half of the day. And so I was speaking to, it is a bunch of kids. And at the end of my presentation, you know, I asked if anybody had questions and it was a few kids to ask the questions, but you know, not everybody in a group is extroverted.

Jose:
Right. So if you have a lot of introverts that will come to you afterwards, when you’re done and they’ll say, Hey, can I ask you a question? Like on the side, right with this. Cool. And I kind of liked that, but you know, there’s one girl came up to me and she said, you know what, Mr. Flores, I’m in, I’m in dual enrollment right now. And I’m going to college because I want to be a neurosurgeon. And I was like, Oh wow, that’s amazing. And she said, yeah, you know, but I’m feeling like I’m feeling like I want to give up because it’s so hard and so difficult. And it’s overwhelming. I get frustrated. I get stressed out and you know, the pressure of it. And I was like, wow, this girl is like 17 years old. Having to deal with all of these pressures, right. In stress levels and all of that. And I’m like, this is a cutie. You shouldn’t be having to go through all of this.

Jose:
And at this time that she was like, you know, and I guess our family comes from a family. That’s very educated and they’ve all been to college and you’re all doing great things. So she kind of felt obligated to do the same thing, but she also wanted to do it as well. But anyhow, long story short, she said, you know what, Mr. Flores I was feeling of giving up. But after hearing your story and hearing that your condition is a neuromuscular disease, I want to keep on going to school because who knows, Mr. Flores, maybe I might be the one to find a cure for what you have. And when she said that, man, he brought tears to see that. Even now I get like a little emotional because it brought tears to my eyes because I’m like, I would just come in to the school to share a story with these kids, not to think that this girl was going to get so impacted to keep on going and going to say, because who knows, maybe I might be the one to find a cure for what you have that just melted my heart.

Jose:
And I, and I told my wife, like when I was a, on, when we were leaving that school, I was like, man, babe, I know without a shadow of a doubt, this is what I’m supposed to be doing. Because if like you said, Christie, if I can just reach one person and change their mind or change their perspective on life and, and, and, and help them to continue moving forward and persevering and enduring and endure and win at life. And it’s a job well done for me.

Christie:
That is so heartwarming. Thank you for sharing. I’m like tearing up here. That’s awesome. Well, you’ve been such a wonderful guest. Jose can you please let people know how they can learn more about you and then go ahead and end on a final piece of wisdom or a final thought that you have.

Jose:
Yeah, absolutely. You can find me. You can go to my website. Jose inspires.com. Very simple. I’m a unified all across the board. So my website is Jose inspires.com that has anything in everything that you need to find out about me. It has, it has my, all my books, my products, my services, or all there. And then all my social media, as well as at Jose Inspire’s. So I’m a very easy to find, add Jose inspires. And I wanted to just leave you with, this is actually the title of my current book and it’s, and it’s this called? Don’t let your struggle become your standard, how to be Indispensable even when the odds are stacked against you. So no matter what you’re going through in life, no matter what stresses you may have, no matter how overwhelmed you may feel.

Jose:
And no matter how frustrated you may feel, don’t let that struggle become your standard because there’s more out there for you. And it’s waiting for you to show up and grab a hold of it.