In a world where we’re more connected than ever, motivational speakers can feel like a dime a dozen. Any influencer with a minimalist setup and a monthly income of hundreds of thousands of dollars will prop themselves up as the next greatest mind of the self-help era. Or they will release a book they paid someone else to write to detail their cushiony life and the power of overwhelming positivity. But what about self-empowerment? What about the self these people are trying to help? Many self-help books of any age will paint a broad brush about how sticking through the tough times is just a part of the process, or they’ll say the best way to get through the tough times is prayer alone or simply thinking happy thoughts. But it takes more than that. It takes accountability; it takes courage. One has to take action and shuck away any excuses.
Excuse-free living is what James W. Radford, also known as JW Radford in the public speaking space, likes to teach. He’s a retired Air Force contracting officer, author, certified public speaker and CEO of Trust Consulting Services. In just a few years, JW went through a whirlwind of changes: relocation, divorce, medical diagnosis, single parenthood, medical retirement and depression. And these were only some of his trials.
JW reflects on that time by saying, “I went through a really dark point in my life. I was now a single father of four, and I had lost all sense of security in my life. I was racking my brain trying to figure out how I could provide for my kids when I didn’t feel like I was in the position to take care of myself. I knew I couldn’t give up, but I didn’t know what to do to change things.”
However, he knew that he had skills. As a contracting officer, he knew how to optimize government contracts and optimize budgets to reduce overhead costs. He knew that he could use this to at least get his footing while he came up with a hard plan. So he worked as a consultant for the Coast Guard, and that set him on the slow path to recovery and helped him slowly regain his confidence. JW originally felt the spark of inspiration while he was in the Air Force, but being able to put his skills to action as his primary role was a completely different ball game. He felt invigorated to make something more of this, but he had a new problem ahead of him.
He had no idea how a business was supposed to run.
“Studying is one thing; experiencing it in real time is another. I know the technicalities of business but not really the logistics. Things like payroll? I was going to get a handle on that and human resources and marketing—all of these were things I had to learn. And if I’m honest, I’m still learning marketing; I only just started getting into it last year. I have years to catch up on!”
While there were still tough times ahead, JW ended up building a network of friends and a new portfolio of skills that set him on the trajectory to create Trust Consulting Services. But that wasn’t the end for him. Everything he had experienced opened his eyes to new possibilities and opportunities to help people. There was so much he had endured, and he learned that just being able to speak with someone or have guidance truly meant the world to him. So he created a divergent path, one that he walks in his role as a CEO.
He began to speak with people he knew about his experience. That slowly branched out to speaking with strangers. Then he found himself in a place where others would ask him to speak about his life while also giving advice to young entrepreneurs about how to form their businesses.
“There’s always a price to pay for success, and for me, it was personal relationships. I gave up being close with my family in order to work hard to build a future for them. Isn’t it funny how that works? Looking back on it now, if I had someone to share my hurt and my experiences with, I think I could have saved myself a lot of heartache. But it gave me tougher skin, and it taught me what to do to push forward through the hard times. So in a weird way, I’m thankful for having to retire. Otherwise, I don’t know who I would be right now.”
JW doesn’t teach “Excuse-Free Living” as a way to shame people into doing what they need to do but as a way to challenge their own thinking. As humans, we’re hard-wired to remember negative things for a longer period of time. It’s easier (and sometimes even more fun) to break a long time habit rather than to form one. Excuse-Free Living takes the “yes, and?” approach of improv and turns it into the self-patented “yeah, so?” of self-motivation.
“‘But I’m afraid?’ Yeah, so? ‘But I’m alone.’ Yeah, so? ‘But I don’t want to fail.’ Yeah, so? But also, you’re going to fail. How hard you fail is dependent on how ready you are. Practice! Practice is just controlled failure. Study what you need to study; talk to whomever you need to talk to. Prepare yourself for not just failure but how you’re going to get back up. And when you get back up, you’ll be better, stronger, faster, et cetera.
“By asking yourself ‘Yeah, so?’ you whittle down all the excuses until you have nothing else to say. Then you can ask yourself ‘Now what?’ If you still want to do the thing you want to do, do it! At that point, you’re the only thing holding yourself back. Courage is about doing what you’re afraid to do. If you can’t let go of fear, just do what you want in spite of it anyway.”
Outside of teaching Excuse-Free Living, JW also does business coaching, corporate training events and one-on-one discovery sessions. He also runs a veteran support program. Currently, JW is working on a book titled “This Can’t Be It!” in which he talks candidly about his life, how he turned his struggles into success and how anyone thinking about self-improvement can take actionable steps into turning their desire into reality.
To learn more about JW Radford, visit him online at JWRadford.com.
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