Overcoming Massive Obstacles with Chad Hymas
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“Are people better genuinely because of your work, because of what you do or are they not?”
— Chad Hymas
Understanding Team Dynamics
- Identify each member's strengths and weaknesses to enhance team performance.
- Encourage leveraging individual strengths for collective success.
- Acknowledge and utilize both physical and mental strengths for team goals.
Change Of Mindset - Selflessness
- Foster forgiveness and reconciliation for stronger relationships.
- Shift from self-centeredness to considering others' well-being.
- Understand the challenge and benefits of mindset change for personal growth.
Adapting to New Lifestyles
- Embrace changes in daily routines for ease and independence.
- Adopt a flexible mindset to maintain identity while embracing new methods.
- Explore new opportunities for personal growth beyond familiar limits.
Leadership Beyond Titles
- Influence and impact over position define true leadership.
- Leadership is about adaptability and positive impact on others.
Overcoming Mental Barriers
- Adaptability breaks mental barriers and promotes engagement.
- Helping others can serve as therapy and foster community connection.
The Power of Serving Others
- Serving redirects focus, offering purpose and positive contribution.
- Regularly assess the impact on those around to foster improvement.
Thanks for listening!
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Mike Goldman: If there's one thing that's constant in our personal and professional lives, it's change. Chad Hymas, my guest today is an example of how to deal with change and challenges. On April 3rd, 2001, Chad's life changed instantaneously when a falling one ton bale of hay broke his neck, leaving him a quadriplegic.
Doctors said he would never walk again and that for the rest of his life, he would be confined to a wheelchair. But Chad's dreams were not paralyzed that day. Chad is now a world class wheelchair athlete playing basketball, full contact quad rugby, and he races marathons. Chad set a new world record by wheeling a personal marathon of over 500 miles from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas, yet Chad counts as his greatest accomplishment.
The fact that he remains a devoted husband to his loving wife, Shondell, and a proud father to their four children. His message is powerful. His accomplishments are amazing. Chad, thanks so much for being here today and being on the show.
Chad Hymas: Thanks, Mike.
Mike Goldman: So Chad, we're going to get into your story cause I tell you, I can go back and just look at your bio on your website and be inspired.
So I can't wait to talk to you for a while here. But before we do that, this show is always about creating great leadership teams, better leadership teams. What do you think in all the audiences you've talked to and the businesses that you've talked to, as well as your own business, what's the one most important characteristic of a great leadership team?
Chad Hymas: You know, as I traveled the world, I've seen some commonalities, that exist amongst leadership teams that seem to rise above, overcome adversity, get through challenges versus those teams that don't. And one of the, I think probably one of the most common traits that not the most common characteristics of a great leadership team is every individual on the team understands their individual strengths and weaknesses.
And they surrender and allow other people's strengths to compensate for where maybe they might be lacking a little bit. And when teams do that, they seem to, I mean, we see teams that don't have the talent right in payoff situations. And I'm just talking about athletics here for a minute, but
the same thing applies in the professional world.
When people understand their weaknesses
and allow others to compensate and make up for that. As a whole, everybody seems to rise to the top and achieve championships and achieve games when the other teams might have better talent or might be smarter or wiser or more brilliant or have more strength.
Strength really is in the mindset and understanding weaknesses and strength. That's how it works for my team and my team exists with strangers all over the world. I mean, I'm weak physically and so I allow other people's strengths to help me get into Ubers and to help me get in airplanes and hotel rooms and on stages. And so it works out pretty good that way. So hopefully that makes sense understand your strengths and weaknesses.
Mike Goldman: I love it. And I love the word that hit me was the word surrender, which we normally think of as that's a negative thing. We're surrendering but part of your point is it's not, if you know where you're strong and where you don't have those strength. Surrender some of that stuff to the folks that love doing this stuff you hate or can do the things you can't do.
So, I love that. So thank you. Thank you for that. So let's get into your story, which is so inspiring.
And I want to start before April 3rd, 2001. Tell us a little bit about what you were doing before April 3rd, 2001. What were you doing in business? What was your life like then?
Chad Hymas: I was the owner of a landscape development company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. My dream's always been to be a farmer. So Shondell and I had purchased some ground about an hour due west and south of Salt Lake City. And we were building our dream there of having a ranch, raising horses and elk. And I used the construction company to be the fuel behind that dream.
And we had two boys. Ace was three and Kai was one. And Shondell and I had been married for six years. And so, you know I'm not gonna say that life was grand. I guess whenever you go through a trauma or go through adversity, you always look back. I think that life was the best, but you know I'm sure life had its ups and downs, prior to the accident that rendered me to the situation that I'm in today, but not really much different than the challenges that I face today.
But that said, you know prior to that, I was a contractor and raising two little boys and Shondell and I were building this dream and that was my ambition. That was my goal was to be a farmer and to be a rancher and live out on several thousand acres and have a ranch so.
Mike Goldman: So then one day that all changed, so tell us..
Chad Hymas: Yeah, I mean, it was a Tuesday, it was April 3rd, 2001, and I was in just getting the crews going in the morning. And my phone rang, it was Shondell, and she had told me that the youngest boy, the one year old had just taken his first couple of steps and she asked if there's any way that I could, you know, get home a little bit earlier in the day to spend some time with her and the two boys and play some ball. uh, Basketballs are kind of our passion.
And so I've got a little hoop in the garage. And so I arranged for me to get out of there early and put the superintendent in charge of all the crews. And I left. And I decided to stop by the farm on the way home to get my chores done and get all the animals fed. Hopped onto a backhoe and I loaded up a bale of hay. Like you were talking about, that bale weighs more than most SUVs. Have to have equipment for that. I lifted the bale up 15 feet to put it in the feeder. And I saw a problem that afternoon. And the problem was really just right in front of my face. I mean, it was an obvious problem. There was a red light flashing on the dashboard of my tractor. That was an indicator light that my hydraulic tank was running low. It was empty.
It's like the fuel light going off in your car, giving you a warning that you probably ought to go fuel up. I just ignored that. And the reason why I ignored it was because I'd gotten away with it before. I've never had a problem.
And so I think there's a significant lesson right there. You know, just because we don't get caught doing something wrong makes it a right. I'm guilty of that. That's why I sit. I'm not sitting because I'm stupid. I would never call somebody who's been in an accident stupid. People don't plan on getting hurt or I don't think that, you know that very seldom do I meet malicious people or people that plan on having a life altering, life changing, or life ending injury.
I just don't meet people that really plan on that. I think if we knew that in advance, we wouldn't go show up to work.
If we knew that in advance, we wouldn't get on a tractor. And so I ignored the red light, bail of hay flipped over because there wasn't enough oil in the hoses to hold it in place and it landed directly on my head, punched it through the steering wheel and the shaft went through my mouth, breaking, it's all been redone, it broke everything out my mouth, broke all the bones in my neck, there's a scar right there on my neck right here and it goes all the way down to my breast line, broke all the bones in my neck and some ribs and severed 95 percent of my spinal cord.
And that's where my new life was to begin. I woke up a few months later and that's when my dad asked all the doctors to leave the room and he would share with me some news and some of that was positive and some of that was news that I didn't expect to hear.
Mike Goldman: So you said a few months later, was it like an induced coma for that long or?
Chad Hymas: No, no, it wasn't induced. I mean, I wasn't brain dead. They knew that just by my response to some tests, but it was uninduced. Yeah. Long nap. Very long nap.
Mike Goldman: So from that point, what was recovery like, and with special attention to kind of help us understand your mindset during the recovery?
Chad Hymas: Yeah. you know, I guess the good news that pop shared with me, he didn't want me to be a stat. He was very, very protective of that. This was hard on my, you know, I hurt a lot of people when I made that choice and not just myself, man, I could deal with this. I think the challenge is that I think all too often we injure or hurt a lot of other people when
we make poor choices and I did that as well. My father would be one of those and not that he was disappointed, it just it hurt him to the core. I mean, my dad and I are close. It saddened him. I mean, those of you that have children, how would you like to see one of your children laying flat on their back in a bed, unable to move their body, young, vibrant and building dreams.
Out of no where, you know, the diagnosis is that they're never going to be able to move 95 percent of their body again.
That's a pretty tough thing to take as a parent. I would think that most of us, I know I would, I would want to switch my kid places. And my dad couldn't do that. And so he simply came into the room. Think about the guts that this guy has. He walks into the room and he asks everyone to leave. And he tells me the good news is that not that I was alive.
He said that everybody breathes air meets a lot of people that rob air too, they just go through the motions. My dad wanted me to have more intention in my life but he hadn't shared with me the bad news yet he's prepping me for this. He just wanted me to have more passion for people, more purpose in my farming ambitions and more perspective on some of the challenges that I would be facing in my life.
So those are the three P's that he gave me, just want me to have passion for my family and for people, purpose in what I was doing and perspective on adversity and then the other part of the good news was the doctors fixed all this, they fixed all this using titanium. And then my dad gave me some tough news and that news was that I did lose my feet, I lost my legs, I lost my midsection, I lost my stomach muscles, I lost two out of my three chest muscles, and I lost the complete use of my fingers. And my hands and most of the strength used in my arms, the movement that I have is strictly biceps and shoulders.
I don't have any triceps, so I can't raise my hand in the air when it's in a position to raise like this. Okay, so that's where my new life was to begin.
And then he asked me to do five things. He asked me to be a better father to two little boys, a better husband to my wife. He asked me to be a better farmer.
I that was a joke. He asked me to be a better disciple, whatever that means to you. And he asked me to be a better contributor to my society. And I did not take that very well. In fact, I thought he lacked credibility. I struggled with him asking that of me, not having the foundational footprint to understand how I felt and where I was going mentally and my body being completely numb, I
did not like that. And so I said some things to my dad, Mike, that caused him to, I still can't believe I said those things to my father, but my dad walked out of the room after hearing me and my response to his request. And my dad didn't say anything back to me. He just turned around and he walked out of the room. And the reason that he walked out of the room was because you can't teach somebody or lead somebody that doesn't want to be led, you can't make a horse drink.
We live on a ranch and we always say that you could lead a horse to water, but you can't make the horse drink. And I was the undrinkable horse. So my dad left cause I was a stubborn horse. He returned back and asked me if I was ready to be tamed a little bit and surrender. And that's when the progress started. is when I started to surrender a little bit to my circumstance and realize that there's more than one way to walk.
There's more than one way to eat food. There's more than one way to get dressed. There's not just one way to get dressed. There's more than one way to get from point A to point B. There's more than one way to coach kids basketball. There's more than one way to farm. There's more than one way to ride a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
I mean there are several ways to do several things, not just one way. There's more one way to get a drink. I mean, I don't have to have my fingers to get a drink of water. And so once I started to open up my mind to several right answers, you know then the doors began to open little by little, little by little.
Mike Goldman: Was there a moment between your father having that initial conversation and walking out and then him coming back in and saying are you ready to be tamed? Was your father coming back in the second time, was that kind of the moment where you made a decision to change your mindset? Or was there something else that happened in between?
Chad Hymas: You know, I just think the moment there was this, my dad did not deserve those words. I was surrendering to forgiveness, right? I was surrendering. I'm sorry, dad. You know, I know we're best friends. I am sorry. I just I'm struggling. And so the moment that you're describing is a moment of longevity.
I mean, that moment is several months. There's not just one specific, hey in a matter of a flash, you know or a matter of a millisecond or second. Okay my mindset switched and I'm going to get after this. That's not it at all. The moment is really, you know, dad, maybe we should start with, I'm sorry. I just, I'm struggling.
And I need you to know this. and he was struggling too, because there's a lot of power in that to struggle together instead of struggling separately and to know that you're not alone. And when you're not alone, it takes half the burden off at least. And the more me being negative like that, my dad was not about to let my wife in the room or two little boys because my bad attitude could affect , I mean the ripple effect.
So my dad said, you know, I'm not going to let all the people in the waiting room to see you because your coarseness could affect them. So I'm just
asking you for the time being to stop thinking about yourself while it's easy to do that. And think about others because you could really help a lot of people right now that are hurting because you're hurting.
And the way that they look you and your aurora, your light, your countenance could affect their recovery of what they're going through because they're all sad about your injury. And he was talking about my wife and my kids and you know am I going to be angry? Am I going to push her away? Am I going to ask for a divorce?
Am I going to not to be a dad anymore? Am I going to kick my mom out of the room? Am I going to tell my grandparents to leave? What's Chad's reaction going to be the second that I get to see them after waking up? And so he was trying to, I mean, my dad knows my greatest weakness is pride. And I like to work. I love to work. And I like to work hard. And I like to work long hours. I don't mind a 20 hour day. I love to work and because it's not work to me, it's good exercise. It's building, it's creating, it's all of the above. I love doing that. I can't get enough of it. And so me being limited to that was causing some dilemma because now here I was not going to be able to drive a nail through a
piece of wood with using a hammer or you know just build and create with my hands, which is what I thought creation was. You know, prior to the injury. So once I got to my mindset I guess maybe that's the piece we're talking about, into a place of I can see people and I can smile and I can get through that piece of it. Then you know, then we started the process
of you know, can we change the mindset to opening up some new ideas to move around to build on relationship. Changing your mindset is much harder than digging holes.
Changing your mindset is so much harder than running an ultra marathon. So much harder. When people grasp the mindset and they learn the power of the mind and what that can do for us.
So many more doors open up for us. That the world then becomes this big open space of opportunity instead of adversity and struggle and challenge and drugs,
bad crap on TV and it just becomes so much more positive, so much more of an open space of opportunity. I guess it's how I describe it. If your mindset is stuck in the ways you've always done things, you're going to struggle. If my mindset was stuck on the way that I used to ride a horse, I'd be struggling right now.
If my mindset was stuck on the clothes that I used to wear, if you can see what I'm wearing right now, I'm staying warm, wouldn't be the clothes that I'd be wearing if I was out there ranching. I'd be wearing my Carhartts and Cowboy Boots. And so you know when I'm willing to adapt to those changes, boy the doors doors just opened.
Mike Goldman: What's the biggest difference between your mindset before the accident? Not when you were lying in bed and your dad came in, you were probably in a different place at that point and a scary place.
But what's the difference in your mindset before the accident or is is it not very different?
Chad Hymas: No, I think it's a lot different. I think my mindset before was, you know, I wear Cowboy Boots. I wear Wranglers and I wear Carhartt shirts, flannels, denims, and I'll put a Cowboy hat on and a belt buckle. That's what Cowboys wear. Today, I'm wearing a hoodie, two pairs of long johns underneath. I'm wearing some pants that are slippery in nature and stretch.
They're two sizes too big. This hoodie is two sizes too big and my shoes are made of net. They're Adidas brands. I can't stand Adidas really, but they're Adidas brand and they don't have any laces. Allows me to get dressed by myself. I got up at 3:30 to be on the podcast this morning at 6. I'm not saying that to compete, I told you I like to work.
And so some people get up early and they drink coffee. I just get dressed. It takes me two hours to get dressed when I change my clothes. The kind that I used to wear. So I no longer wear the tight Wranglers. They're too tight. They're hard to get on I no longer wear the button up shirts. You can see this got a zipper up.
So I just grab with my teeth and I'm good to go when I'm willing to change that mindset boy I just you know
I could still wear a nice shirt. I could wear my shoes I could put them on with my teeth and my wrist and it allows me to travel the world alone.
And so that's a big deal to me, I've learned that I don't have to ride a horse to be a farmer. Today
I ride an airplane and I used to think that 20,000 acres is a big piece of ground. Would you say that, Mike? Let me ask you that question.
Mike Goldman: Given my home is on about a half an acre. Yeah, that's pretty big.
Chad Hymas: Yeah. So let me see. Let's change the podcast. Let me ask you a couple of questions.
Mike Goldman: Uh oh.
Chad Hymas: These tires that I'm on, these tires, they're made of knobs, they're mountain bike tires, they've allowed me to go to 89 countries more than my boots would have ever taken me or a horse. That's a big ranch, much bigger than 20,000 acres. I'm just saying sometimes I think we think that a half an acre is too is small and we need to. We need to be very, very careful of that. Don't limit yourself to a half acre.
Don't limit yourself to 20,000 acres. Don't limit... all seven continents that God made, these tires have taken me to those pieces of ground. That's a big farm. And sometimes when I wheel outside at night at the ranch where Shondell and I currently still live, and I look and I see all those stars, I think to myself, there's gotta be a lot of farms up there, a lot of massive ranches up there.
That's just my thought process. That's my mindset. And so I would just say to our audience when it comes to leadership and it comes to being an influencer. That's what leadership really is, is influencing lives of other people. Leadership is not demonstrated by being a CEO, a CFO, a COO, a father, a mom. I don't care about your titles.
I don't make offense to that. I'm not trying to be negative today. I'm just saying titles mean nothing. Just because I have children doesn't make me a father. That's a title. I have to demonstrate what fatherhood looks like. Just because I'm married does not make me a good husband. That's a title. I have to demonstrate what that looks like.
Titles are demonstrated by behavior, not announced because you're given a title and your followers will let you know how good of a title you are. So if I want to find out kind of a good dad you are, I'm going to ask your kids. If I want to find out kind of a good boss you are, I'm going to ask the frontline guys that are working underneath you.
That's an easy assessment, probably the easiest assessment to ever do. Are your people better because you're around? Now we're talking about an influencer, somebody that impacts people's lives for the better. I just think sometimes we think too small. Mike, we think because the way we always have done things is the only way to do things.
And the older you get, the harder it is to change because we get so caught up in the way we've always done it. So it becomes difficult, more difficult, the older that we get. But once again, you are willing to surrender that mindset and say, you know what, my
body's changing. Maybe I shouldn't have too much caffeine. Maybe I should change my diet a little bit. Maybe I should go for a walk every morning. I might want to start meditating in the morning, and start with a morning of gratitude, and find something to be grateful for. Then your challenges become a little bit less and less, because you're adapting to changing circumstances.
I've stopped looking so much at the news, because sometimes I look at the news, it makes me sad. I want to know what's going on, but I don't dive deep into politics too much, and I don't dive deep into some of the destructive things that are happening. Oh no, I pray for those people. Just makes me down.
And so I want to pray for people that are going through suffering and wars and loss of their homes and don't have food to eat and then try and control what I can by donating to good causes and building charities to help people rather than just focus on all the negative. Otherwise I'd be down myself.
Mike Goldman: I don't know if I heard you say this or maybe it was a quote I read. But "I've met people that could walk that are more paralyzed than me." What does that mean?
Chad Hymas: Well, people that refuse to change the way they've done things their whole life will find themselves more trapped than me. I'll give you an example. If I was not willing to change the kind of clothes that I wear. We've talked about the clothing today. I mean, I am used to wearing. Boots, leather boots,
wranglers, denim, flannel, pearl snap shirts. I just can't wear those clothes anymore. It's not because I don't like them. I just can't, the pants are too tight. The boots are made of leather. My feet fill with water, they swell. If I wear leather, they get big during the day. I take the risk of having a pressure sore.
That's why my shoes are made of net and there's no laces. Oh, my shirt, as we discussed, is a zip on shirt. But if I refuse to change this because I'm not changing for anybody. I don't care what other people think. I'm not doing it. It look stupid. It feels awkward. Pushing a wheelchair is different. There's not too many wheelchairs out there in comparison to the broad spectrum thing.
There's not a whole lot of accessibility. I'm staying in the house. If that was my attitude, you wouldn't have seen
me at my kids basketball games. You wouldn't see me at a movie theater. I wouldn't be going on dates with my wife.
I would be stuck in a room watching judge Judy all day. That's paralysis. I'm not saying judge Judy's.
I'm just saying not a good medication.That's medication for me is to get out and spend time with people.
And try and help people through their challenges.
I mean, I'm just saying, I'm not against prescription medication.
I'm just saying if you want to medicate yourself, go find someone to serve. It doesn't take away your problems. I'm still paralyzed, but it doesn't give me time to think
about it. That's a great medication right there. I do not have time to think about. I got a very busy day to day. I just don't have time to think and the best thing is when you're thinking about other people, your focus tends to move away from yourself.
It's an awesome, awesome remedy for becoming a better influencer and making people around you better because you exist because you're part of the team. You brought up teams earlier. Are people better because you're part of the team or are they not? Is my family excited for me to be here for Christmas this holiday season or would they rather have me gone?
Am I contributing to the team and helping them better with some of my strengths or am I not contributing to the team? I should ask myself that every day and I think everybody should ask themselves. Are people better genuinely because of your work, because of what you do or are they not? And if the answer is the alternative, they're not.
Maybe there's some things you can change. That's what I mean by that comment. People that aren't willing to change, they're going to find themselves so trapped that they're going to be in a dark abyss they can never climb out of. we see that right now, especially in youngsters are just, they're caught up and they get so stuck that they feel like there's no way out
when all they got to do is change their mindset about a couple of things and give themselves a start and they'll start to climb.
Mike Goldman: So I'm hearing two themes and I want to drive into what you're doing today and how you're helping people and why you do that. But the first theme I'm hearing is that flexibility or adaptability and you know, it's everything from the clothes you wear to what you're doing that seems to be a major things that holds people back is not being willing to change.
So there's that flexibility and adaptability. And then the second theme I'm hearing is being of service to others. And let's dive in on that because that's such a big part of what you're doing today. So when did you know, from the time of your recovery to now, at what point did you say hey, I've got to start getting this message out to other people. I've got to start using my situation and how I've gotten through it to inspire others. Was that months after the accident, years after the accident, when was that shift?
Chad Hymas: Never wanted to speak in front of people, never wanted to write books. I just wanted to be a farmer. Ironically, two months before my accident, my dad was in Dallas, Texas at his insurance annual sales event. My dad was an insurance salesman and he was one of the top sellers in his company and there was a keynote speaker that rolled out on stage and spoke to the audience.
Kind of an epiphany is my dad bought his bestselling book. And his VHS tape that tells you how long ago this was. And that's uncanny for my father because my dad doesn't buy things. He's kind of cheap but then he bought that and he was very inspired by this guy's address by what this guy was doing. Brought it home for us all to watch our spot like me and my brothers and our spouses. And we never found time to go over to my dad's house and watch it. We just too busy I guess just never made it happen. And two months later, my dad's oldest son would break his neck with a bale of hay. When you wake up
from that situation. You really don't have any say about what your family has you watch So my dad brought that VHS tape He wheeled in a big cart with a big box TV not a flat screen. That VHS machine that we all used to play and he put the VHS tape in, he hit play and he had me watch that and I watched Art Berg speak and I listened to it now I don't remember what he said.
I just don't but I do know this his hands look like mine, his body contorted like mine did in the hospital. And in that I could relate. And there was one difference between Art and I, that I really remember. He was happy and I was not. So, after we were done watching that, I hit rewind. Waited 20 minutes for it to rewind all the way back to the beginning, because that's how VHS is.
And I hit play again. And I watched that over and over and over again, to where I needed more. And this is where it gets kind of cool. My dad called up Art Berg's office. Just so happened to be in Utah and he bought everything that Art had. He bought all of his tapes, he bought his books, he bought a poster.
He bought everything. And it was shipped to us the next day, Mike, by Art himself. So I get a visit from Art himself in my hospital room. And he puts down the bag of goodies that he brought for me. And he begins to transfer himself from his wheelchair to my bed, undresses, not because he's a pervert. He was teaching me that it was possible.
And I started to follow him. Not on social media. It didn't exist back then. I found out that he was a speaker. So now you're seeing where this got in. I thought he was a Hall of Fame speaker.
He was the incoming president to the National Speakers Association. One of the top 20 speakers in the world.
This guy was phenomenal. And we became friends. He came out to the Elk Ranch and brought his wife and kids. I went over to his house several times and then he flew Shondell and I to Hawaii to the National Speakers Association workshop because he was speaking at the Pro Bowl. Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl that year.
Ray Lewis, it was Ray Lewis's first year rookie year in the NFL. And Art was a consultant for the Ravens. So he had a Super Bowl ring and he was a consultant that year. And we got to go see Art speak to the Pro Bowl team, to speak at the NSA workshop. That was February 16th, 2002. We got home on February 18th, 2002.
And on February 19th at 6 o'clock in the morning, my phone rang, my wife answered it for me. 'cause my hands didn't work very well and I didn't know how to really. She picked up the phone and it was Donnie. It was Art's secretary and Art had passed away in his sleep that night.
And that was the most devastating loss that I think I had ever experienced up until that point in my life.
And I was at a loss. I mean, here I was making progress and I just found out the guy that was teaching me all this and helping me to figure out how to be a farmer and to not a speaker, just to be a good father, to be a good husband and to figure out a way through life. He's now gone.
He's dead. He died. And I went out and I started wheeling down the farm and wheeling down the roads and it hit me. I wonder if some empty shoes could be filled. And so I got after it real quick, in honor of Art. And that happened 22 years ago and I've been traveling ever since.
Mike Goldman: That's incredible. That's incredible. And I'm a member of NSA, so I know what it means to be a Hall of Fame speaker. Most people listening probably don't know what that is. And now you are a Hall of Fame speaker. Describe what that is and how you become a Hall of Fame speaker.
Chad Hymas: I think it's just probably a title maybe, and I'm not saying that. It doesn't carry any credibility or I'm just saying that, your peers vote, and there's as many as five, but there's some years there's only two or three that are inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. There's currently 83 people that are alive that are members of the Speaker Hall of Fame.
And yeah it's done every year at the national event or national convention, usually in Toronto.
Mike Goldman: It's a heck of an honor. I've been at the ceremony the last couple years, so I know it's a big honor.
Tell us about the Royal Creek Ranches. What's that all about?
Chad Hymas: So that's the dream that I was building, after I was injured, that was put on halt because I was trying to figure out other things, but now it's kind of all come full circle and come to fruition. AndShondell and I have a facility, a retreat center up there where we bring people into our leadership retreats and just different kinds of retreats we do there.
We do raise elk, still have the elk farm and horses. We have great people that we're surrounded by that help run the ranch and the farm. And, it's RoyalCreekranches.com. I'm not there to pitch that.
Mike Goldman: It's okay, it's okay to pitch it. You can pitch if you want. Ha ha.
Chad Hymas: Well, there's nothing to pitch. I mean, I think it's just proof that you can accomplish whatever you'd like to, if your mindset's in the ...you know right frame of mind. And so royalcreekranches.com is the name of the ranch, Royal Creek Ranches. And that's the dream full circle.
Mike Goldman: And am I right, there was a fire there not too long ago and you guys had to rebuild?
Chad Hymas: Yeah, we built it once in 2017. In 2019, she burned to the ground. I was holding a retreat there. There was a fire that started in the fireplace and it flew and it burned the whole thing to the ground. That building was built again. We rebuilt twice the size and bigger and better. And it was just completed 43 days ago. And so we started back up again. So phoenix rising out of the ashes.
Mike Goldman: It seems like that's your theme to the universe. Don't screw with Chad or he's going to come back even stronger than he was before.
Chad Hymas: I don't know about that.
Mike Goldman: You know, as we kind of start to wrap up and maybe this is a way to summarize everything. I coach leadership teams. I coach leaders and you see leaders all the time.
And we've both probably seen things that are, at least from the outside in, seemingly a lot smaller than what you've been through, just hold people back and become real obstacles. And for folks that are listening that are quote unquote paralyzed by an obstacle right now, what's the one most important message you have or the one most important thing they ought to do to kind of just start moving forward again.
Chad Hymas: I think you just said it in your question. You gotta start. I mean, you've got to start somewhere. You got to start. You can, well, that's one button at a time, one shoe at a time, changing your diet. I changed. I've watched what I eat. I watch how much I eat because other people lift me up every day to get me into airplanes and uber vehicles, complete strangers, right?
And so you nailed it. You have to start and you have to have that desire to start and start somewhere. And I'm not traveling the world because of money or because of strength or because I'm better than anybody. I'm traveling because of what I believe. So you have to have that belief that I guess I would call it hope. I would call it hope. I have hope that for everything that I do know, there's so much more that I don't and tomorrow is going to be a better day. I have the hope that for everything that I know in my mind as a leader and as an influencer and as someone that reads books and studies and spends a lot of time in the office, researching and studying for everything that I think that I know, there's so much more that I don't know. And because of that, tomorrow is going to be better day.
And I think that people can have that desire to start and to have that hope. I think that's a great place to begin from what a strong foundation.
Mike Goldman: I just came up with the name of your next book, Chad. It's hope is a strategy. There you go, I love that. Chad, thank you so much for sharing your story.
Chad, this will be in the show notes, but tell us a little bit more about where people should go to find you, whether they're looking for a speaker or they want to become better leaders and hit the Royal Creek ranches. And you gave us the website for that, but where should people go if they want to find out more about you?
Chad Hymas: I think probably just Googling my name on the screen there just Chad Hymas. C H A D H Y M A S . And things will pop up there. Yeah, you'll see that they've made some movies on our story, and there's tons of videos there that have been done and taken of Shondell and I and kind of our life story.
And we've been on some TV shows as well, where they've asked us some of these questions. I think that if people want to find more, even help their kids, I love spending time with kids and developing leaders and kids that'd be good to share with their family.
Mike Goldman: And if you just need a few minutes and you want to be inspired, go to his home page and just look at the about video on there. That in itself is incredibly inspiring, but Chad, thanks so much for doing this. I always say at the end of this, if you want to get great company, you've got to have a great leadership team.
And Chad, a lot of your messages about mindset and what you've been through, I know have helped us get there. So thank you so much.
Chad Hymas: No, thank you. My pleasure. I really appreciate the opportunity.