055 | RESPOND: Fletcher Cleaves, Motivational and TEDx Speaker, "The Wheelchair Nomad," and former Collegiate Football Player

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September 10th, 2009, we were going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first NFL game of the season.

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And we get there in a super packed, we like, hey man, let's just get the wings to go and watch the game in the UC in the dorm and everything and just chill out.

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He was like, all right, cool.

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Put the wings in the back seat, put my seatbelt on, but unfortunately we never made it back to the dorm because a lady was texting and driving and ran us off the road, causing us to flip into an embankment and broke my neck in two places and I was paralyzed immediately.

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Adversity happens to everybody.

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Everybody has been through something in their life.

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But it's not what happens to you that defines you.

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It's how you respond to it.

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How you're going to respond when your kid doesn't get in that school.

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How you're going to respond when you don't pass that math test.

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How you're going to respond when you're going through a divorce or whatever the case may be.

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You know, whatever your adverse situation may be.

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And I chose to respond in a positive manner.

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My name is Fletcher Cleaves and I am undone.

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Hey friend, I am glad you are here. Welcome to another episode of Becoming Undone, the podcast for those who dare bravely, risk mightily, and grow relentlessly. I'm Toby Brooks, a professor of Rehab Science at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Over the past two decades, I've grown more and more fascinated with what sets high achievers apart and how our failures can frequently be the necessary steps on our path toward success. Each week on Becoming Undone, I invite a new guest to examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to falling into place. I'd like to emphasize that this show is entirely separate from my roles at Texas Tech, but it's my attempt to apply what I've learned and what I'm learning and to share with others about the mindsets of high achievers. Growing up, Fletcher Cleaves loved sport. He learned early on that through sheer will and work ethic, his oversized competitor's heart could make up for his undersized frame.

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Throughout high school, Fletcher learned to use the doubts of naysayers as fuel, eventually becoming a key member of his Varsity football team. With dreams of playing college football on the line, he spent countless hours in the gym and on the practice field before finally earning a spot on the team at Lambuth University.

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Tragically, just days before the first game of his collegiate career, returning home from a restaurant, Fletcher and friend Dave Mullins were forced off the road by a distracted driver.

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Both survived, but Fletcher's neck was broken in two places, ending his collegiate career before it ever officially began.

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In the weeks, months, and years to follow, Fletcher attacked his recovery following the accident the same way he'd attacked life before it, with a competitive spirit and a positive attitude.

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He completed a degree in computer science, and he's gone on to travel the globe, inspiring hundreds of thousands along the way.

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An accomplished speaker with a TEDx talk to his credit, today he's a full-time motivational speaker sharing his story on stages and podcasts the world over. I absolutely loved my conversation with the incredible Fletcher Cleaves and I hope you will too in episode 55, Respond.

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This week we're fortunate enough to have the wheelchair nomad.

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Fletcher Cleaves is joining us from Memphis, Tennessee. Fletcher, great to have you.

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What's going on, Matt? Glad to be here. Glad to be here. Excited about our combo.

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Same here. So read up on your story. Certainly. It's a powerful one and we'll get into all of the particulars I usually start off with a little bit of a softball. Who did little Fletcher want to be growing up?

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Mmm, I think I always wanted to be some type of athlete something with athletics Of course, you know to give them every kid's goals to be in the professional of their sport NBA NFL MLB Soccer doesn't matter. So I think tiny, tiny fletcher was definitely wanted to be in the NFL. But then as I got older, I kind of fell in love with mathematics. So I think I want to be an engineer.

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Awesome. Well, having watched your video, I gather that you were a little undersized, but a big heart kind of guy. So I guess start at the beginning, wherever that was for you, wherever you tend to start your story.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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So growing up, born and raised here in the South Memphis, Tennessee, I was definitely the boys will be boys, right?

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I was, you know, not, not a lot of, like, not big trouble, but just breaking windows, throwing baseballs in the windows, third claws, you know, ding dong ditch, you know, just regular adolescent stuff.

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Right.

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So my parents wanted me to stay out of trouble, so they put me to organize team sports.

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Once I got in there, I just fell in love with the competition of everything, and the craft, and getting your body prepared from just the competition and everything.

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I fell in love with baseball.

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I played baseball, basketball, track, football, something year-round to make sure that I didn't have any free time to get into trouble, right?

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And about seventh or eighth grade, I fell in love with football.

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And I was a hammering a child from my high school football team.

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I went to a lot of high schools.

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There was definitely trials.

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And I remember going to the coach, maybe 5'3", 101 pounds or something, really tiny, and 99 pounds or something, whatever.

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And I'm having a try for the football team.

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He's like, you want to play football?

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And I'm wearing these big glasses.

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He's like, yes, please.

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Can I play football?

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And then I end up going out, balling out my freshman year and started both ways.

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Had a phenomenal year from, played receiver and DB, like 10 interceptions in eight games.

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And you know, I know, right?

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So it was pretty, it was pretty, a pretty good year.

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Then 10th grade year, same concept, you know, just kind of undersized, went on to try for the varsity team.

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Ended up making it, balling out the same thing.

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And 11th to 12th grade, it was already set in stone.

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I was gonna be one of the leaders and the captains of the team.

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It's such a young opportunity in my life.

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Coming across field to the 20, cuts it up to the 25, gets a block, gets outside, across to the 40, to the 50, good return to Fletcher Cleaves.

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Takes it, complete to Cleaves, spins at the 10.

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Not everybody in the world can catch the ball, stop, spin to the 360.

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And I was blessed enough to receive a football scholarship.

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I remember my pops telling me, he was like, hey son, if you get a football scholarship, we'll buy you a car for graduation.

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Cause I don't have to pay for school.

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I'd rather buy a $6,000 starter car than pay for four years of college, you know?

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So I was like, definitely that.

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That's how that happened.

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And I left for college maybe two days after high school graduation because, you know, football season starts right when college starts.

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So we had been training that whole summer.

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I left two days after to get my body prepared for the upcoming collegiate season and try to get in the best shape.

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I ended up gaining like 25, 30 pounds of muscle from May, June, July, August, just two days every day working out, personal training, creatine, protein, post-workout meals, pre-workout meals, all that stuff, right? So I'm getting like 25 pounds of muscle in four months. And I've got a name one of the starters in the opening game against Georgia State. I got named, well, the starting kick returner. As a first true freshman, he just put me up there as a starting kick returner, second-string receiver. He says, be prepared as my name gets called. And unfortunately, a week or so before the game our roommate our day Mullins September 10th 2009 We were going to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the first NFL game of the season the Tennessee Titans rest of Pittsburgh still it and we get there in a super pack as I mentioned the first NFL game of the season and We like hey, man, let's just get the wings to go And watch the game in the UC in the dorm and everything and just chill out He was like, all right cool put the wings in the back seat, put my seatbelt on, but unfortunately we never made it back to the dorm because a lady was texting and driving and ran us off the road, causing us to flip into an embankment and broke my neck in two places and I was paralyzed immediately.

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Wow, life changing.

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On your website, it was suggested that she was distracted for three or four seconds.

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That was the estimate.

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Yeah, that's all it took, man.

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That's all it took.

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I remember just her not looking, but not paying attention to the road.

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She was looking down, trying to multitask, and she just drifted over onto the double yellow line, and I just saw headlights coming towards me, and I just floored the misser.

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Wow.

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Well, certainly you had a long road of recovery ahead.

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What do you recall about maybe the initial Moments or or even the the initial hours after the accident Yeah, so the first thing I thought you know when the doctors were telling me what the diagnosis was You know I remember being trapped in the vehicle not being removed Thinking my legs were broken like doesn't you know you don't really think like oh my have a spinal cord injury, right?

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You're like something's not right like why can I my legs must be broken or something.

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They must be swollen.

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And when that happened, I remember them putting me back in the EMT, in the back of the ambulance.

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And then she's giving me all these tests.

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And she says, I want you to move your right leg.

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I said, OK.

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And she says, move your right leg.

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I said, I did.

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Then she says, OK.

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Then she asked me the same thing on my left leg.

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I'm like, I'm moving my legs, but she keeps asking me to move them.

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So I'm like, something must not be right.

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Then I thought the worst.

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I was like, OK, they must be mangled or super broken.

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And she says, I said, give it to me straight, Don.

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I was like, well, you look fine. And I'm back in the hospital.

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She was like, but we think you have a spinal cord injury.

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We're going to run some more tests and get to the hospital.

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And after they confirmed I had a spinal cord injury, I remember my first thought was, am I ever going to be playing football again?

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I was 18 years young, didn't really have a lot of responsibilities.

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I wasn't really thinking about like family and all that stuff or what I'm going to do for a job, or where am I going to work.

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I don't think about any of that.

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My first initial thought was, am I going to be able to play football again?

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Yeah.

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So the initial days after an injury like that, there's inflammation, there's swelling, there's a lot of questions.

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And you start to get some clarity after that initial injury starts to kind of settle in.

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And so did you get a prognosis fairly early that this was the likely outcome or was there hope that you would walk again?

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What was that initial maybe first month like?

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The first month, because I was only in the hospital 10 days, so the first month, the first 10 days was just running tests.

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I had two major surgeries and I remember the doctor was saying, there's no need for Fletcher to be in the hospital. He's not sick, you know, he is in great shape. He's been working out for four months. He's gained 25 pounds of muscle. I've never seen anyone of this great shape in my life undergo, you know, that traumatic of an accident. So he was like, there's no need for him to be here. He's not sick. He can start therapy immediately. So I was blessed enough to only be in the hospital 10 days.

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I was blessed enough to not be in the hospital that long and immediately to start therapy.

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So that first month was just working on small stuff.

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I remember crying in therapy and thinking like, you know, it's just like day one, we're gonna work on basic stuff.

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I need you to pick up these pennies or I need you to just take these five pound wrist weights.

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I'm like five pounds.

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And I'm like, this is actually heavy like you know you go from benching 250, 265, 275 to five pound wrist weights you can barely lift them and you're like what's wrong with my body like literally two weeks ago I was running jumping squatting you know 440, 425 or whatever the case may be and now I'm barely struggling with five pound wrist weights and that was kind of an eye opener to let me know that this is not going to be as easy as I thought it was.

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When you're physically gifted and somebody asks you to do something physical, you've always relied on your physical capabilities.

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Like, this is going to be easy, I can do this.

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Like, five pounds is going to be light work.

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And I'm like, holy crap, this is harder than I thought.

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Up to this point in your life, I mean, you mentioned you were maybe a little undersized and you always had to prove yourself physically, but obviously you figured it out.

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I mean, your diet was on point, your workout was on point.

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Had you really encountered any significant adversity up to this point in your life?

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Nothing compared to now, it may have been adverse during that time in my life.

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Like I broke my ankle when I was 14 in a game.

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Little dislocated fingers during games, pop right back in, take it up, get back out there.

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And that was probably the extensive adversity I have been through at that moment in my life.

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You know, just playing receiver in high school with a broken finger with a splint taped to your middle finger.

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It's like, how am I going to catch the ball in this game Friday night?

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And you just practice.

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So that was just maybe the biggest adversity I've gone through.

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Because I was blessed enough to be raised in a two-parent household, so I really didn't have to worry about much.

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They really wanted me to focus on just being a teenager.

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I remember begging them on my 16th birthday, can I get a job?

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And my dad was like, son, you got the next 50 years to work.

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Just enjoy four years of high school, don't worry about it.

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Yeah, that sounds like a great upbringing.

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So you find yourself in a position you never would have chosen, obviously.

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So you're working your way through rehab.

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Up to this point, I mean, you mentioned your future goals revolved around being an athlete.

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A lot of your identity is tied up in being a football player, being a physical specimen.

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You know, you've always been able to do things with your body.

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When did it start to sink in that that identity was gone?

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I think the first time I saw myself in a mirror without a shirt, when the atrophy would start kicking in.

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So you look at your body and you got the pecs and the abs and the biceps and the triceps, but they're not really moving much as I continuously just laid in the bed and not really did much.

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I remember looking at myself in the mirror without a shirt and realized how much atrophy had set in and how much muscle I had lost.

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I was like, oh, like this is really happening.

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And I really don't look like I used to.

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And as you mentioned, I was always Fletcher the football player, you know, that guy or Fletcher, the guy that runs trap or whatever the case may be.

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And not to be identified with that was definitely a mental challenge.

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Yeah. I had a guest a couple of weeks ago, Tim Kite.

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He's a motivational speaker and he's dealing with cancer right now.

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And he mentioned something to me that I'd never really considered. He said, you know, a lot of times people are well-intentioned with their encouragement, but sometimes what people say is hurtful.

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And as an athletic trainer, I'm thinking back to times when I know athletes sustained career-ending injuries.

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And part of me wants to motivate, and I want to encourage that athlete to keep trying and to push through.

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And, you know, we have to have a goal to shoot for.

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But on the other hand, there's a reality to the situation.

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And the fact that you have sustained a serious spinal cord injury, the likelihood of ever setting foot on a field again in uniform is fairly low.

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So during that time, what was your process like?

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Were you fighting to get back on the field or were you just fighting to return to function and a new normal?

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Yeah, so you're absolutely correct about what the motivational speaker said, that a lot of times people say things and they have good intentions, but they don't want to come out that way.

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But to answer your question, it was very small goals.

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Of course, at the beginning, the main goal was to, I want to get back to playing football, playing in the walk, all that fun stuff.

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But then had to look at the reality of the situation and say, all right, let's work on being able to lift five pounds first.

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All right, let's upgrade to 10, then 25.

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And then like, all right, let's work on core muscles.

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Cause you know, talking to my therapist and just not really knowing much about spinal cord injuries, it takes, I think like 275 muscles just for you to stand in place.

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Like it has to be activated from your feet muscles to your ankles, to your calves, to your thigh, your glutes, your hamstring, your core, your obliques, all that stuff has to be activated, keep you balanced, you know, and all that.

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And so I was like, so let's work on getting step by step and section by section, is what my therapist told me.

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But she knew what really happened, but she wanted me to try for me to realize it.

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So she's like, I know Fletch won't be able to do these ab workouts because he doesn't have that functionality.

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But me telling him no is not going to help him.

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If he has to see it for himself to really, OK, instead of trying to sit up, let me just work on rolling over.

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You know, let me work on getting on my stomach and getting on my back, you know, 20 times.

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And so it was a process, a step-by-step.

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Yeah, well, considering what you've been through, a lot of people would be bitter.

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A lot of people would not use this adversity to build the platform you've built.

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I mean, it's positive, it's encouraging.

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You show people what they can do as opposed to what they can't.

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Was there a low point?

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I mean, did you have to work through some things to get to this point?

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Or have you always just been an optimistic kind of guy and you defaulted to the positive?

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No, I've always been optimistic.

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I've always been looking at the glasses half full type of situation.

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I remember one time I got in sense of trouble in like the 11th grade, nothing really big, I think I was using my cell phone in class or something like that, and the teacher took it, and you know, of course, my first thing is to go to the principal and be like, hey man, look, I've always been able to get myself out of situations, you know, whether it's for my physical capabilities or my charisma or whatever the case may be, and the principal was like, not this time.

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You're so used to getting out of situations like what's your physical capabilities or because you play football you know this time it's not gonna happen so you know to answer your question yeah it's like I've always been able to use my physical capabilities to overcome adversity so we asked was I always optimistic I was like yeah because I've never really been through anything and the things I've gone through I overcame them fairly quickly where they studying for a test or whatever the case may be.

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So because this wasn't like a six months, I'll be back to normal.

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You know, it was like, now this is life altering.

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Yeah.

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So you go from being a college freshman with big dreams, you shared off camera that initially the goal was to start here and maybe hitch your wagon to a coach and go to a bigger, greener pasture.

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That evaporates.

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That goal is no longer there.

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What do you do in order to reorient and how does your mission today start to enter the equation?

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Yeah, so we all know that sportsmen and athletes' father time is undefeated.

00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:51.759
Your sport is going to end one day for everybody, whether it's when you're 40 or when you're Bo Jackson and quit early or whatever the case may be.

00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:56.519
But so my parents knew that and they instilled education inside of me in high school.

00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:03.839
So according to the state, TSAA or whatever it's called, you had to have like a 2.5 to play high school football.

00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:08.039
But my parents told me that if I wanted to play, I'd have a 3.0.

00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:10.119
So I'm like, why do I have to have a 3.0?

00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:21.160
The state only requires, and that was just instilling not to reach for the bare minimum, because they know that Fletcher's gonna do whatever he needs to do to not get in trouble or as long as he can play football.

00:19:21.160 --> 00:19:24.200
So if you wanna play football, you better have a 3.0.

00:19:24.200 --> 00:19:28.640
So literally every report card for four years straight, I got a 3.0.

00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:34.000
This reminds me of a concept I wrote about recently, and it's one that has certainly served Fletcher well too.

00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:36.000
The idea is margin.

00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:44.839
In business terms, margin's what we have that helps us maximize resources like funds or time or other efficiencies.

00:19:44.839 --> 00:19:48.720
And when we aim for the minimum, it costs us margin.

00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:56.880
We lose any possible cushion that can protect us from unexpected happenings, like when we give ourselves 21 minutes to make a 20-minute commute.

00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:00.359
We're only safe if literally everything goes according to plan.

00:20:00.359 --> 00:20:03.759
Even the slightest deviation from that spells failure.

00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:09.759
For Fletcher, his parents instilled the idea of doing better than the bare minimum, and he found success.

00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:19.759
Likewise, being in the best shape of his life at the moment of his life-altering accident likely saved him, or at the very least dramatically improved his outcomes.

00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.759
That's what giving our best can do.

00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:27.519
Minimum effort leaves no margin for error, but maximum effort helps build margin.

00:20:27.519 --> 00:20:31.359
It's like, son, why don't you just, what, what, what, 3.5, 4.0?

00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:34.039
I was like, remember you said 3.0? What's wrong with that?

00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:36.599
And so they still educate inside of me.

00:20:36.599 --> 00:20:42.359
So once, once, once I lost my physical capability, I immediately reverted back to, I was like, all right, but you still got your mind.

00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:45.519
You still got your mental capacity. You still can go to college.

00:20:45.519 --> 00:21:00.880
You know, people with disabilities go to college and graduate all the time. Why can't that be you? So I just started honing in on my mental capabilities and studying harder and I went back to college and I was able to graduate with a degree in computer science.

00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:15.000
That's awesome. So you weren't in the hospital very long, but you're in outpatient rehab, I'm sure, working how often? The entire year. Rehab was Monday through Friday, eight hours a day.

00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:15.920
Wow.

00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:17.279
It was like a job, basically.

00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.119
Yeah.

00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:21.880
So what did you learn about yourself during that year?

00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:23.400
How sleepy I get all the time.

00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:25.519
I was so sleepy all the time.

00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:28.920
Because, you know, the nurses are coming to get you up.

00:21:28.920 --> 00:21:35.559
Volunteers, they're coming to wake you up, help you with breakfast, like 6.30, maybe 7.

00:21:35.559 --> 00:21:37.680
Your first session is at like 8 AM.

00:21:37.680 --> 00:22:04.119
Then you might have PT from 8 to 9, OT from 9 to 10, pool from 11 to 12, lunch from 12 to 1, short arm circuit from 1 to 2, arm bike from 2 to 3, then you stand in frame you know just to get your blood circulating they put you in a frame to stand you up right because you know your body's made to stand up and let your blood circulate from 3 to 4 and then you might have writing from 4 to 5 or whatever.

00:22:04.119 --> 00:22:06.319
And so I was like, dude, I'm so tired.

00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:12.920
Like, I'm so used to being able to take, it was the first time I went, like in a high school, college, nap for huge.

00:22:12.920 --> 00:22:20.400
Like, after practice is shower, nap, immediately then, you know, wake up, eat, you know, whatever.

00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:23.200
But not having those breaks in between, I was like, I am so sleepy.

00:22:23.200 --> 00:22:28.440
Well, you have to give yourself some credit because physically that's demanding, but neurologic healing is fatiguing in a different way.

00:22:28.440 --> 00:22:43.079
I've got a dear friend who has MS, and when she has flare-ups, she'll say, you know, I just... It takes so much more energy just for me to read, to concentrate.

00:22:43.079 --> 00:22:51.000
The neurologic fatigue is different than a muscular fatigue.

00:22:51.000 --> 00:23:03.480
And you had both of those going on because spinal cord injuries don't ever fully heal, but peripheral injuries can, and you're certainly stimulating the system in order to try to get it to heal.

00:23:03.480 --> 00:23:07.200
So certainly that's a pretty normal consequence.

00:23:07.200 --> 00:23:08.119
What about mentally?

00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:22.319
Going from a college athlete to now someone who's working five days a week, full-time job to do things that you took for granted previously, what was that like for you psychologically?

00:23:22.319 --> 00:23:25.720
It was hard in the beginning, but I'm fueled by competition.

00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:34.960
So my parents told me, I told my therapist one day, it was like, if you want Fletcher to excel in therapy, just bet him he can't do something.

00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:39.480
Like Fletch, I bet that you can't get your shirt on in under 30 seconds.

00:23:39.480 --> 00:23:46.319
It was like, all right, if you win, you get an extra hour in the pool, or you get an hour to lay down, or whatever, extra sleep.

00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:48.799
We can start therapy at 9 instead of 8.

00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.240
But if you lose, therapy starts at 6.30.

00:23:51.240 --> 00:23:53.119
I'm like, all right, let's go.

00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:58.680
So of course, me being the athlete I am in competition, I'm like, I'm trying to hurry up and get it done.

00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:01.759
And it opened my eyes, because I'm 19 at the time now.

00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:06.960
And I was like, the first time I made a fail, I'm out of my bed, therapy started 6.30 AM.

00:24:06.960 --> 00:24:09.359
I'm like, a week later, let's run that bet back.

00:24:09.359 --> 00:24:10.279
Let's do it again.

00:24:10.279 --> 00:24:11.559
And I'll get it.

00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:16.359
And they pointed out, it was like, see how hard you tried with competition fuels.

00:24:16.359 --> 00:24:18.799
Like they realized that competition fuels me.

00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:56.039
So I realized that, and it was, it mentally was tough in the beginning, but once I realized that, I kind of used that competition to I mean it's that sucks to say But I was trying to be better than every other patient Like that guy's over there lifting 10 pounds. I'm gonna do 12. You know it was like well flesh He is from the waist down. He has this entire upper body strength. I was out here Yeah, you know I want to be the best you know and you know And I just saw put myself in competitive mindset again because I wasn't playing anymore, but I needed that spark, that edge, that fire, that hunger.

00:24:56.039 --> 00:25:00.599
I needed something that gave me that same type of feeling as being on the field, and I chose that.

00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:03.880
I chose to, they don't know we were in competition, but I knew.

00:25:03.880 --> 00:25:04.700
You know?

00:25:04.700 --> 00:25:05.539
Right.

00:25:05.539 --> 00:25:08.920
And once I used that, I started excelling.

00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:10.680
Yeah, I think that's great.

00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:14.759
Obviously, you've mentioned your parents and therapy team.

00:25:14.759 --> 00:25:20.680
Were there others who gave you social support during this time that were part of your recovery process?

00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:30.200
Absolutely, my friends and my high school and childhood friends for sure, definitely were instrumental in my recovery.

00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:47.059
Because knowing me prior to the car crash and coming to visit me in the hospital and seeing me recovering therapy and when I came home from therapy, they come in to visit during Christmas break and just hanging out and talking to me and realizing, you know, Flesh, he's still the same class clown.

00:25:47.059 --> 00:25:48.380
He's still the same kid.

00:25:48.380 --> 00:25:49.220
He jokes around.

00:25:49.220 --> 00:25:51.059
He's just sitting down all the time.

00:25:51.059 --> 00:25:59.019
So as I got stronger and we progressed, we got older, but he made a lot of sacrifices to make sure that I was able to have a fulfilled life.

00:25:59.019 --> 00:26:03.640
I always say that my friends and family never allowed me to have a disability.

00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:10.920
And what that means is that anything I wanted to do, that was like, you want to go to Six Flags, anything you want to get on a fledge, we going to get on it.

00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:14.920
So of course, the instructors were like, hey, this roller coaster's not wheelchair accessible.

00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:18.400
There's three steps to get in, and we don't have a ramp.

00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.119
We didn't actually, where, is this where we enter?

00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:27.559
So, you know, my boys would just pick me up, throw me in the roller coaster, strap me in, have me on the ball, pick me out of my chair, do that.

00:26:27.559 --> 00:27:16.799
So it allowed me to achieve it so much more I'm pretty sure you've seen You having a lot of my social media videos one of my friends throwing me off a cliff in a Mexican cenote Going skydiving all those all scuba diving with sharks all those are driven things Somebody has some friends behind the camera that has made sure that I was able to do all this stuff. I Absolutely love this not to spoil what's left in our interview But Fletcher points out all the incredible things he's been able to do since his injury And when I first learned of his story, I was blown away by the diversity and the magnitude of the things he's done He's done more things in a wheelchair than I've done on my own two feet But the thing I hadn't considered until just now that Fletcher points out here is That those videos were shot by friends right there with him supporting and cheering him on the whole way.

00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:43.640
Sometimes we absolutely need friends like that. And other times, I'm reminded, we need to be friends like that. Other than your immediate support network, did you connect with or did you find inspiration from others during this time that had maybe been through something similar, high profile athletes or Paralympians, anything along those lines?

00:27:43.640 --> 00:27:52.920
Some of the Paralympians were, because they would come visit the hospital, the rehabilitation center, because it's represented as the number one rehabilitation center for spinal cord injuries in the country.

00:27:52.920 --> 00:27:55.119
So they would come and do tours and stuff.

00:27:55.119 --> 00:27:58.119
And it is all about how are you motivated.

00:27:58.119 --> 00:28:05.599
I'm not really motivated by words, like just somebody coming and speaking to me and saying, you know, hey, I did it, you can do it.

00:28:05.599 --> 00:28:07.279
I'm motivated by competition.

00:28:07.279 --> 00:28:12.119
So show me a video of you doing it, and I'm going to do it better than you.

00:28:12.119 --> 00:28:13.359
Right.

00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:18.880
So I teach an athletic training for special populations course, and we talk about athletes with disability.

00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.960
I used to show the murder ball video.

00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:57.140
It talks about the US wheelchair rugby team. There's a quote in there that I always just found remarkable and they're talking about Mark Zupan who was a well-known Paralympian and his friends say, I think it was his friends, might even have been him, he said it, he said I've accomplished more in this chair than I ever would have accomplished with functioning legs. He was a soccer player and he wasn't going to go to the Olympics on the US soccer team, but he ends up being one of the most successful Paralympians in history at that time.

00:28:57.140 --> 00:28:58.460
What do you make of that?

00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:05.819
Do you feel like this has led your life down a path that is in some ways better?

00:29:05.819 --> 00:29:13.579
Yeah, I think, you know, selfish reasons, you know, it's like, Fletch, you have inspired millions of people.

00:29:13.579 --> 00:29:16.000
You've traveled the world.

00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:18.000
You've met amazing people.

00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:20.000
You've been on amazing podcasts.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:22.000
You've done all this.

00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:24.000
You've had a commercial made about you.

00:29:24.000 --> 00:29:32.000
And it's like I get that, but for selfish reasons, at the beginning, it was like I'd rather not inspire anybody and just be normal and walk.

00:29:32.000 --> 00:29:39.240
You know, but then you realize like, hey, you're making a hell of a more impact on the community simply by just being you.

00:29:39.240 --> 00:29:42.079
I never woke up and said, I'm going to be an inspiration today.

00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:43.759
I'm going to be a speaker today.

00:29:43.759 --> 00:29:47.859
I was just living life and people found inspiration within the task I was completing.

00:29:47.859 --> 00:29:51.559
And I realized there's like, you know, players, how are you able to do this?

00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:53.380
When you want more, you do more.

00:29:53.380 --> 00:29:57.359
I tell people all the time, working hard is a factor with not giving up.

00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:01.720
Because the reason why a lot of people give up is because they don't put in the work.

00:30:01.720 --> 00:30:20.240
The reason why it's so easy for you to quit the football team, because you haven't been to four days, or you haven't played football your whole life, or you haven't watched yourself go from 225 to 315 bench press, or even in a workforce, it's easy for you to quit, or it's easy for you to drop out of school because you haven't studied for five exams in one semester.

00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:26.880
You haven't put in the, once you put in the work, and once you sacrifice, quitting is not an option because you've already given so much.

00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.359
So, and I was like, why don't you quit?

00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:34.200
It was like, well, if you saw what I had to go through in therapy, what I had to do to get to this point, you wouldn't quit either.

00:30:34.200 --> 00:30:35.480
You would just continue to live.

00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:38.839
You would continuously strive and you just want to do more for yourself.

00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:40.200
Yeah, that's awesome.

00:30:40.200 --> 00:30:42.720
So you graduate with your computer science degree.

00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:50.160
You've got the heart of a competitor, but the, the degree of an IT nerd.

00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.660
How do you go from that to this world recognized platform?

00:30:54.660 --> 00:30:56.680
What's next for you after college graduation?

00:30:56.680 --> 00:31:04.680
Yeah, after graduation, you know, I go into the typical IT field office, you know, khakis, tie and all that fun stuff.

00:31:04.680 --> 00:31:09.720
And my story started circulating around the AutoZone headquarters where I'm working at the time.

00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.880
And they was like, Hey, do you mind us being an automotive company?

00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:17.720
And you can just get up there and talk about safe driving.

00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:19.079
I'm like, yeah, sure, no problem.

00:31:19.079 --> 00:31:22.519
So I'll talk about it in front of like the IT and just overcome adversity.

00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:26.799
And they, you know, in a workforce, you don't wanna be rude and say, hey man, what happened to you?

00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:29.240
So a lot of people knew me, but they never knew what happened.

00:31:29.240 --> 00:31:35.160
And once they found that out, a lot of people started asking me to come speak to like their high schools and stuff like that.

00:31:35.160 --> 00:31:36.480
And I was like, yeah, no, sure, no problem.

00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.160
And I just fell in love with giving presentations.

00:31:39.160 --> 00:31:59.839
And what really hit hard that made me want to transition to a full time speaker is that I gave that presentation in front of the entire headquarters and probably like eight minutes, didn't really have that much time. And the CFO of the company up there on the top floor with the big boys, right, he comes down to my little tiny desk in the basement and I see you with no windows.

00:31:59.839 --> 00:32:02.299
I keep the IT in the dungeon.

00:32:02.299 --> 00:32:05.940
And he was like, hey man, I just want to say that was a phenomenal presentation.

00:32:05.940 --> 00:32:09.440
And you don't belong behind a desk.

00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:15.539
Like you belong in front of people spreading your message, telling the world, inspiring the world.

00:32:15.539 --> 00:32:18.119
He was like, I don't see you working here too much longer.

00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:19.539
I was like, are you trying to fire me?

00:32:19.539 --> 00:32:20.380
Am I getting fired?

00:32:20.380 --> 00:32:22.339
It sounds like I'm getting fired.

00:32:22.339 --> 00:32:24.460
He's like, no, it's just me being a joke.

00:32:24.460 --> 00:32:31.339
But having that caliber of person come down and say that to me, and was like, maybe I can turn this into a profession.

00:32:31.339 --> 00:32:37.339
Yeah. I think it's awesome when people can speak that kind of life into us.

00:32:37.339 --> 00:32:46.339
And I don't know if you had really given it much thought up to that point, but hearing somebody else from the outside view your speech and say that had to be motivating.

00:32:46.339 --> 00:32:53.380
So you're now known as the wheelchair nomad, and your tagline is the sky is not the limit.

00:32:53.380 --> 00:32:54.839
Tell me about this.

00:32:54.839 --> 00:32:56.480
Yeah, so the sky's not the limit.

00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:58.440
I'm sitting in ICU.

00:32:58.440 --> 00:33:02.579
I come out of my first surgery, and the doctor tells me things.

00:33:02.579 --> 00:33:04.680
He goes around and he says, but you are paralyzed.

00:33:04.680 --> 00:33:07.700
You won't be able to do X, you won't be able to do Y, you won't be able to do Z.

00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:22.160
So I was going down a list of things I won't be able to do, and I immediately reverted back to my mindset of being told I wouldn't start in high school football, I wouldn't be able to play varsity, you're too small to get a scholarship, you're too small to play as a true freshman.

00:33:22.160 --> 00:33:25.039
And I've been proving people they're wrong my entire life.

00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:32.559
So I immediately took that mindset and I just was laying in the bed and like, thinking to myself like, this doctor's trying to put limitations on my life.

00:33:32.559 --> 00:33:36.819
Like he doesn't know me, he doesn't know what I've done, he doesn't know what I've been through, what I've accomplished.

00:33:36.819 --> 00:33:38.720
And I just started thinking, there are no limits.

00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:40.000
He's constantly trying to tell me what I can and cannot do.

00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:42.000
And I'm like, there are no limits to life.

00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:44.000
And there are no limits to life.

00:33:44.000 --> 00:33:46.000
I just kept saying to myself, there are no limits to life.

00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.000
There are no limits to life.

00:33:47.000 --> 00:33:51.000
And then I just played on words and just thought about the quote when people say, the sky's the limit.

00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:52.000
The sky's the limit.

00:33:52.000 --> 00:34:01.000
And I challenged each one of y'all to think outside the box and say, how can we say the sky's the limit when there's footprints on the moon, which in essence means that there are no limits.

00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:03.880
You can't tell me the sky's the limit when there's footprints on the moon.

00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:07.000
The only limitations are the ones you impose on yourself.

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:18.840
And I just adopted that quote, and I ran with it, and I use it as a tagline, and different presentations, making merch, as you can see, making a logo with the moon on it, and a wheelchair, if you can see that right there.

00:34:18.840 --> 00:34:21.079
Yeah, and that's where that came from.

00:34:21.079 --> 00:34:27.340
So the sky's not, Fletcher Cleve is the sky's not the limit, and it's a wheelchair on a moon.

00:34:27.340 --> 00:34:28.380
That's cool.

00:34:28.380 --> 00:34:31.179
Yeah, so that's where they came from.

00:34:31.179 --> 00:34:41.860
And the second part about the wheelchair nomad, when I was in college, when I was in the hospital, I'm watching all my friends accomplish all the freshman things that we said we were going to do.

00:34:41.860 --> 00:34:44.139
Go to Daytona Beach for spring break.

00:34:44.139 --> 00:34:46.219
Go to homecoming, our first homecoming.

00:34:46.219 --> 00:34:49.539
Go to the first football game, or whatever the case may be.

00:34:49.539 --> 00:35:10.599
I'm watching all my friends do these things that I want to do and travel the world and just be college freshman. And so, long story short, I'm like, hey, I think I need to get my body back to where I can start doing these things as well. So, one spring break we go to Nashville, which is only three hours outside of Memphis, and we're just hanging out doing much of nothing.

00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:16.000
But this is the first time I've been without my parents for more than five hours at a time.

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:30.880
So now it's just a weekend. We go Friday morning, come back Sunday, nothing major, but we're just hanging out. We go to the movies, hanging out in the mall, playing around, throwing Skittles, you know, just being 20 year old college freshman at the time. So it was, well I was a freshman, they were sophomores.

00:35:30.880 --> 00:35:34.480
And so I just fell in love with traveling. So we started traveling more.

00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:37.320
We go to Dallas, we go to Mardi Gras, we go to LA, we go to Chicago.

00:35:37.320 --> 00:35:40.320
And I'm posting all these pictures just like everybody else.

00:35:40.320 --> 00:35:43.320
But people found inspiration like, this guy in this wheelchair is everywhere.

00:35:43.320 --> 00:35:48.320
And I looked at my finances and I was like, hey, you've been to Vegas three times this year.

00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:50.320
Vegas is my favorite city in the United States.

00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:52.320
So I was like, you've been to Vegas three times this year.

00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:54.320
I'm talking to myself.

00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:56.320
And I was like, how much is a flight to Italy?

00:35:56.320 --> 00:35:57.320
So I looked that up.

00:35:57.320 --> 00:35:58.320
I'm like, not that bad.

00:35:58.320 --> 00:36:24.239
So, boom, I go to Italy, then I go to Paris, and I go to London, and I'm falling in love with the culture, the history of the Vatican, and Rome, and Julius Caesar, and the Louvre in Paris, and the Buckingham Palace in London. So I start venturing out even more. I go to Dubai, I go to Abu Dhabi, I go to Barbados, and I'm following different cultures and different foods, and I'm just posting pictures like everybody else. And somebody's like, dude, you're everywhere.

00:36:24.239 --> 00:37:25.159
You're like a nomad and me being the jokester I am I was like yeah call me the wheelchair nomad And so I started using that tag in all my pictures like the wheelchair nomad the wheelchair nomad the wheelchair nomad And just because he was opposing my pictures But then I go to the taste of Chicago and my cousins were getting ready to go to a nightclub They pull up to the front put my chair out. There's a line to get in they put me in my chair You know I get my clothes together put my cologne on and my roll in and this lady comes up and say excuse me are you the wheelchair nomad I'm like how do you know that she was like I'm a part of this travel group and they post your stuff all the time and you're such an inspiration can we take a picture I'm like sure once that happened I was like oh yeah this is a thing. Celebrity status achieved. I believe it's done by ESPN. How do you go from working in IT with one speech for AutoZone to now having this global platform? How does it grow from there?

00:37:25.159 --> 00:37:39.840
Yeah, so I've always had a platform and just gradually the plan was to gradually just do a little more each year, you know, next year, I'm gonna stop and be a full time speaker. It was always next year, it was always next year. And before I looked up, I'd been working in IT nine years.

00:37:39.840 --> 00:37:45.039
So I'm like, you know, this is like early 30s. It's time to if you really want to do this.

00:37:45.039 --> 00:38:04.639
I was in Toronto for New Year's Eve, and I'm looking at the 2023 sign. And you know, I've had my website, I've done, you know, the Ohio State's in the oldness in the, you know, I've done all these things, but it's always been played around my IT schedule. They were pretty lenient for the most part, especially during COVID.

00:38:04.639 --> 00:38:07.199
And I just knew this is not what I wanted to do for the next 40 years.

00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:09.239
So I knew I wanted to do this full time.

00:38:09.239 --> 00:38:14.880
So I'm in Toronto looking at a 2023 sign, 10, 9, 8, and I called God, Big G.

00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:21.719
I'm like, Big G, if I'm supposed to be a full time speaker, please lead me in the right direction.

00:38:21.719 --> 00:38:26.480
And lo and behold, two weeks later, I got let go from my IT job.

00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:27.559
And it was just budget cuts.

00:38:27.559 --> 00:38:30.800
And I'm like, no, I didn't mean it like this.

00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:31.880
Not like this.

00:38:31.880 --> 00:38:36.440
But it shows that because I was comfortable enough working my IT job.

00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:40.639
And it's hard to walk away from a lucrative field just off a whim.

00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:43.639
So I think God knew I would never have done it on my own.

00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:47.320
I would always played around with the thought of being a full-time speaker.

00:38:47.320 --> 00:38:50.480
And he gave me that push, and this just happened in February.

00:38:50.480 --> 00:39:01.719
So these past six months or so, I've been a full-time entrepreneur trying to do the best I can to keep my head above water and always continuously fight and just become a phenomenal speaker.

00:39:01.719 --> 00:39:03.519
Yeah, that's great.

00:39:03.519 --> 00:39:09.199
I mean, obviously being pushed out of the nest like that is never great, but at that point you gotta fly, right?

00:39:09.199 --> 00:39:27.480
Your story is certainly one of physical setback, but a lot of my listeners, they're facing to them a mountain in front of them as they lost their job or they're not able to get a job that they've applied for or their kid didn't get into a, whatever it is.

00:39:27.480 --> 00:39:28.480
Yeah, absolutely.

00:39:28.480 --> 00:39:29.480
It's tough.

00:39:29.480 --> 00:39:30.480
What do you tell them?

00:39:30.480 --> 00:39:33.119
I tell them this all the time, man.

00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:35.400
Look, adversity happens to everybody.

00:39:35.400 --> 00:39:40.340
Crappy stuff happens to me, crappy stuff happens to you, crappy stuff happens to your neighbor.

00:39:40.340 --> 00:39:45.599
Everybody's been through something in their life, but it's not what happens to you that defines you, it's how you respond to it.

00:39:45.599 --> 00:39:48.280
How are you going to respond when your kid doesn't get in that school?

00:39:48.280 --> 00:39:50.360
How are you going to respond when you don't pass that math test?

00:39:50.360 --> 00:39:55.920
How are you going to respond when you're going through a divorce or whatever the case may be, whatever your adverse situation may be?

00:39:55.920 --> 00:39:58.119
And I chose to respond in a positive manner.

00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:00.360
You can still achieve your dreams and your goals.

00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:05.960
I tell people when writing down goals and dreams, how big would you dream if you knew you couldn't fail?

00:40:05.960 --> 00:40:12.019
If I knew that the moment I thought I could become an astronaut, I would be an astronaut. I pledge I want to be an astronaut.

00:40:12.019 --> 00:40:16.579
I'm like, all right, set aside the excuses, put your big boy underwear on and get to it.

00:40:16.579 --> 00:40:28.000
You know, whatever the case may be. And that's what I say to those people. It's like don't let your current situation dictate your future. Don't let this adverse situation dictate the next 20 years of your life.

00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:32.000
You may be going through some downs at this time, but understand that nothing lasts forever.

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:36.000
I've never seen a cloud sit over one person's house for an extended amount of time.

00:40:36.000 --> 00:40:39.000
Like this too shall pass. This rain will go away.

00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.000
The rainbows at the end of the storm.

00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:46.000
And when that sunshine comes out, what type of mindset are you going to have when this adverse situation is over?

00:40:46.000 --> 00:40:49.480
Did this adverse situation make you a data breaker.

00:40:49.480 --> 00:40:50.559
Yeah.

00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:52.179
I was just reading about this last night.

00:40:52.179 --> 00:40:54.539
I'm studying for a new certification.

00:40:54.539 --> 00:40:58.599
It's called the Certified Performance Sports Science Credential.

00:40:58.599 --> 00:41:10.980
So a lot of these, a lot of professional teams and now D1 schools are hiring these sports scientists who they gather data on how many total yards you cover during a practice and you know, whether or not you're over trained.

00:41:10.980 --> 00:41:12.559
We see this in the NBA a lot.

00:41:12.559 --> 00:41:13.920
It's from code management.

00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:32.559
That's all coming from sports science. But the chapter I read last night was on psychology. And the prevailing thought was, if we can encourage our athletes to have an optimistic or positive mindset, it actually manifests physically.

00:41:32.559 --> 00:41:39.000
They heal better. They recover faster. This is not just kumbaya, be happy.

00:41:39.000 --> 00:41:46.599
It is I can help that hamstring strain heal faster if I can get you to focus on the good versus negative.

00:41:46.599 --> 00:41:48.559
And that's something you knew innately.

00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:57.199
And I would venture to say that your capabilities today are better because you had that outlook from day one.

00:41:57.199 --> 00:41:59.880
And for sure, it's fantastic.

00:41:59.880 --> 00:42:00.599
Yeah, I know.

00:42:00.599 --> 00:42:04.000
Whatever your mind thinks, your body will follow.

00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:14.000
I've seen different situations where people just, mental therapy where they are sitting there just thinking positive, like you like say, it will heal, it will heal, it will heal.

00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:16.000
Whatever your mind thinks, your body will follow.

00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:23.000
So if you're constantly being negative and constantly saying, it won't get better, I won't be able to play anymore, you're right.

00:42:23.000 --> 00:42:25.000
Your mind is going to affect your performance and you're right.

00:42:25.000 --> 00:42:29.920
The person that says they can and the person that says they can't are both right. Which one will you be?

00:42:29.920 --> 00:42:38.400
Yeah So it's obviously not gone according to script, but that doesn't mean that it hasn't been a beautiful story.

00:42:38.400 --> 00:42:51.000
What advice, if you could go back in time and maybe equip young Fletcher with some sage wisdom that's going to help him on the journey, what would you tell him? I'd tell him to stay out of Buffalo Wild Wings.

00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:53.000
Buffalo, stay home.

00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:58.000
I would say never accept the word no.

00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:00.000
Let no's fuel your fire.

00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:09.000
So the worst thing you can do is tell me I can't do something because now I'm going to make it my destiny to prove you wrong.

00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:11.000
I'm going to make it mine.

00:43:11.000 --> 00:43:16.440
So don't allow people to form your life.

00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:30.119
Like, you know, it's your life, you know, that might be a little deep for a seven year old, but it's still positive thinking and just, you know, enjoy being a kid, just have fun and try to get your parents to invest in Google.

00:43:30.119 --> 00:43:31.159
Sage advice.

00:43:31.159 --> 00:43:33.400
That's very much a Biff Tannen answer, right?

00:43:33.400 --> 00:43:35.880
That's more Dominick.

00:43:35.880 --> 00:43:41.239
No, no, take your life savings and just put it all Or Dominac.

00:43:41.239 --> 00:43:45.239
No, no, take your life savings and just put it all in Google.

00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:50.239
Well, I love music and the emotions that it can oftentimes represent the words can't.

00:43:50.239 --> 00:43:56.239
If you had a song that played in the background during a montage of your life, what song would you pick and why?

00:43:56.239 --> 00:44:26.000
Probably one of my favorite pregame songs, Heart of a champion you know just tell me I can't you can't give up keep going keep striving keep going you know so that was definitely I was today even in therapy like just what we got to do today all right we got you know four sets of 25 okay cool let me get my headphones hard of a champion on repeat just you know don't stop don't quit and I would just have that montage playing over my live video.

00:44:26.000 --> 00:44:28.000
Yep, that's great. That's a good one.

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:33.000
I dropped these into a Spotify mix with all my guests with their music.

00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:35.000
So if people want to listen, they can tune in.

00:44:35.000 --> 00:44:37.000
I'm a hard of a champion.

00:44:37.000 --> 00:44:42.000
Yeah. So what for Fletcher remains undone?

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:44.000
I said so much I want to accomplish.

00:44:44.000 --> 00:44:48.000
I still want to be recognized as one of the top speakers in the country.

00:44:48.000 --> 00:45:17.000
I want to visit all eight wonders of the world. I want to be a prevalent advocate for accessibility in the travel community You know coming from the wheelchair nomad. I want a family. I want to move to a new city I want to do so much and all the things I've ever dreamt about to come to fruition and come to truth That's great How can listeners connect with you and follow you and your various channels?

00:45:17.000 --> 00:46:35.280
Yeah, definitely follow me on all my socials. You can find all of that at FletcherCleves.com and I think it's always hilarious when you're talking about celebrity status. Because I have been like on TED Talk and the commercial and I've been on ESPN and I do travel the world and have done these amazing things. People think I'm like Tom Brady or like I'm not Like Kevin Hart or somewhere. I'm not gonna respond and it's always funny when I like hey flitz I have a small podcast out of La you know No, this is taking a shot right? I'm like, yeah, no problem. And they're always like, oh my god, you responded I'm like, yeah, I'm a real person Guilty as charged. Not only did you respond you responded in today like yeah, we can do it right now. Yes My name is Fletcher Cleaves and I am undone For Fletcher Cleaves, it's safe to say that he didn't choose the path he finds himself on today But through his positivity his will and that Nelly inspired heart of a champion. He's made the world a better place You haven't seen him speak before Check him out on YouTube or better yet, if you're an event planner looking for a keynote speaker, give Fletcher a call, because I guarantee you that you and your team will emerge better and stronger for hearing his story.

00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:39.280
For more info on today's episode, be sure to check it out on the web.

00:46:39.280 --> 00:46:47.320
Simply go to undonepodcast.com backslash ep55 to see the notes, links, and images related to today's guest, Fletcher Cleaves.

00:46:47.320 --> 00:47:00.599
I'll even drop a link to his website and all of his socials so check it out there. I know there are great stories to be told and I'm always on the lookout so if you or someone you know has a story that we can all be inspired by tell me about it.

00:47:00.599 --> 00:47:43.840
Surf on over to undonepodcast.com click that contact tab in the top menu and drop me a note. Coming up I've got state champion Lubbock Estacado Matador head coach Tony Wagner, fitness personality Gio Marine, and former NCAA All-American and two-time national champion women's basketball player Emma Middleton Morris. So stay tuned this and more coming up on Becoming Undone is a Nitro-Hype Creative Production written and produced by me, Toby Brooks.

00:47:43.840 --> 00:47:52.119
If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for Becoming Undone, contact me at UndonePodcast.com.

00:47:52.119 --> 00:47:56.679
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00:47:56.679 --> 00:48:31.000
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00:48:31.000 --> 00:48:51.000
Thanks for watching!