Wesley Hamilton with the cast of Queer Eye

Disabled But Not Really: Q & A with Wesley Hamilton

IZ Adaptive CEO, Benedict Marsh, sits down with philanthropist, speaker, athlete, model, and founder of Disabled But Not Really, Wesley Hamilton to talk about his organization, overcoming limiting mindsets, leadership and building community.

After gunshot wounds left Wesley Hamilton paralyzed from the waist down , he began a new life as a wheelchair user. Though initially depressed, as a single father, he found the courage to make a change, and transformed himself from a victim into a victor.

In the first couple of years after his injury, Wesley, now an active philanthropist, speaker, athlete and model, founded Disabled But Not Really (DBNR), an organization on a mission to empower communities across North America and the world.

He has spoken at TEDx, and has been featured on CNN, ABC, the BBC and The Today Show. In season 4 of the Netflix hit, Queer Eye, Wesley faced the man who shot and paralyzed him.

IZ Adaptive CEO, Benedict Marsh, sat down for a Q & A with Wesley to discuss Disabled But Not Really, as well as overcoming limitless mindsets, leadership, empathy and creating unity in communities. Read their conversation below.

Benedict:

Thank you so much for taking the time today. We're really excited to support Disabled But Not Really this month. I think given the last year, all the changes, and the politically heated events that we saw, and just really wanting to contribute in some way, we felt that, given the fact that we were already working with you, we really wanted to support DBNR during Black History Month. I thought this would be a great opportunity to share with our cohort a little bit specifically about you, but mostly about Disabled But Not Really because most of them probably still don't even know it exists and we're excited to get the word out.

So when did you first launch Disabled But Not Really?

Wesley:

Disabled But Not Really was started back in April of 2015. I started it after my two year bedrest medical journey, and overcoming that. I was still in the hospital bed when I started DBNR.

Benedict:

So does that equate to two years after your injury as well?

Wesley:

Yes. So literally after my first year of getting my spinal cord injury, of course, you’ve heard my story, trying to get back into the normal lifestyle that I was living. I was living the streets; it was hard to accept the disability part. So, I ended up getting a stage four pressure sore on my tailbone by the end of my last year, and that led to two years of bedrest - 21 hours a day of bedrest - and then six surgeries, which in that time caused me to have a colostomy bag and a flap surgery, and I lost 100 pounds by eating right. So all that happened in two years, which made me have a different mindset come January when I had my last surgery, January 2015. I was like, "You know what? I just overcame this weight; I just overcame these surgeries; I have a new mindset. I'm freaking feeling better than I did ever when I was walking." I just wanted to help other people and I literally started DBNR while I was still healing from my last surgery.

 Benedict:

Can you describe what Disabled But Not Really is? I'd love to give the readers a little bit of background about what the organization does and its mission, so that they might be inspired to go learn more.

Wesley:

Yeah. Our mission is to instill a physical limitless mindset that brings courage, confidence, and competence. So when we look at even that aspect, we are trying to create a limitless mindset. Not saying that your limitations aren't going to limit you, or that there aren’t going to be some types of obstacles in front of you, but your mindset will allow you to figure out how to go around those obstacles. So that's where we focus on the mindset.

When I think of Disabled But Not Really I see myself as being disabled mentally before I ever became disabled physically. And that was because the lack of resources, leadership, and opportunities as a black man growing up seems similar to a person with a disability when you think of structural differences within communities. With all that said, our mission is to create a more valuable, inclusive space for those with disabilities, whether it's physical, mental, or emotional, just because they lack the resources due to structural differences.

When people ask me like "DBNR, Disabled But Not Really, what is Disabled But Not Really actually mean? How can you define that?" It is me in a fuckin' nutshell. There is no way that I can speak on my organization without referring to my life journey and being able to say that I define the term Disabled But Not Really to a tee. Because I know that, before I even became disabled, I was limiting myself [in two ways]. I was limited mentally, and [physically]. Then when I overcame the challenges that the physical aspect brought me, well, then my mental [strength] actually grew and leveled up, and I began to gravitate more to success and everything that I have now.

So Disabled But Not Really is honestly a definition of me. And when I look at all the elements and all the obstacles that I had to face, and I was able to overcome, [it becomes clear that] my organization is led by experience and not just by some type of knowledge. We have an inclusive culture that speaks empathy because of experience.

Benedict:

Was it overcoming all of those things in that first year that led to the shift in mindset, or was there something, or someone, or a combination of something and someone that inspired you to change your mindset during bedrest?

Wesley:

You know, I would just say it was a series of events. The biggest one was just being a single father, getting sole custody of my daughter before my accident. I [was] going through bedrest and all of these levels of defeat, and I still had to figure out how to be a father - be a man in my mind. So I think that was one of the biggest things.

And then [there was the way] I grew up. I grew up different. Just the environments and neighborhoods. I was always independent. I was independent at the age of 12 and a lot of it was kind of by choice; of just hating my circumstances. But at the same time, it allowed me to have an independent mindset. After a while I was just tired of saying, “I hate this shit.” I knew just through my growth and life that I had to do it for myself. And just having that build, just being a father, and knowing at the end of the day I had to do it for me and her because nobody else was just going to come take care of us - that was the fuel.

Now when it comes to mindset, although that was the fuel to mindset, again, it was a debilitated mindset trying to figure it out. I was just tired. I think the biggest bribe was that I hated the person I saw in the mirror. I was overweight. I never had to face my weight when I was walking. Hell no. I was walking so I didn't care if I went to sleep big or woke up big or got in the shower big. I was just walking. It didn't matter. So being in the chair, it was like you felt disgusted. You had all these other things going on. All these IVs and stuff hooked up and bed baths and all of that stuff just constant, over and over. In my mind I'm like "Is this going to be the rest of my life or do I have the courage to do something that I've never done?" And that's finally taking control of my life. I think just being in the position I was in, or am in, allowed me to see that I had to take control of this because, if not, I was going to be controlled.

Benedict:

Right. You essentially were going to be controlled by your negative mindset.

Wesley:

Negative mindset, and the system that's out there. Nobody tells a person with a disability they can be independent and live their life and lift weights and have their own income. No, it's like "Look, you have a debilitation so we're going to give you a monthly check. We're going to put you in a position where you think that your limitations limit you from society." And most likely that becomes a debilitating mindset where you're depressed, stressed out, on a thousand and one different drugs that don't give you the drive to do anything. That's what I mean. It's like there's a lifestyle and stigma designed for people with disabilities that we're limited by our limitations, and that was what was portrayed to me.

So for me, I had to do something that nobody in this world or society was going to provide for me. And that was an independent lifestyle that was bred off of confidence and courage [to be] who I am, and being able to love that identity. Because people can move on with their life, but how much of your identity do you love to be able to show it to the world? Or are you just living life to be living it, but you still have those insecurities that don't allow you to be who you are? I wanted to be who I am despite my circumstances.

Benedict:

Right. Wow, there's so much that I want to chew on right now. That is a lot to take in, and there's a lot of different directions we can go in. That is really inspiring, I imagine, to a lot of people who hear it and listen to your MO. I also imagine that there's probably some people (and I say this at risk of making assumptions), but there's probably some people out there that are living on disability assistance or social aid and probably feel a lot of those things that you felt.

Do you feel disability assistance and social aid contribute to creating limiting mindsets for people?

Wesley:

Yeah, very much so. I'm a black man in America that was built on poverty. So for me, I feel like the governing systems even in black America have been so debilitating so as to not allow black people to see the opportunities. Our whole community speaks welfare, it speaks poverty, speaks aid, Medicaid, all of that.

When you look at the disabled community it's the same exact language. How can you tell me that I am going to be more than my circumstances when you've already put limitations [on me] by limiting the things I can do?

And then you have the microaggressions; then you have the debilitation when it comes to design. When you think about [whether] people with disabilities can actually be successful out here, the world is created to limit those with limitations from actually being the people they want to be. There’s no universal design.

The entrepreneur with a disability has many obstacles when they're trying to go to a network meeting on a rooftop that doesn't have an elevator - yet all of their potential [prospects] are there. For me, that is very debilitating. But I reference it back to [how] I grew up, and maybe that was the reason why my mindset shifted from [refusing to accept] that being my only way.

 Benedict:

What are some of the things that you communicate to people living with disabilities when they first come into your presence through DBNR activities and events? How do you go about trying to shift their mindset, other than through modeling directly by how you live your own life? When it comes to conversation and dialogue, how do you go about expressing the views you've just expressed to me and really helping inspire people shift their belief in themselves and their mindsets?

Wesley:

As a video on social media, Will Smith says it best: nobody can tell you what to do with your life. When people come into my space, the first thing I always tell them is that I can't hold your hand through this whole process, but I can guide you. Meaning that I understand that there are certain levels of mindset, of courage, of everything, when your life is different.

I try to meet people where they're at. I know that my process and my programming can become aggressive if you're not ready. So I want to know where people are, because there's a mental aspect that comes with the physical aspect. And if you're not ready mentally - like if we have a training session and I find myself being your therapist more than your trainer - then what I do is a dial back down and make sure that we can attack those [fundamental mindset] elements before we go into something different. Because there's no way that I can help you on one end without making sure that you're being aided on all physical, mental, and emotional [levels].

My whole directive is for those that come through my program. I'm more selective than I was before and we've had trial and error, but I find that the people we [attract] are similar to me in a way. They have already gone through the obstacles, have already determined that this is their life, and that they are able to change it the best way that they can. They just need guidance. I think that those are the people that come. If you're ready to take control of your life, I'm here for you. But if you're not, then I'm providing resources that are going to get you to me. But you gotta be ready to take control of your life, because I'm about to teach you something different that the world doesn't know yet.

Benedict:

Right. And they have to choose at that point... They still have to choose to go and pull from those resources to get themselves to where you're at in order to be ready to make those actual mindset changes.

Wesley:

Yeah, yeah. From an organizational standpoint, I'm not so focused on the numbers as much as I am on the impact.

In 3 years we have 42 athletes. And out of those 42 athletes that we serve, I can tell you right now that it was probably only 10% that came back on a routine basis of a gym membership, [with an] athletic, physical lifestyle. The rest of them went on and did their own thing. So that allowed me to see it differently. I can't just bring you into a program and say, look, let me get you in here for eight weeks and whoop de do, we're telling everybody we're doing something. No, how about I take five people, set goals with these five people, focus on the mental health, the nutritional health, the physical health and see what those milestones look like in a six to nine month period. Because now those five people have become leaders within our community. That creates a ripple effect. Because I'm not trying to aid people my whole life. What I'm trying to do is create a new perception for people with disabilities: rather than you're just born with it or you acquire it, you know that the circumstances you're born into don't have to be the circumstances you live with.

 Benedict:

Thank you for that. So one of your new programs is the #HelpMeFit Mobile. Is that right?

Wesley:

Yeah. So we have the #HelpMeFit Challenge. That's what it's called. So #HelpMeFit Mobile is part two.

Benedict:

Right. So can you tell us a bit about that?

Wesley:

Yeah. So outside of what I just kind of broke down about the definition of Disabled But Not Really, we have a program called the #HelpMeFit Challenge. The #HelpMeFit Challenge over the course of two years was an eight week program that we hosted three times a year, working with different local CrossFit gyms. The goal with this eight week program was really just getting you into doing something more active if you have some type of limitation.

The people that we serve are people with disabilities. It really doesn't matter what your disability is, but it goes back to the very first conversation: you have to be ready to take ownership of your life.

So now... Eight week program, three times a year. We focused on fitness and inclusion. I wanted to make sure I added that, because those were the key elements for me to grow into who I am.

If I didn't lose that weight while I was on bedrest, paralyzed, just eating healthy, I don't think that my mindset would have been what it is today. But because I was able to do something I could never do walking, it gave me courage.

Nutrition, to me, is one of the key elements when we look at our program. I want you to eat healthy, I want you to eat clean, because I need you to get off those everyday medicines. I need you to start being more active. I don't want to tell people to get off their medicine. I just want them to feel so damn good that they don't think they need it any more. That is, if it's not a requirement, if it's just pain medicine, or whatever the case is.

So now, when we talk about the #HelpMeFit Mobile, because of COVID, because of last year and the situations that happened last year - we're all aware of what happened with George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter Movement - frankly, when you look at CrossFit, when you look at anything encompassing CrossFit, there's probably 5% to 10% diversity in there. And when I mean diversity, I mean black people. There's many people of different ethnic groups that work out. But when you look at anybody of the African American culture, it's rarely that you see us in fitness anything.

And then I want to say that maybe 10% to 15% of the black community are actually being active, because there are no gyms in black communities.

Unless you've got a car to drive over town, which of course, when you're living in poverty could be hard, you might not have that resource.

Benedict:

Yeah. And at the end of a work day, you don't really feel like taking an extra hour bus ride to go to a gym somewhere else and then have to go all the way home on top of it. It's just one more barrier.

Wesley:

Actually, it's probably about three or four more barriers, because as soon as you catch that bus ride to another area that you might not be welcome in, that's another barrier. And then when you go into a gym where you might not see enough people that look like you, that's another barrier. You see what I mean? Like there are going to be constant barriers when you're going into a community that you might not be welcome in.

Because of last year, the [founder] of CrossFit [Greg Glassman] resigned. He made a comment, and that comment was touchy to me, because we focused on the CrossFit methods. When you're aligned with all these different gyms in this primarily white community, and shit happens like last year, and you've got a lot of people of color in your facility, maybe a little bit of empathy and integrity matters at that moment. I didn't see that [empathy and integrity] with any of our partners, so we left them all.

And because of that, I made my garage into a gym, which is called The Garage KC. My goal of making my garage into a gym was because my organization, again, is something that's defined by me. That means that if I'm leading, and I [show] the life that I have from the journey that I've been on, if I give that power to somebody else, they're not going to [be operating] from an empathetic point of view if they've not really been aware of this community that I'm bringing them into.

For me it was like COVID actually woke me up and said, “Man, create your space in a small environment. Do what you would have done in a larger environment, but now one, you have full control; two, now you can have your programming the way you want it; and three, now you are able to actually share stories and create a valuable impact." And that's The Garage KC. We've done that for six or seven months. And because of that impact, here we go with the #HelpMeFit Mobile.

Now what is the mobile? Because of COVID, because of the garage, because when I opened the garage I didn't just open it up to people with disabilities, what I found was that the black community you and I were just speaking about (those that had to catch that bus for an hour) now had a garage gym that was in their community. Many people from my community, like friends that I grew up with that could never really have an active lifestyle, were able to find access in that resource here at my own home.

I lead now by that "Field of Dreams" concept: if you build it, they are going to come. So we said, all right, how can we create something that [allows us] to go to people in these communities instead of them coming to us? Let's do a mobile gym. So we invested into a trailer, and right now we're currently getting the trailer fitted out so that it can have the stabilizers, and everything else it needs, so that we can be able to have a gym on wheels.

The goal with this mobile gym, this #HelpMeFit Mobile is to go into these underserved communities, go reach those people with disabilities that can't come out of their homes because of the lack of resources, and also reach out to those lower poverty neighborhoods or higher poverty neighborhoods that, again, don't have access. We are working with parks and rec departments, and our goal is to host fitness events in these underserved communities using local parks. And all we've got to do is bring our mobile trailer with all this equipment, and now we've got a fitness event. We're teaching people about nutrition, we're teaching people about a healthy lifestyle. And what it does: again, it creates a ripple effect.

You create consistency with people, they want to take control of it. Those habits of them going and spending $50, $60 on some BS, now becomes a membership. Now that hour after work don't seem too bad when you are actually driven to do it. Then we have this rapport with all of the communities that we're aiding.

So think about it: if it’s the black community or disabled community, when you gain that confidence, you are able to go into rooms that you might not have felt welcome in before because you know exactly who you are and you're creating your own narrative. For us, it's [about helping] people create their own narrative, and then once you create that, we’ve done our job. You don't have to serve them any more. They're going to serve themselves and bring more people with them.

Benedict:

I mean, that's neuro-linguistic programming at its best. It's creating those new mental programs that run on autopilot because otherwise we've just got shitty mental programs running on autopilot, and that's the problem. They're running on autopilot, and they're just bad programs.

Wesley:

Yes.

Benedict:

With wanting to bring those with disabilities and able-bodied individuals together to create unity and that limitless mindset, not just within the individual, but also on a community level, what do you think are the biggest barriers to unity in the community itself?

Wesley:

Empathy.

Benedict:

Empathy.

Wesley:

That's it. I think about me growing up as the young black boy that really didn't see being able to fit into the world. Growing up in poverty, and growing up with all of these systemic issues, I wasn't going into different places talking unity. I didn't even understand anyone else's perception. All I understood was theirs of me. I didn't understand that everybody had their own perspective. And when I understood that, I became more empathetic. It allowed me to go in and be more open minded.

I think when we think about unity and trying to create better communities, we have to become more empathetic to be understanding that everybody's different, everybody has their own experiences, but that does not make them less than the next person. If we can understand that, we can help each other grow. Just because you don't know something today doesn't mean I can't give you that information. But I shouldn't see you come into the room and already put some type of microaggression on you that makes you lesser than me. The only thing that can resolve that is empathy.

Benedict:

Yeah. The only way to move past where we're at is to recognize that every single human being needs that empathy first and foremost. It's really hard to understand or to forgive if you don't first find empathy.

Wesley:

Very much so. I think about DBNR's culture. If I didn't have empathy, we would be serving people with spinal cord injuries and that's it, because I wouldn't understand anybody else that came to the table. If an amputee came in, I’d be like, “No man, I can't help you. Shit, we two different people!” But it's not like that. I understand your struggle is different from mine, but through this process, through this education that I know, and my willingness to learn, I know that we're equal. You're not lesser than me, I'm not lesser than you. I can teach you things and you can teach me things. And I think that that's how we bring value into the world, into the culture. But people have to be willing to be empathetic and open-minded. And then integrity has to be a part of that too.

Benedict:

There are visible and invisible disabilities, and generally these are only attributed to a small percentage of the world. To me, every single one of us is disabled in some way, whether it's just our mindset, or if we are spiritually, physically or emotionally disabled. Someone may appear to be a really strong, seemingly confident individual achieving great success, but then at home they don't know how to talk with their kids or whatever the case may be. Do you think there may be some value in thinking about things that way, especially when it comes to developing empathy for each other?

Wesley:

I think that if people reflected more on themselves they would understand that they've got their own damn issues too. I think the hardest thing for people to do is to look in the mirror. When you're not looking in the mirror, you become more judgemental. When you start looking in the mirror, you become more empathetic, because you see your flaws and you start to accept them. When you start to accept your flaws, you're not seeing someone else for theirs. You find yourself as a vessel to help them correct theirs as you were able to fix yours. Like I said, I believed I was disabled mentally before I became [disabled] physically. Who wakes up so negative? I woke up negative. I woke up with this chip on my shoulder. All of that was because I didn't have the faith or belief that I could be anything more than that. I think that that was debilitating in itself.

And then, like you said, you hear of invisible disabilities. I'm in some chat rooms on Clubhouse, and there's a lot of talk about that. People are like "Oh man, I've got this, I got bipolar, I got that." And I'm like ,man, how many people don't even understand what some of that stuff is?! I didn't even know what anxiety was until maybe a year ago. In the black community we're not taught anxiety; we're not taught depression. We don't even get taught to go see therapists. These are underlying issues that have been debilitating in my community, that have stopped people from being their true selves, or even being able to face it. It's not something that is even communicated to us, to check if we've got issues. So you think about how many communities are like that, how many people are like that, where they live in places where they can't be themselves, or the help that comes is debilitating itself. 

I think that everyone has their own issues, and I think self-reflection matters, because, when you do that, you start to empower people, you start to create empathy, you move with integrity, and you focus more on building yourself to be a better version, because that takes enough fucking work when you're worried about somebody else.

Benedict:

Yeah. 100% man. Amen to that. Now, obviously people can go to the DisabledButNotReally.org website. They can donate and give their support there if they want to, and there's a lot of information there. If people want to donate to Disabled But Not Really, can you elaborate at all on what their support would be helping with and contributing to in a really humanistic way?

Wesley:

Oh yeah, for sure. So anyone, at least moving forward from here on out, anyone that contributes to DBNR will really be helping us in the process of launching the mobile trailer, getting us in the swing of things to start to make the impact in the communities that we represent, and the communities that align with us. It will also be helping us provide more resources to the athletes that we're serving now. The mobile trailer is going to be the way that we teach everybody what we're doing without them having to come to us. Anyone that supports will be helping us become more innovative, so that we can impact people with disabilities lives despite pandemics, despite quarantines and shutdowns; because when you look at what happened last year, this community that we represent was one of the hardest communities for people to serve because they were at higher risk.

Benedict:

For sure. And it would be really nice to see the mobile project expand to the point where mobile gyms could be moving from Disabled But Not Really throughout North America, because there's a lot of people that could use that help.

Wesley:

And that's the goal. We have one trailer now, but the goal is to create the trailer model, get about four more out there reaching certain cities where they have black trainers, or people of color trainers, that we can collaborate with. When I mean trainers, [I mean] CrossFit trainers. We want to find the cities that they can go into those under-represented communities, and take the trailer, and make that impact. Scaling is one of the biggest things. 

You guys probably know too, in social media you get people that reach out all the time. "Oh man, I wish that was here. I wish that was there. I wish we could get this." I pay attention to all those messages. And I pay attention to that one little kid that grew up with a disability in that small town and he's the only one. Can we pull that trailer up and show that community, and give that community, a different perspective? Are we able to do that? Can we go to a school and educate this whole school system on those kids that they've always outed out? And now, the moment we leave, they see them differently.

Wesley:

What I've found is that not everybody has seen my video, but the moment they do they're like "Oh my God. I can't believe that. That's amazing."

Imagine how many people in this world have not seen what a person is capable of from a person that they might think to be incapable. And the moment that they see that, what happens? It goes back to empathy, it goes back to integrity, and it goes back to unity and equality. Now we're talking equity because, when we create that empathy, we create people that are thinking things like, “I know the ladder is the same height for all of us, but since you've only got one arm, I'm going to make sure that I put some steps up there instead of you just having to try to climb up.” Now we're going to build something different.

Benedict:

I love that, man, and I'm so excited to continue this conversation, and this partnership, and we're really excited to support you guys this month and moving forward. Maybe one last question: what is, if any (and if none that's cool), a book that you give most often, or that you just feel like everybody should read right now?

Wesley:

Well...

Benedict:

And you can recommend multiple books. Don't limit it to one if you feel so inspired that you want to list 25.

Wesley:

So literally, I actually have a book list on my website on iamwesleyhamilton.com. So feel free to tap into that and you'll be able to look . . . BUT I host a 5:00 AM wake up call on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a 5:00 AM empowerment call. And I've done this for a long time. It's just a free call. We've transitioned to Clubhouse now.

Benedict:

What do you mean by that 5:00 AM wake up call?

Wesley:

I have people sign up that really want to set the tone for the day at 5:00 AM, maybe 10 people of all walks of life. We're talking empowerment, daily affirmations, gratitude, positivity. The goal with it was how many people can I get to wake up in the morning at an uncomfortable time, to get on a call with people they don't know, create a conversation and be empowered within an hour?

Benedict:

And that's Tuesday and Thursdays at 5:00 AM?

Wesley:

Yep.

Benedict:

That's so cool, man.

Wesley:

So, like I said, now I do it on Clubhouse. So hopefully it's being grown because now, using this Clubhouse app, we're able to get people from all over the world at different times and they see that title and they just jump in.

Benedict:

Clubhouse is an app?

Wesley:

Clubhouse is an app. So if you haven't heard of it yet, it's actually a game changer for people with disabilities. So let me share this... it's an audio app. The benefit of Clubhouse is that it's inclusive because it gave people of all disabilities the ability to use their voice before people saw them. So, of course, once you get into it you'll see what I mean. It's only open to iPhone users, iOS users. So if you've got an iPad, iPhone, any of that. It's still in the beta version.

Benedict:

So if you're an Android user, you're not welcome (laughs).

Wesley:

You're not welcome yet! (laughs) What's mind blowing is that these communities are being built on a magnitude of large scale, and it is very, very empowering. You've got affirmation groups, disability groups; there's one called the 15%. You've got people that are blind on there, people that are deaf on there, people with cerebral palsy.

I had one girl, she's in tech, but she's got CP. She said that until this Clubhouse app opened up, everybody would judge her. But now she's like, “I get in a room and there's nothing but people that talk tech in there and I'm not judged for how slow I talk or whatever because I'm talking in tech.” So it's creating a whole new community too - experiences and conversations. So I wanted to share that. But yeah. Back to the books.

Benedict:

Back to the books.

Wesley:

The 5:00 AM wake up call, there are two things that I reference for people that get on my call. The Five Minute Journal.

Benedict:

Oh yeah, classic.

Wesley:

And a book by Napoleon Hill called How to Own Your Own Mind.

Benedict:

Oh, I always hear Think and Grow Rich, but I haven’t heard of this one.

Wesley:

I know right? Yeah, How to Own Your Own Mind.

Benedict:

Amazing. 

Wesley:

I would say it's one of the most powerful books that I've read, and I use it so much. It talks so much of control. It talks about controlling all the nine motives that the body and the brain work. When you read this book it really teaches you how to retrain your thought process.

Benedict:

I love it. I love that people like Napoleon Hill, and  a few others have been talking and preaching about our capacity to reprogram our own minds for years, and that neuroscience now has proven it to be true, even though it was decades and decades of basically just being a theory that most people, I think, kind of shrugged off as being a bit “woo woo”. But in fact it's not, and is actually a physical reality. So cool.

Wesley:

Yeah. Literally dude, it is a physical reality.

Benedict:

Well, thank you for taking so much time. We so appreciate your partnership and getting to spend some time with you. We're just excited to keep changing the world, step by step.

Wesley:

You have an amazing day. I truly appreciate you. Thank you.

Follow and Support Wesley here:

Instagram: @iamweshamilton

YouTube: iamweshamilton

Facebook: @iamweshamilton

Twitter: @iamweshamilton

Website: iamwesleyhamilton.com

Watch Wesley's TEDx Talk: Disabled But Not Really

Follow and Support Disabled But Not Really Here:

Instagram: @disabledbutnotreally

Facebook: @disabledbutnotreally

YouTube: Disabled But Not Really

Website: disabledbutnotreally.org

Donate: disabledbutnotreally.org/give/

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