“Did you grow up under a rock!?”
-Bill H. 2003
1983-2005 ‘BAY CITY - BAYWATCH’
When we are children, our imaginations are boundless. We think anything is possible but we rarely see the impossible with our own two eyes. I’ll never forget the first time I saw the impossible… I was about six years old. My neighbors pulled into their driveway, and their garage door opened up by it’self before they were even out of their car. “Holy Shit Batman, Dad’s not gonna believe this!” I rode my bike home as fast as I could to inform my parents that Lindsay’s mom was a witch (a good witch, not a bad witch).
I grew up in a small Texas town back in the ‘90s. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was somewhat secluded from the world. It sounds hacky to say, but we really did play outside back in those days. It was a different time. We didn’t find out breaking news via Twitter or YouTube. There were no cell phones. If I wanted to talk to somebody, I’d go knock on their door. I was very present… I pretty much only paid attention to what was in front of me.
It took me until my late twenties to really understand what my strengths and weaknesses were. As a teenager, one of my strengths was identifying my weaknesses! I assumed that everything I was bad at, everybody else was good at…… And everything I was good at, everybody else was also good at.
I didn’t quite understand how my brain worked. According to Linnie Roberts Elementary, I wasn’t good at reading… so I came to the conclusion that I was stupid. That’s what that means right? I later realized that I wasn’t good at reading things that I didn’t want to read. Any books or magazines on topics I was interested in, I could read cover to cover… Unfortunately the “I’m stupid” bug had already been planted in my head… and I reminded myself often, so that I wouldn’t forget.
I was in my thirties before I think I ever heard the term “creative” to describe someone… I’d always been able to design things in my mind, draw them out on paper, and then build them in real life. Once again, this is something I thought everybody could do. As a teenager, I would watch a TV show, or listen to a song, and constantly identify ways I would improve them. I would walk into a restaurant or bathroom and redesign them in my mind… and don’t get me started on airports! I questioned why everything was the way it was — and always had a picture in my head as to how I would make it better.
We got the internet right before I graduated high school. Nowadays young people can use the internet to learn about any career path they might be interested in pursuing… I didn’t have that option. When I was in high school all the internet had were pictures of Pamela Anderson. (or at least that’s all I ever remember finding)
I was obsessed with fitness as a kid. When I was really young I’d ride my bike around the neighborhood as fast as I could — then I’d put my feet up on the couch and do sit-ups. I remember my Mom asking me, “What the hell are you doing?” Neither one of us knew.
I became a personal trainer at the ripe old age of 19. Getting into the fitness industry felt natural… I was young and naive… I loved fitness and genuinely loved helping people. I thought personal training was helping people — I was somewhat right. I was new to the whole grown-up thing… what I didn’t realize was that when you get hired by a big corporation, they don’t really give a shit about “helping people.” It was all about money! That took a lot of the fun out of it. (Side note — who the hell hires a 19 year old personal trainer?) Not Pam Anderson, unfortunately.
“Now Josh you gotta be gentle with the Canadians… they don’t get too excited when we go up there and tell ‘em how to run their business.”
-CEO of Warren alloy 2011
2006-2015 ‘COME ON DUDE!’
At 23 I still loved training clients, though I was starting to realize the corporation I worked for wasn’t one I wanted to be part of long-term. One of the great things about working in a gym is the networking opportunities. David, one of my clients, had just joined a new company. All he talked about when I trained him was how great his new coworkers were. I wasn’t really sure what he did… I just knew he was surrounded by amazing people. That was all I needed to know.
They were a Master Distributor of Stainless and Carbon Steel Pipe, Valves, Fittings and Flanges… and had about $400 million in inventory located in facilities all across the US and Canada. I worked my way up and eventually became the Project Manager — which consisted of 2 main jobs:
Setting up all the NEW facilities (designing layout and procedures, and hiring/training people to run the warehouse operation)
Restructuring EXISTING operations to run more efficiently (fixing shit)
These two types of projects were very different. With a new facility, I had a completely empty warehouse, and a new staff that I could train the right way from day one.
When I went into an existing operation, they had racking and equipment already bolted down- and a staff who was already set in their ways.
I was great at walking into a facility, identifying the systems that weren’t working well, and redesigning them to make the facility run better. That was the easy part.
The more challenging part was figuring out the right way to deal with the different personalities and egos I’d encounter. I once had to consult in New Jersey, California, and Alberta Canada in the same week. The personalities I’d encounter in different regions were completely different, but there always seemed to be one thing that was consistent among-st facilities in need of improvement. There seemed to always be one conversation that I’d have multiple times at those facilities. The conversation would always go the exact same way...
I would ask them why they did “X” a certain way, and they would all give me the same exact answer.
“Because that’s the way we’ve always done it.”
I learned that new shipping and receiving procedures were’t going to solve problems long term… I needed to help them develop a new way of thinking…
“You did what?”
-Dad
2016-2017 ‘MONEY EQUALS FREEDOM… KINDA’
After almost 10 years with that company, it was time to move on. That career enabled me to make, and save, a lot of money… which enabled me to start a new adventure in the world of stand up comedy and acting… it wasn’t long until I was drunk, under a bridge, in Chicago. No that’s not a typo, I actually did move to Chicago.
I got drunk on a boat, with a goat, in the rain, on a train, in a box, with a fox, in a house, with a mouse… I got drunk here and there… I got drunk everywhere.
I tend to do things to the extreme. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes that’s bad.
I love a “success story”... but even more than a success story, I like “a dude who fucks his life up, and then gets it back together again story.”
-Joe Rogan
2018 - PRESENT ‘THERE WAS NO PLAN, SAM I AM’
About 8 months after I got sober, I had an epiphany.
I realized that for years, I was able to structure the days of hundreds of people… I was able to walk into a big operation, identify what needed to be improved, write new procedures, and then teach the employees why those new procedures would make their days easier and more productive.
How is it that I could design a structured day for an entire facility full of strangers, yet I couldn’t do it for one person… MYSELF? I needed a Josh Shine to walk into my house and do what he used to do to a 100,000 sq ft warehouse.
The reason that my warehouse operations were so successful is because every day, when every person walked in, they were intentional. There was structure set up.
It wasn’t rocket science… there were certain simple things they were going to be doing EVERY DAY. All I did was create a better way to do those things. Once they repeated those things, the same way, every day, they became somewhat automated… and the new and improved way of doing things became the norm. A new behavior was formed - and regardless of what curve balls were thrown their way - their behavior revolved around those new habits that were going to take place every day.
After I resigned from Warren Alloy, I’d planned to take a month off. That’s about all the planning I did. I got into the habit of reacting. I’d wake up in the morning whenever I felt like it… and I’d do whatever I felt like doing. I didn’t have to go into an office. I had a lot of money in the bank, and no sense of urgency…
I had the knowledge needed to live a healthy life. I had helped hundreds of people get in shape while in the fitness industry, I had multiple certifications from the National Academy of Sports Medicine and The Cooper Institute, and most importantly……I had common sense! Common sense says frozen pizzas aren’t good for you. Drinking alcohol all day isn’t good for you. Neglecting sleep to stay up playing on your phone isn’t good for you. Exercising only when you feel like it isn’t good for you. I knew what I was doing was stupid.
If I had the knowledge needed to be healthy, how did I go from super healthy - to drunk under a bridge? Easy. One day at a time. One action at a time. One thought at a time. My behavior changed slightly for the worse every day until I ended up under that bridge. How was I going to get back to the top? Easy… Slightly change my behavior for the better every day until I got there.
I did tons of self experimentation for a year. Everything I initially studied on human behavior was for myself. When I signed up for the Primal Health Institute health coaching course… I did it for myself. I wanted to build a new and improved Josh. (Notice I didn’t say I was trying to get back to where I used to be. That guy might have been great… but with mistakes and experience comes knowledge and wisdom… I was building a much better version of the old Josh.)
I started studying and experimenting with sleep, exercise, nutrition, meditation, morning routines, evening routines, health tracking technology… things that I was going to do EVERY DAY.
I wanted to figure out the best way for me to do those core things… and then repeat them every day until the new and improved way of doing them became the norm… thus creating a new and improved pattern of behavior…
That way - regardless of what curve balls were thrown at me - my behavior revolved around those good habits that were going to take place every day. I wanted to somewhat automate them to simplify my life… just like I used to do in those warehouses………
……… just like Lindsay’s Mom did with her garage door.