Escaping the Drift with John Gafford
Finding Purpose Amidst Life's Challenges with Barbara Majeski
Tue, 19 Nov 2024
Barbara Majeski, the vibrant TV personality and founder of the More Life Collective, graces our podcast with her inspiring story of resilience and transformation. Known for her appearances on major shows like the Today Show and Fox and Friends, Barbara opens up about her battle with stage three colon cancer and the blindsiding challenges of a difficult divorce. Her journey is a testament to the power of positivity and determination, as she shares how these experiences became catalysts for profound personal growth and self-reliance. Through our conversation, she offers invaluable insights on overcoming life's unpredictability, emphasizing the importance of setting sustainable health and fitness practices and committing to personal goals with clarity and purpose. Growing up in New Jersey, Barbara's early life experiences in a family with a strong genetic history of twins and special needs taught her empathy and instilled a deep commitment to service. With a sibling affected by fragile X syndrome, she learned firsthand about responsibility and advocacy, leading to her receiving a humanitarian award in 2015. As we discuss her upbringing, Barbara recounts how these experiences shaped her empathetic outlook and inspired her to become a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Her story is a powerful reminder of how personal adversities can fuel a lifelong dedication to making a difference in the world. Barbara's journey from a career in community health education and door-to-door sales to becoming a television personality in her forties is nothing short of remarkable. She shares her determination to break into television despite facing age-related challenges, and how reframing obstacles as opportunities led her to unexpected success on the Today Show. We also explore the power of giving and personal accountability, highlighting how helping others can empower individuals and create a ripple effect of positive change. As we wrap up, Barbara's message of self-reliance and overcoming adversity resonates deeply, encouraging listeners to take charge of their destiny and embrace opportunities through service and commitment. CHAPTERS (00:00) - Escape the Drift (03:30) - Life's Challenges Shape Empathy and Service (15:12) - Building Resilience Through Adversity (23:38) - Navigating Unexpected Adversity and Resilience (34:42) - Embracing Opportunities Through Service (39:43) - Taking Accountability and Taking Action (51:23) - Setting Sustainable Health and Fitness Practices (54:56) - Commitment and Clarity in Goal Setting (01:03:02) - Self-Reliance and Overcoming Adversity 💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below! ☑️ If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford ************* 💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space. ➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company. ➡️ Streamline Home Loans - An independent mortgage bank with more than 100 loan officers. The Simply Group, A national expansion vehicle partnering with large brokers across the country to vertically integrate their real estate brokerages. ************* ✅ Follow John Gafford on social media: Instagram ▶️ / thejohngafford Facebook ▶️ / gafford2 🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here: Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9 Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283 ************* #escapingthedrift #barbaramajeski #resilience #transformation #personalgrowth #empathy #service #adversity #positivity #determination #healthandfitness #commitment #personalgoals #selfreliance #overcomingchallenges #philanthropy #accountability #sustainablehabits #goalsetting #personalandprofessionalgrowth #empoweringmessage
Chapter 1: What challenges did Barbara Majeski face?
So much crazy goes on from this because at the end of the day, six months later, after getting that award, I got diagnosed with stage three colon cancer.
And now, Escaping the Drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm Jon Gafford, and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, escape the drift, and it's time to start right now.
Back again, back again with another episode of Like It Says in the Opening Man, the podcast that gets you from where you are to where you want to be. And today, ladies and gentlemen, today in this day after the election when a lot of the country anyway is wheeling and trying to figure out what to do. I got a guest, not in studio. She's where she is and I'm where I am. But this is a guest that
Chapter 2: How did Barbara's upbringing shape her perspective?
Man, I saw her on the gram and she came flying down. And I just started doing a little bit of research on this person. And I kind of got into it, man. I was like, man, this is a person that's kind of got it figured out, has had that adversity in her life.
She's had some things that have stepped up and hit her in the face and managed to keep pushing forward in a way that her view on life and just watching some of the stuff she does is really impressive. She is a frequent guest of shows like the Today Show, Fox and Friends, those sorts of things. She is the founder of the More Life Collective.
she is the host of her very own bearing it all podcast and ladies and gentlemen we are glad to have her in on the podcast today to get her point of view this ladies and gentlemen live in the flesh it's barbara majewski it's barbara yes great to see you how are you i'm doing great i mean the election we know what we've got she conceded we can continue on with our lives
Right, the sun came up today, the clouds are out, nobody, the world has not fallen apart. You know, here you go.
My newsfeed is hysterical right now with the memes and the, you know, it's all good. But at least it's done, you know.
It's never, you know, and something I posted yesterday, I mean, this is like early in the day, like early when voting first started. And I made this comment, I'm just curious, we're not going to get political, but I'm curious your thoughts on this. Because I said, Not supporting whoever wins the election tonight is like going to the doctor and hoping they misdiagnose you.
Don't you have to kind of root for whoever? You got to kind of root for them because rooting against them is kind of rooting against yourself.
It's true. I mean, you've got to find what, you know, what speaks to you and pick your team, like get your jersey on, get in the game. But, you know, some people are indifferent. They're not really affected by the ebbs and flows of politics. So I can understand there have been elections in my youth that I was very meh about. So this one was a little deeper for sure.
Yeah, it was. And I'm glad it's over because me being in the business that I'm in and needing to advertise, holy crap, everything just got way cheaper today.
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Chapter 3: What lessons did Barbara learn from her cancer diagnosis?
Chapter 4: How can personal adversity fuel growth?
and i'll take care of him and you know as as crazy as that is it has definitely been um my my moral compass my okay i gotta redirect you know how do i get myself aligned with my purpose my calling and there's just been time and time again when i'm lost in the sauce and i'm very reflective of
giving a voice to Stephen, giving a voice to those who can't speak for themselves, using my gifts in service of others. So I think it very much shaped the decisions that I ultimately made, if that makes any sense.
No, it would have to, because I mean, you received a humanitarian award in 2015, correct? What was that for? I mean, obviously, of course, the humanitarians, but what was the actual act of kindness or the great gift you gave to the world to get that award?
You know, that's such a good question. And because it all does hinge on the fact that, you know, I knew, like, so I had gone on a...
results for operation smile which fixes cleft lips and cleft palates yeah children in parts of the world that won't have access to it and i had gone on a humanitarian mission there's so much to this story but i'll try i'm just going to keep it right here um so i went on we're not in a hurry to be we're not in a hurry to be anywhere
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Chapter 5: What role does accountability play in personal success?
Chapter 6: How can service to others lead to personal fulfillment?
and i'll take care of him and you know as as crazy as that is it has definitely been um my my moral compass my okay i gotta redirect you know how do i get myself aligned with my purpose my calling and there's just been time and time again when i'm lost in the sauce and i'm very reflective of
giving a voice to Stephen, giving a voice to those who can't speak for themselves, using my gifts in service of others. So I think it very much shaped the decisions that I ultimately made, if that makes any sense.
No, it would have to, because I mean, you received a humanitarian award in 2015, correct? What was that for? I mean, obviously, of course, the humanitarians, but what was the actual act of kindness or the great gift you gave to the world to get that award?
You know, that's such a good question. And because it all does hinge on the fact that, you know, I knew, like, so I had gone on a...
results for operation smile which fixes cleft lips and cleft palates yeah children in parts of the world that won't have access to it and i had gone on a humanitarian mission there's so much to this story but i'll try i'm just going to keep it right here um so i went on we're not in a hurry to be we're not in a hurry to be anywhere
The funny part of this story, because it's in alignment with the election, total sidebar. So I had gotten a postcard in the mail for Operation Smile, and it was to meet the founders. And I was like, oh, my God, meet the founders of Operation Smile. I would love to. So I show up. I knock on this door. It's the dead of winter. And Donald Trump Jr. opens the door.
And I'm like, and it's in the middle of The Apprentice. And I'm like, oh, where did I just go? Because this is supposed to be my friend's house. Like, I don't understand.
When was that? What year was this?
This has to be 2007 or 8. All right.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Barbara have about goal setting?
Yeah. So I'm like, okay. I'm like, well, I would like to, how do you sponsor a mission? Because Colgate had sponsored ours for $150,000. And I was like, well, I'll raise $150,000. I'd never done that before. But I was like, well, I'll just figure it out.
you kind of reverse engineer and i've learned that through different iterations of my life of like all right where do you want to go what do you want get clear on your destination and then you got to reverse engineer i'm like all right well how do people do it so i kind of was like i'm doing it i'm all in and um the the thought in the back of my mind that you'll appreciate is that what if that was stephen
what if my brother needed a sister it didn't have one what if steven it was like the stevens of the world were kind of saying hey you've got a really big mouth you've got great connections i had um i'd been part of a um sales company that had scaled and i had epic amounts of connections and i was one of the startups so i knew everyone and i was like i think i can leverage my previous
work experience and my connections to raise this money. So it ended up just kind of going from there of, all right, I'll figure it out. And I'll, you know, it's just like that quote, quote and frozen, like just do the next right thing, like take the next right step.
So ultimately I, you know, I've raised the first $150,000 and this is where like the go-giver book is so good and everybody needs to read it. I really did that mission out of the goodness of my heart. I was like, I need to take care of the Stevens of the world. I need to use my voice for those who can't speak for themselves. And
the serendipity of it is soon as we qualified for that next mission, five of my, my friends that helped me raise the money went on the mission. They come back. They're like, we didn't raise enough money. They start hosting fundraisers. The thing starts taking off. Um, like, like it was called an adopt a smile campaign.
Next thing you know, I'm raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and they call me and they're like, you've, you deserve our humanitarian of the year award. Yeah. So much crazy goes on from this because at the end of the day, six months later, after getting that award, I got diagnosed with stage three colon cancer.
Well, we're going to get to that. I saw that as well. And believe me, we're going to spend a minute on that, but I want to back up a little bit because when you went on this mission, I'm assuming you were gainfully employed, right? So this was something that you just scheduled into your life or how did you make time to give? Because I think that, you know, I order one every year.
I just ordered Jesse Etzler's big ass calendar for 2025. I love Jesse. He's a great dude where you schedule your life and then you work around the life you schedule. So so many people, I think, wrestle with that, right? Yeah. So how did you schedule that into your existing busy life? Did you find it difficult?
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Chapter 8: How does resilience manifest in Barbara's life?
I can't begin to tell you the things that have come to fruition for me, probably my whole life. Just like the subconscious mind has no sense of humor. So what you put in there will start working towards it. So that, yeah, it's never easy. It's never convenient.
One of my current superpowers is using AI, which I love, right? All these people use AI to make these stupid pictures of Kamala and Trump making out on a beach in the back of a car, something stupid, right? The image generators on ChatGPT are the greatest vision board tool in the history of man. I mean, I have four images.
I won't get into exactly what they are, but I have four images on the mirror in my gym at my house. And every morning when I'm working out, I look at these images. And I mean, they're real. I'll tell you one of them. So I got a book coming out in the not too distant future, and I literally have a picture. And it's photorealistic, dude. It looks like it's real. I took it with my cell phone.
And it's my book in Hudson News in the airport with a little thing that says bestseller. But I look at that every single day and I'm like, man, that is just, I feel that every day. And I agree. I think the universe doesn't have any idea of what's real or what's not. You just got to put it out there. So I love that concept, which is great. When you were going and raising all this money,
Were you talking to businesses about trying to get like some sort of a purpose driven capacity into their like scheduled giving into their businesses? Which is something we're huge on here. I love that. Is that something you went after?
Absolutely. And at the time, the company had no real alignment with charitable giving, believe it or not. People did their individual thing, but they hadn't collectively come together. And it was still a growing... I mean, now that was to 2007, 2008, 2009. I could probably look at the award and read the date, but...
that was almost 20 years ago a long time ago god's a long time ago and really the culture of this generation is very philanthropic so i had kind of come in at the right time and was willing to champion this
um this cause and bring people together and i think people are very drawn to um humanitarian work and giving back and this alignment without being too like inconvenienced or put out and i think it be i made it a lot of fun that was another thing like i read my audience i knew who i was catering to and i was like listen let's do some softball games some volleyball games a fundraiser you know bowling
um pool nights whatever it just became like who can put together the most fun fundraiser and team night or whatever um pizza night so it just was injunction because it was a young young company um with there was a lot there was a lot of there was a lot of dollar for dollar here this wasn't like people stroking checks for 100 grand i mean you were you were grinding it out I was grinding it out.
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