[Transcript starts at 1:31]
Howdy, howdy and howdy to you, partner. Welcome back to another episode of my favorite podcast. So today is part two of the two part little episodes mini-series that I'm doing where I'm breaking down my top seven takeaways from the Garth Brooks documentary, The Road I'm On.
I did a little surprise last time. I split it into two; wanted to make it very meta because the documentary is two parts and I was like, you know what? I wanna do the same. Also, it would've just made for a really long episode. I'm trying to keep these around that 22, 25 minute mark or less. And so I was like, this is going to be a 45 minute episode. Why make one when I could make two?
So split it up. Um, in episode one, I actually really had so much fun making it. So if you haven't listened to it, go back. Listen to that one first. And if you're, watch if, excuse me, if you're listening to this episode, in case you're wondering, yes, I still have the cowboy hat on. Um, but if you haven't listened to episode one, this- part one, I should say, go back and listen to that. I gave a bunch of the background as to why I love Country so much, where it comes from. Uh, and I also shared the top three or the first three, I shouldn't say top three, that's wrong. The first three of the top seven takeaways from the documentary, and those were, number one: Share your passion. Number two: Own your decisions and view them as choices, not sacrifices. I'm still struggling with saying that word. Decisions. Hard. It's difficult. Uh, and then number three: Be intentional with the power you've been given. And if you wanna learn some more about those or go deeper and you haven't listened to the first episode, go back, go back. It's linked in the show notes. Thank you, Courtney. And you can go check that episode out.
Today we're gonna break down the remaining four takeaways from that, uh, documentary. I feel- I'm wondering right now. I'm like, should I say more about the documentary? Hopefully you watched, you listened to, or you watched on YouTube, part one of this.
Right. Again, this is all based on Garth Brooks' documentary. It came out in 2019. I watched it two weeks ago. Uh, it's called The Road I'm On. It just moved me. It moved me. Like, it, it, it rocked me in, in the best way. Uh, and so we got two episodes all about it. So today we're gonna break down the remaining four takeaways.
So let's hop right into this thing cause I'm excited.
Number four: Teamwork makes the dream work. So Garth Brooks literally changed country music. He changed the face of it. He brought it to the forefront, he brought it into mainstream. He brought, he was like on top of the pop charts, like he did so much in his career and continues to do so much, just so much.
But he didn't do it alone. And most notable, for me at least, with, you know, the way the documentary was set up, was the songwriters. So point number three was be intentional with the power you've been given. I spoke about this on the, on Monday's episode, not last week, Monday's episode. Um, and that song, one of the songs that really, um, elucidated this or exemplified this was his song, We Shall Be Free.
And I, I love that song. It was ahead of its time. It continues to still be very relevant and he didn't write that song by himself. It was written by Stephanie Davis and she's actually in the documentary and is like playing on the guitar and, and, and talking about the song. And you start to realize like, this man is, feels larger than life, to be completely honest.
But he didn't get there alone. He does, he didn't do it alone. All of that success wasn't done alone and we know kind of intuitively, and he had a wife, and you know, his kids are there and there's people obviously supporting him but it was really like if we, if we look at the actual thing that brought him his fame, which is him performing, that was not alone. Because he had a band, and even more than that, there were songwriters.
Right? That's a big, big thing. And it was just really cool just to think about that and the role that people play and kind of, you know, think about it like from like a, a, a sports team, and this kind of specificity and this positional nature of things where some people are just really good at certain things and some people are the front runners and there's that-
I talk about that documentary, the another documentary all the time, 20 Feet From Stardom or 20 Feet From Fame, whatever. I know that you, some of you listen to this and you're like, how come you never get it right, Maestro? How come you never remember? Cuz I don't remember it, but it's something like that.
20 Feet From Stardom, or 20 Feet From Fame. Something about, it's about the, the backup singers. And that not everyone gets to win. Not everyone gets to be that front runner. And, and not that Garth didn't deserve to be front runner. He clearly, he, in my opinion, he has it. He has something, there's something there, something special about him.
But it takes a team. Right? A whole ass team. And it was just most notable with, for me, most poignant, most salient with the fact that they, they had songwriters, right? Uh, one of his biggest songs, The Dance, was written by Tony Arata and he actually, he talked about this in the documentary, how Garth actually heard Tony perform it at like, I don't know, like an, like a, I dunno, I dunno if it was an open mic or whatever the, the situation with circumstances were.
And Garth said that he went up to him afterward and said, Hey, if I ever cut a record, that song needs to be on it. I want that song to be on it. And it's wild cuz you're like, Garth Brooks didn't even write that fucking song. He breathed life into it and they show kind of how the song was made. So it's the same song.
He didn't like grossly change everything, but the introduction, the way it makes it feel like a story. And even that, like Garth didn't come up with, there's like an opening initial, uh, part of the song. Garth didn't come up with that. He was in the studio and the piano player, they had like gone and seen a movie the night before or I don't know, something like that.
And there was a scene where there's horses running, like there's horses running across snow. And Garth was like, I want a feeling like that. And then the dude sits down at the piano and is like, and plays. And then they got an intro to a song. And it wasn't Garth that did it, right. It takes a team and everyone having their specialties and leaning into that.
One of my other favorite songs from Garth Brooks, Shameless, you know, who wrote that song? Billy Freaking Joel. Like what? There's, there's video footage in the documentary of, of Garth Brooks and, and Billy Joel's at the concert playing, he's playing the piano and like they're, and Garth's like on the piano, like with a guitar. Like, takes a team.
The takeaway here: You don't have to do it all alone. Like if you wanna apply this to your own life and your own successes and things like that, your own journeys, you don't have to do it alone. And quite frankly, you cannot. And I'm also talking to myself with this. It has been such a growth process, a process of growth, bringing a team on and having people do things and, and leaning on other people and, and really welcoming in other people's strengths.
And I'm thinking about my team, you know, with Lex and Courtney and Joe, and it's been incredible having them around. And you cannot do it all alone. You will not get to the top alone.
During C O V I D um, I put up a picture of Redwoods, and cuz they just kept popping up. And I would, it wasn't they, they weren't like physically, you know, popping up, metaphorically popping up.
And also like on Instagram popping up and just, kept hearing it. And so I was like, looked into it and then I did a post about it and my brother Justin, who I've had on the podcast, if you could link that episode, thank you, Courtney. Uh, he slid into the comments with a phenomenal quote. I'm not gonna read the whole thing to you, but one part, one of the parts that he said was, no tree grows that tall by itself.
And he went on to speak about the intricate network and how their root system, it doesn't go deep. The, the root system of, of Redwoods actually grows very, very wide. It's not deep. It's not a solo thing, like, I'm just gonna plant myself here. It's, I'm gonna lean on other people and I need other people.
And he's talking about, you know, the, the symbiosis and the symbiotic relationships that existed. But the, the, the part that I wanna take away from that is no tree grows that tall by itself. So point number four, take away number four, teamwork makes the dream work.
All right, point number five: It's not about you, it's about them.
Many of you listening to this may be creators or maybe you're looking to grow an audience. You're doing something in the online space. You're looking to grow a fo a following. And to me, this point right here is, is it right? And we'll just take the second part of that. It's about them, right? That's, that's what I want you to take away from point number five.
It's about them. As Garth was talking about this, I was like getting emotional watching this because it just spoke to me and it's something that I've felt in my bones since I had the opportunity to start teaching for Rock Tape back in 2015 and like be in front of an audience and people listening.
Something that I just really have always leaned into with all the speaking stuff. And so Garth was speaking, I say Garth like I know him. First name. First name basis. If you listened to the first episode, you heard how my grandfather did that with Johnny Cash and, and Willie Nelson, so I'm just gonna keep on with it.
Uh, but Garth was speaking about being an entertainer and saying that when you go on stage, it's not about what you want. Oh, hit the thing on the desk. Sorry. It's not about what you want, it's about what they want. It's about what the people want. And showing up and giving them what they want. And then he went on to say the luckiest entertainers, a select few, exactly what they want to give is exactly what their people want.
And you get that match. It doesn't happen for everybody. It happened for Garth, clearly. But I am, I'm just thinking back to sitting there and watching the documentary. If you're watching this on YouTube, you see like, I have my eyes closed right now. It's like this, this documentary was just so powerful to me. It's about them, right?
It's about giving people what they want. And the few lucky ones, the few luckiest entertainers, exactly what they want to give is exactly what the people, the audience want to hear. So the takeaway here, if you're looking to build an audience, if you're looking to grow following, if you're looking to get in front of people, remember that first part that that takeaway there is not about you, is about them.
All right. Point number- I'm having a blast by the way, folks. I am having a blast recording these two episodes. Like these are probably two of my favorites that I've done in a long time. Just maybe ever. I don't know. I am just, it's so good.
Uh, point number six, takeaway number six: When people believe in you, believe them.
This is something that I've said quite a bit. I put it in newsletters. I actually shared it in on my Broadcast Channel not too long ago, this is the real deal here. When people believe in you, believe them. I am privy to this world, this social media world and coaching, this business coaching world. And I watch people deal with, you know, imposter syndrome.
I fucking hate talking about it, but I watch people deal with, you know, with confidence issues. And one of the things that I look to do is basically lend people my confidence and I believe in them. And it's my hope that they believe me. I believe in you. I'm not gonna fucking, you know, blow smoke up your ass here.
And I want people to walk away with this. When people believe in you, believe them. Whether it's, you know, your family member, your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your dog, whatever, your best friend, the people on social media, strangers, that's amazing. When people believe in you, believe them. I'm thinking about Alyson. When my, obviously my mom was number one.
That goes without saying, but I'm thinking about Alyson Evans, and she believed me. I fucking rode that rock rocket ship. I was like, all right, we're gonna do this. Garth Brooks in the documentary, he tells about, um, how the people in his hometown raised money for him. Cuz he was like a local legend at this point, like playing places and like he's, he's being Garth.
He's already, you know, so you could have, he probably, probably could have stayed at that level and been like, yo, this is just my life. And like, he's not gonna be, you know, massive star. But like that level of success seemingly would've been like really a big deal, uh, for most people. But people in his hometown raised money so that he could go to Nashville and so he could give it a shot.
And he goes to Nashville and he realizes like the bureaucracy of things basically. And he's like, whoa, I, I don't know if I'm ready for this. Because he actually talks about money and how someone came into the office where he was like getting interviewed or being talked to, and the person was like asking for like a small amount of money.
And Garth was like, what? Like, I make that in a night and it was like a thousand dollars folks. It wasn't like $10,000 or anything crazy. Um, but Garth was like, I make that in a night. And like, this guy's like begging for that. And like, whoa. Like, he's like, Garth was like, I thought I would just go to Nashville and they'd be like, here's a million dollars.
And like, just go sing. And so when he realizes it, it isn't what he thought it was gonna be, he goes back home actually. I believe it's Oklahoma, and he hides actually when he goes home. And he hides out cause he feels like he let people down. But when he like comes out of hiding and he goes and he plays again, no one asks him for the money back.
And what they do ask, what does one of the, the people, one of his friends ask is, so when are you going back? There was no like, ah, I knew you couldn't fucking do it. No. They believed in him. And they actually created tangible evidence, they gave him money, right, of that belief. So the takeaway that I want you to take away, when people believe in you, believe them. Don't deny it. Don't put, give pushback. Don't ignore it. Listen, thank them and then lean in.
All right, seventh and the final point, the final takeaway, uh, from this amazing documentary: Make people feel something. Make people feel something. This is something that I have spoken about ad nauseum or I spoke about ad nauseum when I was teaching my movement stuff, my PT stuff and looking to help people get buy-in from their clients.
And I'm just like a little caveat a little aside here. I realize that with every takeaway that I'm doing, I'm like, I always talk about this and like kind of relating it to like my past experiences. This is why this documentary was so poignant for me, cuz I'm like, yes, yes, yes. Confirmation bias, hold up a mirror, reflecting things, whatever.
Like very much able to see my own story in things he's saying at a much smaller scale, but still, and I'm just like, holy shit, this thing spoke to me. So point number seven, takeaway number seven: Make people feel something. I spoke about it before. I spoke about, you know, when I was teaching and we're talking about getting clients, getting buy-in from your clients, but the main thing here is that if you're looking to reach people, if you're looking to have an impact, if you're looking to have people listen to you, if you're looking to leave your mark, you gotta make people feel something. You gotta make people feel something. So when I was talking about this with pt, I was literally meaning like, make them feel something, right?
Like this was a lot during like the kind of when the tools, uh, instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization kind of stuff, scraping, Graston, whatever you wanna call it. And like, you gotta make people feel something. Not that you hurt them, not that you're so aggressive. And I could make a whole episode about, you know, the nervous system is Queen, but you gotta make 'em feel something.
That's how they buy in. You gotta make 'em feel a difference between the before and the after. And they're like, oh yeah, something did change. I felt that. That's what Garth Brooks does. He had an estimated 1 million people in Central Park for his free concert in 1997. 1 million. 1 million. And as an aside, he was very nervous about who would show up and how many people would show up.
He knew some would. 1 million. They had to open up the overflow and the overflow and people was in the street. 1 million. That doesn't happen by accident. It doesn't. He makes people feel something. How? Like, you know, I could probably make a whole episode on like, let's kind of dissect this, but I think that some of it is from the points above that we said, uh, understanding that it's not about you, it's about them.
The teamwork. Sharing your passion. Leading with your passion. Being intentional about the power that you're given. I, I think we can tie it into those points. But some of it I think, maybe is kind of intrinsic. It's a, an an, it's an IT factor that he has, that people have this intrinsic magnetism. But I think that we can still take things away from this, this takeaway from this point, in understanding that what Garth Brooks created, what he stood for, who he was, who he is, all of it made people feel something.
And if you're looking to get people to listen to you, if you're looking to make a difference, have an impact, change things, create things, it doesn't matter. You gotta make people feel something.
The thing that I can identify here as it relates to like kind of an action item is that this will not happen by you trying to be like everybody else or even like anybody else.
Right. If someone's like, I'm just gonna be like Garth Brooks, that wouldn't work. It's already been done. It doesn't work. Like there does need to be this, I don't even wanna say uniqueness, but this authenticity factor to it and you being you and leading with your passion and leaning into that. And my whole shtick of, of MOAR, MOAR you.
So there you have it, folks. The completion of the seven, the top seven takeaways from Garth Brooks'- it's a little, it's a little hard to say cause it has the S on the end of- the Garth Brooks documentary, The Road I'm On. Number one, share your passion. Number two, own your decisions. I can't say that word. Number two, own your decisions and view them as choices, not sacrifices.
Number three, be intentional with the power you've been given. Number four, teamwork makes the dream work. Number five, it's about them. Number six, when people believe in you, believe them. Number seven, make people feel something.
I hope that you felt something listening to these episodes. These past two have been just so fun for me to create, and I'm just like, this was great. I am endlessly appreciative that you listened and hopefully you went and watched the documentary. If you haven't, we'll link it again in these show notes and you can check it out. Uh, but I do have a CTA, a call to action today, and that is I would love to know your favorite Garth Brooks song.
I know a bunch of you listen to country music. Let me know. Text me 3 1 0 7 3 7 2 3 4 5. Shoot me a DM @themovementmaestro. Don't email me. Please don't never email me . Um, but I'd love to hear what's your favorite Garth Brooks song? Mine is Lonesome Dove. It's from his Ropin' the Wind album. It's long, it's a story.
I love me a good story. Um, you can't find his songs online. He's not streaming stuff, but I will link, Courtney will link, thank you. Um, there's like a YouTube video that's like him, but there's people talking, but it's the closest thing. It is him. The other ones are just all covers are not actually him. So at least you can hear it.
Um, then you can go check out the lyrics yourself. But that's all I got for you. Really, really, really grateful for you tuning in. You're watching, you're listening, and this episode, these past two episodes were really special to me. So thank you. In until next time, friends, Maestro out.
Watch this episode on YouTube!
Watch the documentary HERE!
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Listen to my favorite Garth Brooks song
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