Everyone has bad habits, whether it’s the food that you’re eating or how you spend money. People need to transform their lifestyles so that they can live a healthier life. Remember, a healthy mind equals a healthy body. Join your host Jen Du Plessis and her guest, Josh Hicks, as they talk about why you should change your lifestyle for a healthier life. Josh is an army veteran, husband, father, health coach, motivational speaker, and most importantly a child of God. Learn how to fight your fears so that you can really show up in life. Your breakthroughs will never meet you at your convenience. It’ll always meet you in your chaos.

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Healthy Mind, Healthy Body: Transform Your Lifestyle Today With Josh Hicks

I’m delighted to have Josh Hicks with us. I know he is formerly Joshua, but he goes by Josh Hicks, who is an Army veteran. Number one, thank you so much for your service to our country. We appreciate that. He is a husband, father, health coach, motivational speaker and most importantly, a child of God. I love that you are faith forward. That is so important.

He has a beautiful and magnificent story that he is going to tell us about the physical, emotional and financial transformation that he made. I don’t want to say when it’s going to be because you’re going to tell us all these ceilings that you have broken through. What you’re going to talk about is the physical transformation that people can make to be healthier in their lives. Welcome to our show. We’re so delighted to have you.

Thank you so much for that kind introduction. It’s a blessing to be with you guys. I’m humbled to have this opportunity.

I want to talk about you being in the military because I know this is probably where a lot of the transformation started. I don’t want to assume that. Tell us a little bit about your story about being in the Army and whether that impacts this transformation that you started on this path of achieving.

When we don’t know where we’re going, we run aimlessly. I found myself trying to fill a lot of voids, a quick backstory. I was in school working to become a pastor. I went through an unfortunate divorce and had to step down from the ministry. That crushed me. For years, I was in this place of feeling a lack of purpose and God couldn’t use me anymore. I ran from everything, feeling like I had no place of being. I found myself one day signing up and enlisting into the Army. I signed up for the Army National Guard. I was excited because I felt maybe this would be a new leaf turned for me.

There were a lot of opportunities there and I was very driven. I created a lot of momentum there and had some awesome success early on in bootcamp and AIT. I came home to my duty station and not a year later, I was being deployed. This is where things started to go in the opposite direction for me because when I came out of AIT and bootcamp, I came out with some high achievement medals. I was very successful early on already, but I was still feeling dissatisfied and feeling that something was still missing.

We’re called to do something. You can’t run from that calling. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen in the time that we expect it to, so we feel like it may not happen at all. I want to tell you, no matter what you’re going through, wherever you are in your journey of life, it couldn’t be further from the truth. We need to take our thoughts captive. When I was on this deployment, I found the deployment going pretty good for the most part. Towards the end of it, it took a turn south. I found myself hugging my pillow and crying at night, asking God how I ended up where I was, in the middle of the desert, feeling trapped.

[bctt tweet=”Your breakthroughs will never meet you at your convenience. It’ll always meet you in your chaos.” username=””]

The ISIS was ramping up. It was becoming a heightened alert deployment. It went from a very different one-tempo extreme to the next. I didn’t know when I was coming home. This started building up in my mind. Before I knew it, my mind was taking complete control and catastrophizing every situation and scenario. I struggle with this gravely. I got home in 2014 from this deployment where I was struggling.

What’s amazing about that is that when I was overseas, I got brought in an incredible wife that I could take time to get to know and date via Skype. While that sounds funny to many people, they’re like, “How did you date via Skype?” It set us up for awesome success because we had time to invest and understand more about the other person versus our gains and interest. That was awesome how God was able to move from across the globe that way and bring someone to me that brought comfort. She received me when I came home with open arms and walked along this journey with me.

It was no easy journey for me to come home in 2014. I was having a difficult time adapting to civilian life after coming off of a military deployment like that. This is all foreign land. I’m trying to find myself and I feel again, I’m not satisfied. There is something missing. This was when transformation and breakthrough happened for me. While there were little episodes of me finding myself throughout my military career, when I created Godly Installments, our construction business, is when the breakthrough happened.

It didn’t happen the very next day. We’re talking about years of me struggling and trying to find out where God was taking me before it all came together. It afforded me the opportunity to be where I am now. I opened this construction business up. To give you a little bit of history, we were blessed to have grown a business rather quickly, but we didn’t have the liquid to support the growth that we were seeing in the time that it was happening. Many of you construction workers or business owners might be able to relate to this, but I couldn’t get a loan.

I couldn’t get the financial support and backing I needed, so I took the next best avenue because I was desperate, one of those quick loans. Before I knew it, my debt was doubling the pace of my growth was. I took a $20,000 quick loan. It turned into $40,000 and then to $60,000. I thought I had it all figured out at the end of 2018 when I took a $100,000 critical loan. There is no recovery from them more times than not. The interest was so high.

I was standing in the gym on March 26th, 2019, after praying for so many years about God providing for us in this business, so we can make payroll, cover the expenses and if there is anything left to provide for me. I had looked at my wife every Thursday and told her it was going to be okay when I knew it was far from being okay but what can you say in that situation? I felt like a man who wasn’t providing for his family. I couldn’t even give my wife a decent vehicle to drive around in.

As you gather this image of what I was going through, I was 60 pounds overweight. I was broken mentally, physically, financially and emotionally. We drove around in a Honda Odyssey minivan with zip ties on the front bumper and the driver’s side door that fell off the track. It was a hard place to be. I was standing in the middle of the gym, dazed and confused. I was trying to figure out how my life had turned into what it is, pure chaos.

Lifestyle Transformation: If you’re dealing with fear, you have to first identify it. Then you have to have a clear understanding that self-doubt and fear are best friends.

The one thing that I took away from that moment in time after looking back was that your breakthrough would never meet you at your convenience. It’ll always meet you in your chaos. There was a guy that was traveling from Malaysia and he walked up to me as a total stranger and said, “I couldn’t help but notice you reminded me a lot of myself. I wanted to share a program with you that helped me.” Here I am in the middle of the gym in Maryland when a total stranger coming from across the globe shared some program with me.

I almost missed my opportunity because I was so bitter and broken in my current reality. I gave him my email and a short answer and I left the gym. When I got in the vehicle, the first thing I did was ask God, “Why am I going through what I was going through,” when he was setting me up for abundance, but I was so used to scarcity. I’ve shared that with you because there are times in our life when we’re having opportunities and we let them go right on by. We’re stuck in such a victim mentality.

That day, I signed up for this lifestyle transformational program and that was the best thing that I could have ever done. The reason why is because I needed to change, but I didn’t know what the change was. This helped me to break myself down and figure out the bad habits that I’ve been creating all this time, where a healthy body and healthy mind work together. My physical transformation was such a picture of what I was dealing with on the external. You could see it projecting out and that’s where it starts to change for me.

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I want to address a couple of things that you said in there. Many of us go through this too, is that we’re trying to figure out our why. It doesn’t come overnight and I’ve been in sessions with people that they say, “We’re going to take ten minutes. We’re going to write out our why.” I found that it’s impossible to do. It’s interesting that your transformation went for years, and I think you’re going to have more of a transformation. Life is a journey. It’s not a destination. We know that. I’m 58 years old in 2021, and I’m still trying to figure out my why.

We’re always trying to figure it out and I do think it changes because of the callings that we have. The calling that I have that I’m in the middle of, it’s, “Why am I being called to do this?” It’s because I’m fighting it a little bit. We fight it a little bit on the way. You made a comment about being quiet, internalizing and making sure that you’re praying and you’re calling on God. I’m always reflecting back on the scripture of, “Listen and you will know that I am God.”

It’s so important because we’re in such a world of busyness that we don’t take the time to listen to what we’re being called to do and what happens with us physically, financially, emotionally, spiritually and with relationships. Let me ask you this question. Let’s talk about fear. The reason why I want to talk about fear is because you were going through a lot of fear. This is why I’m so thankful for every veteran who makes that commitment to give away their body and everything to our country. It’s not something I’d be willing to do.

I want to fight for our country, but I don’t know if I’d be willing to fight when it comes down to brass tactics. Fear isn’t in that situation and I know you experienced it. Fear is also in taking the leap to move from wherever you are now, this life after breaking through glass ceilings or trying to break through the glass ceilings. There is fear all over the place.

[bctt tweet=”When you can move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, you can really start identifying what’s missing and what’s needed to move forward.” username=””]

Fear of judgment and what the naysayers will say. What will my family say if I try to improve my physical life? What will people say if I take on a new loan or take on the risk of opening up a new business? Let’s talk about how people can overcome that fear before taking those steps, these are four different components that you talk about.

It’s what moved me forward. There was a lot of fear in my household. When I got that box of food from a stranger, the first thing my wife said out of fear was, “We can’t even make payroll, but you’re spending money with a stranger. I don’t understand this.” There was fear on both ends. Her end and mine because I think something has got to give and I had no idea what the opportunities were. When you’re overcoming fear, first of all, you have to identify with fear.

You have to identify with what it is. You also have to have a clear understanding that self-doubt and fear are best friends. Every day that you wake up, you have self-doubt. Self-doubt alone will be the one thing that will stop you from ever achieving your goals and breakthroughs more than a person or an obstacle ever will because fear is non-existent. Our mind collects stories and data to support that may never even occur. When we ask ourselves, how do we overcome this? Feelings aren’t facts, that’s number one.

We have to identify the feelings and facts are by asking qualifying questions. This is hard to do because when you’re in a victim mentality, this is normal. To society, it’s acceptable. Our brains are hardwired to be below-the-line thinkers. That means close-minded, defensive and always need to be right. When you can move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, to being open, curious and willing to grow, you become conscious.

You can then start identifying what’s missing, what’s needed and what we need to do to move forward. Oftentimes, because we’re so consumed with our current reality, as some of these readers who are reading this, you’re going through something now. Your brain is already sending you signals, triggers and thoughts that you’re saying, “You don’t know what my story is. You don’t know my situation.”

The problem with this is because society has now condoned a behavior of allowing you to think that you get a badge of honor for how bad your story is. The badge of honor comes from the breakthrough. You have to take a step back and have a self-evaluation. This is very difficult to do because it’s not a habit. Remember this, your feelings and words don’t change your life. Your habits do. When you’re stuck in a habit loop of fear and self-doubt, it becomes all that’s familiar to you.

One of the things you probably don’t know about me is that I have a TV show coming out called Tell Me I Can’t. It’s a challenge-driven show in the sense that people have been told by others that they can. We tell ourselves that every day. A lot of us say, “I don’t know if I can do that. Should I be able to do that? I’m a little bit afraid.” We have this self-doubt that’s going on. This inner speaking happens all the time, but it’s those who say, “Get out of my way.” Those who take on the challenge and see that as a trigger to succeed.

Lifestyle Transformation: You need accountability and structure. You need like-minded people in your corner that are contending for you. That will tell you the truth and not what you want to hear.

We will be exploring those stories in the show and that’s important what you’re saying there, especially with the feelings and words that don’t depict what your life will be, but the actions do. Feelings aren’t facts. Darren Hardy says something, too. He is one of my mentors. He says, “If you could have 30 seconds of courage, you could avoid a lifetime of fear.” Sometimes it’s three minutes of courage rather than all the self-talk and self-doubt that happens. It doesn’t allow you to break through those glass ceilings.

That’s not what this show is about. This show is about, let’s break through those glass ceilings and what it’s like to get there on the other side. Let’s take everybody to the other side. You broke through these glass ceilings and you coach on four component programs that awaken clients and increase their awareness of all kinds of things. Tell us about the four components that you share with people in your coaching program.

One of the components is one-on-one support, guidance and accountability along the way. When you’re going for any goals, whether your weight goals, health goals or personal development, you need accountability and structure. You need like-minded people in your corner who are contending for you to tell you the truth and not what you want to hear. I use weight loss as an example because it’s a common problem. Seventy-four percent of the American population is overweight, 40% are obese.

The number one reason for 85% of weight coming back on in self-contained diets in two years or less is lack of behavioral support. That number one component of having somebody in your corner, holding you accountable and reminding you of why you wanted to do this in the first place that’s one of the components. The second component is plugging these clients into a community. I do this challenge with people often. Look at your phone in the last four separate text messages you got.

Four messages from separate people. How many of those messages are consistently challenging you to become better and be what you’re capable of being? It’s because the truth of the matter is, more times than not, those messages consist of things that are not serving you well and are not moving you forward. They’re a gossip, negative and mindlessly scrolled posters. That’s the second component.

The third component is we use a proven system that Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen cofounded. It’s the Habits of Health Transformational System and Your LifeBook that has 26 elements that are intrinsically waking you working on all six macro habits. The very first part of this is figuring out your why. You said something powerful, “Your why changes.” It does change. As people progress and they start collecting little wins along the way, they’re also going deeper in their level of why. We always look for the low-hanging fruit. We’re looking for a quick answer, “I want to lose 20 pounds.” That’s low-hanging. I don’t know why you want to lose that.

The fourth component of it is we use a fueling piece, which is our food. The macro habits are very important. It’s how you fuel your body. The fuel is a tool. They’re not your know-all be-all. They’re not meant to be on forever, but they teach you a healthy plate system. They teach you how to portion control correctly and understand not to starve your body. You should eat six times a day. There is a lot of misconception and misunderstanding about that.

[bctt tweet=”Your feelings don’t change your life. Your words don’t change your life. Your habits do.” username=””]

When you were a baby, every 2 to 3 hours, you were having a couple of ounces of formula. Where did that stop along the way? It stopped when we started eating highly glycemic food, highly processed food, larger quantities in one sitting and then thinking we’ll skip meals so that way we don’t overindulge or we don’t gain any more weight. It’s a faulty mindset.

I love all of those, especially the community piece of it. Community is important for supporting people. That goes in tandem with accountability. A lot of people say, “My girlfriend and I started walking and then one day,” one of the people says, “I’m tired. Can we skip one day?” “We can skip one day.” It then skips 2, 3 and 4 and then you’re not walking anymore. Your community, in tandem with accountability, is what’s important.

Who is the person that’s helping you be accountable and not being in a community of non-like-minded people? People that don’t have their why down. People who don’t understand why they’re doing something other than participating and maybe FOMO. Something that we’re experiencing a lot is the Fear Of Missing Out, “It’s the newest best thing, so let me go ahead and do it.” How did you make the transformation for yourself in losing the 60 pounds? I imagine you went through these four things, but what was the thing that worked best for you? Was it mindset and accountability?

Did you have an accountability partner or was it that you started learning about the food you eat? For example, I’m plant-based and that’s different than vegan. People need to understand that. People are like, “You’re a vegetarian.” “That’s different too.” Being plant-based is one thing, one of the things I had to work on and I do need to lose maybe 5 pounds, but after that, I don’t need to lose any weight because I’m too little. I didn’t have to lose weight. I just wanted to feel better, but how come I’m not seeing a trimming down or anything like that. What I realized was that I hadn’t changed my portions. I see that a lot with people that eat big portions.

Do you know the book, The Blue Zones? One of the things about that community is that when they receive food at a table when they’re going out for dinner, they’ll ask for a take-home box right away and put half their food in the take-home box, rather than us feeling like we have to eat the whole thing and then be stuffed. For me, it was a portion issue, even if I was eating the right thing. What did you find was the number one of these components that helped you get through your glass ceiling of losing 60 pounds and feeling better?

I did get very interested in what we’re putting in our bodies. I do plant-based as well. I love plant-based but the one thing was my mind. Your mind is the most powerful weapon in this world. When you can take control of your thoughts, you have control of your body. Losing weight was very important to me. I wanted to stop feeling how I felt and I started noticing those changes. In the first two weeks, I started feeling the energy shift just from the way I was feeling my body.

I’ll tell you what happened Jen. I was sitting in the carwash and I was tired of looking at my wife and not giving her my very best. I knew I wasn’t. Sometimes you can be doing your best, but you’re not giving your best. That means that you don’t need to change your vision, you need to change your vehicle. I was in a vehicle that wasn’t allowing me to give my best. I was sitting in that carwash and I have the gift card in my wallet to this day. The carwash attendant sprays the car off. They come around. They’re going to vacuum it out. I forgot to tell them, “Please, don’t open the door.” They ripped the door off the hinges of the slider track.

Lifestyle Transformation: Your mind is the most powerful weapon in this world. And when you can take control of your thoughts, then you have control of your body.

It’s laying on the ground. They have to hold the door while I pull the car off the side. I’m in my most embarrassing moment here. I’m angry, embarrassed and ashamed, but what hit me in the feels was when the carwash owner came over with sympathy and gave me a $10 gift card. This is only three months into my journey of making some changes. At that time, I’m thinking, “What’s $10 going to do me?” It did me everything because I stuck it in my wallet.

Every time I had self-doubt or forgot why I was doing what I was doing, I looked at that because that wasn’t the life that I wanted for my family. You guys that are reading this, ladies and gentlemen, are in full control of the destiny of your life. Stop trying to fix your past and start stepping into your destiny. For me, it was 100% mindset. Once I started seeing I had a healthy mind, the body follows.

You should write a book called How Carwash Changed My Life because that for me is a pinnacle. Sometimes you have to have that tipping point and it sounds like that was the tipping point. There were a lot of little points that along the way you think are tipping points, but there becomes this one day, this one thing that says, “I’ve had enough and it has to change.” The why becomes so clear that it’s not motivation, it’s an inspiration. There is a difference because motivation is a vicious circle. It’s external. You have to read a book to be motivated. Go somewhere to be motivated. Attend an event. Go back to church to be motivated. Inspiration comes from the inside and there is nothing that will stop you with inspiration.

It sounds to me like the carwash created the inspiration. You had the why and reasons, but the inspiration, the thing that never said again, was that moment of embarrassment and realization that, “This is as bad as I think it is. I’m done. I can’t do it anymore.” That’s pretty powerful. Tell us a little bit about your coaching because I know that you also do some coaching in the financial piece of this, too. It’s not just physical. It’s also some financial. Where does that fit into this as well, as far as the credibility that you’re delivering to help people from the financial standpoint.

It’s a trilogy of a healthy body, healthy mind and healthy finance. Results are atypical in the sense that everyone works individually and uniquely hard for their goals and desire. What it does is a couple of things. Number one it’s to educate you. Most people don’t realize the average spending that they put into food alone each day and how much do they waste on food. That’s the one objection that most people come across when they say, “I can’t afford to eat healthy,” but you’ll spend $50, $80 or plus a week on fast food, rather that’s small and significant meals or not.

This is average American studies. The financial piece is we help people with the opportunity of considering to pay this gift forward. We are an amazing company. We are a traditional company and fully direct selling and helping people become awakened and to be the dominant force in their lives by taking charge of their own lives. Who wouldn’t want that opportunity? We give these tools and lay this free reciprocal mentoring out for anybody that wants to take their health journey to the next level. Coaching is ultimately one of the options that many people take.

I had a career in mortgage lending and I’ll never forget this one time where this woman was trying to buy a house. It was her and 2 or 3 kids. Single woman, she was divorced. She was buying a very moderate house way West here in Virginia and Winchester. I got a copy of her bank statement and every other debit was McDonald’s or Wendy’s. She had no money.

I could see that what she was doing was every day she and her children were being fed from the fast-food store. Sometimes, three times a day at fast food, breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack and after dinner, too, but it was sad to see. It’s that The Latte Factor that David Bach does in The Automatic Millionaire. If you give up one of those, how much it can accumulate over time is pretty amazing.

[bctt tweet=”There’s no discount on greatness. Self-doubt is the only thing stopping you.” username=””]

I did a calculation and don’t quote me on this but I think it was somewhere around $12,000 or $14,000 a year of additional annual income that you would be able to add to your household from cutting out fast food. Those numbers can vary for each person, but I’ll tell you, full transparency, I was spending that easy a year in fast food.

I’ve never been a fast food girl, thank God. I love Taco Bell, but I have never been a fast food person. I’m thankful for that, but I’m a tea person.

I would go to Taco Bell and spend $14, 3 or 4 times a week easily. That was one meal for me. When I was getting negative overdrafts and email alerts in my bank account in 2019, I would make time, priority and money for fast food that was serving me no purpose. That’s something key for you readers. People ask me all the time, “How do you know what’s truly important to you?” I say, “Show me your schedule and your bank register, I’ll show you what’s important.”

What do you want to leave with us, Josh? For those reading in and saying, “I like what Josh has to say. This has been a great mindset exercise. There is no question about it.” What would you like to leave with the people that are listening in?

I would love to tell you guys that there is no discount on greatness. Self-doubt is the only thing stopping you, no one else or no other obstacle. Overcome that, find something symbolic, look at it every day and remind yourself there is no discount to the greatness that’s inside you. You are called to something much higher than where you are.

It’s like the no silver bullet. It is similar to that. You have to put all the work in. You can’t wait for someone to give and hand it to you. Josh, it has been a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you so much for sharing your story and what you’re giving people. Again, thank you so much for joining us. I sure appreciate it.

Thank you so much. I appreciate your time.

Important Links

• Josh Hicks – Facebook
• Habits of Health Transformational System
• Your LifeBook
• The Blue Zones
• The Automatic Millionaire

About Josh Hicks

Army veteran, husband, father, health coach, motivational speaker and most importantly child of God. I have been called to share His word through my beautiful and magnificent story of physical, emotional and financial transformation. My family and I went from barely surviving to thriving! Let me share with you how. Always remember this, the world is never happening to you it’s happening for you.