Episode 58

Episode #55 - Becoming The Best Health-Conscious Version Of Yourself: An Interview With David Specht

Being able to work on yourself mentally is only one piece of the overall puzzle. Working on yourself physically can be a overwhelming challenge in itself too. For our guest, David A. Specht Jr., it was a challenge of having both of these aspects involved especially with the passing of his father later in life that radically shifted his focus and importance of helping others. From being a veteran, to being a newspaper owner, to now helping others in their health journey, David shares a variety of different "valley and mountaintop" moments throughout this conversation that shares a common thread of working on ourselves to help not only be the best versions, but to help achieve success in a wide variety of different ways, no matter how hard it is to work on it.

Guest Bio

For David A. Specht, leadership has been more than a vocation but a way of life. A veteran of the first gulf war, David has led organizations of many types and sizes.

For the bulk of his career, David has been the President of Specht Newspapers, Inc., a media and marketing company in Louisiana.

In 2018, David and his wife, Tina, embarked on a health journey, losing a combined 180 pounds. This journey led to what David calls his “impact passion” for health coaching. Since then, their business, Specht Health Coaching, has directly impacted hundreds while indirectly impacting thousands of people who seek a solution for their health and weight loss challenges.

He has launched multiple podcasts, spoken before numerous crowds of business leaders, and written a leadership blog at davidaspecht.com for more than ten years.

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/david.a.specht

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/SpechtHealthCoaching

@davidaspecht on Instagram

Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/davidaspecht

YouTube Page: https://www.youtube.com/@davidaspecht

Website: https://davidaspecht.com/spechthealth/

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Intro/Outro By: Michael Dugan, Podcast Host: Voice4Chefs

Transcript
Intro:

Welcome to the podcast where relationships, confidence, and

Intro:

determination, all converge into an amazing, heartfelt experience.

Intro:

This is Speaking From The Heart.

Joshua:

Welcome back to episode number 55 of Speaking from the Heart.

Joshua:

Today we'll have David Specht joining us.

Joshua:

He's a veteran of the First Gulf War and he has led many organizations of various

Joshua:

types and sizes, and for the bulk of his career, David's been the President of

Joshua:

Specht Newspapers Incorporated, which is a media marketing company in Louisiana.

Joshua:

In 2018, David and his wife Tina, embarked on a health journey in which

Joshua:

they lost, combined, 180 pounds.

Joshua:

This journey led to what David called his impact passion which is health

Joshua:

coaching, and since then, he opened his business, SPECHT Health Coaching,

Joshua:

which has directly impacted hundreds while indirectly impacting thousands

Joshua:

of people who seek a solution for their health and rate loss challenges.

Joshua:

He has launched multiple podcasts, spoken before numerous

Joshua:

crowds of business leaders.

Joshua:

And written a leadership blog@davidaspeck.com for more than

Joshua:

10 years, and our conversation really focuses on not only the things that he

Joshua:

has achieved, not only throughout the digital transfer of so many different

Joshua:

things that have happened in the media industry, but reflecting on the fact that

Joshua:

no matter where you are at in your life, no matter what kinds of things that might

Joshua:

occur, you always have the opportunity to navigate through them and can start at

Joshua:

any place at any time, and I think that's what makes David's story so inspiring

Joshua:

for many people that will listen.

Joshua:

But with that, let's go to the episode.

Joshua:

All right.

Joshua:

We're here with David Specht.

Joshua:

David, thanks for sharing your heart with us today.

David:

Oh man, josh, thank you for having me on.

David:

I mean, I'm super pumped about being on the show today.

Joshua:

I am too, and I want to thank you too, and I want to thank the BuzzSprout

Joshua:

community for connecting us and-

David:

Absolutely, yes.

Joshua:

I have absolutely enjoyed listening to people's comments on there

Joshua:

and getting to learn so much about podcasting through this experience

Joshua:

that I've been undergoing, so thank you for having this connection.

Joshua:

I feel like we have a lot we could talk about today and

David:

Oh yeah, it's going to be hard just funneling it into the little bit

David:

of time we have together for sure.

Joshua:

Absolutely, so David, I already let the audience know about

Joshua:

your impressive background because it definitely is, and really my first

Joshua:

question is about how you got yourself into the military, because I saw

Joshua:

that you are a veteran of the First Gulf War, which I always say to my

Joshua:

veterans, thank you for your service.

Joshua:

It's really appreciative.

Joshua:

I'm wondering if you could tell us a little bit about how you got started

Joshua:

with that experience and essentially what led you into being in the military?

David:

Wow, so if I were to characterize it in two words, it

David:

would be called gross immaturity.

Joshua:

I know about that very well.

David:

Yeah, so just to give you an idea, I graduated high

David:

school in 1987 in Largo, Florida.

David:

There's a whole story behind there.

David:

We can talk about it offline.

David:

Anyway-

Joshua:

And I want to give you a perspective that 1987 is when I

Joshua:

was born, so just so you're aware.

David:

There you go, so 1987, I graduated in June.

David:

I go to St.

David:

Petersburg Junior College that fall, and when I say I went

David:

there, that means I was on campus.

David:

Okay?

David:

I had a job selling athletic shoes at a place called Sports Unlimited, and

David:

I realized that college wasn't for me.

David:

All the people I'd said goodbye to three months earlier I'm saying

David:

hello to here on this campus.

David:

All the guys and girls that didn't go off to college.

David:

All of us homebodies, if you will, and I just, I was very immature.

David:

I didn't attend class.

David:

There's a lot of responsibility put on you as a freshman, right?

David:

You're supposed to go to class, but yet, classes happen at different times, and

David:

quite frankly, I was just very immature and didn't go to class, and I knew that I

David:

was going to flunk out of my freshman year of college, and I knew that my parents

David:

would probably kill me, so that is when a buddy of mine who was still in high school

David:

said, "Man, I'm on delayed enlistment.

David:

I'm joining the US Air Force.

David:

It's going to be amazing.", and to backtrack just a hair, I had taken the

David:

ASVAB, which is the vocational aptitude battery test for all of the military,

David:

and I did so well on it, I was just getting recruited left and right.

David:

Every recruiter was calling my house every night for a period of time, and

David:

so I knew I could get in, so I went.

David:

I found myself in an Air Force recruiter's office in the fall of

David:

1987 and they said you qualify for basically everything we have to offer.

David:

They give me this laundry list of things, of careers that I have absolutely no

David:

idea what any of them mean, and next thing I know, I'm getting a physical, I'm

David:

signing on the dotted line and February 19th of 1988, my happy butt went to

David:

Lackland Air Force Base, Texas for basic training, and so that's how I got there.

David:

Once I got there, I wish I could tell you that the story, " Oh, he did great.

David:

He ran up the ranks."

David:

No, I still made a bunch of knuckleheaded decisions during then.

David:

I was still very much the same immature guy.

David:

I just had major, major boundaries now, and those boundaries, when

David:

I'd hit up against them, they would knock me back into place.

David:

I tried to quit the night I got there.

David:

I tried to.

David:

I made mistakes in tech school.

David:

I made mistakes.

David:

I made financial errors even my second year in that really

David:

could have screwed up my career.

David:

It could have delayed my wedding.

David:

I mean, there was just all this mess going on, but something clicked that

David:

the boundaries and the responsibility that I had clicked, and right before

David:

the last batch of my mistakes.

David:

I get married in May of 1990.

David:

I deployed in the First Gulf War in August of 1990, so a lot of growing up took place

David:

in the year of 1990, and so to me, that was probably the thing that really started

David:

me on my leadership journey was this.

David:

I had made the mistakes.

David:

I had gotten my hand slapped.

David:

I had gotten pushed back into dead center, but I was still given the responsibility.

David:

I was working on multi-million dollar aircraft fixing the navigation systems.

David:

I was in charge of people and having to lead a group of individuals, so all

David:

of those things came into play, but it didn't start, and maybe this is one of

David:

the lessons there is that you don't have to necessarily start right to end right.

David:

You can start completely the wrong reason and completely the wrong

David:

skillset, but you can develop those things to where they can actually

David:

catapult you forward as life goes on.

Joshua:

I had a recent guest that actually talked about that too.

Joshua:

She is a doula and a doula is somebody that provides care for a partner or even

Joshua:

the soon to be mother of individuals that are expecting, and it's funny

Joshua:

you say that because she kind of fell into it herself without really having

Joshua:

a guidebook or a plan, if you will, to get to point A to point B and then she

Joshua:

was trying to figure that out, and I find that interesting that you had a

Joshua:

similar experience, but in the military.

Joshua:

Was there somebody in the military that you looked up to that really gave you the

Joshua:

inspiration for the rest of your life?

Joshua:

Was there a commanding officer or maybe a colleague that was serving

Joshua:

alongside you that really helped you to focus and give you that maturity?

Joshua:

Since you've been talking a lot about being immature until you got through that.

Joshua:

Can you describe that person?

David:

Yeah, I can even give you his name.

David:

His name is Willie Morrison.

David:

He was my direct supervisor when I was in the avionic shop at my duty station.

David:

During my last set of screw-ups that I would call the last set while I was in

David:

the military, he started saying, "David, you're not going to make it through this

David:

thing if you don't smarten up.", and he did more than take me under his wing.

David:

I was a single airman living in the dormitories.

David:

He was married.

David:

He and his wife would invite me over to their house when I met my wife up in

David:

Maine; I know long story there too, but we would hang out as couples together, okay?

David:

I mean, he really took me under his wing and believed in me and

David:

saw the potential in me beyond what the negative report said, right?

David:

He saw that I was a good guy with a good heart and that I

David:

wanted to do the right thing.

David:

I just made a lot of wrong decisions in the process and he and an another fellow

David:

by the name of Neil Keefer, they were good friends, really kind of brought

David:

me into their fold and I'm not going to say they kept me from doing anything,

David:

but they gave me enough structure in the relationship to where I wouldn't

David:

go venturing off and making these bad mistakes or they would at least ask the

David:

question, "David, are you sure you want to do that?", and so it's interesting.

David:

I want to bring this point out because I think it's hilarious now.

David:

Willie was the best man in my wedding, okay?

David:

That, that-

Joshua:

Oh, wow.

David:

So that tells you how close that relationship got.

David:

He is actually one of my health coaching clients and has lost 130

David:

pounds in the year of 2022, so our roles have kind of switched.

David:

He was leading me, mentoring me, coaching me, and then all of a sudden, not all

David:

of a sudden, because it took 30 years, but 30 years later, here we are, and

David:

we became very close through the health journey and I have helped coach him,

David:

so there's this great deal of personal satisfaction on my part that I was able

David:

to, in some small way, repay him for what he did for me 30 plus years ago.

Joshua:

I love that because for me, I have met people maybe a long time

Joshua:

ago, and because of the podcast, I've actually been able to bring them back on.

Joshua:

I had a person that I knew 18 years ago haven't talked to them.

Joshua:

I was able to bring them on and we had a really awesome conversation about that.

Joshua:

Her name's Kim Herbein.

Joshua:

Check out that episode if anybody's interested about how that conversation

Joshua:

went, but David, you bring up a great point in that we can be the leader in

Joshua:

a certain situation, but the roles can reverse in which that person might need

Joshua:

our help and we need to be the leader too so it's always about exchanging

Joshua:

that power, that control, because of maybe what our skillset is or maybe

Joshua:

something that we're going through, and I can't tell you how many times

Joshua:

I've been through that experience-

David:

mm-hmm.

Joshua:

Especially being a public servant myself.

Joshua:

I want to get into your health coaching in a moment, but before you did that

Joshua:

and really started that business, I noticed that you had done a lot of

Joshua:

work in the communications field, more specifically with newspapers and

David:

Yes.

Joshua:

I've been really fascinated about that.

Joshua:

I was a communications major when I went to school.

Joshua:

I didn't actually act on that, although many of the skills that I learned really

Joshua:

helped me get started with the business that I have now, along with even some

Joshua:

of the things that I have accomplished, but tell me how you got to move from the

Joshua:

military over to newspapers, because I think that has to be a story in itself.

David:

Well, long and short is that my family has been in the newspaper business

David:

since the early sixties and I'm a third generation of that, although it's an odd

David:

scenario because my dad was actually the first generation, he brought his father

David:

and his brother in the mid seventies, and so I was the one coming in the nineties,

David:

but what I had learned was the base that I was stationed at was getting ready to

David:

close, and this southern boy didn't like being in the cold in the first place, and

David:

the next base that they were talking about sending us to was going to be in Michigan.

David:

I knew I wasn't going to be a lifer in the military.

David:

I knew that going in.

David:

I knew that the entire time I was there and then come to find out, shortly after

David:

I had left for my military service, my dad had to go essentially rescue a newspaper

David:

that he owned in Kentucky and they moved, and I had this sense of abandonment

David:

like that I abandoned the family when the family needed me, so I had all of

David:

these playing together and so I was just like, "When I get out, I'm getting in

David:

the family business, I'm going to do the thing", et cetera, and they started me in

David:

advertising sales, which was weird, but again, at the end of the day, I see why.

David:

I see how everything is played together and worked together for who I am today.

David:

I started off in advertising sales at a newspaper we owned, but not a

David:

town that we ever lived in, in the panhandle of Florida, and so I kind of

David:

cut my chops there, started learning some of the things there; really

David:

started learning graphic design.

David:

That was really my gateway drug because they had Macintosh computers there,

David:

the little square ones with the black and white screens and a mouse and, "How

David:

do you do this?", and "Oh, this is so cool.", and I learned how to do basic

David:

graphic design and then I started learning production, and I would talk to my dad

David:

on the phone and he's like, "Son, look.

David:

You need to know if you're ever going to run a newspaper, you need to

David:

know how to do everything in there.

David:

You don't want anyone to hold anything over your head or hold your production

David:

or hold your sales or hold anything.

David:

You've got to be able to", and so I really made it my desire, my job, to learn how to

David:

do everything, and not everybody liked it.

David:

The owner's son sitting there talking to a editor about how to write a

David:

headline or coming up with ideas.

David:

It was quite the weird balance because there was this silver spoon syndrome

David:

where they thought I was there with a silver spoon, but yet I knew on my side,

David:

my dad still was constantly telling the publisher there, "Hey, if my son's

David:

not cutting it, fire him.", you know, so I was just like, "You don't get me.

David:

I don't get you, but we got to do this thing together.", and slowly but

David:

surely over time, I transferred from the newspaper in the panhandle of

David:

Florida to Menden, Louisiana, which is where I was born and grew up.

Joshua:

Wow.

David:

Up until about high school age, and so I came to work at that

David:

newspaper, eventually publishing it.

David:

We eventually bought a newspaper in a neighboring community, and that was really

David:

where I learned so much about leadership.

David:

I learned journalism.

David:

I wrote my first sports story and I handed it to my father who was at the

David:

paper at the time, and he said, "Where'd you learn how to write this?", and

David:

I said, "What do you mean?", and he said, " You did the inverted pyramid.

David:

You did the who, what, when, where, why, and the lead.

David:

All the things that I said."

David:

I said, "I read what people write and I write what I've seen before", and he's

David:

like, "Cool.", and so I became sports editor, then I became editor, then

David:

I became publisher, so I learned all sides of the house in the newspaper and

David:

then the whole world started changing.

David:

The internet came on; websites became a thing.

David:

I learned how to design websites because the necessity of it.

David:

I'm an early adopter when it comes to technology.

David:

If there's something I can figure out how to make benefit what I do,

David:

I'm going to lean in and at least explore it, and so all of that played

David:

into, and I made a lot of mistakes.

David:

Look, guys, let's be honest.

David:

I'm telling you the cliff notes; the 30,000 foot view.

David:

The roses and the wonderful pictures.

David:

The sunset.

David:

It was a crap show most of the time, okay?

David:

You don't learn on the mountaintop.

David:

You learn in the valley, right?

David:

When everything's going wrong and the whole system crashes or you don't hit

David:

those numbers, or you have to make a tough employment decision about somebody, so

David:

all of those things came into play and that was really my training ground, and

David:

then my dad died in 2011, and all of a sudden I went from the responsibility of

David:

one newspaper, one staff, to an entire company, which was contracting, by the

David:

way, thanks to Facebook and the internet.

David:

Yeah.

David:

That's a whole another podcast we could do about how newspapers

David:

are fighting through contraction.

Joshua:

Yep.

David:

But in that moment, I said, "Oh, I had the lives and the families of all

David:

of these team members on my shoulders.

David:

I've got to become a better leader", and so that's when I started

David:

leaning into personal development and leadership development.

David:

I started reading John Maxwell, the very first leadership business

David:

book I read was Good to Great.

David:

Checked it out from the local library and I had to keep it for an extra two weeks

David:

because I'm such a slow reader at times, but it was one of those things, okay?

David:

It started feeding me and I started learning skills and I started

David:

implementing them, and I would get pushback, but I would push through and

David:

I have what I consider project ADD.

David:

I got a hundred ideas a day and maybe one of them is good and I got

David:

to figure out which one, so all of that has led me to who I am today

David:

and I still own the newspapers.

David:

You mentioned the health coaching.

David:

Health coaching is one of about 18 facets of who David is, but

David:

they all come into play and they all kind of help one another.

David:

The skill sets I learned as a health coach helped me in individual personal

David:

development with my team members and what I learned in journalism

David:

helps me understand other people's perspectives, and so they all really

David:

have fed each other through the years.

Joshua:

I was thinking about that as you were talking about the people

Joshua:

that you interacted with while at the newspaper that your dad essentially

Joshua:

helped continue on because you were talking about the fact that, yeah, it's

Joshua:

about making those personal connections.

Joshua:

It's about being able to help people understand what's happening in the world,

Joshua:

but also helping that staff to coach them through what are the things that

Joshua:

they should be considering, and I feel that we all have similar natures in that

Joshua:

some people don't have those best role models to really provide that opportunity,

Joshua:

which is why there's always somebody that is helping you out and trying to

Joshua:

get you there because let's face it.

Joshua:

Anybody can go on Facebook and start to create a page and say, "I'm a coach", and

Joshua:

they don't really have that background, or they don't have that story to really

Joshua:

go along with it as to why they qualify as being a coach and I have had a lot of

Joshua:

that especially starting out, but I have overcome that to realize that there's

Joshua:

always a authentic connection to go alongside of it, to help us understand

Joshua:

why the world functions the way it does which as you were saying that, do you

Joshua:

feel that the military career that you had alongside the newspapers that you

Joshua:

still continue to do, not probably at the same scale, but do you feel that both of

Joshua:

those things really have helped you with starting your health coaching business,

Joshua:

because it sounds to me that there is so much overlap like you mentioned,

Joshua:

but more importantly, I feel like that really helps identify who you are, David,

Joshua:

because of the leadership style along with the communication style that you have.

Joshua:

Do you feel like those two things prepared you for being a coach yourself?

David:

I believe so.

David:

I've heard multiple people say it.

David:

I think probably the last person I heard use this phrase was Ed Mylet, and

David:

he said," Life doesn't happen to me.

David:

It happens for me.", and everything that happens in your life, whether

David:

good or bad, leads you to the point of who you are now and how you are now.

David:

One of the things that always sticks in the back of my mind for my military

David:

leadership training was praise in public and criticize in private, and

David:

so, I wish I could say I always adhered to that, but it was always back there

David:

and when I would not adhere to that phrase would just scream at me from

David:

the back of my mind, so there's that.

David:

We do a lot of that in our health coaching business.

David:

If somebody is on a journey, we have a online community and we celebrate

David:

people for their wins, but if they're struggling, we don't sit there and

David:

put, "Hey, everybody pray for Bob.

David:

Bob can't keep the donuts out of his mouth."

David:

That's not what we do, so there's that.

David:

Number two, and I think this is a really huge thing.

David:

As a journalist, you have to become an active listener, because even if you're

David:

recording a conversation where you're pulling quotes, you're actively listening

David:

for where in the conversation those quotes are that will fit into the overall

David:

narrative that's building through the conversation, and so one of the things I

David:

have to do as a health coach, a business coach, a life coach, whatever you want

David:

to call it, is really listen for where the heart of that person's issue is.

David:

I believe that a lot of times you hear health coach, you think diet coach, you

David:

think weight loss and certainly that comes along with it, but to me, obesity, in a

David:

lot of ways, is simply outside evidence of an internal issue, and finding out the why

David:

did you comfort yourself with food in bad times or do you come from an environment

David:

where food was the central thing?

David:

In Louisiana, we claim that we eat vegetables, but we usually

David:

bread them and fry them and oil.

David:

I mean, that's the way they do it.

David:

Tennessee; we take our alcoholism extremely seriously.

David:

There's a distillery on every corner.

David:

Jack Daniels is literally 45 minutes from my house, so-

Joshua:

Yes, I'm hoping you send me a bottle on the way back after doing this.

Joshua:

Thank you for that.

David:

I, yeah-

Joshua:

I'm thanking you in advance.

David:

There you go, but again, I could go and be very surface and say, "Oh,

David:

he needs to lose 150 pounds," or, "She needs to lose 40 pounds", but really

David:

and truly, until I hear from you and I have to be an active listener, until

David:

I hear from you number one, why are you wanting health coaching, or why

David:

are you wanting business coaching, or why are you wanting, because alot of

David:

times like, "Well, my buddy did this, or da da da", or, "I don't feel good."

David:

Okay, let's figure out these whys and that takes that skillset of active

David:

listening that I have been able to translate from journalism to coaching.

David:

Now, here's the other thing.

David:

You have to be strong enough to tell people something that they may or may not

David:

want to hear; in a loving way, obviously.

David:

As a journalist, I also was a editorial writer in my

David:

community and everybody knew it.

David:

I was from a community of 13,000 people.

David:

They knew that Dave Specht Jr.

David:

wrote the editorial criticizing the school board or whatever, so

David:

I had to develop a thick skin.

David:

Again, I'm not saying that the thick skin is hardness.

David:

I'm not saying that.

David:

I'm not saying I don't have compassion.

David:

What I'm saying is when I know I have a solution and I want to help you reach

David:

your solution, your desired outcome, sometimes you may not might be nice to me,

David:

and so I have to be convinced in my own convictions that what I'm doing is helping

David:

you and it's like you can disagree, agree, or disagree with me, but I'm telling

David:

you this will work in this way, or if I say, " Hey, Thanksgiving's coming up.

David:

What is your plan?", and like, "Well, I don't have a plan."

David:

"Well, you better get one because your plan, you will fail.

David:

You will fall off the wagon in a great way."

David:

Now, if you want to choose to fall off the wagon, be man enough, woman enough,

David:

go ahead and tell me, "Hey, I'm going to eat this stuff.", okay, and then

David:

we'll get back onto it on Black Friday.

David:

Fine, but again, it takes all those skill sets and knowing those things all

David:

again, everything in my life, whether I'm willing to recognize it or not,

David:

has prepared me to be the person I am today for the season that I am in now.

Joshua:

That's a profound statement right there at the end because it is

Joshua:

everything that we go through and you even mentioned this earlier about being

Joshua:

in the valleys and being able to navigate through those to then have the mountaintop

Joshua:

successes because right there is where I'm practicing active listening, I was

Joshua:

paying attention to you and making those connections because what you said is

Joshua:

really a two-way street that I feel that for coaches, we have to always weigh.

Joshua:

First off, what's the value that we're giving our clients, but number two,

Joshua:

what are we giving ourselves as value?

Joshua:

What's our proposition that we are providing to ourselves, because yeah,

Joshua:

I can go and charge that person nothing for wanting to help them, but is that

Joshua:

really giving them skin in the game, knowing that I'm putting a lot of my

Joshua:

time and resources into that and I think a lot of people don't understand that

Joshua:

concept and they're always thinking about: what's the monetary aspect?

Joshua:

How much money does this cost, but no, it's about the relationships that we

Joshua:

form and I've been learning that quite a lot about business and understanding too

Joshua:

that sometimes we need to have our own inherent worth, which this leads into the

Joshua:

question that I've been wanting to ask.

Joshua:

Obviously, you weigh a lot, David.

David:

Mm-hmm.

Joshua:

You shed a whole person off by taking out really 180 pounds between

Joshua:

you and your wife Tina, which I noticed.

Joshua:

Was there really an internal issue happening with you that

Joshua:

kind of caused that to happen?

David:

Oh, I think any time in life when you're dealing with things and we don't

David:

ever deal with just one thing, right?

David:

If you're a young parent, you're dealing with lack of sleep.

David:

You're dealing with all the stressors of being a parent, afraid you're going

David:

to screw up your kids somehow, that you're going to make the cardinal

David:

error that's going to turn them into a serial killer or something, and then

David:

you have the pressures of business.

David:

Oh, and then if you're in leadership at all, everything involves a meal, right?

David:

You have luncheons, you have dinner dates, you have banquets, you have

David:

all the things, and then to me, I was also trying to keep a degree of

David:

separation, so a lot of times I would not eat with staff members and so the

David:

next thing you know is I'm going to the Burger King drive through and eating

David:

it on the way back to the office.

David:

My dad passing had a profound effect on me as well.

David:

That stressor caused me to eat and other things.

David:

When I was in the Air Force.

David:

I got out of the Air Force I was 205 pounds.

David:

I was two 40 within six weeks.

Joshua:

Wow.

David:

It was just the free for all, right, plus there was not the

David:

activity, the motion, the moving, climbing in and out of an aircraft

David:

to fix it and all of the things.

David:

By the time I decided to go on the health journey in 2018, I was 325 pounds, and

David:

I was in great denial, meaning I would make jokes like, "I'm fat and happy.

David:

I'm married.

David:

Who do I got to impress?", those kind of things.

David:

"What do you mean corn's not a vegetable?", those types of things.

David:

My wife came home one day, and now you have to understand, I'm really kind of

David:

compressing this, but she was the one that was the early adopter on health things.

David:

Pink drink, shakes, whatever, supplements she would try

David:

everything that came down the pike.

David:

Well, we watched some friends of ours lose a considerable amount of weight.

David:

Some friends that we had been out of contact with for years, and she

David:

goes, "I want to do what they're doing.", and I'm like, "No, you don't.

David:

You're going to quit it, just like you quit everything else."

David:

Real supportive husband I was and no, she's like, "Look, my

David:

dad just had a health scare.

David:

He's had his third open heart surgery.

David:

I inherited a lot of his genes.

David:

I've got diabetes.

David:

I've got to do something.", and I'm like, "The only way you're going to do

David:

something is if I hold you accountable."

Joshua:

Mm-hmm.

David:

Yeah.

David:

This is me, and understand this is me speaking, but internally

David:

I'm scared to death, okay?

David:

We guys; we're really good at hiding our internal fears and projecting

David:

ourselves as I'm doing this for you.

Joshua:

Guilty as charged.

David:

And so I told her, I said, "Okay, this is what we're going to do.

David:

It's twofold.

David:

Number one, I will go on the program you're going on for 30 days.

David:

We'll do it together just to hold you accountable to make sure you

David:

stick with something for 30 days.

David:

Number two, whatever you put in front of me, I'll eat no questions asked", because

David:

in my brain I'm like, "Okay, even if I hate it, if I get enough Coke Zero, I can

David:

swallow it and survive for a little bit."

David:

Again, probably the dumbest and smartest thing I ever said in my life.

David:

We started a program that our friends were coaching.

David:

I lost 16 pounds week one.

Joshua:

Wow.

David:

Which is unheard of.

Joshua:

Mm-hmm.

David:

But of course I had a lot of water weight to lose.

David:

You can dive into the physiology of it all, but we're doing this

David:

thing and I'm making progress and the traction I believe in that is

David:

what encouraged me to keep going.

David:

They always say find your why.

David:

If you had the right why, you can do anything.

David:

I didn't have a why at that point, because I didn't know what was possible, but when

David:

I started losing the weight, because my initial goal was because I had heard a

David:

doctor tell me one time, "David, if you could get to 250 pounds, you'll be okay."

David:

I was on everything from pre-diabetic medicines to blood pressure

David:

medicines, to anti-inflammatories.

David:

I had the day of the week pill bottle and I was 49.

David:

About a month into it when we hit that 30 days and it's time

David:

to reorder the stuff again.

David:

Again, it's not about the stuff, it's about all the coaching and the communities

David:

and all the things that support the stuff.

David:

When it was time to order again, I was like, "Babe, we're going to keep on this."

David:

She had lost some weight and she had set her goal, I don't even remember, because

David:

you know better than to ask a lady what her weight is or her weight goal is.

Joshua:

Or her age.

David:

Yeah; or her age.

David:

Yes, and so I said, "Here's what I want to do."

David:

I said, "I want to hit 250 pounds by the time I'm 50", very doable.

David:

70 pounds.

David:

Okay, I can do that; so we're rocking along.

David:

I hit 250 by Labor Day; started in April, hit it by Labor Day.

David:

I'm like, "Okay, what do I do now?"

David:

We look at the thing that no human being who's trying to lose weight, should

ever, ever, ever look at:

the BMI chart.

ever, ever, ever look at:

I looked at my BMI and my BMI for our six foot five guy is 210 pounds; 210.

ever, ever, ever look at:

I'm like, "Oh my gosh."

ever, ever, ever look at:

I said, "Well, I'm going to stay on this until Tina reaches

ever, ever, ever look at:

her goal, so let's see it."

ever, ever, ever look at:

I hit 210 in November.

Joshua:

Oh my goodness.

David:

Of the same year again, low glycemic.

David:

You have to understand it's a fat burn, weight loss, but here's the thing.

David:

I'm learning.

David:

I'm in classes every week, learning habits of health.

David:

I'm supported by a community.

David:

I have a coach teaching me and holding me accountable.

David:

By this point, Tina and I are becoming coaches because we see the value,

David:

we want to pay it forward, and there is an intrinsic accountability to

David:

being a coach, because people are looking to you, so I needed that.

David:

I'm a food addict.

David:

I am a food addict to this day, okay?

David:

Just because I'm 215 now, which is where I settled in at, doesn't

David:

mean I don't have food addiction.

David:

It just means I manage my food addiction very, very well, and if things get

David:

out of kilter, I can put the brakes on, or I can keep myself out of the

David:

environments, and I tell all this for the listener to understand that my

David:

issues and your issues don't have to be the same to achieve the same results.

David:

Once I started losing weight, I started seeing what was possible and what was

David:

possible for me is then getting back, and again, it sounds like I got dad issues,

David:

but going back to my father, my father was a great active grandfather to my boys,

David:

and so I had at the time when I started my health journey, my son had been married

David:

and we knew that a grandbaby was going to be on the way eventually, and so I'm

David:

like, "I want to be the grandfather that's playing on the floor, not the grandfather

David:

that's sitting in the recliner."

Joshua:

Mm-hmm.

David:

And so that became a motivational factor for me, and then when they got

David:

pregnant and I'm at my goal weight and I'm like, "Here we go", and so I've got

David:

my grandson will be four this year and we do a lot of stuff together that I

David:

never could have done at 325 pounds, so the idea of not only losing the weight,

David:

but creating that life where I can take the skillsets that we've talked about

David:

so far, I can take the results, like you said, all you have to do is Facebook

David:

stalk me and you see what I've done.

David:

No pat on Dave's back, but that what we do works, and then you

David:

see me active and enjoying that life with family, with things.

David:

It all just kind of comes together, now have there been troubles?

David:

Yeah.

David:

Is there struggles?

David:

Yeah, and not just in health; everywhere.

David:

I mean, anybody who's in the coaching business knows that back half of 2022

David:

and most of 2023 has been a struggle because coaching, while vital, is

David:

considered a luxury to most people.

David:

They don't want to invest the money in it, so again, we're not talking

David:

about some perfect life that Dave and his wife live or even Josh,

David:

we don't live this perfect life.

David:

We just know that because of the road we've traveled, there's so much more

David:

ahead of us that we haven't lived our best behind us, but that our best

David:

is still ahead of us and so we want to lean in and continue to be better

David:

versions of who we are and that's all we really want anybody to be is be

David:

the very best version of themselves.

David:

Whatever they see that best version to be.

Joshua:

I'm finding that we need to have our best voice out there too,

Joshua:

whether that is the voice that we use to communicate or the non-verbal voice,

Joshua:

which we have through our actions.

David:

Yeah.

Joshua:

David, we're at the end of our time, but I want to give you the last

Joshua:

few minutes to share your business.

Joshua:

How can people reach out to you, contact you, and anything

Joshua:

else that you want to share?

Joshua:

I'll give you the last few minutes.

David:

All right.

David:

Well, easiest thing to do is go to spechthealth.com.

David:

You can see the story of our health journey there.

David:

You can see what it is we coach.

David:

I'm an author.

David:

I'm showing you the copy of my book, but, I know the listener can't see it

David:

because it is a audio podcast, but Old Dogs New Tricks Version 2.0, available

David:

on Amazon, available on Barnes and Noble.

David:

If you'll go to davidaspecht.com/odnt, that'll show you the

David:

book, what it's about.

David:

If you're really interested in hearing more about the story of my leadership

David:

journey, my business journey, and my health journey, I chronicle it all

David:

here, and you're like, "Why is it version 2.0?", because the version

David:

1.0 of everything sucks, right?

David:

If you ever get a 1.0 of a computer program or 1.0 of an app, it sucks,

David:

and the version 1.0 of this that I wrote in 2015 is a terrible book.

David:

I pulled it from shelves.

David:

It was so bad because I wrote it for the wrong reasons.

David:

This incorporates a lot of what I've learned, especially through

David:

COVID of how we've had to pivot.

David:

If you find yourself in a world that seems to have changed around you and

David:

you don't necessarily know how to navigate it or lead others in that world.

David:

Old Dogs New Tricks Version 2.0 will will give you that framework.

David:

Follow me on social, David A Specht, because if you follow David Specht,

David:

it's some guy called the Farm Whisper and I don't know what he

David:

does, but so David A Specht, and my podcast is called Keep This in Mind.

David:

It's available on all the platforms, and really and truly I'm on TikTok.

David:

I do videos every day, Monday through Friday.

David:

I do a long form and a short form video.

David:

You can find it on TikTok and all the reels apps, but really, I'm just trying

David:

to share what I've learned and a few insights, and I'm transparent, so like

David:

when I have an issue or if I don't want to do it, like if I'm demotivated in

David:

the morning, I'll video myself talking about how demotivated I am, so it's

David:

probably pretty interesting to follow me.

David:

Again, those are all the platforms.

David:

David A Specht, you'll find me pretty much everywhere, and love for your

David:

listeners to check out the book.

David:

I think it could move the needle in their lives.

Joshua:

I'm going to go check out the book because I wrote down the title.

Joshua:

I definitely am interested and for those that are interested as well, I'll

Joshua:

also put a link directly to the book if you want to go and check it out and

Joshua:

purchase it yourself, and also all the places in which you can access David.

Joshua:

First off, David, I want to say I would love to have you back because I feel

Joshua:

like we haven't dug into a lot of the different things yet, but from what you

Joshua:

shared today, your military career, your communications career, your coaching

Joshua:

career, it all ties together and I think it just represents to us that we all have

Joshua:

a variety of different experiences in our lives that we can share to others and

Joshua:

to create some of that best version of ourself, and I'm really incredibly proud

Joshua:

of you for what you've done to not only help yourself, but to help other people,

Joshua:

and as a fellow coach to another coach, keep doing what you're doing because

Joshua:

you're doing amazing work where you are and I know that you are continuing to

Joshua:

build that presence, so David, thanks for being on Speaking From The Heart, and I

Joshua:

look forward to our future conversations.

David:

Thank you sir.

David:

Appreciate it.

Joshua:

David's remarkable story for me has been something that I've been

Joshua:

pondering about even after the show, and even then, I have been really thinking

Joshua:

about what I could do to even change my mindset as it comes to different people

Joshua:

that I interact with in my life and even deal with the different boundaries

Joshua:

that we have, because even with some people even trying to support you and

Joshua:

even trying to do some of the very best things in our lives, I think that we

Joshua:

often internalize, we often contemplate the fact that those are things that

Joshua:

we have to overcome in our lives.

Joshua:

The negativity, the boundaries, the issues, the things that we know have to

Joshua:

be overcome, because as we go into the valley, as even we talked about towards

Joshua:

the very end of this episode, we have to sometimes get to the very top of the

Joshua:

mountain and then sometimes go back into the valley again in order to learn a

Joshua:

little bit more, and I think that's really the remarkable part of what David's story

Joshua:

has been about is that although he had some great influences in the military,

Joshua:

he then had to go back and have to deal with some of the most difficult people

Joshua:

in his entire life in order to try to make something for himself, especially

Joshua:

in the newspaper industry, and even though I've had some guests already on

Joshua:

this show that have talked about their communications journey and how they

Joshua:

have met some remarkable people, it's sometimes the not so remarkable people

Joshua:

that we remember, and isn't that so true?

Joshua:

I think of so many different people in my own life that should have

Joshua:

been given no stage whatsoever, but yet every time that we try to give

Joshua:

them that stage, it's because we have some sort of negative thought.

Joshua:

We have some sort of pattern that we're digesting that's creating that version

Joshua:

of what we think is really the person that sucks the most, and that really,

Joshua:

not only sucks the most, but sucks the life out of us and I think that's

Joshua:

really an important lesson is that we have to create some of those boundaries

Joshua:

in our lives, not only to overcome the adversity that we often face, but to

Joshua:

also block out some of that negativity that happens in the first place too.

Joshua:

We could have mistakes that create some of those opportunities too, that help

Joshua:

us to understand so much of what we have to learn in order to become not

Joshua:

only those things that we want to be, but to also understand what everybody

Joshua:

thinks doesn't necessarily mean that's what we should be thinking as well.

Joshua:

It's really about understanding what that expectation is.

Joshua:

The expectation sometimes is a moving target, and I know that even for myself,

Joshua:

I've been through so many different types of conversations with people where that

Joshua:

has been such a troubling aspect, just to be able to move back and forth into

Joshua:

the different types of positions and the roles and understanding that everything

Joshua:

that we have is really important.

Joshua:

The knowledge, the transfer of that knowledge, sharing what we know,

Joshua:

but I think that sometimes we have to break that down into bite-sized

Joshua:

pieces so that others can understand.

Joshua:

The perfect case is that we have people, even clients that I work with specifically

Joshua:

through the business, that if I teach them one type of skill, it doesn't

Joshua:

mean that that same type of teaching is going to work for somebody else.

Joshua:

If it happens to me, not for me, it often creates some of those things that

Joshua:

we have to think about in our daily life, because what happens to us, the

Joshua:

things that we experience are unique to just us, and the things that don't

Joshua:

happen to us, those things that are not for me, those are the things that

Joshua:

often become the hardest lessons that we have to do, and I think that for

Joshua:

even David's journey about obesity and overcoming some of that weight loss with

Joshua:

his wife, I think that is something of a remarkable story in itself that not

Joshua:

many people actually try to overcome.

Joshua:

As a matter of fact, all those different stressors, all those different things that

Joshua:

we have to balance when it comes to not only accountability within our own lives

Joshua:

to make sure that we don't overeat or over consume alcohol or over consume other

Joshua:

vices, have to then go into play with what we should be able to do, what we should be

Joshua:

able to accomplish, what we need to do in order to be a fully functional individual.

Joshua:

I think that we're too scared sometimes to actually create some

Joshua:

of that best value in our lives.

Joshua:

That makes me think of so many times, of all the different types of people, all the

Joshua:

different places where I've been, all the different cultures that I've experienced

Joshua:

and yet even as I continue to grow and even learn, even through my own business

Joshua:

and coaching others, I've realized that even with the things that I teach, even

Joshua:

as I go through some of those things that I am experiencing, some of those best

Joshua:

lessons are learned not only just through the experiences that we have, but also

Joshua:

practice, because David's book, Old Dog New Tricks 2.0, talks a little bit about

Joshua:

that, which I happen to pick up a copy of even after this episode in which I was

Joshua:

able to really understand a lot more about why it's so important to just be able to

Joshua:

have that level of accountability, that support, so that we're able to continue

Joshua:

treating ourselves with respect, with courage, and the ability to understand

Joshua:

that we sometimes have to overcome some of those worst challenges in our lives

Joshua:

in which we'll be able to get to the other side, and I think that's what is

Joshua:

really important in David's story, in which, although you could have been in

Joshua:

the industry of newspapers for so long, it still means that you have to get

Joshua:

over all the different things that are still happening in our lives and still

Joshua:

learn things in which we can evolve, and that's really important key here

Joshua:

is that we have to continue to evolve even as we reach those mountaintops and

Joshua:

then we enter ourselves back into the valley because we know that we can't

Joshua:

always have those mountaintop moments.

Joshua:

If we're able to create some of those best opportunities ourselves, we start

Joshua:

to reduce that stress, the balance that we have in our lives, both the personal

Joshua:

and professional starts to occur, which I've talked about in numerous episodes

Joshua:

about the importance of doing that in which I never had been able to do even

Joshua:

for myself, but sometimes that messaging needs to be repeated over and over and

Joshua:

over again in order to create some of the best values, some of the best boundaries,

Joshua:

some of the best laid out plans that we ever thought we could ever have.

Joshua:

Trying to be something in which you're not is usually the most difficult thing

Joshua:

that you could ever do for yourself.

Joshua:

Trying to see what you really can be in which you're able to show who you

Joshua:

are to the world often means defeating not just the imposter syndrome, another

Joshua:

concept that we've talked about in earlier episodes, but it's about understanding

Joshua:

what you are with yourself, wanting to move to that next plateau that you

Joshua:

might be facing, and yes, I say plateau because let's face it, we all know that

Joshua:

we're going to face that inevitable next plateau in our lives, but if we're

Joshua:

able to say to ourselves that I have a better plan this time in which I'm

Joshua:

going to address it, it's going to make such a big difference overall.

Joshua:

It's going to make sure that you are not only accountable for the things

Joshua:

in which you are able to do, but you're able to then create some of

Joshua:

the best versions of who you are, what you can be, and what you can share.

Joshua:

It really makes me think about something that has been on my mind for the

Joshua:

longest time, and it's something that my therapist once shared with me.

Joshua:

It's actually a poem, and the poem was written by Porcia Nelson.

Joshua:

It's called "The Autobiography in Five Chapters", and I like to read this as

Joshua:

we close out because I think it's so important to understand that this poem

Joshua:

is often the things that we go through.

Joshua:

So here we go, "An Autobiography In Five Chapters" by Porcia Nelson.

Chapter One:

I walk down the street.

Chapter One:

There's a deep hole in the sidewalk.

Chapter One:

I fall in, I am lost.

Chapter One:

I am helpless.

Chapter One:

It isn't my fault.

Chapter One:

It takes forever to find a way out.

Chapter Two:

I walk down the same street.

Chapter Two:

There's a deep hole in the sidewalk.

Chapter Two:

I pretend I don't see it.

Chapter Two:

I fall in again.

Chapter Two:

I can't believe I am in the same place, but it isn't my fault.

Chapter Two:

It still takes a long time to get out.

Chapter Three:

I walk down the same street.

Chapter Three:

There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.

Chapter Three:

I see it is there.

Chapter Three:

I fall in.

Chapter Three:

It's a habit, but my eyes are open.

Chapter Three:

I know where I am.

Chapter Three:

It's my fault.

Chapter Three:

I get out immediately.

Chapter Four:

I walk down the same street.

Chapter Four:

There's a deep hole in the sidewalk.

Chapter Four:

I walk around it.

Chapter Five:

I walk down a different street.

Chapter Five:

Do you want to walk down a different street?

Chapter Five:

Do you want to have some of the freedom that even David had?

Chapter Five:

Do you want to have some of the things that even in this episode

Chapter Five:

that we've talked about, that you can accomplish in your own life?

Chapter Five:

All you have to do is just say that I'm willing to break free of the

Chapter Five:

chains that are holding you down, or literally the holes that you've

Chapter Five:

been walking into, and you can have some of that very freedom as well.

Chapter Five:

Thanks for listening to episode number 55 of Speaking From The

Chapter Five:

Heart, and I look forward to hearing from your heart very soon.

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Outro:

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Outro:

Visit us at www.yourspeakingvoice.biz for more information about potential

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About your host

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Joshua Smith

Joshua D. Smith is the Owner and Founder of Your Speaking Voice, a life coaching, business coaching, and public speaking company based in Carlisle, PA. Serving clients across the world, Joshua got his start in personal/professional development and public speaking in April of 2012 through his extensive involvement in an educational non-profit organization called Toastmasters International.

Toastmasters International operates clubs both domestically and internationally that focus on teaching leadership, development, and public speaking skills. Joshua quickly excelled in Toastmasters International and found that he had a passion for leadership and helping others find their confidence and their true "speaking voice". Joshua has held all club officer roles and most District level positions in Toastmasters International and belongs to numerous clubs throughout the organization. Joshua has also been recognized as two-time Distinguished Toastmaster, the highest award the organization bestows for achievement in leadership and communication.

Outside of his community involvement, education is something that Joshua has always taken great pride in. His academic achievements include a number of degrees from Alvernia and Shippensburg University. He earned a Bachelor's degree in political science and communications from Alvernia in 2009, a masters of business administration from Alvernia in 2010, and later a masters in public administration from Shippensburg in 2014.

In the professional world, Joshua has held multiple positions with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for over 14 years which includes a variety of data analytics, procurement, budgeting, business process improvement (IT and non-IT), legal compliance, and working with the blind. He has applied his public speaking and development skills in the professional world to tackle numerous public speaking engagements and presentations from all levels of the organization, including executive management.

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