530 | Taking The Step To Be A Better Version & Hiring Advice | Solo Episode

Jason shares his personal journey toward better physical and mental health, emphasizing how taking the first step outside your door can lead to transformative change in your life.

• Starting small with just a walk around the block can build momentum toward bigger health goals
• Physical movement directly impacts mental clarity and problem-solving abilities
• Protectors (law enforcement, military, first responders) have a duty to maintain physical fitness for those they serve
• Consistency is more important than intensity when building healthy habits
• Alternative approaches like meditation and therapy are valuable companions to physical exercise
• The STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result) helps candidates excel in job interviews
• Visualize the new version of yourself rather than trying to recapture past versions

Get up and move today - even if it's just for five minutes. Your body, mind, and those who depend on you will thank you for it.

Chapters

• 0:01 Take That First Step Outside
• 5:14 The Many Versions of Yourself
• 10:18 Physical Fitness for Protectors
• 15:09 Mental Health and Alternative Methods
• 20:55 The STAR Technique for Job Interviews
• 25:00 Consistency and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Hey, welcome back to another solo episode of the Protectors Podcast. Today we're going to talk about something I posted on social media the other day, on Instagram. Now, if you head over to Instagram at DrJasonPiccolo, you will see a post from a few days ago, and I talked about just moving, like taking that step, getting out of your house. Now, I've preached this for the past few years, since I've had some health issues here and there. But the first thing is to do this, is to take that first step outside the door. And how do we even get to the point where we're like man, I got to think about taking a step outside the door? Well, not every one of us are in a solid space right now when it comes to physicality is. What I'm trying to say is, some of us are let our bodies go to the point where it is tough to even get out off the couch, whether it has been from abuse from alcohol, whether it's been abused from eating too much, and whether or not you're recovering from an injury or you've had a long-term injury. And something just gets to the point where you you know you've had a long-term injury, and something just gets to the point where you've let yourself. Go and it happens, believe me, it happens.

Speaker 1: 1:09

I have man, my iPhone. I have pictures going back to 2017, probably 2016. Because every time I get a new phone, it upgrades and the photos transfer. So the other day I did the Way Wayback Machine and I looked at some of these pictures and I said who the hell is that guy? Because in my mind and as I'm taking these pictures, I did not see what was going on with my body. I did not see what was going on in my mind. But I tell you what. I took a look at some of these pictures over the past weekend and I said, wow, no wonder I couldn't get off the couch, no wonder I was broken so bad that I could hardly even move mental space. I let myself get into a bad physical space, to the point where my back was hurting every day, my legs would hurt, my calves would hurt. I just did not have the mental space to move.

Speaker 1: 2:14

Then I had a health crisis. A few years ago Actually, probably about four years ago I had a really bad health crisis. I fell on my face and I thought I was going to die. Is this right? I fell on my face and I thought I was going to die and at that point I had a wake-up call. I had a wake-up call and I shifted focus and I had to change. And I did change From the help of one of my friends, aaron Williamson, a great guy, coach. He helped me devise a plan and I stuck to it. I dropped 50 pounds. I was able to get up off that couch and move.

Speaker 1: 2:48

Now, looking at the pictures since that point, yeah, I lost 50 pounds, but I did notice that I still did not look like the man I wanted to be. I did not feel like the man I wanted to be. I wasn't the man or the man I needed to be for my kids, for my life. To make this positive change and to tell myself as a protector, I definitely was not in the right frame and we're going to get to that in a little bit about being a protector in your physical fitness. But right now I'm kind of gearing us towards everybody out there in the audience that you know you're at this point in your life where you can't move and the reason I told you that story was I was at that point too.

Speaker 1: 3:33

The first step I took out that door was just around the block. Back in the day one of my dogs was still alive, stella. I'd walk her around the block, or I'd walk around a block or I'd walk myself around a block, and it helped. That few minutes getting out there helped. And then the few minutes turned into a few more minutes, and then a few more minutes turned into hey, you know what, maybe I should introduce a ruck. So then I started rucking and then I upped my miles and I noticed I started getting a clearer headspace as well.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Now, fast forward to now, I think it was probably about three, four weeks ago I had a shift in focus again. I look back at those pictures, I look back at my life, but I look deeper into the pictures and I said you know what? It's not just the body that needs to be changed, it's my mind. So those walks started turning into not rucking anymore, but longer, longer walks. You know three, four or five miles. And I tell you I hit a sweet spot after. About two miles is where I can actually think in and my mind started focusing and I started being able to like figure things out.

Speaker 1: 4:48

And the reason I tell my own personal story about this is that so many of you out there and, believe me, after I posted that on Instagram I know people say this all the time Well, the followers said this, but no, really, I had a few friends reach out to me and they were like, yeah, man, I'm in a bad space, but my body's broken down. It's tough for me to even get out and move, to walk or anything. And then I had some other friends that are pushing themselves to try to get into law enforcement and we're going to get into that protector mentality here in a minute. They're trying to get into law enforcement, but they don't have a base point right now. They don't have a baseline of where they need to be and they're like I don't even know where to start. Do I just walk? But yeah, it is simple as just getting out there and moving your body.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Because what happens is you get used to that three, four, five minutes, you get used to 10 minutes, you get used to 20 minutes. And then the next thing, you know, you're like huh, you know what? Maybe I should incorporate some weightlifting, maybe I should incorporate some strength movements. And then you're like, huh, well, if the walking's doing good, the strength is doing good, maybe I should look at my diet. And then the next thing you know, you're cutting out carbs. Or, let's say, you don't want to cut carbs out altogether, but maybe you're looking at your sugar intake. Maybe you're like, huh, I'm walking, now I'm doing strength training, lifting weights, changing my diet.

Speaker 1: 6:08

And then the next thing you're like, huh, well, there's this little thing like this in between my shoulder blades called my head, my brain, and then you start thinking, well, I'm fixing all these other things. Maybe I should really take an introspective look and work on myself. Maybe it's time for me to get counseling, or maybe talk to someone. Maybe it's groups, maybe it's just your friends, maybe sometimes like work on yourself, because it all works together your body and your brain. Now, yeah, that was a great little ramble on Jason. Good for you. You're moving, you're doing this.

Speaker 1: 6:42

I have so much work to do. I'm still in my mind. I still have that weird body image what do they call it, body dysmorphia where I'm like I'm never going to be the perfect place I need to be, and that is one thing I brought up in my Instagram post. Was another Instagram post this week was the version of you post? Was another Instagram post this week was the version of you. This version of me now is not the version I want to be, but you know what? Every day I'm working towards this newer version of me in my life I've had over the past 30 years. I mean I can go all the way back to college, I mean even before. I mean high school, and in high school, high school, my weight has always fluctuated up and down. Up and down, I mean I wrestled at 155. And if you see me, if you're watching this on YouTube, 155 looks like a pretty far place away from where I'm at right now. 155 wrestling in high school football is 172.

Speaker 1: 7:42

Joined the Army, I was probably roughly around 180, 185. When I commissioned as an infantry officer, I was 205. So I mean it comes up and it comes and goes, and comes and goes and it's up and down. When I got back from iraq I was 198 pounds and I was in probably some really decent shape until other health aspects happened with those good old burn pits. But that they, they were different versions of me. When I was a special agent, I was a different version. When I was a border patrol agent, I was a different version.

Speaker 1: 8:11

Now I am the 50-plus version and this version isn't just looking at that physical aspect of who I was. All of those things, all these versions, I always told myself I wanted to go back to or be about. None of those versions I did. I ever think about the mental headspace I was in in every one of those pictures and every once in a while, one of those points. So now this version of me is not only pushing myself to get to a certain point in weight and health, but it's also working on my mind. It's getting to a certain piece in my mind that I never had before, a clarity I never had before certain point where you have to get to positivity, where you have to get to a healthy point, to where everything is working together your body and your mind. So that is the next version. So when you are thinking about taking these first steps out your door, when you're thinking about taking the next step to get to the new version of you, think about do you want to go back to the new version of you? Think about do you want to go back to that old version of you? Was that old version of you 110% of what you want to be? And think about is it really what you want to go back to or do you want to push for something new? Because with something new comes something refreshing. It's like a different pivot.

Speaker 1: 9:42

I you know I have so many different viewpoints of what I want to do with this body nowadays. Before, like when I was younger, I'm like, oh, I got to do this, I got to do that. I want to be able to do this. I want to be able to do that. Now, the things I want to do now are different. I want to be able to walk like 10, 15, 20 miles and not be just dead for the next three days. I want to be able to go from point A to point B. I was telling my friend Garrett I'm like, yeah, I want to go to the Appalachian Trail and I want to do three days. And now I'm not going to camp, I'm going to glamp or something. I'm not camping up there, but I want to do like three days on the Appalachians and 10, 12 miles a day. I learned a couple weeks ago that is not as easy as I thought it was going. It's something I want to do, it's something different.

Speaker 1: 10:31

So when you first start, visualize what you want to do, visualize who you want to be and do it and just take that first step. I'm just asking you, if you can do it, do it. That also brings me to the point of a lot of us have been beaten down by the military, by this, by being in LA, our bodies have changed and we can't do some of these things. So maybe there is an alternative. If you can't walk, maybe you could swim. Maybe overdid it and my ankle started tweaking. So I'm like you know what? I can't stop doing my slow state exercises because I like to just keep a slow pace. So I got on a bike and I've been doing a bike every day because I had to get an alternative. So when you're doing these things, maybe there's an alternative for you to do.

Speaker 1: 11:30

This kind of transitions me into the next thing I want to talk about today, which is very important, and it's something that's man, you could look at every every and I saw it last night every LE agency out there, every law enforcement agency out there, enforcement agency out there, whether it's federal, state, local, anything is you're going to see people that hit a wall and they let themselves go. They let themselves go so bad and while it's not healthy, it's dangerous, and it's not just dangerous to them, it's dangerous to the people who they're supposed to support. It's dangerous to the people who they're supposed to support. It's dangerous to the people who they're supposed to protect. I took my daughter to Target last night and, you know, just buying some stuff here and there, and I'm looking around, I see this guy walking really just kind of I should say grossly out of shape, and I should be the one to talk. I let myself go through my career and I didn't catch it. But I was looking at him and he had a fed badge on had instructor on it on his shirt and he had his gun print and everything. And I'm like man, my brother, you're walking around here and you look like you're going to die.

Speaker 1: 12:49

If you're a protector, you have got to take more than just a step. You've got to move your body. You have to get to a shape where you can handle yourself and protect others. I'm not going to beat too much into the bush, but you have to someday take a look in a mirror or do what I did and scan back through some pictures and figure out who you are and what you want to be. Because if you're a protector, you have a duty. You have a duty to protect. You have a duty to protect those that you are in charge of. You swore this job that you would do it, this job that you would do it. So take that step and move. And you know what, once you start doing it, it's going to pick up, it's going to keep going. But just take that first step and do it. You have to. It's your duty.

Speaker 1: 13:54

Okay, so I'm off my soapbox with that a bit. I mean, I'm always going to come back to it, because there are certain things I always like to talk about. One is getting in good enough shape to be a protector, the next is mental health and the other thing is firearms. You know I love to talk about firearms. All of these things, everything I talk about, it has to have consistency behind it. You have to be consistent.

Speaker 1: 14:29

I watch all the motivational videos every day. I wake up in the morning and I'm like, yeah, I got to go to the gym was a chore to me, but now it's like you know, I got to go, I got to go, it's part of my therapy. Now I have to get in there. I have to do it as part of what my being. I wasn't always like that, believe me, I'd hate to get up and I, like I said, I get on my phone, my social media. Now I was like motivational posts to get my butt going, to make me, to help me visualize what I want to be and who I want to be. When you're doing all of this stuff, everything you do and that comes into everything, visualize that version of you that you want to be. I swear it helps, it does.

Speaker 1: 15:12

One version I've wanted to do and I've wanted to like really kind of always talk about now is being a solid mental, like just having the best mental health ever. And it's tough. I tell you it is tough. There are days when it is rough. You know, sometimes a personal life it gets really, really rough and it's tough to to get out of that fog and I've always equated this. I've talked about my mental health and my, my depression and everything for for decades now. I talk about it all the time. Now I can talk about it some open, but it's not easy to talk about it. So.

Speaker 1: 15:50

So I know a lot of you are struggling out there, no-transcript and moving. It's great for Jason and anybody else to say, hey, just get up and move five minutes, go, do this, do that when sometimes it's even tough to get out of bed, when sometimes that sponge of the darkness inside your brain is just like I don't know about. Today I need to stay in bed. I've had those days, believe me, but you can get through them. And I tell you, when you start working on all of these different aspects and I know I'm starting to sound like a self-help coach here, but I like to share my own experience but when you start working and you start moving your body, it helps your brain. But physical health is great and the walking and the working out and everything it helps. But I'm telling you, sometimes you need to look at alternative methods as well.

Speaker 1: 16:51

I've been doing what they call Transcendental Meditation now for about three to four weeks. It's actually been about four weeks now. It helps, it does. It's something different. It's not crazy, it's not cuckoo, it's just something to calm my mind a little bit. Look into it if you want. But meditation is one thing you should think about. It gets you away from the screen. That's the biggest thing with me, because I'm always on my phone. It gets you away from the screen, it gets your mind into a different space and it helps. It just does.

Speaker 1: 17:21

The other thing, if you have the option and it's available, is think about counseling, think about therapy. I've been going to therapists for years. I'm actually at the point now where I have to change therapists because I think I've gotten everything out of that one I've been going to. I'm going to kind of work on different things now. I want to be the healthiest mental version of myself ever, so I'm doing it. Different things now. I want to be the healthiest mental version of myself ever, so I'm doing it.

Speaker 1: 17:51

If you don't have access to therapy, find someone you could talk to. Find someone that you could vent to, someone that you could not commiserate with because you don't want to do that, you don't want to keep in a dark place, but you have to have someone, you have to have a network. Find a network. It scares me and I shouldn't say scares me, because it's not like a personal connection to a lot of people who have done it but it's heartbreaking to see how many LEOs and how many in the community are taking their lives. They get to a point where they take their lives. It's heartbreaking, take their lives. It's heartbreaking and I think about it and I think about their kids and I think about their families and I think about them the most is like what got them to that point? If someone reached out and talked to them without even have helped, I think it could. I think, if we keep these footholds into our friends and our networks, that there is help. I think if you could help people get past that 30, 40, 50 hours of real darkness, I think it can help. So watch out for your brothers and sisters out there who are going through it. And if you are going through it yourself, please, please, get help and really look into counseling, look, look into meditation, look at ways to help your mind. I think about it.

Speaker 1: 19:07

My routine is a little bit different than people. I'm in a different phase of my life but to me I have a different routine. A lot of people are like I get up and I shoot 1,000 rounds and I shoot bows and I run 10 miles. No, I do the gym, I do my 50, 60 minutes on a bike. And now I don't know why I'm laughing. But I do paint by numbers. I paint. I just zone out and I paint. I never in my life thought I would do that, but it was something different. I had to find things that are different at this point in my life. I never in my life thought I would do that, but it was something different. I had to find things that are different at this point in my life, find those things that are going to help you get to that point. I'm going to transition a little bit here, you know, because here's the deal with these solo episodes.

Speaker 1: 19:59

I'm very selfish, I think. You know, in the beginning I started the podcast so I could have a voice and now I'm at the point now where I feel like I'm, you know, with the 30 plus years of experience, I just want to give lessons learned, man. I just want to tell people the things that I've learned over the years to maybe help other people out. And if it only helps out three listeners out there, I am perfectly fine with that Listen. I could talk all day long. I tell people that all time and if it helps anybody, I am perfectly fine with that.

Speaker 1: 20:42

One of the things I want to talk about today is I wrote that book pivot and, believe me, when I, when you buy the book pivot or anybody gets it or anything it's, I don't make a dime. I literally make six cents off of it. I didn't write that book for money, but I did write that book for veterans, and it's not only for veterans, it's for anybody who's looking for a job and, believe me, a lot of you are looking for jobs out there. One thing I want to talk about today is that book is a hiring manual, and one thing I put into it was and there's so many different versions of this technique is a technique is called the star technique.

Speaker 1: 21:16

So when you're in a hiring position and they ask you certain questions a lot of these behavioral based questions, like if they put you in a scenario or they do this, tell us about a time you did this. So it could be something like tell us about a time where you led a team. So you would put this into the STAR technique. And what the STAR technique does is it lets them know the whole story. So you're not just kind of like just throwing off words. Know the whole story. So you're not just kind of like just throwing off words. So if someone said, tell me the time you led a team, and I'm like, um, uh, well, you know, I, I did this and I left five people, but, for instance, that doesn't tell anybody anything. So the star technique is this situation, task, action, result.

Speaker 1: 22:04

The situation you were in that made you lead the team. What was a task that you had to do? You had to lead the team from point a to point b. What was the action you took? Well, I took my team, I sat them down, I got them around a thing. I had a map table out there and I said, okay, we got to go from point a to point b. Here's how we are going to do it and nobody's going to get hurt. And what was the result? Well, I successfully moved my team from point A to point B with zero injuries and zero anything. So you had the situation which was you had to move from point A to point B. The task was you had to move your people, your team, from point A to point B. The action was well, you brief them and then you move them, and then a result was 100% effective. So, situation, task, action, result.

Speaker 1: 22:53

And you could use that for almost any question that the hiring panel is going to ask you. And what that does is it gives you them a whole picture of what you did, how you did it and a positive result, a quantifiable positive result, because here's what happens when you're hiring on your hiring panel because I've been on a ton of hiring panels is you will have like a piece of paper and you've got to take notes. While these people are talking, while the interview is talking, you are taking notes. And what the notes are? They aren't about how many ands and ums and ahs and everything you did. It's about how they can quantify what you did. So you said you were a team leader. Boom, team leader.

Speaker 1: 23:33

You move people from point A to point B.

Speaker 1: 23:35

Okay, well, that's great. Well, how'd they do it? Well, I briefed them. I explained the mission. Okay, explain the mission. Brief them, so that shows that you have leadership abilities. And then I got them there with 100% effectiveness and they're writing down 100% effectiveness.

Speaker 1: 23:47

So when the hiring panel says, okay, you have out of 10 points, how do you score them? And because you did the STAR technique and because you explained everything you did, they have ways to look at it and go okay, yeah, I remember them, they did that and that's how they got from point A to point B. It shows them the interview panel and the hiring managers that you're good to go. So remember the STAR technique, situation, task, action, result and, like I said, the same type of information is out there. So those are kind of where I'm at. So those are kind of where I'm at.

Speaker 1: 24:27

Those are my lessons learned, you know, just over the past is get up and move. Get up and move, do something physical and be consistent with it. You can have rest days. It's fine to have rest days Believe me, you need them but put all of these things together Walk, watch what you're eating, be consistent with what you eat. Yeah, you can have a cheat day here and there, but don't be like, well, you know, it's Friday, I'm going to have a cheat day. Well, it's Saturday too, it's a weekend. I deserve this.

Speaker 1: 24:58

And your mental health. Now, if you are a protector, it's time. It is time. If you let yourself go and you're having a hell of a time right now, it's time to move, it's time to work on your mental health and it's time to get a network and it's time to push, because you swore an oath and you got to do it. Next thing we talked about was, you know, obviously the mental health thing, but the star technique and getting hired. But, everybody, I appreciate you listening to my soapbox this weekend and my lessons learned. Believe me, I have a ton of lessons learned and you know why? It's because I learned them the hard way. I wish someone told me years ago to not do certain things, so I hope everybody's great, thank you.