Anticipating and Overcoming Adversity - A Way of Life Toward Purpose in Service to Others

0:06 There are some people that make their work just another thing they have to do, and there are those that make their work something that they want to do. Welcome to Working on Purpose with your host Elise Cortes. In our program, we provide guidance and inspiration from those people who have found deeper meaning and personal connection to their work life. It's beyond nine to five. It's working on purpose. Now Here is your host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to Working on Purpose. Thanks for tuning in again this week. I'm your host, Elise Cortes, joining you from Dallas, Texas. If you've been tuning in for a while, you know this show is all about helping people more meaningfully and productively connect with their work and equipping organizations do the same for their employees. It was originally inspired by the meeting and work research up and conducting over the last fifteen years, and it now complements the work that I do it Insignium, a global management consulting firm. Let me thank my media partner's sponsor first jobbing dot com. They are the leading locally focused job board in the nation and are dedicated to helping employers find quality talent in their own backyard and giving jobs control over their search and they can find work close to home.

1:11 Great partnership. Thank you. Last week, if you missed the show, you can always catch the recorded podcast, we were on the air with Principal Evan rob of Johnson Williams Middle School in Berryville, Virginia. We talked about his passion, his passion to cultivate a growth mindset among his students and faculty, his perspective that we've talked to ourselves as a nation into being bad at math and what we can do about that, and his use of social media to engage students and parents, among many other topics. Was a great conversation with us. This week is Staff Sergeant Jason Morgan, who was a motivational speaker and best selling author of a book called A Dog Called Hope, a wounded warrior and his service dog who saved him. Jason shares with audiences his own remarkable journey from the Special Forces to living as a wounded veteran, a Paralympic athlete, and a national speaker. Also his own inspiring message based on his story to help people navigate back from adversity. We'll be talking about his own story of serving in the military and becoming disabled, and what he's learned from that experience, his perspective on adversity and the importance of service in our communities. Jason joins us today from Dallas. Welcome to the show.

2:16 Thank you, Thank you for having me. This is going to be a lovely conversation. I appreciate that we were connected. I think it was by Lauren Yates, and I so appreciate that she sent me to you, because when I went to go look at your website and see what you've been up to and hear and read about your story, I knew I had to have you on the show. So glad to have you to get us started. If you don't mind, I know a little something about it because we've talked already in the phone. But for the benefit of our listeners, would you introduce yourself and just maybe start with a little bit of a sketch of your military career. Sure, Jason Morgan, I and listen. Into United States Air Force when I was twenty years old, and my job in the Air Force as a combat meteorologist. On top of my job was actually called the unicorns because there's only seventy of us to do our job in the military, so we're quite few called the grave raise, but our job was to provide combat weather combat support for special operations either on or behind enemy lines. So basically, if they social forces, the glom Bros I've worked with, or other special operations when they had missions, the first thing I do is that we contact us to give them all the weather data so they can successfully do their mission. Which it might seem not much, but when you have you know, lives depending on it and billion dollar assets is such as helicopters and stuff, that it's a very challenging job. And I did that for almost ten years until I was injured in nineteen ninety nine. And now I'm,

3:49 you know, a single dad with three boys that I've raised on my own and the help with the help of the awesome service dog named Reu. Wow. Wow, so many things I'm going to ask you about all of that. So, but before we do that, just I think everybody wants to better understand what happened? What what what happened that you became disabled? Well it was in Actually I just celebrated a couple of weeks become my aten year anniversary. Call it my my lived day. The day that I had my injury, I was in South America and I'm a Columbia Ecuador board working with the one SUCCEI night Stock from the maybe Blackhawk down it's also the helicopter units that got beIN Lauden recently and they do special operations, and we were down there. We were training me. We were training the Ecuadorian special forces how to combat the drug cartel group down there called the FARC, which is it's like an archatic except it's in South America and it's an army rebel group and they they get a lot of their money from from drugs obviously, and also kidnap engineers from the UK and US that are working down there, down the air brands, and so it's a really bad group. And so our job down there was to train the special forces there. The local special forces had to fight, and so in order to do that, we had to go on missions with them. And it was actually on one of those missions, are just finishing up. They're in an suv undercover, as we always were,

5:21 and I'm not sure exactly what happened. It's still quite sketchy, but basically our driver was trying to avoid a very dangerous situation. I was in the backseat providing security, and he sped up to try to make it around a corner and didn't make the corner since I was out of the back seat. I was in the back seat with my weapon, trying to help out with that situation. When the vehicle started flipping down our beam. I flipped out of the vehicle and then it flipped over the top of me and crushed my back, and I guess to make a matter of worse, it left me face down on the water and unable to move with a broken back. I was very fortunate that American missionary that was working in the area, he saw the vehicle at the bottom of the ravine, and when I talked to him later, he said that the only way he found me is that he saw the vehicle. He wasn't sure if it was a fresh accent or not, and so him and his buddies that he was with, they were skirting down the mountain side and that's the way they found me. And he said almost tripped over me because I was covered in mud and buried in the water.

6:29 That's the only way he found me. And then it brought me to safety, and that was you know, I shouldn't have made it. In fact, I wasn't. I was barely breathing. I have trying to go into this a little bit, but i'll make it short. Before I was barely breathing. And he tried to use their cell phones and other people who stopped to try to call for an ambulance, and none of the cell phones worked. But because he worked for a Christian radio station called Voice and Andyes, he used his short way radio to contact an ambulance in the in the US embassy where to Vegas. And they said that it's going to be about three hours for the ambulance out there. And he said, well, this guy didn't have three hours because as a you know, he didn't know at the time, but I had one collapse long and the other one who was about eighty percent full of water. Plus we are fourteen thousand feet. So he decided to load me in his van and the other injured guy and meet the ambulance halfway. And as soon as I met the ambulance, I quit breathing. So actually I went into I arrested and didn't wake up. So about two months later, back in the US from a coma oh, my gosh, Jason, I'm sitting here with goosebumps listening to that story. I know you've told that story many many times, and audiences like to hear you tell that story. I wanted you to tell it because I think it really sets us up for some of the conversation we're going to have around adversity.

7:49 You are incredibly uniquely situated to talk about overcoming adversity. I think it's amazing that you didn't drown. I mean, the fact that you can't move, you've got it broken back, and you're emerged face down in water. It's it is a miracle that you didn't drown as well. I mean, it's just it's crazy, absolutely, and just thinking this that was in good shaping and special operations, so that that and so probably saved my life. And the work that the doctors did over the next two months, and dark dit listed tie during the two months. So I'm I'm very fortunate to be here well. And and so what I find fascinating about that is I almost researched this for my PC dissertation. But the idea of just you know, perseverance and being being able to persevere through you know, things that most people would level most people is relliant fascinating to me. I guess I would like to ask you where where do you think that strength came from for you? Why?

8:46 Why do you think you could persevere and did persevere? Well, I think that's a good question. I think a lot of that had to do with my training and special operations. You know, to do a job that only you know, less than one percent of the guys make it through challenging itself. You have to do things kind of above and beyond what you think you're capable of doing. It's always it's like always a fight, always doing stuff that you did, your mind telling you that you can't do. And I think that really had a lot to do with it. Although I was always kind of I always kind of like that, I like to sewing things that I did, but I think it might really really helped out and make a big difference. Well. One of the one of the many reasons I wanted to have you on the show is I think we can all learn something from you about the way that you navigate adversity, and certainly when I think about how this relates to the world of work, right, every single day, people find themselves in adverse situations that they have to navigate through that either make them or break them. And so part of what right so part of what makes your story also interesting is you get through that whole experience that you just described. And then I know when you and I spoke on the phone, you know, sometime later in your life, you'd spent six months reading for the Marine Corps Marathon when yet another tragedy struck you. Will you tell us what happened then and how you handled it? Sure, And you know, fortunately that was many years later after I was injured. I don't think that's something that I play would have made it through during the first part of my injuries, just trying to you know, the first few years that I

10:18 was just trying to get by as I spent I believe they out of my first seven years, I spent three and a half years in the hospital. So it was always, you know, going through that. But so I was training for the Marine Corps Marathon and it's I told my buddies, you know, when I was twenty nine when I was injured, and for my twenty ninth birthday, for your thirtieth birthday, supposed to run thirty miles in the in the unit that I was in, so Ill gave me a kind of a hard time, like, yeah, you just got to hurt. Soe after thirty one miles and it told me. I said, well, and I turned for Down'm doing a marathon. And I really thought I wouldn't believe it. I thought that, you know, after being injured for fifteen years at that time, that I think it was ten years after my injury, that they have a cure for prossis, or I'd just be able to do it. Well, forty came and gone and never happened, and I started doing sing this thing I did, and then a great organization came up to me and said, hey, we saw some of your media clips about your success in the Military Paralympics and we want a sponsor to do the Marine Corps marathon. And I thought about that that I'll post my buddies, I'll do this marathon. I'm like, I'm great. I love to I knew I needed all five months to train for this, and you know it's one thing, you know, to use your lester on sas going two miles, but now I'm just using my arms and a much smaller muscles. So I I guess now about two months to go before the marathon. I remember that

11:50 I started off like as a medium search size. By the time I finished, I was an extra large. That's just the kind of bulk and training you have to do to do. You want to the marathon from up a racing chair, which a lot of people do it, from hand cycle, which is a lot of user I didn't do it. I wanted to do it from a racing chair. You actually pushed just with your arms. And so in the middle of my training, I had a blister on my heel and then all of a sudden it got like really bad, and I decided to go to the mercey and to get it checked out, and they said that, you know, I have a bad infection in my pill from a blister. Apparently the bone was infected. So, you know, I was trying to figure out what that meant, and the only thing I could think about was a marathon. He said, well, it's not a big deal, and they said, we'll just scrape off the infected bone, we'll put a skin flap over. It'd be good to go in three days. I said, good, because I have a marathon coming up, and you know, less than two months away, and it's very very important to me, and it's something that I really not want to do, but I really I felt like I really needed to do. And he said no, I probably says, we'll get your an emori. I come back in three days from near my eyes red and and we'll get you, you know, scheduled, and get the same done son get back training again. Well, when I came back in three days, the surgeon came up to me and no waiting for him, and he says, you know, there's no easy way to put this, but the bone has been infected. It's a lot worse than we thought it spread. And my strong recommendation to use to amputate your leg.

13:18 Those words just kind of hit me something I wasn't expecting at all. And I was there actually with my service dog, and and he said, or we can probably treat it might take up to a year, and we still not build to save your legs. So he said, I'll leave you for a few minutes and then I'll come back. And remember I left, I was just kind of staring at my dog, and my dog is he knows me. It's almost like we can he eat each other. We spend twenty four to seven with each other. He actually got up on my lap and kind of looking at me, and this might sound strange, but kind of looked at me. He's like, you know what, buddy, we can do this. And so the doctor came back in and you know, and I felt like I had choices there. It's like, there, I could you know, the dreams that I've always done. I don't think anyone would ever second guest knowing that I'm having to have my leg amputated right before the marathon. Well, we can get this leg amputating, I can still dude, that figure that would really help my healing. And that's all I said, Well, that's going to schedule this schedule as soon as possible because I want to do this marathon. And he first kind of told me that it's a very good possibility and I'm not gonna do but do it. He says, it's a very extensive surgery. You know, you'll be in the hospital for a couple of weeks, Jean ditches, You're not gonna be able to really move around a lot. But I said, medically, would I'd be able to? And he said, you know, I think so, and that's all I needed to hear. So we went had the surgery done.

14:45 It was a lot of time than I thought. I remember when they first redid the bandage. Actually I put a blanket where my leg was. I had an apucated just glow the knee and put a blanket there just so I didn't have to deal with it or see it. But a couple of days later, when they had to change the bandage on saw it. It's kind of broke down. I guess the reality of having part of your body taken from you hit me a lot harder than I thought it would, even knowing that I'm already a paraplegic and paralyzed from the waist down. And I was just like, well and I like to think about I just want to get back in the gym and start training, And so the doctors I ended up staying for a week instead of two weeks. I out the hospital a lot quicker. The prosthetic guys made a special brace from my leg that covered my leg with the stitches so I could wouldn't hurt it any or getting type infection, and I was back in two days after my got out of the hospital ten days after my surgery back in the surgery training, and I found out that I lost a lot, I mean, spending that much time in the hospital and having extensive surgery like that, I was nowhere near at the shape that I was in when I started my training again. And I'm like, I know I can all day. I'm going to do this. And so we're first scheduled, it looks like we're in to seven a little for some minute miles and knew that wasn't gonna happen, and but me and my teammates we lettered up, my trainers, we learned up and went to Washington, d C. Being this marathon, and I found out that Hurricane Sandy was expected to hit a day after the marathon. So it America and they're

16:18 expecting forty five miles on winds. It really makes it hard to push because my hands the friction, they slighed really bad. I was just like, oh my god, you're just gonna make this as hard on me as you can. But you know, the harder things is the better of the reward. And I remember that I was pushing through there and it was some of my mile times I went back and looked at it were almost twelve minutes that and then that was the pom against the wind, and some of the times were less than four minutes, so in marathon to say the least. And you know, I remember when I was about on my mark or twenty two, I was my gloves were breaking down. I was really struggling, and the people that were typical in fallity and random and inspiring me the rest of the way, and I remember crossing that finish line is one of the greatest things that I ever did. And I felt like then it's like, you know what I made it. It's like, you know, I've gone through adversity four and it's really hit me. But this was probably the worst I've gone through since my entry, and I was still able to do this and to fulfill my dream. I kind of felt like that this was kind of my proving point that I don't think there's anything out there that could really set me back anymore, like like what first happened when I first got injured and I even had to be lifted off of my racing chair and put on a car for the next three hours. That ike my back on me because I could even move, you know, even from the my back, which was

17:48 gone and I was aching so bad. But you know, that's time I'll never forget. It's It's definitely a high point in my life. Wow, Jason, perfect time for us to cut for a quick break. That was an amazing story. I'm gonna probably ask you to see if you can call back in because you're you're breaking You're breaking up quite a bit there, but we'll take a quick break here. I'm your host, Alis Cortez. We've been on the air with Staff Sergeant Jason Morgan, who is a motivational speaker and best selling author of A dog called Hope, a wounded warrior and the service dog who saved him. Recently, Hey has been an ardent spokesperson for the training of service dogs to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities through his association with Canine Companions for Independence. He joins it today from Dallas, Texas. We'll talk more after the break about how we can overcome adversity, among other things as well, and and what's happening in the lives of vets.

18:33 Stay with us, It's your world, Motivate, Change, Succeed, Voice America Empowerment dot Com. At least Court is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more or to invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elise Coortes dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help get your employees working on purpose. Follow us on Twitter for more great ideas at Voice America Empowerment. This is Working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, please call in to one triple eight three four six nine one four one. Again, that's one triple eight three four six nine one four one.

19:56 You may also send an email to Eleise ali Se at Elisportes dot com. Now back to working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to working on Purpose. If you're just joining us. My guest is Staff Sergeant Jason Morgan, who is a motivational speaker and best selling author. He served in the Air Force as part of the tenth Combat Weather Squadron, completed Air Force Weather School before joining the Elite Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a unit within the Green Berets, as a combat meteorologist. After his injury, he participated in the Warrior Games, a competition for wounded and injured service members and veterans. I'm your host, Elise Cortes. Before the break, we were talking about some of those situations in terms of how he got his injury and then of course when he had his leg amputated. For this next segment here, I want to talk about veterans and also your perspective on overcoming adversity. Jason. So, first, for our listeners who don't know much about this, I found this quite fascinating. You told me on the phone that a problem we face as a nation is that twenty two veterans commit suicide each day. So help us understand what's striving these frightening figures, what's going on for these people? You know, I wish I could, you know, And that's something I'm trying to understand more. Is But yeah, when when someone first told me that, I thought it was a mistake. I thought it you know, there's no way that could be. But you know, even myself, I've gone too far from any Far too many funerals after you know, people when they're out of conflict from you know, taking their own life and it's it's tragic and it just has to win. So I've

21:30 been trying to looking that more. You know, I'm not exactly sure, but I think a lot of these guys that I've talked to that really go into a lot of depression that a lot of them they felt like they lost their purpose in life. That all have they known is the military, and they they loved it, and they felt like that they had a purpose there, a job that you can't find anywhere else. And I think when they go through a severe significant injury like mine, that they just kind of feel like they just they lose hope and they lose purpose. I think that's a lot of things. And the other thing, obviously is you know PTSD, which I have in a small amount, so I can't relate to some of these guys. But some of the things that go through I just don't think they can overcome them. They just the resources aren't there or they haven't been able to find the resources to overcome it, and it seems like to them they're hurting so bad on the inside that it's their only option. Wow, well, this might be a good time to talk about Well, you've identified it as the importance of finding resources. Obviously you've been able to do that, but can you comment on how you manage to find them for yourself and how do you recommend other vets look to find resources even everyday people that are out in the workplace. How would you recommend that? Well, you know, for me, it's just you know, I've been in cheering out for eighteen years, so basically mine came over just by actively searching and just over time and learning. But you know there's a lot, you know, there's there's ways to do that much quicker. That's why you know, I started

23:00 my foundation too. But I think the biggest thing is for people just not be afraid to ask for help. I mean, people don't want admit they're going through tough times and stuff, and we all go through it, some more than others, but they all affect us the same. And I think the best thing is to reach out to others and find answers is people that have been there, done it. Unless I think the best person that you can learn from, in my opinion, m hm, that makes a lot of sense to me. And you know, I think I think this goes back to something that I talk about frequently on the show and in another conversations, just the importance of having a coach or somebody else in your life who can give you a tother perspective or say what about this? Or have you checked into this, or just someone to bounce things off of. I would think would be incredibly helpful as well. Absolutely, And I don't think we need to be scared when we see our friends that we feel that they're hurting, to not be scared to go up to them and tell them, hey, you know, I'm here for you, what do you need and almost be a little persistent too. I think that that makes a different as well as I had people and family and friends to that for me as well.

24:06 Now, you said something back before about this notion of some of these vets losing purpose, and you told me that through all your setbacks that we've been talking about on this show, that you found your own purpose through all your adversity and now love to inspire others to persevere through their own setbacks. Will you say more about that. That's quite an interesting thing that you've been able to do to juxtapose or find two very distinct ways of addressing purpose for yourself. Oh sure, And I think I want to use antos that there's a term that I don't think it's chused very often and something that I don't really like to admit, but there's a term called the professional wounded warrior. And that's a guy that when we go. I do a lot of events for veterans and help out a lot of intervetterance because I have a lot to offer, and I see some of these same guys at the same places of all these different events. It's like, what can you give me? What can you do for me? And those are the guys that aren't getting better.

25:00 I tell them, I said, you know what, if you want to get better, and why don't you find one of these organizations that you really like and get plugged in and start working with them and do that to help others. Because that's what I found out was my gave me purpose and what gave me identy identity back in life, is that I'm using my struggles and stuff to help others and make a difference in others, you know, other people's lives. I think that's the biggest thing you could do is to get back. That's where you're going to find more meaning, I think than anything I've ever done well. And certainly another reason I wanted to have you on the show, of course, Jason, is that you know, what's the name of the show, working on purpose, and that's a double on Tendra. That means that for people who are trying to find a way to work toward a more purposeful place in their lives, that's one. The other piece is just doing it very intentionally, is what I mean by that. So one of the things that I also thought was interesting that kind of relates to some reading that I've done lately is Angela Duckworth wrote a book called Grit, The Power of Passion and Perseverance. And my guest is a few of the listeners who are listening to the show probably have picked up on it, or maybe I already read it. But but I connect this idea to what I think is your position of overcoming adversity. I mean, she talks about on the short really that we're actually you said something about sometimes life is not going to get better when you're down, And so I think in general and certainly in the world of work. Wrapping our heads around this idea and trying to figure out how to deal with it is critical to mental health and really ultimate success. And so she's all about perseverance and passion and that grit piece of it. And I relate that to how you talk about overcoming adversity. Do

26:33 you see it the same way or differently? Yeah? Absolutely? And I think the people that say you know, people say well, it can't get any worse. I think if you have that attitude and really feel that way, it's going to get worse. I think that's something that you know is for me, and you've talked about you know the past. Thing is you know is that for me? Which helps me is that I almost you almost did expect adversity, and and if you know it's coming, you'll be better prepared for it and learn from it and find a way to move on. I think that's the best way. It's something you have to work at.

27:15 It's not going to get any better if you're just hanging around and just thinking it can't get any worse. It's something you really have to to look at and strategy and strategize to think, how am I going to make my life better, or how am I going to make this situation better and start working on it. I think that's really the only way it's going to get better or your best chances. Yeah, you're a mental You're a mental. The health of a mental mindset is it's so crucial. I completely embrace that whole idea, Jason completely. Why do you think that many of us fall prey to giving into adversity though? Why don't we charge back? I don't know. I was never a person just to kind of give into my situation.

27:59 I did it first, and you know, after I got injured, I spent a year in the hospital and came back as a single dad and had to raise three people, three boys. They were very young at the time, and I just thought, wow, this is just instead of looking as like, you know, what was me. I think that's what a lot of people do is I think they just kind of, you know, this is horrible, and they just kind of feel sorry for themselves. And I think the way I looked at is like, in a way I found the good and my wife leaving. I know that was really hard to do, as I could barely take care of myself, much less three boys. But that's what gave me the motivation to get better. It's like, I got to get better. I got to get healthy because I have three boys that are counting on me, you know, that need me as a father to raise them. I'm not gonna I can't use my wheelchairs, and my prowess is saying why I couldn't raise my boys. So for me, I just kind of look the other way. I tried to find motivating, motivational factors and look at the good side of things instead of just feeling sorry for myself, which is unfortunately what a lot of people do. They kind of fall into to pray of adversity and feel like they can't get past it. Wow.

29:15 Okay, so I heard one thing in particular that I want to call out, and that is Jason. That sounds to me like one of the things that you did was you cast your eye to a higher plane than your own circumstance. Right. So, sometimes when we look beyond our own immediate needs, I've heard people say that, you know, they can do amazing things because they're no longer focused on themselves. So I focused on the good or something that's bigger or more important, or more powerful or has more meaning than just their own immediate lives. That's kind of what I heard you say. Is that right? It is you said it's so much better. So I'm going to take notes Frore and you're saying that the kind of yeah, absolutely, when you you know, there's always I'm easily when I'm in the room, I'm usually the worst office. I deal with significant pain, and I sometimes go days without sleeping, and and it's really easy for me to feel sord for myself. But sometimes, you know, when I work with these other foundations, I see guys that are so much worse than me, and I see quadraproligiic to like you know, Jason, I'd get anything to abilit to use my arms like you do or anything like that. And yes, when you when you put your focus on other people and you're not only helping them, right, but it takes your your focus away from themselves, as you so Elcholy put it. But yes, absolutely, thank you, Jason. Well, let me address something speaking of what you just said about your own condition there. And I think I'm asking this question for my own benefit and that from my listeners as well. I hear your your breathing is labored. I mean it sounds like you're you've got something happening there, are

30:45 you? Is you? Are you dealing with something in the way that you're breathing. Yeah, I have right now gone through a lot of pain, so it pretty much takes my breath away. It's like someone seventy with a nice pick too. That's what I'm going to bear with you here and get through it. It at a choice. I mean, it happens all the time. So I wanted to call that out. I didn't know what the answer was going to be to that question, but I again that even further situates that you are uniquely qualified to talk about overcoming adversity and just charging through. So the next thing I want to ask you is if you have any suggestions or or ideas or maybe you do this in your talks on how people can develop their muscle to better handle or even confront adversity. I think it's a combination for a lot of things. You know I've said before is one thing is to expect it, you know, and as they say it, you know, prepare for the worst, but expect the best or something like that. But you know, if you're prepared for adversity, if you know that it's probably going to happen. Then when it happens, it's not so bad. And then you know, and then when it does come, instead of you know, getting down about it, figure out a way, you know, what can I do to change my situation? Some Unfortunately, sometimes there's nothing you can do but just have a positive outlook. But that's good enough in itself. But sometimes there are things that you can do, and so you know, definitely, you know, expect it and prepare yourself and learn from it. And usually you know, when you go through adversity,

32:16 know and try to be positive about it that you're going to come out more on top than you were before. So expect better results if you do go through aversity. Mm hmmm. Do you have a perspective or anything you that you can share with us about how to really work on your mind? I mean you clearly have an I would consider it an extraordinary ability to address or not control maybe, but just stay in a very healthy place in terms of your mindset. Well, I think a lot really helped me was that, you know, getting back in shape again when I did that in marathon, and getting back in shape to have your your to be healthy in general. I think it's going to help you have a healthy mind and out to set affected me. A big way is to is to be healthy, and you know, I don't sleep very well, so I try to get sleep and eat right. I think that plays a big, big part of it.

33:13 And you know, but the biggest thing that's really helped me I've used to help others is just find an organization that you're good at or that you like and get involved and work on helping other people. I think mine done. You know, it does several things for you. It gets you to and you don't do it because you want to feel good. You do it to help others. But helping others makes me always feel good knowing that I'm using what I've learned and the things I've gone through to help others overcome similar situations. I think those are probably the two things that's helped me the most. I completely concur with those things, and I do them both myself. So I'm encouraged to hear that. I work out six days a week and I do a fair amount of community service, and it really does change your perspective on your own circumstances when you're focused on somebody else and from a healthy vantage point. I love what you said there, and it makes me also wonder when you when you talk to audiences, I'm curious. I mean, I got to guess that part of what you tried to impart is what you just said there. But what is it that you are really trying to impart through your book or through your speaking that you think that you really want to get across the audiences when you speak to them, Well, I hope that they get from it. It's like nothing is too difficult for you to overcome, and you know that it's like I bounce back on I'd hit with diversity again and try to bounce back and get hit again. That you know that you can get through it if you have the right tools and everything in place, that you can get through this and and even overcoming adversity or not. What

34:49 makes this country so great, I think is is that the Americans who they volunteer and they help other people and like for me to go snow skiing after I was whelchair, took four volunteers for every participant to snowsky and you know that's huge, and that's I think that's what makes this country so great is that there's so many people out there helping and helping not disabled veterans that you know. People always thank me for my service, but I always tell him that it's you that makes this country worth fighting for. I'm just still blessed to live in such a great country. Wow, that is an incredible way to send us into a break, Jason. That is such a humble perspective to have from someone like you. I'm so glad to have you with me.

35:35 I'm Alice Cortez, your host. We've been on the air with Staff Sergeant Jason Morgan, who is a motivational speaker and best selling author of A dog called Hope, a wounded warrior and the service dog who saved him. Recently, he has been an ardent spokesperson for the training of service dogs to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities through his association with Canine Companions for Independence. He joins us today from Dallas, Texas. After the break, we'll talk more about his notion of service and giving actual community, among other things. Stay with us, It's your world, Motivate, Change, Succeed, Voice America Empowerment dot Com. Alise Cortes is a speaker and engagement and development catalyst. She designs and delivers professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more or to invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at www dot Elisecortes dot com. She would welcome the opportunity to help get your employees working on purpose. Follow us on Twitter for more great ideas at Voice America Empowerments.

37:07 This is Working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, please call in to one triple eight three four six nine one four one. Again, that's one triple eight three four six nine one four one. You may also send an email to Elise Alise at Elise Coortes dot com. Now back to working on Purpose. Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to working on Purpose. If you're just tuning in. My guest is staff Stargant Jason Morgan, who is a motivational speaker and best selling author. He served in the Air Force as part of the tenth Combat Weather Squadron, completed Air Force Weather School before joining the Elite Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a unit within the Green Berets as a combat meteorologist. After his injury, he participated in the Warrior Games, a competition for wounded and injured service members and veterans, with talking a bit about this experience that he's had. I'm your host, Alice Cortes. So for this last final segment here, Jason, I wanted to focus really on this notion of service and giving back to the community. I know that's really important to you and what your the message that you impart to listeners. And you told me that you've learned a lot about service from your dog rou So first, how was it that you and ru came to be a pair? Well, Rue was my second service dog, and actually the book is about my first service dog, Nepaul, And unfortunately when the author flew in from London to write the story, was the time that my and Nepaul passed away. And now I got this incredible dog,

38:42 mean Ruin. I got her from ken Acatania's for Independence. I went out to California and got her and stay out there for a couple of weeks and work with several dogs, and they pair you with the best dog based on the dog simperment and your own personality, and they do an extremely great job of matching it with the perfect And she is she is my buddy, my best friend. Oh my gosh, that's so lovely. I'm that just really that that just really touches me to hear you talk about her that way. That's about my favorite, doesn't So yeah, okay, good? So all right, Well tell us about Rue and how she teaches you about service.

39:22 Well, you know, Rue is, she's is she was bred to serve and you know, to be a service dog, and she does. She knows like over fifty commands. But a lot of things she does real quick is she can turn LFE sunches on and off. She can open it closed doors for me, will she can pull my wheelchair, shet my clothes, eye a dryer. She can't follow me up, but we're working on that, on that, but it probably did it pretty soon. But there's a number of different tasks that she does gets me dates. It's probably my favorite one. When you take this beautiful dog into a place that dogs aren't typically allowed. It does help that way. But but you know, having her serve and do things for me, I learned a lot from that and that so like if I drop something like my keys, I don't have to give her the command she cannot or sometimes she waits, but when I drop it, she like looks down at my keys and looks at me, and her chel just starts wagging, like she gets so excited. And I learned that like she loves to serve, she loves to do that. She likes for me to to do something where she can help me. And I'm like, you know, that's something I could really learn from. And you know, I thought about that. I thought that, you know, i'd be speaking to a lot of audience, some of them that you know, like Lions clubs and stuff were that's all they do is community service. But I tell her, I said, probably the most qualified person to talk about service in this room is my dark room. But I also tell them that probably the happiest person in this room is my dog room. And that just made me think that, you know, to serve with a smile on your face.

40:53 And she loves to serve. And I really learned from that that we should serve and help others. And you know, we had to tell that it wh just like hers does and I thought that was pretty significant. M M. Well, that certainly does. You do. You have a tremendous teacher there in your best friend, and I really admire and applaud that. And again, it touches me to hear you talk about her the way that you do. It's and I also as you as you heard me giggle, I got a big kick out of the fact that she helps you get dates too. I think that's great. Yeah, when you I'll help you get so I'll take it. I know we all need help in that deprevemently never you know, there's never a stranger, and you know, it's just really neat and that really always puts me in a good mood when I taker places, let's say I'm having a lot of pain or fled down. Well, people come up and they see your dog and they just get all excited. And it's like when there's when you're around other people and they're in a good mood, it's going to put you in a good mood too. So it's just it's endless the things that she does for me, both physically and mentally.

41:54 M wonderful, delightful. Yeah, Well, speaking of what she does, I want to talk about some of the things that you do for others. I know that you work with wounded veterans and disabled kids, and I'm curious as to what that work means to you. What do you get out of doing that kind of work. Well, that's everything to me. It's when I started doing work like that to help our veterans and give the disabilities. That's what gave me purpose in life again. It gave me the strength to move on. Knowing that you're making a difference in someone else's life is huge, absolutely huge. There's really probably no words that I could I could tell you on this radio show, but it's huge. Well, I think that most people from what I could tell Jason and the research that I've done for the last fifteen years and investing in help people experience meaning in their work and what does their work mean to who they are as human being, in other words, their identity. What that inquiry has taught me is that most people really do want to make a difference. They want to know that their lives have made a difference to other people, that they're being here mattered and even beyond, you know, whatever spiritual connection they have, there's that connection, but just knowing that Hey, I made a difference is a pretty powerful motivational force for I think most people. And the reason that I like to do the show among others is that many people say that some of the guests help them find or get closer to finding a purpose for themselves through their work that makes them want to get up in the morning. So I do understand what

43:25 you're saying, and I really appreciate just the simplicity of what you just said about why it matters to you. Yes, I mean you know when when I passed away and you have your bulogy, it's I think the biggest complenty you get someone was about how they touched others or how they made a difference in other people's lives. I think that's the biggest compliment you could give to somebody. Mm hmm, yeah, I agree. Well, we're coming close to the edge at the end of the show here, and I want to be sure and talk about about the book here. So the book it is called A dog called Hope, a wounded warrior and a service dog who saved him. So I know that it's out in seven different countries already, which is amazing to me. So I want to understand first how did the book come about to be? Because I know that somebody wrote the book for you and what does it mean to you? Well, at first, I the way this all came about was that it was my first dog that I had in a pall and him and I were on the National Geographic channel called Amazing Dogs. Oh wait, I should probably clarify that my dog was on the National Geographic I was just there, just kind of helping them in his handler, But it's always about the dog and have a service. Anyway, it aired in London and was green author named Damian Lewis saw the story and it was a small book written about those segments of stories called Amazing Dogs. And then he contacted me and told me, you know, I am a writer

45:00 and I've written several books similar to this, and he's a best selling author. And he sent me some of his books and I read them and thought, if there's anyone to write, my book would beat him. And six months later he flew down to Texas from London to start writing the book. And it took a couple of sessions like that where he came down and spent three or four weeks with me, and we spent almost twenty four to seven, you know, going over the book, and he would go back home and then fill in the blanks and come back. We'd check it, and I guess it took close to about a year, and it's pretty amazing. When he first contacted me and said he wanted to write my story, I told him, I said, you know, it's probably you know, it's great for twenty minutes for me or forty minutes when I speak audiences and stuff, but I think for a novel. I told him, I thought you were really wasting your time. There's just not enough information here. And I'm glad he didn't listen to me. It's already become a bestseller and just very well written. It was tough being written too. I actually, at first I almost regretted telling all my secrets, and not like military secrets, but stuff that was really upsetting to me that I didn't discuss with anyone, that even my family members didn't even know. And but he had a good way of getting that out. I mean, he said, look, Jason, you know, we got to make this real. So admit the high points seem high, then the low's got to be low, you know, And so as we've got to make it real and truthful, and that's the way it needs to be. And I listened to him, and as difficult as it was, up ended up writing a great book. I'm very proud of

46:32 it. I'm wondering, Jason, is that what lost your speaking career or were you already speaking at that point. I was already speaking a little bit, But it sure has helped it out quite a bit. Yeah, I've already. You know, At first, I thought that, you know, the book would kind of give me more credibility as a as a speaker, and it would help my motivational speaking. But actually, to turn the way around, it seems like now that I'm now speaking, you know, for my book, because there's so much in there, and I take lessons learned and and and things that I like for people to learn from me that I went through that now kind of my career is really based on my book instead of I thought it was gonna be the other way round. M I really appreciate what you've said about the fact that you've got you've you've you've buried your soul out in this book and it's it's the good, bad, and the ugly, and you've you've it's all there in print for everybody to read.

47:30 And that has got to be a whole new level of living to know that people know these things about yours, about you? Is it? It is? And it's not, you know, And it's not just about me, there's it's about the puppy raises that raised Nepoll and no, he was a paraplegic. Gem was that that raised Nepoll And it's about him raising a Paul and having to give him up. And then it's also my my family's in there too, Is that when I went into a coma for two months, I'd know, I, yeah, what went on? And my mom end up making a lot of notes And that's a big part of the story too. So it's not just from from my perspective, but it's from other people others as well. So it's it's pretty fascinating to get different perspectives on the on the same story. Do you hear from readers at all? Do you ever hear from readers who get something from your book and reach out to you?

48:22 You know, all the time. I on my Facebook and on my website, I hear for people all the time. And at first I told you I had some actual regret writing the story. When I was in London on our book tour, a guy on a bike that was riding down We're right in the middle of London, and he stopped and he said, I guess he was following me on Facebook, so he just read my book or following me on my website and he stopped, thinkings, is that roof from a dog called Hope? And I was like, I couldn't believe this guy recognized you from my book. And there's pictures in the book as well, because I don't do books without pictures, so I'm just kidding. But so it was I heard that having this. Of course he didn't remember my name. You remember his name because I can't remember your name, but I know his name, and like, yeah, of course, but you know when he started talking to me and i't in a while, I was I cares a stranger that knows everything about what I've done and my deep the secrets that I don't even didn't even tell my close family members. And I had a little bit of regret. But then when I got home and after the book was launched, I get messages every day about how my story really inspired them and helped them overcome a lot of things in their lives that they were dealing with, and you know, I had to realize, like, it's not about me. This book was about to help others. And then it made it all worth it. As tough as it was, it was definitely worth it. No regrets. Now, I'm so glad to hear it. I saw a lot of foods back and I write to I respond to every single person that reaches out to me as well. Well I hope you get a few people who reach out to after the show as well. So here we

49:53 are at the close already, Jason. It goes by so fast, and I always like to give my guests the last word, if you will, remembering that this program is all about helping people more meaningfully and productively connect with the work, and helping organizations do the same for their employees. What would you like to leave our listeners with in maybe thirty seconds? Sure? Well, you know, the biggest thing is to expect adversity and use that as an asset. When I was in the combat neurologist, we use the weather good and bad as an asset, So you know, I think you can use that as an asset. You can learn from it. You go out there and find resources and find tools like I found Nepal and where, which has helped me tremendously. And it's something you've got to work at. Life's just not going to get better. And I think lastly is that you just need to keep yourself in good mental and physical condition which will really help you think better and stay on your feet, so to speak, and to overcome the situations that it arise because they will happen. Great way to close the show, Jason, I so appreciate having you on the show. Staff, Sergeant Jason Morgan, thank you for joining us today. How is my pleasure?

51:00 Really enjoyed it? If you want to learn more about Jason and the work he does, visit his website. It's www SSgt Jasonmorgan dot com again www dot s Sgtjasonmorgan dot com. Join us next week when we talk with Mary Shores, who is the author of Conscious Communications, You're a step by step guide to harnessing the power of your words to change your mind, your choices, and your life. We'll be talking about the neuroscience behind words and her perspective on cleansing or clogging ourselves and our diets, at work, and really everything we do in life, among other things. See you next week. Remember that works at least one third of our life, So let's work on Purpose. We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working on Purpose, featuring your host, Elise Cortes, every Wednesday at six pm Eastern Time, three pm Pacific time on the Voice America Empowerment Channel.

51:58 This week, find your life's papists at work. H