Anthony Trucks is a motivational speaker and former NFL player. He talks to Chris Van Vliet about the idea of shifting your identity and the powerful effects it can have on your life. Think about it, we are the projection of who we think that we are. But what if we shifted that? Anthony says it can have a massive effect on your life and that anyone can be anything that they want. He also talks about his time in the NFL, how a shoulder injury ended his football career, how being a father has changed him, and much more!
On what is an identity shift:
“So it’s first about going to the root of it, what is an identity? When we hear that, a lot of people think it’s this separate thing like a soul. I’m like it is not. It is a very tangible and very real thing that people have rocking in the background, but are completely unaware of the power that it holds. Think of it like a computer, we have the hardware of the screen and the microphone. Then we have the software, the programs. The programs are the things that run it all. When the operating system gets bogged down, what happens to the programs? They crash. Doesn’t matter how good the hardware is, if the operating system goes kaput I’m done. It’s always in the background so you never see it. But in our life, that’s our identity. Things like our health, relationships, hobbies etc. When we talk about identity, there are things running our background life and we are not running it. It’s just there and just created. It got woven in and we just started living our life that way. Then when we wonder why don’t I have certain things? It’s not a matter of the lack of information, it’s who are you with it? When I say identity shift, the identity you have right now has everything you have. It’s responsible for all the things you have and the things you don’t have. When I talk about a shift, I’m saying let me shift you into the identity that has all the things you want.”
On being self aware:
“I love the statement ‘It is hard to see the label when you are inside the jar.’ How do you see it? You don’t know, you are just living your life. People are like what are you doing, I’m like what do you mean by that? I’m not 100% self aware, but I am highly self aware. You don’t have to live in self awareness, you just have to take a moment and go ‘I don’t like this life, wife, husband body etc.’ Wake up and instead of going it’s OK so you can sleep better. Wake up and go this doesn’t feel right. We can all say this about anything in life. We make excuses on why we don’t want to change, and it is hard to change. It tests the ego, it makes us think there is something wrong with us, which there never was. If you can give yourself permission to suck, you can give yourself permission to improve.”
On people limiting their identities:
“I don’t know if that’s a limiting factor or a lazy factor. I know I’m not a runner, but if I think about it I could be. When I saw ‘I’m not that [runner]’ it’s because I am too lazy to do that. The problem isn’t whether you are or not, it’s whether you think you are or not. It’s what you choose you want to be. If I got a letter saying if I can’t run a marathon in 60 days someone will kill my kids, bro I’m a f*cking runner! I am a runner now and will run all day long. That is the difference, am I motivated, do I want to?”
On having the footballer identity:
“The problem with the football identity I tell people it’s like a tree. It’s the fruit of our labors, the apple tree. The apple falls off the tree and it sucks, something changes. Lose my job, lose my money etc. The apple can last on the ground for a bit, eventually it will rot. That’s how you will feel inside, and some people will always feel like that. They never realize that you have never been the fruit, but always the tree.”
On his career ending injury and how he reacted to it:
“It sucks. It’s the journey, I think it happens many times, and by accident. The problem is most of the time we are reacting and not responding. When I go into a situation and it all falls apart, we have this reaction to do something. Quite literally that is your identity, it’s who you are without thinking about who you are. The beliefs and thoughts come flying through in moments. Like I’ve said that thing, it’s not PC but it’s who I am. When I respond, that’s a vastly different situation. This happened, I would love to punch that dude, but I’m not that kind of guy. who punches dudes in the parking lot. We react to life, and then we are haphazardly creating an identity. Like I’m broke but I’m not going to be a stripper.”
On his process to realize an identity shift:
“There’s a process I created called the shift method. There’s a lot of in-depth work that we do. The three steps are see, shift, sustain. The Shift portion is the work, that’s the planning process and execution we take to complete the shift. Most people in life will jump to a certain level of work. The will go ‘I’m going to work like so and so.’ And they will start doing those things. They get to 50 years old and go who am I? They were following their boss or some guy on TV, they got to the top of the ladder and it was on the wrong building. The see phase allows you to look for your individual sticking points. When you have that, you can’t dream something that’s going to be great. If I think I’m stupid, I don’t think I can be a teacher. But if I realize I am dyslexic, I can do it but do it different. When you see the blind spots, you can see who you want to be. Third thing is sustain, basically stay the course and sustain it over time, or else it will fall back. If you get to the top, you get lazy and slide back down again.”
On going from husband mode to dad mode:
“I was actually a dad before I was a husband. At the end of the day, being a great dad is the same as being a great example. When I look at what I want my kids to have in terms of spouses, it’s kind of like what me and my wife have. I want my daughters to be around certain people and I want my boys to treat people correctly and respect them. Look at qualities and aspire to be those qualities. They all tie together, my marriage wouldn’t work if I wasn’t a great parent.”
On what he learned from the NFL:
One thing is getting comfortable being uncomfortable. The NFL is a very uncomfortable environment. I’m going to say this, I don’t believe people don’t really grasp what that means. Whenever I hear people say comfortable being uncomfortable, people just think it means just be OK. I took it to a level of understanding in NFL. If I think comfortable, I think winter time with a hot chocolate and my favourite movie. That makes my stomach warm. If you don’t have that level with problems, you will struggle. Everyday the NFL could say you’re going to get cut and you won’t have a job. You made a mistake, you’re home. You’re away from your family and no one cares about you, because you are taking money away from their mouth. It pulls at every emotional string. The only way to stick around is to find a weird way to enjoy it.”
On lessons learned from being a father:
“The biggest lesson is that I know far less than I think I know. I’m not talking about parenting I’m talking about life. Kids can teach you a lot if you listen. They teach you through their experiences of you and it’s like a reflective mirror. How they live their life tells you if you are doing it right. That has taught me a lot as a dad. There is also teaching the position of power. Knowing that your kids will put their foot down and stand up for themselves. If I do something wrong, I will tell them. I’m dad but I’m not perfect.”
On what he is grateful for:
“My wife, the family God has given me and the heart of me.”
More information on Anthony Trucks can be found here.
Featured image: GDA speakers
