#78: Life Lessons From the Football Field with Isaac Brown, Life & Fitness Coach
What is the most important type of training when it comes to entrepreneurship?
Mental
Physical
Spiritual
Trick question- The answer is actually all three!
Today I was joined by Isaac Brown, a Life and Fitness Coach who played professional football in both the US and Canada!
Isaac is now a strength and conditioning coach for the team he used to play on and not only helps the team train physically, but also mentally and spiritually.
Isaac shared great nuggets of wisdom around:
The key factor for going from good to great
Who you are is different than what you do
How to frame up your performance
Whether you are an athlete or entrepreneur, make sure to tune into this episode to gain some great insight on mindset!
Learn more about Isaac here: https://www.coachisaacbrown.com or check him out on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/coachisaacbrown/.
Check out my new free new training on www.yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond.
Listen to the Show:
Laura (00:02):
So many entrepreneurs, dream of living a life of massive impact by creating a mega successful company, but only a tiny percentage of businesses actually scale to that point. And when they do it is so often lacking the very joy and freedom that got them into entrepreneurship in the first place. So on this podcast, we speak authentically on what it actually takes to scale your business in a way that creates freedom and joy that works for you, your team, and the incredible impact that you are meant to make in the world as a visionary entrepreneur. My name is Laura Meyer and I'm your host. I'm a serial entrepreneur wife, mom, to three. And I love talking all things business, especially digging into what it actually takes to scale joyfully to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond let's get started.
(01:00):
Hey everybody, I'm here with Isaac Brown. So he is somebody who is a life and fitness coach and who I heard talk on Clubhouse. And it was just really impressed by his approach to the way in which he looks at performance from a physical, mental, and spiritual standpoint. And I wanted him to come here and share some of his perspective and wisdom with you. So thanks Isaac for being here.
Isaac (01:26):
I appreciate it. Appreciate you having me.
Laura (01:28):
Yeah. So you were just sharing with me a little bit about, you know, what keeps you busy. So you provide one-on-one coaching group coaching, but you're also an advisor to a professional sports team. Is that right?
Isaac (01:40):
A strength and conditioning coach. Yeah. So you can call it an advisor in a couple of different ways because, you know, I basically advise the guys on how to take care of their bodies and also in my role, I help them develop their lives off the field. So that job is multifaceted. It's not just about the physical requirements. It's about the holistic approach. It's multi-dimensional so there's a lot going on there. Yeah.
Laura (02:12):
Yeah. With professional athletes, professional sports players. I would imagine that there is a multi-faceted approach that's needed, right?
Isaac (02:20):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Laura (02:23):
So when you're thinking about how to advise the professional athletes that you work with, or your one-on-one clients, what do you think that key is to training all aspects of who we are like physically, mentally, spiritually,
Isaac (02:35):
The first aspect is awareness. You don't know what you don't know, you know, it takes other people to shine their perspective on you and let you know about the roads that you may end up traveling. You know, and for me, just being in the position that I am, I actually coach for the team that I used to play for. So it's a, it's a little more unique for me, but also being a pro player, being where they, where they are now, I used to be there too. Our walked in those shoes, you know? So my perspective is like, hey, I'm way down the street that you're traveling on. I know what's ahead for you. And that's where the awareness part comes in. And the other part is discipline. And to me, that discipline is everything, you know, when it comes to self-discipline, that's how you create self-mastery and that's, and that's how you, you Excel, you know, mentally, spiritually, and physically, it's a thing of self-mastery, but it all starts with awareness.
(03:41):
You have to be aware of where you are, where you want to go and what you don't know. And there's, there's tons we all don't know. Even the most successful people, the most masterful people we can look at in any area of life and in any business, any sport, whatever it is, there's things they don't know, but they're constantly searching for the answers, right. They're constantly trying to grow and that's what makes them great. That's what makes them great. And that's really how they got where they are. It's not all talent. It's, it's the discipline to continue the journey of self-mastery.
Laura (04:20):
Do you think that is the difference between people who make it to the pro level, whether it's in sports or business, and those who are still dreaming about it?
Isaac (04:31):
It probably is the biggest difference. Some of it is some of it has to do with opportunity and talent. If you're looking at sports and the other part, yes, it's discipline, it's awareness. You know, the, the average pro career is about three years, but the average let's say the average scale of talent is very close. People are very closely gifted with talent. Now you'll have your, you have your exceptional athletes, right? That just stick out like a sore thumb. And they're just super-fast, super strong, or you know, this and that, but the talent, you know, it's not, it's not a very big gap, the discipline and the awareness to grow, you know, the discipline to show up every day, take care of your body. You know, as athletes, you have to understand your body is your business. You're not, you're not coming to work.
(05:31):
You are work, right. Everything you do everywhere you go, you are work, you are your business, right. And that team is investing in your business, which is your body, right. And that encompasses mental, physical, and spiritual and the players or the athletes, cause it's, it's not just football. It's not just my sport. It's any sport, any high performing athlete and, and any business professional, to be honest, the ones that can get that, that can get that down. Pat, those are the ones who, in my opinion excel. I don't think you can look at any successful person. We can take athletes out of it. Let's just remove athletes out of it because they're automatically have to hone in on the physical part. But if you just look at any successful business person, I guarantee you almost, I would, I would dare to say 9 out of 10 of them have some sort of physical routine, mental routine and spiritual routine. I guarantee you, right. Because it's a complete engine.
Laura (06:41):
What's yours like?
Isaac (06:41):
My biggest advantage, I would say that I have is my morning routine because yeah, because in the morning, that's where I get my complete quiet time. That's where I meet with all three aspects of myself, mental, physical, spiritual, you know, I get up really, really early. And a lot of people don't think is necessary, but it is necessary for me. I get up at 3:00 AM every day, even. And the crazy thing is yes, even on the weekends, I don't work on a Monday through Friday schedule. I work on it every day. Schedule is 24/7, you know, and I'll take those first three hours to work on my spiritual first, my body second. And then my mind, you know, and the way I came to that now I didn't, I haven't been doing that for years. You know, I have been getting up at five o'clock for years.
(07:45):
And then I started to realize, I heard Jim Rohn say, if you want more, you have to become more. Right. So it went from five o'clock to four o'clock anywhere, then it went from four o'clock to three 30. And then it went from three 30 to three 10, and then I'm like, why am I getting, why get up at three 10, just go to three o'clock right. Just get the full three hours. And a lot of it was based on when I start work, when I start, whatever it is, my full-time job. So I go from there and I back up three hours. Comfortable hours though, you know, I, I do not like to rush because when I'm rushing my mind, isn't focused in on what it is I'm doing, you know? So I get up in the morning and I'll take care of my body.
(08:34):
I do my fitness, I'll do my spiritual work or getting my Bible. I read, I pray, I meditate. And then I take care of my mind, which is either some type of personal development, material reading, or, um, reading material on my professional craft. So something with something to do with, you know, strength and conditioning, the body, those types of things. So my morning routine, that's where, that's where I win. You know, that's where I win my game. And then from there, it's easy. Like it's easy sailing. Like I was just
thinking about it today at 10:00 AM. Someone texts me and said, what are your goals for the day? And I'm like, I've accomplished 90% of them already. And it's only 10:00 AM, but I had to think I've been up for seven hours already. Right. I've already put in almost an eight hour workday by 10:00 AM, but that's an advantage. And a lot of my neighbors they'll see me sitting out on the porch, like in the late afternoon, just hanging out and like, what do you do all day? I'm like, well, I get up and I grind early so I can relax later. You know, isn't that the saying in life, working out so you can play later. I live that day to day, right? Every day I live like that. So that's kind of how that's kind of how mine goes.
Laura (09:59):
It's so interesting. I can't believe that you get up at three. That's like amazing.
Isaac (10:03):
I mean, if you looked at me two years ago, I would say no way, I'm getting up at three, but, but I've evolved, right? Because the more successful people that I listen to and take from the more I want to become. So I'm like, well, let me move this, sleep back. I'll go to bed a little earlier. So I can get up a little earlier. It's sacrifice. And that takes a lot of discipline, but it started with the awareness. Right? So it's those two things.
Laura (10:33):
What was the first thing you do? So you wake up, we talked about the different phases, is the first aspect that you tackle the physical component?
Isaac (10:43):
Spiritual- it's spiritual. Yeah. Now I've, I've played with it. I've went back and forth because there were times where I would get up and I'd sit down to read and pray and I would be tired. I'd be kind of falling asleep. So then our play with I'm like, okay, well, let me get up and go work out first, get my body wide awake and then do it. And there's times that it worked like that. And there was times where I would get up, go take a shower right away. And then come sit down, read my Bible and everything. And then I'm wide awake. So lately that's what I've been doing is getting up, go straight to the shower, wake my body up once, once I get in and out of the shower I'm wide awake. Right. But I like to put the spirit first, you know, as much as I love working out, my spiritual fitness is more important than anything to me.
Laura (11:40):
Yeah. So spiritual, then you move to....
Isaac (11:44):
Then physical, physical, then I'll work out. Yeah. I'll do the mental part at the end. So I'll do my spiritual first and then I'll take care of my body. I'll work out and I have a home gym here at my house, so that makes it very convenient because I don't have to leave and drive to the stadium and go work out. I can just go downstairs and work out and I get my workout in. And then I go in and do my reading after that. And I spend about, I
spent about an hour and a half, on my spiritual. And then my workouts are quick. I've learned to be very efficient with my work. I don't take many breaks, I just get to it. So that takes me usually about a half hour. And then I'll do an hour of reading for my personal development, professional development, whatever I decide for that day. But I stick with those three hours and it's, it's been, it's been working for me.
Laura (12:40):
So you've been playing football since you were seven, you went from high school to, I guess, Canadian pro is that right?
Isaac (12:48):
I went from high school to college and I went to college at central Michigan. So I was, I was in Michigan, grew up in Michigan. Then I went to central Michigan. So that was only an hour from home, not far. And then I went to the Falcons from there now I was 12 hours from home. And then, and then from there I came to the Canadian league. So that was my, that was my journey in my, and my playing career. Yeah.
Laura (13:15):
So you've been playing so pro United States coaching and strength and conditioning for pro Canadian, what do you think are some of the biggest life lessons that you have gained from those experiences?
Isaac (13:31):
So many and you know, it's funny because I went through a lot of injuries, you know, I had eight surgeries from football, right.
Laura (13:42):
A mother's worst nightmare. As a mom of boys I’m just like oh my gosh.
Isaac (13:42):
She barely missed one single game. So she saw everything. I can't imagine how that feels, but you know, the injuries that, that alone is enough adversity. Well actually just, even if you play a full career without ever getting injured, you go through enough adversity on a day-to-day basis. Right. But the injuries really taught me a lot. They taught me perseverance, you know, they, they taught me self-discipline, they taught me, I will tell you one of the biggest things my injuries taught me because they isolated me. You know, when you get injured as a, as a football player or as any athlete, you're automatically taken out of the game and you're taken out of practice. And you're usually in the training room sometimes alone, you know, things like that. And in that, in those moments of isolation, which I, through a lot of times I learned reflection.
(14:55):
I learned how to sit with myself and I really started to figure out who I was. I questioned whether or not I wanted to keep doing this. You know, it was many, many things. You
know, I went down into deep, dark places where I contemplated harmful things to my life. I've been in those places. Right. And, you know, I think some of the biggest life lessons that it taught me is that who you are is completely separate from what you do. Amen. Is it tied in, is it tied in, is it in, isn't it an expression? Absolutely. It's an expression, but it is not you. My thing about playing pro sports. And I think a lot of athletes, if they sit down and really think about this, they will agree- playing pro sports or not. And just pro sports.
(15:59):
I'll just leave it at sports in general, you build a certain mindset because of the discipline, because of the focus, the work ethic, because, you know, from working with different people. Yeah. And if you go into pro sports, you probably had to travel a little bit. You may have ended up on two or three different teams, those types of things, you build a certain mindset to win in life because the goal of sports is what is to win, right? So these are gold nuggets that sometimes are overlooked by athletes because you're tied up in your sport, you know? And, and you're just like, well, I want to be the best that I can be in this sport. Okay. That is a mindset being the best you can be removed the sport, remove the sport, being the best can be okay. Now when you leave your sport and you're in life and not playing anymore, keep that mindset.
(16:56):
It doesn't matter where you're working. It doesn't matter what your occupation is being the best you can be. That is a part of your identity. Yes. That is a part of the expression of you putting on the football helmet or the baseball helmet or the basketball jersey. That's not your identity. That's not your identity. That's just a part of what you are doing, right. When you go home and you're a father or a mother or whatever, can you be the best you can be for your family? Can you have that discipline get up in the morning and do whatever you need to do around the house or, and when you leave your sport, can you take that same discipline and that same mindset and that work ethic to your next occupation? Right?
(17:48):
I always tell my players, listen right now, this is your field. This is your field. Literally. Cause there's a football field, right? This is your arena. But when you leave this game, whatever you do next, now that's your field, right? So if you want to be a beast, you're a beast wherever you go. A lion is a beast not just in the jungle, he's still a beast in the zoo, right. He's still a beast in the circus. It doesn't matter. Alliance, not going as well. I'm not in the jungle anymore. So I'm not going to be a beast. No. Right. It's that identity. Right? So your environment and your occupation, that, that doesn't change who you are, you know, it, it helps build you, right? So that's a little bit of a tangent, but
Laura (18:41):
A good one. No, it was actually super useful and helpful. I think for so many people who are thinking about how to frame up their performance, it was very, very helpful. So if you were to kind of summarize what you think in maybe one word or a few words, what is
that secret to excelling in both your sports and personal life? I know we talked about discipline. Does anything else come to mind?
Isaac (19:08):
You know, it's very tough. It's very tough to get away from those words. You know, discipline and awareness and you know, awareness. I think humility is a part of awareness. I think vulnerability is a part of awareness. I think hunger is a part of awareness. There's multiple, there's multiple words I can say. But I think the overarching two things are, you know, having an awareness of where you are, where you want to be and where you've been and learn from that, and then have the discipline to take the steps forward to where you want to go. You know? So I think that's how I would sum it up is so overlooked the biggest lesson. Like if I could only say if, if I was lined up in front of a group of athletes and they said, tell them the most important thing that you've ever learned, I will tell you what I just, what I just said, what you're doing is not who you are learn to separate your identity, but grasp that mindset of what you have built because your sport, this is the thing-pro athletes, college athletes, whatever level, whatever level you give so much, you give so much to that sport.
(20:29):
You're pouring everything in because you want to be great. You want to win, right. But here's the thing when that sport is over, when that door is shut, you don't put on the jersey anymore. You don't put on the helmet, you don't put on the cleats, the basketball is taken away. Your jersey's done baseball bat is gone, right? What are you left with? You're left with what you built. And that's your mindset, the mindset that you built from. I started playing ball at age seven, from age seven, I was building a mindset and I stopped playing ball when I was 26. Right? So from age 7 to 26, I built a mindset that is mastery, right? That's mastery, 20 something years of the same thing. Every year I have mastered my mindset, but athletes only look at it. As my sport is gone. My sport is gone.
(21:33):
Now, what do I do? Well, what do you have? The sport cannot take your mindset. You built that. And it stuck inside your head, right? All you need to do is have an awareness and that unlocks the door and like, okay, now this is what I did on the field. This is how I went after I was talking to a kid last night, who's having that same struggle. And I told him, I said, listen, you're an entrepreneur now. He was a, he was a former baseball player. I say, you're an entrepreneur. Now you got to learn to hit home runs in the business world. You got to learn to run the bases in the business world. You got to learn to throw out, but you have that mindset. You're overlooking it. You're overlooking it. Right? So you just direct that mindset from your sport. Okay. Now I'm going to take that same mindset and that attitude to be great in this field. You know? So that's how I see it.
Laura (22:30):
That's so good. And so true in business too. Like I know you're talking a lot about sports, but one thing I've learned in business is nothing is infinite. Every business has a starting and end point. Now, if we craft our identity around our entrepreneurial journey, it
can be connected to who we are as a whole, as entrepreneurs. But if it's to a specific business or a brand or a vision, and that doesn't work out, it can be crushing to our soul. And that's why I think there's a lot of unspoken mental health challenges in the entrepreneurial space.
Isaac (23:09):
Yeah.
Laura (23:10):
So this has been incredibly enlightening. I love what you're sharing. It's such a different perspective. And although it's more sports focused, everything that you have shared, if somebody isn't an athlete, but they're listening is so applicable to business as well. And if somebody who's listening would like to just connect with you more, get to know you a little bit better, ask any questions. What's the best way for them to reach out to you.
Isaac (23:33):
So my Instagram is coachisaacbrown, email is coach isaacbrown@gmail.com. I'm on Facebook, same coachisaacbrown, all my, all my handles are the same except my Twitter. My Twitter is _coach_Ike only because coach Isaac Brown was taken. So I try to keep everything consistent but they can reach out to me that way. And I'm very responsive. So I'll get back to them if they reach out.
Laura (24:10):
That's awesome. Well thank you for being here and sharing your wisdom and perspective. I really, really appreciate it.
Isaac (24:14):
My pleasure.
Laura (24:16):
Hey there: before you head out, I want to let you know about a free new training I have right on a brand new website called yournextmillion.me. It's yournextmillion.me, where several of my seven figure clients and colleagues share what they're doing in the next year to scale their businesses, to the multi-million dollar mark and beyond. And I have to tell you, it is not what you think. So check it out at yournextmillion.me. And if you loved this show, will you subscribe to it and share it with a friend or just say something nice about it to someone, you know? I'd really appreciate it so much. Thanks so much for being here and I'll see you next time.
The Scale with Joy podcast dives into the mindset and strategies of scaling your company to the million dollar mark and beyond. Each week, we follow the journeys of innovators, disruptors, experts and leaders - sharing behind the scenes stories of their most challenging moments and greatest lessons learned-all while building their multi-million dollar empires.