Armando Hung joins us to share his journey as a transformational coach and the importance of listening to our inner voice.

He emphasizes that life is about more than just career achievements; it's about family, purpose, and faith.

Growing up in a diverse environment in New Jersey, Armando learned the value of community and support, which shaped his desire to help others.

He reflects on pivotal moments, like the day he chose to take a break from work and how that decision saved his life on September 11th 2001.

As we dive into this conversation, we explore how embracing our true selves and prioritizing our loved ones can lead to a more fulfilling life.

A Warrior’s Spirit can be found on all the major platforms at lnk.bio/daryl_praxis33

Be sure to like or subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Hey, welcome back to another episode of A Warrior Spirit, where we let the inner warriors shine in their light.

Tonight I have Armando Hung joining me.

Armando is a career transformational coach.

He's also a lover of life and someone I consider a friend.

I met Armando a couple years ago where he was speaking from a stage on Nashville.

His story impacted me and my wife, and I'm just thrilled that he's come on this platform to share a little bit of his story.

And, Armando, I thank you for your time tonight.

Daryl, thank you for coming, for inviting me.

Listen, I am super pumped.

It's been a.

It's been a while since you and I have connected.

So when I did receive the invite, I. I could not say no.

I made sure that my calendar was clear for tonight because I believe.

I believe in what you do.

I believe in what this world needs right now, which is people like yourself in delivering content like this to promote change.

So thank you.

I'm super pumped for tonight.

I really am.

I appreciate that.

When I met you, you were living in Jersey.

Now you live in Florida.

Did you grow up in Jersey or was that just a stopping place?

No, born and raised.

Born and raised in New Jersey.

Okay.

Parents.

Parents were immigrants from Cuba, New Jersey.

At the time, New Jersey, New York was the part of the Northeast where many Latin American Latinos went to start a new life.

So born and raised in New Jersey, spent 55 years in New Jersey before my wife and I finally both retired from corporate America, which I'll get more into my story in a little bit.

But we built our dream home now down here in the Lake Nona, St.

Cloud area, Florida.

We've been down here now a year and a half.

We love it.

I'm enjoying retirement, but I'm also running my.

My business, my AJH New perspective coaching business.

So just reaping in the rewards of.

Of life and.

And the good.

The good blessings that God has given me.

Let me ask you, Armana, because my wife is.

She's from the AOS or she's Portuguese, and her family lived in the Azores, and she came over here when she was 3.

So, you know, she's lived an immigrant life or, you know, she understands that world, you know, very well.

What was it like for a son of an immigrant, especially a Cuban living in New Jersey?

You know, you're looking 50, in the 70s.

So what was it like kind of growing up in that area?

So it was the mid-60s, early-70s.

Let me tell you that where I grew up, I grew up in Newark, New Jersey.

For those who are familiar who travel, you may fly into Newark Airport.

I only lived about 10 minutes away from Newark Airport, but the neighborhood that I grew up in was a.

Was a melting pot of many nationalities.

Not just Cuban, but also Portuguese.

A lot of my friends back home and are still back home and I still stay connected, were from Portugal, from Brazil.

There was a large population of European people from Poland and from England and from Italy.

So it was a huge melting pot of people, which was great growing up because it gave me the opportunity to see different cultures meet and greet other people, grow up in that family lifestyle.

And that's one of the things that my parents instilled in my brother and I, and my brother and I have been able to now extend that to our own personal families.

Is the value of family, right?

No matter what happens in your life, that we may think it's chaotic, it's bad, you'll never lose family.

And family is really the one that you always want to lean to.

Family should be the one that's always at an arm's length because they're there not just to support you, but also to show the love that you need.

So growing up in New Jersey was really great for me because that.

That value of family and love was what really opened the doors for what I need, for what I wanted to do and what I wanted to succeed, as well as my faith.

As well as my faith.

Well, I know from experience, from my.

From my wife's family.

Portuguese families are all about the family.

Every door is open to everybody.

And if you have a shirt on your back to give, you give it.

If you don't, you give the skin.

Like, it's just community.

And family is vastly important.

Is that kind of the environment that helped shape you into wanting to be in a profession that helped others?

It.

It was.

But it really also helped define who.

Who I am, right?

Many times now, when you meet people, you greet people for the first time, and you ask them the simple question, hey, who are you?

Right?

There's.

There's no right or wrong answer, right?

It's your answer.

You, you.

You own it.

But now when people say to me, hey, who are you?

I don't go into my successes.

I don't go into what I've achieved in life because of my faith and that connection of family.

When people say to me, hey, who are you?

My connection.

And my answer is, basically, I'm the son of the most high.

I'm a husband, I'm a dad, I'm a son, I'm A brother.

I'm a best friend.

And what do I do?

I'm the president and founder of AJH New Perspective Coaching.

My purpose in life has been to be an educator.

And this goes way back even when I was in high school, when I started to, really started to identify what my purpose was going to be.

But knowing that family background and what my parents instilled in me and also what, what, what my faith has instilled in me, it's all about family and then everything else feeds off that.

So, yes, to answer your question, and that's how it was growing up.

Nothing is ours, right?

Nothing is ours.

Everything.

Right now you're, you're in your office.

You have things in front of you, right?

I'm in my office now.

I got computers, I got lights, I got, I got everything here.

Nothing's mine.

It's all right.

Loan to us.

It's what we do with it to help others.

And that's what I do, and that's what I've done.

Were you.

Because we, we can see that faith is very important to you.

And sometimes that's strengthened just simply because of your own family and, and how you were raised.

And sometimes it's instilled deeper because of trauma.

Sometimes it's because of success.

Like, where did your deep connection with God come from?

You know, God has always been speaking to me and opening doors.

And it wasn't until late, real late in my adulthood that I really made the connection.

And when I identified what my purpose was of being an educator, I mean, my story starts basically when I was in high school, I excelled in the sciences and being from being from parents who were immigrants, right?

And faith based.

When you're growing up as a teenager in a Latino household and there is a situation or a problem, and I don't say problem in my vocabulary anymore, but back then there was a problem.

There were three, three areas where it would get resolved.

Your mom and dad, your grandmother and grandfather, or the Lord.

You had no say.

So if you're in a Latino household, you got an issue.

Those are the three areas where it'll get resolved.

I remember as I was excelling in the sciences, my grandmother would say to me, you need to become a doctor so you can make a lot of money and you won't have any problems in the world.

I remember my parents, again, being immigrants.

We were middle class, but they had to work.

Both my parents work in order to support us.

My parents would say, you need to go into a profession where you can make a lot of money so you won't have a problem later on.

Knowing what I did see at home, knowing that my parents would work 10, 12 hours a day, Saturday and Sunday was more resting than anything else.

I kind of said, wow, this may be true.

So I graduate high school, I go out to university, I go into pharmacy school.

I was going to become a pharmacist, right?

I'm.

My freshman year, I'm a pharmacist.

I'm doing my thing.

I'm going through it.

And there was pivot number one.

God opened doors for me, and my real.

My real love and passion was education.

I knew I wanted to help people, but being young, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

Plus, I had to follow what my grandparents and my parents had told me because they wouldn't steer me wrong.

But I was scared.

I was scared to change majors.

I was scared to approach them and say, I don't want to follow this particular field.

But God gave me the support.

And after my freshman year, I went home for the summer.

And I remember telling my dad and my mom, I don't want to be a pharmacist.

I want to be a teacher.

And I remember like it was yesterday.

They said, you follow the career path that you want to follow.

Wow, amazing.

Just.

Just promise that you'll finish.

Done deal.

Which leads me to a question.

I'm going to ask you this question because you're the host, but I'm going to put you on the spot because I'm coaching, right?

We're coaching together.

Think of a situation, right?

And we've all been in situations, and I know your audience seeing this will be.

Will have gone through this situation.

This is the same situation I've been in.

Finish this sentence for me.

I will cross that blank when I get to it.

Finish that sentence.

Bridge, Bridge, Bridge.

River, ocean.

Right?

Yeah.

Why would you.

What would you say?

Why do we say that?

And we've all said it.

I mean, I'm the first one to raise my hand.

We have all said it in our lifetime.

Why do you think we say that?

Well, first, it's procrastination.

Secondly, it's fear.

We don't want to face whatever's in front of us.

Now we're putting it off as long as we can so we can avoid the pain or consequences that might come with crossing that bridge.

And we've all said it, right?

It's just pushing something aside and saying, we'll think about it later.

But did it solve anything?

Really?

Did it solve anything?

Absolutely not.

Right?

I was at that bridge because for a whole two semesters I was pushing that away.

And God kept opening the doors because I was doing some substitute teaching in my old alma mater, high school, during that time.

I was still in school my freshman year.

So he didn't kind of said, hey, you need to go into education.

I'm going to lead you to the school.

Right?

And that's what I bring to my clients today, right?

I bring them, I bring the bridge.

Hey, guess what?

You know that bridge you've been wanting to cross all along?

Guess what?

I'm bringing you the bridge.

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna prove to you that it's okay for you to take that first step onto the bridge.

So more on the bridge.

What's amazing about that is that that's actually my tagline for my coaching is bridging the gap from where you are to where you want to be.

And much like you, I was forced into higher education.

I became an adjunct professor at the local community college.

I help people get their PhD degrees, never ever having a thought about education, but in service.

And it led me through that which for both of us makes us better coaches.

Because now we bring real, real world practicality, not just fluffing stuff to the people we serve.

And that's one of the things I.

Admire about you and you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

And you're absolutely right.

Because when you start to see what your purpose is in life and what your assignment is here, it, it becomes more clear.

For some, it could be early in life.

For some, it could be later in life.

For me, it was later in life.

However, I was making an impact as we went through the years.

So there I am now.

I got the green light.

Go for education.

Boom.

Fast forward.

Graduate.

I begin teaching at my alma mater with, as a history teacher, political science teacher, because that's what was my major.

I also had minored in marketing during that time because I also liked marketing and business doing, doing what I needed to do, enjoying what I needed to do until like about five years later when pivot number two happens and God kind of says, okay, you've served your purpose here.

I am now going to move you somewhere else.

That leads me that led me to a 29 year career for a consumer product goods company, a Fortune 200 company.

But I was still teaching, I was still educating.

I was not the definition of a teacher that many think of now.

In front of a classroom with students, right?

Being in elementary school, middle school, community college or college.

I was now working for a consumer product goods company and I was educating and teaching retailers how to manage a category in their businesses that generated anywhere from 35 to 40% of their annual profit.

In that 29 year career and doing that education, I also did a lot of recruiting for the company.

I also did a lot of in house training for the company.

I did also a lot of speaking in the company.

All was part of the plan of what was going to happen later in life.

Yeah, I love watching the building blocks because when we look back at, you know, when we're in the midst of whatever we're in the midst of, whether it be good or bad, rarely are we saying, you know, 15 years from now this is really going to come in handy, right?

And then we get down the road and we're like, oh my goodness, without that experience or whatever, I would never have been able to do what I'm doing.

So.

And the key thing right now is that we as people going through this journey, no matter where your journey is, you need to stop and really take impact of these milestones to really think about how your career or your life has progressed.

Even if it's minimal, you need to stop and celebrate.

You need to stop and take it all in.

Because I was taking it all in at that time saying, wow, here's a kid from the inner city, goes through college, graduates four years, gets a degree, goes to teach.

Now he's working for a Fortune 200 company, generating.

More importantly, the company sees the value that this individual brings because they continue to put more and more important tasks in front of you.

So sometimes it's not about the title, it's about the journey to where you are.

So here I am during this 29 year career doing this, changing lives, improving not just the company's bottom line, my personal bottom line too, but also taking in all this learning.

And then pivot number three comes and I shared this in Nashville.

And sometimes these pivots or these, these changes in your lives may not be tied with a red ribbon like we just celebrated the holidays under the tree with a nice gift.

Sometimes these, sometimes these, these pivots or messages come in a different way.

But we must be obedient and listen.

So this, this pivot number three in my life was basically this.

It was a typical Monday morning, ready to start the start of the work week.

My wife and I get up early, we get our, our 8 year old ready to go to school.

My wife, my wife leaves the house, ends up going to school with, with my, my little one.

I was about to leave the house, jump on the train.

I was going to be in New York City that day.

I was going to be late because I had to entertain some clients in the evening.

So if you're in this type of business, sometimes days are not.

It can be a little later.

Day goes well.

I'm at Madison Square Garden at a hockey game with some clients.

By the time I leave the Garden, it was almost midnight, almost Tuesday morning.

Heading back to New Jersey, knowing that I needed to be back the next morning for a meeting at 9am on my way home, I started listening to this little voice.

Think tomorrow's a good day to take a day off.

And I'm like, nope, can't take the day off.

I gotta come in tomorrow, gotta get this meeting going.

One of my colleagues is gonna meet him.

You know, this, this could be really important for the business.

Nope, think tomorrow's.

Tomorrow's a day off.

Look what time it is.

You're not gonna get a lot of rest.

The sky was this reddish gray.

I remember driving on the, on the New Jersey Turnpike and I'm seeing this reddish gray sky.

And I was like, wow, there's no storms.

Those look like they're storms.

I put on the radio.

They're not talking about any storms.

I'm just looking at this reddish gray sky.

But I keep listening to this and then I start yawning, right?

Sounds like, wow, maybe it is.

Maybe we could reschedule.

I know that.

I know the, the individual won't mind.

So I pick up the phone, I call my colleague who never sleeps.

And I said to him, hey, listen, I'm late.

It's late.

I'm.

I'm heading back to New Jersey now.

I'm not going to be good for, for anybody tomorrow.

Call the, call the guy up in the morning.

Call the gentleman up in the morning, reschedule.

He'll understand.

I'll touch base with you sometime tomorrow.

Okay, great.

I get home, I go to sleep.

Next morning, I wake up, it's now Tuesday morning.

We got the little one ready to go.

My wife heads out to work.

Heads off to work.

She goes off.

I make a cup of tea.

I'm ready to jump my day, stay home.

Then the phones start ringing.

The day I'm speaking about, September 11th.

First phone call came in was my director.

His.

His words were, where are you?

And I said, I'm sitting here at home.

He said, hold on.

Next.

Next voice I hear was another director.

Turn on the tv.

And now we.

And we all know what happened.

If I would have kept my schedule, if I would have been loyal to what I needed to do from a company standpoint, if I would have listened more to my mind than my heart, I would have been on the train coming into World Trade Center 1 around 8:35am and I believe the first plane hit World Trade center around 8:40.

That would have been.

I would have been caught in that chaos.

I would have been caught in that chaos.

Right.

Who knows what destiny had for me there.

Right.

And now it's easier to say.

It's easier for me to say more about this story in the beginning.

And I know in Nashville was.

Nashville was the first time I shared that story because I had put.

I had.

I had filed that story in the back of my.

In a Rolodex, in the back of my mind, saying, I will never bring that story out again.

But I knew I needed to bring that out because it needed to be heard and told.

For people to understand that it is more important sometimes to listen to your heart than to listen to your mind.

And to get them in sync is hard, too.

But sometimes we may need to stop back and say, you know what?

Let me listen now.

If I would have not listened to my heart driving home, right.

But I knew that God had a purpose for it.

Yeah, it's.

It's.

You really have to practice listening to that voice because there's a part of you that goes, well, you know, it's the good devil, the bad devil, you know, well, is this the one just telling me slough off, or is this the one telling me to work?

Or, you know, so you really have to be discerning, learning, and conscious of, okay, where's that voice truly coming from?

And when you feel it in your body, usually that's the good voice.

If you just kind of hear it, you have to kind of still question.

But when you start feeling it in your body, you pretty much know it's the good voice.

And during that time frame, of course, the world was in chaos and, and life was in turmoil.

What was the reaction with your wife?

What was the reaction within yourself?

Like, why me?

Was there any of that type of questioning?

Did you feel like, okay, this meant I'm supposed to do something more with my life because I'm still here with it?

Well, yes, there was definitely.

There was more.

There was more to my assignment.

My assignment was not over.

There was more of my purpose that I needed to live.

The, the initial reaction when it all.

When it all happened was of course, counting your blessings, counting that, that I was still coming home.

I still had a home.

I was still here.

I never questioned why me.

I, I basically thanked, Thanked God and I still do, for, for allowing me to listen and like you said, connecting with that voice, right?

And, and understanding that that was a good voice.

And, and I think one of the things that we need to continue doing is to do some self reflection is do some self reflection every single day, as many times as you.

You need to, and always listen to that voice, right?

It's in you.

It's in you.

It's not, it's not hidden.

It's there, but sometimes we push it away.

Just like the example I said earlier about, hey, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Sometimes it was like, well, wait a minute, you know, this account is really counting on us with this presentation.

And this account is really explaining this.

Well, life gets in the way, right?

Life gets in the way.

Things happen.

And then when those things happen, as chaotic as they may be, it's for a reason.

It's for a reason.

So it's easier said than done.

But it's sometimes if we go in with that mindset that, okay, it didn't work out, you have to reach, like, for me, I had to reschedule, look at what had happened.

I'll even say this for that particular individual that we needed to meet.

He was at ground zero.

He was in the building.

That's where his, that's where his establishment was.

You think he was gonna hang around and wait for us?

No.

When, when the things.

When, when, when life started to get chaotic there, everybody escaped.

Right?

Thank God.

He.

He's fine.

You know, he was fine and all, but, and, and it's.

Aside from the event, it could happen with any event, right?

That, that is one.

One catat.

Catastrophic event.

But more importantly is in life, we have this beautiful gift called life.

We need to embrace it every single day.

We need to understand how important it is to be here.

Because, hey, let's be realistic.

Some people didn't wake up this morning.

And you know what I, I find through my own experiences?

I find that most of the time we give our life to our job or to our career, and we put our family or our loved ones kind of on the back burner and they take second place.

So when you do things like you did that day, you were really putting yourself first.

Your own health and well being, which again, for hard workers like you and I is really tough to do.

But I was reminded of this Just last spring, my.

My son needed an eye procedure in Indianapolis for going back this year for his follow up.

Um, but I told my wife that I was going to be there for this procedure, and she cried because I have given so much of my life to business that for me to take time off for family was an anomaly.

And that was a moment where it really hit me.

You know, one of my.

One of my biggest regrets is when my father was passing four years ago, I sat at his deathbed, and I was in real estate at the time.

And while the doctors were cleaning him up from an episode he had had shortly before he died, I was pulling out my laptop to write a contract.

And I've regretted that moment.

And I've made it a never, never again moment in my life, which is why fast forward.

And I took the time to.

To be with my son, because business should never come before family or loved ones or ourself.

And they're never going to remember that I put in 2,000 extra hours to my job.

They're going to remember that I took time off to be there when they needed me.

And I think that's a really hard lesson for a lot of people to embrace, but I think it's one that's so vital to humanity to.

To be better.

Your.

Your.

Your materialistic successes are to be applauded and celebrated.

We should all do that.

However, think about what defines you.

If you and I first just met and we're grabbing a cup of coffee and I said, hey, Darrell, so tell me about yourself.

And you tell me, and we fall into this trap because this is what society has led us to.

It is a win, win situation.

I need to read to you my portfolio, my resume, and you start to tell me about all your career path, your successes, what you drive, what's your favorite eyeglass brand?

I'm going to applaud it, and I'm going to applaud it with you, but do I really know who you are?

Yep.

All I'm going to take is, wow, here's a gentleman who's really been successful in creating all these materialistic ownership.

But I don't know who Daryl is.

That's why when you said, when I started, I said, who am I?

Yeah, I'm.

I'm the son of the most high.

I'm a dad, I'm a father, I'm a grandpa.

That's more important to me than anything else.

Yes, I do need financial support in order to live right.

I'm not gonna say, but it doesn't define You.

Because when our careers are over.

Mm.

It's over.

Seriously, I could share this and.

And let.

Let me finish my story real quick, because then I'll lead into this answer here if I can.

So when this.

When things got back to somewhat.

A little bit of normal situation back.

Back at the office, I kind of made the decision and I said, okay, Tate, I'm coming home.

Because I was living in New Jersey, but working in the city.

And I said, I'm coming home.

And I remembered walking into my director, and I said to my director, I have never asked this company for anything, but I'm going to ask one thing, and this goes to show the value that you bring to your employer or if you're an entrepreneur, the value that you bring to your business.

And I remember going into my director and I said, I'm coming home, and I need you to help me get back home.

Within a matter of five months, they had now transferred me back to New Jersey.

Right.

I needed to leave New York.

That led to a couple more years, and then finally, after 29 years, at the age of the age of 57, I said, that's it.

I'm done.

The last day of work, I received a call from one of the vice presidents of the company, and the vice president wanted to wish me a happy retirement.

The vice president's message, she asked me a question, and her question was, why leave at 29 years and not stay for the milestone of 30 years?

If you're in.

If you're in.

In.

If you work for a company, you know, 30 years is a milestone, depending.

But this question that they asked me was, why leave at 29 and not stay for the milestone of 30?

And my response to her was, who says 29 isn't a milestone?

At that point, he said, God bless you.

Wish you the best.

Wish you the best in retirement.

If you need anything, you know where I am.

Again, it's ownership.

It's listening to here.

Why did I. I didn't want to stay till 30.

I didn't need to.

Yeah.

Fast forward to what happened three years prior to me calling it a retirement from that.

I started AJH coaching because I started to see the gap.

I started to see the void between corporate America and growing and training individuals and where this world was heading to.

So I started.

I created AJH training.

I went to school, I got certified, I got trained.

I opened up the business.

Now what do I do as a career coach, transformational coach?

I guide people who are at crossroads in their life, be it professionally or personal.

To see the beautiful gift we called life.

That's pretty much it.

And trust me when I say this, and I'm in contact with many clients and many companies, there is a big void and a continued void because you don't want to ever be in a position.

And when you brought the example of, you know, how you were, you were mixing business and Prof. And your personal life together, and the business life was taking over.

You never want to be in a position of where one day you're gonna sit back and say, what if?

What if I would have gone to my son's soccer game?

What if I would have gone to my daughter's recital?

What if I would have made it?

You never want to be in that position.

And the moment that that particular thought comes into mind, you have to do what's right.

Is it easy to do?

No, because it's harder to say no than to say yes.

But think about it.

What if the contract can wait, the meeting can wait.

The basketball game, the recital, the graduation is one time.

But it's not just the event.

It's the person behind it.

And the emotions that are there.

It's not important if they win or lose.

It's seeing that you're there, present for them, just like you.

Just like you and I are present for each other now, just like I'm present for my inner circle, my outer circle, anyone.

That's what it's all about.

So when I work with my clients or work with small companies, that's what I break it down to.

And they'll say, well, wait a minute.

That's not what I'm here for.

Yes, you are here for that.

Yes, you are.

Well, no, because I want that career job.

I want that title.

I want that.

That's fine.

But it's a road to get there.

You can't go from.

From the first floor to the 15th floor or 30th floor that quickly.

You're missing the journey.

You're missing the journey.

So now fully established, enjoying retirement, reaping in my successes, doing my AJ coaching.

That's what I do.

Because God has.

Has basically given me the message as an educator living my purpose, that I have to pay it forward.

And that is what I do.

So aside from my coaching business, I also hold a monthly mastermind for business professionals.

I created this.

It's been now, I've been running this now for two years.

It's called Pivoting to Excellence.

And it's.

And it's a mastermind where we bring together business professionals and some entrepreneurs and we talk about not just what's happening in their world, but it's also about how we can support each other.

And it's reality.

It's reality.

Right.

Hey, what are the issues that you're experiencing?

What are some of the opportunities that lay out there?

I don't say problem opportunities.

And together, and collectively, we discuss this.

And I also give them the opportunity to present.

I also give them the opportunity to bring some of these cases, keeping confidentiality, of course, to the table for them to grow.

And what we do is that this is filling that void that they're not getting from their employer or from their external organizations, then they may impact it.

And I bring guests, of course, and we really talk about today, what's happening today in the business world.

And it allows me to.

Because I'm a baby boomer.

So I have.

I have baby boomers in that group.

I have Gen X, I have millennials.

So I have people from different walks of life and different demographics and different age.

Age groups that collectively we can have this great conversation.

So it's, It's.

It's wonderful when I kind of say, well, let me show you what we did back in the, in the 90s.

Right, right.

Right before you were born.

Right.

And so it's a great opportunity to bring these, these people together from, from all walks of life and have them share because they're on their own journey.

And I know that, that the good Lord has put this.

These people collectively in, in front of us because we're part of their journey.

We're part of their journey.

Yeah, I, I definitely.

It's funny because we are similar in age.

And, you know, I listen to my son, who's in his 30s, and I listen to my daughter, who's in her L. Mid 20s, and their viewpoint on the world and, and their, you know, thoughts and processes on the things that you and I would have just taken for granted, like actually getting a job or spending 30 years at a company, you know, they don't want any part of.

Not that they don't want to work, not that they don't want to serve.

They just don't want to do the corporate grind that they saw their parents and their grandparents do.

And that brings an entirely different experience into the conversation of working smarter, not harder.

And, And I've learned, you know, I, I listened to them speak and I listened to some of their ideas, and I'm like, you know, they're not that far off on what they want.

They want to serve, they want to give, they want equality.

For everybody.

They want to change the world.

They just want to do it a different way.

And I think that's beautiful.

What I, what I, what I really admire from millennials and Gen X and Gen Y is that they're living life today.

Baby boomers, and I remember this is how we grew up, was work hard, work hard, work hard for a better tomorrow.

Yes.

Okay.

When you look at the average age of a human being today, I think the last number I, I read was it's like 86 years old.

That's the average age.

So for baby boomers like yourself and I, if we took our age right now minus 87, do the math, right?

So you, you work hard, you work hard, you work hard, and then you have 20, 30 plus years to enjoy it.

Where, where the, you know, millennials, Gen X and why they're living life now.

And I, and I, I really enjoy to see that because it's a different view on life.

However, they're still looking for that, those materialistic gains, and they want it today, not tomorrow, today.

Right.

And competition is important.

Right.

And being competitive is important, but sometimes you need to sit back and really embrace your skill sets, embrace what you've, what you've created.

Right.

The loyalty of 30, 40 years in companies that's gone, that ended with us.

Right.

Nowadays, it's more of a springboard.

They call it a springboard type.

Five years and out.

Five years and out.

Five years and out.

Because they're moving in their, that personal direction.

And I applaud that.

Right.

But take a step back and enjoy.

Right.

But it's important for your audience and for people to really think about a.

What's my assignment?

My assignment is not to get up in the morning at six in the morning and head out and then come back home at 8 o' clock and then grab something to eat and then jump back on the computer again for another three hours because I need to finish this.

It happens.

It happened to me.

But it can't be part of your life.

It can't be six days a week.

If that's happening and you're sitting back and you're looking at the number of hours in a week and how many hours you dedicated to a company, and it's really a high number and you don't feel comfortable with that, then you need to take some action.

Right?

But it's also taking it in and understanding, where am I today?

So, look, it took me 54 years to understand what my purpose was, to finally get on a stage or to actually write something and say, my purpose in life was to be an educator.

And I have been an educator through, as a teacher, as an educator, corporate America and now as a coach.

54 Years, I didn't, I could at 20 years old, I had no idea what I was going to do.

At 25, I was working, I was, I was working.

But it took me that long to finally say to myself, okay, now I understand what God is, has led me because he opened every door.

He helped me pivot to where I am today.

I don't know where the next five, six years will come.

Right.

But the key thing is important is to always sit back and reflect what's happening in your world, why is it happening and what do you want next?

As long as it's reachable and everything is, everything is reachable.

But make sure you have that support group.

And I can't stress this enough, you need that inner circle.

And your inner circle could be one person, could be two people, could be 10 people, your inner circle.

But you should be connecting with your inner circle on an ongoing basis and letting them know where you're, what's happening in your world and asking for that guidance.

My brother in law said to my wife last year, yeah, last year, very similar to what you were, identically to what you were just saying.

You know, our, he was saying to her, our parents only lived till they were 86, 85.

So if you live to be mom and dad's age, you've only got 27 more Christmases to go.

And we know how fast last year flew by.

So if you equate it to only 27 more Christmases, you might want to start doing some living in there, not just working.

I, I know from hearing your story and, and listening to you and what you do and stuff, it takes a pretty strong woman to be a partnership in that.

What does your wife do?

So Myra, Myra is, she's my best friend, she's my soulmate, she's my, she's my biggest cheerleader.

So Myra is also.

Myra spent 32 years in the same consumer product goods company as I am.

She retired a couple years prior to me.

But her purpose has always been to help and assist others through volunteering.

But she never had that opportunity because we were both working for a major company which like I said earlier, it was a nine to five.

We were raising two amazing daughters, Nicole and Kim.

Now that we're in retirement, this is what she's doing now, right.

And she's also served, served in our churches in our faith.

And she's Been given a lot of tasks.

As a matter of fact, as this is being recorded, she's in, she's in her office and she's recording a, a message.

Now there's something that our church does called, it's like mobile prayers.

So a group, a group of, of followers, they, they record a morning prayer and an afternoon prayer.

And now she's in there right now recording a morning prayer and an afternoon prayer that's actually going to be sent out to everyone who's a member.

So as they're commuting to work, they can hear the messages.

So she's, she's in her office right now recording.

But, but you know, we're so in sync, her and I, from day one.

And we met in school at Rutgers University.

You can see the flag back there, the pennant.

But we, we understand that, you know, God has led us here and God has led us here and God has given us and blessed us with the life that we have and, and has given us such, such a rich filled life.

And that's what I, that's the title of my speeches when I go on stage.

I call it, you know, how to live a Rich Filled, Filled life through Faith.

And when I highlight rich, I don't mean financially.

It's more about everything else that comes with it.

Family finances, careers opportunities.

Anything that's in your purpose that's going to continue building not your legacy, but others legacy.

As we reflect on that.

And I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off.

My apologies.

God has led me in.

2024.

God's message to me is that I need to bring more faith based into my, into my business.

I was just in D.C. three weeks ago at an event that I was asked to speak in and I remember getting the phone call from, from the person who was putting it together.

He called me about eight months ago and he said, hey, I'm putting an event together in dc.

I'd like you to come and speak.

And I said, I'm there, right?

Not an issue that, that those days are open for me.

And he said, hey, by the way, the event's going to be faith based.

And my initial reaction to him was what?

Right, because as a coach I'm bringing applications, I'm bringing theory, I'm bringing examples.

But I said, no problem.

I said I'm there because I've helped this individual get to where he is today.

I've been a mentor to him.

So I just started reflecting on it and I said, God, I know you'll, you'll lead me, you'll lead me into what I need to do and knowing that I'm here today through my faith.

So as the months passed on and, and I was getting ready and stuff, I knew where I was going to speak already about because I knew what the event was all about.

And it was all about goal setting and embracing opportunities.

So this rich field, rich filled life presentation was going to be fine.

But I knew there was a gap, I knew there was a gap between the earthly definition of purpose and God's definition or faith based definition of purpose.

And that's where I kind of struggled somewhat until I finally sat down one day and said, okay, I'm gonna blend both because one doesn't happen without the other.

So presentation, you know, went fine.

The event was a, it was a blockbuster event.

Everybody there was great.

I've, I've connected with a few of the people who were there as audience members because one of the things I do in my, in my speeches is I always give everyone the opportunity to connect with me because sometimes they may not want to open up and be fully transparent.

The word was embraced.

Now I need you to continue.

Sometimes some of my clients will share with me that they are faith based.

And I would say, well, is it okay for you to, for me to bring in faith based?

And some will say yes, others will say no.

But this was the first example for me to actually bring faith.

Now you can't see this because you're my, my, the way my desk is set.

But if I reach out right now where my arm is running it, my Bible is right here.

I am touching my Bible.

My Bible is always open and is always here.

So if I'm working right now and I need a break or I'm, I'm kind of in a position, I'm like, okay, I need some guidance.

All I got to do is go this way.

There's a Bible, right?

But again, I respect all faiths.

I don't try to incorporate faith, but if, if they're asking me to bring in faith, I have it.

So look, it, it's not easy.

It's not easy.

Things get in the way.

Life gets in the way.

Sometimes we think that we may, we may be going down the wrong path.

That's the initial way of saying, yes, I'm going down the wrong path, or hey, I need to change it.

Don't stop, pick up a phone, call a friend.

Call, Call someone who's going to help you turn that wheel.

One of the things I bring in my, in my speeches and it kind of brings what we've been talking about into perspective is I have ever go to the eye doctor, right?

You wear glasses, I wear glasses, right?

So you go to the eye doctor and they put that big, it's called a photo optic er, I think it is.

And they put that big machine in front of you and they start turning the dials and they say, 1, 2, clear, 3, 3, 4.

Right?

I have, I have a small one, I have a small one and I, I pull that one out and I put it on and I'm like, hey, pretend this, right?

And it's just turning a knob.

It's turning, turning a little bit to make things a little bit more clearer.

There's no reason we're need to live in a foggy haze.

Sometimes a phone call or just saying yes can make things look a little bit more clear for you.

Just like when we go to the eye doctor and, and there.

And all of a sudden, hey, guess what?

Your prescription changed, right?

And sometimes we know when our prescription is about to change because sometimes we'll be watching TV and we're like, what?

I can't see the tv.

Where's the tv?

Right, right.

But think about that is in life sometimes, if things are unclear, just turn the knob.

And, and it's great because I get, I get, I get great reactions when I put that thing on and I, I wish I had it close to me, but I know it's somewhere else in my office.

But they look at me and they're like, what is this guy doing?

I said, we've all been there, right?

And if you've never been to an eye doctor, doctor, great.

But we've all been there.

And just turning those dials and making things look a little bit clearer allows you to not just read the letters on the wall, but it also allows you to see where your career path could be going, right?

Because everything be like you see behind you.

What is that?

Yeah, that just shows you some of my successes, but some of my successes, it.

There's not enough wall space for me to put all my successes because all my successes are right here.

They're here.

That's the most important thing.

That's the most important thing, you know, that's beautiful.

Thank you.

As we kind of come to a close for our hour, I ask all my guests, what does having or being a warrior spirit mean to Armando?

Continue to do good.

Continue to hide the noise.

Escape.

Escape from the noise.

Walking the path that you know is right and is righteous, knowing that God is with you.

He'll never let you down.

And also knowing that it's our purpose to make sure that others, especially loved ones, are walking that path with us.

I love it.

Well, Armando, is a absolute honor and pleasure to call you brother and friend, and thank you for joining me today.

And as always, I appreciate your time.

Well, Daryl, thank you very much for the invite.

It's been a great hour.

And I'll just end with.

For your audience is you can do it.

There's nothing that's going to stop you from.

From not doing it.

You can do it.

So embrace life, go for it, and be the best version of yourself.

Beautiful.

What a wonderful way to end.

And I just appreciate having you in my tribe and.

And, you know, it's an honor.

Thank you.

Thank you.