159. The Power of a P.L.A.N. in The Face of Adversity with Michael K. Jackson

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Michael K. Jackson presents The Power of a P.L.A.N. in the Face of Adversity to Dr. Brad Miller on Episode 159 of the Beyond Adversity Podcast.

Michael K. Jackson is a Caribbean American inspirational keynote speaker, Master Trainer, author, and emotional resilience & well-being strategist. As Founder and CEO of Michael K. Jackson International, Michael leverages over two decades of business, ministry, and government leadership experience to advance his mission to inspire, empower, and equip purpose-driven leaders around the world to bounce back from setbacks and “build back stronger” from stress and adversity.

In Episode 159 Michael shares with Dr. Brad the emotional story of losing his father to a devastating hurricane that struck his native US Virgin Islands in 2017.  In the aftermath of the tragedy, Michael organized hurricane disaster relief efforts through his church which included leading mission teams and raising money, and procuring supplies. He came to realize that he had formulated a process to face and overcome adversity even in disastrous circumstances.

His experiences and background lead Michael to develop his signature message, “Build Back Stronger: The Power of a P.L.A.N. in the Face of Adversity.” He talks to Dr. Brad about his 4-step plan to “hurricane-proof” your life when you face adversity.

The conversation focused on emotional resilience and well-being. Succeeding with faith, vision, purpose, and perseverance and defeating fear, anxiety, and doubt.

Michael emphasized the four main points of his P.L.A.N. to build back stronger with Dr. Brad:

  • P-Prayer and Meditation
  • L-Lean In to Listen to Life Lessons
  • A-Act Accordingly
  • N-Notate Your Mind State (relating to journaling)

Michael is the co-author of the Amazon Best Seller, “Speaking My Truth: 50 Real-Life Stories that Inspire, Empower, Heal and Transform.”

Michael emphasized to Dr. Brad that people make a choice when it comes to facing adversity in their life, they can either see adversity as the enemy or adversity as their advisor.

In Episode 159 of the Beyond, Adversity Podcast Michael K. Jackson gives a great blueprint for the person who chooses to see adversity as an advisor.

The Beyond Adversity Podcast is published weekly by Dr. Brad Miller to help people navigate adverse life events and emerge to a life of peace, prosperity, and purpose.

https://michaelkjackson.com/

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Transcript
Brad Miller:

Hello, good people. And welcome to the beyond ad

Brad Miller:

versity podcast with Dr. Brad Miller. Here we help people to

Brad Miller:

navigate adverse life conditions and to emerge to a life of

Brad Miller:

peace, prosperity, and purpose. We like to talk to people who

Brad Miller:

have a great story to tell and have something to offer to

Brad Miller:

people who have had adverse conditions in their life, and

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have a plan or a means or process to help you get through

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that. That's our case for the day Michael K. Jackson is with

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us. He blogs at Michael K. Jackson calm and he comes to us

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with a wealth of experience. And his story to tell is a Caribbean

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American. He comes from that background, but he is from a

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business background. He approaches things as a master

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trainer and author and an expert in emotional resilience and well

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being strategy. He is here to help us to be inspired and

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empowered and equipped to build back stronger. He is the author

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of speaking my truth 50 real stories that inspire, empower,

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heal and transform, and where he introduces people to his plan.

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Plan. And he's going to speak to us about that here today, which

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is a resilience building blueprint, we Welcome to Beyond

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adversity, Michael K. Jackson. That's Brad Miller, thank you so

Brad Miller:

much for having me on the podcast. Sir. I look forward to

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our conversation. I have been really looking forward to this

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to this for for some time, Michael, you have a great story

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to tell. And your message of helping people build back better

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help people build back stronger, I should should say, really

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resonates with our audience, which is helping people to

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navigate adversity, and to come to a place of peace of mind. But

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this comes to us because you have had your own experiences of

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adversity of some devastation even which has kind of led you

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to your place in life of being helpful to others. And if you

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don't mind, let's just tell your story a little bit about what

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got you this point. What are some of the things that you have

Brad Miller:

had to overcome to now be at a place of being an author and a

Brad Miller:

leader and a teacher and a master person? And he emotional

Brad Miller:

resilience? Tell us your story? All right, well, well,

Michael K Jackson:

my store really, I reached an inflection

Michael K Jackson:

point in my life back in 2017. I you and your listeners may

Michael K Jackson:

remember 2017 was a bad hurricane year. And as you

Michael K Jackson:

mentioned at the top, I'm a Caribbean American I was

Michael K Jackson:

actually born in an Eastern Caribbean island called Antigua

Michael K Jackson:

and raised in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands. And back

Michael K Jackson:

in 2017, bad hurricane year multiple hurricanes. And in

Michael K Jackson:

fact, the US Virgin Islands was hit by two back to back category

Michael K Jackson:

five storms. First was Irma on September 6. And then the second

Michael K Jackson:

came exactly two weeks later with Hurricane Maria on

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September 20th. At the time, the first hurricane hit it week, a

Michael K Jackson:

lot of havoc droid, a much of my island of St. Thomas. And a lot

Michael K Jackson:

of the island communications lines went God I lost contact

Michael K Jackson:

with my dad who was still on the island. And Brad I tell you

Michael K Jackson:

during that time, praying for the best hoping for the best.

Michael K Jackson:

And not knowing or hearing anything, praying that I didn't

Michael K Jackson:

get, you know, one of those phone calls that you that you

Michael K Jackson:

get during these times. And actually the the phone call that

Michael K Jackson:

I did receive eventually was a voicemail from my dad saying to

Michael K Jackson:

me, Mike, I'm alright i'm i'm a little better better than Bruce.

Michael K Jackson:

But I'm all right. And all during a time of, of, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

after the first hurricane hit, we were trying to see about how

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we can get him off the island. But unfortunately, because of

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construction airport was closed to you know, commercial traffic

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eventually is open to to for military aid and so forth,

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humanitarian aid and so forth. You know, neighboring islands,

Michael K Jackson:

like Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands. You know,

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airports were closed as well so we could not get him off but I

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was so thankful to get that phone call from him. I quickly

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returned to call, you know, and and it was such a relief to hear

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his voice spread. Unfortunately, three days later that got that

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voice message and spoke to him on that Saturday, on September

Michael K Jackson:

20. The afternoon, September 20 is when I got it

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fateful phone call from a childhood buddy of mine that I

Michael K Jackson:

grew up with on St. Thomas, letting me know that my dad was

Michael K Jackson:

gone. Wow, my dad was gone. We lost them in the midst of the

Michael K Jackson:

hurricane. And this was devastating to say the least

Michael K Jackson:

bred to myself and my family. And that was an inflection point

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in my life that caused me to, you know, do a lot of

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reflecting, which caused me to create this plan, resilience

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building framework that I'm sure we'll get into to where now I

Michael K Jackson:

am, you know, on a mission to, as I say, inspire, empower and

Michael K Jackson:

equip purpose driven leaders to bounce back from setbacks. And

Michael K Jackson:

what about stronger from stress and adversity?

Brad Miller:

Death is one of those. When you say gone, I'm so

Brad Miller:

you mean he was deceased? deceased? Yes. Fortunately,

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Hurricane hurricane took him floodwaters. Wow. One of the

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major points, pivotal points, defining moments for all of us

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often is death of a loved one, or sometimes our own mortality,

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or having a devastating disease or something like that. But it

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really helps us to really define what's truly important and what

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is how temporary life is, and how we've got some opportunities

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to do something now about it if we choose to. And first of all

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this, let me say I'm so sorry for your loss. I just so sorry,

Brad Miller:

for your loss, how, how devastating that is, I lost my

Brad Miller:

own father a few years ago and to to cancer, and it was just

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devastating in and of itself. I will say just kind of as a side

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note, I was on in the Virgin Islands on vacation, oh, man

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back four years ago, three or four years ago, not too long

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after the hurricane, but I just remember entering the island,

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that there were still major impact, you know, of the

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devastation. So I just have just a tiny bit of understanding of

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the devastation that that took place. So that's, that's

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dramatic and traumatic in and of itself. So you had this

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devastating moment here. But the thing is, Michael, so many

Brad Miller:

people, when they have a devastating moment, like a death

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in the family get stuck, they stay there, they stay in a place

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of hurt or bitterness or just they stay in a stuck place. But

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you chose not to stay stuck. And you have now half his vestige of

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resilience. So what are some of the things that you did to not

Brad Miller:

stay stuck in grief and all the other things that came with

Brad Miller:

losing your father? What are some of the things that you then

Brad Miller:

did in response to that defining moment?

Michael K Jackson:

Absolutely. Great question, Brad. So, yeah,

Michael K Jackson:

it's, you know, I thought, No one for getting getting stuck at

Michael K Jackson:

all, we all get stuck at times in life. The question is, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, are we going to stay there? So I certainly, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

dealt with some some powerful emotions, some powerful negative

Michael K Jackson:

emotions, after receiving that news. But I had a stronger

Michael K Jackson:

desire Brad to, to do something, to take action in some way. That

Michael K Jackson:

would, one, honor my earthly father, but he Jackson, and also

Michael K Jackson:

honor my Heavenly Father, as well. I'm a man of faith,

Michael K Jackson:

though, that was important to me. And thirdly, do something to

Michael K Jackson:

help my island build back stronger. So what I did, I had

Michael K Jackson:

heard about a hurricane relief effort that my church it started

Michael K Jackson:

for the island of Puerto Rico. And I, you know, approached my

Michael K Jackson:

church leadership about I said, Well, hey, you know, I'm the US

Michael K Jackson:

Virgin Islands, just to the east of Puerto Rico was slammed not

Michael K Jackson:

by one but but to category five hurricanes, and there's no, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, relief effort for them. And I believe strongly in being

Michael K Jackson:

a potter to the being a part of the solution and part of the

Michael K Jackson:

problem. So while I was somewhat will say, angered by the by the

Michael K Jackson:

lack of attention, because it was lack of attention in the

Michael K Jackson:

news media, as well volunteered, I raised my hand and I said, I,

Michael K Jackson:

I'm willing to be a part of the solution, and offered myself up

Michael K Jackson:

to lead a hurricane relief effort through my church that

Michael K Jackson:

eventually saw dozens upon dozens of volunteers go down,

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and not only to St. Thomas, but also to St. JOHN and to St.

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Croix, the other two of the three US Virgin Islands, to help

Michael K Jackson:

people we build their lives, and we build their homes and then we

Michael K Jackson:

During that time of helping to rebuild, where I, as I mentioned

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earlier, began to reflect back on my own life and some of the

Michael K Jackson:

other adversities beyond this most recent loss of my dad that

Michael K Jackson:

I was able to overcome. And I recognized that there was a

Michael K Jackson:

pattern of

Brad Miller:

system that I use to overcome that adversity, or

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breaking a pattern system here Just a minute. But just to

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reflect for a second, what you actually did in the moment, is

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you assess that, and there was a great need at hand, pretty

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obvious in the Virgin Islands, you utilize some present

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organization, your church, but then you took it further, you

Brad Miller:

organized and you got your hands dirty, you got physically

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involved with it, you took some bold and really direct action,

Brad Miller:

didn't you? I mean, you really got involved, you didn't let

Brad Miller:

other people do it, you really got involved and what is less,

Brad Miller:

as you think you learned about taking bold and distinct action.

Michael K Jackson:

Some some lessons I learned Brad is is to,

Michael K Jackson:

again, be when you when you, when you when you see something,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, they say when you see something, say something was

Michael K Jackson:

said when you see something, do something, do something, it was

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obviously greatly personal to me, you know, we've all seen

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destructions and, you know, the destructive natural disasters

Michael K Jackson:

across the world. And we we watch these things on on on

Michael K Jackson:

television, perhaps, you know, we we sympathize with with the

Michael K Jackson:

folks. But for me, I not only sympathize, but I empathize

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because I was I was connected to this, I took that bull action.

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And, and before I actually, you know, there were, there were

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some things I had to navigate in terms of reaching out to

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different organizations on the island to, for us to partner

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with and so forth. But for me, it was, it was personal. And I

Michael K Jackson:

could either I could either soak and sink, or, you know, take, as

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you say, take bold action to do something about it. And it was

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impactful, not only to me, but to all the all the volunteers

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that actually went down stories came back, just to you know,

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that came back to me that said, cuz I wasn't on every mission

Michael K Jackson:

trip, that that was taken, I kind of led and co led the

Michael K Jackson:

effort from here and did a couple of them myself. But when

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stories came back from the volunteers about one, the impact

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they were able to make on the islands, to the impact that was

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made upon them in terms of this was life changing for some

Michael K Jackson:

folks, in order to deal with some of the stuff that they're

Michael K Jackson:

dealing with personally, to be able to have an impact on

Michael K Jackson:

others, is really what it's all about. And I sense that's one of

Michael K Jackson:

the reasons why you know, you do this podcast, Brad? Sure,

Brad Miller:

absolutely. Well, I just, I'm a big believer that

Brad Miller:

when something happens, you need to take action, or else life

Brad Miller:

will just happened to you. And that always you know, that's not

Brad Miller:

always the best outcome. And he did mentioned though, Michael,

Brad Miller:

that you're a man of faith. And you also mentioned how you

Brad Miller:

worked through your, your church in order to do some of these

Brad Miller:

things. Let's talk for a minute about for relationship of a

Brad Miller:

spiritual aspect or a power beyond yourself to help empower

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you to do this transformative thing, both personally

Brad Miller:

transformative, and to be engaged transformation of

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others. Talk a little bit about the importance of being

Brad Miller:

empowered by something greater than yourself in order to do

Brad Miller:

these things.

Michael K Jackson:

Absolutely. You know, faith, faith for me is

Michael K Jackson:

is foundational, Brad, I know you're a pastor, so you know,

Michael K Jackson:

you we can we can talk on this level in terms of belief in

Michael K Jackson:

Jesus Christ, you know that that's what drives me. That's my

Michael K Jackson:

my foundation, and my anchor, I grew up in a Christian household

Michael K Jackson:

values were passed on to me from my parents, but particularly my

Michael K Jackson:

mother and my grandmother, I now then extend that out to, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, every, every everyone I touch on in the forums that

Michael K Jackson:

informs everything I do, there's so much that can be said about

Michael K Jackson:

that. But I'll say that it's foundational

Brad Miller:

Foundation, I like to think of in terms of, you

Brad Miller:

know, we can't really do a whole lot unless we are empowered. And

Brad Miller:

the best place to be empowered is through our scripture, a lot

Brad Miller:

of spiritual life, and through our prayer life and scripture

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and other things that help to the formation of that. But also

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another thing that can we do here you mentioned a little bit

Brad Miller:

already as how relationships are important in order to help us I

Brad Miller:

call it the fuel of how we accomplish transformation and to

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get through adversity is relationships, you were

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obviously, fueled by your relationship with your father,

Brad Miller:

this was an impetus for what you were doing. And then you talked

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about some of the people you've worked with, and building teams

Brad Miller:

and so on. But tell me a little bit about the importance of

Brad Miller:

loving, caring, deep emotional relationships, mid terrain, or

Brad Miller:

family relationships, or anything that helps fuel you to

Brad Miller:

make some of these changes. And those, how that's important in

Brad Miller:

your process.

Michael K Jackson:

Absolutely, relationships are our key, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, and some of the most important crucial relationships

Michael K Jackson:

in my life has been one obviously, my, my dad, my dad

Michael K Jackson:

gave me the example of showing him a man of integrity, strong

Michael K Jackson:

worth work ethic, Dad was, you know, he was, you know, one of

Michael K Jackson:

these old, old school Caribbean guys that work hard, man, a few

Michael K Jackson:

words, you know, he was definitely a man of his time in

Michael K Jackson:

terms of man a few words, and, you know, he meant what he said,

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and so forth. And set for me the example of being present, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, I'm happy to say that, you know, I've come from A to two

Michael K Jackson:

parent household, being present. And, and also just that, that

Michael K Jackson:

work ethic, and then my mom, together with my, her mother, my

Michael K Jackson:

grandmother, because we lived in a kind of a multi generational

Michael K Jackson:

household as well, I had, you know, answer around uncles, my

Michael K Jackson:

grandmother, and so forth. And, you know, my mom and my

Michael K Jackson:

grandmother, like I said, earlier, you know, gave me that

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certainly gave me that faith foundation in terms of being

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able to have that relationship with God, right, through Jesus.

Michael K Jackson:

And then there were others, other people that that were

Michael K Jackson:

impactful is too many dimension. But I would be remiss not to

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mention my wife, who is probably one of the strongest people I

Michael K Jackson:

know, you know, and who I derive strength from, and she derives

Michael K Jackson:

strength from me as well, some of the things that she's gone

Michael K Jackson:

through in terms of losses, I've certainly divide, derive

Michael K Jackson:

strength from as well,

Brad Miller:

that's awesome. And then a part of what the process

Brad Miller:

of being fueled by relationships has to do with how those things

Brad Miller:

influence us, you know, influence the men and women that

Brad Miller:

we are. And then if we choose to, then we can be an influencer

Brad Miller:

in a positive way, hopefully, on other people. And that's because

Brad Miller:

you care, because you've been you've been cared for you've

Brad Miller:

been fueled. And now you can care for others. And a part of

Brad Miller:

the way that it seems to me, Michael, that you have cared for

Brad Miller:

others, is by choosing to pass along your knowledge and your

Brad Miller:

experience and your expertise and your strategic thinking and

Brad Miller:

your writing to others. And so you chose to create a business

Brad Miller:

and develop a process that you call the plan process. In other

Brad Miller:

words, you've organized your experience, and now you're

Brad Miller:

sharing this with other people. And so I'm really interested in,

Brad Miller:

in the, both the personal disciplines, you know, our our

Brad Miller:

habits and things of this nature, but also then how we

Brad Miller:

then organize that to share with other people. So I'd like to

Brad Miller:

talk for just a second, but any personal disciplines that you

Brad Miller:

may have, then let's start to apply this to your teaching your

Brad Miller:

plan, plan. Sure,

Michael K Jackson:

sure. You know, I do my best to walk the

Michael K Jackson:

talk, if you will. So when we talk about plan, and the four

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steps of this resilience, building blueprint, you know,

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the first of which is p for practice, Korean meditation, for

Michael K Jackson:

in meditation, daily, and that's a discipline and a practice that

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goes goes back to, you know, my foundation of faith, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

let me mention to Brad that to know me is to know, my values.

Michael K Jackson:

And, you know, years ago, I went through this exercise where I

Michael K Jackson:

and you perhaps, have done the same really thought about and

Michael K Jackson:

wrote down what my core values are. And my my top five are

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faith, family, spiritual growth, love of learning and impacting

Michael K Jackson:

people. One in three is faith in God to Jesus Christ. And three

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is spiritual growth, because it's not enough to just believe,

Michael K Jackson:

but you have to also be dedicated to that growth. And

Michael K Jackson:

that growth for me, and, you know, is is kind of worked out

Michael K Jackson:

on a daily basis, through prayer, my prayer and meditation

Michael K Jackson:

time.

Brad Miller:

And that's also that's also the first point of

Brad Miller:

your plan, plan. And so that tells me that too. is me that

Brad Miller:

Michael, but how you're prioritizing your process here

Brad Miller:

and you're making your your prayer and practice, and

Brad Miller:

meditation as a as a high priority. But now let's see how

Brad Miller:

we translate this to other folks through your business and your

Brad Miller:

teaching. And your transformation is where we get

Brad Miller:

into a little bit more of your plan. Plan. So but unpack some

Brad Miller:

of that for us.

Michael K Jackson:

Sure. So I, you know, I mentioned that the

Michael K Jackson:

the first step in this four step, what I call it, my fourth

Michael K Jackson:

step, with a hurricane proof, storm proof resilience, building

Michael K Jackson:

blueprint is, as I mentioned, that, you know, practice prayer

Michael K Jackson:

and meditation, I encourage folks, and this is not just for,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, there might be people there likely people that are

Michael K Jackson:

listening, that are a different, have a different faith tradition

Michael K Jackson:

from yourself and myself. And for me, it's really about taking

Michael K Jackson:

time to get centered, you know, first in the morning, to really

Michael K Jackson:

center yourself, right? That's a foundational practice of, of

Michael K Jackson:

prayer and meditation and taking time out to gratitude, to have

Michael K Jackson:

gratitude to express gratitude to that higher power. In my

Michael K Jackson:

case, it's God, you know, to encourage folks now to not just,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, go through life, some, some people may jump the prayer

Michael K Jackson:

when, you know, when track and track when adversity strikes,

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and I say, let's be proactive, you know, that practice of

Michael K Jackson:

prayer and meditation center yourself, deep breathing

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exercises, and I encourage folks to, there are so many, there's a

Michael K Jackson:

multitude of apps on on your phone, Brad, that folks can

Michael K Jackson:

avail themselves of, to actually do guided meditations, and to

Michael K Jackson:

actually, you know, help with that prayer life, as well, in

Michael K Jackson:

terms of, you know, as a Christian, you have Bible apps,

Michael K Jackson:

and so forth.

Brad Miller:

So, if I can reflect what you just said on

Brad Miller:

that one, it would happen to me when crisis happens when when

Brad Miller:

adversity strikes, which it does for the just and the unjust

Brad Miller:

alike. Or when no matter what your spiritual background or

Brad Miller:

practices, don't panic with it, you know, don't go don't go into

Brad Miller:

crisis yourself, but to take a moment to pause to be reflective

Brad Miller:

to prayerfully approach it if from if you're from that faith

Brad Miller:

tradition, so very good. And then the weights are no, just

Brad Miller:

keep going. That's the P, we've ever they're pretty good. Let's

Brad Miller:

let's keep going with the L

Michael K Jackson:

Yeah. So the L is to lean in. And listen,

Michael K Jackson:

listen for the lesson. And I say the mean, and that that goes

Michael K Jackson:

back to that goes to, if you're a person of faith, lean into

Michael K Jackson:

your faith, certainly lean into your community that goes back to

Michael K Jackson:

what we were talking about, about the importance of

Michael K Jackson:

relationships. Too often, when we're, when we're going through

Michael K Jackson:

adversity, the natural inkling can be to turn inward. And I

Michael K Jackson:

certainly had my times in life where, you know, when when I

Michael K Jackson:

went through a time period in my life, where I had kind of lost

Michael K Jackson:

everything, you know, went through a couple of corporate

Michael K Jackson:

layoffs, went through divorce, bankruptcy, and so forth. And I

Michael K Jackson:

was just, you know, depressed and dejected. They want to see

Michael K Jackson:

anybody spent a lot of time in my pajamas. And you know,

Michael K Jackson:

friends would come around and try to try to, you know, to get

Michael K Jackson:

me out, and I would, I would refuse, but there came a time

Michael K Jackson:

where I did lean in to my community, those people in your

Michael K Jackson:

life that you can lean on, and learn from as well that have

Michael K Jackson:

your best interests at heart. So I say, part of the L is to is to

Michael K Jackson:

lean in, lean into your community, your friendships, I

Michael K Jackson:

relationship with God and so forth. And then listen for the

Michael K Jackson:

lesson. Brad, I'm sure you can attest to the fact that there's

Michael K Jackson:

always a lesson buried in every adversity that we faced, that we

Michael K Jackson:

face. All we we have to but we have to choose to listen for,

Michael K Jackson:

which is part of what your Sandel is, as well for at least

Michael K Jackson:

I would reflect with you about that. You have to listen for

Brad Miller:

it. Because if we choose to we can descend into

Brad Miller:

bitterness or malaise I called the Malays of mediocrity, we

Brad Miller:

just kind of get stuck. And so but we had to listen for it and

Brad Miller:

learn and love and all those type of things. They're yet to

Brad Miller:

apply it in the application process here is so important,

Brad Miller:

not just to absorb but to apply.

Michael K Jackson:

Apply application is key. application

Michael K Jackson:

is key and and and that actually leads leads to the age or the

Michael K Jackson:

age, not for application, but it's true. It is for act and I

Michael K Jackson:

say act accordingly. But it's really about application and

Michael K Jackson:

it's really about Cuz I always say, you know, Faith without

Michael K Jackson:

works is dead. That's biblical bread, you know that that goes

Michael K Jackson:

back to taking bold action, you know, it doesn't have to be your

Michael K Jackson:

bold action, you're acting accordingly. It doesn't have to

Michael K Jackson:

look like mine or look like yours. You know, it's it's, I

Michael K Jackson:

think unique, not unique. Many people have lost people in, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, in natural disasters, but not everybody. So not everybody

Michael K Jackson:

can identify with leading a hurricane relief effort, but

Michael K Jackson:

reflect on what bold action to use your words, right? Can Can

Michael K Jackson:

you take today to dig yourself out of that hole that you might

Michael K Jackson:

be in to build yourself out of that depression, and that

Michael K Jackson:

anxiety. And that goes back to steps one and two about you

Michael K Jackson:

know, that that practicing that prayer, and meditation that

Michael K Jackson:

leaning in and that listening, but to it's important to take

Michael K Jackson:

that action, and sometimes read honestly, the action might just

Michael K Jackson:

be to stand in your situation and wait. Sometimes the action

Michael K Jackson:

might just be waiting, sometimes you can't do anything, but

Michael K Jackson:

change your mind. And your your perception of events at the

Michael K Jackson:

time.

Brad Miller:

Well, the idea I think here is our part of the

Brad Miller:

idea here is it doesn't have to be the bold action doesn't

Brad Miller:

always have to be huge steps. For some of us a bold action can

Brad Miller:

be just getting out of your pajamas, put your clothes on and

Brad Miller:

saying earlier, or for folks who I've just literally talking to a

Brad Miller:

neighbor of mine lives across the street from where I live,

Brad Miller:

just before we came on to our podcast. And she was saying that

Brad Miller:

very recently, as in today, and we're talking in June of 2021 is

Brad Miller:

when the first time she's been out of her house since the COVID

Brad Miller:

crisis happened. So for her, it was a huge step, to get out the

Brad Miller:

house to step out of the house just to say hello to a neighbor.

Brad Miller:

So whatever it is, what I'm trying to get with you is those

Brad Miller:

bold actions means taking a step, you know, taking a baby

Brad Miller:

step. Right. Right, right. So what's the what's the end.

Michael K Jackson:

So the end, step four, is n for no teacher

Michael K Jackson:

mind state, and that really talks about the benefits of

Michael K Jackson:

journaling, there's a lot of research around the benefits of

Michael K Jackson:

journaling, just to adjust, I similar to the benefits of of

Michael K Jackson:

prayer and meditation in terms of, you know, stress reduction,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, when when you take the time to actually, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

write your thoughts out, it does a couple of does a couple of

Michael K Jackson:

things for me. And, um, you know, there's tons of evidence

Michael K Jackson:

that it does this for others in that it allows you to reflect

Michael K Jackson:

back on, you know, as you, as you reflect back on your old

Michael K Jackson:

journal entries, you see that you may not, you might not have

Michael K Jackson:

faced this exact same circumstance previously, but

Michael K Jackson:

you've been through some things, and you've gotten through them.

Michael K Jackson:

And I say, you can take that and say, Well, I was able to get

Michael K Jackson:

through this, by the grace of God, I was able to get through

Michael K Jackson:

that, then. So now I can actually get through this. And

Michael K Jackson:

that gives me hope for the future, Brad, and that this

Michael K Jackson:

won't be the end of me at all, or it it it doesn't necessarily

Michael K Jackson:

have to be you know, the end of me it's based on on your

Michael K Jackson:

choices. But the benefits of Erlang are manifold.

Brad Miller:

And the fact that you're recording it, you know,

Brad Miller:

you're recording it writing it down for some people audio

Brad Miller:

journal, things like this, but also the you can combine the the

Brad Miller:

spiritual element and the journaling element together as

Brad Miller:

well, if you choose to, as well as many other things, you know,

Brad Miller:

some people kind of give an example some people kind of

Brad Miller:

journal in a way by letter writing, you know, they'll write

Brad Miller:

letters to a loved one or a neighbor or, you know, even a

Brad Miller:

fan of someone, sometimes they write letters or don't even send

Brad Miller:

them but they process and that's a message way but writing things

Brad Miller:

down or processing them audio or in a tackle author through

Brad Miller:

writing is so important. Michael, you've been able to get

Brad Miller:

this whole plan the P L. A, and plan here is all about your

Brad Miller:

resilience building blueprint, is that correct? That is

Brad Miller:

correct. I

Michael K Jackson:

always say Brad, if it you know, in terms

Michael K Jackson:

of building or rebuilding a house, if you will, or any, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, any structure, right? You start with plans and blueprints.

Michael K Jackson:

So this is your blueprint for rebuilding your life.

Brad Miller:

And this is the foundation of the business that

Brad Miller:

you have built now, which basically has the theme of

Brad Miller:

building back stronger. And you have put together this business

Brad Miller:

was speaking and teaching and you're a writer, and you you do

Brad Miller:

workshops and so on. Tell us a bit about that and what the

Brad Miller:

manifesting Have that and I'm particularly interested in

Brad Miller:

Michael, any stories you may have of people or groups that

Brad Miller:

you may have worked with where you've seen some results or seen

Brad Miller:

some manifestation of what you're teaching about your

Brad Miller:

resilience building blueprint.

Michael K Jackson:

Absolutely. So yes, as you mentioned, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, the, an outgrowth of my process of reflection after

Michael K Jackson:

losing my dad was to start this speaking and training business,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, Michael Kay Jackson International. And, for me, you

Michael K Jackson:

know, as you know, in terms of purpose, this is quite aligned

Michael K Jackson:

with my, with my, my career choices, and, you know, I come

Michael K Jackson:

from a background of, of training and speaking, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

first in corporate and then for the government, this was, so

Michael K Jackson:

this was a natural outgrowth to get out there. And now speaking

Michael K Jackson:

and train, you know, various organizations, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

building emotional resilience, and, you know, organizations,

Michael K Jackson:

I've spoken at, you know, several, several conferences,

Michael K Jackson:

done workshops, and so forth. And, you know, the feedback I've

Michael K Jackson:

gotten from participants, which are typically business people,

Michael K Jackson:

professionals, either business owners or, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

professionals in corporate, that have come back to me and say,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, just just thanking me for providing, you know, this

Michael K Jackson:

this blueprint, because, as as, you know, King Solomon said,

Michael K Jackson:

1000s of years ago, Brad, is there's nothing new under the

Michael K Jackson:

sun. Right? You know, so Exactly. So, and even there,

Michael K Jackson:

there are many similarities, and you're applying in my plan, and

Michael K Jackson:

several others, but I think it's the application. So, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

in terms of results, I've I've, you know, gotten, like I said, a

Michael K Jackson:

ton of feedback from people in terms of rethinking and

Michael K Jackson:

rethinking, about, for example, journaling, particularly with us

Michael K Jackson:

men, Brad, you know, a lot of men don't like, like journaling,

Michael K Jackson:

because I always say, it's not, it's, this is not an exercise

Michael K Jackson:

for, you know, like, you'd like to think about, you know,

Michael K Jackson:

teenage girls with the with the diaries button, it's really,

Michael K Jackson:

like I said, there's a ton of research around the benefits.

Michael K Jackson:

And, you know, guys have come back and said, you know, you

Michael K Jackson:

know what, this distance, you know, just that practice alone.

Brad Miller:

It's about it's about intentionally processing

Brad Miller:

your thoughts. Sometimes we don't want to do that. Sometimes

Brad Miller:

we just like to like, okay, let's just let it slide, let's

Brad Miller:

let you know, I'd like to see if we can just get through another

Brad Miller:

day. And what you told us in intentional live, exactly

Brad Miller:

intentional living. And your whole process here is about a

Brad Miller:

blueprint. But the blueprint does no good unless you build

Brad Miller:

something on it. And that says, the process here that you're

Brad Miller:

talking about, and how you have at various corporate entities

Brad Miller:

and individuals who you shared with your process. So if people

Brad Miller:

want to find out what you do offer, either your website or

Brad Miller:

otherwise, what kind of things do you offer to be helpful to in

Brad Miller:

a corporate environment? Or even individual coaching? Or whatever

Brad Miller:

it would be? What kinds of things are people going to find

Brad Miller:

when that's contact Michael K. Jackson, calm?

Michael K Jackson:

Yep. So best thing, best, best way to reach

Michael K Jackson:

me is go to Michael K. Jackson, calm and if you are a listen to

Michael K Jackson:

this, and you are or know, a, you know, a meeting planner,

Michael K Jackson:

meeting professional, you know, I one thing I do is, is to do

Michael K Jackson:

keynote speeches and workshops, at conferences, but I also

Michael K Jackson:

partner with various associations and companies

Michael K Jackson:

themselves who want to particularly in this time,

Michael K Jackson:

there's a huge focus on emotional well being mental well

Michael K Jackson:

being, you know, in light of what we've all gone through with

Michael K Jackson:

COVID what we've gone through with and are still going through

Michael K Jackson:

with, you know, the various, you know, racial and justices that

Michael K Jackson:

have happened across the past year that we continue to witness

Michael K Jackson:

on on television and some continue to experience you know,

Michael K Jackson:

companies and associations want to provide their people with

Michael K Jackson:

tools and capabilities to actually be able to be more

Michael K Jackson:

productive employees. So I, part of what I do is, is come in and

Michael K Jackson:

provide an in particularly in this virtual world come in

Michael K Jackson:

provide a virtual workshop where we kind of take a deeper dive

Michael K Jackson:

into this plan, resilience building framework, so that

Michael K Jackson:

their people can be as I say, you know, more more productive,

Michael K Jackson:

the organization can be more profitable, and boys can have

Michael K Jackson:

more peace of mind basically,

Brad Miller:

what here's the thing, hey, at least I believe

Brad Miller:

this see what you think that a organization a business entity,

Brad Miller:

a family, a church organization, cannot be? Truly productive or

Brad Miller:

live out its its potential if it's been waylaid by adversity,

Brad Miller:

if it's been offered a ditch somewhere, and that's and most

Brad Miller:

and most time, those are individual or, you know,

Brad Miller:

corporate, you know, a business can have a downfall of course,

Brad Miller:

but those downfalls you know, the into individuals, that's

Brad Miller:

what I'm trying to say are the ones who are impacted by

Brad Miller:

adversity, whether it's death in the family, as us indicated,

Brad Miller:

could be a divorce, it could be the COVID crisis disease, you

Brad Miller:

know, or as a cancer or something like that. Our debt,

Brad Miller:

you know, you have a financial reversal, or and all of a

Brad Miller:

sudden, that pension you were counting on wasn't quite there

Brad Miller:

when the business collapsed, and ILA anything along that line,

Brad Miller:

oh, depression, you know, just the overarching mental health

Brad Miller:

thing. Those are individual aspects. And we got to deal with

Brad Miller:

those in order to have success in our businesses, our family or

Brad Miller:

life or anything like that. Then we can find all about this of

Brad Miller:

Michael Kay Jackson. Right? Okay. Jackson, calm? Yes.

Brad Miller:

Awesome. Let's bring it around. One more thing, one more, I like

Brad Miller:

to kind of close with this thought here. And I want your

Brad Miller:

reflection on this, try to put yourself in or try to put

Brad Miller:

yourself in the position of Now, speaking to young man, or

Brad Miller:

perhaps a young woman who's had a devastating experience in

Brad Miller:

their life, you know, you had the devastation of losing your

Brad Miller:

father in a terrible tragedy, a hurricane. But now somebody has

Brad Miller:

come to you and said, Michael, I've had this devastation in my

Brad Miller:

life, I'm going through a divorce, or I lost my job, or I

Brad Miller:

lost my business or, you know, I had a death in the family or

Brad Miller:

maybe my own health issues. What kinds of things would you share

Brad Miller:

with that person? What kind of a thing would you share to help

Brad Miller:

that person to move out of being stuck out of their pajamas as it

Brad Miller:

were into a different place? What are you going to share with

Brad Miller:

that person? What kind of things are you going to build with

Brad Miller:

them?

Michael K Jackson:

First and most important thing, I would

Michael K Jackson:

say something always say and that's to make adversity your

Michael K Jackson:

advisor, not your adversary, make adversity your advisor, not

Michael K Jackson:

your adversary, you know, we we have a choice, right, as we've

Michael K Jackson:

said, in terms of, okay, you know, we've experienced this,

Michael K Jackson:

this loss, we're in whatever form that loss has taken. And we

Michael K Jackson:

can either allow it to crush us or allow it to actually have

Michael K Jackson:

some benefit and rebuild. And it begins with, you know, the

Michael K Jackson:

renewing of the mind, it begins by your perspective on this

Michael K Jackson:

situation. So I say, change the wave initially, if you're

Michael K Jackson:

looking at it negatively, change the way you're looking at this

Michael K Jackson:

situation, because, you know, just, you know, and I feel free

Michael K Jackson:

to, to say this here that my life verse, Brad, as Romans 828,

Michael K Jackson:

you know, all things work together for the good of those

Michael K Jackson:

who love Him who are called according to His purpose. It's

Michael K Jackson:

all about knowing that, and this is what I know pastor mine told

Michael K Jackson:

me to a long time ago, nothing is wasted. It's it's all about

Michael K Jackson:

how you view the situation. So if somebody came to me and asked

Michael K Jackson:

me that question, I would deal with mindset first, it's all in

Michael K Jackson:

how you look at a situation, make adversity advisor, not your

Michael K Jackson:

adversary. And one of the ways you do that is to actually

Michael K Jackson:

implement this plan, resilience building framework.

Brad Miller:

What a great way to end our conversation here,

Brad Miller:

Michael, what a gem make adversity, your advisor, not

Brad Miller:

your adversarial. I love that. I want to use it myself a little

Brad Miller:

bit. So appreciate. Just give me credit card. Absolutely.

Brad Miller:

Absolutely. Well, it's been a pleasure having you with us here

Brad Miller:

today. I commend to our listeners here on beyond

Brad Miller:

adversity. Michael K. jackson.com. His resources that

Brad Miller:

he has there on his website and his his book,

Michael K Jackson:

I'd also like to in just invite your your

Michael K Jackson:

listeners to gratitude, feel free to connect with me on

Michael K Jackson:

social media. I'm most active on LinkedIn, you can find me that

Michael K Jackson:

Michael, Michael K. Jackson,

Brad Miller:

very good. And we will put all those links of all

Brad Miller:

your social media in our show notes at Dr. Brad Miller calm.

Brad Miller:

Pleasure to have you with us here today. Our guest today on

Brad Miller:

the beyond adversity podcast, Michael K. Jackson.

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