Becoming UnDone

It is Word to the 3rd Wins-Day: my mid-week reflections on purpose, life, and growth. I’m Toby Brooks, and I am a speaker, author, professor, and forever student. Each week on Becoming UnDone, I bring you guests who have dared bravely, risked mightily, and grown relentlessly—high achievers who have transformed from falling apart to falling into place. But every third episode, it’s my turn to reflect, refine, and reprocess—on Word to the 3rd Wins-Day. As you may be able to tell, my voice is not cooperating and I’m a bit under the weather. If the past few years have taught us anything, maybe distance yourself a bit from your airpods or speakers just in case I’m contagious. I don’t think what I HAVE is spreading, but it seems like word of the show IS, which makes me giddy. It has been yet another great week for me, and although this marks only the fifth Word to the 3rd, I thought it was time for a bit of fine-tuning and tweaking of the brand. I like the idea of a recurring mid-week show where we get to go back and examine what our most recent guests have taught us. At the same time, it’s also a chance for me to tell some stories from MY past or from stuff I’m learning that I think might be helpful for your growth journey. That said, Wed-nes-day seemed like as good a day as any, but I figured let’s spell it like we say it—and also celebrate the victories together on a Wins-day.This week, I had a great time interviewing both new connection author Steve Safranek and my long-time friend Branda Anderson. Both played Division I sports and both shared a new twist on what had started to emerge as a trend of lost identity following the end of competitive athletics. Namely, the identity shift that occurs when sports are eventually over. For Steve, as a walk-on on the Nebraska football team, he quickly realized that he was out over his skis a bit when he arrived on campus as a linebacker who was getting out run, out lifted, and generally overmatched by defensive backs and wideouts. It was a rude awakening, but he took it in stride and enjoyed the moment. For Steve, he said the realization that he was never going have any shot of playing at the next level, which really took hold in his mind two or three years into the program, was actually liberating. It allowed him to let go of sport gradually and without the pain we’ve heard from other guests whose careers ended more abruptly. Likewise, Branda Anderson had a painful and honest conversation with her coach following her junior year where she was informed she wasn’t going to see much of the floor as a senior. While it hurt to hear in the moment, it gave Branda a chance to really drink in the team experience and understand that her role was to help prepare her teammates for battle rather than to equip herself week in and week out. As a result, she spent less time bitter and angry that basketbaReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Any high-functioning team typically has a number of people playing their role to the best of their ability. Whether a Broadway cast, a team of entrepreneurs for a new startup, or a sports team, most groups of people have a few stars, some up-and-comers, and a number of role players. When everyone understands their unique contribution to the shared success, then the unit can fire on all cylinders.Eagle River, Alaska native Branda Anderson never had aspirations of playing in the WNBA or even dominating the paint in college when she first started playing basketball in middle school. However, her growing skills and tireless work ethic eventually led to a storied high school career, capturing four total team state championships (one in basketball and three more in track), a state championship in shot put, and All-State and State Tournament Team honors in basketball. Such opened opportunities to continue pursuing her athletic aspirations in college, and she found herself on full scholarship at Division 1 Southern Illinois University in Carbondale shortly after.But things would not be so easy. A full 5-day journey from home and finding herself buried deep on the bench, she had a decision to make: quit altogether, go somewhere else, or be the best she could be at the role she’d been given. While it proved challenging, she stayed the course and finished her career as a respected and valued member of the team.In the years that followed, she’s balanced ministry service, teaching, coaching, and graduate school. And after nearly 20 years in the high school classroom, she recently made the decision to switch to a new role Teaching and Learning Specialist at the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle, Washington while she works toward a PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.Hear her tell her story of resilience, hard work, and being a servant leader before it was trendy and cool in episode 15: SWITCH Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Life can take us on some unexpected journeys, and there’s little doubt that Omaha, Nebraska’s Steve Safranek has seen his share of twists and turns on his path forward. From his days dreaming of gridiron glory, to years spent working in retail management, to a quick detour in the snack food industry while—of all things—getting his fitness and wellness business off the ground, it has been a rewarding and meaningful climb. But along the way, he realized that he'd learned so much from coaches, teammates, colleagues, and coworkers that he finally decided it was time to also add “author” to his bio. Releasing his book, the Sh!t No One Wants to Hear: How to Accept and Embrace the Uncomfortable Truth in Our Lives  in 2022, he also made a dramatic shift from his career path of nearly 20 years in retail and sales to fitness, wellness, and development as a yoga instructor and owner of a fitness studio. Hear Steve share how he ended up a Cornhusker, how he simultaneously became a health-conscious vegan while working for Frito Lay, and how the former linebacker traded his shoulder pads for a yoga mat in Episode 13: NAMASTE with Steve Safranek! Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This week, I had the opportunity to interview a couple of highly decorated former athletes, with former pro basketball player Josh Washington in episode 10: REBORN, and former pro football player and Winter Olympian Johnny Quinn in episode 11: PUSH. Both shared their stories of overcoming incredible challenges, adversities, and doubt to ultimately navigate through to victory. What jumped out to me was their common themes of identity and faith.For Josh, early success on the basketball court helped him avoid bullying and unwanted attention that a stutter likely would have brought. He went all in on his hoop dreams, ultimately receiving countless awards and honors as an athlete before being offered more than two dozen scholarships to prestigious college programs across the country.For Johnny, it was a similar journey in terms of success in competition, but dramatically different in terms of opportunity. With just one Division 1 offer coming through at the last minute before signing day, he headed to college with something to prove.For both, sport naturally grew as an extension of who they were as people. Josh Washington the basketball player and Johnny Quinn the football player were badges they both wore with pride.But as they say, pride cometh before the fall.But what I absolutely love about both Josh Washington and Johnny Quinn is that they made it through. A personal, professional, and spiritual wasteland awaits all of us when that thing we used to define ourselves is taken…or even given…at the end of a season in our life. It is human nature to try and bandage those wounds as best we can, pick up the pieces, and press on. What about you? Do you find yourself in that wilderness now, reaching for purpose? Or maybe you’ve already managed to walk through it, living to tell someone else about how you survived. I’d love to hear about it. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Author Adam Barone once wrote that the American Dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where or what class they were born into can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.While that definition seems clear and fitting enough, for McKinney, Texas native Johnny Quinn, it wasn’t quite so simple. Dreams of professional football took root early, and Johnny worked hard to be the best high school athlete he could be, eventually leading the football-loving state of Texas in receptions and finishing second in TD catches by his senior season. By most accounts, such performance SHOULD have opened the floodgates of scholarship offers from colleges across the country.Unfortunately, they didn't.Lightly recruited by a few programs at lower levels, Johnny finally received his first and only Division I offer from nearby University of North Texas just one day before the end of signing period.He took it.Disappointed but undeterred that his on-field production hadn’t translated to the opportunities he anticipated, he did what he always does in the face of adversity: he worked. Johnny committed to transforming his body in the weight room and went all-in on developing fully in the hopes of making his childhood dreams of professional football come true from UNT. Eventually, those efforts helped his team to three bowl appearances, a degree in pre-law, and legendary status as his alma mater’s all-time receptions leader.Surely the NFL, the prestige, and the money that come with it were within reach.Except they weren’t.Johnny went undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft. In eerily familiar fashion, he found himself being productive on an elite level but without the recognition that you might expect. Disappointed but still determined, he did what he does: he worked.A professional career as an NFL free agent and later a signee in the Canadian football league followed. And when the door to football finally closed, Johnny literally and figuratively broke it down as a member of the U.S. National Bobsled Team, competing as a member of one of the two the 4-man teams who competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  Now a successful author and highly sought-after professional speaker, Johnny has leveraged all the good that has come from his years as a high performing athlete and translated those lessons into stories that both encourage and inspire. Hear Johnny tell his story of grit, determination, and relentless pursuit—and why he always checks his pocket for his keys—in Episode 11: PUSH.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Imagine for a moment that you are a young high school athlete. As your performance on the field and on the court continues to improve, the accolades roll in. Recruiting offers from across the country pour into your mailbox daily. You are told that you are among best basketball players to ever come from your modest city, and when you sign with your chosen University, you’re also told that you’re the best recruit in school history.Where do you go from there? If you’re Lubbock’s Josh Washington, high hopes of leading his hometown Red Raiders to new heights were soon dashed with the cold realities of life at the next level. Through trials and circumstances that an introspective Josh fully admits he played a role in, his time at Texas Tech grew increasingly dark, with playing time scarce, anxiety and depression high, and spiritual battles raging as he tried to hold things together.In a pre-transfer portal world that required any athlete who changed schools to sit out a year, Josh finally acknowledged that he needed a new start. He transferred to Texas A&M Corpus Christi where he regained his footing, restored his confidence, and eventually led the nation in 3-point shooting percentage as a seniorThose experiences led to professional opportunities overseas, where he concluded a successful career and headed back to Lubbock older, wiser, and more mature.Today he serves as a basketball official and is the Owner and Founder of Josh Washington Elite Basketball, where he continues to pour not only on-court skills into the minds and bodies of some of Lubbock’s best and brightest hoops prospects, but also their hearts.Listen as Josh opens up and shares his journey of triumph, heartbreak, and resolute determination to succeed while helping and serving others in Episode #10: REBORN. Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What a week! I launched 6 days ago and the response has been better than I expected. Several people have reached out to encourage me and congratulate me for starting the Podcast, and I have really been excited to hear what people think so far. This is certainly a step outside my comfort zone and I’m still getting over trivial things…say for instance my dislike of the sound of my own voice or not fully knowing the ins and outs of proper audio production. Bet I’m getting there. I am not done yet.And that’s kinda the whole point of this thing, now, isn’t it??As promised, Word to the Third is my chance to reflect on the episodes of the recent past. This week, I dropped episode 7, fearless  with former gymnastics coach Bill Ryden and episode 8, Recovery founder of Take Action Today Michael Tyson. Now, on the surface these two stories couldn’t have been different. But as I reflected I realized that they had one thing in common: the power of one person.For Bill Ryden, it was undoubtedly Diane Monty, the rising young star gymnastics student who helped Bill become a coach in the first place, then later petitioned her college coach to bring Jim Gault to bring Bill on staff at Arizona.For Mike Tyson, it was his wife Crystal who stood steadfastly by his side through incredible ups and downs, never giving up and never surrendering no matter how hard it got.For me, there have been more “one persons” than I can count. However, I thought it would be fun to share a story I recently shared with one of them, Dr. Jonah Rice.Forever “Jody” to me, Dr. Rice is now the president at Southeastern Illinois College where I started my collegiate career almost three decades ago. What follows is an adaptation of a story I wrote and sent to him a couple of weeks ago.And I promise: The cool Sky Walker Nike Dunks you see in the image art are part of the story, too. Listen to find out how!Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” For Georgia native Michael Tyson, that trial and suffering started early. A tough upbringing found him growing up relatively poor and lacking much direction. By his mid-teens, he ended up in real trouble, eventually entering the juvenile justice system for the first time at the age of 15. Years of turmoil lay ahead, and after aging out of that system that had largely shielded him from the pain and spiral of addiction, he found himself battling a life that was headed toward destruction. Over time, he eventually experienced healing and recovery, with his relationship with God, his wife Crystal, and his community of friends providing much-needed support along the way. Soon after, he found steady income, benefits, and an identity working in the coal mines of Southern Illinois. But a sudden firing coupled with growing burnout and a search for purpose launched him in a new direction. Today, he finds himself in graduate school while leading Take Action Today, a non-profit faith-based recovery community organization that has flourished from a few volunteers meeting in a community park a year ago to three and soon to be four community resource centers and a staff of 15 professionals serving the needs of those struggling with addiction and lack of community in Southern Illinois.Hear Mike’s inspiring story in episode #8: RECOVERY.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

What would you do if you were an aeronautical engineer—a literal rocket scientist—but you just couldn't quite shake the feeling that there was more to life then lending your considerable brainpower to the creation of weapons of mass destruction?If you are Colorado native Bill Ryden, you'd set your first professional career aside and get back in the gym. Growing up in the Rockies as a self-professed adrenaline junkie, Ryden spent his youth racing dirt bikes. But eventually he found his way into a gym, where he quickly fell in love with the sport--especially the high bar. After a highly successful collegiate and brief exhibition career as a competitive gymnast, Bill thought he'd hung up his grips for good and turned to the life of a working stiff at Lockheed Martin. But the lure of the gym kept calling him back, and a chance to jump back into the sport as a coach was just too much to resist. A job offer at the University of Arizona in 1990 changed his life forever.Leaving the safety and security of the engineering world for the uncertainty and grind of college coaching was tough, but he followed his heart. Mentoring, coaching, and pushing young gymnasts to success in the gym and in life consumed the next two and a half decades of his life, eventually being named Head Coach of a Pac-10 program in 1998 where he stayed until 2015. But it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows from there. It was road trips and recruiting trails, exhilarating wins and gut-wrenching losses, and relationships--always relationships that made the journey simultaneously so very hard yet so very rewarding. And like every wild motorcycle ride at Mach speed with his hair blowing in the wind he'd taken years before, as exciting as it was, eventually it had to end. Hear Bill tell his story of dirt bikes and trampolines, Cold War science and chalked grips, and just how happy he is to have coached in an era BEFORE transfer portals and NIL agreements in Episode 7: FEARLESSReach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

On this 2nd of January, gyms are packed. People are eating better. A new year promises a new beginning. Motivation runs high.But none of my first four guests said a word about motivation. I never heard any of them complain about they were able to accomplish their goals because they’d been magically gifted an extra helping of internal drive. Because success isn’t ABOUT motivation.I heard a great quote this morning: motivation has an expiration date. And when motivation dies, discipline must take its place.That’s what Joseph, Kara, Brad, and Mike all said. Whether outright or in reading between the lines, they told me consistently that the way they found success and overcame failure was not because they were motivated. It was because they were disciplined.   So 2023 for me is a year of discipline. I will not just start well, but I will plan strategically. I will work and pursue relentlessly. I will set personal bests physically. I will finish the book I have been working on most recently. And I will commit to the process of making Becoming Undone something I can be proud and that serves to inspire people around the world.Reach out to Becoming UnDone! Text Toby here!Support the showBecoming Undone is a NiTROHype Creative production. Written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at undonepodcast.com. Follow the show on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at becomingundonepod and follow me at TobyJBrooks. Listen, subscribe, and leave us a review Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.