247: Challenging the 3% with Chris Norton

Extraordinary is a choice. Take that in, soak it up because of the hustle grind, repeat mantra that society has been touting for decades. It had it all wrong. I’m Tanya Dalton. I’m a seven figure. Entrepreneur bestselling author, speaker, mom, and rule breaker. I’m here to help you live to your fullest potential. That’s what this podcast is all about.

The Intentional advantage is doing life on our own terms, define the status quo and seeing ourselves outside of the tie-dye definition societies make for us, it’s intentionally choosing to step back away from the chaotic rush of your every days and choosing, choosing to see that it’s your world and it’s filled with opportunities. Let’s challenge the bedrock beliefs that so many have wholeheartedly trusted because we were told they were truths.

Let’s have a healthy disregard for the impossible. Let’s choose to be extraordinary. Hello? Hello, and welcome to the Intentional advantage. I’m your host, Tanya Dalton. And this is episode 247. And let’s, let’s start this episode with a question I want to know. If you were told that you had a 3% chance at being successful at achieving your cathedral.

And for those of you who have read my book on purpose, you know what I’m talking about there, your cathedral, when we’re talking about cathedral thinking, is this big, bright, beautiful tomorrow that we’re looking towards this vision we have for what we want, what we desire in our future. So if you were told you only had a 3% chance of being successful at getting to that cathedral,

would you take those odds 3%? Not very much, right. I think here’s the thing. And this is really our focus for today is we think about these big things that we want to do, these giant things. And in, in, on purpose in the book, I talk about it like the grand canyon of where you are now and where you want to go.

The distance between them is like this white chasm. It’s like as big as the grand canyon. And we will tinker away trying to figure out the fastest way for us to do it. We’ll do that for 20 years, trying to build a jet pack. We’ll pray for a miracle to get us to the other side. But instead, if we chose to just put one foot in front of the other,

make our way down the walls of the canyon, across the other side and up the path, we would make it to the other side. It’s the daily steps. And that’s what I want you to understand my guest for today is Chris Norton. And instead of praying for a miracle, he literally focused on putting one foot in front of the next on October 16th, 2010,

18 year old, Chris Norton was a college football player at Luther college. And after the kickoff, he executed a regular tackle and fell to the ground, still conscious and aware of his surroundings. He tried to push up off the ground and get up, but he couldn’t. And he realized there was something terribly wrong. Chris had actually suffered a severe spinal cord injury and lost,

complete feeling and movement from the neck down. And Chris was told he had a 3% chance of ever regaining movement ever regaining feeling below the neck sounded completely hopeless, 3%, right? But what he heard was an opportunity to conquer and to step into being a member of the 3%, with the support of his friends, his family, his faith, and his love of his life.

Emily, Chris proved the doctors wrong and he walked the stage at graduation in a viral video that has been viewed by millions and millions of people. And then years later, he walked his bright Emily seven yards down the aisle of their wedding. Chris and Emily are now foster parents and adoptive parents to six children. His story has been published twice and there’s a documentary out about his life on Netflix.

It’s also on Amazon prime and apple TV. It’s called seven yards. The Chris Norton story. Chris now travels across the country to inspire people from all walks of life and demonstrates on how we can focus our abilities to unlock the power to stand. I know you’re going to leave today’s episode, feeling inspired, feeling ignited, feeling like I don’t care if there’s a 3% chance of me accomplishing whatever it is I’m dreaming about.

If Chris can do this, I can do this. That’s what you’re going to get out of today’s show. So let’s go ahead and get started with this interview, cause I know you’re going to love Chris. Chris, I’m thrilled to have you on the show today. I really feel like your story is going to really inspire and resonate with a lot of my listeners.

So what I would love for us to do is I would love for you to start by walking me through who you were before October 16th, 2010. Who were you? What kinds of things were you into? What did you do? Yeah, well, before that date, I was just, I feel like a pretty normal average 18 year old college guy. I loved sports.

I mean, I still love sports. I loved competing. I thought, you know, trying to play at the highest level for football was the ultimate dream and goal. And just, I grew up with a great family, two sisters. I was right in between them Christian household just gave him great values and lessons, but I don’t know. I came in with coming to college.

I had this dream to be this all American football player to meet the girl of my dreams and then hopefully make enough money to own a lake house or a better yet. The girl, my dreams family already owns a lake house. But you know, the old saying goes like happens to you while you’re off making other plans. But I felt like I was living the dream of experiencing college,

being an independent guy. And, but soon that would all kind of change for me. Yeah. So on October 16th, 2010, you made what she thought was just a, a typical tackle on the football field. And then you found yourself lying on the ground, staring at the ground, unable to move. I can’t imagine how frightening that feeling must have been.

You know, that uncertainty in that fear, how did you, how did you move forward from that moment? Because I know that obviously that was a pivotal moment in your life. That was a defining moment where you could really just lean into the uncertainty and the fear or you could, you could change and you could choose what your mindset was. Tell us a little bit about how that felt that day.

Yeah, it was, it was so much to try to grasp and process because yeah, you go from the strong and top of the world kind of feeling to all of a sudden lying, motionless on the ground. I suffered a severe spinal cord injury. When you know, making a tackle during the six game of the season, until I’m lying there,

I’m thinking there’s nothing bad happening. It’s something minor. Maybe it’s like a bad stinger, like a pinched nerve or something something’s going on temporarily that it’s going to bounce back because for, through my first 18 years of life, nothing really bad has ever happened to me. And you know, I thought bad things happen to people that you read in the newspaper or watch on television.

There’s no way something bad could be happening to me. So at first I was kind of calm a little uneasy about it. You know, then the athletic trainers, the EMT, they all kind of get involved. They’re asking me questions like Chris, can you make a fist with your hand? I’m trying to make a fist. Nothing is happening. Chris,

can you feel is touching your legs again? I couldn’t feel a thing. And I was like, started to ask these questions more and more. I did get that feeling. Okay. This is odd. It’s time was elapsing. Just didn’t feel right. Something should be progressing. And it wasn’t. And then when I hear the paramedics, call them through helicopter to fly me out.

That’s when I know, okay, this is bad. And so what I did, I, I closed my eyes. I tried to escape this nightmare, the reality. I didn’t want to see it. It was just so hard for me to understand. And I just began to pray to God. Please let this be like some big scare. Me.

Maybe this is a sign that I should stop playing football. I’ll give up sports, just give me the ability to walk and let me be okay. Like, I just want to be a normal college kid like that. I love my life. I didn’t want anything to change from him. And then of course, you know, my family, they were in the stance.

So they came down, they were beside me and I can just see in their faces and what their tone of voice that, you know, they’re saying all the right things like Chris, you know, they’re in, you’re in good hands. They’re going to take care of you. Like we’re going to get through this and it’s going to be okay. You knew from their town that they were terrified.

They had no idea what was going to happen. And so that was another uneasy feeling. And then eventually, you know, I’m wheeled across the field and taken to the ambulance where they brought me to the helicopter and flown to Mayo clinic to have emergency surgery on my neck. And then the next day the surgeon told me I had a 3% chance to ever regain any feeling or movement below the neck.

And that’s not a 3% chance to walk. It’s a 3% chance to move or to feel, to scratch itch on your face, to feed yourself. Like it’s so much more than walking and for the stubbornness inside of me, the fight inside me though, just kind of rejected it. I just said no way, not me. Like this is not going to be my life.

I’m going to beat the odds. I will not end up like the 97% who don’t recover from this. I will do whatever it takes to be a member of that 3%. And so I take on this radical responsibility for my future, by doing the only thing I could control, which was my effort. And so that first day I spent the whole day just nodding my head.

Yes and no for hours, I looked like a giant bobble head bouncing my head around, but I was just bound and determined that I will find whatever I can do. And I will spend all my time and energy on that thing to get better and to get out of the situation. I love what you said there. I love how you said that you rejected it.

You rejected the idea of being a member of the 97% that you were going to be the 3%. I mean, and to have that mindset right away at the age of 18, I have an 18 year old son. So I can only imagine, you know, what that was like for your mother, but also for you with all these hopes and dreams,

you know, ahead of you, it would be so easy to choose negativity, to choose, to feel sorry for yourself. And one of the things that I talk about a lot is, you know, there are things you can control and things you cannot control. What you couldn’t control was how your body had reacted to the hits. You know what the doctors were saying,

but what you could control was your own reaction to it. I think that’s so powerful. I remember in the documentary, your dad, you talked about the fact that your dad told you no one is going to determine your outcome, but you, oh, I felt like that was so powerful because truly it was you making that choice, but how did you choose that?

Like you say, oh, I want it, I rejected that idea. But what was within you that gave you the audacity to be able to say, Nope, not for me. I’m not, I’m not taken with the doctors are going to say, what do you think is in you that, that, that allows you to do that Will help us really strong belief.

I mentioned earlier, what I call radical responsibility and that’s responsibility for all outcomes, not just a little responsibility, but that complete radical responsibility for the good and the bad, the failures, the successes, the healthy or unhealthy relationships, because what I’ve found is the more responsibility you accept, the better you will respond to adversity. And the quickest way that I’ve found to be more responsible for your life is to practice cutting out blame,

the need to complain and all excuses, because these behaviors, they keep you emotionally stuck. They prevent you from doing all that. You can do blame stunts growth. And so I realized that, you know, there’s so much, I don’t have control over, but I’m going to be completely responsible for what I do. And that’s where my power lies.

And, and I’m going to just focus all my time and energy into that. And I feel like that lesson was actually given to me as a kid. So I felt like it was something that my dad gave me actually, because I remember as a 10 year old, I’m coming home from a basketball tournament and I’m fighting back tears in my eyes because I felt like I had the worst weekend of basketball of my life.

And I was missing my shots, turn the ball over, hurting my team more than I was helping them. And I knew I was capable of so much more. And then to make matters worse. Like I had to ride home With my coach who was also my dad as the home. I’m keeping my head down to avoiding those angry glares from the rear rear mirror.

I get home, take my shoes off. And I go straight to the couch. And as I’m sitting there trying to distract myself with TV, video games, trying to pretend, ignore my problems away. And I’m also thinking about man, if only I was taller faster, had my own personal gym, then like, Ooh, I would be a really good basketball player in a couple of hours of this goes by.

And you know, my dad, he eventually comes up to me and sits next to me on the couch to talk about the weekend. And he tells me something that I’ll never forget. He says, Chris, if you don’t like where you’re at, then do something about it. If you don’t like where you’re at, then do something about it. And it clicked why I feel sorry for myself when I’m not willing to do anything to change blaming my circumstances.

It wasn’t a hope thing. And if you want to get better results, then you have to get better. Like there’s no shortcut. And so I got up off that couch and I went outside. I shot baskets and toes dark. And this became a huge turning point for how I would start to respond to my failures and disappointments and adversity moving forward.

And that’s where I feel like the seed was planted of taking this radical responsibility for all outcomes. I love that radical responsibility. What I love too about that story is, you know, the default is to numb ourselves out, right? You went, you were like, I’m going to go play video games. I’m gonna look at TV. And that’s something that we do with this whole idea of blame.

Like why can’t I can’t control it anyway. So I’m just going to go and numb myself from this feeling and choosing to have the feeling to experience it, to experience that what feels like failure or what feels like things are against you and shifting that completely, that we have so much more ability to do that than we think. And one of the things that really struck me,

even when you were in the hospital, recovering from your injury and trying to navigate what that looks like for you, you took control of your surroundings. You know, you had, I believe you had a no negative talk in the hospital room world, is that correct? Yeah, that’s correct. We, my parents and family, we really practiced that we weren’t going to complain and we weren’t going to,

you know, point the fingers and paint a negative future for ourselves. We were going to take control of the situation and do everything in our power to make the most out of it. I think that’s the thing is we can choose to surround ourselves with other people with the right mindset. And that’s one of the things that you did not just with, you know,

getting the right doctors and the right, but you, you had people who came around you, your college friend came, came to see you. And that had to have helped you move into what it was you really wanted, which was to regain your feeling, to be able to walk and do all those things by surrounding yourself with people who were like,

yeah, you’re right. We’re not going to have a negative talk, right? Yeah, no, absolutely. That support system is so important because I know I’m not sure you said it, but like, you know, show me your friends and I can show you your future. And that you’re the average of your five closest friends. And while, you know,

we can’t always choose our family. I was blessed and fortunate to have family that were positive role models. But yeah, being really intentional about who you surround yourself with is something that you can do it in your power. That’s been part of your responsibility is to find those influences and do what you can with the negative influences to silence those voices. Yeah.

Yeah. I think that’s really, really true that we can choose who we surround ourselves with. And so you had this amazing network of friends who would come and see you on a regular basis. Your family was, is really, you know, strongly rallying around you. But you said there was one person who made a huge difference in your life when her name was Georgia.

So tell us a little bit about Georgia. Yeah. So it was a middle of the fourth night. I can’t sleep cause it’s not just the worry that keeps me up at night. But every two hours a nurse comes in to check my vitals and their interaction with me is so clinical and routine. They check it, they leave well in this night and this woman does something that no other nurse has ever done.

She comes over to my bedside. She gets down on one knee and she looks at me and she says, Chris, look at me in the ass. And she was kind of mean about it. And she’s this short slender woman, reddish hair glasses probably in her sixties. And she’s got this voice that sounded like she came straight out of a Western movie.

She said, my name is Georgia. I’m from Wyoming. Do you know anyone from Wyoming? I say, now I’m thinking, okay, where is this going? It’s the middle of the night? And she says, well, people from Wyoming, don’t tell eyes. I want you to know you will beat this. You will beat this. I instantly start crying.

I needed to hear those words so badly because up to this point, you know, I was questioning whether all the time and after I was putting in my recovery, you know, would it pay off? No, I’m not wasting my time. And in that moment she helped restore my faith. And the thing about her, she didn’t just say, you can be this.

She said, you will be that. She gave me that complete victory over my future and painted a better future. And I think that’s one of the most powerful things you can give to somebody it’s like, not that you, you can do it it’s that you will. It’s so empowering. And that’s what she did. She empowered me so much to believe in myself and to believe in a,

a better future. And I say, you know, I’ve heard too that you false hope is better than no hope and whatever you want to call it. She gave me so much hope and power in that moment to again, focus on taking control of my situation. And when I, when I did have the ability to influence and I discovered really how much impact one person in four words can make Georgia really embodies this idea,

this concept that we talk about in my book and on purpose of connecting with what we do to have a higher calling to a bigger purpose. And that’s really what she did. She, she could have come in like everybody else and taken your vitals and left. And ah, here’s your temperature? Here’s your blood pressure moving on. But she leaned in to something bigger.

She leaned in on really her purpose that she was here for something so much bigger than that. She inspired you in that single moment. It’s a single act that can make a world of difference for somebody else. Just even if it’s a little thing like coming in and having those words, you know, I’m sure after that days later, it wasn’t, she didn’t think about that and revisit it,

but it was, it was everything for you doing extra is what makes the difference. And I know for you, that was what, one of the things you leaned in on, what could you do that was extra, right? Didn’t you ask your doctors like about the extra, can we talk about the extra that you did? Yeah. So, you know,

over the first few weeks I worked my way from tolerating about one hour to three hours of therapy a day, you know, I realized three hours is not enough. I need a fourth hour. So I asked the high school for 4,000. They say, no, why not? We say, well, we’ve only ever been allowed to give three hours.

Oh, eventually I got that four hour, couple more days go by. And I realized, no, four hours, not enough. I need a fifth hour. They say, no again, this time they meant, I actually never got the fifth hour, but instead I tried. And instead I had my physical and occupational therapists to write up workouts that I can do on my own outside of my scheduled therapy attack.

And then if I was working with somebody who wasn’t pushing me hard enough, I would request to work with someone who would give me that push. And my new motto became if I’m not sleeping and I’m working. And here’s the thing, no matter how big your, your goal is or how difficult of a situation you’re in, you know, you are responsible for the process and what you do next,

how much time and energy you give. And what I found is the more you focus on the process, the less you worry about the future, and here’s the truth. Your future will take care of itself. When you take care of today, your future will take care of itself when you take care of today. And I’ve just kept focusing on taking care of today,

making sure that I maximize this one hour therapy session. And that’s what gave me so much power in focus and motivation to keep going, because I wasn’t, you know, drowning myself in fear and worry about what tomorrow held or when I’m going to maybe go back to school, you know, will a girl ever want to be with me. And whenever I have a family and be a dad and be happy,

like, don’t get me wrong. I had those thoughts, those, especially at night, like those nights, every single night, those thoughts would come to my mind. Like what’s going to happen to me. You’ll never get rid of all your negative thoughts and feelings, but you can change your response to them. And how I kept focusing was that responsive being lost in the process and making sure that today was a successful one because after enough successes and you compound that,

you know, it’s going to be a better future. Yeah. I love that. One of the things that you said that really resonated with me in the documentary was you need to have a reckless abandoned belief in yourself. Like you wanted to walk out of the hospital and it became this beautiful vision. So I want to talk about this idea of how,

how you make that happen, how you can set these, have this reckless abandoned belief in yourself. Let’s do that in just a moment. Let’s take a quick little break just for a second. You’re filling your calendar, but are you filling your soul? That’s the big question that led me to write my latest book on purpose. The busy woman’s guide to an extraordinary life of meaning and success far too many people are chasing busy,

living a life. They never really intended letting their dreams fall. Aside in the pursuit of adulting. I look around and wonder how in the world did I get here? What if I told you that having an extraordinary life is a choice that the incredible life you wish for is really within own power. That’s everything we’re talking about here today with Chris, that it is within your power and on-purpose,

it’s a life changing guide. It’ll help you debunk the lies that hold you back from the dreams you’ve always had. Hadn’t really explored. We’ll talk about how to create a map to your ideal future. I’ll give you actionable strategies to move forward with confidence. Some simple shifts to move obstacles into opportunities and daily steps that you can take towards a more fulfilling life.

Living on purpose. Isn’t about changing who you are. It’s rising up and becoming the best version of you. It’s adjusting your mindset to discover your daily choices and finding the unhurried purpose that’s hidden in every one of your days. When you stay true to your soul’s path. I truly believe it is time to choose to be extraordinary. You can grab your copy of the book on purpose@Tanyadalton.com

slash on purpose or anywhere books are sold. Again, that website is Tanya dalton.com/on purpose. Go and get your copy. Now, Chris, you know, one of the things that you have said is that sometimes you have to set goals, even if you aren’t sure how to make them. And you kind of touched on that before the break, but I want to lean into this idea For me,

when you can find something that really lights you up, that there’s a fire within you, that you would love to accomplish it. Like this is just, I don’t know, it’s just something that fires up to wake up in the morning and you can’t stop thinking about it. That is a goal, and that’s a dream or something that you have to lean into.

You have to have that vision of where you want to go. I think it was the Stephen Covey, you know, start with the end in mind. And I had this vision that I want to walk across stage at my college graduation. And my first goal was actually to walk out of the hospital and that didn’t happen. And that was okay because what I did,

I had this vision, I had this plan that I wanted to work towards, but then I would make sure my effort, my time was spent processing, well, what am I going to do today to make sure that that could come into fruition? And there was plenty of times where I didn’t meet that goal, but I didn’t have any regrets. I didn’t like beat myself up by not making that goal because I knew there was just some things out of my control.

I couldn’t control the rate of my progress and what came back and what didn’t, but I knew I could control the hours I spent on my recovery and what I did and the questions I was asking and making sure I was surrounding myself with the best therapists, with the best doctors. And when I felt like if I didn’t have somebody on my team that believed in that same goal and vision that I had,

I would find somebody who would, and that’s where, you know, in the documentary, it shows making Gail quite a bit as my physical therapist. And I, I latched on to her because she believed in my dream as well. And that’s the kind of people that I want to surround myself. People who dream big, who work hard, who are going to do everything in their power to make sure that it’s successful.

And so we just kept working every single day, kept trying new things. And we weren’t going to be satisfied with the average. And there was plenty of other therapists worked with that. We’re fine with where things were and didn’t believe in that same vision. So I just kept searching for the people who would, Ah, I love that it really is too about surrounding yourself with the right kind of people,

people who are going to help drive and push you. And I’m sure there are days in there too, where you think, I don’t know what I can, I don’t know if I can do this and you need people around you who not only cheer you on, but also push you in lots of ways. And I know you, you made that decision that you wanted to walk at graduation.

That was one of the first, really big audacious things that you, you declared that very publicly. Why did you do that publicly? Because there’s all kinds of things that are like, don’t you, your goals publicly? I think you should. I want to hear why you made that decision. Why did you share that? Well, to me, my word matters.

Like if I say I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it, or I’m going to try everything I can in my power to make sure that I fall through with that. I hate saying things that I don’t follow our backup, but so saying something out loud and publicly for me, it helps create accountability. I think that for most people it does help create that accountability for yourself,

kind of indirectly creating almost accountability partners by, you know, people have been there to check in on, you know, well, how has that goal come? How, how has your progress? And so it helps you to just kind of stay motivated, stay focused on that because it’s really easy to keep a goal to yourself, to maybe abandon it,

to give up on it. Like, oh man, I’m not seeing as much progress as I’d like, it’s maybe a little bit harder than I expected. Well, I guess I can just, you know, trash that and move on to something else. But other people are gonna remember if you tell them. So for me, it just really helped create accountability,

helped me stay focused on what I wanted to achieve, but also I’ve found too, when you share your goals with other people, every once in a while, they might have an idea, they might know a person, they might connect you or lead you down a different path and open a door that you would’ve opened. If you didn’t share that goal,

I can’t tell you how many people, I didn’t expect anything, but they just opened a door or gave me an opportunity to help get me closer to that goal by just being public about it, by not being afraid of failing and sharing a goal that you might not accomplish. So it was really neat to see that I love that. Cause you think about sharing a goal,

it’s inspiring for other people, but it really is a way to open up the doors of opportunity. You don’t know who has these different doors that can open for you when you start to share that. And I know that even a few weeks before the graduation ceremony, you weren’t sure you were going to meet the goal. You were like, I’m not sure if we’re gonna,

we’re gonna make it. But what you focused in was focused in on was what can I do to get better today that focus on today I think is so important. It’s, it’s the little incremental changes and the shifts that happen. I think we get really caught up in the big thing in the walking across the stage, but it was all these little parts that led to that,

that big walk across the stage, right? It absolutely did. And there were playing times, correct? I felt like giving up, like I felt like this is too crazy an idea, but you can’t always, you don’t want to act on every single feeling that you have or a lot of times our feelings can cloud our perception, but feelings are great for motivation ambition.

It really the fuel to keep you going. And so I really tried to do the best I can to really think about what I’m thinking about. Really process those feelings and emotions and make sure that when I respond and make a decision that it’s not an emotional one, it’s a calculated one. And so trying to, when those moments of quiet and failure come up,

I, I try to then channel that energy that, that frustration towards, well, I need to do more. I gotta find what I can do. I need to maybe change something. Maybe I need to find another facility or another place or a different team, whatever it may be. I need to analyze of what I can do to change, or to make things better versus going the opposite route of blaming and making it feel like it’s not your responsibility,

that there’s nothing you can do about it and giving up. But I also hope to through my drive and through my lofty goal, that I would inspire the people to go after their dreams and goals. Like that was a big part of my philosophy and something that helped me early on in the hospitals, knowing that, you know, my example has influenced and that all of our examples have influenced,

or you have influenced every single person you come in contact with whether you like it or not, and whether you’re at your best or worse. And so something I always consider was so who’s counting on me, you know, who needs me to keep going so that they can keep going to who needs me to succeed at what I do so that they’re successful as well.

And you know, a true leader inspires and empowers others by being an example, it’s not by a title. And I started to see that as you know, my story be kind of become more public. People were started telling me I’m an inspiration. And I was like, whoa, I’m not an inspiration. I’m just trying to get my life back.

I’m trying to do what I feel like any other human being would do. It’s try to get as much recovery back as possible. But what I found is when I did want to give up, when I felt like this was too much for me, I thought about the people who shared their stories, people who are struggling at home, maybe it’s with anxiety,

depression, maybe that’s, they’re going through a divorce or a breakup they’re up against something really big and hard. And they don’t know if they can get through it. I thought about that. And maybe I can give them hope through my example and through my situation. And that really helped give me a purpose and that drive to just keep working at it.

Yeah. Without question, it’s definitely given millions and millions of people, hope you walking across that graduation stage has been viewed by tens of millions of people, you know? And so here’s what I’d love to kind of close out with. What would you say to anyone listening who feels like, you know, the deck is stacked against me. I don’t have,

I’m not tall enough. I’m not smart enough. I don’t have the right letters after my name. You know, I don’t have the fancy degree. I don’t have this or I don’t have that. You know, they feel like they only have a 3% chance of accomplishing whatever they dream about. What would you say to those people who feel, feel like they can’t do it?

I would say focus on today. What is one thing you can do to possibly better your situation? You don’t even need to see the progress in this moment, but it’s just like deciding that you want to start making a change that you want to start seeing a brighter tomorrow and just getting really, again, lost in that, that process of what are the little things that you can do that will change your situation.

Because you know, my progress was so incremental. Oftentimes you don’t even see it for weeks or months, and that’s really hard at times, but I knew that it mattered. And I knew that wherever I did end up, no matter how far along my progress was, because I’ve always dreamed about I’m going to be walking into like I’m going to be doing these things.

And that was the goal. And no one’s in telling me differently. And I, that didn’t happen, but I could live with that, knowing that I don’t have any regrets know, I worked really hard. I did what I could in my own power. And there’s just some things that you can’t control. There’s some things you try to be defiant.

And there’s some things that you got to accept and, you know, adversity and failure. They’re a part of life. You know, things will never be perfect, but just because you weren’t getting the results you want or living a life you’ve dreamed of doesn’t mean you stop trying, or that’s not a life worth living for. And it was through my visit loss of my physical strength that revealed to me,

what is most important? Like family, friends love serving others. You know, I discovered I don’t even need to walk in order to live a good life. Happiness is not measured in steps. I know people who can run, jump and swim, who are unhappy. So clearly, you know, happiness has nothing to do with your physical strength or possessions and has everything to do with your mindset,

your mental health, just your perspective. And so I really do everything I can to make sure my perspectives on the things I can do. What I do have, what I am getting because in life it’s so easy to look the other direction, to have a magnifying glass for what’s not working what you can’t do, what you have no control over. So I hope everyone here listening really turns their attention to the possibilities of what they have control over and really empower themselves to take that responsibility.

And it will change the future. Absolutely. Chris, your story is so inspiring. What, where is the best place for them to learn more about your story? Learn more about you? Where would you, where would you like me to send people? I would say probably my website or social media. It’s my website is Chris norton.org. And that’s where you can learn about my motivational speaking,

my foundation, books, them follow me and my newsletter. I do inspirational newsletter updates, but then also on social media, I try to stay active on that, like an Instagram, a Facebook or some of the places that I’m most involved with. Well, Chris, thank you so much. I know there’s someone listening today who this was exactly what they needed.

So thank you so much for sharing your story just for being you and inspiring others through, through the actions that you take. So nonchalantly that are so, so, so encouraging to so many others. Thank you so Much. Thank you, Tanya. I appreciate it. I knew I was excited to have Chris Norton on the show, but when we did our interview,

I just felt like he delivered. Didn’t he? Didn’t he make you question. If you feel like the deck is stacked against you, if you don’t have the fancy letters, if you don’t have the, the money, you don’t have the family support, whatever it is, that’s holding you back. Is it really holding you back that idea and that concept of radical responsibility?

I think that is so incredibly powerful. You know that the blame is keeping you from what you want. I love what he said, that blame stunts, growth, blame, stunts growth. I want you to really think about that. What have you been blaming that is stunting your growth? Is there something in your world in your life that you feel is holding you back is grabbing you by your ankles and keeping you too close to the ground when you’re ready to soar to great Heights,

whatever it is, it’s stunting your growth. You spending the time worrying about it, talking about it, fussing about it. That’s keeping you from moving towards that big, beautiful, bright cathedral that you have off in the distance. Because as he says, adversity can create clarity. He began to really recognize and realize what is most important. I think that is invaluable.

And here’s the thing I wanted to have Chris on the show, we’ve been talking a lot about our mindset. We’ve been talking about the things that we’re doing with taking a stand and, you know, radical responsibility and letting go of the selfishness and all of those things or those feelings of being selfish, rather because I’m ready for us to step into this next section of the season,

where we’re going to be focusing in on our goals. We’re going to spend the next kind of block of this season, really talking about how do we accomplish our goals? How do we achieve them? How do we figure them out? What does this look like? How can I move forward? And I want you to take radical responsibility in your own life.

And I want to challenge you to think about how can you do that? You know, for me last week in the episode, you heard me take radical responsibility for how I felt about social media and choosing to take a stand of how I want to use it in my life. And if you miss that episode, I I’d say definitely go back and listen,

because it’s a soap box episode without question. And I wanted you to see me living true to what I believe, living in alignment and how important that is taking radical responsibility. So that’s what I want you to take away from today’s show. As we gear up for several episodes to come on, how to set our goals and how we’re going to achieve them.

I want you to really think about what is it you want, as Chris said, happiness, isn’t measured in steps. It’s measured in so many different things. I would love for you to take a little bit of time for yourself and really think about what that looks like for you. What have you been blaming? What have you been feeling has held you back and can we choose to step into radical responsibility?

Because we’re going to start thinking about that. Cathedral of yours. Chris has cathedral was the walking, right? Your cathedral is something different. I want you to think about that because we’re going to spend some time helping you get to that cathedral. Because when we understand that we are in charge of our choices, when we understand that we have radical responsibility in our own lies,

that’s when you’ve got the Intentional advantage. Thanks so much for joining me today. Quick question though, before you go, do you like prizes? When you leave a rating and review of the Intentional advantage podcast, you’ll be entered to win my life changing course, multiplying your time. Simply leave the review and then send me an email@helloatTanyadalton.com with a screenshot. I choose one winner at the end of every month.

So go ahead. Do it right now. Just a quick comment with what you loved about this episode or the show in general and a rating and send it our way. Not going to lie by stars is my favorite, but I’d love to hear what you think of the show. And if that’s not enough of an incentive for you to win the multiplying your time course,

I have to tell you reviews are the number one thing that supports this podcast. And me, it’s the best way to spread the word and get business tips and strategies to all those other women out there who need it. So there you go. Two great reasons for you to go and leave a review right now. So go ahead and do it, send that screenshot my way,

because I want to give you a free course. And thanks again for listening today. I’ll be back next Tuesday and I’ll plan to see you then.

 

The transcript for this top productivity podcast for women has been created using AI technology.

Tanya Dalton is the best female keynote speaker on the topic of productivity. Her talks are motivational and inspirational while being actionable.