And welcome to another live episode of stuck in my mind podcast. I'm your host, w I z e. Shout out to everybody on Instagram. This is our first time going live on Instagram. Hope everybody's having a blessed day. Let's jump right into it. Well, my next guest, is is is has an amazing story to share. Born in Hollywood, California, adopt adopted by his aunt and uncle at 5 years old. His story's is is amazing, so I'm excited I bring him on the show. Welcome, Dave Albin. Hey, man. Thanks for having
me, bro. Oh, pleasure's all mine. Pleasure's all mine. Yeah. But, let's just jump right into this, man. Yeah, man. Sure. Of course. Absolutely. Let's let's rock. So so can you take us through that pivotal moment when you decided to join Alcoholics Anonymous in 1988, and how has that impacted your life? Well, you know, I hit threshold. It was really the bottom line. You know, by the time I got to that day, June 8, 1988, you know, wise, I was I was grossly addicted to heroin, cocaine,
alcohol, and everything that leads up to that. Right. That's a lot. I I I joke all the time. You know, you you don't know what it's like unless you drank a tractor trailer load full of vodka, man. You just don't know. Right? But there was something about that day. I was in my 3rd marriage. I was married to a woman, had 3 kids. She was a bartender. They were my step kids. I loved them dearly. They were great, great kids. But that
morning, man and I'm living in the basement. Right? They're living upstairs. They they didn't want anything to do with me because I was I was not a nice guy, man. That's just all there is to it. But when I woke up that morning, man, the pain was just it was more than I could bear anymore. That emotional pain, the fight, you know, that ongoing every single moment. You're in a battle, man. You're battling
with cocaine. You're battling with heroin. You're battling with alcohol. You're battling with lying, cheating, stealing, thieving, you know, the physical pain, the emotional pain, the spiritual pain. It's excruciating, and it's so tiring. And when I woke up that morning, I said, that's it, man. I'm done. I'm out. I'm not doing this anymore. Today, it stops. And so the only real thing I thought of in that moment was was to take my own life. I loaded my pistol, and
that's the direction I was going. And as I'm and I literally put it in my mouth. And and I and then I'm thinking, woah. Woah. Woah. Woah. Wait a minute. If you pull that trigger, yeah, maybe your problems are over, but those 3 kids upstairs, you're gonna kill them too. You're gonna destroy their life, and you can't do that, man. It's just, you know, yeah. You just you just can't do that. So it was a moment of compassion, really. It is what it was. And, you you know, we hear it all the time
when somebody takes their own life, they kill everybody around. You know? And it's a permanent answer to a temporary problem. I mean, all that stuff. Right? But, man, when you're in it, it's it's a different ballgame. So, anyway, so I'm like, now I okay. So if I'm not gonna do that, I still want the pain to stop. I need help. What am I gonna do? And then the next thing I know, why is I it was, like, call Alcoholics Anonymous.
And you know what's interesting about that moment? I didn't even know who the hell AA was. I didn't know anybody in AA. I've never been to AA. I didn't know anything about AA, and yet there was the thought. So I did. I called them, and I got this amazing woman on the phone. She is a gatekeeper, man. She is that's her job, man. She's she she answers the phone from, you know, such and such a time to such and such a time, 3, 4 hours a day sometimes. And I I affectionately
nicknamed her Madge. And the reason I did that lovingly is because she talked like this. Right? She probably smoked 2 packs of palm oil filters a day, man. She had a really raspy voice, but god bless her. She saved my life. Without her, I'm not here. Because she's the one who would make a decision on whether she would call somebody to come pick you up. And she called someone, man by the name of Lauren. And Lauren came
and got me, and he took me to 4 meetings that day. And it changed everything, man. When I was there, they gave me a big book of Alcoholics Anonymous. Matter of fact, you can see the the the book behind me here. It's alcoholics anonymous. That's a first edition. That's when the, you know, when AA first started, my son gave me that for my for, my birthday because he knows what AA means to me. So anyway, they took 3rd 3rd edition.
Right? And and all the men, it was a men's group, they all wrote their name. Wrote their first name and their phone number. At the top, they said, before you take that first drink, call 1 of us. And they sent me home with that book, and then they gave me one of these. It's a chip or AA. 24 hour chip. And somehow I went home that night, and I didn't take a drink. Came back the next day. And then, you know, a couple days turned into a week. A week turned into a month. They gave me
another chip. They gave me one in 2 months, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 1 year. And this last June 8, 2023, I picked up a chip for 35 years. Now here's what happened, though, which was really interesting. When I'm in AA getting sober, I had insomnia. I couldn't sleep. My sleep patterns were all over the place. So I'm up late one night, 3 o'clock in the morning, and there he is, mister enthusiasm, you know, the the infomercial
king himself, man. Tony Robbins is is selling his personal power program. And it's a 30 day program through Guppy Renker. Honestly, I couldn't stand the guy. I thought he was a pompous ass. You know, he's all motivated and all encouraging, and I'm not motivated, bro. I'm feeling like right, I'm not liking this guy. But he said 2 things. He got he said 2 things that got me. The first one, he said, we'll do more to avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure. And I went, holy hell. That's why I drank
and and drugged. Right? I was either trying to chase some pleasure or I was running from pain. Right? So that resonated with me. But what really got me was, he said, the driving force in our life, in other words, the way we make decisions, is we're motivated out of inspiration or desperation. And, man, I was desperate. And that that one that leads me to my next question. Yeah. How did your introduction to to the personal development industry, particularly
Tony Robbins, play That would Yeah. Play a major role in your journey of overcoming addiction? Yeah. I mean, that was it. You know, because again, I was up late that night early on in sobriety, and and I'm introduced to Tony Robbins. I mean, he's the motivational speaker of the 21st century. Right? So, I started, you know, I started reading motivational books and I was going to AA. And so it came together in my life at the same time, which normally doesn't happen. Right? But it was
happening for me. And then I I loaned that program that I bought personal power to Tony that I bought from Tony to a buddy of mine, and he was in AA. And he went through it. And, you know, he, he went through it. And years later, 6, 7 years later, he called me on the phone. And he said, hey, man. Did you know that Tony Robbins is coming to town? And I'm like, no. By the way, this is 1995. Now this was all happening in 88. Right? Now it's 1995. And, again, he called me to tell me that,
you know, Tony was coming to town. And he said, you gotta go, man. You got me into this. I said, alright, man. I'll go. And so he goes, great. I'll call you back. Well, he calls me back, like, an hour later. Right? And he goes, done. We pick up their tickets at will call. Here's what they told us to do. Number 1, drink a lot of water. We need to hydrate. Number 2, bring snacks. We're gonna spend a lot of time in the room. I'm laughing. Anybody's ever been to a Tony Robbins seminar?
Those why. Oh, no. They're amazing. They're amazing. I I I actually was had the honor of going a few years back with the wife, and it was an it's it's an amazing, amazing experience for anyone who hasn't experienced a Tony Robbins. What he does is just is just and and he's just himself, man. That's the greatest thing. He he curses up a storm, but he's himself, and and I love it. I love the fact that he's he's he's authentically himself and and what he's and the and his and what he's saying
is powerful. Yep. He's he's very authentic with that. You know? Yeah. He's got a potty mouth. That's for sure. So he and Dan also said he said, so, you know, water, snacks, bring a good attitude, be ready to play full out. I said, Dan, how much was the ticket? And he said, $695. This is in 1995. Right? I'm like, what? I mean, what's that worth today? Like, 1.21,300,000? I mean, I don't know. Buy Bitcoin. Right? So and just as he's getting ready to get off the phone, he goes, oh,
wait. Stop. Hold it. I forgot to tell you something, man, the most important part. You said, we're gonna be doing a fire walk. And I remember thinking, oh, hell no. Maybe you are, but I'm not. I can tell you that. And I didn't know what a firewalk was. Why? So I had no idea. I don't know what that means. But the word fire and the word walk didn't sound like anything I wanted to do. And, of course, fear was controlling my life anyway. Right? Yeah. So it was
making all my decisions, but I'm not telling Dan that. Right? I'm just kinda going along with it. Yeah. Sure, Dan. Sounds great. Sounds interesting. Sure. Yeah. Firewalk. Alright. I'll see you there. I got off the phone and said, nope. Hell no. Ain't doing no firewalk. That ain't happening. Well, the big day comes. Right? And, I I we we get to the event, and Tony takes the stage at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And, next thing we know, man, it's after midnight.
We've been in a room with with with Tony for 10 hours. Right? Remember, bring snacks, you'll start to tell me. So all of a sudden, Tony goes, take off your shoes. And I'm like, oh, no. Uh-oh, no, man. I see where you're going with that, pal. I'm not falling for that. That ain't happening. Well, now I got a problem. I'm in a room with 35100 people at this event. Guess what they're doing? The firewalls. Well, they're taking their shoes off. They're getting ready to. Right? And so,
yeah. So now what am I gonna do? Right? I got a dilemma. Well, if I don't take my shoes off and I walk out there with 35 100 people, they're gonna know I'm a coward. Can't have that. So I'm like, just take your shoes off, and when you get out there, just go hide in the back. Nobody's gonna know. It just won't happen. And so, anyway, you know, I take my shoes off, and, it gets worse because when Tony's got everybody going out there, right, he's got everybody clapping and chanting. Yes. Yes.
Yes. 35100 people. Right? Oh my gosh. What a dog and pony show. It gets worse because when you get all the way outside, he's got African drummers. So then it's done, done, done, done, done, done. And, I mean, why is it you know, it's a dog and pony show unlike anything you've ever seen or heard. Right? Definitely. Everybody's clapping. They're yield they're screaming. They're yelling. They're chanting. The drums are going. I'm going to the back to hide out. Well,
how do you firewalk 35100 people? Well, you start off by building a big fire in the middle of the day, and they build it up they build up on a pit, and this pit's 35 feet, say, 35 feet wide, 70 feet long. And they just load wood on it all day. Loads of of cords of wood, of hardwood like oak. Hickory. And, they let it burn all day. And what it does at the end of the night, it renders. So then you've got this big, giant, beautiful pile of coals. It's blue
flame. It's gorgeous. So what they do is they take a wheelbarrow over to this big pit, and then they load the coals into a wheelbarrow. Then they bring the wheelbarrow back. Right and they run 2 lanes of side of grass on each side of it. And so it's 3 feet wide, maybe 15 to 18 feet long. And then they sprinkle the coals on top of that sod, that grass, it's called the fire lane, and that's what you walk on. Well, again, I'm hiding
in the back. Well, Tony Robbins knows that the fire walk experience is one of the most life changing things any human will ever go through on on this planet. He knows that. He did his research. Why he brought it in to his seminars? Why he's been doing it for 3 decades? It's a life changing paradigm shift experience. It's unbelievable. There's nothing like it on Earth. And he also noticed people like me that are gonna hide out in the back. So he does not want us to miss out on it. So what's he
do? He, he hires people or trains people, I should say, to come find you. And, and so there I am, man. Hiding in the back and here comes this guy and he makes eye contact with me. And, he gets about 20 feet from me, man, and he looks at me and he goes, hey, man, are you okay? Because I'm not okay. Right? I got a probably pretty funny look on my face. And I'm like, of course, when we're when somebody asked if we're okay and we're not, what do we do? We lie.
Right? So I'm like, yeah. No. I I'm good. All good here. Fine. You know, nothing to see here, man. Move along. And then the guy goes, so, hey, man. You're gonna walk tonight? And I'm like, absolutely not. Hey there. Yeah. So I'm like, absolutely not. And he goes, hey, man. That's no problem. We don't want you to do anything you don't wanna do. And so but then he asked me a question that changed my life forever. And, again, I don't know who
this guy is. I've never met him except for that one time. I don't know who he is today, but without him, you know, I've changed tens of thousands of people's life using this experience, and without him, I'm not here. And he said, well, wouldn't you at least like to watch? And I said, sure. Why not? Let's go watch these people burn their feet off. Right? So, I got in line and, with some encouragement to some of Tony's people, man, the next thing I know, I walked on fire. Walked on coals that
were a 1000 degrees. Did not burn myself. Have no clue how I did it. I just know now that I'm standing in the celebration in with 3,000 other people. We're jumping up and down. We're celebrating like children, and it's one of the most exhilarating moments of my entire life ever. It's so empowering. I mean, after you firewalk, you're like, well, what else can I do? Right? Where's the bus? Let's go. Let's go to Everest. I mean, let's go climb it. Right? Super, super
empowering. And you do it collectively. Right? Because when you walk on hot coals, your self belief, your self worth, your self confidence all go up at the same time with everybody else. So, again, it's collective with all these other people. But I'll tell you where it gets really interesting. The next day. This is a 4 day event. The fireworks on day 1 that night. Now we're going into day 2. So we're all there on time. I didn't see anybody late, and we're
standing in the foyer getting ready to go into the venue. And, well, I don't know how to explain this. I've never seen anything like it. People were getting along so beautifully. There's nothing else like it. I mean, you talk about getting along humanistically. People were laughing and they're crying. They're hugging. They're embracing. They're talking about their fears. They're talking about the fire walk. It was such a beautiful experience to to to be part of
that. Right? It's like, alright. So did we all drink the Kool Aid last night? We sure did. Absolutely. We did, man. And so that was it. And then later, I met one of Tony's trainers, and we're talking. And I just said to him, my off the you know, I just said, hey, man. It must be really awesome to be in this environment on a regular basis. He goes, oh, yeah. I get to do this, you know,
several times a year. And he goes and by the way, he goes, look. You see all those people standing over there with the black shirts with the pink writing on the back? Yeah. He goes, dude, they're volunteers. They're just like you. They came to a live event. And and so when you go home, just call Robins Research, ask for a volunteer crew application. They'll send you one, fill it out, send it back. I did. 9 weeks later, I got a letter in the mail, and it
said, Dave Albin, congratulations. You've been selected to crew with the Anthony Robbins Company. Well, there I am, and my foot was in the door in 1995. By the time 1996 rolled around, I was already a subcontractor. I had a security, background and a and a military background, so they put me on Tony's security team to help take care of his celebrities. I lived on a farm, so I knew how to use a log splitter. I knew how to chop wood. I knew tools and all that stuff. So they put me on the fire
building team. And, again, they hired me as a subcontractor. 2003 rolls around, Tony offered me the captain's position, and that just meant that I took over all of Tony's fireworks globally. And not only that because I homeschooled my kids and that was a concern for me. Robin's research paid for my, for my family to travel with me. So my 2 kids at the ages of like 6 9, and my wife are now on the road with Tony Robbins, traveling around the world, facilitating his
fireworks. That was in 2003. 2005, we went to London, Will. We did the, we set the world record. That's where we walked, 12,300 people. Now I say it's a world record. Guinness Book of World Record was not there. I want a full disclosure there. However, there's never been a fire walk anywhere close to 12,000 people anywhere in the world other than another Tony Robbins seminar, right, where we walked 10,000 or 9,000,
whatever. And then in 2014, that's when, Google got a hold of me, and they wanted to know if I was the Dave Albin that does the fireworks for Tony Robbins. Yes. I am. What can I do for you? Well, if you're not under any contractual obligation or noncompete, we'd like to talk to you about hiring you. Okay. Well, Homeboy's a free agent. What you got?
And, they ended up hiring me. And that's when the light bulb went off. And that's when in talking to Google, they said, man, you ought to think about starting your own business. There's a huge marketplace for what you do. You create paradigm shift. You create so you can create some of the most powerful life changing corporate team building experiences in the world. And you're at the top of the game. You're at the top of your
game, man. So you may wanna think about it. We sought you out. Right? We're Google. So I was like, you know what? I'm I listened to them. And then, I ended up doing a couple of gigs for Google. And then the next thing we knew, after I retired from Tony's organizations and in in 2014, I was at NASA. Then I went to Notre Dame, and then, Virginia Tech, and then REMAX, and Chick Fil A, and Heineken and Microsoft and the YMCA and the EO Organization. Hell, the next thing I know,
I'm on the stuck in my mind podcast. Right? I mean, you just you don't know what's gonna happen. So So Yeah. Since since so since 2014, we've been going hot and heavy ever since. Awesome. So from like you mentioned, you you, like you mentioned, you work, you've worked with Google, NASA. You've worked with many diverse organizations. How do you tailor your firework experiences to suit different different audiences? You don't really have to because the the fire is gonna do what the fire
does. Right? They're all gonna they're all gonna respond pretty much the same way. I don't care if it's the YMCA or NASA. It's it's just it's just the way it is. It's humanistic. Right? Because when they walk up to that fire lane and they look down and those coals are bright red, well, pretty much the same thing is happening in their head. And you and, you know, we know this. Right? Most CEOs know that what doesn't challenge you doesn't
change you. And the fears you don't overcome are going to end up being your limits because fear is a liar. And because that fear had taken everything for me, Will. Everything up until that moment. Because up until the moment I fire walked, my brain, as far as fear was, is forget everything and run. Right? Now after that, it was space everything and rise. Or like we'd like to say in a false images appearing real.
Right? So, I, you know, some clients, you know, I'm in fact, a client that got ahold of me a couple of days ago got ahold of me today and said, yeah, Dave, we wanna hire you. Let's let's let's let's book it. They have some things going on in at this event. They've got a bunch of distributors coming in. So they want something real motivational, real life changing, real uppity, very positive encouraging kind of stuff. And that, you know, that's my specialty. I'm dialed in with that. So we're
gonna do we're gonna do a lot more than just the firewalk. We're gonna do the board break with it, and I have a proprietary thing there. I teach them a martial arts saying they break boards with their bare hands. I have them write a bunch of information on the board. We we have a a process out at the firewalk Right after the firewalk, I do something. I put them in a position where everybody's heart calibrates. So I'll have a 100 people at this event and their hearts are all beating at the same
time. That's powerful. Right? Anyway, when you put somebody through that, a group of people together and they work together or maybe there are a bunch of distributors, whatever, they're working together. There it it it it does the polar opposite of what happened in 20 in March of 2020. What happened in March of 2020? Everybody got shredded. Everybody's arguing. I'm wearing a mask. I'm not wearing a mask. I'm getting a vaccine. I'm not. I love Donald Trump. I hate Donald Trump. Oh,
shut up. That dissension just shredded people. Now they're all argumentative. They they got away from the humanistic side of things. That's why I don't have to really I just let the fire do what the fire does. The fire doesn't care whether you wear a mask or not. Right? The the the the the fire doesn't care whether you got 2 vaccines and 9 boosters. It doesn't give a shit. It's gonna force you to focus. You know, you're not gonna walk up to that fire and, you know, and and bring your
ego. I mean, you can. Tell me how that works out for you. Yeah. So, yeah, it just it gets people to get along. It brings them back to treating each other with love and kindness and respect, and and and that's what you want in your workforce workforce. Look, if you got a bunch of people out there, you're a CEO and you got a bunch of people and they're still fighting over all this stuff, you better fix it. Because if you don't,
it's gonna it's gonna cost you money. How can people all work together for the greater good and perform at a high level unless they're getting along really well. They don't. So, again, dissension is gonna cost companies can cost them 1,000,000, maybe 1,000,000,000. So that's why they bring me in. A lot of times they hire me because people that they aren't getting along. Things aren't good, and they and they want you know, I'm the I'm the fix it, man.
Sometimes they hire me when things are just mediocre. No. Things aren't really good. They're not really bad. Somewhere in the middle, they hire me during those times. Sometimes they hire me when they're kicking butt and they get it. They wanna go to that next level. Right? And they know they need to do something. They're not gonna go on a scavenger hunt. They're not gonna get the team together. Hey. Let's go golfing and change everybody's life. Come on. That doesn't work. John wins the damn
golf tournament every year. He's the best golfer. We're tired of it. Right? So and so people know. People get it. CEOs, business owners, COOs, CFOs, they get it. They know that they need to do something that's gonna shake up the central nervous system. And again, what doesn't challenge you is not going to change you. So that's why there's such a, you know, that's why this process that I take these people through work, and it's so profound.
So I'm just so Yeah. So having worked with Tony Robbins and other influential figures, how do you see the role of per personal development evolving in today's world? Wow. Well, unfortunately, like everything else, there's some charlatans out there. There's some there's some people that, you know, overpromise and underdeliver. And, there's some people out there that don't do their research and they don't really understand how the human brain
works. How do you get people to change? What's going on? It really all comes down to purpose. Mhmm. Right? I get asked all the time. So, Dave, you you know, here you're almost 70. You're on no medications. Look at you. What what do you do every day? I take care of myself. I have I have rituals. I have I have a regimen every morning. First thing Dave, what's the first thing you do when you wake up? I make my bed. The discipline of making my bed. Just ask the military.
Right? We know anybody's been in the military. You what's the first thing you do? You make your bed. One of the other first things I do is, is I, I I expose my upper torso to morning sunlight. That first light when the sun first comes up, that is the most healthiest sunlight you can imagine. So good for you. Vitamin d. So I exposed myself to that. It's cold outside. I live in the Appalachian mountains. I don't care. So what I'm not, I need that morning sunlight. My body wants
that. And then while I'm doing that, it's about 9 minutes. I'm also doing deep diaphragmatic breathing. I'm inflexing oxygen into my body. Why do I want a lot of oxygen in my body on a daily basis? Because disease, sickness, and illness cannot survive in an oxygenated environment. We know that. How do you will you think I'm lucky that I'm not on any medications? I know what oxygen does in my body. So I go out there and I take 30
deep diaphragmic breaths. And when I get to the last breath, I take a nice deep breath and I hold it until I can't hold it anymore. I exhale. I do it again. Another 30. Same thing. After that 30, I take a nice deep breath in, and I hold it until I can't hold it anymore. Exhale. I do that 3 times, 3 sets of 30
breaths every morning while I'm out in the sunlight. After I do that, I go to the other side of my house, and I do what's called grounding or earthing, depending on what you how you like to call it. I go put my bare feet on the planet. It could be grass, sand, dirt, mud. Sometimes when I'm traveling or, like, sometimes if I get motivated, I go down and have a creek down here, and I go down and put my feet in the mud. And I get my feet deep into that mud and that cold water in
the morning because the water is super cold. Then I come home and I do my meditation. I read 10 pages in a good book. And then I do my sound therapy, and then I take a really hot shower. After I take my hot shower, you probably see this coming, I take a cold shower. 3 minutes in very cold water. I have mountain spring water coming into my home. It's clean. It's a lie. It's very, very good for me. It's also 56 degrees right now. So, you know, I turned up I turned the hot
water off. I set a timer for 3 minutes. I turn it on, and that water hits me right smack dab in the middle of the face. Guess what it does? It takes your breath away. It's it does it every time. It's like, I've been doing it for months. Right? Does it ever not do it? No. It takes the takes my breath away every time. Do I like it? Not necessarily. Is it good for me? Yes. And here's the key. If I tell myself I'm gonna do something, I do it. I
don't negotiate with myself. People that wanna negotiate with yourself. I'm getting up tomorrow morning at 5:30. I'm going to the gym. Then they don't do it. They negotiate with themselves. Okay? Tell me how that works out for you because it'll keep doing it. You'll negotiate that, this, that, everything. Next thing you know, you're not getting anything done that you wanna do. So you've gotta have some discipline, some regimen to
that, and the payoff is huge. And by the way, all those things that I'm doing there right now for health purposes, it's all free. The sunlight is free. The air is free. The grounding is free, and even my water is free because I'm on a well. You know? I dug I dug we dug the we dug the well, 9 years ago, 10 years ago, whatever it was. You know what I mean? But I don't pay for the municipal water. I I don't I can't stand municipal water. I don't want the chlorine, the fluoride,
the chemicals. No. Uh-uh. I don't think so. Water is too important to your health. It's everything. I also have one of those little, hydrogen, generators. So I can put my my mountain water in there and I press a button and it hide now I know there's hydrogen in the water already. Don't start with me. I get that. But it's still hide it it puts the the molecule. It it does it so that when you drink it, man, it's really, really super good for you. Go do your research. It's out there. Okay.
So yep. Yeah. Awesome. So, like, you you mentioned you live in the Appalachian Mountains. I I live up in the Pocono Mountains. Yeah. That's cool. I'm a I'm a city boy, but it's it's so much so much of a big difference. It's so much more relaxing. I get to enjoy the beautiful mountains, the fresh air. It's different. It's definitely it's definitely helped with my
mind state and everything because Beautiful. It's it's it helps you open more it helps you think much more clearer when you're out here in the mountains and Yeah. And really not Better believe it does. What I like to say all the time, love where you live and live where you love. No. I I I it's I love the fact that I I decided to move up here. I've been up here now almost, what, 9 years, 10 years? For you, man. And you're originally what? From New
York. Right? Yeah. I'm a Brooklyn boy. You're a Brooklyn boy. A Brooklyn boy gone Pocono Mountains. I'm a surfer boy from California gone Appalachian mountain, so I get it, man. Yeah. And and it's it's something that, I I I've I'm thankful for this move, man. It's really for you. It's made it's made an impact on my life. It's made an impact on my on my family's life because I've moved I've moved my brothers up here, my sister, my mom, and my brother's man. My brother last
year purchased his first home. So Oh, I see. Yeah. It's been it's been a wonderful experience, and I'm so blessed and thankful to to actually make that I'm made decide to make the move. Good for you. Well, you know, I I've heard Tony say many times. It's in our moments of decision that our destinies are shaped. So good for you. You not only changed your life, you took your family with you. That's a beautiful thing, man. I freaking love that. That's awesome. I I made a I made a pretty big
decision here recently myself. I don't know if you know this part. So, you know, corporate America has been pretty good to me. They hire me all the time, and it's great. I'll continue to do that. But I was on an I was on another podcast, and after we recorded, Natalie asked me. She said, hey, David. Have you ever done a fire walk for veterans? And I said, you mean specifically? And she said, yeah. And I go, no. She goes, would you consider it? And I said, sure. Tell me what's
going on. She goes, I got 300 vets, coming to a gala in the in Boca Raton at the at the Bonaventure. So as we got to talk and she said, you know, what do you charge? And I told her, she goes, oh, man. We can't afford you. And I said, well, wait a minute. Hold on. Time out. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll waive my fee. However, you're gonna have to pay for my
team. I'm not gonna ask my team to work for free. Right? Yeah. You're gonna have to pay them, gonna have to feed them, got to put them in Airbnb. You gotta pay for all the supplies. You pay for all the hard costs, and I'll come do it. Well, that night after I agreed to doing it, I woke up in the middle of the night, and it came to me. On my website, it says, stop looking for heroes and be 1. And I woke up and going, okay. Stop looking for heroes in b one, Dave. And so we came up with, a
501c3. We're forming it now, and it's gonna be called operation do no harm. And it's gonna be specifically for veterans, first responders, kids that have been bullied, and single moms because the the you know, this is these are 4 groups of people that there's a really they're taking their lives. Suicide rate's really high. I heard that veterans, it was 22 a day. That's not true. That's only if they leave a note. Well, most of them don't. 50% don't leave a note, so it's over
40 a day. And that got me, man. I went, okay. I can help these people. I can help save some lives here. I don't think I know I can. And so I'm I'm putting together a very specific Firelock process for veterans and first responders and kids that have been bullied and single moms. So, we're we're that. Yeah. That was a great going? I was raised by a single mom. I know the the hard work she she went through and the struggles she went through.
So I I'm that I appreciate that, Lyn. That that that's and and, of course, the veterans and first responders, because those those the veterans, first of all, we our veterans are so neglected in this country. Oh, god. I don't even want don't even get me started. I'll I'll go off. I'll lose my shit. I'm a vet. Right? So I know. And and and and I've got a lot of friends. You know, I grew up in the Vietnam era. You know, my father that raised me, he was a highly
decorated vet in in world war 2. And he was, you know, he was a retired military, national guard and army, officer. And so, yeah, it it hit a really soft spot. So right now I'm out I'm out recruiting every corporation and company entrepreneur, business owner that wants to come get involved. In fact, we just, booked another one. We booked a, another podcaster, believe it or not. Ed Parklake, great guy. He's the president of the Rotary in Modesto, California.
And he said, hey, man. Would you if I hire you, will you come to will you come to Modesto and do one for our vets here? And I said, absolutely. So we just scheduled that one. That one's gonna be April 13th in Modesto, California. So I'm actually inviting several CEOs to come to that event and to say, listen, man. You wanna get involved? You wanna put your brand out there and do something really positive? You guys give away money all the time. You sponsor all kinds of
stuff. Come get involved. We need you, and we'll we'll make you look good. So, they're you know, again, I'm inviting I invited, Black Rifle Coffee, MIT 45, doTerra, which is an essential oil company out of Salt Lake. I invited one of my cool companies, Zippo, Zippo lighter company. Right? So here's the lighter that they made for me. I don't know if you guys can see that, man. It's Beautiful. Got my things deep. So I went to Zippo, and I
said, hey, man. We're gonna start doing stuff for veterans and first responders, kids, and moms. Would you guys like to be involved? They said, absolutely. So I went up and spent two and a half days with them, and they took me on a tour of the plant, which they don't do. You can go to a museum and look at that, but they actually took me to the plant, and I got to meet I met one woman that had been working there for 57 years. Wow. What?
Right? Really cool company, man. They're beautiful people. I love them. So what we did it, I we sit down with the design team. And so in 1941, they made a lighter for veterans. Right? So that they could carry him, into Europe to fight the Germans. How do I know that? My dad had one. Yeah. Same thing with the navy. So in 1941, they made a lighter. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take that 1941 replica. They're gonna powder coat it black, and then they're gonna laser in their
operation do no harm. These things are going to be gorgeous. So, yeah, I put a whole I put the whole package together, you know, the the the the past, the present, and the future, if you will, going forward, you know, with these, my dog, my my friend is listening to her. It's all good. Yeah. It's all good. So yeah. So anyway, so that's where we're going, you know, with that
program. So if there's any of your listening audience out there that would like to, be part of, talk about, whatever, we're all ears, man. We'd love to hear from them. Awesome. Definitely. Definitely. Well, when you get when you soon enough, you'll get your your time to to plug away and let everybody know where they can sign sign up
for you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. But, so I know I know personal is very important and everything because I I I've I've it's it's crazy because in, 2004 or 5, my my my first wife introduced me into self development, and that was her way to prepare me for what was to come. Because in 2008, she passed away in a car accident. Oh. And and it was and and it it was just, and and I was lost for some time. Broke. And I and I and
yeah. Yeah. It I was lost for some time, but that was her way of preparing me and because I'm so I'm very into self development and and and wanting people to to really better their lives and to because because like I said, I was raised by a single mom, and it it's to me, having these conversations is important to have people like yourself who who has a who has an amazing story story, who who has overcome so much. Like, you you were adopted at at 5 years old by your aunt by your aunt
and uncle. And and that to me is like, okay. They didn't have to do that. So what everything you've experienced and and and all that, what are some of the key things you've you feel that people need to know, or especially people who wanna start out their journey on self, self development and personal growth? Well, I mean, if you if you have to start just simplistically, just go start reading 10 pages in a good book every day. It'll change your life. I mean, think about it. 10 pages a day. That's
it. And it it's very mundane. Right? I mean, it's really, really, really easy to do, which makes it really hard to do sometimes. Right? But think about it. You got 365 days times 10. How many books is that? Right? So you can really, really change your life. And it doesn't have to be where you go to all these seminars and pay a lot of money. Now if you've got the money to do it, by all
means. If you can go see Tony Robbins, go do it. And if it's not Tony Robbins, find somebody else that you like that's that that, you know, encourages you, inspires you, to step up. I don't know. I, I, you know, again, mines came from reading and listening to tapes early on and that's what got me. And I just, I've really never taken my foot off the throttle. I just kind of keep going. There's always another level. There's always something
new to learn. There's always something that, you know, I didn't know yesterday. So I just, it worked. You're investing in you. Yeah. That's all that's all there is to it. And that yeah. And that's something a lot of people like, you mentioned 2020, March 2020, and that's when I started my podcast. And when once I started my podcast and realized that this is something that I love to do and and I
found my purpose and Yeah. You're good, man. And and I I was furloughed from my job and I was getting this extra money. I my what I did was invest in myself. I I invested in quality equipment. I invested in in a great mic. I invested in courses to help me edit video, learn about audio. I've I invested in me, and it's because I wanted to improve because I felt that people were giving me something very precious, which is their time. Their
time. Yeah, man. And I and I felt like, well, they're giving me their time. I need to give them the best best version of myself that I can. Wow. The best quality that I can do whatever you want. That's beautiful. Yeah. Hope people are listening to that. Say it say it a little louder for the people in the back, man. It's it's important. It's very important.
It's something I tell people, it's it's very important that you invest in yourself. If there's something you wanna learn and and the information is out there. Like, I I've learned a lot of yeah. I I paid for some courses and everything, but YouTube has a lot of things you can, like, nightly. Every night I I go to sleep. I'm either going to sleep to, Wayne Dreyer, Les Brown, Tony Robbins. Love Les. So so I'm I'm just folk I'm just constantly just just putting positive content, just trying to
just continue to grow. Like you said, just continue to learn, and and that's a big for me. One of my best friends is a guy by the name of Joseph McClendon. That ring a bell? I think it yes. He's, he's, he's really good friends with Les Brown. And, and so Joseph has, an incredible training program. It's I I I I have no problems saying that it's the best in the world by far. And less endorses it and less is part of it. And and
yeah. So when you said less and, you know, sometimes you know, and I get it. Sometimes people don't have the funds. They don't have you know, maybe they will someday. I I get asked all the time. So where would I get started, Dave? Read the book Think and Grow Rich. Which I have Start there. I have it here on my books so far. Right? That's one of the first books you need to start with. Yeah. Yeah, man. It's it's it's there. Napoleon Hill, he, you know, he interviewed 5 of the
most 500 of the most successful men on earth. Now, by the way, he said, man, it was back in the industrial age. Yes. It was many years ago. But he went and he learned their patterns and you know, why they do, why they don't do so on and so forth. And it's it's it's a phenomenal book. Another really, really good book too that I love that I I I broadcast quite often is, one of them is by a buddy of mine named, Jeremy Newsom. And he's got a book that says, money does grow on trees.
Okay. How often do we you know. Right? We grow up, our parents go, money doesn't grow on trees. You know? I'm not made of money. You know? Right? Well, Jeremy came along and he quashes all that stuff because we learn these horrible beliefs about money when we're young. And he's he's phenomenal, man. Jeremy Newsom, his book, money does grow on trees. And then one of my other favorites is, Gay
Hendricks, the big leap. The big leap is phenomenal, and a lot of motivational speakers today, including Tony Robbins, use gay stuff. And, if you have you read it? Have you read the big leap? No. I haven't. I'm gonna not as you mentioned. I'm gonna actually pursue Oh, there you go, man. Oh, yeah. You'll you'll you we'll talk again. You're gonna go, oh my god. Are you kidding me? It's a great book, man. It's phenomenal. But then again, you know, there's so much content out
there and, you know, it can put you into overwhelm. That's why I say it's okay. Just chill. Start where you are with what you have. Yeah. But start let me say that again. Start where you are with what you have. You know, you can go get Think and Grow Rich. I think you can Google it and get it on a PDF for free. Probably. I think it's out there. I think you can literally get the book for free. You can read it on read it on a PDF. So 10 pages a day. Do that every day for a year and come back and
tell me that it didn't work. I dare you. I'll give you a $1,000. It didn't change your life. 10 pages every day, 365 days out of the year. Do it for 1 year. It be one of the greatest gifts, one of the greatest things you've ever
done for yourself. Awesome. Awesome. But, David, now's the point. Now now's come to the point where you're gonna get the solo screening, and you get to plug away and let everybody know where they can check you out, everything, whether if they wanna hire you to do firewalks for them, everything. Yeah. Well, thanks, bro. Well, yeah, I'm real I'm real accessible. It's really easy to get a hold of me, you guys. Just go to my website. It's firewalkadventures
dotcom. That's all one word, firewalkadventures with ans.com. Everything's there. If you wanna hire us to come in and create these experiences for you and your team and your company and whatever, we'll do that. Hey. What if you, wanted, to come to my academy and we'll train you how to do all this stuff, but that's there too. I have the Dave Albin Fire Walk Academy. I do it every October. I do it once a year. We bring in about, 18 people. We cut it off. There's a reason for that.
We want to keep it intimate. So when you come to the academy, it's 5 days and we'll show you how to do all this stuff. I'll show you a fire walking, glass walking, board break, brick break, arrow break, rebar bending, team building, how to start a business, how to talk to the Chamber of Commerce, you know, how to talk to fire marshals, how to do it all. When you leave here, you are a fire walk extraordinaire. No
question about it. And then of course, what's true to my heart right now, if you wanna get involved with operation do no harm and you wanna save some veterans and some first responders and some kids and single moms' lives, please get ahold of me. You can sponsor me and bring me to your city, and we'll do one right there. And with everybody looking at your logo and, you know, your brand. So thanks, Will, for letting me do that. Thank you, brother. I think I appreciate you being here, man.
It's my pleasure, man. Very, very, very blessed that you brought me up. You got a great podcast. There's no question about it, man. So you've done a great job. Very impressive. And I've done a lot of podcasts. I think, in fact, you know what? Where where am I? A 100 I think this is the 140th podcast that I've done in the last year. So, you know, you you you're dialed in, man. You're all in. I can tell you that right now. I've you know what? It's it's been a
wonderful journey, man. I've learned so much doing this. I've, experienced so much. I actually went on a road trip last week, went down to Charlotte with me me and my nephew went down to Charlotte. We got to meet some some great people down there, and, so it's it's opened up so many opportunities for us. It's it's, I've helped my nephew publish his book. We've done just we've just done so so many things in the three and a half years since we started. And I'm I'm blessed, man.
I'm blessed to be able to do this. I'm I'm blessed to be able to find my voice and know that Yeah. This is what I'm supposed to be doing right here because some of the messages I receive are amazing. When you get that person say, hey. I needed to hear this episode. Yeah. It all feels amazing when you get that per one person say, hey. I needed that episode. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you very much. Love it.
Shout out to my home girlfriend, Frederica, because I love talking about her because we recorded I've done 2 shows with her. The second show we did, I did it over a year ago, and I kind of, like, had it in in my in in reserve, and I did and I completely forgot about it. And so one day I'm looking for an episode to release, and her episode pops up. And I'm like, man, I didn't I I I can't believe I forgot this episode. And I released it. I put the descriptions and everything about it, not
knowing that she was going through some stuff. And so when she saw the descriptions and all the things and the picture that I used for the thumbnail and everything, the message that she sent me was was impactful because she had, like she like I said, she had been going through some stuff, and then she was like, yo, the words that you said about me and all the things you talked about, she says, I haven't been feeling like that.
She says, the past past few months, I haven't been feeling like that person that you described in in your description. And for for you to write that and for you to see that and for you to pick the one of my favorite pictures and all, thank you. And that was, like, the first time that, episode that me and that someone recorded had an impact on their own on their life. Like, it was our episode, but it it really, really touched her because,
like like I said, she was struggling, going through some stuff. And so when she sent me that message, I really, really had impact on me. It was like, man. Right? We never know. Yeah. We we never know. One one little one little word of, you know, encouragement to somebody can make all the difference in the world. And that's, you know, that's why we a lot of us out here, you know this, we preach this. Right? Yeah. Random
acts of kindness, man. I was having a conversation with a guy today and he was talking about some stuff and and it reminded me, of something I do every year. And that is when girl scouts start selling their girl scout cookies. Let me give your audience a really cool thing to do here. So you know what I'm talking about. Right? Yeah. I love these cookies. They're setting up at Walmart. They're setting up at Lowe's, Home Depot, whatever, selling their girl scout
cookies. And when you walk up to buy a box of cookies, you can see it in their eyes. Right? All the girls are all excited. Like, you know, they're gonna sell 1 or 2 boxes, maybe 3 box of the cookies. Right? And they're all excited. And so, I learned this from a dear friend of mine, Gary King. And so what happened is is that I walked up to Lowe's, here. And again, they, they typically do it right here in my own little town at Lowe's. And I
walked up and they're all set up and there's the cookies. And I walked, I walked up and I said, Hey girls, how How you doing? You guys selling some cookie? Yes, sir. We're selling cookies. You know? They're they're so sweet. They're so adorable. And, so I turned to the den mother. I go up to the mom and I said, so, mom, I'd I'd like to buy $200 worth of cookies. And and the little girls go, oh, like, oh my gosh. Right? Like, that's gonna that's gonna set they're gonna
sell out. Right? Yeah. I said, but there's a catch. And she's like, okay. What's the catch? I said, the catch is I want you to call a retirement home, an older folks' home, and I want you to talk to the director and ask them if there's any residents in that home that don't get any visitors. They've been
left alone to die. And what I'd like you to do is take these cookies, take the girls, teach them to ask some really cool questions, and go into that old folks home and give those cookies away and go talk to those to those people. And the the the the den mother that was like, she went, oh my god. She goes, that is so beautiful. She goes, it's done. I'll do it. And so she
we're we're on the same Facebook group here in our little town. Right? Yeah. She went on Facebook and told everybody, went out and called all the other den mothers, right, that are selling the cookies and said, oh my god. Here's what this guy did. So, you know, we could do this. And so, you know, again, you don't you just don't know. Right? Absolutely. And and I like to say all the time, stop looking for magical moments and create them. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It it it the power was
within you to to create those magical moments. Absolutely. I agree with that 100%, man. Yeah. Absolutely. So Well, man. Hey, bro. I'm again, I wanna thank you so much for bringing me on your show. It was great. I'd love to come back and and do it again sometime. And, I wanna thank all your listeners and, you know, for listeners listening to me today. And, I'd, I'd love to, help work whatever, you know, going on in their world. We'd love to help
them. Brother, I would love to have you back on the guest as a guest, man. It's I I I've had repeat guests. I've I've had people come on repeat. So that's not a problem. I I love that fact that, that that you wanna come back on. I appreciate that, man. That that that's neat. Listen. Got a great show, and it's it shows. And like I said, you're all in and details matter and, you know, you're doing a you're doing a great thing. And so you're serving a group. You're serving your your
audience. And, you know, again, it's a beautiful thing and it comes out. So Appreciate that, brother. Yeah. It's it's a beautiful thing. Great job. Appreciate it. Appreciate it. But don't leave just yet. Let me close out the show, and, we'll chat a little bit more. But, yes. Thank you so much, brother. I greatly appreciate you being on the show, man. This is great. This is fun. Thanks. I enjoyed this. Fantastic. Yep. Thanks, everybody. Alright, man. That was a great
show. Shout out to everybody on Instagram who tuned in for the first time. This is the first time going live on Instagram. Streamyard just added it this past just recently, so that's amazing to be able to reach it, one of my audience on Instagram. I I greatly appreciate everybody who tuned in. Sam, thank you for stopping by. Terilyn, thank you for coming through. Cesar, thank you. Appreciated it. Carlos, man, appreciate you. I see you out there. Oh, Jamie, what's going on? I know you're
gonna you got jokes at work when I see you now. And, shout out to my sister. She stopped by on Instagram. But thank you everyone who stopped by. Appreciate it. Mikey, thank you for stopping by as well. He left a comment. He said, hi, David. Appreciate it. He shared the show. Appreciate bro appreciate you, brother. Thank you for tuning in. Ever since you've found out about Stuck in My Mind, you've definitely been a a regular viewer, so I greatly appreciate
it. And big shout out to my RealWives fam, Poppy j. Love you, brother. Boss lady, appreciate you and love you. And as always, a big, big shout out to all the essential workers out there. God bless you. I'll be safe. You know how your boy, Wise, does it? Peace out.