Turning Overwhelm into Opportunity with Matthew Arau
🎧 Episode Overview
What if burnout wasn’t a sign of weakness—but a signal to shift?
Dr. Matthew Arau knows what it’s like to carry the weight of expectations, excellence, and exhaustion. From directing award-winning bands to leading educators through a global crisis, he looked like he had it all together. But inside? He was breaking.
In this soul-deep conversation, we talk about the birth of Upbeat Global, how mindfulness practices saved his sanity, and how the simple act of writing “GET” on a to-do list became the spiritual spark that reignited his life and leadership.
💥 Whether you're in music, business, or ministry—this episode will help you slow down, breathe deep, and lead better.
💡 Key Takeaways from This Episode
🔴 When Music and Leadership Collide
Matthew’s journey from high school band director to national leadership coach Started when he fused music education with personal growth practices to change toxic culture into thriving student leadership.
🔴 From Pandemic Panic to Purpose
During COVID-19, Matthew found himself guiding educators through impossible challenges. His burnout became fuel for something bigger: teaching mindfulness and mindset across the nation.
🔴 The Origin of “GET”
A cold Wisconsin morning. A memory of 9/11. A to-do list that became a gratitude list. And a new mantra was born: “I GET to.”
🔴 G = Gratitude | E = Enthusiasm | T = Treasure
This acronym became more than a mindset—it became a movement. School districts, entrepreneurs, and leaders now use “GET” to reframe stress and unlock joy in the moment.
🔴 Your Dream Must Be Bigger Than Your Doubt
You don’t need to wait until you feel ready. You just need to care more about the mission than the fear.
📚 Resources & Guest Info
🌐 Take the Quiz: https://www.powerofget.com
📕 Book: Upbeat: Mindset, Mindfulness, and Leadership in Music Education and Beyond
📔 Upbeat Daily Journal & Planner
📲 Socials: @MatthewArau
💼 Website: https://www.upbeatglobal.com
🎯 Final CTA
If this episode hit you deep—share it with a friend who needs a reset.
Rate, review, and subscribe to Grace in the Grind.
Let’s lead well, live fully, and never forget—we GET to do this.
🔔 New episodes drop weekly.
Follow Jim on socials @LeadWithJim and grab a free leadership resource at www.leadwithjim.com.
Transcript
Welcome to Grace in the Grind, the podcast where we dive deep into the journeys of heart centered and purpose driven leaders and entrepreneurs.
Speaker A:We're here to equip and encourage you on your journey.
Speaker A:So let's get started and find the grace within the grind.
Speaker A:This is Grace in the Grind.
Speaker A:And now your host, Jim Burgoon.
Speaker B:Welcome to Grace in the Grind where we're here to tell the inspiration inspiring stories behind some of the most successful entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:And today we have my friend new to the show, Matthew.
Speaker B:Welcome to the show, Matthew.
Speaker C:Hey.
Speaker C:It is so great to join you, Jim.
Speaker C:Just an honor to be on your show.
Speaker B:Yeah, man.
Speaker B:So take about 60 to 90 seconds to let the audience know who you are and what you do.
Speaker C:Hi, everybody.
Speaker C:I'm Matthew Rao and I'm the founder and CEO of Upbeat Global.
Speaker C:I'm an author, I'm a speaker, I'm a coach.
Speaker C:I'm also a university professor.
Speaker C:I teach at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin where I head up music education and conduct the band.
Speaker C:So wear multiple hats.
Speaker C:And I love serving high achieving leaders who are facing overwhelm, stress and just a touch of burnout, who still want to get more out of life and still want to give more and make a big impact.
Speaker C:And so it really is a passion of mine to serve and add value to people so that they can reach their optimal performance and achieve their full potential.
Speaker B:So with that being said, let's dive into some questions here because it brings up some cool stuff because you're, as a former music guy, I was a trumpet player for a while, so I got some passion connection there.
Speaker B:But you're also a coach, so I do coaching as well.
Speaker B:So you've got these two far different reaching things in one creative band and one, you're in the personal development leadership space on how to overcome burnout, overwhelm stuff.
Speaker B:How did those two come together?
Speaker B:Like, how did that you decide one day when you woke up and said, I just want to do this?
Speaker C:Well, it's definitely a process.
Speaker C:And there were some things that happened overnight, but like many things in life, it was, it's been a journey.
Speaker C:And I decided I wanted to be a band director.
Speaker C:When I was in college and moved out to Colorado, I taught band for 15 years, middle school band and high school band.
Speaker C:And this idea of like leadership and coaching and music actually fused together about halfway through my public school music teaching career when I started something in collaboration with my high school students called the Leadership Symposium.
Speaker C:The reason we started it is when I took over the program, there was a toxic culture and we really needed to improve the culture.
Speaker C:And we went about it by, coached, and trained my students in the areas of leadership and personal development growth.
Speaker C:And that ended up transforming the culture of the program in every aspect.
Speaker C:So that was really cool.
Speaker C:So that's, like, where it began.
Speaker C:I also just have always had a passion for leadership.
Speaker C:I have a political science major in addition to my music majors.
Speaker C:So I've always had that co interest.
Speaker C:And I just originally didn't know how they would ever combine.
Speaker C:And then I did my doctorate degree in conducting and started teaching at Lawrence University 11 years ago.
Speaker C:And I've had the opportunity to teach a leadership course at the university level.
Speaker C:And I would started presenting and speaking about the leadership symposium that I created as a high school director.
Speaker C:I started sharing that with music educators.
Speaker C:That was the beginning of my speaking career.
Speaker C:And then it's just really expanded since then.
Speaker B:So then how did you come to the place?
Speaker B:So there's a lot in leadership, like, we can really unpack a lot of leadership, but you focus on overwhelm, stress, and burnout.
Speaker B:Like, what.
Speaker B:Where did that develop from?
Speaker C:Yeah, so during the pandemic, I think, is where it really came home to me about the need to serve.
Speaker C:And when the pandemic happened, I was called upon by the.
Speaker C:What's called the national association for Music Education to lead webinars to help inspire and motivate educators, music educators at the time who were going through some really tough times.
Speaker C:If we can remember the pandemic, it was very challenging for music teachers.
Speaker C:Think of choral teachers.
Speaker C:Students need to be really spread out.
Speaker C:Everybody's wearing masks.
Speaker C:The morale was really low.
Speaker C:Even for a period of time.
Speaker C:We couldn't even rehearsed together this.
Speaker C:All the students were online, and it just really lowered morale.
Speaker C:And so a lot of teachers were going through stress, overwhelmed, facing burnout, considering leaving the profession.
Speaker C:And so I began coaching in the area of mindfulness in particular, and mindset.
Speaker C:And through that, I started teaching online courses.
Speaker C:And teachers shared with me that what I was sharing with them help them move from stress and overwhelm and burnout to this new level of excitement for what they were doing.
Speaker C:And it led them back to their purpose.
Speaker C:Some people rediscovered me or discovered a new purpose and a new calling through my coachings.
Speaker C:And so that inspired me to continue to make a difference.
Speaker B:So what have you experienced?
Speaker B:And do you experience burnout if you experience overwhelm?
Speaker B:Obviously, we all experience stress.
Speaker B:So what were your experiences during that time or even before that?
Speaker B:Said, you know what?
Speaker B:I can help others like, how did you get through that?
Speaker B:Unpack that for me.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:As a high school band director back in Colorado, I led what you'd call maybe like a high powered band program with the marching band.
Speaker C:And, and the marching band is like massive amount of hours.
Speaker C:It was pretty much seven days a week.
Speaker C:We were the state champion marching band and had achieved national recognition and super regionals in marching band.
Speaker C:And so the stress level is extremely high as a high school band director.
Speaker C:So I had gone through that, but I had developed coping skills I guess I would share along the way that helped me through that and included yoga, included meditation and mindful practices that I was implementing.
Speaker C:So it really helped me as I was facing my own stress and overwhelm during the pandemic.
Speaker C:Of course, I also went through a lot of similar challenges as people as we had to change gears completely and reimagine what it meant to teach, because we were used to teaching in person and especially music, making music in person.
Speaker C:All of a sudden we couldn't.
Speaker C:And now we're online and finding ways to move forward.
Speaker C:And what motivated me was actually serving others.
Speaker C:I actually had this calling or compulsion to help teachers during this really challenging time.
Speaker C:And what began as helping teachers, then expanded to now being able to serve not just music teachers, but entire school districts and then athletic departments, executives, corporations and entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:So out of curiosity, because I was a teacher during the pandemic and I remember those times, oh my gosh.
Speaker B:So you're teaching all these teachers how to do this, get mindset, shift all those things.
Speaker B:So did you find that these teachers were now teaching it to their students?
Speaker B:What was the bleed down from that?
Speaker B:Like, what was the impact of the students based on what you were doing with the teachers?
Speaker C:I love that question.
Speaker C:Many teachers were excited to share what they were learning to help themselves with their students.
Speaker C:And it was amazing for me to hear the feedback.
Speaker C:I got to teach online courses to teachers from grades K through 12, so kindergarten through 12th grade.
Speaker C:My experience was teaching middle school and high school.
Speaker C:And all of a sudden I'm hearing how teachers are teaching mindful breathing techniques that they've been using for themselves to their students and how that brought us centering and calming and refocusing for their students.
Speaker C:And then I would hear stories on top of that where students then would go home and teach their parents these calming, mindful breathing techniques.
Speaker C:So the ripple effect was, was really cool and heartening to hear.
Speaker B:So out of all of this, you have a book, you wrote a book, right?
Speaker B:So it's Called Upbeat.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:So explain that.
Speaker C:Where?
Speaker B:Well, at what point did that come out of?
Speaker C:Okay, I appreciate that.
Speaker C:So this is.
Speaker C:I'm showing visually the book here.
Speaker C:It's Upbeat Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership in Music Education and Beyond.
Speaker C:And this was an outgrowth from the first class I was invited to teach as an online course was called Mindfulness for the Music Educator.
Speaker C:And at the time, there really weren't resources specifically for music educators on mindfulness.
Speaker C:And so I drew on other resources, mindful teachers.
Speaker C:And we then brought it into the music field.
Speaker C:And the teachers that were taking the online course said to me, matthew, could you put this in a book?
Speaker C:Could you write a book?
Speaker C:And I'd been asked to write a book before to share the ideas that I've been teaching.
Speaker C:Kind of the format of what.
Speaker C:The structure of what I've been teaching was called Upbeat Leadership.
Speaker C:And I developed a workbook that people could print out and use in professional development or with their students.
Speaker C:But I'd never written a book.
Speaker C:And the reason there, or maybe the excuse that I had, was I didn't have enough time.
Speaker C:But during the pandemic, I found that I actually had time because I was teaching from home.
Speaker C:And so because I was at home, I actually had more time.
Speaker C:I had the classes that I was teaching, but then in between the classes, I had this block of time that was available.
Speaker C:And since there was a demand for a resource to help and support teachers, I personally felt this calling.
Speaker C:It really was a calling, like a compulsion, like, I have to do this.
Speaker C:I really felt like now or never, I will never have this block of time again.
Speaker C:And I'm sure that you can connect with that idea of having a calling.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And so it really was.
Speaker C:And I dedicated myself to waking up early every morning at 5am I would meditate.
Speaker C:A journal.
Speaker C:In the summer, I'd go for a swim.
Speaker C:And then I.
Speaker C:My journaling actually ended up evolving into content that made up the book Upbeats.
Speaker B:Sweet side question, because you do work with high achievers.
Speaker B:This is for music educators.
Speaker B:Where did that shift happen?
Speaker C:Nice.
Speaker C:Like, where did we go?
Speaker C:For music educators and beyond.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker C:Great.
Speaker C:So I think it's really important to begin where you are, like, where your niches.
Speaker C:And this was actually a discussion that I had with the publishers was, do I include music education in the title?
Speaker C:Because I felt that everything that I was sharing this book is universal.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:The whole.
Speaker C:The book's in three parts, and part one is called Ignite.
Speaker C:Part two is Inspire, and part three is Lead Ignite.
Speaker C:Part one is all about the inner world of the reader.
Speaker C:And chapter one is choose your upbeat, which is we can choose our thoughts, we can choose our attitude.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:We can choose our upbeat in life.
Speaker C:And when we choose our upbeat, it actually changes the course of our day.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:It changes the way it changes our perception.
Speaker C:And chapter two is the power of get.
Speaker C:Chapter three, supercharge your morning.
Speaker C:Chapter four is sustain your upbeat all day.
Speaker C:All of these concepts are universal for everyone, which is why the idea of adding and beyond came about.
Speaker C:Right?
Speaker C:And so I started being asked to lead professional development and coach music teachers.
Speaker C:And then music teachers would say, this is so valuable for everybody.
Speaker C:Could you come talk to my entire school or could you come and do a presentation for my entire school district?
Speaker C:And then I started being asked to give talks at the university level as word got out that I was doing this.
Speaker C:And then I got called to coach.
Speaker C:The senior executives at my university, which included the president, the vice president of every division, the head of athletics, and then the head of athletics enjoyed the coachings that I was doing on building a positive culture and strengthening leadership, mindset and mindfulness.
Speaker C:He said, can you come do a presentation for all the coaches in the university?
Speaker C:As I had these opportunities, it just highlighted that these are universal messages that can make a positive difference for everyone.
Speaker C:And that planted the seed for me that almost a calling that I need to share this with more people.
Speaker C:And that led to starting to share with companies and corporations and entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:So just as a side note to you, the audience who are listening, we want to make sure that you under we will put all of this in the show notes, the link to the book and things like that, especially for those of you who haven't are not watching visually but listening audio.
Speaker B:Everything's in the show notes.
Speaker B:Make sure you get it easy for your access.
Speaker B:So let's jump back in with some questions here.
Speaker B:So you're rapidly starting to build things.
Speaker B:People are inviting you to speak.
Speaker B:Things are happening quickly.
Speaker B:Was there ever a point where you started feeling like you were an imposter?
Speaker B:Like the deep struggles of maybe I'm not good enough or cut out for this?
Speaker C:Yes, for sure.
Speaker C:It's a big task to to come out and speak to people that have never met you before, oftentimes in an area that isn't my expertise.
Speaker C:For example, I went out to Los Angeles to co present with a mentor of mine named Dr.
Speaker C:Rob McClellan and he invited me to co present for a summit, a business summit for folks that are in the the wellness and healthcare Business for the elderly.
Speaker C:And that's an area that I'm much less familiar with.
Speaker C:And I wasn't sure how it was going to go.
Speaker C:So I definitely felt that stress.
Speaker C:I felt that stress of life and also that pressure that I better deliver.
Speaker C:I better deliver.
Speaker C:What I found, Jim, is that oftentimes it's like stage fright or that anxiety we get before performance.
Speaker C:And as a trumpet player, I don't know if you ever.
Speaker C:Did you ever feel that before?
Speaker C:Like a big concert?
Speaker B:Oh, everyone.
Speaker B:Yeah, every time.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:See, you're familiar with the butterflies and the nerves and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:And I've actually learned a lot about stress.
Speaker C:I guess it's an area that I'm.
Speaker C:That I focus on.
Speaker C:And there's a great book called the Upside of Stress, and the author talks about that how we view stress actually impacts how stress affects us physiologically.
Speaker C:So if you can look at stress as a positive and realize that this is actually excitement brewing in your body, if you view stress as excitement, then it becomes that if you view stress as a negative, that it's hurting your body, then it will.
Speaker C:And so I like to spin it on its head and think, I'm feeling, like, the nerves, the butterflies.
Speaker C:And that's because I care so much, and I share that with students.
Speaker C:I say, the reason you're nervous is because you care so much.
Speaker C:Now, sometimes we're nervous because we're not prepared.
Speaker C:Let's be honest, right?
Speaker C:We could have prepared more.
Speaker C:And we're like, oh, my gosh, they're going to discover that I didn't prepare enough.
Speaker C:And so there's two sides to that.
Speaker C:But I like to think about stress going into a speaking engagement or a coaching or training engagement as just, like, I really want to do a good job and I care so much.
Speaker C:Once I start speaking and start working with people, I realize that people are people.
Speaker C:And when we get real, and I like to get real and authentic really quickly.
Speaker C:So I like to get past all of the shields that we might put up, the armor, the.
Speaker C:Whatever the hierarchy is in the room.
Speaker C:Let's just get real.
Speaker C:We've all been through challenges.
Speaker C:We're all going through challenges right now.
Speaker C:In fact, if I ask, if I asked you or if I asked a room of people to say, how many of you have something, like, on your heart right now or a weight that you're carrying or something that's on your mind?
Speaker C:Inevitably every hand will go up that everybody's got something on their mind.
Speaker C:And when you see that, you realize, hey, I'm not alone.
Speaker C:We have a lot more in common than we have different.
Speaker C:And once you get to that human element, when it's heart to heart, eyeball to eyeball, soul to soul, that helps me get past the imposter syndrome.
Speaker C:Also, I think sometimes imposter syndrome is when you focus on yourself rather than focusing on who you're trying to serve.
Speaker C:And I think if you can keep the focus on serving others and offering value, then you can move outside of your head and into your heart.
Speaker C:And I find that really helps.
Speaker B:That's good.
Speaker B:That's really good.
Speaker B:So then this brings up a question which I find because again, as a fellow trumpet player, as somebody who's been in this, I like the butterflies because I actually had an old mentor said, if you don't feel the butterflies, you should worry because then you move into arrogance and things like that.
Speaker B:But with that being said, there's a fine line between stress being excitement and stress being the most terrible thing that you've had ever.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker B:The anxiety and all those things.
Speaker B:What procedures, guardrails, boundaries, do you put on your life to help protect you from allowing that excitement to move over into something much more harmful?
Speaker C:Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker C:Because stress can impact us in many negative ways.
Speaker C:And physically our health can have grave impacts if we're in this stress level for a long period of time.
Speaker C:And that's the challenge with almost today's society, which is a go go, right.
Speaker C:They're always under the next thing.
Speaker C:It's high achievement based and we don't often create those spaces of repose or there's spaces for rejuvenation or rest in our lives.
Speaker C:So I think it's really important to integrate moments.
Speaker C:Whether it's for me, it's in the.
Speaker C:It's in the morning.
Speaker C:I have a meditation routine and mindful breathing technique.
Speaker C:One of the mindful breathing techniques I use is the box breath where you breathe in your nose for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, out your mouth for four counts, hold your breath for four counts, and then repeat it in your nose.
Speaker C:And so it's called the box breath because it's in for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four.
Speaker C:And so the four by four idea is why it's called the box breath.
Speaker C:And I do that for about five, six minutes, just focusing on the breath.
Speaker C:And also do a mindful breathing technique where I hum really loudly.
Speaker C:I actually cough out my cheeks by breathing my nose and then hum.
Speaker C:And when you hum, it ignites the vagus Nerve.
Speaker C:And the vagus nerve is.
Speaker C:This really is the longest cranial nerve that comes from our brain down, down the brain stem, through our spinal cord and into our.
Speaker C:Even into our digestive, through our lungs and into our digestive system.
Speaker C:And so when we breathe down low and it really expand from our abdomen, it's igniting the vagus nerve.
Speaker C:And that's a good thing because that is the digest and rest nerve.
Speaker C:And so it helps us calm down and center.
Speaker C:It also ignites what's called the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows us to really function at our highest level.
Speaker C:When we're living that parasympathetic nervous system, we actually see a lot of possibilities.
Speaker C:When we're in a state of fear or high stress, what happens is our amygdala takes over.
Speaker C:They call it amygdala hijack.
Speaker C:And we're not able to think as creatively.
Speaker C:We're not as good in like relationships and communication.
Speaker C:It's that stress feeling that you have when it's like every.
Speaker C:Your vision becomes super narrow and you can't see these opportunities and possibilities.
Speaker C:And that's the challenge when you're living in a stress environment all the time.
Speaker C:So if you can create a routine where you're doing some nervous system regulation breathing techniques throughout the day or in the morning and before going to bed, because it's really important to protect our sleep, that can really help us in this world that seems to just be going faster and faster.
Speaker C:We need to find ways to slow down.
Speaker C:And I actually just finished reading this beautiful book by Matthew Kelly called Slowing down to the Speed of Joy.
Speaker C:I love that idea.
Speaker B:So my last guest, George Bryant, we actually just talked something about that, not that book.
Speaker B:So we will put that book in the thing in the show notes.
Speaker B:But we were actually talking about creating space to be contemned.
Speaker B:That was the whole episode.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:And so I love that that's echoed here.
Speaker B:That's beautiful.
Speaker B:To slow down to be with yourself is how he put it.
Speaker B:So high paced, high achievers, fast.
Speaker B:Do you find you are caught in the midst of this and you're running at 5 million miles an hour and you're trying to do more and more, or do you have time where you take those spaces maybe throughout the day that says I want to be more contemplative, slow down, be with myself as opposed to producing?
Speaker B:Do you have those times?
Speaker C:I'm really intentional.
Speaker C:I'm very intentional with how I use my time in the day.
Speaker C:And so what I do is I'll set Aside time, we'll call it blocks of time, which are for being productive.
Speaker C:And I find that if I can put away the distractions and just be really focused with intent on what I want to produce or achieve during that time, then I can create a space of repose in between those blocks of time.
Speaker C:And I think that's really important.
Speaker C:I think one of the challenges we have is the amount of distractions.
Speaker C:In today's world, there's never been amount of distractions we have.
Speaker C:And it's amazing what a distraction can do.
Speaker C:Like a ping on our phone or we look at our phone to come back to where we were can take many minutes.
Speaker C:Even if you look at your phone for five seconds, it can take many minutes to get back to that focused area.
Speaker C:So that's why it's really important to try to put distractions away, be fully present, which is really what mindfulness is about, is being in the moment, being present, being highly aware and engaging with our senses and then being there.
Speaker C:I think so often we're either worried about what happened in the past, right?
Speaker C:We're stressed about what happened in the past, which is something we can't change, or we're worried about a future that hasn't happened yet, instead of being fully present and treasuring the moment that you have.
Speaker C:And I think that's really important to think about.
Speaker C:I think if we can all just treasure the moment, which is really what the power of get is that I share in my book, like you and I get to have this moment together.
Speaker C:It's the only moment that's guaranteed.
Speaker C:In fact, for our listeners who are listening to your podcast, this moment right now is the only moment that's ever guaranteed in life.
Speaker C:The present, right now.
Speaker C:How often do we miss the present because we're thinking about the future?
Speaker C:We're worried or concerned about something that happened in the past, and you might miss what's right in front of you.
Speaker B:That's powerful.
Speaker B:I'm sitting here laughing to myself because there are so many distractions, especially if you're one of the neuro spicy flavors of life like myself.
Speaker B:You start out on X looking for something important to what you're trying to build, create, and then an hour later you're finding duck memes.
Speaker B:It's wow, that was the best three minutes of my life over in the last hour.
Speaker B:So I get it totally.
Speaker B:So let's like, I'm with you, man.
Speaker C:I'm with you.
Speaker B:I will not confirm nor deny that happens often as it is power of get.
Speaker B:So you're building all this stuff.
Speaker B:Where did this come out for you?
Speaker B:The power of get.
Speaker B:Like I get to, I've heard this over and over.
Speaker B:But like, where did it become real for you?
Speaker C:Yeah, and it, it's actually I, I remember the exact moment.
Speaker C:It was like a revelation or enlightenment for me.
Speaker C: ,: Speaker C:I like, I know the date.
Speaker C: ,: Speaker C:I woke up in our home in Neenah, Wisconsin and I wanted to go for a swim that morning.
Speaker C:We have a swimming pool, but because we're in Wisconsin, because of the weather, the pool's only open from like May to the end of September.
Speaker C:I love to go for a swim every day.
Speaker C:If we're gonna have a pool, I'm gonna use it.
Speaker C:But when I woke up, it was freezing cold.
Speaker C:It was 40 degrees, it was raining and windy.
Speaker C:And so in my mind I was like, shoot, I'm not going to be able to go for a swim.
Speaker C:So I made some tea and did a morning meditation.
Speaker C:And I got out a notebook.
Speaker C:So I got a note out a notebook just like this.
Speaker C:Just got out a notebook and started journaling, just reflecting.
Speaker C: ,: Speaker C:But I didn't journal about the day before.
Speaker C:I journaled about 9, 11.
Speaker C: year of teaching in September: Speaker C:And when I got to school that morning, of course I had no idea that our lives were about to change forever.
Speaker C:When I went, the principal had shared that something strange about how somebody had flown into the one of the towers in New York and that's all they knew.
Speaker C:And we both.
Speaker C:That's really weird.
Speaker C:So I went into my band room, turned on the TV and I could see the towers and the images imprinted in my mind of seeing that it was beyond our imagination.
Speaker C:And then my students started coming into the room.
Speaker C:They were 11 year old students.
Speaker C:Can you imagine 11 year old students seeing this on TV?
Speaker C:And we didn't get our instruments out, we just sat there in silence and watched in real time.
Speaker C:And at the end of that first class together, we saw the first tower crumble in flames.
Speaker C:We had no words, just.
Speaker C:And then the next band came in and again, sixth grade students, 11 year olds.
Speaker C:@ the end of that class, we saw the second tower crumble in flames and we had no words to describe how we felt.
Speaker C:And then I had a planned period in lunch, followed by two seventh grade bands and two eighth grade bands.
Speaker C:With seventh graders started coming into the room.
Speaker C:Now we're talking 12, 13 year olds.
Speaker C:And one of the students looked at the.
Speaker C:That the TV was on and she said, can we turn the TV off?
Speaker C:We've been watching the news in every class and it's so hard.
Speaker C:I said, that's a great idea.
Speaker C:So I turned the TV off and we got our instruments out this time and we started warming up our instruments and we got out our band method book.
Speaker C:You remember that Jim, from back in.
Speaker B:I still have it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:And so it turned out that in this book, number six, and we were just.
Speaker C:The beginning of the book is beginning of the year.
Speaker C:So number six in the book was the first piece to teach the three four time signature, which means three beats in a measure.
Speaker C:And it was also a piece titled America How.
Speaker B:How much of a.
Speaker B:Something happening in America.
Speaker B:And the piece that day was America.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker B:Wow, that's.
Speaker B:That's pretty.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:Yeah, I.
Speaker B:I remember when I was.
Speaker B: It was: Speaker B:I was actually active duty military when it happened.
Speaker B:And yeah, we were.
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:Needless to say, that was Stress Management 101 the entire time.
Speaker B:The intensity of that, being on active duty.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So, yeah, your story is so powerful.
Speaker C:And then.
Speaker C:So we played that in the 8th graders.
Speaker C:We played Amazing Grace.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Can you imagine?
Speaker C:And then.
Speaker C:So anyways, by.
Speaker C:By reflecting on 911 being in the midst of a pandemic, it just changed my whole mindset about everything.
Speaker C:And I started making a to do list in my.
Speaker C:In.
Speaker C:In the notebook, which I would often do.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:In the to do list, I just added one word and that word was get.
Speaker C:And that changed everything for me.
Speaker C:And it wasn't like my to do list changed.
Speaker C:What changed was my mindset.
Speaker C:And it read something like this.
Speaker C:Like, I get to email Sarah, I get to call Mark.
Speaker C:I get to study my music, I get to teach my classes.
Speaker C:And then I wrote, I get to dance in the rain and I get to go for a swim.
Speaker C:And as I.
Speaker C:And so I did, I went outside in the freezing cold and I.
Speaker C:And I went for a swim.
Speaker C:And as I was swimming, I was thinking about all that I get to do, right?
Speaker C:And the power of getting.
Speaker C:I realized I get to have this breath.
Speaker C:I get to have.
Speaker C:I get to have this life in music.
Speaker C:I get to inspire others.
Speaker C:And I just, I started really treasuring my life in a new way with a new perspective.
Speaker C:And I got out of the pool, I thought, wow, this is so powerful.
Speaker C:What if I added meaning to each of those letters, which is what I did.
Speaker C:So G is for gratitude, right?
Speaker C:To live my life with gratitude.
Speaker C:I thought about how many times have I felt appreciation for somebody and kept it to myself.
Speaker C:So I decided I'm not going to keep it to myself anymore.
Speaker C:And E is for enthusiasm.
Speaker C:And this is such a powerful word.
Speaker C:I looked it up actually when I was writing my book to see the origin of the word.
Speaker C:I just wanted to know.
Speaker C:And enthusiasm comes from the Greeks.
Speaker C:It's a Greek origin and thus means God.
Speaker C:N means within.
Speaker C:And the ASM means essence, which is amazing.
Speaker C:So enthusiasm means the essence of God within us.
Speaker C:That's what enthusiasm means.
Speaker C:I want to live that way.
Speaker C:And then T is for treasure, to treasure the people in our lives.
Speaker C:But here's what it's something.
Speaker C:A lesson I learned during the pandemic, which is that many of us have forgotten that we are a treasure, that each one of us is a treasure.
Speaker C:We're so focused often on looking for the treasure outside of us.
Speaker C:Like we're going to find it.
Speaker C:It's over there.
Speaker C:It's outside of us.
Speaker C:But I realized, you know what?
Speaker C:The treasures within each one of us, we just sometimes forget that, that we have a beautiful light within to shine brightly.
Speaker C:And when we do shine that light brightly encourages others to shine their own light.
Speaker C:And I think that's a really important thing.
Speaker C:And so that's where the power of get came from.
Speaker C:And it just has changed my life since that moment.
Speaker C:I just, I live every moment is a get to moment.
Speaker C:Like when I woke up this morning, I thought I get to have this conversation with Jim.
Speaker C:And it woke me up with this level of enthusiasm.
Speaker C:It was very exciting.
Speaker C:And I've shared this with others.
Speaker C:They've shared with me.
Speaker C:Matthew has changed the way I parent.
Speaker C:I think about every moment with my children as a get to.
Speaker C:There's school districts that are telling me that they're adopting upbeat.
Speaker C:They're becoming upbeat school districts.
Speaker C:What does that mean?
Speaker C:They say, matthew, we want to change from a half two school district to a get to school district.
Speaker C:It's a whole mindset shift.
Speaker B:That is.
Speaker C:And, and it's.
Speaker C:So that's where it came from.
Speaker C:And that's how it's, that's how it continues to evolve and develop, man.
Speaker B:I appreciate that.
Speaker B:So to the audience, if you made it this far into listening, this is the part of the show where we actually talk about the wisdom bomb.
Speaker B:Hashtag wisdombomb.
Speaker B:And if you follow me on Facebook, you've known what this is.
Speaker B:This is a portable Truth that we just drop.
Speaker B:I drop one every day that says, here's a portable truth you can apply to your life.
Speaker B:With that being said, Matthew, what is a hashtag wisdombomb that you would give to the audience?
Speaker C:Jim, thanks for this opportunity.
Speaker C:First of all, let me just give a big shout out back to you.
Speaker C:Your wisdom bombs every day are just so powerful, and I look forward to them.
Speaker C:And it's just the inspiration that you find to create something original every single day is just.
Speaker C:It's really.
Speaker C:I don't know, it's just.
Speaker C:It's moving, meaningful, and inspiring.
Speaker C:So thank you.
Speaker B:Oh, thank you for the kind words, my friend.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Thanks for your consistency and commitment just to helping and serving others.
Speaker C:I really appreciate it.
Speaker C:I just posted this.
Speaker C:This came to me just a couple days ago, and so I'll share this.
Speaker C:It means a lot to me.
Speaker C:I wrote, when your dream is so big, your dreams overpower your doubt.
Speaker C:That's where the magic happens.
Speaker C:Stay focused on your dream.
Speaker C:I was thinking about that.
Speaker C:We talked about imposter syndrome.
Speaker C:I think we all experience doubt.
Speaker C:Yeah, but how do you overcome doubts?
Speaker C:It's not like we're ever going to not have doubt.
Speaker C:But you know what it is?
Speaker C:It's like when your dream is bigger than your doubt.
Speaker C:Or you could say when your purpose is bigger than your doubt, when your calling is bigger than your doubt, when your reason for being here is bigger than your doubt, that's where the magic happens.
Speaker B:That's powerful.
Speaker B:So you heard that here, guys.
Speaker B:Make sure your dream is bigger than your doubts, guys.
Speaker B:So with that being said, Matthew, how do we find you?
Speaker B:Hit us up with all the deets, man.
Speaker C:All right, all right.
Speaker C:I know you're gonna drop some Facebook links and Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram and all that.
Speaker C:And I'm on all those platforms, which is great.
Speaker C:I'm gonna encourage the listeners to go to powerofget.com powerofget.com and this is pretty amazing platform that I've built for you.
Speaker C:And when you go to powerofget.com, share your email and your name, and you will then immediately have access to what's called the Get Quiz.
Speaker C:The Get Quiz.
Speaker C:And it's a leadership quiz.
Speaker C:Only four questions.
Speaker C:And I think we all want to grow as leaders.
Speaker C:We wouldn't be listening to this podcast if we didn't want to grow personally and develop ourselves.
Speaker C:So I developed a leadership quiz.
Speaker C:Answer four questions and you will get a tailored response about your leadership style and strengths and areas to continue to grow in.
Speaker C:And you also be able to stay connected to me and the messages from Upbeat Global.
Speaker C:And because I don't want things to be one and done, I'm all about creating relationships and conversation and collaboration and so I want to encourage you to powerofget.com of course I'd be excited for you to get an opportunity to check out my books.
Speaker C:The first one is Upbeat Mindset, Mindfulness and Leadership and Music Education and Beyond.
Speaker C:This is all over Amazon.
Speaker C:You can get on Kindle or in paperback.
Speaker C:You can also get the Upbeat Daily Journal so you can really engage every day with an upbeat mindset.
Speaker C:The subtitles, personal reflections for inspiration and transformation and then this is a game changer for people.
Speaker C:This is the Upbeat Daily Planner, the ultimate organizer for your get to do's and you can get a 15 bundle package on all of these together if you go to this gia music com forward slash upbeat and that's a way you can get all three of those or combinations and get bundle pricing.
Speaker C:But if you can reach out to me on social media, message me and I just love being connected.
Speaker C:My website's Upbeat Global.
Speaker B:So guys, you heard it said.
Speaker B:All of those things we will put in the show notes.
Speaker B:Whether it be to get the books to go to his website to go any of his socials to connect, every one of them will be easy accessible in the show notes.
Speaker B:Take the quiz.
Speaker B:I did.
Speaker B:I thought it was fun.
Speaker B:Really insightful.
Speaker B:I'm a trailblazer according to the quiz.
Speaker B:Let me know in the comments what your leadership style is once you take it because I'd be curious to know.
Speaker B:And with that being said, thank you Matthew for being on Grace and the Grind.
Speaker B:We really appreciate the wisdom and knowledge that you've brought today.
Speaker C:Thank you Jim.
Speaker C:It's been an honor.
Speaker B:And with all of that being said guys, you have been listening to Grace in the Grind where we're telling the inspiring stories behind the story of some successful entrepreneurs.
Speaker B:Make sure whatever platform you are listening or watching this to, hit some likes, hit some subscribes and share it to a friend.
Speaker B:We'll see you on a future episode.
Speaker A:This has been Grace and the Grind.
Speaker A:We hope you've enjoyed the show.
Speaker A:If you did, make sure to like rate and review and we'll be back soon but in the meantime find us on social media.
Speaker A:Eadwithjem Take care of yourself and we'll see you next time on Grace in the Grind.
