Passion Struck with John R. Miles
Bo Eason on How to Transform Your Lowest Moments Into Power | EP 529
Tue, 05 Nov 2024
In this impactful episode, former NFL player, acclaimed actor, and motivational powerhouse Bo Eason shares his distinctive approach to transforming life’s lowest moments into catalysts for personal growth. Renowned for his resilience and determination, Bo draws from his own experiences overcoming setbacks in both sports and entertainment to offer valuable insights on turning adversity into strength. Through practical steps and compelling real-life examples, he shows how embracing struggle can build resilience and reveal untapped potential. Bo’s wisdom and passion will inspire you to harness the hidden power within life’s toughest challenges, emerging stronger, more focused, and prepared to reach new heights.Full show notes and resources: https://passionstruck.com/bo-eason-on-how-to-transform-your-lowest-moments/Sponsors Mint Mobile: Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at “MINT MOBILE dot com slash PASSION.” Hims: Regrow your hair before it's too late! Start your free online visit today at Hims.com/PASSIONSTRUCK. Quince: Experience luxury for less with Quince's premium products at radically low prices. Enjoy free shipping and 365-day returns at Quince.com/PASSION. For more information about our sponsors and promo codes, visit: passionstruck.com/dealsIn this episode, you will learn: The importance of early determination and setting long-term goals. The impact of a supportive and affirming environment. The power of storytelling in personal and professional development. The value of seeking mentorship from those who have achieved mastery. The principle that mastering one thing can lead to success in other areas of life. Connect with Bo Eason: https://boeason.com/Order Passion StruckUnlock the principles that will transform your life! Order my book, Passion Struck: Twelve Powerful Principles to Unlock Your Purpose and Ignite Your Most Intentional Life. Recognized as a 2024 must-read by the Next Big Idea Club, this book has earned ten major book awards accolades, such as Best Business Book at the International Business Awards. Order your copy today and ignite your journey toward intentional living!Join the Passion Struck Community! Sign up for the Live Intentionally newsletter, where I share exclusive content, actionable advice, and insights to help you ignite your purpose and live your most intentional life. Get access to practical exercises, inspiring stories, and tools designed to help you grow. Learn more and sign up here.Speaking Engagements & Workshops Are you looking to inspire your team, organization, or audience to take intentional action in their lives and careers? I’m available for keynote speaking, workshops, and leadership training on topics such as intentional living, resilience, leadership, and personal growth. Let’s work together to create transformational change. Learn more at johnrmiles.com/speaking.Episode Starter Packs With over 500 episodes, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. We’ve curated Episode Starter Packs based on key themes like leadership, mental health, and personal growth, making it easier for you to dive into the topics you care about. Check them out at passionstruck.com/starterpacks.Catch More Passion Struck My solo episode on Reinvent Yourself: The Journey from Ordinary to Extraordinary Can’t miss my episode with Dr. Michael Gervais on How You Unlock the Science of Success Watch my episode with Lauren Handel Zander on Unlocking the Power of Radical Personal Accountability Discover my interview with Steve Swift On How to Create a Career of Service Catch my interview with Jessica Kriegel on How to Build an Intentional Workplace If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review! Even one sentence helps. Be sure to include your Twitter or Instagram handle so we can personally thank you!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
Coming up next on Passion Struck.
Usually your best story is the one you don't want to tell. Isn't that funny to say? Like there's a lot of stories that we want to tell, right? Like about, oh, I won the championship. Look at my trophy. I'm sure Tom Brady loves telling that story. Look, I won seven Super Bowls. I want to know the lowest moment Tom Brady's ever had, because that's the one that has the most connective tissue to it.
Welcome to Passion Struck. Hi, I'm your host, John R. Miles. And on the show, we decipher the secrets, tips, and guidance of the world's most inspiring people and turn their wisdom into practical advice for you and those around you. Our mission is to help you unlock the power of intentionality so that you can become the best version of yourself.
If you're new to the show, I offer advice and answer listener questions on Fridays. We have long-form interviews the rest of the week with guests ranging from astronauts to authors, CEOs, creators, innovators, scientists, military leaders, visionaries, and athletes. Now, let's go out there and become PassionStruck. Hey, PassionStruck fam, welcome to episode 529 of the PassionStruck podcast.
I want to start by thanking each and every one of you for being here, for your energy, and for showing up week after week to fuel your journey toward living a more intentional, purpose-driven life. You're the heart of this community, and we're so grateful to have you here. If you're new to PassionStruck, welcome. You've just joined an incredible community that's all about growth, purpose,
We'll see you then. And if you're looking to stay inspired between episodes, don't forget to sign up for my Live Intentionally newsletter, where I share exclusive insights, tools, and exercises to help you put these lessons into action. Head over to passionstruck.com to get started.
Also, if you want to watch these conversations come to life, remember that all our episodes are available on YouTube, where we're building a thriving community of over a quarter million subscribers. You can find us on the John R. Miles YouTube channel and our dedicated passion struck clips channel for bite sized insights and highlights.
Last week brought us incredible insights across health, personal growth and resilience. Eric Edmeades kicked us off with a deep dive into lasting health transformation. exploring small, actionable shifts we can make to align with our biological needs and close the evolution gap.
Then Jason Silver joined us to share his unique approach to thriving in our current roles rather than searching for fulfillment elsewhere. And in my solo episodes, I explored the powerful story of MLB player Josh Hamilton, a journey through addiction, redemption, and the unwavering power of resilience. Each episode is packed with actionable wisdom you won't want to miss.
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Chapter 2: How did Bo Eason's childhood influence his determination?
And I just remember being in awe of founding fathers writing this document like 250 years ago, yet I didn't write it. I wasn't related to these founding fathers, but they wrote something that us Americans bring into existence every day. And I was one of those Americans. So I was like, so these founding fathers created this declaration. They declared who we were going to be.
And I, me, who didn't know them, who didn't write it, by the way I lived brought their declaration into existence. So I put that kind of all together as I was growing up. And so I never had, I never liked the word goals. I just, that, that didn't, I just didn't like the word. I liked the word declaration.
So that's what I drew up a plan, a declaration that said I would be the best safety in 20 years because that's how long it was going to take me to grow up and be able to be drafted in the NFL as the top safety. So that's how my life began. That's how the dream of the declaration began. That was the genesis of it.
And then along the way, all those years, so going through grammar school, going through high school, college and then eventually the pros, as you, as I look back, that, that actually came true. Like it came, my declaration of being the best safety actually came into existence, but so many years after I had written that declaration, so many years.
But the one thing that people always ask me about that particular declaration is, well, were you just great all the time? Were you just the best athlete in your school? And the answer is not even close. So all my buddies, it felt like to me, were better than me. They were bigger than me. They were faster than me.
So I always tell people all those years leading up to being named the best safety in the NFL, all those years leading up to it, It was like I had no evidence for my dream coming true. I had no feedback except from my family. They're like my brother, my dad, they saw it. A couple of people saw it, but almost no one else did. Almost no one else was going, yeah, Bo, you're really special.
You're going to make it. You're going to go all the way. So when I was playing in high school, I thought I was a good player. My brother thought he was a good player. And neither of us was recruited coming out of high school. So 350 colleges play college football, but nobody wrote us a letter. No one recruited us.
So then you think, well, God, I guess I'm not very good being that 350 colleges don't want me. The worst colleges don't want me, so I must be really bad. And it just didn't look like to the world that it was going to come true. But somehow, I knew that it was going to. I'm not sure how, but somehow I knew that if I just don't quit...
that this thing's going to come true because if I don't quit, I'm probably going to be the last safety standing and everyone else would have quit by then and I'll get to be that guy. So I'll pause right there, John, just to let you know if you want to follow up on anything or if you want to know more about like that journey, I'm happy to tell you more about it.
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Chapter 3: What role did storytelling play in Bo's journey?
He said, because it is the smallest, it is the weakest, and it has to battle and it has to compete for food and survival against its bigger and stronger brothers and sisters. Well, eventually after eight, 10 weeks, they take all of the puppies from the litter, except for the runt and they give them away to other ranchers that in, in the, in the area. but they keep the runt of the litter.
And I said, why do you keep the smallest one? And he said, because the smallest one's heart is the biggest. And if he can survive or she can survive those eight, 10 weeks, then that is going to be the smartest, the fastest, the most determined dog that you have. And you can't afford to keep all the dogs. So you give them away to other ranchers and that is your dog.
And that's the dog can do the work of 10 men. And he said, you're the runt of our litter. Like I had four older sisters and one older brother. So he said, I bet on the runt every time. And once he told me that story, I knew what he meant. I was like, oh, okay. He's telling me that they ain't getting rid of me. Like I'm going to be around because I've made it this far.
And that was always my way, even though I was small body, that was always my way to compete. I always knew because when your dad tells you something like that, you believe it. He said, your heart is the biggest. And I go, okay, I'm going to count on that. And eventually my body, as I grew up through high school and then to college, my body actually grew up to my heart size. You know what I mean?
My body caught up with myself. And that's when I was really able to excel and really able to achieve the dream and make it come true. But that moment in that pickup truck, boy, when you have a parent or a coach or somebody that sees your greatness, which is pretty rare, most of them do like your coach did, like you're too small, like my coach did, or you're too slow. My coach said I was too small.
Your coach said you're too slow. Well, let's do something about that. Let's go, let's get faster. Let's get bigger. And when you have somebody who sees your greatness and then speaks it, and then you live into it, I've always surrounded myself because the dreams were always big for me. I always surrounded myself with people like that because I knew that was somehow innately.
I knew that was really important for my development and for me reaching my dreams. And I, you know how like when you grow up and you start being around other kids and you're getting to be an adult and you realize that not everybody had a dad like me. I just figured everybody must have a dad that told them that, but they didn't. And it took me a while to understand that. No, I didn't have a dad.
And I certainly didn't have a dad who told me that or saw greatness in me and said it was okay. Keep going, son. So that's why he was such a rare guy and meant so much to me.
Bo, thank you for sharing that. And today I'm going to be asking you some questions from your book, There's No Plan B for Your A-Game. And for the listener, if they were interested in purchasing it or learning more about it, it'll be in the show notes for this episode. But I wanted to touch on another thing, another story about your dad that you highlight in the book.
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Chapter 4: How did Bo Eason transition from NFL to acting?
And my dad said he lost some friends because he just walked away from them. And he still liked them as friends, but he wasn't going to be in the area of drinking. And he was telling us not to be in the presence of marijuana. He called it dope. So funny. So one time we're coming home from football practice and me and my brother got a ride from some older guys.
We were probably freshmen and sophomore, and they were probably seniors or juniors. And We looked up to these guys. They were older guys. They were bigger. They were football players. So we wanted to be as good as them. And they were giving us a ride home, right? And one guy pulls out, I think it was a cigarette.
It was either cigarette or marijuana and started to light it up while he was driving in the front seat. Me and my brother were in the back seat. I'll never forget this because we lived down the country. There was no public transportation there. It was 17 miles between the high school and our house and just farms in between.
So my brother, as soon as he saw that, I was looking at it, the guy about to light it up. And I was looking around. I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to say that to an older guy who I admired. But my brother goes like this. Could you pull the car over? Just like that. Could you pull the car over? And the guy goes, what do you mean? Pull the car over. He goes, just pull over.
We have to get out of the car. And I was like, I was embarrassed that my brother was saying that, but the guy said, well, what do you mean you got to get out? And he goes, our dad just told us a story about like when he was around somebody who was doing something that he didn't want us around. He just said, you got to get away from that. You got to somehow get away from that.
So if you'll pull over, we'll just, we can walk the rest of the way. And the guy, the cool football player guy who was about to light up said, you know what? I'm not doing it. I'm not going to do it. And he didn't light it up. He put it back away and continued to give us a ride. Well, that all came. from a little anecdotal story that my dad told me.
Somehow innately, maybe it's because of him being a cowboy. Like cowboys are, they don't talk a lot, but if they do talk, they talk in story. And that's how you teach the youngsters how to herd the cattle or how to win a war or how to overcome something. You did it through story. And I learned then that story was much more effective.
Telling a story as you're raising your kids to what you want them, tell them a story of the example that you went through, they will follow suit. But if you tell them not to smoke marijuana, they might try marijuana. But if you tell them the story of getting out of the car, because I tell my kids that all the time, I go, you guys, my dad told us, that we had to get away from marijuana.
And one time I was driving and just a story that I just told you, John, my brother said, hey, could you pull over? Me and my brother got to get out of the car. And I tell my kids that all the time. And you know what? I don't know if it's been helpful for them, but it's much better to train people and teach people Based on story, on anecdotal evidence, instead of telling them what to do.
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Chapter 5: What lessons did Bo learn from his father?
Like I said, look, I wanted to be the best safety in the world. When I was nine, I got that. Like it came true. I want to do it again. I want to do it with stage performance. I want to be the best at that. Help me. Who do I work with? Where do I go? What's the first thing I do? And this was in New York and I,
He told me who to work with, who the teachers were going to be, who the movement coach was going to be, who the voice coach was going to be. I mean, there was so much more to it than I knew. I just thought you got up there and winged it. And it wasn't, it was just, I was happy to learn that it was exactly like playing a professional sport. It was exactly the same principles.
Had to be taken care of. Like you had to train and you had to eat in a specific way and you had to be with the specific coaches that were the top at the top and could teach you and accelerate your training. And that's what I did. And I saved all my money from football and I used it for 15 years.
to get me to a place where I thought in 15 years, if I did what Al said to do, then I could be the top guy. And basically, John, he told me exactly what you would tell me, which is, he said, Bo, basically your ass, your feet are gonna be planted on a stage in a theater more than anyone else in the next 15 years.
And you're gonna be up there rehearsing, sweating, working through the text, trying to decipher Shakespeare, trying to move authentically, trying to get a better, stronger resident voice. And if you do that for 15 years, then chances are you're probably gonna be the top of the heap Because no one else will do that. And I said, you know what? I happen to be really good with those kind of timelines.
And I'm just thinking of one lesson for your listeners right now is that, you know what? And I tell my kids this all the time. No, I don't know if they believe me. I don't know if anyone believes this, but I always knew since I was a kid,
that if I didn't stop whatever this declaration was at the time, if I just didn't stop, like I stayed loyal to it and only it, I somehow knew that no one else would. I somehow knew that despite my abilities, despite my shortcomings, if you give me that long, that big of a runway, I'm probably gonna be the best at that given the 15 years.
And I didn't talk about this earlier when I had the declaration of being the best safety. All the way up growing up, there were certain things I didn't do growing up. Like I didn't go to the prom, right? Because in my little 15-year-old, 16-year-old mind, I thought that was a conflict of me being the best safety. I thought that ran... against being the best safety. So I didn't go to the prom.
I didn't drink. There were certain things I didn't do going on dates that I knew all the other safeties were probably who wanted to be the best safety growing up in whatever city they lived in. I thought they were going to the prom and that's where I would get ahead of them. Well, still, I had a very simple mind in my late 20s. And I did the same thing in the entertainment business.
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Chapter 6: How can accountability shape personal growth?
And people in our department who could actually express themselves authentically coming directly from their heart. Well, we become the powerful, we actually flip the script on our so-called leaders. And now we are the leaders because we're better communicators. We're just better at being us. Now, I'm not saying we're more polished. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we're more real.
I'm saying we're more trustworthy. And that's my big push now. That's really where I'm headed now in training people. Because I think the whole leadership model is bankrupt. And I feel it. I can feel it in my own life. It's bankrupt. And I keep looking around for another leader to show up because I'm a good player. So I like following leaders.
And I realized a few years back that there's just nobody coming. No one's coming. So why don't I take the lead? Why don't you take the lead, John? And why don't my clients and my family, why don't we take the lead? And that's a big responsibility that really nobody wants, but too bad. That's how it is nowadays. That's how it's going to have to go.
So along those lines, Beau, a lot of people are out there and they have powerful stories, but they don't think their story is worth telling. What's your advice for someone on how they could maybe use their lowest moment and use that moment to create their story of victory and turn it into a powerful narrative?
You guys, just so everybody knows, including me, including John, no one thinks they have a powerful story. You just don't go around going, wow, I got a really powerful story. No one thinks that of themselves. Do you know why that is? It's because over your lifetime. So I'm 63. So my stories of planes being the best safety in the world that took 20 years to come into fruition.
So I initially didn't think that was a powerful story. Who's going to care about me at nine years old, having a dream. and then fulfilling on that dream 20 years later. Does anybody really care? Because I was thinking personally, it's me, it's 20 years. It seems like a boring life. I didn't go to the prom. I missed a lot of parties.
I missed a lot of fun stuff because I was doing my safety training. It seems our lives seem mundane to us because it takes a long time for these stories to develop. But after 20 years, you look back and you go, wow, I used to think who would give a crap about me and my little plan? Well, you know what it turned out to be? Everybody cares about my plans.
Everybody who's ever heard the story cares about my dreams and my 20 year plan. Everybody cares and is inspired by somebody who sticks with that dedication for that long and brings it into existence. Everybody. Well, I thought no one cared because it seemed boring to me because I just did it. It was my life. Well, same for you. You think that when your mom
You had a dream of being a pop star, say, and one day your mom was driving you to choir practice and you're sitting in the backseat and you're singing your lungs out. And your mom turns around and says, you know what, sweetheart, you're the worst singer I've ever heard. Which parents sometimes do that, right? It's not the greatest parenting, I wouldn't think, but it's what they do.
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Chapter 7: What is the significance of environment in achieving success?
You can start to understand what that story is for you and then start using it. Okay.
Yep, absolutely. I'll put that in the show notes for all the viewers and listeners. Thank you for that.
Okay, great. Thanks, John.
Where's the best place that people can go to learn more about you?
I mean, that's actually a really good place. BoEason.com is my website. It's got all the programs that I do. I do some live stuff, three-day events. I'd love to have some of your audience come and work on their story and physically embody their story with my movement coach. It's a very powerful event called Personal Story Power, which we do in La Jolla twice a year for three days.
And I'd love to have you guys come and learn this powerful story so you can start using it.
Plus you get to go to La Jolla. I used to live in San Diego. It doesn't get much prettier than that.
Man, you know what? That's what most of the people that come to La Jolla are like, oh my gosh, there are seals on the beach right next to the theater that we do our event in. It's so beautiful and so cool.
Well, thank you again, Bob.
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