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You're listening to The Radcast, a top 25 worldwide business podcast. If it's radical, we cover it.

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Here's your host, Ryan Allford. Hey, guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I'm Ryan Allford, your host. And like we say, we keep it radical around here. If it's radical, we cover it. And I don't know if we can get more radical in this story. My friends, Sean Michael Crane, author, badass storyteller, peak performance coach and.

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One hell of a guy I can already tell. I can't wait to talk to Sean Michael. What's up, brother. What's up, Brian. Thank you for having me here, man. And I love it, right. We're going to get radical and share some things that, you know, open some eyes, man, I love it. I know I'm pumped. You know, the, uh, coaching aspect, the motivational aspect of your story, uh, really resonates with me, you know, being.

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you know, similar age or somewhere in the ballpark. I don't know. Sometimes I look younger or older. I might be older than you, but it resonates a lot with me. The motivational and positivity aspects, so much negative stuff out there and really, really admire, um, your energy and, you know, kind of getting to know you digitally, so to speak. And just excited for our audience to hear your story and you know,

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it get in, drop some knowledge, man. It's all about insight, learning from others and growing together. So just pumped about it, man. Absolutely, man. And real quick, before we get into it, it's like, it's so crazy because most of the world, like they want to see negative stuff or they like talk down on people who are motivated, who are positive, right? So we get around like-minded people, we get to have these conversations. It's so rejuvenating and like enlightening. And I just want to be around people like yourself and other guys who are striving to be examples for their families.

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to show people what's possible and to live out that way, as a leader, because you get one chance to do this. And that's my whole premise is like, most people don't really think they're gonna die, but you're gonna die. And what are you gonna think about in those months or maybe years as your body's decaying, as your mind's withering? Like, are you gonna look back and just have nothing but gratitude and joy for the way you live? Or are you gonna look back wishing you had a second chance in a do-over? That's like my whole story, man. And that's my mission is to

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inspire people to live differently now so that they get to the end of their life and they have that gratitude and they love the way they live, not wishing they can go back and do it again. Yep. And it's so true, man. I think, you know, I think even people that are aware of it, that live that way, you can only be so aware just of how like fragile life and how like fast it moves and that you don't get things back, you know, like.

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Even when you know it like you and I seem to you were like minded. I think we both know it, but it's still so fleeting, you know? And so we've got to take advantage of every moment. And you don't want to have that regret. But Sean Michael, let's let's set the table, man. Let's let's talk this fascinating story. I can't wait for everybody to hear it. Yeah. Well, I mean, I feel like I've lived two different lives, like the life when I was, you know, really ignorant and just like.

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naive and then the life where I came to realize what this journey is all about and what's at stake. You know, as a kid, we were just talking. I grew up in Santa Barbara, California, which is pristine. It's beautiful. There's so much opportunity here, so much money. So, so, you know, it's just 70 degrees year round sunshine, palm trees and the ocean and beautiful people. And like you can bump into movie stars and Prince Harry walking down State Street, right? They just moved into an estate here. But I grew up in the suburbs just north.

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in the area called Galita. And we just served, we played sports in the street. I wanted to be a professional athlete growing up. So every day after school, I'd go out and play football in the street or go play basketball or go play baseball. Whatever season it was, we were playing sports. And that was my world. And I felt fully capable to carry out that vision. Like as a kid, I just felt capable. I felt like I could do whatever I wanted. But then as I was getting older, I started realizing my parents were battling with drug and alcohol addiction. And there was a lot of

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chaos at home. There was fights, the cops would be there. I saw my mother overdose three different times before the age of 12, like dead on the floor in front of me, man. And those things traumatized me as a kid. And I was the oldest of three siblings. So I had always hold it together for my younger brother and sister. And I really felt like I was a parent to my parents as well. You know, I felt like I was the most responsible one in the house. And that was scary, but it kind of shaped my personality as well at a young age.

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And then, you know, around the age of 14, everything just fell apart. My dad got arrested and ended up going to state prison. And my mom, who was heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol, she really just became unraveled at that time and stopped caring. She stopped trying and literally abandoned us. Like she left us. So my uncle Mike started raising, well, he had been with us, but he then took over. And man, I didn't know how to deal with the emotional impact of losing both my parents.

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I was 14 going into freshman year in high school, trying to form my identity as a young man and figure out who I am, you know, all the social pressure, the insecurities we have. And I just broke, you know, I broke and I really became a different person overnight. I stopped going to school. I stopped hanging out with my old friends because I was so ashamed. And I started smoking weed and drinking because I felt that was all I could do to numb out the pain temporarily. And so that's what I did from...

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14 all the way through high school. I never played sports, Ryan. Like I was a good athlete, man. You know, I had potential and I never went to one trial, never, never stepped foot on one field, one basketball court, nothing, man. And it's something I still regret to this day. And we'll kind of get into that, but, um, I, I was just going down a really dark path in life, man. And I had no, well, you didn't have any, not like having positive influences, right? I mean, I had a couple of family members.

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who would try to talk to me, but they were removed. They lived in different towns. They weren't with me every day. And growing up, our parents are kind of like our world. That's the people we look to. Even though they weren't doing the right things, it was comforting having them around. You still had hope as a kid that maybe dad will get sober. Maybe mom and dad will do better later on. Maybe life can get better. And I never really understood how precarious it was until I lost them both. I didn't realize what they were going through on a personal level.

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Like they had demons, they had stuff from their past, they hadn't resolved. So, you know, I never had the influences growing up that I really probably needed to thrive, but I did develop a lot of resiliency at that time, man. And for some reason, I never fully let myself go. Like I got as far to being just like done and as close to just being too far gone to come back, you know, as I could without letting myself go. There was something subconsciously that I was holding on to. And I can see that in retrospect, you know?

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I remember like being at the beach with my friends, just getting wasted, partying. And something inside of me was like, I don't always want to be like this. Like this isn't me, you know? So fast forward through high school and then into, you know, my early adult years, I was just working a nine to five job. I hated, I was still partying, still doing the same stuff with my old friends or my, you know, my friends at that time. Um, and then one night changed my life forever, man. At this point, I was miserable from the outside, looking in, I looked healthy. I looked.

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somewhat happy, but internally I was just broken. And I hated life. And I had no ambition or hope for the future. I was just going through the motions. And one night I went to this party here in Santa Barbara, California, right on the cliffs, right there on the Mesa. You know where that is, it's beautiful, right? And it was this college party and I was like, cool, man, I'm gonna go talk to some girls, drink, have a good night. And I didn't know anyone at this party. And so I'm just trying to make, you know, small talk with anyone I could. I'd gone there with one person. So I knew one person. And then a group of these guys show up

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party who I knew through mutual acquaintances. Like I knew of them, they knew of me, we never hung out before, but now I had five, six people I was talking to so I wasn't isolated like a loner at this party. And they started getting into an argument with some random people, man. And so we all go outside because they're gonna all fight. It's gonna be like this group fight. When you're 21, 22, 23, that happens all the time. You go to parties and someone ends up fighting, we watch it and then everyone leaves, you know? So I didn't think anything of it. When these guys started fighting,

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And I'm right there, like too close in proximity to them. And I get tackled and drawn into the fight. And I thought that I was getting jumped. I thought that the guys were just gonna jump me because I was too close. So I'm holding onto this guy wrestling around. No one starts kicking me, no one's punching me. And I'm just holding onto this one person trying to get up. And I'm thinking, this guy's trying to just beat me up, dude. Like I gotta get up and defend myself. I'm just thinking, punch this guy and get out of here, like back away. And so as I stand up, I threw two punches at him.

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And he just stayed facedown in the ground as I stood up. And for a split second, I was like, what's going on here? I didn't even hit him really. Like the punches glazed off the side of his head. And they grazed off the side of his head. And so he stays facedown in the grass, like not even moving. And the one person I went to the party with, my childhood friend named Eddie is yelling at me, Sean, come over here, get out of here, let's go, come on. And he's in the street and I start walking towards him and I get under the street lamp and I'm just covered in blood, man, from head to toe.

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like my face, my whole shirt, I had a button up shirt, it was covered in blood and his eyes lit up. He looked at me, he's like, what the hell, man? You're covered in blood. What are you guys doing? What happened? And I didn't know what happened. This was all taking place within 10, 15 seconds. And he just bolts up the street. He's like, let's go, we gotta get out of here. And I didn't know what to do, so I just started running. I chased after him and we hear sirens and cops are racing down the street and we're fleeing the scene.

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It's just something out of a movie, man. Like these events are transpiring moment to moment. And it's crazy, right? And we had called the cab about a half an hour earlier because we were going to head home. So the cab was waiting up the street. You know, we jumped in the car and leave. And I got back to his place. And I remember just passing out. You know, I was so intoxicated off all the drugs, all the alcohol I put in my body that night. And I didn't really try to make sense of what happened. I knew something bad had happened, though. And the next morning, right away, I woke up with that feeling.

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that you have when you experience a nightmare. You know, when you wake up and you're like, and you're like, thank God that wasn't real. Like, okay, I'm okay. Well, I woke up with that feeling, but I knew it wasn't a dream that I was worried about, you know, and I Googled fight on the mesa and it said two men had been stabbed and one was in critical condition. He was in a coma. And I was like, oh my gosh, man, you know, this is horrible. And I knew the cops were gonna come looking for me. I thought they were gonna question me and try to get me to tell them who did it.

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That was my thinking. I'm like, okay, they're going to come get me. They're going to try to get me to give them information. And that's what I was prepared for. And later that day, they came to the residence I was staying at and they had the SWAT team, the forensic unit, like 15 cop cars, they had AR-15s and they came and got me down on my knees and handcuffed me. And then they took me in the car and they said, hey man, do you know what this is about? I said, yeah, you know, I do. I'm like, well, we're charging you with attempted murder for that.

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You know, that stabbing that took place last night and they took me to the county jail and I, I couldn't believe it, man. I was in complete, complete shock. What goes to your mind in that moment? It's like shock at all. Like, especially if you, like you said, like you knew you'd been involved, it was a bad place, wrong place, wrong time, but not, I don't know, I don't even know how you process something like that. Like when you hear it, I mean, here's the thing I knew I shouldn't have been that close watching the fight, I shouldn't have been right there.

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But I didn't stab anyone. I wasn't guilty of that crime. I wasn't guilty of anything really. Like I defended myself and I was there like a drunk idiot. All the- Did you even have a knife? No, no weapon, nothing. Here's the thing. All the people at the party came out when they heard the fight. They didn't see the initial attack. All they saw was me on top of this guy wrestling with him then throwing those punches. So when the cops came, they're like, hey, what did you see? People identified me. They said, we saw Sean wrestling with the guy. He ran, he took off.

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They started painting this picture of me as the assailant and the cops wrote it up in a way that made me look very guilty. And then I had this shirt that had his blood on it and we fled the scene. So from a standpoint of law enforcement, I looked guilty. I never blamed them or got mad. I was just in shock and disbelief. But I remember, man, they threw me in this little cell and I was there for 24 hours a day with nothing.

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You know, and at first I was still coming off of so much drugs and alcohol and the shock and awe of this experience. I couldn't really feel anything. I was really numb and I was in shock. And I'll never forget the first day in court just walking in kind of like a deer in headlights, you know, people are taking my picture. They're putting my picture on the front page of the news press. When I walked in shackled up like this at my wrist and ankles, and my lawyer starts walking towards me and I was hopeful. I was like, okay, somebody here is going to defend me. Someone believes me. And she was just right to the point, man. She goes, look.

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The judge and the DA want to amend your charges of the homicide. The victims in a coma, they don't think he's going to make it. So that's what they're talking about today. That's why we're here. And that was the first thing she told me, you know, and they didn't amend my charges. I mean, miraculously, the guy survived. They did the defibrillators on him and the ambulance on the way to the hospital. He was in a coma for two weeks and he survived and he's healthy and he's okay now. But, you know, that was just the beginning of me, like this life change and experience I was about to go through.

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Man did I got my, it's part like amazement and then part like, uh, I don't know, like crime scene investigation. I'm like going, okay, like, is there a knife? Like did they trace it to you? Like all these things kind of flip through your mind. Like in that moment of going defending for your life, so to speak. And at the same time worried, cause I mean, you're a good person. Like you may have made a lot of bad decisions, but clearly not a bad guy. And you're thinking about this guy.

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in a coma, you're thinking about your own guilt. I mean, where did it go? Like, did you just immediately, I mean, what was the case process and all that stuff like? Yeah, so, I mean, it was insane, man, looking back on it and reflecting on it. I was in such shock, you know, and I was very naive in disbelief. I thought that the truth would come out. You know, at first, had like a private detective.

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who worked for my lawyer, come and talk to me and get my story. And he was all hopeful. He's like, oh, you couldn't have committed the crime. The way they described it happening, the way the blood was on you, the way he was stabbed, like the forensic proved you couldn't have done it. There was no weapon. Like you're going to be okay. You know, that was the first conversation. And then after a little while, no new information was coming out. The DA, the cops weren't budging. My lawyer and their private detective started losing hope or faith that things should get better for me.

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And it was like your worst nightmare coming true before your eyes. You know, I remember one day I called my lawyer to see what was going on. If they had talked to the DA or new information was coming out and my lawyer said, Hey, you know, you're going to be going to prison. That's just the way it's looking at this point. There's nothing we can do about that. Now it's just a matter of how long you're going to spend in prison. That's the only question. And I remember that day, man, I was so defeated. Like up until that point, I still thought somehow, some way I was going to get out. And

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I went really deep within, man, into this really profound experience where I was coming to terms with my past, my parents, my childhood, my wasted potential. All those years I didn't play sports. And I started thinking about all the things I didn't do. And what if this is my life from here going forward? What if I spend the rest of my life in prison? What if I'm incarcerated for 30 years? I didn't live the life that I wanted. And that's what started the stand up to me the most.

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You know, it was that regret of what I didn't do, who I could have been. I made excuses, I held back, and now it was too late. And that pain, man, it pierced me to the depths of my soul, and it changed me because I realized in that moment what was that state. And I felt like I really died, you know? I felt like my life was over. And that's what changed me because going forward from that moment, you know, I understood that this journey is temporary, and when we don't take action, or we don't do what we wanna do, like we don't always get a second.

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chance. So in that cell, man, I started going through, you know, this internal transformation, I started coming to terms with my past, I started accepting it, forgiving my parents, letting go of all the pain, it just like was melting away for me, man, because I realized, like, if I'm gonna have a shot to get out of the cell and actually get out and live again, I can't hold on to the past, I can't, you know, continue to be this person that was behaving as it was a character I made up to defend or protect myself.

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And so in that moment, I just had this epiphany. I'm like, you know what? I don't care how long I spend in this jail cell. I don't care if they let me out tomorrow, next year or in 20 years. I'm gonna be my true self, like my authentic self and give my all to anything I'm doing for the rest of my life. Like I had to do this Ryan for me because I was so ashamed of the person that I had shown the world. That wasn't me. You know, and the second promise I made to myself was that I was gonna stay sober for the rest of my life.

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Not one drop of alcohol, not one hit of weed, not one pill, nothing. Because drugs and alcohol had ruined my family's life and it had led me to that jail cell. That was over 10 years ago. I've been sober ever since. And that commitment on the deepest level was the beginning of me taking back control of my life. So after that, you know, I ended up getting offered a plea deal eight months later for assault with a deadly weapon.

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You know, my lawyer is telling me, hey, man, you got to take this. Like you'll do six years. You're a young man. You'll get out when you're 30. You'll still have life to live. But if you don't take this plea deal and you go to trial, we're probably going to lose and you're going to end up doing multiple decades in prison, if not more. And because of the changes I was making in that eight months, starting with that commitment to self, I felt that I could go to prison and leverage that experience to help me and serve me for the rest of my life. And the reason I share that is because.

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you know, in my cell, I started taking action every day. You know, the next day after I made that promise, I remember getting up and just standing on that cold cement floor and asking myself, what can I even do to better myself in here? Like, what can I do right now today just to inch forward one little step, you know? And so that led me to working out, reading, writing. Those are the three things I could do every day. Cleaning my cell like it was a palace, just taking pride in what I was doing. I was really shaping my mindset and perspective, you know, every day through those actions.

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And in a very short period of time, I was getting stronger. I was getting good conditioning, cardio. I was seeing my writing improve. I was reading all these books. Any books they'd give me, I'd read them. And I even had a little pocket dictionary. And I was looking up words, man, and writing them down like I was a kid in seventh grade. You know, and I was taking pride in what I was doing. I was like actually trying to be a good person for the first time in my life, or not even a good person, but just a better person. And that massively shifted my perspective and mindset going forward in life. And it was those small habits I developed every day.

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that gave me momentum and gave me the faith and belief that I could continue doing that in prison and come home a better version of myself and live a good life. Hey guys, Ryan Offord here, host of the Radcast. We appreciate all our loyal listeners and just want to remind everyone we are a digital agency, Radical. Radical.com is our website. We help clients B2B and B2C drive outcomes, sales and make the cash register ring with their social media, microsites,

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and funnels. Ultimately, social media only matters if it's driving sales, revenue, and or specific outcomes. And we build unique funnels, leveraging the content with a microsite experience and a true funnel that drives sales to your bottom line. We'd love to help you. Radical.com to learn more, put in a form. We'll get back to you right away. Schedule a call, see how we can help you. You know where to find us. Radical.com. We'll see you soon.

20:41
You know, it's interesting, Sean Michael, I'm going to go back in your story because it resonated with me. You knew it was inside of you. You said this early on in your story. You know, you were parties doing stuff and you had it in the back of your head. You're like, this is temporary. Like you, you're partying. You're doing what you're supposed to. And I've had similar experiences when I was in college and stuff. I'd be doing things. I was like, I'm just made for.

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better than this, like be doing things. And I didn't have your type of experience, not even close to it, but like, there's definitely those moments, but I think it was in those moments when you, you didn't know what that tingle was, but you knew it was, that potential was inside of you, and you were going to unlock it one day, and it took one of the most tragic events that could happen for it to happen, but it made...

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You know what? You turned a negative into the greatest positive ever because you unlock something in yourself that it may not have ever unlocked without that experience. Yeah, man. I don't think it ever would have. You know, I think I would be dead or maybe in a really miserable life right now if I didn't go through that experience because gosh, I was so wounded and broken inside and like I never gave up faith or hope. There was just a little bit inside of me that things could get better.

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And I clung onto that through those dark years. You know, and I think we all have that side of us that like our highest self, our best self. It's that voice in our mind, that conscience, right? That feeling inside of us that's telling us do this, do that. But we condition ourselves to do the opposite. Listen to fear, procrastinate, worry about what other people think. What if I'm not good enough? And over time, people condition that part of themselves and that manifests in their results. Like you see people's lives and...

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Man, 99% of people are seen out here right now are capable more. They know they are, but they're holding back. You know, and that was me. And I started seeing this all in that cell, because when you block out the noise, there's no phones, no kids, no job. And you're just there in that cell. You find a depth within yourself that is truly remarkable. And it's almost indescribable, man. You know, people that reflect often, you know, people that meditate often, like they start to find that depth within themselves.

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And it changed my whole life, you know? And man, I just started taking action that my heart was calling me to take and I never looked back. And I had to have faith that somehow some way it would improve my life. And I had to have the courage to be consistent every day and to take those actions because it's not easy. I was almost forced to making changes because in my eyes, it was either life or death. Most people don't get to that extreme. So like we're not.

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forced to take massive action. And when I did, I found a strength, a resolve and ability within myself that was just buried so below the surface. I had to just like reach in and just tap into that man. And, you know, incremental growth is so crucial for anyone to understand. Like if you wanna achieve something great in life, you have this vision of who you wanna be. It takes years and years and years of doing the right thing and stacking those wins upon themselves, you know? And like in my cell, I had nothing.

23:59
So I just did a bunch of pushups, a bunch of burpees. I wrote a bunch of letters, I read a bunch of books, and that was my foundation. It was working my mind, working my body, and then finding a spiritual center to me and depth within me that I didn't know I had before. But then when I got to prison, I found out that they had a college correspondence program. And I was like, wow, I can take college courses in prison. Had I not picked up that little pocket dictionary and not read all those books, not written all those letters in those eight months.

24:26
I wouldn't have even believed that I could take college courses. Like, who am I? I'm this kid that didn't even try in school. I lacked intelligence. I'm street smart, I'm athletic, but I'm not book smart. You know, that was my limiting belief. But that time in the county jail gave me the confidence to do so. And I ended up getting four college degrees in my time in prison, Associates degrees. I fell in love with psychology, you know, social and behavioral sciences. I studied, you know, basic business courses. I took everything, every single course. And man, like...

24:55
It totally changed my perspective of myself and what I could do in life. And not only that, they gave me time off my sentence. So I got six months off my sentence. But the other guy started noticing me in prison because I was working out every day. I had college courses I was taking. I was up early. I had a routine. I was disciplined. And they're like, Sean, like, why are you doing all this? Do you think that's going to help you? Like, why are you so disciplined? You have five years to go. Yeah. Right. Or, Hey, how are you so positive and motivated, man? Like, aren't you sad to be in here?

25:23
You know, and in that time, I started working with some of these guys. I started exercising with them. I started having conversations with them. I got some of them to take college courses and in the midst of seeing these guys start to change or just believe in a future that was brighter than that dark place we were stuck in. I realized, man, I love working with people. I want to help people. And I found that purpose to serve and be a leader through that experience. So that wouldn't have been possible.

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had I not dedicated my life to being my best self and taking those actions and just believe that these actions somehow, some way are gonna lead to a better life. Like I had no idea, but I just had to find out. And my whole world started transforming before my eyes, man. You know, when I got out of prison five and a half years after I was sentenced, I knew exactly who I was and what I wanted to do in this world.

26:14
It's fascinating. It's a lot to unpack. And I do want to like, there's a few things in there that I think are really important. There's a lot of things important. Number one, we talk about all these outside things and no one had more excuses than you. Like, parent situation, home, life, wrong place, wrong time, bad influence, the drugs, alcohol, those things. You had every reason to not become what you are. But you know what?

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no matter what the outside is, it always starts with you, the person. Like no one else is gonna save you. You have to make up your mind that you wanna do it, right? And you have to pull on that intestinal fortitude. But that, but there's something that, and I talk about this in marketing and other things, the incremental things is called, and in finance it's compounding interest, right?

27:09
It's like compounding the wins over time. Like you stack the wins, you stack the positives, you stack these things, and the greater the parts, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. When you start stacking the wins and stacking these things, incrementally, it adds up to more than what they actually were, because it builds on top of one another in a way that you can't just do individually.

27:37
And I think there's a lot to learn from that in a lot of areas, but the biggest thing in today's world, we get, you know, conditioned that, you know, things happen to us. You know, it's always happening to me instead of happening for me or a layer further, which is I'm taking control and making it happen, you know, which is what I mean, you personify. You're so right, man. I mean, there's a, there was a massive perspective shift that took place for me. You know,

28:06
Before I made those commitments to myself, I was really going through it because I had all this stuff in my past that I was feeling ashamed of that I didn't do. And I was starting to battle depression because of that. And now I'm looking at life in prison, no one believes me. I'm stuck in this cell, I'm hungry, I'm alone. And so I had all these emotions. It was depression, anxiety, fear, stress. And I remember I was just going crazy, man. And I realized like, I gotta figure out a way to get control of my mental wellbeing. Like I gotta figure out a way to.

28:34
to block out these thoughts and get control of the way I'm thinking. And it was that perspective shift. I remember one day I just thought, man, what if this experience is exactly what I needed to change my life? What if this experience is gonna save my life? And this is a blessing in disguise that God, the universe, whatever you believe in had in store for me that I can't even understand right now, but it's a part of the process. It's a part of my story. It's a part of my journey. And I just, I chose to believe that versus the alternative.

29:04
Because to believe in the alternative was really to give up and to be miserable. And I didn't want to do that to myself anymore. So I chose to believe that somehow, some way this was going to serve me in my life. And because of that, I started identifying all these little things that added up to that outcome. Things like looking upwards in a dictionary, things like trying to do a thousand pushups in an hour, things like cleaning my cell, like it was a palace. I just started changing my whole demeanor and approach to life based on that perspective shift.

29:33
And that's what led to those incremental wins. I wasn't sitting there saying, I'm gonna do these pushups today and in 10 years, I'll be able to run a marathon and do a Ironman. I just was doing what was in front of me to be in the moment, because being in the moment and doing those things to the best of my ability was how I blocked out the future and the past. And that's something that prison really taught me, is how to train your mind to live in the present moment. And you're doing things that are setting you up for an advantage in the future, but you're not too far ahead of yourself.

30:02
And you're definitely not looking backwards. We learn from the past so that we can implement in the present and set ourselves up for success in the future. And I, I learned all these things almost just by chance, man. Like I stumbled upon all these things by necessity and I started just accumulating this knowledge in this way of living that has now continued to serve me since coming home, you know, 10, 20, 30 fold, hundred fold. Like the things I learned in prison are invaluable. It was the greatest education of my life.

30:29
The, I mean, that's what the book's about, right? I mean, Prison of Your Own. So let's see, I have a coffee. Prison of Your Own, I see it behind you. Yeah, I gotta send you a coffee. Prison of Your Own, so this is your whole story, it wasn't it? Yeah. I mean, it's just so, it sounds, sometimes I talk to friends and people like yourself, like-minded people when we have conversations, and I'm like,

30:57
Some of this sounds cliche or like a t-shirt or something, but you know what? It's so true, like the prison of your own mind and like, you know, prison of your own making. Like we kind of, we were so self-limiting, number one. You talked a lot about that.

31:12
as creatures, we're very self limiting. We really have no idea what we're fucking capable of. And like when we really get our mind behind it and there's no living, breathing proof of that more than you. And it's just crazy how we kind of create these walls. And I think I think it's just that human nature of like giving ourselves excuses or giving ourselves reasons that we fail. But it's when you can unlock that, though.

31:42
It's just incredible power. Yeah, absolutely. And like the thing that continues to help me grow personally and professionally, it's just always surrounding myself with people who think big, you know, because we have a tendency as humans to find comfort zones, even if you're comp, you know, you've reached a certain level, we find a comfort zone that we kind of can get stagnant, you know? And so like staying inspired and staying driven and staying motivated, staying open-minded, like it's really important to be around people who think big and are doing big creative.

32:12
you know, inspiring things because it's, it's always about, you know, showing us that next level. And when we see it, we believe it. For me, I had to believe it long before I can see it. And that's something that still like drives me to this day is just seeing what I'm capable of. I love that. I love that aspect of the journey. But for a lot of people, I think when they're just stuck in their certain environment, and they're not reading new books, they're not listening to new podcasts, they're not observing successful people consistently.

32:38
They don't really believe in anything beyond where they're at and they stay stuck because of that. Yeah. 100%. And it's like, again, back to those cliches. Well, you are the five people you surround yourself. Well, you fucking are. Yeah. You really, really are. All the cliche, all the cliche statements are true. If you believe they are, if you don't believe they're true, then you won't believe them. But here's the thing, man. I came to realize all of those things one by one, like,

33:07
through life experience. And I remember before prison, people would talk about self-love. And I used to just ridicule them. I thought it was the dumbest thing. I'd be like, self-love, what are you talking about? Well, I couldn't even identify with that because I didn't love myself. I was so broken. I was doing things that just were sabotaging my life. So why would I ever be able to relate to that? But man, I'll tell you this. When I was in that cell and I started taking action every day that made me feel proud of who I was, I remember going to sleep at night in a jail cell, facing life in prison before I was sentenced.

33:37
feeling the most inner peace and self-love I had ever experienced in my life. And I was like, what is going on here? I should not be feeling this good under these circumstances. And it was because I was finally just doing things every day that made me proud of who I was and I wasn't holding back. I wasn't making excuses. And I didn't have to go out and achieve these big massive accomplishments overnight. It was just the act and willingness of like following that path, not the other one. And man, the inner peace I experienced.

34:07
I really felt like I could have died then and I figured out the secret of life. And that's something that's helped me ever since. Raising children, starting a business, pursuing success, hitting these next levels is like never losing sight of that feeling. And really, I feel like that's the highest form of successful laughter is inner peace and fulfillment and just knowing like, I'm enough. I'm giving my all, I'm doing everything I could every day to be the best version of me. And that feeling is priceless.

34:35
So Sean, like, moving a little bit away, so I know you coach people now, and how have you learned both in your time in prison, but I'm sure now, how have you learned to unlock that in others? Because it's one thing, and it's hard as hell, as you've proven to do it for yourself.

34:59
But how have you learned what's been some of your keys? I know you do performance coaching, but how do you unlock that in other people? Yeah, you know, I mean, the question that always eluded me is how can I help other people to feel the way I feel and make the changes I've made internally, right? Like it eluded me. I couldn't always, there's no answer. There's no like perfect answer. But what I found coming home is a lot of men have that feeling in their heart, like I made for more, I want more, but they have bad habits. They lack discipline and they self-sabotage.

35:27
So one of the things I see to have a massive impact on people and the way they perceive themselves and how they carry themselves is forming that discipline through difficult tasks every day that test them. Because when you have a test every day that you meet and overcome, what happens is you feel good about that, right? So consciously that's a win. So if you stack those up over time, your identity starts to shift, your belief in stealth elevates and you start to see the world differently. You carry yourself differently, your body language, your tonality.

35:56
your energy like energetically on like you shift, you change, you elevate. So you know, early wake up times, workouts, discipline with nutrition, identifying what vices are sabotaging your potential and who you want to be and start to cut those out. Like those things are, you know, directly correlated to the person they want to become. And so a lot of times people make it more complicated than it needs to be. You know, when I first started coaching, I'd like have guys write out a lot of stuff and I'm

36:23
I'm big on visualization and I have them do that and I set them up with a morning routine and structure but it's very simple like most men just lack discipline. So you want to make more money, you want to be a better husband, you want to be more present with your family, whatever it is, it comes down to being able to discipline yourself to do it in that moment. Not talk about it later, not say I'm going to do this but in the moment can you actually do it? Are you on your phone or are you hitting the snooze button? You say I'll work out tomorrow, are you choosing the donuts over the egg whites? Like it's just all these decisions.

36:53
And so the main factor I've seen help people make a shift is establishing discipline through these non-negotiable actions every day. Because when you have non-negotiables, they actually become habits. People make New Year's resolutions, but they don't stick to them. So they never become habits. So they actually form a habit of not doing the stuff. So we have to identify what are the non-negotiables I have to stick to every day that are going to lead to the life I want. Then over time, they become habits. Those habits start to shape your lifestyle and what you're doing.

37:21
the decisions you make. Oh, I'm not going out on Friday night. I get up early, I'm going to sleep, right? Oh, I'm not gonna go to that party and eat the cake. Like, that's not what I do. I'm not gonna drink, whatever it is. Start shaping other decisions and that becomes a lifestyle over time. And what I've seen is that lifestyle ultimately results in a shift in your identity. And when that identity shift takes place, that's when you start to see the results that are lifelong. Like you see the permanent shift in someone's identity and the results follow. And so it's like that path that I guide guys through.

37:50
And there's a lot of little details involved, but it's really comes down to the discipline that it really does. Yeah. I think that's another one of those words, but it's a powerful one is just that discipline, but it's again, it's just back to stacking and stacking the winds and seeing what happened. Like, you know, we hate discipline until we see what great, what good comes out of it, right? You know, when you get arms like yours.

38:16
You know, you see you'll keep pumping the iron, right? Yeah. It comes down to this, man. Everyone's different. So people hear the word discipline. They automatically like think of David Dogg. Right? Here's the thing. Do you have the results in all aspects of life that you want? Like your marriage, your relationship with your children, your finances, your health, if not why either you don't want it bad enough, or you lack the ability to do these things consistently and produce the results I know you want it. I know deep down inside you want the best life ever. We all do.

38:45
But most people just lack the consistency to produce those results. So it does come down to execution. It really does. For me, man, I died and got a second chance at life. So everything I do every day, like I'm pouring my heart and soul into it. And I think a lot of people just don't realize what's at stake and they're okay with missing a morning at the gym or they're okay with, you know, one day that goes by where they're not attentive to their kids and they chalk it up to, oh, today was a long day. Like...

39:11
we have habitual excuses we make that prevent us from really living at that next level. So a lot of it too is accountability and honesty. Like if we're honest with ourselves, we have someone, a coach, a mentor that's going to be brutally honest with us too. A lot of guys like competitive guys like you and I, because we played sports, if someone's calling you out, what are you going to do? You're going to rise to the occasion. We need that. We need someone that's going to always remind us, hey, you said you want to be up here, you're settling for up here. And that's really helpful. A lot of guys need that.

39:42
Yeah, I love it. So I mean, now what's a, when you unlock these things in yourself, I think people like me and I think people listening go, well, what's now Shawn Michaels unlock these things in himself? He's figured it out. But like, what's a bad day for you now? Because you have the system, you clearly have the discipline.

40:09
Where, where do your struggles come in then? You know, like what, what are your normal struggles now that have to be way different than they were 10 years ago? Yeah. I mean, I love that question. You know, there's no bad days. There's wins and there's learning lessons. I had to train my mind to think that way in prison cause otherwise every day is a loss and then you want to commit suicide. Like everything is positive, everything, right? Like no matter what it is, I've trained my mind to find the positive in it, the silver lining or the positive potential.

40:39
Even if something detrimental happens right now, and I can identify that in 10 years, maybe somehow some way that's gonna help me in life when that set of circumstances comes again, like that's all I think about. I'm aware of the bad, I'm aware of the negative, but I don't dwell on it. I put all my energy into what I need to do to resolve it or how that can help me somehow some way in the future. But I mean, man, I still have challenges all the time, like whether it's stuff with family, family members who are struggling. You know, I lost my dad two years ago. My cousin died right after that.

41:09
Things happen, you know, raising three children and being the best husband for my wife. I'm not always perfect. There's days where maybe I responded to a question or in a conversation with my wife, the way that I know I could have done better. And I just, I acknowledge it. I'm like, you know what? I can be better than that. I wanna be better than that. And it's just this constant process of refining myself. You know, but I have my daily routines that I adhere to no matter what, like wake up, workout, my nutrition.

41:35
That allows me to really stay very consistent in elevating myself longterm. You know, so man, I'm not adverse to hardships and challenges. I just know when we're showing up every day with that mindset and we develop that resiliency, they don't stop us or slow us down as much as other people. Yeah, man. I love it so much more that we can unpack. We'll have to do a part two, but I let's, uh, let's, uh, give everybody if they want to learn more.

42:04
About your book. I'm sure you know where they can find that where they can keep up with you They are interested more about your coaching your speaking. How can everyone keep up with Sean Michael crane? Yes, you can visit Sean Michael crane.com shows a little more about me and ways to connect with me I'm Sean and crane. I think now on Instagram my team changed my handle so you can reach out to me there on Instagram and follow me and if you're somebody that you know wants to

42:31
focus on developing more discipline in your mindset. You wanna establish habits that you know are better, more positive for you. Workouts, nutrition, stuff like that. Go to my website. If you click on the, there's a little button there. I give away a free workout nutrition program, a free unstoppable mindset blueprint. These are simple things that you can execute day to day or implement, I should say. That'll help you to be more productive, more focused. And to treat your own life like you do your business. Like a lot of people have systems in their business. They're organized, but they don't have that for their own life.

43:00
And what I've found is if you do, if you treat your routines and your self care, like you do your business, and you have systems and non-negotiables, you become better. You get more fulfillment. You get better results. And you show up just happier in life. I've just found that to be true. So reach out to me if you have any questions about the book, my story, or the coaching, I'd be happy to talk with you. I love it, brother. I love the energy, inspiration, motivation, perspiration, all the Asians. There we go. I love it, man.

43:29
Look forward to, uh, get to know each other more as we move along. I know we can collaborate on some things and really appreciate you coming on the show. Absolutely, man. I appreciate it. Maybe next time I'll come and visit you in person. Like we talked about, uh, right. And Hey, we, you know, we're going to get you on the wall here. I got, you know, you gotta come in the studio. I know. I gotta get down there, brother. I appreciate you having me on. Yeah, my pleasure. And look forward to keeping up with you and Hey guys.

43:55
Go give him a follow over on Instagram, Sean M. Crane. Go to his website, Sean Michael Crane dot com. You know where we're at, the radcast dot com. Search for all of today's content. You'll find the highlight clips. You'll find the full episode, the short episode, the audio, the video and everything else. We'll also see it on our social channels as we move along. You know where I'm at at Ryan Offer on all the platforms. We'll see you next time. All right.

44:19
To listen or watch full episodes, visit us on the web at theradcast.com or follow us on social media at our Instagram account, v.rad.cast or at Ryan Alford. Stay radical.