SPEAKER_02 0:07

Okay, you made it. You made it to Friday. You made it to finish strong Friday here on the Sweet Spot. We've been having a fantastic week. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet, I'm your host. We've been speaking with our guest this week, the very first male guest, because we did have a female guest as our very first guest. My wife Darcel was the very first guest. But Cam Clark, good friend, colleague, wow, NFL player. Oh my goodness, NFL agent, man of God, intellect, second to none, has been with us all week. And we find ourselves, beautiful souls, in Finnish Strong Friday. And I don't know about you, but sometimes when Friday hits, I'm kind of looking forward to the weekend and I want to wind down, but there's usually so much to do that I don't even register that it's Friday. So the idea is not to take your foot off of the gas on Friday if you're on a journey. Not to slack, to finish strong. That's why we call Friday Finish Strong Friday so that we can get into the weekend with the right momentum. Not just coasting in, but tying it up, finishing. When everybody else is already in kind of TGIF mode, we make sure that we're tying up loose ends, that we're keeping our focus, and that we're finishing strong. Who better to talk about finishing strong than a pro-athlete, than an NFL player? Like talk about gritty, tough, perseverant, determined individuals. We have such an individual here. That's you, Cam. That's you. And I want to jump into the finish strong conversation with you because I know you'll have something to share with us about how you finish strong. What leads, what are the ingredients in your mind that have helped you be such a strong finisher? I've seen your work. You are able to do it. Like, what can you share? Maybe if you can't tell us everything, sometimes these uh high accomplishments, they don't want to tell you everything. But could you give us at least one or maybe two?

Cam’s Finisher Mindset From Football

SPEAKER_00 2:34

No doubt. No doubt. And just to preface it, when I was an athlete and when I played, I played offensive line, that was my position. One of the main things that our coaches, offensive line coaches, focus on is finishing. You got to finish the block, have to finish, have to finish. And that was something that I embodied in myself since I was in high school. I coined myself, I was always a finisher, right? It's not how you start the rep, it's not how you start the play, it's how you finish the play. And every single play I went out, I started with the end in mind. So I think number one, when thinking about finishing, we have to start with the end in mind, right? Whether it's a race, whether it's a business, right? And you have to view yourself as a finisher. You have to understand there has to be, you know, whatever you do, there has to be almost a point to where you realize you've gotten up past that 50% mark, right? There's less in front of me than there is behind me, right? And there has to be a level of grit and perseverance and endurance, right? For you to be able to understand and finish what you started, right? In basketball, they say million-dollar move, 10 cent finish, right? Meaning that you you might have got past the defender, crossed them up, whatever you may have done, but you didn't make the shot. Right? Let's make sure we make the shots, you know. So for me, whether that's with a client, whether that's whether I'm prospecting, whether that's whatever it may be, in relationships, right? Making sure that I'm finishing, I'm putting more emphasis on the finish than the start.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

Man, that we could just end right here because that to me just is the entire podcast. Thank you so much. I I almost want to say thank you, everyone. We'll see you Saturday. Yeah, for real. That's just so powerful. Begin with the end in mind.

Begin With The End In Mind

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yes. Wow. Yes. And to me, that's that's the embodiment of success. You don't win, you don't get your hand held up at the podium, you don't get the promotion because you started the job right, right? Like so many guys, you know, when we were in college, and I just I like pulling from my own experiences, you know, you get a new coach, and you know, once you get a new coach, you start seeing some of your teammates. They might, you know, guys that might have been slackers before. It's now a new opportunity to reinvent yourself, right? And guys start off, they're doing the extra work, they're doing the extra 10 minutes here, the meeting extra with the coach. And all of that is good in the offseason. All of that is good at the beginning. But how many of those guys are doing that in December and January and February at the end of the season? So it's easy to start on a go on a good fit. It's not it's not easy to start, right? But it's easier to start on a good foot, on a good foot, good step. But it's harder to finish that.

Preparing For Chaos At The Finish

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Yeah, it is. And the level of focus, the level of intensity that it takes. When you look at the best in most sports, how they are towards the end of games, how they close out. Even a performing artist, and I work with a few, how they close out that final scene, the final minute, the final, the final seconds, they are as intense there, if not more intense, when they're closing out than they are even at the beginning. They block everything out, and they have one mission, and that is to finish. And finish strong. And you know, I I gotta tell, I gotta give it to you, brother. I think that what you said is it they began with the end in mind. They knew how they were gonna end this. They anticipated this, they prepared for it. They prepared for the end. I think Alan Houston told me this the other day. We were talking about playoffs and getting ready for uh the the playoffs, and he said, prepare for the chaos. Because the end is usually where the chaos comes in. The end is usually where the tests are. That's why so many people don't finish. Because as you go further and further into the task or into the performance or into the challenge, or up the mountain as you get higher up, that's where the winds are blowing, that's where the altitude changes, that's where everything comes at you to determine if you are really set up to finish this and do you really want it? And that, like you said, brother, is a decision that you make. Did you decide this morning that you were gonna finish the project? Did you decide that you're gonna win this game? Did you decide that nothing is going to stop you and how you're gonna end it? And are you, did you prepare for it? Did you prepare for the chaos? There's a thing I read somewhere that in a marathon race, there comes like the 18th mile or the 19th mile, or something like that, where you get, let's just say, close to the end of the race, and that's where people fall off. Your body is hurting, your mind is fried, you're dehydrated, everything is painful, and there's six miles to go. And you are screaming inside. Do you know the difference between the ones who finish and the ones who don't is mental? They to your point, Ken, the one who finishes is the one who decided who set out with the end in mind. They knew that this was coming and they prepared for it, they trained for it, they were ready for the chaos. And for our listeners out there, the message is very clear. Are you preparing? Did you wake up? Did you set out with the end in mind? And are you preparing for the chaos? Are you ready for the challenge? Because as you get closer to the end, are you in the middle of something and it's feeling hard to finish? That's to be expected. It's your decision, it's your mindset. As Cam mentioned, your perseverance, your determination, your grip is what you said. All that is a part of it as well. But you do have to prepare for it. You do, you should expect it.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Yes, yes. And I think important just to mention as well is that the finish comes after you've endured the storm. When you're fresh, quarter one, beginning of the whatever it may be, right? We're in Q1 as we speak, but I'm thinking more football, right? First quarter, everyone's fresh. Just finished warmups, jerseys are clean, energy's high, you know, you're still being fueled by the pregame meal that you all those different kinds of type things. You're still, you know, off the the what's the word? The um all the energy, the um, I'm forgetting the word, but all the excitement you get at the beginning of a game, right? You can live off of that, but that can only sustain you for so long, right? Even from an entrepreneur, entrepreneurial standpoint. Everyone's excited when they're on their state website and they're forming an LLC, right? And then you you finally get the LO, then you get your EIN, all those other different kinds of type things. All of that sounds good until it's time to close, right? And I'm a I'm a huge boxing fan. And in boxing, they call that the championship rounds, right? Rounds 10 through 12. It's a 12-round fight, but the last 10 to 12, the 10th, the 10th through the 12th round is going to decide who wins the fight. And I think it's important, especially for a competitor, if you're listening, right? All of us are competitors in our own right. People only remember how you finish something, right? Whether you talk about whether you talk about artists, right? I like jazz as well. You go see a you go see live music, right? You know, they they start off a little slow and then they pick it up towards the end. But usually that last song, that that last run, you know, that they have as a as a group, it seems as if to me, I'm not an artist, but they're they want to leave you with something. And they understand that, right? So it's in the arts and in our in the business world, and it specifically, you know, in my world that I live in in athletics, we have to finish those championship rounds. Have to finish those championship rounds.

Why, Endurance, And Not Going Alone

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Boxing is such a great analogy for that, man, because you see those guys grinding out and grinning it out. You know, you get to that round, that lat, those lat, those championship rounds, and man, it is share willpower, to your point. Share willpower, gritty willpower. Yes. And life is always teaching us. We're talking sport, but there's the game of life. And every one of us gets the championship round in something that we're facing.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

When you're tired, you're bloodied, you and your opposition. Don't think you're the only one in this. You're not the only one that's in this. And I think oftentimes we can feel that way, right? Like I'm the only one that's that's no, they're tired too. Who can endure the most? Who can endure the most? And oftentimes it's going to revert back to your why. Why did you start? Right? It's not what you're doing. Why are you doing what you're doing? And that's the that's that that encapsulates the whole thought to me, right? Is that when it comes down to nut cutting time, is what they say in football. When it comes down to that time, those championship rounds, you have your coach, right? Every after every round, you know, you get back, you you might have your wife on the sideline cheering you on, or this friend or an investor who says, you know, we believed in you that, but at the end of the day, you're the one that has to keep swinging. Bloody. You've been dropped, you've touched the canvas, right? You know, right now you might be losing this fight going into these championship rounds. But the strength and the but that you can muster in these next few rounds can negate everything else that has happened if we just decide to finish strong.

unknown 13:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Either team could go and have a great first three quarters. But if they don't finish that fourth quarter, I'd say better than what they played the first three quarters, it's not going, you're not going to have a favorable result. Especially when you're dealing with people and you're competing against others that are equally yoked, right? You can you can beat someone that's not as good as you, not as talented, not as invested as you, you know, in those earlier rounds. But to finish, that's someone that keeps the promises that they make to themselves, in my opinion. And I could talk about finishing off. Finishing is one of my favorite things. So, you know, I I could I could go deep into this as much as possible, but we get back to that whole saying a million-dollar move, 10 cent finish, right? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

We don't want to be making million-dollar moves and then be having a cheap finish at the end. And that's so important. It doesn't matter what you're doing in life, whether you're in business, whether you're in sports, whether you're at home, whether you're making cooking dinner tonight. Literally, you want to be that, you want to be that detailed that what you finish, you finish strong. If you're gonna start it, start with the end in mind and understand. And in other words, you said we talked about the endurance, what it takes. And you gotta prepare. You don't just prepare with your skills and prepare with your talents. Prepare to endure, to outlast the opponent. Sometimes that's what you have to do with the devil, you know, or the opponent, or the challenger. You got to outlast them. And that's endurance. The winner of the marathon has endured. You have an illness, you have a setback, a disappointment. You've got to endure, you've got to abide, you've got to really grind this out with determination and faith. And don't do it alone. Boxers come back to their corner, they get water splashed on them, they they have a trainer, their position coaches. The universe is set up in a way that we have an interdependence. You don't have to do it alone. I think that's the other piece. Part of finishing strong is recognizing when you do need the help.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yes. You do need some guidance, when you do need to lean on whatever's around you, whatever you've been given. Wow.

Gratitude And Tease For Self-Care Saturday

SPEAKER_02 16:21

Well, I want to finish strong right now and say thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Cam, for a great week here. Thank you so much. Um this is Finish Strong Friday. You've been nothing short of extraordinary with us all week long, and we're grateful. We're very grateful for the insights. We're very grateful for the wisdom, for the knowledge you're just dropping on us. To be so young, you're so wise. But you said it earlier, you hung out with older folks all your life. And so, man, we're all benefiting from that. I want to thank your mom and dad. They're great.

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Shout out to mom and dad.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Shout out to mom and dad for doing a fantastic job with your son. So, tomorrow, Cam, is self-care Saturday. And we're gonna be closing it out this weekend. And I'm looking forward to hearing what your self care secrets are, those that you're willing to share with us anyway. No secrets on this side. Well, that's how you know, everybody. We got some secrets to uncover. I'll see you tomorrow.