Trent Shelton: From Football to Motivational Speaker

This month, host Louis Carr speaks with Trent Shelton, former American football wide receiver and motivational speaker.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi. I'm Louis Carr. I am the founder of the
Blueprint Connect podcast and we're here live from the Blueprint
Summit here in Chicago, Illinois. And my special guests kicking
off the summit is Trent Shelton, super motivator speaker. Uh.

(00:22):
He will be kicking off helping men find their purpose. Trent,
Welcome to the Blueprint Summit. Thanks for having me, man,
I appreciate it. This is so exciting man. And uh,
you know, I follow you on social media like millions
of other people, and you've got a message. Tell us
what your message is in general? Yeah? Really, Um, it's

(00:42):
a message of first of all, just ownership, um, always
an accountability, just telling people that all starts with you. You
You know, if you want to change your life, you
want growth in your life, it starts with the person
in the mirror. And the second part of that is
just helping people meet the greatest version of themselves. I
believe we all have a version of us that we
haven't met yet, and I want to help people meet them.
So people are always asking how can they find their purpose? Yeah?

(01:06):
So actually I'm gonna talk about today a little bit,
but um, you know, for me, I believe one of
one of the ways it's connected to your past. You know,
the things that you've been through qualifies you to help
other people get through it. So if you look at
things that you've been through that might not have been
favorable or he might say, man, like why did I
go through this? But now you're the person that's the
guy because you've been down the trail. So now you

(01:27):
can give somebody else the map based on your experience.
So your past is tied to it a lot. And
also um even your power. You know, I believe there's
something inside of us and our soul that kind of
lets us know that this is what we're supposed to
be doing, even though even if we didn't want to
do it. I never wanted to be a speaker. I
didn't think this was my purpose. I thought it was
a football, But as I started to speak and communicate,

(01:48):
it was just something about having confidence, encourage even the
midst of my biggest fear, Like I'm an introvert by nature,
So I knew that had to be something about this
that was probably my purpose. So how did you transfer
for the NFL skills? Yeah, uh, to helping people find
their purpose for sure. So I mean on the football field.

(02:08):
It taught me a lot about uh really that ownership,
you know, really hard work and dedication. Um. Football teaches
about how to use adversity. You know, people, when we
hear the word adversity, we think adversity is a bad
thing and it can't be like that if you use
it that way. But also adversity is an opportunity to
be able to find something deeper in your life. And
so I tell people all the time, and when you're
when you're losing that game of life or that season

(02:30):
of life, that could that could be a sign that
you need to readjust something or maybe even makes you
diving deeper. So in football, there's been plenty of times
we've been down by twenty or thirty and or maybe
not thirty but twenty and came back, you know what
I mean, and we're able to change up the game
play a little bit, to adjust. So it taught me
how to have perseverance, and that's what I try to
give other people. I started looking for my purpose round

(02:51):
about twenty two years an age, and I'm a little
embarrassed that I didn't find it until forty one. And
I found it sitting in my office looking out the
window one day and I'm sent, what should I really
be doing? I talked to a lot of people. I
talked to coaches, I talked to pastors, and they all said,

(03:15):
when it's time for you to find it, it will
hit you in the head like a ton of bricks.
And that's what happened to me. But it was always
right in front of me. You know, I have been
working for BT at that particular time, about eleven or
twelve years, right, and I said, should I be staying here?
Should I be doing something else? And one day I said,

(03:38):
what is my purpose? And it's helping people At B
E T. I've been able to give people opportunities that
they would normally get elsewhere. So once I realized that
was my purpose, I started moving out from the b
ET realm to say, hey, I can do this in
my personal life too, And that's what sort of set

(03:58):
me on my path and my journey. So when you
found yours, what was that moment of time and did
it hit you like a ton of bricks? It did?
And it's funny you said that, because you know, I
don't even feel like it's something that we we've we well,
I feel like we searched for it so hard, you ever,
like had some you're looking for us right under your face,
you know, because you're searching so hard for I feel

(04:21):
like that's how purpose is, and for me, it kind
of found me. And I remember being at um Dr.
Tony Evans back in Dallas o Clip Bible Fellowship and
I was having my very first speaking engagement. That was
it was like five thousand, quite four thousand kids, and uh,
you know, kids are a tough audience and speak in
front of them sometimes, so I was nervous. And the
night before I planned out my speech and everything. So

(04:41):
I get to the microphone and I just forget everything.
I go blank. And in that moment, I was like,
you know what, guy used me and that's all that
I said and opened up my mouth. And to this day,
I don't even know where it came from, but I
impacted those kids. And it was that day that I
actually let go of football because I was supposed to
go to football in the football the next day. And

(05:02):
after I got off the stage, and this is before
the big following or anything like that, I said, man,
this is what I'm meant to do. It was just
a feeling that was unshakable, undeniable, and so I called
my coach. I said, I'm not coming. He was like,
what you're gonna do? And I said, that time his
rehab time. I'm gonna rehab time. He's like, what's that?
And I'm gonna speak. He's like, good luck, and he
hung up in my face. I called my mom and
my friend. My friends didn't even understand it, really, like, man,

(05:25):
you don't even like to speak, like what you're gonna
talk about. My mom was like, are you sure? And
I told her, I said, I've never felt so much
confidence in the mister fear. And she said, that's God
working through you and speaking to you. Go follow it.
And from that moment on, the journey revealed itself because
I couldn't have like looked out and and planning this out.
And I think a lot of times to what our purpose,
we get stuck and so this can't be my purpose

(05:46):
because the plan isn't right, or the position isn't right,
or am I making money in it? And we dismissed it.
But for me, it was like I've never had this
feeling before. Just follow it in. When I made that
decision maybe six months to a year, my whole life
change through social media, just about making that choice. We'll

(06:08):
be right back with more of my interview after this
quick break. So you reinvented yourself absolutely. How tough is reinvention?
Reinvention is changed and we know any type of change
is just tough. How tough was that for you physically, emotionally, mentally, Yeah,

(06:34):
breaking the identity of a football player athlete and a
lot of athletes struggle with this and it's one of
the reasons why I love helping athletes. Is like, my
whole life, that was my identity. So who is Trench
showing without that? When I lost that, I feel like
I lost everything. So change is tough. But what's even
tougher is when you start to you start to to
think about your change from an external standpoint, meaning that

(06:55):
you you're worried about everybody else's opinions. And so as
I started to change, I wanted to it, but then
everybody else was trying to change me to my past.
Everybody else had this version of me that was beneficial
to them that was very hard for me to change.
I was always Trent, the football player of Trent. That's
gonna get us in these places and all that. And
so when I left that to walk into this, I
lost a lot, you know, I mean, quote unquote lost

(07:16):
a lot and it was very tough. So I had
to let go of judgments opinions and be willing to
walk down this path, even though that journey was lonely
at times. Well, you know, a lot of people tell
me said, Louis, you know, this is who I am.
You you want me to change, but this is who
I am. And I said, that's who you choose to be.

(07:37):
You can be whoever you want to be, but you
choose to be that. And now you're refusing to change.
What do you say those people to those people say
this is just who I am? Well, that's I think
that's a thing from you know, just a even I
wouldn't say a coping mechanism, but a protection. You know,
it's change is scary, Change is hard work, Progression is scary.

(07:59):
And a lot of people, I was even this at
this point, will rather stay comfortable in pain because it's familiar,
you know what I mean, then walk into something that's unknown.
The future is unknown, your change is unknown. But I
think something you're changing regardless if you stay the same.
You're changing for the worst. Change is inevitable. You decided,
if life changes you, you're probably gonna end up in
a bad position. But if you take if you take

(08:21):
control of that change and you implement change and do
the work, you're probably be in a more favorable position
in your life. So what role does vision have? And
what I mean? You know, young people say you can't
be what you can't see? I said wrong, What about
the first? And every single thing that's right? You know
there's always a first, And if you're the first, you

(08:42):
didn't see it all right, You may have saw it
in your mind, you may have sought it for yourself,
but you didn't see anybody else do it when you
what football player did you see? They came out and
became this motivational speaker. I didn't have a really you
know what I mean. You can talk about maybe Ray
Lewis certain people that were doing it like that, but
I didn't have an example. When I started in this space.

(09:04):
This space was very and I used the word professional
because you know it was it was professional cameras and
and you had to dress a certain way, you have
to talk in some way. I had my cell phone,
that's all I had was my cell phone back in
two thousands when it wasn't popular. I was going in
places speaking dressed like this, and there were a lot
of times where people told me to change this and
change that. But when I changed that and change this,
I felt like I wasn't walking to my true self.

(09:25):
And so it's very tough when it comes to that point.
But I decided to go ahead and take the longer journey,
the longer path, and I was able to build something
that that really can't nothing break except me, you know
what I mean. I build a community and a mission
and the vision. Because of that, you say vision, vision
is important because think about this. Have we have you
ever tried to drive somewhere, go to it, go somewhere

(09:48):
without a destination. It's impossible. I mean, you need a
destination and then you need directions. So a lot of
people in his life, they're trying to go somewhere that
they don't even know where they're going, and you end
up loss. So having a vision it is very important.
You might not know exactly what it is. But one
of my main visions was wasn't where I was going,
was where I was no longer standing? Wow, I said,
I'm never gonna be this person again. I don't know

(10:09):
where I'm headed, but I know that I'm not staying here.
So what was the biggest challenge. Was it the industry
and breaking into industry and figured out how to do it,
or was it Trent Shelton who was the biggest ask
a question opponent had. It had to be both. I mean,
I would say more of me because I still take

(10:31):
that responsibility, you know, because I'm still in control with
how I allow things to control me. But the industry
was hard. In personal development, you didn't see a lot
of black men. You definitely see a lot of you know,
black men with you know, tattoo sleeves and dread's coming out.
So that was very hard at first to break through
and to speak at companies and things like that. Now
it's more acceptable, but that was very tough at first.

(10:52):
But again, I could use that as an a scapegoat.
I could use that um to make me feel great
and use it as an use to stay where I
was at. Or I can say, you know what, I'm
gonna do something about it and I'm gonna keep working hard.
And that's what I did. So I'm on this journey
right now, Trent. People always say you have to be
your authentic self, and I say, you have to be

(11:14):
your best that's right, Yeah, that's right. Sometimes we just
understand authentic self. Absolutely. We don't want to see that.
They don't want to accept that. But when you show
up at your best authentic self, talk about that, Yeah,
you know my authentics off on the point was wasn't
wasn't wasn't good, It wasn't um. You know I was real, right,

(11:37):
but that real wouldn't help nobody create the change in
your life. So I always say, yeah, I want to
show up as my best self and be that person.
And even in that being vulnerable and transparent. You know,
I'm not trying to be perfect. I tell people all
the time you look for imperfection, you can start with me.
I'm not trying to be perfect, but I'm trying to
be purposeful. And I think that's a big thing to UM.
Being authentic in that way and having I always say,

(11:58):
your transparency releads to your TransNation and that really helped
me in my life, being transparent because it was a
time where showing up my best authentic stuff, I was scared.
I was scared of being judged, I'm like, man, I'm
a But then I was like, man, I don't feel right.
So I would tell everybody out there, like you said,
like your best authentic stuff, because some people like Okay,
Trent said, I can show up as my authentic stuff.
I'm gonna start I'm gonna start drawing my gout all

(12:19):
this is my authentic stuff. That's not that's not that's
not right. Right. So you want to help people and
be able to make a change in the world that's positive.
So when people say, Okay, I'm gonna follow Trent Shelton's advice,
what are the first two or three steps? Yeah, they
need to do. Uh. Number one is facial reality and

(12:40):
stop running from it. You will never when you're war
by running from your battles. There's a reality that you
need to face. I don't know what that reality is.
You know, maybe it's a limitation that you have, Maybe it's, uh,
you know, some forgiveness that you need to give. But
there's there's a reality in your life that a lot
of people run from. A lot of people like running
from the war, the battle, expect to ren the war.
So facial reality. Uh. And the second thing is I

(13:02):
tell people, once you do that, you got to release
the things in your life that need to be released.
You know when I say this, people kind of look
at me funny, But I always say, you know, there
are bridges that need to be burning your life. I
don't believe in burning all bridges. I don't believe in
just being a bridge burning. But there are certain things
that your life cannot afford to go back to that
you need to burn. And maybe that's a habit, maybe
that's an environment, maybe that's people in your life. But

(13:23):
those are the first two steps that I'm gonna tell
you to be able to open your life up to
repair in your life and starting your new beginning. Right.
That's that's great advice. How important in today's world is
it that black men come together as a collective to
try to improve our families and change our communities. You

(13:46):
know there's a lot going on in our community for
sure that's not good. And you know, we hope this
weekend to encourage men to be courageous and you know,
step out and try to check ain't some of the
things instead of just waiting on things to change on
their own. Yeah, um, I think it's very important. I
think there's a narrative whether it's true or not, that

(14:09):
you know, um, black men don't support each other or
you know, we're not uh there for as father figures
that we should be all these things man that I
feel like everybody deals with collectively as a society. But
I believe in breaking the stereotype. You know, I always
tell people, I'll tell you like this. I had a lady, um,
and I'll be very quick with this. I was having
to speaking engagement. I sat down at the speaker table

(14:30):
v IP table, and she looked at me, and she
looked at me like, why why are you sitting here right?
And so I didn't say anything. Make a long story short,
I get up and speak. Uh, I sit back down
after I speak, and I just fear of staring at
me again. And she said, trying. I gotta apologize because
I judged you like the way you look, the way
you dress. I didn't think you were the speaker for
this event, and it changed my life. And I will

(14:52):
never judge a book by its cover that looks like
you again. So as black men too, we have to
make sure that we're breaking that stereotype, not giving a
reason to put us in the box, not putting us
in the prison. And when we come together, man, like anything,
there's nothing that can stop us. Okay, final question. This
is a tough one. Tough one. People always tell me, Louis,
don't go there. This is black on black crime. Yeah,

(15:15):
you know, it's it's it's one I've been told Louis,
just let it go. It's too controversial. It's better to
focus on police killing black people and black people killing
black people. Speak to the brothers and speak to the
communities out there on how do we need to improve
that situation. How do we need to address them? Yeah,

(15:39):
we definitely need to address it. And you know, it
can be a thing where uh, you know, the environments
that we're putting you know, the lack of resources that
we have. Understand that. But my thing is, and I
want to use the word excuse, but I am like,
we gotta be able to change that. Like, we don't
want that to be the rest of our story. So
it's gonna take the person listen to this podcast episode

(16:01):
right now to say I'm gonna be the one, right,
I'm gonna be the father, I'm gonna be the community leader.
I'm going to create the change because You can't create
a change in the world if you don't create a
change your house first. It starts there, and then it
goes to the neighborhood, then the community, then the world.
So I would tell everybody that's listening to this, it's
also too. I will say this to um. We gotta
change the message in a lot too, because what we're

(16:21):
being fair and I'm not trying to be I know,
I'm like thirty eight now with music and things like that,
but you know, it is an entertainment for everybody, right,
a lot of people taking it as a reality. So
the more we can change the messaging and give people
tools of growth, change with being really is changed with
being gangster really means like change those narratives and give
these kids better tools and better resources and better examples.

(16:43):
I feel that's what we need to do. So it
starts with you, with me. What's trying to have on
my office door in New York City? Someone has to
step up and be great? Why not you? That's right?
So we want to thank you for stepping up and
being great and kicking off the blueprints someone twenty two.
Thank you, my brother, Thank you Louis. I appreciate you bro,
thank you,