Embracing Life’s Battles: A Conversation with Terry Tucker

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Episode Topics:

• Discover how Terry Tucker turned his battle with rare cancer into life lessons for us all.
• Learn about the power of mindset and how it can shape our reactions to life’s challenges.
• Gain insights into the importance of purpose and how it can drive us even in the face of adversity.
• Hear a firsthand account of resilience, determination, and the human spirit’s capacity to overcome.
• Be inspired to live your life in a way that leaves a lasting legacy.

 

Rick Jordan  

Hey, what’s shakin, hey, I’m Rick Jordan. Today, we’re going all in. Today we’re going to be talking about a lot of sustainable excellence when you get to that peak and how you continue to stay at that peak is going to be one of the things we’re talking about, but even the journey to that, and I know that that’s the thing, right? You always want to get there, but then you want to stay there, because who cares? If you’re just a flash in the pan? What’s the big deal if you’re just a flash in the pan? My guest today is amazing. And you’re gonna want to share this with three people. I’m asking you to share this with three people because we don’t promote take sponsors, or anything. We depend on you, I depend on you to be part of this army to bring a lot of truth to the world. Because today, my guest has been you ready for this? This is amazing. an NCAA basketball player, a citadel cadet, a marketing executive hospital administrator, an undercover narcotics investigator, a SWAT team hostage negotiator, a business owner, a motivational speaker, an author, and most recently, a cancer warrior. He’s the author of Sustainable Excellence, which is why we’re talking about that today. 10 principles to living your uncommon and extraordinary life. Terry Tucker, welcome to the show.

 

Terry Tucker  

Thank you, Rick, I appreciate it. I’m looking forward to talking to you today.

 

Rick Jordan  

Man, I’m excited because with everything you’ve done, you know, and this is the theme, right? Sustainable excellence, because there’s no way that you can stay a good NCAA basketball player, or a marketing executive, or a SWAT team hostage negotiator. Unless you’re always at that peak level.

 

Terry Tucker  

Oh, absolutely. I mean, that’s, that’s, you know, I look at my resume sometimes and think one of these days, I’m going to figure out what I’m going to do when I grow up. But on the other hand, I’ve been extremely fortunate to work in some, you know, I mean, that marketing job was at Wendy’s and their corporate headquarters, you know, in the heyday of kind of fast food and things like that hospital administration, I worked for a very young CEO that went on to become the president and CEO of Henry Ford Health Systems. You know, I, you know, my basketball coaches in college were you know, guys that were my, my coach, the head coach is the only person to coach three NCAA division one schools and be the athletic director of those schools. So I’ve been very fortunate in the people that I have been able to surround myself with.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible, man. And when you’re talking you were the market, I immediately thought what was uh, where’s the beef or something like that was one of the where’s the beef? Exactly. That’s when you were with Wendy’s. That’s awesome, man. Oh, my goodness, I really remember those commercials man back when, you know, watching TV was a thing. You know, now it’s now it’s streaming. And it’s, that’s this is a squirrel to chase. But it’s interesting because I think I’m still paying less than cable. You know, I just don’t have the annoying commercials now even though I have like 18 different streaming services, you know, between Netflix, Disney plus HBO? All the things that are out there. That was one of the best things, you know, and I think people still watch the Super Bowls for commercials these days, or even just for commercials. And that was one of the best men was that your brainchild? Where’s the beef?

 

Terry Tucker  

I wish it was my brainchild. You think about I mean, Clara Peller, the woman who used those lines was like an 86-year-old former beauty operator. You know, hair stylists who all of a sudden rose to fame, you know, in the very late part of her life. I mean, so you know, you keep hitting the wall. Eventually, you have to break through.

 

Rick Jordan  

Love to have her on the show and see, you know, because you’ve got 18 things listed out that you’ve done. I wonder if she would be like, where’s the beef lady or something? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That’s hilarious. Unfortunately,

 

Terry Tucker  

She’s no longer with us. But that’s

 

Rick Jordan  

for sure. Oh, I’m sorry. Well, I didn’t know that. Oh, I guess that would be the case. Because that was back in the 80s, wasn’t it? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, I didn’t do the math in my head right there. Yeah, it was absolutely incredible. Well, anyway, it’s an homage then. Exactly, because it was absolutely incredible. With everything that you’ve been through, you know, because even in marketing because marketing is constantly changing, you know, business is constantly changing. Even take a look at this past year and a half being could you imagine yourself still as a hospital administrator over the past year and a half?

 

Terry Tucker  

No, I really couldn’t. And you know, and it’s interesting to now be sort of on the other side of that being, you know, a cancer patient. And having spent you know, that 10 years of my career in hospital administration and a fairly large hospital, we were 5000 employees about 1100 beds. So we were a large organization, and just all that you need, you’re constantly having to innovate, what are we doing next? And, you know, I remember the coach of Kentucky whose name Tyler Perry, Jim Kala Perry, who talks about you know, the health of a university you can always tell by how many cranes there are, you know, around the campus, that same thing. You know, when I was in hospital administration, what do we build in our building the hearts that are we’re building the cancer center, we’re updating our ER and things like that. So you know, it’s constant innovation. If you don’t, you’re going to end up being left in the lurch.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s an interesting perspective. So if you’re driving by a hospital, just like a college campus, you want to look to see if there’s new construction.

 

Terry Tucker  

Exactly. And what are they doing? What’s the latest and greatest that they’re doing?

 

Rick Jordan  

Wow, that’s interesting, you know, and I think about the hospital that’s closest to me, and it’s almost all the time that they’re building something. I mean, they’re a top 100 hospital or something like that across the US, you know, but it’s always a new weeing, a new outlet, building something new Surgery Center, something like that. That’s incredible. So is that one of the keys to really kind of sustainable excellence is constant innovation and always building something new?

 

Terry Tucker  

I think so. I mean, whether you’re talking about an organization whether you’re talking about yourself, you know, are what are you doing to continue to move forward? I always go back to the Shawshank Redemption movie great quote, get busy, get busy dying, you know, if you’re not growing, then you’re dying. So you constantly have to be keep, have to keep moving forward. And so many people in life don’t do that. They just get to a point in it, you know, keeping with the movie vernacular here, you know, Groundhog’s Day, you know, the same thing over and over. Same day, same thing next day, same thing,

 

Rick Jordan  

Man, your classics here, but now you’re inspiring me? Because, you know, my twins are 14. And they haven’t seen Shawshank Redemption yet. Yeah. You know, and that was probably one of them movies that came out. It was probably like 42 probably when I was 14, you know, somewhere around that time? Yeah, like early early 90s, wasn’t it? Yeah. I’m

 

Terry Tucker  

just gonna say somewhere in the night. Yeah,

 

Rick Jordan  

it’s a good time for them to watch it, too. With Tim Robbins, and Morgan Freeman, a man that was just, there’s a lot of life lessons in that when you look at it.

 

Terry Tucker  

There certainly is. And that’s, you know, I love that analogy of, you know, if you’re not growing, then you’re dying, and you don’t want to be dying. You want to continue moving forward,

 

Rick Jordan  

for sure. Well, that’s a that’s a stagnant area. Isn’t it, though, that you just think, well, well, I’m not doing anything new right now. You know, I’m just maintaining, I’ve heard that concept too. But I, I would think that maintenance in some way, if that’s the only thing you’re doing kind of clashes with sustainable excellence.

 

Terry Tucker  

Yeah, it does. I mean, if you’re, if you’re just maintaining, I mean, if you think about our brains, you know, our brains are hard-wired to avoid pain and discomfort and to seek pleasure. So to the brain, the status quo is good. You know, don’t don’t mess with it. Leave it the way it is. Don’t try anything new. But the only way we’re going to grow it, the only way we’re going to get better is if we step outside that comfort zone. But as soon as you do that, your brain is going to start attacking you. I mean, Rick would be like, if you get up this morning and said, You know what, I’m gonna go skydiving, the first thing, I mean, your brain would kick in, it would be like, wait a minute, hey, the parachute may not open or the plane might crash, or all these kinds of things that your brain will put into your mind to prevent you from doing that. But again, the only way you’re going to grow, the only way you’re going to get better is if you step outside that comfort zone. And I always tell people, you need to do one thing every single day that makes them uncomfortable, that makes you nervous, it potentially could be embarrassing for you. Because if you do that when the really big things in life come around, you’re going to be able to handle those, you’re going to have the attitude, you’re going to have everything you need inside you to make sure that you conquer whatever’s in front of you.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s interesting, because I think back on my life, and I can’t really think of any scenario where I’ve been comfortable where I’m at, you know, is there a place? And this is a deep question for you. Is there a place where you can go too far, in constantly trying to reinvent and innovate yourself? Is there a threshold there to where it crosses to be unhealthy?

 

Terry Tucker  

I mean, that’s a great question. I’ve never thought about it that way. I’m, I’m sure there probably is, you know, we always talk about, you know, pushing the limits and things like that. But I mean, we’re human beings, there’s, there’s a point in time where, you know, your body just can’t do anymore, whether it’s whether it’s age, or disease or, or whatever, whatever that is, but that is so far down the road. I recall a study I read about back in the 1950s. That was done at Johns Hopkins, where a professor took rats, and put them in a tank of water that was over their head, and he wanted to see how long they could tread water. And so he put them all in the water and the average rat was about 15 minutes, and just as the rats were getting ready to drown, he reached in, pulled them out, dried them off, and let them rest for a while and then put them back in that same tank of water. And the second time around, on average, the rats trod water for 60 hours. Well, think about that 15 minutes the first time, this is the best I can do now I’m going to drown. The second time 60 hours, tells me two things, one, the power of hope in our lives, that we always have to be hoping for something better that there’s always something on the other side, whatever pain we’re going through, and to how much more our bodies can give to ourselves than we ever thought that they could do. You know, the Navy SEALs talk about their 40% rule, which kind of dovetails with this story that, you know, if you’re at the end of your rope, you can’t do another push-up or run another lap, or, you know, or swim another mile, you only have 40% of your maximum, and you still have 60% left to give to yourself. So if you ever get to that point where you think, Oh, I can’t go on, trust me, your body can do a whole lot more than you think it can.

 

Rick Jordan  

Man, that’s incredible. That’s, that’s just encouraging too, because you think about those individuals who may be feeling like they’re up against the wall, you know, almost like there’s no way out. But they’ve already had, you know, maybe even just super recently, just an experience to where it almost broke them, like that rat, right to where they almost broke up. And then all of a sudden, they get past that scenario, you know, to where they felt like they would have lost their mind or lost, you know, maybe even physical harm or something like that, you know, drowning, just like the rats. And then it comes to the point where it’s like that one moment is over. It’s like, wow, I survived that. That means that whatever I have to do now, I sure as hell I’m gonna get through that. It doesn’t matter the amount of time or endurance that it can take because I just survived something pretty horrible.

 

Terry Tucker  

Right? Yeah, exactly. And that’s, you know, I’ve always said, everything we need to be successful in life is already inside us, we just need to find it, pull it out, and use it to our advantage. And so I just, I’m amazed. I mean, I’ve had a nine-year battle with cancer, where I’ve, I’ve had my foot amputated. And last year, I had my leg amputated. And, you know, I had a, I had a nurse recently asked me, you know, what was that like? And, you know, it was terrible. I mean, I’m not gonna sit here and tell you it was, you know, it was great. But I recall back to, I believe it was, again, we’re going back to the 90s. Let’s go a little nostalgic. And, you know, back to the 90s, when Jim Valvano, the coach of North Carolina State, won that award at the ESPYs to the ESPN Entertainment Awards for courage as he was dying of cancer. And he, I remember him saying, you know, cancer can take all my physical faculties. But cancer tech can’t touch my mind, it can’t touch my heart, and it can’t touch my soul. I didn’t understand that back in the 1990s, in the early 1990s, I understand that today, you know, losing my foot losing my leg, you know, I sort of joke with my orthopedic surgeon, you’re just sort of piecemealing Me To Hell, one body part at a time. You know, it’s like, here’s a foot, here’s the leg, here you go, you know, but it really is true that this is not who we are, you know, this physical body is just a house or a vessel or whatever you want to call it, our hearts or minds, our souls. That’s who we really are. And those are the things that we should nurture. Those are the things that we should grow and develop. Because if we do that, we can do anything we set our minds to.

 

Rick Jordan  

Yeah. So what are some very applicable principles to that? Because you and I, I mean, we’re talking, you know, we’ve had some hard-hitting questions already. But we’re kind of talking about just sort of, if I put myself in the shoes of someone who’s listening right now, and they’re probably thinking, wow, Rick and Terry, you guys, that sounds wonderful. But what do I do today? You know, and I’m sure you probably get into this in your book, right with your 10 principles to living uncommon and extraordinary. It’s like, how do I start that to actually make that real? Right now, it sounds great, but how does how does that become real?

 

Terry Tucker  

I guess, even before I get to the principles, let me give you what I’ve come to know for me is my four truths. These are just things that are like the bedrock of my soul that I know that I’ve learned over the nine-year battle with cancer and I have them on a post-it note here in my office, I see them every day multiple times. Just one sentence each, and I’ll give those to you. Number one is you need to control your mind or your mind is going to control you. You know, You can’t tell us from looking at me, but I’m six foot eight inches tall, and I played college basketball at the Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. But when I was 15 years old, I had a couple of knee surgeries that were pretty severe. And I remember when I went back to playing my mind was putting all these negative thoughts in my brain saying you know what, you’re probably a step slower, or college coaches aren’t going to want to recruit you to play Hey, and I’m like, wait a minute, I’m still playing in an elite level and coaches are still contacting me, me contacting me about playing for their universities. So I had to switch that narrative into No, wait a minute, there’s something positive on that side. And if you think about it, you know, we get 60 to 70,000 thoughts in our brains every single day, I would do you know, I mean, how can we find those negative thoughts and flip up, it’s not easy, and it’s not going to happen overnight. But if you think about it, your mind can hold one thought at a time, why would you want to make that a negative thought? So that’s, that’s the first one. The second truth is, that we need to embrace the pain and the get and difficulties that we all experience in life and use them to make us stronger and more determined individuals. You know, pain is inevitable, we’re all going to experience pain in our lives. And it doesn’t have to be, you know, a cancer pain like mine, it could be you flunk a test at school or break up with your boyfriend, your girlfriend, or you know, don’t get the promotion at work that you think you deserve. Pain isn’t about is inevitable. Suffering. On the other hand, suffering is optional. Suffering is what you do with that pain. You take it and use it to make you a stronger and tougher and more determined individual, or do you wallow in it and want people to feel sorry for you, you know, and feel sorry for yourself? Now you don’t you know, you’re looking at me, there’s no s on my chest, I don’t have a cape. So you know, I’m a human being I have bad days, I, you know, I cry, I feel down, I feel depressed. I just choose not to stay that way. And I’m telling you right now, whether you choose what are whether you decide to wallow in it, or whether you decide to use it to make you stronger, that’s a choice that only you can make. The third truth is more of a legacy truth. And it’s this, what you leave behind is what you weave in the hearts of other people. And I just put that in there. Because I think it’s important for all of us to think about the end game in our life, you know, what would our ancestors say about the lives that we live? What are people going to say about you at your funeral? So I think that’s something we all need to consider at some point in our life because inevitably, we’re all gonna die. So the problem is everybody dies, not everybody really lives. And then the fourth one is pretty self-explanatory. As long as you don’t quit, you can never be defeated. And I know my pain is going to end someday, you know, it may end through surgery and through medication, quite frankly, it may end when I die. But if I quit, if I give up, if I give in pain, the pain will always be a part of my life.

 

Rick Jordan  

It’s intriguing how these truths have to do with the cancer battle that you’ve had so far, that you’re still fighting right now. Because that isn’t necessarily something that, well, it isn’t something that you can control. You know, it’s just something that you have. And it’s, I’m thinking of the correlation between there is no, you don’t have a choice as far as whether to have cancer or not, you know, but you have the choice as far as how it affects you, how you embrace it, how you view it, what you decide to use it for, which is awesome because you’re on the show right now, there’s so many out there that are in situations man to where they do have a choice to be in that situation or not. You know, and I compare that how do you look at that? Because you’re sitting here and dude, I commend you. Because the truth is, you’re just saying, you know, I may have cancer, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, I’m not gonna let it beat me. I’m embracing it. Yeah, I

 

Terry Tucker  

mean, I just, I just won’t let it and, you know, I, I’ve got these, you know, they’re talking about the book, and I’ve got these 10 principles. It’s always great for me as an author, because when somebody reads the book, there’s always one principle that kind of jumps out at them. You know, this is the one that resonates with me. And, and the one, that I like, the one that I sort of gravitate to, is this, and each principle is a chapter. And it’s, and it’s this, most people think, with their fears and their insecurities. Instead of using their minds. I know I’ve done that in my life. I know I’ve wanted to do something. And it’s like, Ooh, this is a little this little scary, or what are people going to say about me? Or I may embarrass myself if I do that. And then I don’t do it. But your mind, just says, No, you should do that. That’s a good thing for you. That would be something positive that you can do and you shouldn’t do. And I just, you know, I think we all do that from time to time. And I always tell when I talk to young people, I always say, you know, if there’s something in your heart, something in your soul that you know you should do or that you want to do, and it scares you. Go ahead and do it. Because at the end of your life, the things you’re going to regret are not going to be the things you did, they’re going to be the things you didn’t do, and by then it’s going to be too late to go back and duel.

 

Rick Jordan  

That’s incredible man. If I looked at those that have a choice, you know what I’m curious about what you would have to say, for those that have a choice to stay in their situation or change their situation, if it’s a job, if it’s a relationship, if it’s a basketball scenario that they have, or anything, a career choice, whatever. And it’s almost, and this is just like straight truth right now, you know, because, again, you don’t have a choice for the cancer that you have. But it’s almost like if that person is making a choice to stay in that situation, then they’re almost saying, hey, like, I want cancer, don’t chop off my leg, where is your choosing, even in the midst of not having a choice, Dude, you are choosing to live, which is absolutely incredible, versus somebody else that doesn’t have that situation where they do have the choice, and yet they’re still choosing to die. It’s an interesting comparison here, you know because I love how you are saying, you know, what, who cares about this thing that I didn’t have control over? You’re still going through life, and you’re using an amen to help inspire other people. Your heart is incredible. I mean, it’s like I see you and almost see into you right now, too. And just see, like this thing that’s like big and red and pounding hard, man, because you want to see sounds like a passion of yours as young people too is it?

 

Terry Tucker  

It? Yes, I, I spent a lot of time or Well, I used to be for COVID, you know, talking with young people and things like that. And, you know, we get in all kinds of issues with you know, body image and, and suicide and bullying and you know, all the ugly parts of it. But there’s a Native American Blackfoot proverb that I heard years ago that I love that I’d like to pass on to you and your audience, and it goes like this. When you were born, you cried, in the world rejoiced. Live your life. And this is the important part, live your life. It’s kind of like what you’re saying, live your life in such a way so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. That’s what I want. For me, that’s what I want from my life, like death is not so scary for me, because I found my purpose in life, and I lived it. And, you know, again, we talk a lot about, you know, your purpose is your job. Well, your purpose doesn’t have to be your job, your job could be over here. It’s what you do to pay the bills. But your purpose is to write or to paint or to volunteer, but whatever your purpose in life, is, it’s important that you search for that purpose with an open heart because I think if you do, eventually you’re going to find it. And when you do, you’re gonna be so much more fulfilled.

 

Rick Jordan  

For sure, man, I love your approach to these things. There’s so much that applies to this to with what you’ve done, you know, I almost feel like we might need a second episode at some point to talk about the undercard-covered narcotics investigator and SWAT team hostage negotiator too, you know, that, that those young people, and if we want to call them young people, my favorite age demographic is ages 18 to 24. Right in there, and I’ve always looked at it this way. Because it’s almost like when you’re when you’re teen still, you still have rules and laws that are imposed upon you by society, not to mention that you’re still living with your parents, you know, 99.99% of kids in that age are still living with their parents or a guardian, whatever it is. And they still have this societal checks and balances system that exists. But then you get to where you’re 18. And all of a sudden, you graduate from high school. And you’re expected to figure out the rest of your whole life in about three months and make all these choices and decisions to where you’re setting up the next 50 years of what you’re going to do. And I’ve always said, you know, who cares? Slow down, live a little bit, you know, because these choices in life, they’re hard choices, you know, and listen to guys like Terry, right here, because, dude, you’ve been through a lot of stuff, man, you know, and there are some amazing choices that you’ve made, and probably some mistakes along the way, I would venture to say, you know, otherwise you wouldn’t be the guy that you are today. But I love this age group, because there’s so much pressure that’s put on this age group, and there’s so much that society expects them to figure out pretty much overnight. What do you say to them? You know, with these pressures that they have?

 

Terry Tucker  

Yeah, I, you know, believe it or not, I know I’m old but I was that age at one time. And you know, I remember, you know, I went to, you know, live with my parents. And then here, I gotta get a college scholarship to go from Chicago to Charleston, South Carolina to play basketball at the Citadel

 

Rick Jordan  

from Chicago.

 

Terry Tucker  

That’s right. You know, and, you know, at the time the Citadel was an all male Military College. Yeah. And I mean, I did three knee surgeries in high school, you know, here I am, you know, doing all this marching and all this kind of stuff. And eventually, I got to the point where I was like, no, no, I’m done. I’m gonna quit. I Never quit anything in my life. I am literally walking over to the Fieldhouse to tell the coaches, I’m leaving, I’m giving up a full scholarship to college because I’m so in my head, and I thought, You know what I’m gonna stop at the Student Union to see if I got an email. And I had a, I had a seven-page, handwritten letter from my father, father wrote me a letter in my life, basically saying, how, you know, I take this letter, and I go up literally to the nosebleed seats, you know, in the field house, and I’m sitting there and I rip it open, and I start reading. And my dad is, you know, we’re so proud of you, I love you, you know, you’ve overcome all these knee surgeries, blah, blah, blah. And then he kind of hits me in the face. He’s like, you’ve called home seven times since you’ve been down there. And not once have you asked about how anybody at home is doing not your girlfriend, not your mom, not me as myself, your brothers no way you are. So in your head, you can’t see the big picture here. You know, you can do this. And literally, I’m up in the nosebleed. I’m crying like a baby reading this letter. And, you know, it’s kind of like what you just said, for the first time in my life, I had to make a decision, I could walk 50 feet down to the coach’s office and quit. Or I could dry my eyes and go back and try to you know, do the best I could for the next four years and graduate from college. And I was the first person, in my family to go to college. So you know, there was so much more pressure put on there as well. And that was the first time in my wife and I’m like, this is an adult decision. And I have to make it and back then there were no, you know, let’s take a gap year or something like that. It was bang bang, right? Anyway, right on. Yep. You know, and so I just think kids today, again, it goes back to Yeah, you know, there’s a lot of pressure on you. But I’m telling you, right now you can handle that pressure, if your priorities are in the right place. And you know, again, I always go back to what team sports taught me, team sports taught me to be part of something bigger than myself. And you know, you knew if you didn’t do your job, not only were you let yourself down, you’re letting your other teammates down your coaches down your fans down your parents down. And if you think about it, the biggest team game we all play is this game of life. And you know, in this attitude of what’s in it for me, that’s the wrong thing to be asking. It’s not about you. It’s about you getting us nowhere, us together, we can do anything we set our minds to.

 

Rick Jordan  

I love that brother, I’m with you on that I played baseball for nine years and you bring it full circle back to Wendy’s. My first job was at McDonald’s to talk about a team sport. Trying to pump out all those burgers, man? It was incredible. But I appreciate your your attitude towards the next leaders of our generation. And that’s how I always see them. You know, and you’re talking about you didn’t have a gap year or anything. When you went to college. You know, you were the first one in your family. Right? From what you said. Yeah, I was one of the first not to. So I have the opposite form of pressure, still pressure.

 

Terry Tucker  

Yeah, but you know, I look at it now. I mean, there’s a lot of pressure. I mean, our daughter is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and is a lieutenant in the, in the new branch of the military, the Space Force, Oh, that’s awesome. You know, there was this, this pressure on the kids at her school that, you know, you’ve got to go to college, you got to do all this, like, you don’t have to go to college. I mean, maybe you’re good at a skilled trade, maybe you’re great at an electrician or a plumber or something like that, you know, don’t think that your wife is defined by I’ve got to go to school, I’ve got to go to college, there are a lot of really, you know, supposedly intelligent people that are incredibly ignorant, you know, in life. You know, we’ve run into them all along. So, you know, again, find out what your purpose in life is, be open to that with your heart. If you do that, you’re not going to go wrong, and you’re not going to be steered in the wrong way. Do what you feel is right for you. And if you’re happy doing it, that very well may be your purpose.

 

Rick Jordan  

Awesome, man. As we pull this to a close, can you tell me a little bit about the type of cancer that you have?

 

Terry Tucker  

I have a rare form of melanoma that appears on the palms of the hands or the bottom of the feet. There are about 5800 people or so in the US who get this form of cancer every year. So it’s, it’s really incredibly rare. But it’s, you know, it’s one of those things where, you know, a couple of years summers ago, I ended up having genetic testing of all ADH genes, the doctors either know for sure or suspect caused all different forms of cancer. And I have no mutations in any of my genes. This begs the question of why, and my doctor can’t tell me why so I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about why I just have to live with it and do the best I can

 

Rick Jordan  

that’s a good life principle too, isn’t it? Because this whole why question too when it comes to bad things in your life, you know, the why, you know, remember Simon Sinek writes, you know, determining what the y is in your life. And I think that’s important. But that’s going forward in life. You know, when you’re looking in, in retrospect, and asking the why. It’s almost like this innate thing that we have as humans to try to find closure.

 

Terry Tucker  

Yeah, find blame. Yeah. Oh, no, we’re always trying to parents are bringing the fire. Yep. Yeah. Or our teachers and our status in life. No, the world owes us nothing. If you want something in life, go out and find it and go get it.

 

Rick Jordan  

Dude, that’s amazing. I really appreciate you being on today, Terry, because this has been a super fun conversation and just incredible and I hope we do have a demographic that’s in the 20s it’s pretty much our biggest demographic. So everyone listening, go to Terry’s website and motivational check.com and see everything that he has because he’s got an amazing book and you’ve heard him today. Just absolutely incredible human. My man Terry, thank you for being on brother.

 

Terry Tucker  

Rick. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.