60 - The Quitproof Mindset with Tom Jones

If you’ve ever quit on yourself during a task, a challenge, or a mission, then you owe it to yourself to sit down and take a listen to my next guest. His challenging upbringing motivated him to seek refuge in the United States Marine Corp where he graduated number one in his class.  He then went on to work for martial arts actor, Chuck Norris who become a mentor and role model to him.  He's a world record holder, an extreme athlete and has an impressive history of completing extreme physical challenges, including running from Huntington beach, California to New York city at a marathon pace for 121 consecutive days setting the first ever stand-up paddleboard long distance world record by paddleboarding 1,250 miles from Oregon to Mexico in 93 days, a seven-time Muay Thai champion and that’s just a few things that he's completed in the first part of his life.

 

Tom shares details from his childhood and why he has fought so hard to become the man he is today. He was removed from his home while his father had cancer, kidney disease and tuberculosis, and was very ill his entire life. His mother was mentally ill and was never available. When he was 12 years old, he was removed from his home by the state of California for child abuse and was put in a facility with 150 other kids where he suffered sexual abuse at the hands of some of the house parents.  At 17 he ran away from the facility and joined the United States Marine Corps where he learned leadership skills that would carry him through the rest of his life. After leaving the Marine Corps Tom started working for martial arts actor, Chuck Norris who was a great role model for Tom and eventually a great sparring partner.  Tom continued to have strong role models in his life, including Glenn McCusker, the owner and CEO of Viking Components, and his wife, April. The couple became friends and mentors to Jones when he became McCusker’s bodyguard and personal trainer. They also showed Tom something he’d never seen before, a functional family where the parents and children are happy.

 

In 1998, Tom took a tour of Orangewood Children’s Home and felt compelled to help the children's facility buy a playground. He decided that he was going to run from Oregon to Mexico on foot and stop at foster care facilities along the way to share his story to inspire people to give towards the playground. At that point he had a few fighting titles and felt that he could empower children who’d had a similar upbringing as him by sharing his own story of overcoming and encouraging them that they too could do anything they set their mind to.

 

It was at this time that Tom had an “aha” moment in his life. He had a revelation that his calling was to give and empower others. It was the first time in his life that he truly felt great about himself and what he did. He never felt great about beating people in the ring physically. But when he dedicated the playground, it was a wonderful, life changing experience. 

 

To date, Tom has run 347 marathons for non-profits!  What keeps him motivated to finish those races?  He talks about the times that he has sat on the side of the road, crying his eyes out because his body is breaking down, he’s exhausted, his toenails are falling off…But it is at those moments when he goes back to his “why.”  “Whatever your, why is, you've got to make sure that it’s strong enough to drive you through the adversity of it all. You must accept the fact that life is inherently challenging and that's in my opinion, for a reason, it's to push us forward.”

 

When Tom was running for children’s causes, he knew that there were children waiting ahead of him to hear his story. And he knew there were children behind him that were positively impacted from hearing his story, so he made a pact with himself to never quit on them. “I would quit on myself a million times over, but I wasn't going to quit on them.

 

When he’s asked, “how do you do it” he shares his mental process when he agreed to do 76 consecutive marathons:

• He visualizes in his mind that he has completed the challenge. That he has already won in his mind.
• He uses as many other senses as possible as part of the process: For example: He would hear people cheering. He would see it, smell it, taste it, everything, to make it more real to his brain

 

Tom also talks about his daily dose of insight and inspiration.  His goal is to land little bits and pieces of the vast toolbox that he’s accumulated. He has developed a sentinel in his mind that alerts him when he’s starting to spiral downward. He explains that for him, thoughts become words, words, become actions, actions become habits. Instead of entertaining negative thoughts, he interjects with a power statement. He redirects into a positive mindset and then maintains that positive mindset.

 

Faith and patriotism have also played an important role in Tom’s "Quitproof" mindset, carrying him through the heartbreak of having to shutter his thriving fitness center during COVID.  Tom talks about how he eventually ended up working in a shipyard for a year, scraping barnacles off the bottom of boats and repainting them. However, since he was the only veteran there, they had him put the flag up every morning and take it down every night. When he was putting the flag up every morning Tom would salute it and say a prayer that went something like this… “God, I know that you have something better planned for me then this, I know you do. But can we kind of hurry it up?" It was after this season of working in the shipyard that Tom got approached to do 76 consecutive marathons for United We Pledge to bring attention to their Liberty Village project.  United We Pledge’s goal for the Liberty Village is to restore patriotism in the youth and citizens through educational programs that celebrate freedom, family, and faith.

 

Tom explains that for him, his gut, his mind, and his heart must be in alignment before he will say yes to a challenge or project.   When United We Pledge asked him to participate in the project, he first knew in his gut that he should say “yes” to the offer.  “My gut said, oh, go for it…do it!  And then suddenly, my heart was compelled. My heart was like, you got to do this. You're a Patriot. You've got to do this. And my mind was like, this makes sense. This is resounding. Yes. And my mouth was like, let's go for it. I'm in.” The culmination of 76 consecutive marathons took Tom 1,968 miles on foot from the American Village in Montevallo, Alabama, to the future site of the Liberty Village in Hurricane, UT.

 

Heather and Tom also discuss intuition and how it is one of the five mountains (physical, spiritual, mental, intuitional and Kokoro – heart, mind, spirit) that Tom embraces as it relates to his “Quitproof” mindset.  Part of embracing the five mountains is reconciling that setbacks are part of the process to success. They are on the path to success. There are bumps in the road, but Tom’s mentality is that you must keep going because pain is only temporary.   

 

Ultimately, Tom believes that his purpose is to be a guide and a mentor for other people to become the best integrated versions of themselves that they could possibly be.

 

Be on the lookout for upcoming Tom “Quitproof” Jones’ projects:

• Hydrofoil board challenge – 1,000 miles in 10 days
• Tribute to turning 60 – Run 50 miles a day, for 50 consecutive days at 60 years old!

 

Connect with Tom:

Website:  https://www.quitproof.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quitproof1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quitproof1/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_2RX39JPaVsKePaXJPHJqQ/videos

United We Pledge:  https://unitedwepledge.org