John DeWitt Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing American Footballer John DeWitt
American Footballer John DeWitt is our guest today on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots podcast interview.
He is an ex- American footballer, who after twelve years as a professional was in an amazing place.
He played for the Houston Oilers, NFL Europe Scottish Claymores, CFL Montreal Alouettes, XFL San Francisco Demons and even the AFL.
The reason he was in an amazing place, was due to the fact, once he retired as a professional he realised that he had gained an amazing insight into professional sports trauma.
He had seen, and experienced the devastating effects of TBI and concussions, and knew that there was a path to transition into away from the game
And that is a bridge that so many sportsman struggle with.
How The Dots Joined Up For John
You put your heart and soul into creating the dream life that the majority of boys crave, and then what do you do when that short career is over.
Well our guest got his Doctor of Chiropractic degree as well as certifications in Advanced Sports Nutrition and Concussion Assessment and ever since the movie, Concussion, came out… he made it his mission to NOT end up like my grandfather, who died from advanced dementia at 72.
He has written a book, created a web class and plan on coming out with a line of supplements all to help us be healthy in mind and brain.
So its all very well having insider knowledge, but how do you turn this into a profitable business that people want and need?
And is there a quick fix for head injuries? Or is it a simple case of trying our hardest not to get them in the first place?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots, with the one and only Mr John DeWitt
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with John DeWitt such as:
How he managed to get off the grid and disconnect from his business, and why he found that it was a bigger struggle than he imagined.
Why John was quite happy to walk away from the American Football pitch even though it was such a big part of his life.
and lastly….
How he transitioned from the sports arena to the entrepreneurial world, and the steps he took to create his new life.
How To Connect With John DeWitt
Return To The Top of John DeWitt
If you enjoyed this episode with John DeWitt why not check out other inspirational chat with our podcast on Authenticity, Jack Canfield, Jackie Woodside, and the amazing Akshay Nanavati
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Full Transcription Of John DeWitt Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:25]
Yes, hello there. Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Join Up Dots. Yeah, Join Up Dots. Moving on to close to Episode 1000. Now and if you’ve been with us right from the very beginning, you can see that we’ve got varied stories of achievement and appeal struggles, failure, stumbles, and a course conversation that pulls together all the dots of somebody’s life. And today’s guest is somebody that I’ll be honest, their background, I don’t know anything about I’m not big on American football. But basically I was and he was an ex American footballer who after 12 years as a professional, was in an amazing place. He played for the Houston Oilers, NFL Europe Scottish claymores CFL Montreal alouettes X, FL San Francisco demons and even the AFL. And the reason it was an amazing place was due to the fact once he retired as a professional, he realised that he’d gained an amazing insight into professional sports trauma he’d seen and experienced the devastating effects of TBI and concussions, and knew that there was a path to transition into away from the game. And that’s a bridge that so many sports men struggle with you put your heart and soul into creating the dream life that a majority of boys crave. And then what do you do when that short career is over? Well, our guest got his doctor of chiropractic degree, as well as certifications in advanced sports nutrition and concussion assessment. And ever since the movie concussion came out, he made it his mission to not end up like his grandfather, who died from advanced dementia at 72. He’s now written a book created a web class and plans on coming out with a line of supplements or to help us be healthy in mind and brain. So it’s all very well having insight and knowledge But how do you turn this into a profitable business that people want and need? And is there a quick fix for head injuries? Or is it a simple case of trying our hardest not to get them in the first place? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show, to start Join Up Dots with the one and only Mr. John DeWitt. Good morning, John. How are you sir?
John DeWitt [2:19]
Good morning, David. I am phenomenal here up in the lake at Lake Arrowhead in California. It is a nice relaxing time away from work actually getting to have some introspective moments on everything that’s happening and where we’re going from here.
David Ralph [2:33]
You know, there’s two things that wind me up more than anything is people that introduce themselves we’ve I’m in Florida and I live in California. What a horrible place to live in, isn’t it?
John DeWitt [2:44]
It is but I have I was lucky enough when I played in NFL Europe to travel all around England and Barcelona and Germany and stuff and I mean it’s really beautiful there as well and I realised that it tends to be a little grey in England and rain quite a bit but it also makes all the grass That’s nice and green. So that’s that’s nice too,
David Ralph [3:02]
is nice, it is nice. And California is one of my favourite places in America because there’s so much variation, isn’t it, you can have the mountains, you can ski, you can go to the beach and you can go to the madness of LA, it’s all on your doorstep, really.
John DeWitt [3:15]
It really is. And that kind of is a good thing and a bad thing. Because there’s a lot of distractions that can keep you from being focused on whatever it is that you’re trying to do in life,
David Ralph [3:24]
which is a good point, actually. And it’s one that we touch on a lot on Join Up Dots, the fact that to have the entrepreneurial life when you create your own business, especially like you have done you, the majority of people follow the sun and they end up in a place which is glorious, but they never go out and they have to close their curtains so they can see their computer screen. And I sit indoors. It’s it’s gonna be torture, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you be better being somewhere in Scotland or somewhere where you don’t actually want to go out and you can create your fortune quite happily indoors?
John DeWitt [3:56]
Well, you would think so it actually is kind of funny because we’ve been up here at the lake. For a week, and I purposefully did not bring my laptop with me, and my wife was just both of us were kind of didn’t know what to do. Because it is such a high pressure, always thinking about the next thing and researching the next marketing way to get to people and reach more people. And when you’re out in the mountains, and it’s just kind of like, okay, our whole point of it was okay, we need to detach this can disconnect a little bit, go off the grid, so to speak, and just kind of get back to, okay, what’s really important, we have our two dogs with us and be like, try to focus on that. And I mean, after an hour or two, we’re kind of looking around and I’m sitting on the back deck, sitting at the back deck of this beautiful view of the lake and I catch myself looking down at my phone and messing with my phone and I’m just like, geez, it’s just crazy. We get so caught up and everything. And I think that’s one of the most important things for all entrepreneurs to do, is it’s really important to be driven, but at the same time, you need to take time for yourself so you don’t end up being some 400 hundred pounds overweight. No person that has no health either because they’re so focused on their business they got to take time to, to get out and exercise a little bit too. And a lot of times that helps helps the brain work better. So maybe come up with better ideas as well.
David Ralph [5:11]
Yeah, absolutely. So so so let’s talk about your sort of background, because that’s kind of fascinating to me on one level, and on the other level, I’ll be honest, I don’t understand a word of it. It’s just a bowl, stick your head up somebody’s bottom and then try to get to one end of the pitch. As far as I’m aware, is that factually correct. Am I spot on by that?
John DeWitt [5:31]
That is basically similar. Yeah, I know. That was one of the hardest things when we played in NFL Europe, we had to have a instructional part a few pages in the front of the programme for people to understand what is this? I don’t understand. We used to get in big arguments with the Scottish guys that were on the team because we had some national local players. And they were just like, these guys don’t understand football. It starts and stuff too much. It’s not It’s not like soccer, where you’re just going all the time. It’s not like rugby where there’s always the No helmets or shoulder pads really. And they kind of thought that we were a little soft because we had to use all the kits they used to say you have to wear this big kit and you have to run out start start starting and stopping it’s too boring for them.
David Ralph [6:11]
So anyway, but anyway, john just jumping in, it’s not football, you hardly ever use your feet. Why? Why is it not called something else? What’s the point in that?
John DeWitt [6:20]
That is I will have to take that up with the originators of the sport because I have no idea why it’s called football but it but it is. And you know, I was the defensive guy. So I was one of the guys on the end trying to run around in tackle the guy that was trying to throw the ball downfield. And because of that, that ended up leading to lots of different head injuries and whatnot. Among other injuries, I tore out my elbow, my left elbow tore the bicep tendons and that I tore my left shoulder out, I blew up my left ankle, but other than that, I was pretty good. But um, it’s just it was it’s fun though for me because I grew up in a small town in Arkansas, Arkansas and a really small town. Like 85,000, that’s actually the second biggest in the state. And so we had a very small town kind of mentality about the world where everybody just if you’re not like us, then there’s something scary about that because it’s different. And being able to fly over to Europe and play over there and meet all the different people made it really interesting for me, it really opened my mind to all the different possibilities, because everybody’s got a different way of looking at things. And I think that’s really important to know, especially as an entrepreneur, you kind of have to know, okay, what is your specific avatar? avatar, as they say, like, Who is it that you’re selling to? And who’s going to help, you know, benefit from whatever you’re selling? And you have to realise they use different terminology different phrasing, like when I when I was in Scotland, I was dating an accountant for a little while. And one time she said, I made a joke and she said, Have you taken a piss and I was like, What
are you talking about? But I realised what she meant, but it was just kind of interesting, all the different phrases that other other cultures use, but it’s fun. They said, well,
David Ralph [7:58]
when you look back on your Obviously it was a big part of joining up the dots to where you are now I don’t think you would be where you are now without that, was it? Was it your dream? Was it absolutely all you could think of as running as a kid or were you just naturally athletic and kind of fell into it? I don’t know in American football when if you can fall into it, are you picking well as a young kid?
John DeWitt [8:21]
Yeah. Well, it’s an interesting story because my dad, he was a little girl is a little guy. And when he was in high school, he was probably about 135 pounds. And he got thrown in there and was playing football because his dad loved football and so he thought he should love football and, and he loved it. But he was so little. He got beat up so much that he quit when he was a junior in high school. And I am six foot four, my dad’s about 510. And because I was so big, he just really was pushing me to play football and I played in when I was in the second grade was the first time I ever played football on the second day of practice. I went out and my mouthpiece fell out in the dirt. I didn’t know I could wash it off so I put it back in my mouth. The dirt and grit in there and I was just like, Oh, I like I don’t like this. So I decided to quit. I was like I don’t I it’s too early for me. I don’t want to play and then it was kind of a it was kind of a popular thing to do kind of like soccer, I would think or rugby out there in Europe. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, Okay, well, if I want to, you know, date girls and you know, be popular and stuff, I should probably play football. So I started playing again in the sixth grade. And it just went on to play ended up being on the state championship team when I was in high school, which was a big deal. And when I went to Vanderbilt for college, I didn’t actually have a scholarship, I just got into school based on my academic stuff. And they even told me that I was too small and too slow to play in the in the sec that that particular conference, but I told them I wanted to walk on the football team anyway. And they said, Okay, well you’re you’re able to do that. And that’s when you just say I want to basically hold dummies and be the punching bag for the guys in practice because you know, they don’t really expect you to get a scholarship. Yeah. But that is something that drove me to work extra hard and really, really focus and I wouldn’t do anything my freshman year in college, I would not do anything that I would thought would keep me away from my goal. So there was no I did. I didn’t drink any alcohol. I didn’t drink any sodas. I didn’t do no junk food, I didn’t do anything bad. That would give me an excuse to not get a scholarship. And after my first semester, the coach said, Hey, we’re going to give you a full scholarship. So it ended up working out for me and that was my first big, big win but that was also my first big experience of when you set a big goal and you get it you need to have another goal after that. Are you going to suffer from kind of a an achievement letdown because you’re like, Okay, I got my scholarship now what and that that’s an interesting story in itself, but and then I went on and end up playing with a bunch of other teams and coaching my high school team for a little bit and things like that, but it just, it was really exciting. But I would definitely say it’s not something that my whole life I just wish I could have played football. So all the guys on TV wanting to play football like them. I just happen to have a natural ability was a bigger guy, even though I was one of the smallest defensive linemen in college, but I was quick. So you sound
David Ralph [11:11]
like windy. Do you know that? Rudy?
John DeWitt [11:14]
Yeah, I did. That’s so funny. I’ve actually met him. And when I was playing in the xfl, I signed with the with, with the San Francisco team, and we went off, I signed up, they brought me out. And it was right in the middle of the season, because one of their guys had gotten hurt. And I didn’t have a name on the back of my jersey yet, because they didn’t, they didn’t know for sure you know how long I was going to be there and they didn’t have time. And so they were flying out to Chicago to play the Chicago team. And that was three days after I showed up for practice. And it was it literally was like a movie. The two guys in front of me both got hurt. I ended up going in the game and had one of the best games. I had the most tackles many defensive lineman in that whole game and started doing so well that the stands literally I can believe the stands start. Chanting something and I didn’t know what they were chanting. And then I looked over and one of the coaches next to me is chanting and I’m like, What are they saying? He’s like they’re saying, Rudy, because they don’t have you don’t have a name on the back of your jersey. They don’t know who you are. Yeah.
David Ralph [12:12]
It was pretty exciting that that was one film. If anybody really wants a motivational film, that was one film that really choked me up at the end, just because this one guy just wanted something so much and he didn’t matter what was thrown at him and most of us would acquit most of us who are gone ours there’s no point in his it’s never going to happen. And as I was watching it, I think I I was as emotional on fire as I was on Toy Story three Toy Story. really got me at the end. I don’t know why I was crying like a baby surrounded by five year old kids looking at me like, like a whim. But no, Rudy, did you think that is a true sort of metaphor for life? I know it’s a simplistic way of saying things, john, but if you don’t give up you will achieve it. But do you think there is 100,000 other Rudy’s that never made it that we just don’t know about, even though that they put their heart into something every single day.
John DeWitt [13:08]
Well, it’s interesting, because I mean, there’s a lot of entrepreneurs that are successful out there. And when you ask them, if they if they knew that they were gonna have to go through all the trials and tribulations to get where they are, would they do it again? And a lot of would say no, because they but they are so focused on the goal, they don’t think about what they have to go through. And I personally, when I went to the Houston Oilers, I was a free agent. So I had to earn my spot on the team. And I once again tapped into that super hyper focus was working really hard, but I was also undersized. And I was so focused on the goal that they came up to me during training camp towards the end of training camp during during the cuts where they cut people from the team and the coach came up to me and said, I’m sorry, we got to let you go. And I was just like, Well, can I still practice because I’m already taped up and ready to go. And he’s like, No, you You get to pick up your stuff. And he’s like, we’re gonna send you over to Scotland to play. So that gets you more experience and then bring you back and I was like, Okay, so I’m, I don’t get to play and he’s like no. And so that’s a perfect example of you try and do everything you can and sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you think it’s going to. And I mean, ironically, I went to Scotland and we won the championship in the World League of American football, which was the first bowl game we’ve ever won, which was really exciting. Went back. This is another It was such a weird it’s weird how life works because because we played in the championship game, I came back to the states and I only had a two week break before I had to go back into training camp with the Houston Oilers and mentally physically, I mean everything I that was too soon for me I needed I couldn’t handle it because I my body needed to rest. And I showed up for practice did really well with the boilers and did all the strength tests and lifting weights and running and stuff. But then I was emotionally not prepared enough and not strong enough, like I was the first time that I literally started to focus on instead of focusing on the goal, I started focusing on, I could potentially hurt myself, I could break my neck in practice and things like that. And I literally went in and told the head coach that I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. And I and I left and I’m I don’t know how many people have I mean, they it’s popular now for guys to quit their NFL teams. But it was like, I don’t know, if I was trying to beat them to the punch, because I just sacrificed so much the first time and they let me go. And so I just figured I was going to show them and I would just quit ahead of time, but it was it was a horrible experience. And I’m very thankful coach Fisher was there and he said, I want you to know regardless of what happens that you’re not a quitter, and I thought he’s kind of silly for saying that, but I really appreciate him saying that now because I just didn’t know what to do with myself and then spent the next 10 years of my life tried to get back into that into an NFL team playing all these other leagues, but it just never did happen because I was getting older every year, so just wasn’t gonna work out. So yeah, I
David Ralph [16:10]
think I think we’re all allowed to quit when it’s not right for us, you know, when you find your thing, and you know what it is? And yeah, keep on going. You know, I always talk about myself on this show. But I must have recorded hundreds and hundreds of episodes when hardly anyone was listening. But I just knew that it’s what I needed to do. And so I sort of pushed through, and it’s all coming to the fore now. So if you was in a situation where your dad basically kind of almost threw you on the pitch and you were big and bulky, and you could run vast and stuff, but he’s not in your heart, then I think it’s acceptable to quit. It’s when it’s something that’s in your heart. That’s when you got to go after it.
John DeWitt [16:49]
Right You have to be true to yourself because you’re the only person that knows how you feel about what you’re doing. And if you feel like you know, it’s someone else, it’s forcing you to do it, even if you’re good at something else. If If it’s not what you want to do or what you feel like you’re meant to do, then it’s not gonna work out.
David Ralph [17:04]
Absolutely. Lets play some words now that really cement that, heres Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey [17:08]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love
David Ralph [17:34]
who that is good. It’s very good indeed. So well, when you listen to words like that, you might as well go for what you love. Are you going for what you love now? Or was it what you love the for? Because you’ve got like two different careers. Have you still not found the love?
John DeWitt [17:51]
Go? No, I’ve definitely found the love and that’s what’s so exciting is because it actually incorporates some of the lessons that I learned while playing football. And the doctor of chiropractic degree that I went on to get, and then the sports nutrition and then all the concussion fuss that’s going on over here in the States. And I realised that if, if people are wanting to have play football, or if they want to have their kids play football, they’re worried about concussions, then I need to figure out a way to educate them as much as possible to make it as safe as possible for the kids. So the parents don’t feel guilty thinking that they’re sending them out there and they’re gonna have brain damage later and it’s all their fault. I mean, that you do learn a lot of great lessons. In team sports, I mean, football is just one of them. But in team sports, you realise that you know, you’re just a part of a bigger a bigger hole and you learn discipline, you learn how to how to socialise with other people and how to help other people get what they want, and that helps get you what you want. And it’s all those really important life lessons. So it definitely and it was funny because my wife pointed out she’s like, You are this is so meant for you and so perfect for you because, you know football, you know a lot of these guys you play with a lot of these guys. And I have friends calling me saying, you know, I, my neighbours down the street are pulling their kids out of football because they don’t they don’t want them to have concussions and I’m just like, well, that’s kind of like it’s kind of like a Salem witch hunt right now everybody’s panicked and thinking everybody’s gonna have a concussion if they play football, because they came out with a study recently that said, you know, 99% of professional football players are going to have concussions and CTE and long term brain damage and things like that. But then there was just recently an article in Yahoo Sports by a brain. He was a brain pathologist that study brains for a living, and he has an 11 year old son and he’s like, and my son plays football, and I’ll tell you why he’s like, because that study that came out said 99% of the NFL players have, have, you know, bad issues with brain stuff that’s out of millions and millions of Millions of people that play football. So that is a very skewed biassed study that came out. But everybody’s latching on to that, because it’s really a good, juicy story to have on the news. And he’s like, that’s not it’s just not, it’s not true. And you can get concussions from a variety of other from epilepsy from other, you know, medical conditions. And they had, they’re showing CTE and those people and they never played football. So it’s not. It’s just I just want to make sure everybody’s able to get on the same page and realise, let’s not panic, and let’s not start pulling people out of sports. Let’s just get ourselves more educated on what’s going on, which is why I did the webinar, to help people kind of understand where coaches are coming from where the medical staffs coming from, and just kind of have everybody step back and take a breath and say, okay, what’s the real risk? What can we do to help reduce the risk and that’s when the whole idea of the supplement line came in and things like that.
David Ralph [20:53]
So well, you came to the NDB. Korea. This is the interesting part of the conversation. Really As I say, you put your heart and your soul into it and then you decided it’s not right. So you so you’ve transitioned. What was that bit in the middle when you’re sort of looking around because a lot of people, maybe a stereotypical, but we see end up sitting in bars talking about the glory days for the rest of their life, instead of actually finding someone else to put their teeth into. Was there a period of mourning? Was it Woohoo, time and you just rushed around them? How did you transition?
John DeWitt [21:28]
Well, that’s an interesting thing too, because of the fact that I hadn’t always grown up wanting to be a football player and identified with that as being who I was. And that’s all that mattered in life. I knew the first the year or two when I knew I was starting to get older and started to be the same age as the coaches I was playing for. I said, Alright, I’m not gonna be able to play football forever. What could I do? And each of these teams had chiropractors that work for the team specifically. And so I started asking them you know, you know, what does it take to be a chiropractor, what do you what do you do? My sister is a pharmacist and I even between seasons, went to pharmacy school for a year and decided I didn’t want to be a pill pusher and just trying to cover up the symptoms. I wanted to actually focus more on the entire body more in the holistic approach, and help people know how to be healthier and have better lifestyle choices. So that I literally was playing in an arena football game in Las Vegas against the Indiana team. The game had just it was probably three, four games or Yeah, three, four plays into the game and had an offensive lineman. I had one of the guys roll up trying to block me and blew out my ankle. And I’d already talked to a chiropractic college about you know, getting the process going and was going to start the next season. And he blew up my ankle and I was like Yep, okay, that’s the universe telling me it’s time to stop. And so I called up the school and I said, Can I go ahead and start early and they said sure. And so there was wasn’t a huge gap there which was actually a nice nice thing to Have that not be a gap because a lot of people that I know I mean, I, I was talking to Jeff Fisher when he played for the bears. Walter Payton was there and when Walter Payton retired, he suffered major depression. Because Because after you’re used to going out and hearing 10s, and hundreds of thousands of people yelling and screaming, your name and your all over TV now, all of a sudden, you’re expected to get like a regular job. I mean, there’s no, there’s no job that’s gonna have people yelling and screaming and clapping for you. So it just takes a big change in a big shift. I mean, luckily, or I mean, I consider it lucky now, but but at the time, I didn’t but if since I wasn’t as you know, big superstar recognised, you know, marquee player, then that would have been a big change and hard for me. But because I wasn’t I mean, I still you know, I was just kind of the workhorse guy that would get in there and whereas hard hat and get his work done, and then you know, be done. I I was able to make that transition a little easier. I am because I went to Vanderbilt. I like to I like to think that I had enough cognitive ability to kind of figure out okay, what I like, I like biology, I like anatomy, I want to work, you know, in that capacity somehow What can I do? I’ll be a chiropractor. Okay, I’ll do that. And then even after that after chiropractor school, when I graduated, that was right in the middle of the big real estate bust that happened out here in California, especially. And it was just insane. And there were no salaried positions. And there were no I mean, it was all you know, you bring in people and you get to keep half of whatever you you collect from them. And I was just kind of like, oh, man, that’s not really what I was hoping for, either.
David Ralph [24:41]
So was that a good transition to actually work for yourself, but
John DeWitt [24:45]
Well, yeah, well, I, I was renting space at first, just renting space and an office down down the way and then I decided to partner up with a guy up here in Orange County. That’s really successful, super, super busy practice. And see thousands of people a week, which is great, getting great experience interacting with people and helping them. But even then, at the same time, it wasn’t it just there was always just something missing. I’m like, Okay, I’m helping a lot of people. That’s good. What there’s, there’s this nagging thing every, every night, when you’re going to bed, you’re kind of like to feel like there’s something more, there’s got to be something more. And so that’s when I, when that movie concussion came out in 2015. I was like, oh, what can I What can I do to help these people that are they’re worried about this, they might have experienced this already. And that’s when the whole idea of doing the concussion class and the book and I mean, I was amazed because I had a farm in Arkansas when I was a kid and we had horses and stuff like that, that there’s a huge percentage of people that that ride horses, equestrians, and rodeo guys and stuff like that, that have concussions because they don’t want to wear the helmet helmets like they’re supposed to and stuff like that. So it’s a huge group of people that need this information. And so I figured, I don’t really think see a lot of that out there. So I need to get out the information from somebody that’s experienced concussions themselves and can help with that.
David Ralph [26:06]
This is brilliant, isn’t it? This is one of those stories that really does join up all your dots. You know, almost every part of your life. It was screaming at you what you will be doing in the future. But of course, you had to wait until that film came out, which I haven’t seen myself. So what was it about that film? Do you remember sort of half watching it and half thinking oh, my God, and the brain had gone because you were focused on your future?
John DeWitt [26:31]
Right? Right. Well, what happened was I was watching the movie and it took me a long time to watch the movie cuz cuz my wife she watched it and she was like, I don’t know if you should watch it or not. And I was like, No, no, I’m gonna watch it. And it’s about Dr. omalu. He’s from another country. It was Ethiopia or Kenya or something like that. He’d never played football. And he was a genius at neurology, pathology issues with the brain and he came out and discovered that He was, this was this was crazy there was a guy. Webster was his last name he played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a lineman and huge superstar made all this money and retired and they found out that he was actually living in his car. And he couldn’t, he couldn’t think straight and he would like pull his teeth out with pliers. Just because just just because and then he would like superglue him back in. He would like he had to like taser himself just to be able to sleep at night, because he was in so much pain. And he ended up dying and this guy ended up or his body ended up going to Dr. molars office for him to take a look at him. And so he when he did the when he did the autopsy to see exactly what was going on. He expected his brain to be like Swiss cheese like an Alzheimer’s kind of brain. But when you open up the brain, it looked fine on the outside. He was like wait a minute, this that doesn’t make any sense. So what he did is he got he did all these microscopic analysis and all this and discovered these proteins called tau proteins that were clumped up in patches all throughout the brain. And what that does is it blocks the nerve impulses from being able to communicate. So that’s why he was having all these weird emotional things and rage and depression. And it’s because his brain wasn’t able to make the connections anymore. And so he came up with the term chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and he connected it to football and he said, You know, this is connected to football and he should not play football. And it just an idea I, you know, I appreciate everything that he’s come up with, and he’s come up with a second book recently and he’s, you know, on all the speaking tours, talking about how he says no one under the age of 18 should play football. And I’m just like, Okay, wait, step back a minute. Wait a minute, because there are a lot of kids, especially in the lower income areas. The states where that’s their ticket out of there of that poverty is to play football, get a scholarship to play football in college. And you can’t do that if you don’t play football until you’re 18. Because that’s when college starts. So there has to be something else you can’t and I and I, like I said, respect everything he’s done. I know he’s a really well written guy, and he knows what he’s talking about. But I at the same time, I think there’s a little bit of it, of him jumping on the bandwagon of everybody’s gonna get it if you play football, so nobody play football. And it’s just not. I don’t think that’s a good approach. I think you need to see both sides of the story. And that way parents and people that are interested in playing can make an educated decision on what they want to do as far as football goes.
David Ralph [29:46]
You’ve got great branding, haven’t you really but you are somebody that has walked the walk and can talk the talk, you know, you’ve been there is not some doctor who’s just looking in the medical books and coming up with a theory you’ve actually seen seen. So, have you seen players that literally have because I don’t think I’ve ever been concussed in my life, if I don’t remember, probably because I’ve been concussed, but um, how do you know how do you know if somebody has got concussion? If they just bang their head a little bit?
John DeWitt [30:18]
what they do, they do what they call sideline assessments. And back in the day when I was playing, it was fine. I can’t believe I’m saying back in the day like I’m 100 years old, so weird, but um, but back then, especially when I was playing professionally, if you know, they used to call it getting your bell rung where you hit heads with a guy or something. You go cross eyed for a minute, maybe you’ve maybe you lose consciousness. Maybe you don’t. I mean, it’s only 5% of people that have concussions actually get knocked all the way out. And so if you I went cross eyed once that was in practice, but you don’t say anything to anybody because you don’t want to lose your job. You don’t want them to say oh, you need to get checked out by the trainer. Yeah, and back then you literally you know, you wanted to be the big tough guy that could take anything and keep hitting me. I’m good. I’m good. I’m strong and whatever. But they’ve come out with some really great tests now. One of them is the King devic test that it has a really easy, it has four different cards, it has a test card and three additional cards that have little numbers on them. And all you have to do, I mean, they do a basic assessment when somebody is injured in a game, they’ll come up, they’ll ask them Do you know where you are, you know, they’ll have them squeeze their fingers and make sure their strength is the same. Make sure they’re you know, aware of where they are, what day it is, who they’re playing, who they played the week before, things like that, just to make sure that they’re aware of what’s going on. And then they can take them out on the sidelines and hold up these cards. And the important crucial thing is and one of my goals, at least in the states to start is to have every school have baseline concussion assessments done. On every student I know every student is a little much so every athlete at least. And that way if they go in, they they time you to see how fast you can reach These numbers, and then the numbers get closer together and kind of a little more scrambled. So it’s a little harder as you progress, but you get a baseline test and that’s their time. And then say that same person gets concussed in a game, you come up to them you haven’t read the card. And if they’re in if their time is any slower at all or if they have errors, they don’t read the right numbers they read something different like it shouldn’t they shouldn’t then you know, they’re having cognitive dysfunction and they have to be pulled from a game and there’s a whole protocol of returning to play returning to school. It’s all about resting people used to say if you have a concussion to learn, go to sleep because they could die and that’s the least last thing you want to do. You want to make sure obviously you check their pupils to make sure no one’s not dilated and the other one constricted because that indicates a what they call it a subdural hematoma, which is a brain bleed. That’s one of the major you know dangers of concussions. But you have to you have to have your rest you have to in this day and age, you have to make sure they’re not texting too much. If they’re kids, they’re not playing their video game. too much, because that stimulates the brain too much it needs time to rest. But that’s one of the things I realised after concussion. There, the cerebral blood flow decreases by up to 50% for seven to 10 days. So that’s why one of the things I came up with with the supplements is something that’s going to increase the blood flow to help make sure that it’s able to have that that life giving blood help heal it faster. But there’s also a variety of other technical things that I won’t go into too much because it’s, it’s called the neuro match the neuro metabolic changes that happen in the brain that there’s a big energy deficiency because it’s trying to pump potassium back into the nerve cell, because potassium is flowing out because of the impact. And as it does that there’s calcium going into the cell and the whole it goes into the Krebs cycle and there’s a shortage of ATP. And so then there’s another reason why you need to increase the omega three fatty acids because those have been shown to help boost cell memory. Brain strength so that can actually heal the brain after it’s been concussed. And it can actually strengthen those cell membranes that can also give you another layer of protection against concussions. And it’s so funny because my, some of the folks that I’ve been consulting with are saying, you know, you can’t say that if you’re going to take a supplement, it’s going to keep you from getting a concussion. And that’s not what I’m saying. I’m just saying it’s going to give you an additional layer of protection because nothing even the helmets now they’re proving aren’t able to make you invincible to concussions and so obviously supplements not either, but this is just another layer of protection. I couldn’t believe in the first game of the season this year five players on the Texans team got pulled out because they got concussions. And there’s that’s the only time I heard about any concussions. So I’m like, What happened? Why is it the Texans that are only having the concussions I thought that was odd. But I
David Ralph [34:50]
do generally though, john Delaney, because I would imagine sort of in American football, be out Come on, don’t be a girl. Get back in there. You’re right. You know, it Pretty much in it.
John DeWitt [35:01]
Well, yeah, but but especially now because of the big scare of concussions, they want to make sure they’re not going to get sued for something later. And so they’re they’re very quick to pull players out and say, Okay, well we’re gonna have to take you out for the concussion assessment. And it’s they have an independent assessor comes in to make sure that they’re okay before they go back in the game. I mean, that’s just part of it. That’s why there’s so many younger NFL players that are starting to retire early now because they’re worried about the the long term effects of concussions. But like I said, it’s it’s understandable to be worried but just have have a little more education on what’s going on and what the real risk is. Because, I mean, personally for me, the whole reason I got into this really is because my dad, as you mentioned earlier, his dad died of advanced dementia and Alzheimer’s when he was 72. My dad, actually he’s 73 right now, and he’s got some short term memory issues going on that scared me half to death because he didn’t he stopped playing when he was a junior and School. So on a selfish note, I’m coming out with this stuff so that I can take it so that I make sure that I’m doing everything I can so that I don’t forget who I am in a couple of years.
David Ralph [36:10]
And then how do you know it’s medically kind of proven? And it’s not, you know, I’ve got this image of you going down in your basement and your chemistry set and and creating a kind of madness down there?
John DeWitt [36:22]
No, no, well, there’s hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of research articles out there, you just have to look for them. And there’s also something that the FDA, the FDA has approved the statement there. They can’t approve the actual substance for some reason, but they’ve approved the statement that foster title searing which is in my supplement has been shown to reduce the effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and dementia. So they’ve already approved that Yeah, okay, that does that foster title searing does do that. So I made sure I put that in the supplement as well. And the all the studies are out there. The one thing with the studies is you need to make sure with the supplements that you have the same concentration of whatever ingredient It is, in your supplement that that was used in the studies that they’re talking about, like for example, St. John’s wort was a really popular thing for depression a few years ago. Yeah, and I do have some St. John’s wort in the supplement, but it’s not at the same concentration that a lot of the studies were done at, because personally, a lot of the studies when I was reading, there were a lot of negative side effects and interactions with other medications at that particular concentration. So I decided it would be safer to have a lower concentration of that in the supplement. But then some of the other basic herbal things are like gingko biloba been posted to pears, Na, all these different herbs that they’ve been using back east in Eastern medicine for years, if not centuries. So it’s all been proven, you know, working out there, so if there’s still time Get out there it still works and it’s just taken a long time to get back to the west West Coast out here I guess how
David Ralph [38:06]
do we know the combined mixture is a suitable How would I know? being sort of a devil’s advocate, but I take it for you know, trauma and then I wake up the next morning with enormous testicles or something which we didn’t expect. I know.
John DeWitt [38:25]
Right? Well what happens is is you’re gonna submit
David Ralph [38:30]
because I want to know this testicle. Sir. I really do not want enormous test testicle. I’m
John DeWitt [38:34]
sure they’re big enough already. So what what what you can do is on the on the website as well, it’s at my brain med comm they have. There’s a research section that has multiple studies, I posted the actual research articles so they can read them themselves to see that this all works. There’s no interactions with those two drugs. There’s four of those, they call them no tropic herbs for the no tropic herbs and they’re all All are meant to increase that cerebral blood flow. And so that’s what’s gonna help to heal the brain faster. And as far as any negative side effects, things like that. They’re all natural herbs. Some people are sensitive that some people aren’t, but there’s not going to be any major toxic side effect like a prescription medication. That’s one of the biggest things like was St. John’s wort. Compared to back then they were using Prozac for depression, St. John’s wort had maybe a 5% chance of a negative interaction where the other one had a laundry list of negative interactions and side effects. So it’s just a safer way to to try it’s like taking vitamin C. I mean, you just take that if you take too much vitamin C, you’ll get diarrhoea and that’ll let you know that okay, it took too much. That’s pretty much the worst side effect you’re gonna have worst case scenario, if you take it and you don’t like it, we have an empty body, empty bottle policy where you just send us back the empty bottle and you get a full refund. So it’s like, okay, you take it and You know, some some some medication, some supplements do take at least four to six weeks to start showing the effects. So you got to give it a good shot. But if you don’t think it works, then just send us the bottle and we’ll send you your money back. So it’s not really going to cost you anything.
David Ralph [40:16]
So easy this up just before we sort of bring you to the end of the show. Is this your big thing? Is this your legacy work? Or are you going to be bringing out other stuff?
John DeWitt [40:26]
Oh, there are, there’s going to be multiple stuff because there’s so many more studies, I found out there’s so many different things that can help the brain health. And I’m just coming out with these two. And then I’ll probably be adding at least another four or five over the years. But this is this is definitely This is my baby. This is the reason that I’m on this planet is to help people and to optimise this formula, and I look for feedback from people if they you know think oh, you know, it was good, but not quite, you know, whatever. Then I’m welcome all those critiques so that I can tweak the formula and get the updated version. Whatever, you know, 2.0 or that needs to be out there to make it as effective as possible.
David Ralph [41:05]
I think what you need to do you need to sell out a potion that makes ladies feel very sexy after a hard day’s work. That’s what you need to do and you’d be a multimillionaire me instantly.
John DeWitt [41:15]
I think that’s called shark. Ne.
Unknown Speaker [41:18]
Yeah,
David Ralph [41:19]
yeah. The trouble is, after four bottles of Chardonnay, it goes out the window. That’s the problem. That’s the problem is it’s the quantity of Chardonnay that my wife consumes. So let’s play some words. Now, just before we bring you to the end of the show. And these are words that Steve Jobs said back in 2005 and created the whole theme of the show. Here we go.
Steve Jobs [41:39]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college, but it was very, very clear looking backwards. 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something your gut Destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [42:13]
So if those words applied rather nicely to you, I would imagine
John DeWitt [42:17]
absolutely, absolutely 100%
David Ralph [42:20]
so when you look back on your life, as I always ask everyone, john is a big.in your life when you look back, and you go God? Yeah, if it wasn’t that one thing, I really don’t think I’d be where I am today.
John DeWitt [42:34]
I absolutely. And I think it’s what I mentioned before, when I left the Houston Oilers and literally told people that I left and people didn’t believe me because they’re like, Nobody leaves an NFL team. I think doing that was when I finally was standing up for what I personally felt like needed to be needed to be done. I just for whatever reason, if I was focusing on, you know, not focusing on the goal or focusing on the downside, not the upside. I don’t know But I think that if I had not done that, then I would not be where I am today.
David Ralph [43:04]
I think you’re doing really good work. You know, I’ve looked around your website, I watched your webinar. And there’s there’s a hell of a lot of upscaling. But people don’t appreciate, on building a business, not least, the sort of the sales funnels, the technical staff, the the education that has got you into this position. It feels like you’re part of a journey that’s almost over, but he’s only starting as well, isn’t it?
John DeWitt [43:29]
Oh, yeah, it’s definitely definitely the early, early part of the journey. I’m just trying to make sure I pack everything I need.
David Ralph [43:35]
Well, as long as you’ve got your toothbrush, and and a packet of Trojans after the four bottles of Chardonnay, you’ll be you’ll be you’ll be fine. You’ll be fine. Oh,
Unknown Speaker [43:43]
good. I like it. I like it, it will be perfect.
David Ralph [43:46]
Well, this is the end of the show now. And this is the part that we called a sermon on the mic when we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the younger John DeWItt, what advice would you give and what age would you choose as well? Well, we’re gonna find Because I’m going to play the theme, and when it fades, you’re up. This is the Sermon on the mind.
Unknown Speaker [44:14]
With the best bit of the show,
John DeWitt [44:29]
okay, you’re gonna have a lot of people telling you what they think you should do with your life. They’re gonna be people saying you should play football that you should. You should not play football, you should be a Doctor of Medicine being a surgeon via you have to be able to be strong in yourself and know what it is that you want in your heart. You have to just follow your heart in those quiet times before you go to bed. Just kind of do a little deep breathing. And just be like, Hey, is this what I want to do? Or should I try something else and sometimes, trying something else can be really scary. But just know if in your heart of hearts, if it feels like that’s what you’re supposed to do, that’s what you’re meant to do, then you should you should do that even that even if that means that you’re going to have to step away from something that a lot of other people that you care about think you should do. That might not necessarily be the case. You have to be true to yourself because at the end of the day, it’s only you that’s looking back at you in the mirror, and you have to be proud of what you’ve done and the decisions you make. And know that when you get there, there’s no one that got you there. But you’re deciding to do it yourself and you’re not gonna have anybody to blame. You don’t want any excuses. You want your life to be your own and know when you get there that that is where you want to be because your gut, your heart, your inner, inner spirit, wanted it so badly, you have to listen to that. Because God wouldn’t put a vision in your mind or in your heart, if he didn’t mean for you to have it. And you don’t have to know how to get there. It could be tricky, but you just have to focus. Lightning focus, every single thing you do is just laser focused on what you want to do and keep going back and double check in with yourself be like, Hey, does that feel like what I need to be doing? And if it does, then keep going. And if it doesn’t, then you need to make a diversion and kind of change the route because every trip on an aeroplane they don’t they don’t just say okay, I’m going to fly from Dallas, to London. There’s all kinds of course corrections throughout that that journey because of the cross winds, trade winds, all that stuff. So you always have to be making different corrections to get to where you want to go. But as long as you’re checking in with yourself and your true self and your heart, you’re gonna get to where you want to be.
David Ralph [46:56]
Right advice and great advice for all of us and anybody They John DeWitt who’s interested in finding out more about trauma and the work that you’re doing, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you?
John DeWitt [47:09]
On the web class would probably be the best. It’s a free web class. It’s a concussion, class calm. And then if they wanted to get more information specifically about what’s in the supplements that is at my brain med calm.
David Ralph [47:24]
But you’re gonna say something else. Now as well, you need sound sound like there was a list on the way, john, we will have all the links on the show notes to make it as easy as possible for everyone to connect with you. But thank you so much for spending time with us today, joining up those dots of your life. And please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up. Because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures. John Dewitt, thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker [47:48]
Thank you so much, David.
David Ralph [47:52]
John DeWitt, American football player x American football player, and I’ll be honest, I don’t know anything about American football. No any shape or form, although I have been to one game in my life, and so a quarterback called Jake Plummer from the Arizona Cardinals only play that I remember. And he had a good afternoon, apparently, I don’t know. But fascinating stuff. And what I liked about that was the fact that he was willing to upskill himself, you know, everything we talk about on Join Up Dots is rarely about just finding your path. And just just being there being is perfect. And you just go, Well, this is easy. You gotta walk through, you might find your path. You might think, Oh, this is a great idea. But then the real work starts but as long as you found that thing that seems like a right idea to you. You can work through anything you really can. And it’s all online. You can get yourself a coach, get yourself a mentor, whatever, you can listen to podcast, but it’s finding out things. First of all, John DeWitt done it through his history, and I’m sure that all of you will do it as well. Thank you so much for listening to Join Up Dots. And we will see you again soon. Cheers. See ya. Bye bye.
Unknown Speaker [48:57]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version. Have the brilliant sell fewer wants to become. So he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to Join Up dots.com to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on Join Up Dots.
