{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Dave's Book Club: The Life You Are Meant to Lead with Tom Hammel","description":" Leaders are readers and readers are leaders. It is time for this month's \u201cDave\u2019s Book Club\u201d where I share interviews, lessons, and analysis from personal development and leadership authors.  Today, I am interviewing my long-time friend, mentor, and now first-time author, Tom Hammel. His book, "The Life You are Meant to Lead" is available for order on Amazon.  I talk with Tom about overcoming a rough upbringing, the process of transforming Tom\u2019s life, and how he learned to lead others along the path of self leadership. Show Notes: David: People only see you where you are now and have no idea how far you came. Tell the listener who you are. Tom: I grew up in the central valley of northern California in the town of Stockton. For the most part, it had the highest murder rate per capita in all of California. I grew up independent and had to make ends meet. I had to learn how to talk to people, manipulate and survive.  I started doing drugs in elementary school, got really into partying all through junior high school, dealing and selling drugs. Around the age of 14, I had a direct encounter with Jesus and it changed the direction of my life. It didn\u2019t change my past, I brought all that knowledge of who I was. While my life took a transformation, my knowledge and experience stayed with me and when I started to minister to other people, I brought that knowledge of pain, disappointment and fear to the table and made it really relatable to people. David: There may be someone listening who had a difficult past. Can you talk about what it took to lead that life that you saw God had for you? Tom: It takes some self discipline, and it\u2019s hard. It\u2019s a mindset shift of saying \u201cI\u2019m not going to be ruled or controlled by my past and the people around me.\u201d It meant a mindset shift of seeing the world differently and taking the courageous step of pursuing a different identity. It takes reading books, changing the people you are around, changing what you put into my mind. David: Who inspired you and continues to inspire you?  Tom: I\u2019ve been hungry to develop as a person so there\u2019s a long list. It\u2019s like climbing a mountain. My spiritual transformation was a 1-moment awakening, this journey of transforming has been progressive where new possibilities arise and new influences come into my life. There\u2019s so many voices in my life, I\u2019ve been diligent to always have a mentor. My epiphany moment came one Sunday when I put on the Golf Channel. As Tiger Woods was hitting the ball, the commentators mentioned his swing coach and I realized the No. 1 golfer in the world wasn\u2019t in competition with everyone else, he was in competition with himself and his development. I realized I\u2019m not the top in any area of my life and needed coaches. David: You\u2019re 20 years into this journey and you feel like you need to share what you\u2019re doing. Walk us through the vision and implementation of your vision. Tom: I was leading a large convention and I\u2019m challenging people to change their lives and as I was walking the stage, I noticed a guy I didn\u2019t recognize anymore \u2014 it was me. I had allowed so many things in my life to get out of whack, I was so busy in the grind I wasn\u2019t taking care of myself. I felt like a hypocrite because I was failing to lead my own self. I started with my health, I lost 80 lbs., and in the process of leading myself, I realized there\u2019s not a lot of self-leadership. I realized we\u2019ve got to do some things to awaken the possibility and set others on a journey to lead themselves. David: I have seen so many people using the pandemic as an excuse to not do things, so self leadership is needed now more than ever. So, let\u2019s talk about resources that are available in the form of books and their value. Tom: I love books. I try to mix it up a lot as far as what and who I\u2019m reading. My current all-time favorite book is \u201cThe Atomic Habit\u201d by James Clear. It\u2019s simple to understand and profound that these daily habits in my life determine my destiny. We\u2019re about to embark on Season 4 and that is tied to another project you\u2019re going to launch. Can you give us a hint about Season 4? Tom: I wrote a book, \u201cThe Life You\u2019re Meant to Lead\u201d and it will come out in the fourth quarter of 2020. The book is about unpacking areas where we take the steps to lead ourselves and take responsibility and being intentional. Season 4 is about unpacking those things I didn\u2019t have enough room to unpack in the book. The podcast is going to be about the application of that book, seeing it come alive. ","author_name":"2-Per-Specht-ives","author_url":"http:\/\/davidaspecht.com","html":"