Terry Fossum shares his inspiring journey from the poorest city in the U.S. to becoming a successful businessman and philanthropist. He emphasizes the importance of perseverance with a powerful mantra: "Never, never, never give up." Throughout the podcast, Terry reflects on his challenging upbringing, the loss of his father, and the influential role of mentors in his life, including his brothers and a supportive cousin. He discusses the development of his Oxcart Technique, a goal-setting method that combines positive visualization with a failure scenario to create emotional motivation. Listeners will find valuable insights on embracing failure, taking actionable steps towards their goals, and the significance of faith in navigating life's challenges.

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Terry L. Fossum as he shares his remarkable journey from growing up in the poorest city in the US to becoming a successful entrepreneur, author, and TV personality. Terry emphasizes the importance of perseverance, drawing inspiration from Winston Churchill’s famous quote, “Never give up.”

In this episode, Terry credits his success to the invaluable support of role models and mentors, including his scoutmaster, brothers, and cousin. He discusses his book, The Oxcart Technique: Blueprint for Success, which offers a unique approach to goal setting and embracing failure as a stepping stone to success. Terry’s faith plays a significant role in his life, motivating him to impact others positively.

Discover how Terry’s journey and insights can inspire you to overcome challenges and achieve your goals. This episode is a testament to the power of resilience, mentorship, and faith in transforming lives.

Tune in to this inspiring episode with Terry L. Fossum and learn how to transform your challenges into opportunities for success. Discover the power of perseverance, mentorship, and faith in achieving your goals. Don’t miss this chance to be inspired by Terry’s remarkable journey and unique insights!

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Terry L. Fossum's journey from the poorest city in the United States to becoming a successful businessman, philanthropist, and author is deeply inspiring. Born in McAllen, Texas, surrounded by gangs and drugs, Terry faced immense challenges early in life, including the tragic loss of his father and a discouraging neighbor's proclamation that none of the local boys would amount to anything. However, Terry's resilience and determination led him to earn a degree in mechanical engineering and serve as an officer in the U.S. Air Force, where he was responsible for an entire group of nuclear B-52 bombers during the Cold War. After his military career, he ventured into direct sales, achieving remarkable success and earning over a million dollars while building teams worldwide.

At the core of Terry’s message is the belief in never giving up, a mantra inspired by Winston Churchill's famous quote. Throughout the podcast, he emphasizes the importance of perseverance and how the obstacles he faced fueled his ambition to help others. His life experiences shaped his perspectives on failure and success, leading him to develop the Oxcart technique—a novel approach to goal setting that incorporates the emotional impact of failure alongside positive visualization. Terry argues that embracing failure is crucial to achieving significant goals, and he provides practical steps listeners can implement to enhance their own journeys toward success. The discussion is not only motivational but serves as a guide for anyone looking to overcome their own challenges and make meaningful changes in their lives.

Takeaways:

• Terry Fossum's journey from poverty in McAllen, Texas, to success is truly inspiring.
• The concept of never giving up resonates deeply with Terry's life experiences.
• Terry emphasizes the importance of having role models and mentors throughout our lives.
• The Oxcart Technique focuses on using both positive and negative motivation to achieve goals.
• Failure is not a setback; rather, it's a stepping stone toward success and growth.
• Emotional motivation drives action more effectively than mere positive thinking or goal setting.

Links referenced in this episode:

• terrylFossum.com

My guest today is Terry L.

Fossum.

He was born in the poorest city in the US, McAllen, Texas, surrounded by gangs and drugs.

In junior high, he found himself staring down the barrel of an assault rifle one night in his own back alley.

In high school, his father was killed.

Before Terry's father died, one of the neighbors came up to him and said, I just want to make sure you understand something.

Not a single one of your boys will ever grow up to be anything.

Terry overcame the great obstacles to earn his degree in mechanical engineering and became an officer in the United States Air Force, where he was executive officer for an entire group of nuclear b 52 aircraft.

He then started a direct sales company where he earned over $1 million and set up teams around the globe.

Terry is an internationally known businessman, philanthropist, author, and keynote speaker.

But he's most proud of being a loving husband and a dad of three young gentlemen, we welcome Terry to the podcast.

Well, it's so good to have Terry on the podcast.

How you doing today, Terry?

I'm doing amazing, Keith.

How about yourself?

I'm doing great.

The sun is shining.

A little breeze outside.

Well, it's actually a quite brisk breeze here in Iowa.

Everything's brisk here in Iowa, so it always is.

So I'm excited to have you on.

I love to ask my guest an opening day, opening question.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

You know so many, right?

We all, if we're open to it, if we have our ears open or our minds open, we hear a lot of great advice.

I think probably the one that's had the most impact on me is Winston Churchill.

Never, never, never give up.

Doesn't matter how bad things are going or how they don't look like they're going your way or, you know, like maybe there's no hope in sight.

There's always hope in sight.

Never, never, never give up.

And that's powerful from him, because thinking about the situations he went through and the threat that the Nazis posed to great Britain, even to the point where they're ready to give up, to have someone with that elk in those circumstances kind of have that kind of a quote, it kind of reminds you, yeah, even things look the darkest, and there seems to be no hope.

Never, ever give up.

So I love that quote.

Yeah.

And, you know, he was inspiring not just his nation, which he certainly was, this entire nation, but nations around the globe who might think about giving up.

Maybe it's futile.

Maybe there is no hope.

I mean, how can you go up against something that strong.

Well, we all do, every single day.

Never, never, never give up.

I love that I look at your story.

Your story was so inspiring of where you started and where you came from.

I'm curious, as you look back at your life, who were some role models and mentors who served you along the journey, tell us a little bit about what they meant to you and a little bit about who they were.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, yeah, my story is a little challenging, and I think it's important for everybody to understand if you are going through hard times, you're just writing your story, your story, that's going to inspire others in the future.

So it's okay.

In fact, it can be kind of good, because all the things I went through, including the death of my father, I was able to help other people through it.

But the people who probably inspired me the most, again, so many, right?

Including my scout master.

I was a scout, probably my two brothers and one of my cousins.

And here's why.

I mean, you've read my story.

I was raised in literally the poorest city in the entire United States of America, a small Texas Mexico border town by the name of McAllen.

You've heard of it?

Yeah, we've all heard of it in the news, where the border crossings are happening and.

And the cartels coming across, the whole bit.

Now, I love my hometown.

I really do, but it could be a little rough growing up there sometimes, all the gangs and the drugs.

I was on the wrong end of an assault rifle in junior high, in middle school, you know, in my own back alley in high school, my father was killed.

Before he died, one of the neighbors came up to him and said, I just want to make sure you understand something.

Not a single one of your boys will ever grow up to be anything.

So, that's me and my two brothers.

So that's our circumstances.

And dad was a poor sharecropper.

He got a job that brought him down to McAllen, Texas.

The first thing that really blew my mind is when I'm the youngest, my middle brother, after going through dental school and becoming a dentist, which was, you know, we don't do that sort of thing, right.

When he showed up in our driveway driving a jaguar.

Now, we don't do that sort of a thing.

That's not us.

You know, that's not where we come from.

Right.

That's certainly wasn't in my mind at all.

So when he showed up, and it wasn't as much of that, oh, it's a fancy car and all that, but rather wow.

Wait a minute.

Maybe we can.

Maybe we can.

So it opened up my mind to bigger possibilities than my mind was embracing at the time.

And he has gone on to be very, very successful.

Dennis, more importantly, a philanthropist.

He, he gives away just some incredibly significant portion of what he earns every single month.

He's an amazing man, the older brother.

And not every story has a happy ending.

But he decided he wanted to be an astronaut.

Okay.

I guess his mind was opened up, too.

Yeah.

We don't have astronauts from my neighborhood, especially for my family.

All right.

But he went for it and he failed.

Not every story's happy ending.

He went for it.

He failed and it went for it is two years.

That's four years.

And he went for it and he went for it and he failed.

And he failed.

He went for it, he failed.

By the time he failed, for twelve years, they told him, Mike, you're too old now.

Cut it out.

We've been trying to tell you, you don't cut the mustard.

And when he went for it again, even though it was impossible, not improbably impossible, I told him I could.

I don't care if you make it.

I couldn't be more proud of you because you just never give up.

And the son of God made it.

Wow.

He's number twelve in us, out us history for hours of walking in space.

He was a commander at the International Space station.

So that really showed me that perseverance, no matter what.

And then the third one is my cousin, who is, he's got a great job, wonderful job.

But the best part about him is his attitude.

He is always smiling, he's always happy, he's always accepting, he's always looking on the bright side.

He's just an amazing person to be around.

And I looked at him even for I married into three step kids, three teenage and preteen boys.

And having that thought process of an attitude of how to approach that.

Don't get all riled up, don't go crazy, don't get ticked off, don't lash out, laugh off as much as you can, be serious when you need to, but always look at the bright side.

And, man, what a difference that made in my life.

Wow, what an interesting group of people there.

That kind of leads me to you.

Kind of started your story.

So tell us how you gave us your brother's story and your cousin's story.

How did you get from McAllen, Texas, the poorest county in the country, to where you are today?

Kind of give us your journey.

Well, blessed.

Every step of the way, let's give credit where credit's due, right?

Let's start by saying that I was absolutely fortunate to get my degree in mechanical engineering and worked really hard at that degree.

It was tough for me.

Some people blow through it, not me.

It was tough.

And I decided to get a commission of the United States Air Force.

So I put in for an engineering job.

Three choices they give me.

So I put in for an engineering job in my home country, Texas.

And the second choice was an engineering job in Texas.

My third choice, though, was an engineering job in Texas and the Air Force.

So, therefore, taking my opinion into consideration, sent me to a non engineering job in somewhere called Spokane, Washington.

As in, where the heck is Spokane, Washington?

But I got up here, turned out, and again, God's so cool.

That's why he's got the job.

We just let him have it.

I ended up spearheading a brand new career field in the entire air force.

One of the first operations management officers ever in Spokane, Washington.

Surrounded by these mountains and everything.

I ended up being the executive officer for an entire group of nuclear B 52 bombers during the Cold War.

Wow.

And why?

Because I work hard.

I work harder than pretty much anybody after that.

I spent about six years doing that.

Really loved it.

But started a direct sales business on the side.

One of those things, you know, that they tell you never to do, and it's a pyramid scheme, and you got to get into all those kind of things.

Thank God I didn't listen to them, because I ended up being part of the top fraction of 1% of the entire industry in the world, which allowed me then to.

When I married into three teenage and preteen boys, retiree, because I had one job.

And this turned these little boys into honorable men.

From there, I wrote some books.

And, you know, the latest one, the Oxcar technique, became the number one bestseller on Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Barnes and noble bestseller on USA Today.

The subject of my number two, Ted talk in the world.

And I've been able to coach people and help a lot of people and make a difference.

And then I won a survival reality.

Show, which show was that happened?

So it was called kicking and screaming.

And I did not apply to be on any reality show.

I was my boy's scout master.

The younger two twins turned 18, got their Eagle scout.

Thank you, guys.

And moving on.

So I'm praying to God, what do you want me to do next?

Whatever it is, I'll do it.

You lead off all.

Be careful what you ask for, because I get this email out of the blue to be on a survival reality show.

I found out I was going to be the oldest person on the entire show.

My wife was laughing at me.

She's like, oh, my God, you're the tog.

Tog.

What's that?

Token old guy.

Thanks, dear.

And I was going up against all these special forces guys, Marine scout sniper, a guy who helped take out Saddam Hussein, military survival instructors, and the fat old scout master.

Hi.

You know, no chance in the world I was going to win, and I knew that.

I even told them at the very end.

We're down to two teams and production on those little side interviews they do.

Right?

Right on these shows.

How bad would it be to come this far?

To be?

I mean, it's the end.

This was the day.

We've been immersed in the jungle for over a month, gone through all these things.

I lost 25 pounds, and on or not, how bad would it be to come this far and lose?

And I looked at him straight in the eyes.

It'd be fantastic.

Wait, what?

You know, I know God put me here for a reason.

I don't.

At no point did I think that reason is to win.

I have no delusions of grandeur.

If I'm here to help Brady and Claire, our final competitors, win.

God's will, not mine.

Man.

Good to go.

Turned out that was not his will, and I ended up winning the show.

What a blessing.

And then got to travel around the country, raising millions of dollars for scouting a cause that's very important to me.

Wow.

What a cool story.

I love that.

How God led you to all different places along the way.

Isn't that crazy?

So let's talk about your book, the oxcart technique blueprint for success.

What led you to write that?

Failure.

Okay.

Horrible, horrible failure.

And then amazing success.

You know, I mentioned I was in that direct sales company, and I was terrible.

I don't know how to run.

I'm a mechanical engineer, nuclear warfare officer.

I do not know anything about sales or business.

And I failed.

I failed, Keith.

And I failed and I failed.

I finally got to the point where I couldn't fail anymore, and I gave up.

And I went into the bathroom.

I looked myself in the mirror.

So I guess he's right.

Remember that guy said, so we never grow up to be anything.

Guess he's right.

You're never going to grow up to be anything.

And I tried all of the positive motivation and all the goal setting.

I filled my brain for years and years and years on all this stuff, only to find out that most of what we've learned is either incomplete or completely wrong.

92% of the people who set goals fail at them, 92% 74% fail at diets.

50% fail at marriages and on and on and on.

And there's a reason why at that moment, I figured out that reason why?

Because here's what happened.

I got ticked off, I got emotional, I got angry, and I got up and I brushed myself off and got back at it.

I wasn't going at it from the carrot standpoint.

The positive visualization, you know, I've done my dream board.

Let's look at all these positive visualizations.

Big house, fancy car, all that.

I don't care about that stuff.

I'm happiest in a tent.

I do this stuff around the world, in the wilderness for fun.

Not to mention, I didn't believe that that could happen to a kid like me.

So there was a disconnect there.

And I found out that the Harvard goal setting study we've all heard about never happened.

It's fake.

Somebody made it up.

Oh, no, it was at that point.

Yeah.

So many here.

Harvard has confirmed it never happened, y'all.

They've confirmed it.

So has Yale, because it's been a trip.

Oh, maybe it was Yale.

No, it wasn't Yale.

It wasn't anybody.

Somebody made it.

It's been in books, keynote speeches.

It never happened.

The missing link.

I found out by that low moment.

Now let me jump into science real quick.

Later on, when I became successful, I come up with what I call the Oxcart technique.

I wrote the book, and I knew it worked for me because things went amazingly well for me.

It worked for other people.

I had rooms full of people trying to learn from me what I did.

So I taught them.

We started applying it to marriages, and I started getting these emails.

You just saved my marriage.

I had an international weight loss coach in one of my audiences.

She freaked out and she started teaching the oxcart technique to all of her people.

And it works.

Prospect theory.

I found out as I was doing my research, I want to prove myself wrong.

Prospect theory, which won the Nobel Prize for economics, taught us that we'll do more to avoid pain than to go toward pleasure, will do more to avoid the stick than to go toward the carrot.

So no matter how much positive visualization we do, it's not enough to get us out of the pain of getting out of our comfort zone.

So what happened to me at that moment was I created a bigger stick.

More pain.

That son of a gun would be right I won't let that happen.

For the memory of my dad.

If nothing else, I refuse to let him be right.

That created more emotion in me than the fear of getting out of the comfort zone.

So now when I went out, I got those nose, I didn't care because that wasn't painful as my failure scenario.

My stick.

When they told me I'm crazy, it can't happen to a guy like me, senator, I didn't care.

And then I developed this oxcar technique.

And when I did the research and found prospect theory, I had to prove myself wrong.

I found a dude that did his PhD dissertation in prospect theory, read all my notes and said, terry, you are dead on.

And now it's been called the most significant advancement in the science of goal setting in recent history by one of the 50 best brains in science and helped a lot of people.

What a journey.

Wow.

So tell us, describe for us what the Oxcar technique is.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I do want to say we'll talk about it here.

I'll give you some ideas here and I'll give you some examples, but it's very specific.

So please, please, please, whatever you do, go to my, go to my website, terrielfossum.com.

learn more.

Get the book.

It's available in print and ebook.

It's about to come out on audible and everything.

Because you need to know the specifics.

You can go to my TED talk also, just Google Terry Fossented.

You can get my TED talk so you can learn more about it.

Please do.

Here's the deal.

Everybody does a success scenario, positive visualization.

And I recommend that.

Absolutely.

I 100% recommend that as part of this.

Next, everybody writes down their goals.

Okay?

And you need to do that because then you're more likely to stick to them if you see what you're daily.

Not just, here's what I'm gonna be in 50.

No, no, no.

Daily tasks that you need to do every day to reach that positive visualization.

Next.

The powerful part is the failure scenario, the stick.

What happens if you don't reach your goal?

See, depending on the individual, the situation of the day, that's going to be much more powerful in getting you to stick to those daily actions.

Here's how you're going to start each morning by reading that failure scenario.

And if you did it right, it's going to make you emotional, it may tick you off, it may make you sad, it should make you go, there's no way in the world I'm going to let that happen.

I refuse.

I will do whatever it takes to make sure that doesn't happen.

What does it take?

Then you read your next page, your daily action plan, and you are now inspired to take those actions, baby, no matter what else has tried to get in the way.

The other excuses, the time commitments, the kids are yelling, whatever, you're now committed to doing that.

You read those things out loud.

Like heck, yeah, I'm gonna do that.

And then you read that positive visualization.

Because I did those tasks.

Here's how great life is going to look like because I did those tasks.

Problem solution format.

You start by feeling pretty bad.

You end up feeling empowered and amazing.

Carrot and the stick.

Very specifics in the book.

Please go to it.

But you can apply it to any goal in your life.

Marriage, weight loss.

It's helped people overcome addiction, my own housekeeper, and on and on and on.

I love that because you're right.

You know, sometimes you have this aspirational goal of, I want to do this, I want to be that.

But then you lose momentum because life gets difficult.

Life gets busy.

And if it's not something that, like you said, that's forcing you to continue to press on even when it gets difficult, you won't.

So I like.

I like where that's coming from.

That's exactly right.

Yeah.

We all know what to do.

It's sticking to it over the long run.

We've all tried, probably losing weight.

We've tried some different financial goals or saving for retirement or.

Or inspiring other people.

If you've got teams that are.

That have goals, you can help them with this.

With teams.

Absolutely.

Because it's all about emotion.

Emotion, not fact, is the driver of all action.

Emotion, not fact, is the driver of all action.

This creates that emotion every day.

Every morning you do it.

Every night you do it to make sure.

See how you did throughout the day.

And I do private coaching on it as well for those who are serious about reaching their goals.

Well, I love looked up your thing.

And I love the quote that zig ziglar had that you added to your page.

Like, many people spend more time planning the wedding than they do plan the marriage.

So it's like you can see in life.

It's true, isn't it?

I know.

And you spend more money on the marriage than you do take it home from the divorce.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Amen.

You have an entire chapter.

Chapter three.

Marriage is harder.

Divorce is harder.

Exactly.

Definitely.

Your entire chapter three is on embracing failure.

And I love the quote you start chapter three with, again from Winston Churchill.

Success consists of walking from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

So tell us a little bit about when people read chapter three, because I think chapter three is so, so important.

It's so critical to the oxcart thing is about this embracing failure.

Tell us why that chapter, how that chapter came about.

For failing, failing and failing.

But then as I started learning more, and not just by reading books, by doing it, I've been very blessed in a lot of different arenas, in business, in the military, in martial arts, in a survival show, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Why?

Because I failed so much.

That's why.

And every single person who's achieved anything has failed and failed and failed.

So there's two things to do.

Number one, if you are failing, get excited, because if you're not failing, I guarantee you, you're not achieving, you're not doing it.

You're not doing any significant goal, because failure is the path to success.

There's no other path.

There ain't no easy path.

Failure is the path to success, and it is the step.

Every failure is the stepping stone on the that journey.

It's not a stumbling block.

It's a stepping stone.

And these days, we've got a bunch of, well, you can't think negative thoughts.

Only take the, you know, the positive.

Let the universe go to work for you.

No, no, no, no.

That's why 92% of the people fail at reaching a goal.

If you want to just be comfortable and think happy thoughts, you can do that, but it ain't going to get you there.

All right?

Embrace failure.

Use failure.

Let failure.

The concept of it, the thought of it empower you, impassion you, to kick you out of that comfort zone and into your conquer zone.

Failure is your best friend, baby.

Use it.

When you look at your book, you notice that there's 17 chapters.

And I know some people look at that go, wow, 17 chapters.

How long is this book?

But it's a quick read, and it's really not designed to bog you down with a bunch of things, but it's kind of quick.

17 almost action steps.

So I like how you design it because it's a book that you can sit down and really get into and implement as you read it.

Well, I appreciate that.

And what was important to me is having real stories in there that people can, can look at and get ideas from, because right now, you know, everybody listening is probably going, okay, this sounds cool, but I don't quite get it right.

What would I put in my failure scenario?

What I put in success.

What kind of access.

So for most of the categories that people set goals for, and you don't have to read the whole book, go to, you know, read the first part, then go to the chapter that you're trying to achieve.

But for most people, they're not quite understanding how to put together.

So I wanted to make sure, give examples in there that people can look and go, oh, man, now I get it.

Okay, fantastic.

And, you know, some of them are pretty emotional.

Some of them, you know, even still, I mean, I wrote the dang thing, but bring me to tears just reading them.

Like, oh, my gosh, you know, and of course, you read the one on addiction.

Wherever I was writing the chapter on addiction, still sitting here at my computer thinking, do I really want to put a chapter on addiction in the book, short story for the time purpose, and read the chapter.

But I caught one of my housekeepers rifling through my underwear drawer looking for my prescription pain meds that were left over.

And with the story that happened with her, I said, yep, that chapter is going in the book.

All right.

It's an amazing story.

Wow.

That's powerful.

That I think stories.

I know stories connect with people in a way that just text doesn't always, or statistics don't.

It tugs at the heart.

It inspires.

It encourages you to see yourself and someone else and also can help you to overcome things that you don't want to necessarily address in your own life.

So I appreciate the fact I always write stories when I do my public talking, too, because I think the stories can be very powerful as long as the stories don't overwhelm the chapter.

But I think you did a good job of balancing those out.

Excellent.

I appreciate that.

Well, I want to get meat and potatoes, as we say where I come from.

I want to get meat and potatoes.

I want people to have actual, factual, actionable steps, and that is without question in there.

And because I'm a geek, I'm an engineer, I'm a geek, and I know it.

It's okay.

I like science.

And anything I do will be completely, 100% scientifically based, or I won't do it.

And that's why I wasn't going to put that book out until I got the affirmation overwhelming.

And then I've got one of the top ten business minds in the world that says, this technique works every time.

And, like, wow.

The guy that founded B and I business networking International, the largest networking organization in the world, endorsed the book.

And on and on and on.

So, like, wow, okay, I've got something I want to get out to people, and I'll tell you why.

At the very end here, as I.

Talk to you, I noticed there's an underlining theme of your life.

And I think it's also in the book as well, is obviously your faith has a lot to do with your approach to life.

You could come away.

I know a lot of people say they're self made men or self made women.

And I remember somebody said, a self made man, a self made woman isn't much of a man or woman.

But you have at the heart of what we talk about.

You give all the credit and glory to God.

And I think that's so critical for anything we're trying to achieve, realizing that we don't do it on our own.

But there is a higher power, a God who guides and directs our life.

And I think that's so critical.

As you talk about how do you tackle the challenges of your life?

You want to say a little bit more about that, Keith?

I won a survival reality show.

Do you think I did that on my own?

Did you hear who my competitors were?

Are you kidding me?

Every step of the way, my friend.

And let me say I am.

I have my beliefs and I respect others beliefs.

That's fantastic.

You know, rock on.

I believe you better believe in a higher being, because whether you do or nothing, right?

But I am.

I am constantly in prayer, to tell you the truth.

I am constantly prayer, but it's not always, God, please help me, God, please help me.

No, no, no, God.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I wake up every single morning, this morning included.

And the first thought out of my mind, unless my puppy has jumped up on me, it's a different story.

Is thank you, God, for the gifts you have given me.

Please help me use them for your service, not mine.

Thank you, God, for the gifts you have given me.

I know where.

I know where these gifts have come from.

And you can say, well, terry, you got a great work ethic.

Yes, I do.

Where did that come from?

Or, you know, I got, you know, I'm kind of smart.

Where did that come?

I got no pride.

I had nothing to do with nothing.

I'm born with what I got.

It's just my job to use it the best of my ability.

That's all.

I love that.

So, Terry, I'm curious, as you think about what do you hope people take away from this book?

What do you hope the goals are for those who read this book is okay.

Yeah, you betcha.

And this is the reason I'm still doing this stuff.

Keith, there are people out there like me, okay?

And y'all know where I come from now, I never try to be any cooler than I am because it never happened, never will be.

But there are people out there like me who are struggling.

They've learned all this stuff about goal setting, and they know what they're supposed to do, and they set a goal.

They get really excited.

But then over time, the passion fades and life seems to get in the way and the excuses make sense.

Oh, I really can't do it because.

And before they know it, they haven't reached it again.

I'd reach that point.

I know how you feel.

I was there.

And it's that reason that drives me to just get this word out there as much as I can.

There has been a missing link in goal setting.

And by the grace of God, I found that missing link and put it into this system that works.

Whether your goal is okay.

I want to.

I want to make a few million bucks.

Cool.

Or I don't want to make a few million bucks.

I just want to be able to buy beer and pizza on a Friday night.

Cool.

Or I want to build a nest egg.

You know, I don't make a lot of money, but I'm worried about my retirement.

You can do it.

It's in the book.

Or I need to lose weight.

I've been trying to lose weight and I don't want to get an injection.

Okay.

You don't have to.

It's in the book, whatever it is.

You know, marriage.

I tell you what, the, the marriage one, I think is one of the most important chapters, because you've all heard, if mama ain't happy, daddy ain't happy, it goes the other way, too.

One example, I do the Oxford technique for my marriage.

One of the steps is I do small things for her without any expectation of return.

I'll give you a quick example.

I'm heading out to my, I've got a Montana ranch.

I'm heading out there right after this podcast is done.

I'm going to get out of this shirt, put on a whole different one.

You don't know what I'm wearing her pants.

And I'm heading out to Montana.

I'm going to be gone a few days.

We have a kergue right by the bed because as soon as the alarm goes off, I go and turn on the curb.

My wife has her favorite coffee pods.

I've got one lined up for every day I'm gone up there by the coffee maker.

So when she goes to make her coffee.

She will see that I lined up her favorite coffee pot.

It's nothing.

It's a small thing.

It took me two minutes, but it's everything.

And that's the important part of the ox card technique, is finding out what pleases them, what makes them happy, what makes it a concrete relationship long term and have the motivation.

Carrot and stick to do it real quick.

I'll tell you this, and it's a funny part.

Okay.

Why do I do the oxcart?

For my.

My darling wife.

Carrot?

I love her.

She's an amazing person.

I want to spend the rest of my life with her.

She's awesome.

Stick.

She's an attorney, and she can take me for everything I've got, which will drive me more if things get stupid.

Yeah.

Depends on the individual, the circumstance, but both.

I love that.

So I'm curious, Terry, what are you excited about in this season of your life?

This.

This getting this word out.

You know, I do a lot of speaking.

I love going speaking because I can change a lot of people's lives at once.

I do the coaching that is more smaller group.

It's only for those who are serious.

But I've helped.

So many breakthroughs, so many aha.

Moments.

It's been just absolutely amazing for me, so heartwarming and helping those people like me who are out there that are having trouble reaching a goal, actually reach it.

I've got something that can help people in a huge, huge way.

And at this season of my life, which is kind of you to say, not when you're an old fart, in this season of my life, it's all about making a difference.

It's.

It's been my life mission since I was in high school to help as many people as I can before I die.

Well, I've done my best at that.

Now I've come across something that can really, really up those numbers, so to speak, while I've still got the energy to push it.

So that's why I'm here.

That's why we're talking.

That's why I hope people are listening.

I hope they get in there and get the information and, yeah, get the book.

Listen to the TED talk.

If you're serious, we can do private coaching.

That's on the website.

But whatever you do, man, never, never, never give up.

I love it.

As we wrap up our conversation, Terry, what key takeaways or insights do you want our listeners to remember from our discussion today?

Yeah, absolutely.

Understand now, I'm a big personal responsibility guy, but odds are, if you have been failing at a goal, it's not your fault.

I'll go back to most of what we've been taught about goal setting is wrong or incomplete.

And 92% of the people who start to go fail at them, 92%.

There's a reason why there's been that missing link.

So the key takeaway is, guys, we found the missing link.

If you're serious about going for those goals, whatever they are, again, they could be serious business goals.

Make a few million bucks.

Believe it or not.

It's not that hard when you get focused in, or at least get.

Get a life saving retirement savings going on.

Lose that weight, save that marriage, whatever it might be.

Inspire your teams.

Yeah, you.

You now have it.

Like.

Like doctor Dennis Tansley, who got his PhD dissertation in prospect theory, says, you now got the power in your hands.

What you decide is what to do with it, and it's waiting for you.

Obviously, I'd love.

I love doing corporate speaking as well, corporate training.

So feel free to add me in.

But bottom line, guys, go in there, get the information.

Great.

So where can people find your book one more time?

The oxcart technique, blueprint for success and connect with you on social media.

Yeah, all my social media.

I'm on Facebook.

LinkedIn is my big ones.

Right now.

I probably need to get on others.

Come on over to terrylfossom.com.

and again, I'm not very imaginative, so it's just my name, Terry.

T e r r.

Ydeh L.

Fossum.

F o s s u m, like possum with an f, you know, kid in grade school, and it's got all the information for you there.

And then email me.

I love getting.

I've got an email just the other day from somebody whose life was completely changed because they did that.

They went to the site, they got the information, and it saved their marriage, and now they're onto the business part of it.

So whatever you do, get it, get in there and let me know about it.

I want to hear from you.

You'll talk to me directly.

It's pretty cool.

So I encourage the audience to get the book and also leave a review on Amazon, Terry's book, because that's how the algorithms kind of help people push out and go to content.

So do that.

Visit his website, connect with him, and if you need some coaching, I think Terry, just from our conversation, I know he's got the heart, the attitude, and the passion to be a real blessing in your life.

So I encourage you to look him up and, and read his book.

Terry, thank you for being on the podcast.

This was a great time.

I enjoyed with you, and you're welcome to come on anytime and encourage the audience once again.

You got it, my friend.

Feel free to reach out.

I'd love to be on your podcast again.

I really appreciate what you're doing.

You're helping a lot of people.

I love your faith based approach.

That's me personally.

But you're helping a lot of people.

So thank you for spending your time and your energy to get out there and do that.

Keith, keep up the amazing work, my friend.

You, too, my friend.

Enjoy, Montana.

Oh, there's no doubt about it.

Take care.

Goodbye, everybody.

Goodbye.