About the Show:

"if you stay active, if you stay engaged in your life and you're serving a larger cause, like for me, helping other people to find the courage and the energy to reinvent themselves and go back to their childhood, which is what I've done with myself."

– David Nelson

What does it look like to reinvent yourself at 71? For David Nelson, it starts with a pickleball paddle and a whole lot of intentional joy.

David is a wellness expert, motivational speaker, and founder of AHA University — and he'll be the first to tell you he's also the CEO of Fun. In this episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas®, he sits down with Randy Wilburn to talk about what happens when you stop treating age as a ceiling and start treating it as a starting line.

After a running injury forced him to find a new outlet, David discovered pickleball — and what began as physical therapy quickly became something much bigger. He's now using the sport as a bridge between generations, cultures, and communities, proving that a simple game can open doors that might otherwise stay closed.

This is a conversation about reinvention, the underrated power of play, and why Northwest Arkansas keeps showing up as the kind of place where people — and possibilities — flourish. No matter where you are in life, David's story might just be the nudge you didn't know you needed.

Key Takeaways:

1. Reinvention Has No Age Limit: You can start something new, find purpose, and build community no matter how old you are.
2. Pickleball as a Gateway: Pickleball brings people of all ages together and helps build coordination, connection, and confidence.
3. The Power of Play: Play is not just for kids—adults and seniors need it for mental and physical health.
4. Active, Healthy Aging: Staying active makes a difference, even if it’s just walking or playing with friends.
5. Importance of Family & Community: Northwest Arkansas is a place where family matters, and there are many ways to connect with others.
6. Storytelling & Legacy: Sharing your story and listening to others can inspire, heal, and help you find your real voice and values.
7. Consistency Matters: Small steps and gradual improvement add up over time.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

1. Aha.University
2. David Nelson on LinkedIn
3. FindItNWA.com NWA’s Hyperlocal Business Directory

This episode is sponsored by*

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

Try ONBoardNWA.com Today!

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

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• Connect with our Fearless Host, Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

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Mentioned in this episode:

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Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

Hey folks, and welcome to another episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas,

the podcast where we dive into the heart of the Ozarks, celebrating the

people, places and ideas shaping our region.

Today's guest is living proof that reinvention has no

age limit. David Nelson is a dynamic force,

a wellness expert, motivational speaker, founder of

AHA University, and yes, the self

proclaimed CEO of Fun. At 71 years

young, David is on a mission to help others rediscover

play, purpose and possibility, often one

pickleball game at a time. From his base in Northwest

Arkansas, he's building a global coaching platform

for active, healthy aging. Telling powerful

intergenerational stories and showing the world that that your

best chapter might just be your next one. So whether

you're 30, 60, or somewhere in between,

this conversation will leave you inspired to reinvent

yourself and have a little fun while you're at it. Right

after this, we will get into our conversation with David Nelson.

It's time for another episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas, the podcast covering the intersection of

business, culture, entrepreneurship and life in general

here in the Ozarks. Whether you are considering a move to this

area or trying to learn more about the place you call home,

we've got something special for you. Here's our host,

Randy Wilbur. David Nelson. How

are you doing today? Fantastic. I got to play pickleball for a couple hours

this morning. Woohoo. Oh, that's good, that's good. I'm glad

to hear that. Well, listen, I'm excited to have you on the podcast. You and

I actually met as I was going through the process of the

TEDx Fayetteville program and that's where we

bumped into each other. And you heard my talk on

it's never too late to do the thing that you're called to do. And I

guess there was some type of kindred spirit there in terms of

some of the things that you're doing and what I was talking about

in my TED Talk. And so I really appreciated the time that

we got to share with each other, both in the time

leading up to the TED Talk, the actual TED Talk, and then afterwards.

And so you just reaching out to me to share what

you're working on just got me really interested by saying, you know

what, there's a bunch of Davids out there here in Northwest Arkansas, and

I would love to be able to connect them all through my I Am Northwest

Arkansas podcast. So I'd love for you just to quickly

introduce yourself. You call yourself the CEO of Fun.

What does that mean? And how did that Title come

to be. Great question. A good opening. Thank you for

that. You know, thing is for me

is that my final

adventure in my life started.

7, 11, 20, 22. That was the very

first day that I played pickleball at the Rogers

Adult Wellness center in Rogers, Arkansas. I also met a

lady that day, her name is Carolina.

And she introduced herself to me

and we started talking and there's a lot more to it. I could,

could go into it, but the bottom line is that I was

reinventing myself because I'd been a runner for 44

years, I'd been retired for like six years. And I

met this lady because I had to get out of running because my right

hip went out. So it's like, what can I do? And I figured, well, it's

time to slow down a little bit. And somebody challenged me to play

pickleball and I just fell in love with the sport. And I later

fell in love with the lady Carolina who introduced herself and I

wrote a book about it called I A Pickleball Love

Story and it's on Amazon Kindle. Small little thing,

but I love writing. And as my wife said to me the other day, she

said, David, you were born to inspire people. I love

that. And so what's important about that three

years ago, rather than going through all my 71 year history

is that for me the adventure that I'm

on right now is to use pickleball as a bridge between

generations, cultures and countries. So I'm

working for example with a lady that's in England, Katie's her

name and she has an 18 year old son. And this is the

best, most dramatic example I can think of of how I

reinvented myself and help other people to do it. Her 18 year

old son went through some reconstructive surgery on his

face, got depressed, was causing him

tremendous emotional problems, was on medications and

all kind of stuff. I said, Katie, you know what to do with him.

We've been talking for several months and she took him to play

pickleball. Within a week he is already improving

dramatic just by playing freaking pickleball. Why do I get

excited about it? It comes down to this, Randy. Pickleball

is the only sport that grandma grandpa

can play with the parents and with the kids. It's easy to

learn, it's accessible, it costs, is very low, cost of

entry. I've seen so many people get married playing pickleball

and this is something that's been on my heart for six years.

The AHA University, that's our website. If anybody Wants to

check that out. But it's all about active, healthy aging, and

reinventing. Because when I first met the lady who would become my

wife, she said she was in the process of reinventing

herself. That word just keeps coming back over and over

again to me so quickly. For me, what's

important is helping older people to enjoy their

life. As a health coach, a lifestyle reset coach.

I call myself the AHA Lifestyle coach. The point is

to help people to enjoy their life, play pickleball

safely, and not get out there and try to duplicate what I do. I'm a

crazy man. I just jump all over the place and have

fun with it. But the point is, for me is

that pickleball is the gateway sport

to a lot of other sports. It helps people to be active.

It involves coordination. My wife has some balance

problems, so it helps her. And pickleball is a combination

of tennis and ping pong, so it

blends the two. You know, you played before, right? Yeah. So

that's the main thing is that rather than giving my whole 71

years, I've reinvented myself a dozen times. I'm writing a book

about it. I want to cooperate with you on that and

introduce this concept. And we're starting it at the Springdale

Senior center, and we're going to be helping people to get

into pickleball, tell their stories. So it's all about

having fun with the older folks. Because when you retire,

who are you? Yeah, well, you know, it's funny you say that,

because I think a lot of people self identify by the work they

do. Right. And I mean, unfortunately, you are more

than just your career. Right. I mean, that's just, you know, you

could be a multitude of things. And I think that's why this

kind of message really does resonate with me. Because if

we pay attention as human beings, we have

a number of opportunities to reinvent ourselves throughout

our lives. It starts happening when we're a child and as we grow up

and we hit puberty, and then we hit being in the teenage years,

and we're not the same kid that we were when we were 6 or 7.

And then when you go to college, you reinvent yourself again.

And then when you get out into the workforce, depending on the type of

work that you do, you get another opportunity to reinvent yourself. And

then even after you hit, as I like to talk about being 40

or hitting what I call halftime, there's still another

opportunity to reinvent yourself. And what you're saying to me is that even

at 71, you can reinvent yourself. I mean, just to.

I don't do public math, but to back up from 2025 to

2022 is just three years. So, you know,

late 60s, early 70s, you know, you're still thinking about

ways to reinvent yourself and to make the most of

all that life has to offer. And. And it's interesting how

you found pickleball as kind of like one of

the foundational tools for you to be able to do that. It is.

So the bottom line of why pickleball is so important

to me personally is that for me,

it is the opening act to be able to talk to

people about the most important thing we can ever do

on a daily basis, find ways to play. And

so the young man that I played with this morning, Ian, has

a nonprofit organization helping kids to get out of gaming

addictions. And he is an expert

on that because he was addicted to games,

video games, in college and even before that. Now at

age 37, he's got two young children, and he's on a mission

to help people to understand why their children

get involved with games and get them more involved in their

lives. So working with Ian

and with a whole bunch of other folks here in northwest Arkansas on

pickleball and other nonprofit organizations. I just made a

metal lady today as well. Her husband is involved

with aao, which another Arkansas athletic

organization, and they're sports related.

And the bottom line there is that the one sport

that connects people together is a pickleball. Again, it's easy

to learn. And the biggest thing that we're doing now is

we're doing a research project to demonstrate. And

my goal is to work with the U of A, which I've done many times

over the 30 years that I've lived in northwest Arkansas.

And, you know, people have said to me, you're crazy to do this in

northwest Arkansas. Why are you doing it here? So let me

address. And the thing is, I love it here.

I mean, we have a beautiful environment. I'm an outdoors guy again,

running, you know, for 44 years. It's outside. I love.

Used to love running hills. My goal. Hopefully I'll get back to that.

But pickleball has allowed me to, again, reinvent myself

and feel good about myself. That's the whole point of this among

elders. So to finish on the children. The point is to connect

the grandkids with the parents, because they all say the same

thing. I feel lonely. I feel isolated, and

this silly darn cell phone is causing so many

problems. So I want to get people off the cell phone onto the

pickleball court. And I've seen with young people, sometimes the only

time they'll get away from the video game is to be on the

pickleball. You can't hold this thing while you're on the court. Right.

So I've seen young people do that and old people.

That one guy I play with, Don, the only time he gets off

his oxygen is to play pickleball. I mean, that inspires

me. Yeah, well, I mean, and again, there's something

about the camaraderie of playing against somebody else. It's one of the reasons

why, you know, tennis is such a spot popular sport for even

older people. I know I have friends of the family

who have played tennis into their 80s, and, you know, outside of

a couple of bouts with tennis elbow and, you know, some creaky

joints, you know, they get out there and hit the ball, and it's just. It's

a great workout. And pickleball, it's a smaller court,

and you. It can be a little bit faster than tennis, even.

And, you know, your reflexes, you really have to keep your reflexes in tow

because of the smaller size of the court. So there's a lot of

opportunities to. To really exercise the body

and the mind. Right. Because you mentally, you have to be strong in order

to be able to navigate the court and to

negotiate returning the ball, the pickleball, back to

the opposing team. And. And you got to play. Typically, you can play

with other people. And so you have that aspect of it. So there are just

so many ways that pickleball is a great outlet and a

great sport for people to pick up, even at an

advanced age. Yeah, that's it. And so for me,

as the psychologist, in me, that was my degree

as a kid, is that this is the one

opportunity for people, again, at any age,

you know, pick up on what you said about tennis, that, yes, there

are athletes that continue on into their 80s, but what if

you're 50, 60, 70? Are you going to pick up tennis?

When you compare that to pickleball, forget it.

And I'll give you an example. When I was a kid growing up in St.

Louis, Missouri, and I was running a course back then, I

met this older guy who was my age, 70, and he said, oh, I see

you're in pretty good shape. I was like 35, half

his age. And he said, I was thinking about running.

And I said, let me ask you something, sir. Do you feel good? Do you

feel healthy? He says, yeah. I said, do you want to maintain Your health.

He said, yes. I said, don't run.

Go out and walk. You know, work into it. But

there are a lot of other things that people can do if they're older

to get in shape and stay in shape rather than killing yourself and trying to

be an athlete if you've never been one. I've been blessed

that I've kept the same body and the same weight for. For

50 years. My role model as a kid was the

guy who started the physical fitness craze in the 50s, Jack

LaLanne. You might be old enough to remember him.

I remember him, yeah. So the thing is, what I want

to help people to do with active, healthy aging, I see this

as the future of human potential available

for people. And I wanted to start here in northwest

Arkansas, because this is where I'm going to die

for me. I just. Today. Not today, though. Just. No, no,

no. I've got to. I've got another 30 years unless I run into a bus

or a semi because I don't get sick. I don't believe in

being. My motto is live healthy, die healthy. Yes. That's

the way Jack died. He worked out and had a great routine. He did for

50 years. He worked out Randy until the age of

96. And the day before he died of pneumonia, he was still working

out. I know that's going to be me. Going to be on the pickleball court

doing that. So that's why this is so much fun. I'll put

some links in the show notes for Jack Lalanne on YouTube because he has

some really great videos, and they're actually quite. They're actually quite

motivating. Both he and his wife would work out cons

a lot. And I remember watching his stuff when I was a kid,

and I'd be like, man, who is this guy with these tight outfits on and

everything? And he. He really. He walked the walk and talked the

talk. But the thing that I took away from him was just the

consistency of getting out and working out. Not that you got to kill yourself

every day, but that a body in motion stays in motion.

And I remember him talking about that in those concepts.

And, you know, you can laugh about it, but

unfortunately, we live in a world in a day, in an age where a

lot of specifically Americans, right, since mostly Americans listen to this,

although shout out to those folks in India and some other places that listen to

this podcast. But because a lot of

Americans live a sedentary lifestyle, it is really

difficult to overcome a lot of the health issues

that creep up because of the sedentary

lifestyle. So when you live an active lifestyle,

it's a lot harder. You know, it's a lot. Well, I should say it's a

lot easier for you to keep your body going even when it

hurts. Right. Because, like, I'm, you know, I'm not old. Old, but I

know sometimes I wake up in the morning and I feel a little tight, and

I always try to stretch. And before I get out and get and do my

workout, I do the same thing six days a week. But, you know,

sometimes I don't feel like it. I don't want to do it. But once I

force myself out the door and about, I would say,

I don't know, maybe two or three minutes into my workout, I

feel great. And it's just a. You know, sometimes you just need that

vitamin D on you, that sunshine, just that fresh,

cool air, especially this time of year in the wintertime. And

when it hits your face and it hits your body, you just react differently.

And all of a sudden, it seems like your limbs wake up, that your

muscles wake up, and even whatever you might have been feeling

starts to subside. And, you know, I. I've talked to a

number of people that have those feelings that they wake up a little creaky in

the morning, a little sore, but then once they get out and start

working out, whether it's a light jog or a walk or whatever, and you don't

have to go crazy, it makes all the difference in the world.

Absolutely. Well, and I'll bring it back to you and your grandfather,

okay. With what he did in the 60s.

He was the oldest person who entered through for

that job, what he did for television and sportscasting,

and he ended up giving that speech about

when Kennedy was shot. And, you know, if you stay

active, if you stay engaged in your life

and you're serving a larger cause, like for me, helping

other people to find the courage and the energy

to reinvent themselves and go back to their childhood, which

is what I've done with myself. So I look at people like

your grandfather. I love interviewing people like that. How did you do

that? Where did you come from? I mean, I want to have larger conversations with

you about your grandpa. Yeah. Because the thing is, I'll

bring it to the grandpa stage of my own grandfather, is that

he had an asphalt paving business. And I remember when I was 17,

I wanted to buy the company from him. So I sat

down at the kitchen table with Grandpa. I said, grandpa, sell me the business.

Yeah, I'm just a dumb kid. What do I know? But he

set me straight. And this is the point of getting older people to talk about

their stories and about reinventing themselves. He was 62.

I was 17. We're sitting at the kitchen table, and he asked me

a really important question. How much money do you have?

I said, Grandpa, I'm 17. I said, okay, I know you.

He was a Golden Gloves boxer. I mean, he was a fighter about your size.

He was a bigger guy. So it's like, you don't give Grandpa any crap.

This is the way it is. But I said, okay, all right, that's over.

And you don't want to teach me. You just want to retire. But I said,

grandpa, why didn't you develop the biggest business

in the asphalt paving business in the 60s when he

got started in this in the 50s? And he said, david, I've got one good

crew, and I'm making all the money that I need, paid for

the houses for my three children. Ian. Grandma traveled all around

the world. She got to drive her Cadillac. He drove his

little red pickup, kind of like Sam Walton, I

mean, but on. Obviously on a much smaller scale. But he taught

me so many great lessons about people and being

satisfied with doing a certain amount and

touching lives. So let me bring this back to the heart

and the reinventing stories with my grandpa that I'd love to hear more

about your grandfather is that he had several black people

working for him, and he always respected people. He said, I look

at people one way, David, and this is for you. He said, are they

a work a worker or not? And he had this one guy who

worked for him. His name was Willie, and he loved the

ladies. And unfortunately, he got

caught in the wrong bed. The guy husband comes in and shoots the man.

Dead man. So his family

disowned him, Said, oh, you know you're worthless. But my grandfather

paid for that man's funeral. He wanted him to get a decent burial

because he said, he was a good worker, he did his job.

Yes, he made a mistake, but he didn't have to pay for the

man's burial. I mean, you know, but that is what is in

me, and that's what I see is in everyone. We've got great stories

from our family that can help us to be a guide.

Older people need to remember the importance of their

grandparents. Younger people have no clue who in

the world they are. So I love helping young people to find

who they are so they can make good choices

and go forward in their life. So I'll end it with the

grandpa Story because to me, grandparents have so much

to offer. So I want them to volunteer to make a difference in

their community however they want to do it. Pickleball is just my starting

point. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's like your gateway, if you think about it that

way. It's a gateway sport. Yeah. So again, you shared

that you lived in northwest Arkansas now for 30 years.

What originally drew you here, David? Why did you come to

northwest Arkansas, and how has this community

supported your journey? So both with pickleball and

then even before that, because, I mean, obviously you liked it here. 30 years

is a long time. I only have 11 years under my belt here in

northwest Arkansas, and I feel like, wow, I can't believe I've been here 11 years.

But what has it been like for you for 30 years here in

northwest Arkansas with all of the changes that I know you've

seen in this area? Oh, yeah. Well, the thing

that I've done, wherever I've lived and I've lived all over the country, we're not

going to go into all that. But the bottom line of it is I always

get to know the oldest people in the area.

So by going out and talking to the oldest people, business people,

ordinary people, whatever, because I love listening to people's stories.

And we're developing AHA University as what I call a living legacy

storytelling platform. And so the thing is going out

and talking to older people in the area. One of

them is now an adopted sister of mine. I'll just say her first

name, Annetta. She grew up in Harrison, Arkansas. She

is a true Archie, but she's traveled all over the world.

When she was married, her husband was in the. In the

Navy, so they traveled. And she's had all kind of great experiences. No one

asks her about that. I loved learning from

her. So what I learned about northwest Arkansas, and of course

I've traveled, I know the state like the back of my hand now, because I'm

working with people all over the state, is that this is what I

want to bring back, is that essence of family.

We've forgotten what it means to be a fully

human being. We've forgotten about the importance of

family. We've forgotten a definition of community.

Who's in your community? So to answer your question, Randy,

it comes down to this. What I Learned moving from St.

Louis down to northwest Arkansas, people actually care about

family. I love that. And so was it evident to you right

away or. Absolutely. Really? Okay, Absolutely. Well,

that's the psychologist in me. I love helping people to

sort out Their issues because my father was an alcoholic, so he

did everything unhealthy. I want the complete opposite. No, I love

that. That's cool. I like hearing that kind of story. And, you know, I do

believe that northwest Arkansas is a family

oriented space. It really does make a difference.

And I think that's like. It's one of the things I use to

describe northwest Arkansas when I say why I lived here. Because I, you know,

I. I packed my family up. We all left Boston

and came here over 11 years ago. And my

kids were much younger then. And all of them, including the youngest,

have basically spent their formative years here in

Arkansas, in northwest Arkansas specifically. And it has been a really

family oriented environment for them. I mean, the

relationships that they've built up, the people that they've come in contact

with and every. Everything that I have built between this

podcast and my career, I've had a lot of opportunities

to really connect with some amazing people, and I consider them

all friends. And I would say that that's the thing that I really

enjoy about northwest Arkansas is that whenever I go out,

I just run into people that I know. And it's always like,

you just saw this person the other day, even if it's been several

weeks or, you know, you're. That reconnection period is always

crisp and it's quick and you're like, right back at wherever you left

off, the last conversation. And that, to me, is the embodiment of

northwest Arkansas. I never had that experience, quite

honestly, in New England. New England was great. It was just

a different flavor. I didn't quite have that experience in Atlanta because

everything was spread out. The Bay Area was a little different for me because I

was much younger and my focus was different. So I didn't care about

family as much. When you're young and just out of college, you're just trying

to. You go out and do life. And I, you know, I just.

I didn't know any better. Now I know better. And because I

know better, I see the value and importance of

putting that focus on family, whatever that is. Right. I mean, family

could be a single mom and her kids, and, you know, they're in.

So. And because of this type of area where there's so many

other folks that come into that community, into that

village, if you will, that you. Even if you do have a

small family unit, you feel connected to the bigger group of

folks. Exactly. And if you. And if you don't. And let me add this.

And if you don't, I believe there are A lot of really

good programs here in northwest Arkansas. There are a lot of really

good people here that, you know, I'm just amazed

at just connecting with people over coffee and what that ultimately leads

to. I mean, I could just tell you story after story after story

of what I have done with this podcast that has led

to so many beautiful relationships.

And honestly, I mean, you know, me doing the TED Talk was.

One reason was because of this podcast and because of some of the work that

I'd been doing in the community, how I got involved with Ozark

Natural Foods, how I started working at the Fayetteville Public Library.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on. But, you know, I mean,

that's a testament to this area and why it is

such a powerful force for people. But it is what you make it,

you have to do it. Meaning that somebody listening to this right now,

they could be inspired by your words about pickleball

and about Aha. University and about how you can go out and reinvent

yourself. But they still have to do it. They still have to put one foot

in front of the other and make it out there to the Rogers

Workout Facility or go to the Springdale Rec place and go play

pickleball or do something like that, because you're not going to meet anybody

sitting in your La Z Boy chair at home or on your couch.

You've got to get out and meet folks. And if you need

assistance in that or if you need some guidance or advice, I'm

happy to point you in the right direction with some

resources that will kind of help you identify some

different ways that you can connect with other people in the community,

other like minded people, other people that have kindred

interests and things of that nature. So I just want to encourage people

listening to this that you know, all hope is not lost and don't feel

like you're alone. You're only alone, especially in northwest

Arkansas, if you want to be. That's it. That's it. So my

final thing that'll go with that is, like you, I. I love

connecting people to resources. I love connecting people to

people. But the thing that is the essence of David is

helping people to reinvent themselves from

the inside out. And my one little claim to fame

with that that I will take credit for is that Oprah and

I have one thing in common. We both kept a daily

personal diary for 51 years. I

started October. You told me that that sounds. That's so

crazy that you've been that consistent and done that for

51 years. Yeah, and the thing is that

I am the embodiment of what my wife described the

other day. And I'll use this as my ending thing for me. She said, david,

your brain and your mind is wired to inspire people.

Yeah. So my joy, Randy, is helping you

and everyone I talk to to find the courage and

the energy to find what is

really important. And I'll end with my four Bs. What is your real

voice? Who are you? Okay, your voice,

your vision of who you are. That's in the reinventing

the third beat. What is your values? What are your value system?

So I'm in complete agreement with northwest Arkansas and

the melting pot that I see here. And the final V

is victory over fear. I live

with an aha attitude of gratitude or abundance

with every breath, because at my age, I've helped

a number of people to die. But I love inspiring people to want to

live. That's what AHA University is about. Old,

young, black, white, blue, green. I just love people.

I love my life. And it's because my wife inspires the crap out of

me. Yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And I mean, I think

that, you know, it's never too late to pick up

something that you're interested in and really run with it. Right. I

think, again, our minds sometimes play tricks on us.

Oh, yes. Sometimes our minds don't do what the body

wants to do and vice versa. So we have to. We have to kind

of. That's why I think it's so important to pray and to

meditate and to take time to separate yourself from all the noise

that's out there so that you can reconnect back with yourself. Because I

think that a person that spends time in introspection,

a person that spends time, a little bit of time separated from everybody

else, and a little solitude, it goes a long way. Right?

And so. And like, I. I'll liken it to the story of,

like, for those of you that read the Bible, you know the story of Moses,

when he went up on the mountain. He went up on the mountain and he

had an experience where he. He saw God. And in that experience

of God, when he came back down, he was so

unrecognizable. When people looked at him and they were like, what's going

on here? Who is this guy? And so. But that

example in the Bible is. Is a great example.

It's symbolic, I think, of. You know, sometimes you have to set

yourself apart to be able to kind of work on yourself

and take that next step in your evolution,

evolutionary process. Right. That we all go through. Some of us

don't fully achieve that. And I think as a motivational

speaker, that you are and that you're becoming. You realize that

because it's that age old comment that we hear all the time,

you know, make the dash count. If, you know, like, we're born one

year, we die another year. But it's everything that you do

in between that time that makes all the difference in the world.

And I know that this episode's a little different than a lot of our

normal episodes, but it is motivational from

the vantage point that it is never too late to do the things that

you're called to do. It's never too late to pick up that pen and get

up a half hour early each morning and just write in your

journal. It's never too late to get out and force

yourself to walk, whether it's five minutes a day and

then 10 minutes a day and then 15 and then so on and so forth.

It's never too late for you to meet somebody, to

fulfill some objectives that you've had in your life, to not die

alone. Right. Because nobody wants to die alone. But I think again, it's important

for us, whether we're looking for romantic companionship or

just friendship, that we've got to get out outside of the four

walls that sometimes surround us. Those four walls can both be

physical, but they can also be mental walls. And

you've got to be able to overcome that in order to

be your fully measured self. And so

I'll end my thing with congratulating you for what you've done with this

podcast. Because the thing is, you inspire the crap out of me, too. I

only work with and talk with people that inspire me anymore, Randy. Yeah,

and so if you stop and think about that, if you reinvent yourself and you

have the path that you believe in, your own mind, body,

heart and soul that God wants you to be on, which is what I'm on.

I'll be doing this for the next 30 years. Yeah. I'm going to be one

of the oldest lived people in America because I get up every

day so inspired to meet people like you. So thank

you. Yeah. Well, you're absolutely welcome, man. And David, I

appreciate you, you know, connecting with me at the TEDX

Fayetteville event. And, you know, shout out to Sammy and

Angela and the rest of those amazing folks that are part of TedX

Fayetteville. They did such a great job with the most recent program

and I look forward to the next one that is coming up in the new

year. But while I really want to wish you a lot of

success with AHA University, if somebody is listening to this and

they're like, you know, ready to run through a brick wall after hearing you talk

and hearing you share your story and to talk about pickleball and all the

other things, what's the best way for them to get in contact with you? Our

website is AHA University. My email

is David Nelson, my name at

AHA University. My phone number

479-750-1565.

I'm all of it's available for people because the bottom line

of when you learn to reinvent yourself the way that I've done

is I love playfully listening to people's stories

and I hope to be as good of a listener as you are one day.

Well, listen, that is a. I do consider myself an active

listener, but for full transparency, I continue

to, to exercise my listening muscle. So every time

I put on these headphones and I get behind the mic, I work

to fine tune that listening tool, that

tool belt that I have. And, and you know, I take that Japanese approach. I've

talked about it before on this podcast, but you know, the Japanese, Mr. Toyota

came up with this whole Kaizen approach which is just consistent

improvement. It's just little by little, incremental growth,

incremental improvement. Incredible. Makes all the difference in the world. How do

you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. You can't

eat the whole elephant in one sitting. You can't eat the whole elephant

with one spoon. You have to take your time and eat the

whole thing. And so I think it's important for people to understand that

like the first step is the most important step, but the next

most important step is the one after that because you just have to

keep going. So it's not huge leaps. It's not, you know, you're

not going to, you know, go so far ahead of yourself.

Just take your time and get started. And you'd be surprised

how quickly you can develop and build that

muscle for whatever that muscle needs to be, whether it's active

listening, whether it's getting out and getting into a road race

in your latter years because you want to run. I mean, I saw a

video the other day of a, of a man who just won the world record

for 100 meter dash. I mean he was like 101

years old. Now of course he was racing like one other person. So you

know, but, but I mean it's like yo. Well, that was really inspiring

that, that Guy was out there doing it, and he wasn't running super, super

fast, but he was getting down there and probably doing better than

people maybe even half his age. And, you know,

the thing, and I'll leave it at this, because I don't want to. I don't

want to beat a dead horse, but I think in this day and age, there

are a lot of people that walk around defeated, that feel like

life has either let them down, that situations and or

circumstances have really set them back.

But my advice to anyone that's listening to this is that

again, just like what David said earlier right at the top of this

podcast, it is never too late to do the thing that

you're called to do. It's never too late to learn a new hobby,

to learn a new skill, to try something that you've never

done before, maybe you were fearful about. There are other

people that are just like you, that are going through

the process on a daily basis that have the same

fears, that have the same challenges. And some of them, I guarantee,

probably live in your neighborhood. So getting together in

groups and organizations, like what David is doing with his

pickleball and other programs like that, will help you get out

of your comfort zone and help you discover and

explore some things about you that you didn't know were even

possible until you put yourself out there. And

so, you know, like, what David's saying is, I want to encourage everybody

listening to this particular episode that you can do it

and you have all the tools necessary to do it. And if there's anything

that either of us can do to help you kind of get

out of your own way and allow yourself to be the best

version of yourself, we're certainly here for that. As always, you can reach

me here at lo@im northwest

arkansas.com. you can visit our site, I am northwest

arkansas.com, but you can also check out David and what he's doing with

Aha. University. And I think,

you know, listen, it will definitely serve you well, David, to see what he's

doing and how he might be able to help you. So, David Nelson, we

really, really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule this

holiday season to be with us here on the I Am Northwest Arkansas

Podcast. And I thank you for coming out to my coffee event.

I thank you for asking me about potentially coming on the

podcast. And, you know, when you said you were the CEO of Fun, I was

like, well, what's this guy talking about? You know, I was like, yeah, what's his

deal? But then as we talked and got to know each other a little bit

more and spent some time, I was like, oh, you know what? I think that's

a good message. I think too often, we're out. You know, I always. I've always

considered myself a merchant of hope. And so because of

that, I always want to spread good news. I mean, yes, I could talk

about a lot of the bad things that are happening in the world right now,

but I choose not to focus on that. I get it. It's going to be

there. It's always. We're always going to have trouble throughout our lives. That's just

a given. It's just part of the package deal of living, of if you

breathe, you're going to have trouble, you're going to run into trouble, it's okay,

because you can overcome that trouble, and it doesn't always

stay that way. So you got your ups and your downs and end

with this story. For some of you, if you've never seen it, there's a movie

called Parenthood with Steve Martin, and there's a scene in that

movie where he's really struggling

both with his wife, played by Mary Steenburgen, as well as

with some of the choices and decisions that his children made

in the movie. And it was just really chaotic in the

house and everything. And then he starts talking to the

grandmother that's there, and she's an elderly lady, like, really old.

But all she did was say, hey, you know, because he

asked her, well, what did you do when you were growing up? And she said,

hey, you know, life has its ups and downs. Life is like a roller

coaster. You're gonna go up and you're gonna go down. You just

have to hold on and enjoy the ride. And as she was saying

that, the film shows Steve Martin on a roller

coaster, going up and down as she's saying that. But that's

always stuck with me. And I saw that movie years ago. It's a really great

movie. I highly recommend people check out Parenthood when you get a chance.

And those of you that have seen it, you know what I'm talking about. But

it's a really great scene. And it's always been a reminder to me

that, you know, life is going to have good times and bad times,

but it's how you bring yourself to those moments that

matters the most. And for some people, they just

can't deal with adversity. And for others, adversity

is kind of like a badge of honor, because like, like. Like people

say whatever doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. So

Nietzsche. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I'll end with one

little phrase that I want to be known for, and I didn't come up

with this. What we've forgotten as we get older is the importance

of playing. The TED Talk that I want to do on pickleball

is all about the importance of playing all through your life.

So what I do in my reinvention process is help people to turn their

work into play. If you're having fun,

in the end, what's important is just to go out and play and

find people who want to be healthy and healthier.

Because when you find healthy people, you will build

healthier relationships and a healthy community. That's

my final message. All right. I love it. I love it. Okay, well,

thank you so much, sir. We really, really appreciate you. I appreciate

you, Randy. Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. Thank you. We're going to be playing pickleball

soon. Soon. Very soon. Listen, What a joy

it was to sit down with just this gentleman, David Nelson. He is

a true example of purpose, passion, and play.

I love his energy. It's so contagious. His vision is bold and

his belief in the power of connection is something I think we can all learn

from. If you're curious about Aha University,

please visit him on the web and learn more about what he's doing.

If you're looking to get into pickleball or you're just inspired

by the idea of reinventing your life at any age,

I really encourage you to follow David's journey and

see where it leads. Trust me, it'll be

fun. As always, thank you for joining us here on I Am Northwest

Arkansas. You can check out the show notes for more information from this particular

episode and ways to contact and stay in touch with David and

myself. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend.

Leave us a review and subscribe wherever you listen to

podcasts. Until next time, take care, stay

curious and keep celebrating this amazing place

we call home. Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas. Check us out each and every week available

anywhere that great podcasts can be found. For show

notes or more information on becoming a guest, visit

I am North Northwest Arkansas.com we'll

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Arkansas.