Mastering the Art of Storytelling: Insights from Dan Clark (Part 2)

welcome to the know your ship podcast presented by ehub I’m your
host Frank Dolce you were telling the story you’re 8 years old and you you
have this experience and you overcome this now you’ve had this you know and
then you’re in college and you’re doing this again it feels to me like all of
these experiences are leading up to and and and the way way that you analyze
all of the experiences in your life are leading up to what you’ve now created
in this book The Art of significance yeah it was a 30-year process yeah right
and so you call it the the 12 highest universal laws that you have gleaned
over your 30 years all over this lifetime of experience okay so let let’s get
into this let’s get into this book and I know there’s lots of stories you
talk about one of the stories you talk about when you were you know in in the
spy plane and you’re looking at the curvature of the earth and you know what
is what am I doing what is my place here yeah why why am I let’s start there
why okay let’s start there so so I go up into space come back and just
fascinated by astronomy astrophysics I read every word I can find by Warner
Von Brun who’s the father of NASA he’s the one that identified the
mathematical equation and the algorithm that allowed us to put a man on the
moon the Apollo M and if you think for a moment about the movie hidden
figures who celebrated Katherine Johnson as the human computer who worked for
NASA the movie stars Kevin Cosner is the world’s most prolific scientist he’s
running the team and the entire uh historical backdrop of this movie is when
we were launching Mercury 7 with the Astronaut John Glenn and he was going to
orbit the year seven times and then they had to figure out a way to fire the
Rockets to position that that Space Capsule in the perfect position and the
perfect entry point to make it through the Earth’s atmosphere and land in the
Indian Ocean at a specific place because the capsule soon fills with water
and the astronaut would drown if the rescue ship didn’t show up within
minutes it was that finely tweaked and the scientists could not figure out
the mathematical equation that would allow uh the Space Capsule to re-enter
the atmosphere and if you study astrophysics if you understand astronomy the
ozone and the at atmosphere that surrounds the Earth if you don’t enter it at
a specific angle at the specific velocity you will Ricochet off the
atmosphere and John Glenn would have been lost in space and died in a Space
Capsule cruising around someplace in in the darkness and they were caught up
in this dilemma they could not figure out the exact mathematical equation and
Katherine Johnson has this Epiphany and starts writing on the glass wall and
she finishes and has the solution and Kevin Coster the chief scientist he goes
wow that’s Oilers Theory that’s old math and Katherine Johnson says no it’s
sorry yeah and Katherine Johnson says no it’s right math so I look up Oilers
and Oilers was a 17th century Swiss mathematician who created the
mathematical equation on how to calculate the the movements between two
objects that are passing moving capsuled the Earth mhm and that was that
specific mathematical equation that allowed John Glenn to to sign off out and
say I trust her launch me and the Mercury 7 mission was successful because of
it and that led eventually to us putting a man on the moon M so my point is I
became so fascinated by the laws of the universe the law of gravity the law
of resonance you know uh VI vibration and energy that we learned through the
Law of Attraction law of the Harvest we reap only that which we sow the law
of relativity the law of physics the law of mathematics but what law governs
all of those universal laws it’s the law of obedience which means obedience
is the highest law of the universe because all other laws are governed by it
you disobey gravity it doesn’t matter if you understand it or believe it you
step off a 20 story building you’re going to die so obedience is the highest
law the the universe and that became so apparent to me so as I’m starting to
study I realized that the Universe was organized by a specific set of laws
irrefutable laws and it doesn’t matter if you agree with them or not they
exist and when we identify that law and then and then obey that specific law
we will reap a specific reward attached to that law non-negotiable and when
we when we disobey that specific law we suffer a specific consequence related
to that law and when you start thinking in terms of the actual organization
of the universe then as men of faith we have to acknowledge according to
Warner Von Bron the father of nasau that there is a master organizer and once
we buy into the fact that there’s a Supreme Being which I prefer to call
almighty God and a master organizer once we understand that then we put him
in the position of he was the master organizer of this universe created and
organized with a specific set of laws he created gravity he created
relativity he created mathematics he created physics he created the law of
the Harvest he created and therefore the highest law of the universe is
obedience and now let’s backtrack and see how that applies to us in life so
here’s where I believe so if obedience is the highest law of the universe
which I believe we it is and everybody would agree and I quote from the space
experience that I became I teared up as an expert in in the words and
eyewitness to the words of Einstein who said although the concept of a
Supreme Being and a master organizer is complex we must embrace the mindset
of a young child who walks into a large library and says surely someone must
have written all these books and within moments I became an eyewitness to the
the reality that we’re more than mere mortal beings living on a small planet
for a short season if we’re the only ones here this year is a lot of wasted
space I wish every one of you could experience what I experience wo so if
obedience is the highest law of the universe the Supreme Being God I choose
to call him he needed to test our obedience so he gave every human being free
will agency which is the most important gift of God he will not force anyone
to believe he won’t Force anyone to go to heaven he won’t Force anyone to go
to hell he won’t Force anyone to do anything he’s saying basically I’m
putting you on this Earth for an experience to figure it out have some fun
you know crash the tricycle instead of you know totaling the family car I
mean be selective in the mistakes you make but just have an experience
because it’s all here for your good to give you experience so to test our
obedience he gave his Free Will agency a choice at all times I can choose to
do this I can choose to do that and quoting the Bible straight is the gate
and narrows the way that leads to eternal life and few there be that find it
he will not force anyone to believe or keep the Commandments or whatever
theology you might have he won’t that’s beautiful and to protect our Free
Will agency so free will agency tests our obedience but to protect our Free
Will agency that it’s always in play he established an opposition in all
things you got to have Darkness to appreciate the light you have to have
Justice to appreciate Mercy you have to have sickness to appreciate Health
you have to have death to appreciate the sanctity of life and because he
created us in His image and he knows that we’re human with free will agency
and an opposition and all things he knows we’re just going to be boneheads
and flipping horn dogs and everything else you want to throw into the
conversation and make some serious mistakes we’re going to be tempted by the
world tempted by the universe tempted by fake news it’s going to be a a crazy
experience and we’re on our own and because he didn’t want to leave us on our
own our heavenly father gave every person born into this world an inherent
ability to discern truth from air right from wrong we commonly call this
ability our conscience and if that’s true which I believe it is our
conscience will never fail us only our desire to follow it decreases as we
continue to do the wrong thing so the analogy is if the five of us in this
room leave and enter a different room in your beautiful building and that
room stinks so badly that our eyes water our noses bleed and our ears ring
and we’re repulsed so so deeply that we are kicked into automatic gag reflex
you realize if we stay in that smelly stinky room for 5 to 10 minutes it no
longer smells we have become desensitized and it becomes the new Norm The New
Normal yeah and how many people forget what happened to us in Co and how that
that that desensitized us into so many things that we knew were very
important that now is a new norm and on the positive side it was a reset for
so many of us it was a great chance for us to say no matter what my past has
been I have a spotless future get up and go again you can’t always control
what happens but you can always control what happens next yeah you know not
to not to stop you but I’ve had that experience I used to work in a hospital
and now maybe hearing this I would have managed that experience differently
yeah because you used to work you used to work in we used to go in to some of
these rooms in the hospital and it was exactly as you described and the
coaching we received was when you walk into that room take a big deep breath
because then it won’t be so bad so you have to get over the initial shock wow
and then it won’t be so bad but what a great analogy for life well so now
you’re just going to take a big deep whiff of all the nastiness and then it
won’t be so bad rather than wait a second wait a sec this should be this
could be how do we make this better exactly I love it so now as a speaker I
don’t want to just tell the story I don’t want to just have people say well
that’s pretty cool that you’ve dissected the purpose of life the the way but
what is the application what’s the plan of action what is the step-by-step
process to steps to to test this question about so what do you do next when
you’re devastated when you’re down when you’ve gone through the loss of a
loved one the loss of a job devastating divorce you know a a transitional
experiences a divorce a significant emotional event is a devastating divorce
there’s a difference what do you do so I created the parable of the kite and
that’s also in the in the beginning the orientation kind of the introduction
of my book the artst significance achieving the level Beyond success so I’m
really proud of this because it helps us put into play what I just described
as far as obedience free will agency opposition and all things in our
conscience that will never fail us so the story a father is out in a park
with his little son and they’re flying a kite and the kite’s way up in the
blue cloudless windy sky and the dad says to his son what holds the kite up
in the sky and his little boy says the wind and his dad says the wind doesn’t
hold the kite up the string does confused as little boy says daddy the string
doesn’t hold the kite up the string holds the kite down and his dad smiles
and says says if you think so let go of the string and the second his son
lets go of the string what happens the kite flutters in the wind and then the
wind blows it to wherever it wants to take it suddenly in control and the kid
starts chasing the string and the kid chases it and chases it and finally
steps on the string again catches it commits to tightly holding on to that
string and what happens to the kite the kite climbs again into that blue
cloud cloudless windy blue sky and becomes what it was meant to be what it
was born what it was created to be a kite so now the kite represents our
dreams it represents our goals it represents our desired results our
projected outcome personally in our family in our you know the nine
categories of Life uh physical fitness continuous education deeper
spirituality emotional stability social networking financial literacy family
togetherness fun and Recreation and charitable giving plug andplay anything
you want in that kite it represents what do you want to accomplish how do you
become better today than you were yesterday what’s the deal and the wind
represents the opposition in all things so if you’re going to start an
entrepreneurial idea and you want to kick start a new business remember
there’s no such thing as a financial crisis only an idea crisis idea to
create income so come up with that dream that kite idea but then make a list
of all the opposition negative family friends no no support lack of capital
the reason why companies go out go bankrupt or go out of business is because
they’re under capitalized we know that what do we do make a list of every
single one of your opposition in all things and it could be you know I mean
the list goes on and on but be specific itemize every lack of time right now
I’ve got I’m overwhelmed I have too much on my plate blah blah blah the wind
becomes the opposition in all things the string represents every rule every
regulation every law the 12 highest universal laws every principle that you
must obey in order to control your dream against the opposition in all things
the wind letting go of the string represents that you did succumb to The
Temptations of the world you went to too many bad movies you’d listen to to
to to brutal violent rap songs you hung around with guys who’s who who you
were trying to be loyal to your wife and you hung around with guys who had no
idea how to spell Fidelity you were drinking too much whatever the case may
be you succumb to The Temptations of the world and broke your promises you
stopped keeping your commitments and stopped obeying the laws and no one
likes to be told to obey MH what we have to do as parents as coaches as as
employers as as friends is Inspire our children Inspire our friends Inspire
our co-workers to choose to obey not because it’s expected by others but
because it’s demanded of ourselves and if you don’t believe that obedience is
what protects our Free Will agency visit any prison and see those who are
incarcerated misused their Free Will agency stopped obeying and that’s why
they’re thrown in prison yeah so obedience truly is the the highest law of
the universe and the and free Will’s agency is the greatest gift of God so
the little kid lets go of the string it represents he let you know he he
there’s too many people in his life saying let go of the string you know you
supposed to take an hour for lunch and you’re out with your buddies and
they’re like let go the string you don’t have to be back in 60 minutes you
can stay out for two hours nobody will know we don’t have to join this country
club let’s walk let’s climb over the fence and swim in the pools somebody’s
Whispering how many people are our lives are whispering in our ear all the
time like oh the string and now the kid chasing the string around the park
represents that his conscience kicked in I should have not let go of the
string that was the stupidest idea dad I can’t freaking believe you did that
or oh my gosh I shouldn’t hung out with these guys I’m so sorry sweetheart I
went out with the boys we got drunk and I did some stupid things made bad
decision I’m so conscience kicks in I am so freaking stupid and if you list
all the rules that we need to obey it’s pretty easy to say my wife wants to
leave me because what did I do that made her want to leave me and now through
the law of forgiveness which is the 12th law the last the book in law
obedience and forgiveness if you hold the grudge and remain angry it’s like
you’re drinking poison and expecting the other person to die forgiveness is
about us not about them once you understand that and can get someone that you
love to forgive you pretty soon soon you realize which rules and which laws
you broke and you will never do it again the kid conscience kicks in he Cates
the string and what happens he’s learned the lesson I will not do this again
I might make some other mistakes but I’m never going to do that again and he
commits to holding on to the string once again why because it’s the only way
he can control his family control his love his control his life his his dream
his goals his outcom the kite and fight against the opposition which is no
longer opposition because it keeps the fly the kite alive it keeps the kite a
flat in aviation we take off Against The Wind in aviation when you take off
in a storm and you pop out of the clouds it’s always clear on top when you
understand it’s always okay in the end and if it’s not okay then it’s not the
end you can hang in there and then the coolest part about it is the two life
lessons that I share with the parable of the kite what this young boy now
learns are two things number one never again does he have to go fly a kite
with supervision no longer does he have to have his manager at the office or
his leader at the office be his babysitter he knows what he’s supposed to do
he has an intense intensified sense of integrity and personal responsibility
and trustworthiness that I’m going to do exactly what you think I’m doing at
work I’m going to be be the guy that my mom expects me to be I’m going to be
the husband on the road that my wife wants me to be that she prays for me to
be I’m going to be that guy and do the right thing simply because it’s the
right thing to do suddenly I’m motivated not by others but because I got to
be the real man I have got to be everything that I say I am if I’m not the
same offstage as I am on stage then I have no credibility and then the second
thing the most beautiful thing of all is that and we let’s remember this no
matter how many times we let go of the string we can always catch it again
you never say never ever you never give up on your loved ones you never give
up on your dreams and if your dream of playing professional football and
baseball is is raped from you it’s taken away because of a boneheaded
decision by a coach in a stupid drill on a football field you got to let go
of it and say what has happened to me I wouldn’t be sitting here today if I
hadn’t been paralyzed all those years ago which makes my paralysis one of the
very best things that ever happened to me don’t misunderstand me not my
paralysis but who I became because of it like I said earlier I thought I was
a football player when in reality that’s just who I am that’s just what I did
it’s not who I am as a man yeah and as I said last podcast when we identify
ourselves in terms of what we do instead of who we are we become human doings
instead of human beings unacceptable of significance is what we see and I
don’t think I’d be your guest on this podcast if all we talked about was
business no I don’t think why that that would be any reason for anybody to
tune in because anybody can talk about numbers remember facts tell but stor
sell so I appreciate you having me here well that’s it’s oh let me say one
last thing absolutely so anybody who’s in a confused state of Life anybody
who feels devastated when you use the parable of the kite as that template
all you have to is say what part of my life is broken right now what part of
the the parable of the kite is not in in play Oh My dream’s not big enough to
get me to wake up early and stay up late oh my gosh the opposition is way too
strong I got to figure out a way to deal with it oh my gosh I’ve stopped
obeying this I’ve stopped living by this principle I’ve stopped doing this
I’ve stopped doing that I’ve succumbed to The Temptations and the craziness
of the world what must I do to fix it what do I need to obey right now that
will turn it around How can I a mentor how can I hire a coach who can come in
and tweak my system right now to turn my revenue from 30,000 bucks a month to
60,000 bucks a month and it’s still the same system I just had to fix it m
and it’s all in that Parable yeah think about it what did I Let Go what did I
stop obeying what do I have to keep obeying what do I have to start doing
again oh I’m so sick and tired of having people have to look out for me and
check up on me I’m going to be that man that I say I am and I’m going to step
up and exceed expectations every time I love the way you describe that you
have 12 universal laws in the book and we can attack this a couple different
ways I don’t want to go through it chapter by chapter because people need to
go and read the book yeah and I need the money please buy the book art of
significance achieving the level Beyond success at your local bookstore now
yes well people need to read the book because if if we sit there if we sit
here and you tell them the book you’re never going to get out of it what the
book will teach you yeah and so I’ve written I’ve read it twice now and I can
and and I just told you about riding in this bike race and there were times
in that bike race when I’m thinking to myself am I living a significant life
is am I following the laws of being significant even on a on so so the point
I’m making is in whatever activity you happen to be engaged in at the moment
are you can ask yourself that question are you living a significant life and
that can help I mean for me it was like these are the things I need to do
better or focus on and it was really meaningful I’m going to just list the 12
laws and let me just quickly say as a preamble yeah that the reason why I
went into so much time about the organization of the universe and the parable
of the kite is because that lays the foundation now the rest of the book is
identifying what rules regulations principles but most importantly universal
laws that constitute that string in the parable of yes that’s this is the
string yep so the O obedience sits on top then there’s perseverance
stretching trust truth winning doing right Harmony acceptance being needed
covenants and last but not least forgiveness now I’ll let you talk about
these any way that you want I’m just going to preface it by saying as I look
at that list and as I’ve read through this a couple times now no one law is
more important or less than the other laws you have to be I mean to to be as
significant as possible you have to be unified in all of those things that’s
the string yeah but if you begin with obedience the second law in sequential
order on purpose is perseverance because if you only selectively obey you’re
going to suffer the consequence of Disobedience so I’m flying cross country
in a United Airlines Jet and I’m in first class and and all of a sudden we
hit unex unex unexp expected turbulence in the plane drops 500 ft and they
had served the meals and so the the meal tray slammed to the ceiling and the
the pilot had come over the PA system and said please remain seated with your
seat belt fastened in case of unexpected turbulence and how many of us get on
an airplane and we put on our seat belt for takeoff but then we say yeah
that’s uncomfortable take it out blah blah blah blah and of all the people on
the plane 12 people did not have on their seat belts and they were slammed to
the ceiling and we had to make an emergency landing in Louisiana and the
ambulances came to the side of the plane and carted off these folks who had
serious neck injuries and serious back injuries because they selectively
obeyed so obedience is I’m all in mhm obedience is the some most of the time
the things we need to hear the most are the things we hate to hear the most
selective obedience in in a religious perspective is how many people are
saying a God wouldn’t say that I God wouldn’t demand that God wouldn’t do
that who made you God God can do whatever the heck he wants to do he’s God
don’t create God and one of the Ten Commandments says Thou shalt have no
other gods before me I’m sick and tired of running into so many people who
think they’re God no I’m going to create my own belief system that’s not
right that’s good I believe with that I believe that that doesn’t coincide
with my lifestyle so God couldn’t have possibly said that it’s as ridiculous
as as my buddy in college who said I read drinking alcohol is bad for you so
I stopped reading that’s what’s happening in Washington DC that’s what’s
happening in our world don’t tell me that I I’m just gonna stop agreeing I’m
gonna stop going to that church because I disagree with that I’m going to
stop believing in God altogether because I don’t agree with that quit making
yourself God either there’s a God or there’s not and he says this is what I
expect of you to live the life that you deserve not keep the Commandments not
obey the Commandments that would piss me off enjoy the Commandments live the
Commandments see the benefits of walking on Higher Ground that’s not
controversial in my mind I hope it wasn’t to your viewers so the next law has
to be persever but how many times in our lives when we’re doing our best and
someone says you got to be patient things aren’t going our way just be
patient and even in a theological perspective how many times do we hear some
preacher some Pastor some Bishop say I was it’s meant to be just be patient
be patient and it’s God’s timing is not your timing really that doesn’t make
me feel any better I’m not going to fire up patience allows us to never begin
patience allows us to to to subconsciously and consciously wait our turn
believing that it was meant to be that there’s nothing that we could do it
was supposed to happen no perseverance is patience with a purpose so you
don’t mindlessly wait your turn you proactively take your turn because you
know why you should so so that’s in essence the the the the the idea of
perseverance is that you’re why is bigger than your why not you’ve got to
hang in there for the blessings Faith precedes the miracle you shall receive
no uh no uh you receive no blessing until after the trial of your faith so
I’m in the stadium thinking about killing myself and I became a much stronger
human being resilient for the rest of my life because I finally pulled my
head out crawled over the fence and decided that was a bad idea mhm so how
many times have we had an argument with our spouses and the makeup that that
the making up is so much more fun that’s why we fight on purpose sometimes
because you you know my wife’s a lot more forthcoming when I’m repentant
sorry Tess uh and uh and it’s this it’s the it’s the losses that we learn the
most from you’re an athlete to lead athlete what happens when we win hey guys
stay out of trouble man we’ll be you know get in the training room take care
of some bumps and bruises we’ll see you on Sunday for our workout M when you
lose God D fck CL you take your bra and hit somebody you and we’re there
running all night long we running all day long I mean you learn so much more
from your losses mhm so bring them on baby perseverance is patience with the
purpose so a class example that should motivate people so there was a
gentleman by the name of Ronald Wayne and he worked at a tar uh computer kind
of game company with Steven Jobs and Steven wnc way back in the day and in
1976 they decide to start their own company and they call it Apple computer
and Ronald Wayne is the senior in that Trio of individuals he’s the old man
at 26 years of age and so he writes the first operating system for Apple
computer the first Apple computer he designs the first Apple logo and he
writes up the first contract and because he’s in the process of licking his
wounds from a failed entrepreneurial idea he in that operating agreement
decides that he doesn’t really want want to go along with this because it’s a
partnership and he’s liable for any any situation any financial situation that
might go south MH so he decides in a meeting that he’s going to relinquish
his 10% stock in Apple computer for $800 because he’s afraid of the liability
if this doesn’t work Steven Jobs and Steven wnc they take this operating
system and this logo the first manual operating manual that Ronald Wayne
wrote and they take it into the into the into the marketplace they find
investors and they’re up and running in the manufacturing side and so Ronald
Wayne decides he’s going to relinquish any connection with Apple computers
for $1,500 he has no claim to anything else and in 1976 Apple computer Steven
Jobs and Steven way and theak they generate $174,000 in revenue and they
continue continuously grow it in 2023 it was the first company uh in the
history of their industry that was valued at over a trillion dollars and had
Ronald Wayne kept his 10% stake his 10% stock had he persevered because is
why was bigger than us why not today he would be worth $60 billion there’s so
many stories about perseverance my perseverance as I shared in the very first
podcast when I uh when I fought my way back from the paralyzing injury uh
when I was devastated if listeners would recall I thought I I I spiral down
roll until I thought I hit rock bottom and I want to rec regurgitate what I
shared because it’s valent valid valid in our discussion of law number two
perseverance now that I fought my way back to a a 95% recovery the three most
frequently asked questions are what do you mean you hit you thought you hit
rock bottom no matter how hard it gets no matter how bad life gets nobody
ever hits Rock Bottom we hit rock Foundation we hit rock belief we hit the
Baseline core values and governing principles in which we were raised number
two why did I go to so many different doctors I went to 16 different doctors
15 of whom told me I would not get better I would never recover I kept going
from Doctor to doctor until I found one who believed I would get better who
reminded me that knowledge is power but it has no heart remember we don’t
learn to know we learn to do and reason leads to conclusions but it is
emotion that leads to action but number three what took me so long to to
recover to get better that’s the relevance to this law number two of
perseverance I stayed paralyzed for 14 months because I was asking the wrong
questions I was asking the doctors how to get better when I should have been
asking myself why once we answer why I figured out that how to becomes clear
and simple and here’s the explanation of perseverance from a physiological
perspective a scientific perspective when we only focus on the what and the
how we only Engage The Brain we only engage the head but when we add to that
a passionate why and a compelling want we connect the head with the heart and
physiologically proven our blood pumps more rapidly our brains fire and our
muscles magnify which maximizes our performance so when perseverance is
played out as a true universal law that I’ve got to hang in there is
something worth starting is worth finishing not always but if it’s the right
thing and we focus on what matters most which is what lasts the longest we
will hang in there until and those who have succeeded in music and
songwriting those who have succeeded in business are those who have outlasted
their competitors outlasted their their opposition in all things hung in
there and learned the lessons that’s just law number two and it’s it’s part
of our Lives it’s part of our it’s part of our existence if you don’t have
perseverance none of the other laws matter well that’s perseverance to obey
then it doesn’t exist that’s the amazing thing is you we’re only talking
about law number two and it’s you can see and understand why it’s and how
it’s so mean meaningful and it’s not just personal it’s through all aspects
of your life living a life of significance and um whether you’re an athlete
whether you’re an entrepreneur whether you’re in a corporate job whether
you’re busing tables at a restaurant all of these things apply to your life
yep so t I want people to go out and read this book what is your message like
how can you encapsulate this all of this stuff in a in a compelling message
like someone might say what you’re asking me is how can I stop talking about
all the 12 laws cuz we’re running out of time could you cut to the CH we’re
not well well I would love to do a I would love to do a 12 I want to do 12
step of the but but we’d have to we will have to reschedule that if we want
to go step by step I would love to do that but but there’s two of them that I
would really want to hone in on the next one law number three stretch and law
law number six winning so we’ll we’ll do that hopefully before we call it
quits and then you can bring me back let’s do that okay give me the give me
the hey why should I go pick up Dan’s book like the AR simplifies life I just
simplified the organization of the universe and there’s too many people whose
lives are completely out of control and they don’t know what happened and
they don’t know where to start to