Ep. 25 - Becoming the Change Agent with Damon West
"Growth follows belief… But no one is gonna believe in you until you believe in yourself… then when someone else believes in you, that's when your life changes." Today’s guest is the best-selling author of The Coffee Bean and The Locker Room, Damon West. Damon had a dream of sharing his story with college football audiences. We explore how he turned this dream into reality through perseverance, self-belief, and connecting with the right people despite facing a life sentence and the horrors of prison. His memoir, The Change Agent, is currently in the hands of Lionsgate film and Dak Prescott’s D4K Productions to become a Netflix limited series one day. In fact, much of what we’ll hear in the episode will be straight from The Change Agent. Damon is an incredible person, speaker, and an absolute fountain of life-changing wisdom.
If you’re ready to experience that fountain and intense stories never heard before, dive right into the episode and the impossible story of how Damon became the Change Agent.
[00:01 - 05:54] Damon West—from an incarcerated kingpin to bestselling author and motivational speaker by leaving it all on the field
[05:55 - 11:30] How Dabo Swinney and Jon Gordon kicked open the biggest doors to opportunity for Damon West (Just take your shot)
[11:31 - 21:07] Standing alone but on the right side of history: the story of how a father and mother taught their son to do the right thing
[21:08 - 30:37] Giving up goals to meet behaviors or giving up behaviors to meet goals
[30:38 - 37:44] Becoming the Change Agent—how Mr. Jackson changed Damon’s life by teaching him how to “be a coffee bean”
[37:45 - 47:40] The reality of prison, the dangers of a life sentence, and cultivating hope
[47:41 - 53:01] Facing fear like you’ve never experienced before
[53:02 - 1:02:14] The universal language of violence
[1:02:15 - 1:09:19] How Damon started changing his life (and others) for the better from the inside
[1:09:20 - 1:14:22] Damon’s journey toward redemption and reconnecting with others
[1:14:23 - 1:19:54] Finding Mr. Jackson: Damon reveals the secret to life (hint: it’s not about you)
Quotes:
"You don't have to win all your fights, but you do have to fight all your fights." - Damon West
"Growth follows belief… But no one is gonna believe in you until you believe in yourself. You have to believe in yourself first, and then when someone else believes in you, that's when your life changes." - Damon West
“It's always okay to stand alone as long as you're standing on the right side of history." - Damon West
"Addicts give up goals to meet their behaviors while normal people and focus and successful people give up their behaviors to meet their goals." - Damon West
"Sports is the great uniter. Sports is absolutely one thing that can bring this country together as nothing else can. I mean seriously, before there was Martin Luther King Jr., there was a guy named Jackie Robinson.” - Damon West
"Violence is the only language everybody speaks. You become fluent in violence. Either someone speaks it to you, or you speak it to them, but you're gonna learn violence." - Damon West
"The secret to life is servant leadership. Servant leadership is helping other people reach their goals in life, helping to raise other people up to a different station of life. Because when we're helping other people, that's when we're at our best. And that is how we grow.” - Damon West
Resources Mentioned:
Don’t miss out on connecting with Damon on Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I challenge you to take steps to become a change agent by heading over to https://damonwest.org/.
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