[laughs]

I always say this to people, practice this all the time.

When you're at the store, Costco, Sam's Club, wherever, right? Strike up a conversation.

It's okay.

Regardless, about the weather.

Give a compliment to the, to that person.

And you know something what I'm actually saying is, you're changing that cerebral hard drive.

Mm-hmm.

a

raise your hand.

OK, if you're driving your car, don't do that.

People look at you.

Just raise your hand if you think that's that's true.

And Ted, you're on to something.

Right.

Very true.

Yeah.

All right.

This is, this is great stuff.

I hope you guys are taking notes.

Or better yet, go to the Finding Joy website, findingjoy.us and read all about Finding Joy: Journey of You.

Um, but we'll get to that in a minute.

So when I started writing Finding Joy: Journey of You, I made every chapter a journey chapter.

Yeah.

and you know they didn't i don't know that it necessarily even started some people might talk about it started in the industrial revolution but i think it started well before that long long before that right yeah so let's let's get them let's get them conformed to to to being that society yeah there you go sorry didn't mean to interrupt no no no i mean this

gets this can you Guys, I hope you're excited as much as Kevin and I are about this because what we're saying to you and what this discussion is about is to maybe find a greater purpose in your life versus what your paycheck will allow you to do.

And again, I'm not telling you to go and quit your job tomorrow, but maybe have a game plan to build your life towards a different direction.

Maybe give yourself the ability to say, you know something, yeah, I do have more greatness than what my paycheck is telling me I am, right? And that's why finding joy, journey of your purpose, finding your purpose, your value, and your freedom is so important and should be one of the very first books that you need to go out there and read.

Whether you're a 20-year-old or a 70-year-old person, we can all change.

We still have life in us, right? As Les Brown would say, we still have greatness in us.

So what are the four principles of finding joy? There's four principles, and we kind of outline them in Finding Joy.

Okay.

So you need one, grab a copy, sit down in a comfort place, read it and get transformed.

Yeah, the very first chapter in Finding Joy, Journey of You, Moses, and every chapter, everybody, is a journey chapter, right? It's a journey of some facet of our life.

The very first chapter, and I'm going to go through this very quickly here because of time, but the very first chapter, Moses, is the chapter of mindset.

And you kind of said it in your introduction.

right? The journey of mindset.

How did we get to be the way we are in adult life, right? And what we've formulated is that we formulated a life of work, right? We're working every day.

We're in struggle every day.

It's making more sense.

So I'm curious about where did you come to that place of saying, I need to put this between the covers of a book?

It was just really through a culmination of events in my life, from very early to literally six, seven years ago, where you just get to a certain point, you say, you know, I don't want other people having to live in this fashion.

anymore.

I have a different spin on how we arrived.

And there's a lot of great motivational books out there.

Finding Joy, Journey of You, which I'm very blessed about, became a number one international bestseller in self-help motivation, personal transformation, self-esteem.

The one that I was really proud of is Personal Transformation.

Yeah,

Oh, yeah.

Right.

He has a tremendous growth mindset.

Now, however, he was calibrated when he was a youngster, came out later when he started PayPal.

right? He wasn't fearful.

He was like, I'm going for this.

When he started SpaceX 20, almost 25 years ago, that's how long SpaceX has been around.

Definitely not.

Despite being an architect and a real estate, it really took over three decades.

Yeah.

And let me put that in a health context for you.

Okay.

Basically, I did all the right things that we're supposed to do in life, right? Yeah.

You know, my parents told us what to do.

I'm sure your parents did, too.

Or rather, Ted, why do you feel this disconnection has become very, very common today?

So when you say disconnected from purpose, what do you mean by that? And then why do you think success can still leave people feeling that way?

Yeah, I mean, you're right.

Boy, what fun those years were.

I look back and I go, wow, that time went by so fast.

And yeah, to kind of give the audience a little bit of platform of myself and so forth, my name is Ted Kopecko.

I wrote the book Finding Joy, Journey of You.

The acronym for joy is journey of you, right? Finding your purpose, your value, and your freedom.

part of his

Was there a defining moment that made you realize people were living disconnected from genuine fulfillment?

Yes, there was.

And that was just not one thing.

It was a cumulative journey that in my life that went to a certain point saying, I don't want to, what I built was a life of work.

Right? No matter what we do, whether we sit behind a desk or we own a business, we built ourself a line of work.

Now, you know what the word, the acronym for job is, J-O-B? The acronym for job is just over broke.

So you can live your life in that atmosphere, job-led life, or you can make that choice to have a joy-led life, right? A job-led life is really where you're letting outside stimuluses dictate your direction.

Robin Devier.

Can you share with us your personal story and what's inspired your passion for helping people discover joy and purpose?

Yeah, it's a cumulative approach in my life.

And the book is not about me.

It's about all of our journeys together.

I was the author of Finding, or I am the author of Finding Joy, Journey of You.

And let everybody understand that Joy, the acronym for joy, J-O-Y, is journey of you.

Because joy is just not just a momentary happiness, fleeting moment of joyfulness or whatever.

So I think your book can inspire my audience to find joy.

So before we dive into your book, can you take us to the beginning? What does your journey always look like?

Well, let me go backwards a little bit, kind of introduce myself to the audience, because we don't know each other, I don't think.

But my name is Ted Kopecko.

I am the author of Finding Joy, the subtitle is Journey of You.

So the acronym for joy, and this is the basis of our conversation, is Your Journey, Journey of You, J-O-Y.

And the subtitle is Finding Your Purpose, Value, and Freedom.

Well, you know, I lived the normal life.

Okay.

But what was that first moment, you know, you were succeeding at things that were not actually feeding you?

Great question, Usana.

And let me go back in time for your question.

Your listeners.

And I think most of us is growing up like this.

You know, you're born.

You get slapped on the butt by the doctor.

But I think gradually, as the life is progressing, bit by bit, moment by moment, sometimes conversations by conversation, it's kind of unraveling in a very different way for me.

What is actually happening to that person?

That's a great question.

And Stacey, I just want to thank you so much for the invite today.

This is I'm excited to be here and I'm excited to be on your podcast.

So it's a complete honor.

So thank you.

Thank you.

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