The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast Episode #336 - Bo Eason

TRANSCRIPT

Bo Eason
I think the less options we have, the better off we are. We got too many options these days to quit.

And if you don't have the option to quit your dreams, like that's not an option for you, well then guess what's gonna happen? That dream's coming true. Everybody's looking to cancer. Where everybody's looking for a way out of their dreams and out of their work and will use any excuse to get out of that work and your dream.

Melanie Avalon
Welcome to the Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast, where we meet the world's top experts to explore the secrets of health, mindset, longevity, and so much more. Are you ready to take charge of your existence and biohack your life? This show is for you. Please keep in mind, we're not dispensing medical advice and are not responsible for any outcomes you may experience from implementing the tactics lying herein. So friends, are you ready to join me? Let's do this.

Welcome back to the Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast. Friends, you are in for a super inspirational episode today. Do you want to accomplish all of your dreams, all of your goals, do all the things you need to hear from Bo Eason? As we talk about in today's episode, his history is wild. We're talking playing for the NFL, then having a one-man show on Broadway, and now becoming a top figure when it comes to inspiring people and companies to find their stories and truly live their best lives. I loved his book, No Plan B for Your A-Game. Definitely check it out at boeasonbook.com and get ready for so many incredible topics in today's show. We talk about why you should have No Plan B for your A-Game, but maybe you can have multiple A-Games. How to actually become the best, the importance of making a declaration, and how to do that. Why you should actually want to be a predator, how we tend to use apologetic body language and how to stop doing that, how to defeat distractions, when and how to purposefully engage in mindlessness, and so many other secrets to success. These show notes for today's episode will be at melanieavilon.com slash Bo Eason. That's B-O-E-A-S-O-N. Those show notes will have a full transcript as well as links to everything that we talked about, so definitely check that out. I can't wait to hear what you guys think. Definitely let me know in my Facebook group, I have biohackers, intermittent fasting plus real foods plus life, comment something you learned or something that resonated with you on the pinned post to enter to win something that I love, and then check out my Instagram, find me Friday announcement post, and again, comments there to enter to win something that I love. All right, I think that's all the things. Without further ado, please enjoy this fabulous conversation with Bo Eason. Hi friends, welcome back to the show. I am so incredibly excited and honored about the conversation I'm about to have. Just coming into this, I'm already motivated and we haven't started even talking yet, but I did read the book. I'm here with the incredible Bo Eason whose career is profound, so he started his career actually in the NFL. He was a top pick for the Houston Oilers. He continued on with the San Francisco 49ers and he had a five-year career where he competed against the best of the best, and then, wait for it friends, you're soon going to understand why I'm so excited.

Melanie Avalon
He starred in a one-man play. It was called Runt of the Litter. He performed it on Broadway and he also toured in over 50 cities. It got rave reviews.

You guys know I am obsessed with theater, so this combination of NFL plus theater is very rare, I think, and then on top of that, now he goes and he motivates people. He trains them for success. He has an incredible book that I read called There's No Plan B for Your A Game, Be the Best in the World at What You Do, and it did hit the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the USA Today bestseller list. Friends, this book, oh my goodness, if you want somebody just to tell you straight how to get your act together and become the best of the best, you need to read this book. It is very direct. It provides all the things that Bo implements and recommends implementing to really, truly achieve your careers and your dreams and your goals, which he makes very clear are completely possible, and yes, you literally can be the best. You just have to decide that you are the best and really just how to go about doing that. It was a journey reading it.

I am so excited. I have so many questions about everything contained herein. Oh, and on top of that, okay, so there's all of that, and then on top of that, Bo is really seeped in this community that we're in. We were just talking before this. He's friends with all the people, Ben Greenfield, Dave Asprey. He speaks at conferences, so he's just all the things. I am so excited about this. Bo, thank you so much for being here.

Bo Eason
Thanks Melanie, thanks for having me.

Melanie Avalon
So to get things started, I mean, I often ask guests a little bit about their personal story. And that said, so much of this conversation probably will be your personal story.

You've done a lot, like I just said. So you were in the NFL. You have this incredible play, which I am so excited to talk more about. And you're now in this health sphere, biohacking sphere, at least friends with all the people doing all the things. Like, did you always want to do great things? And I'm haunted by this question because ever since I was born, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I just pursued it 24-7. There's all these books out there about how to find your passion and things like that. And I've never struggled with that. I've known exactly what I want to do. So I often wonder, are some people just born like that? Were you born like that? And does that factor whether or not you're born with this passion to do the things? Does that affect whether or not you can become the best?

Bo Eason
Yeah, that's actually a great question. I, like you, I have never, you know, had a loss for passions. And people often say, well, Beau, should I, you know, chase my dreams? And, or I don't even have a dream. And I always say, you know, I don't really chase my dreams. I think they chase me. And, and I think you use the right word haunted. That's kind of how it, that's how it occurs to me. It feels like there's this constant tap on my shoulder to do something creative that really expresses all that I am. And I know that may sound weird to some people, but that has always kind of haunted me my whole life. And when I was a kid, you know, that just turned out to be this position in football that I kind of fell in love with and said, wow, I want to be the best at that thing. And it was just, it was a position called safety. And, you know, by the time I was eight or nine is when that struck me. And it just, I saw the position, I understood the position. I liked what it stood for. I liked what it was about. And I said, I'd like to, I'd like to be the best at that thing, at that very position called safety, and just started, you know, going toward that, that dream. And of course, when you have dreams and you're a little kid, you know, you have all kinds of obstacles in the way, you have to grow up, you know, everyone's telling you no, that we don't do that, that you can't be that. And I just, you know, was really loyal to the dream and nothing else, basically, like really loyal to the dream, where most people kind of bail first chance they get on their own, on their own dream, on their own vision. And I didn't.

And, you know, lo and behold, many years later, you know, I became one of the top safeties chosen in the 1984 NFL Draft. And that first vision that I had came true. Since that worked, I just said, okay, let's go on to the next thing. After that career was over, I just said, let's do something else. Let me, let me think of what else would really, could I express myself and be able to be paid, make a living expressing myself, like I did as a safety. And so that's when theater really came to me and I said, man, if I could get on a stage and express myself, I can continue to, you know, make a living at what my visions and my dreams are. And that's kind of unrolled my whole life has kind of gone like that, all based on this need to express myself and stick to it for a long, long time until I was able to reach the top of that field.

Melanie Avalon
But you said at the beginning about how you feel like your dreams are, you know, following you or tapping on your shoulder. That's, I can't imagine not pursuing and doing the things I'm doing.

Another question about that. I'm curious about your experience with these dreams that are following you and these goals and achieving them. And then moving on to the next thing, another experience I've had is there's this idea out there that people pursue their dreams and then they achieve their dreams and then the high is never as high as they think it is, or they're on some sort of hedonic treadmill. Like it's presented as a problem that you shouldn't really look to these dreams for happiness because they won't be fulfilling. I've had the experience of everything I like achieve on the, in the journey feels pretty good. I really, I really like it. And then I get excited about the next thing. Like that's, that's the perspective I have. So I'm curious, have you had when you're through your career, did you ever struggle with a sense of lack from achieving something and then having to find something else or was it always forward looking? How did you approach that whole aspect that the dopamine from goal achievement?

Bo Eason
I get it. It's true. The whole journey going toward that achievement, whether that's being drafted or opening a show in New York, every time, it's true. I do think, oh my gosh, this is going to change my life. That's what you think in the beginning.

Oh, this is the answer to everything for me. And it's fleeting. There's some satisfaction, but it's always this. It's very fleeting. It comes and it goes very quickly. That's why you really have to celebrate those little moments like when you're with your family and you just got drafted into the NFL. And it's been a dream of the whole family for years, and it finally happens. And then it happens. You hug each other, you jump up and down, and you celebrate for like three minutes. And then it's on to the next thing. Like, wow, now I've got to go prove that I'm worthy of staying here. Now the next dream is there. So I always find it is very gratifying, but it doesn't stay gratifying for very long. Or the happiness or the celebration doesn't last very long. Now, somebody once compared this when I was talking to him, they said, well, if you look at a guy like Michael Jordan, who's won six championships in his life, if you look how long it took him to get to those championships, and then you look at the moment that he won those championships, so he won six. And you could look at these celebrations of championship number one, number two, all the way to number six. And literally, he is celebrating for less than a minute. You can watch him jump up and down, hug his teammates, run around the court after winning these championships. And so imagine how many years it took him to get to that championship, like 20 years. And now he's finally there. He wins the thing. He has dreamed his whole life and worked on his whole life to achieve. He now achieves it and holds up his arms and dances around with his teammates for one minute. And then after that one minute, he drops his hands, he puts his hands on his knees, bows his head. And I bet this is what he's thinking. Oh, and now he's thinking about how am I going to repeat this? How am I going to do this again? And sure enough, if you look at those championships, those six championships and the celebrations, they last a total of six minutes. Yet it took him 30 years to win all those and train for all of those. So I guess that's all we can expect. Like, wow, you know what? He at least had six minutes of celebration. At least he had six minutes. The rest of us who didn't commit that time or that energy, we have no minutes of happiness, of celebration. At least he put his butt on the line and declared what he wanted, went after it, won it, and wasn't expecting to just have a happy life after that. He was just expecting to celebrate for maybe just these fleeting moments.

Melanie Avalon
Wow. Yeah. I'm reflecting on, and I definitely, I have a question about the time aspect. I'm just reflecting on the model of sports, especially competitive professional sports. I feel like it's a really dangerous model for people on the path of, well, seeking happiness and success because two reasons. One, it kind of has a built-in ending to it compared to an entrepreneur career where you can keep doing that indefinitely. And even acting, you could keep doing indefinitely. But with the sports, presumably it's got an end point sooner rather than later in the trajectory of life. And then on top of that, the cyclical nature that you just mentioned, because I was thinking when I achieve something I'm really excited about, the next thing I do tends to be different compared to a sports where now you're repeating the season again. So you kind of have to do again what you just did again. So that's overwhelming. I don't think I want to go into that model.

Good job for making it out alive. Oh my goodness.

Bo Eason
Yeah, that is that takes a certain muscle, right? Because that is, you know, the opening night, of course, you know, is like, you know, it's and leading up to opening night is just exciting. And you're just nervous. You know, you don't you don't know if you're going to come through at all. And then somehow you do. And you're, it's gratifying, it's satisfying.

And then, in my case, when I when I did my show, that's how it felt. And then, and I'm glad I didn't know this to begin with, but I learned it going through it, is that, okay, so Bo, okay, I know you're happy. I know you got through opening night, and people liked it. You had fun. Now you're going to do that 1300 more times. And you're like, Oh, oh my gosh, day after day after day. And that's when it really becomes mastery, you know, you're, you're now not looking for that gratification, you're only looking for the gratification. As far as mastery goes, like, how can I move these people tonight, when I'm sick, or my ankle is sprained. And this is my, you know, seventh performance this week. And I'm in Des Moines, Iowa on the road, and it's freezing. And I got 27 people in the audience. And how do you come through for yourself? And that's one thing I really learned. Like, it wasn't about the pursuit of happiness. It was a pursuit of mastery over day after day after day, and just improving one inch each day. I think that's what greatness really is, is that.

Melanie Avalon
And so something I want to emphasize for listeners, your show is a one man show. I just really want to emphasize this.

So it's you up there and you're mentioning like 27 people in Des Moines, Iowa. Cause I was wondering this when you were touring, did you just book lots of theaters and people came because they were like subscribers at the theater? Like how did, when you were building up the show, how did you get an audience? And what was the smallest audience that you performed to?

Bo Eason
Oh my gosh. I've performed that show for literally five or seven people as if they all came in the same car to the theater. Oh my gosh. Yes, that happened, that has happened. And you're just like, oh, oh. And there's no worse pain than when you run out and there's five people sitting there.

One of them's asleep, the other one's bored. You know what I mean? And you're like, okay, okay. All five of you are getting all I got tonight.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness. Yeah, you can't see me. I'm like cringing right now. I feel it. Oh wow.

Bo Eason
Yeah, and then the very next night, you're back on the plane and you're going to Green Bay and then you're in Green Bay the next night after being in Des Moines and now there's 1,500 people showed up instead of five or seven and they're rowdy and they're drunk and they're partying and they want a show and you're like, okay, I'm getting a lot of energy tonight in Green Bay and so just the differences between those things and because, like you said, it is a one-man show. So we had no understudy. That old show business saying of the show must go on, that's how we treated it. So I would be, you know, because I've had a lot of surgeries and stuff because of football, so sometimes my legs would just be like the surgeries, you know, I had to have swelling here or pain there and I'd still go out there and it was a grind but I'm telling you after a 50-city run like that, there is no audience I can't handle being in front of after doing 50 cities like that because the 50 cities took two years for one, so I was on the road for two years and it's not on the road like you guys are thinking.

You might be thinking like, man, that's romantic, that's probably cool, like the Rolling Stones, you know, like you're touring, you've got a cool bus, you know, no, no. It's not like that. It is me by myself with some tech guy who's gonna do the lighting in all 50 cities and, you know, you're eating with that person the whole time, there was no one else and you're just traveling and it's in the middle of winter and you're just going from plane to bus to, you know, rental cars. But you know what, in the end, after those two years, there was nothing, there was nothing that could knock me off balance. I just built up this strength and maybe fortitude to show up despite any obstacles, despite the weather, despite not having an audience, despite anything and given them a show regardless. And so now that that tour is over, I just had this strength like, oh, I just have to travel to Dallas today and then I'm home tomorrow and I'm just gonna do a speech in Dallas. Well, that is easy, that's easy to do, given what I've done before. And I just learned that every audience, every person that's ever in front of you, whether it's five or fifteen hundred, that you have to deliver the goods regardless of how you're feeling or how they're feeling or despite the size of the theater or the numbers involved, you have to deliver the goods. And that is one thing that I learned early on as an athlete that in sports, obviously back when I played, the show must go on in sports too, right? So our games didn't get canceled for anything. So I think now, like they'll cancel an NFL game if a tornado hits. But back when I played, you just, the game was going to be played. So you didn't even think about canceling. You didn't think about, if it's pouring rain or snow or floods or famine, the game is scheduled and it is on and you might have a broken finger that's pointing in the wrong direction and you may have a concussion and you may not remember your wife's name and you're playing.

Bo Eason
That's just how it went. You are playing. The game is scheduled and you're going to be in it. And so with my first career as an athlete, I learned that. And then my second career as a playwright and a stage performer, I learned it doubly over and over again. So that lasted for so many years that now I'm kind of fortified that way, if you will.

And I've been able to kind of pass that on to my kids that, no, no, we don't, like Essons don't cancel. Like, oh, we're scheduled to be at this game, but I'm hurt or I'm sick. Yeah, we're still scheduled to be at the game. Oh, but I have this excuse to miss it. No, no, we don't do that. The game is scheduled. We are going to be there. And so I just think when you do that, when you have that kind of, I don't know, mentality, I guess it would be called, you're just really one of a kind and unstoppable in the world we have today, where everybody's looking to cancel, where everybody's looking for a way out of their dreams and out of their work. And we'll use any excuse to get out of that work and your dream. We and the people that I've worked with have really strengthened ourselves in that department. And it really makes you stand apart.

Melanie Avalon
I love this conversation so much, the magic of just showing up consistently, I just don't think can be over appreciated. It's funny. So for this show, I'm trying to think people don't, people don't really, people generally always usually show up for this show, like guests that I'm having on. And that's that I'm always wondering like, oh, you know, are they maybe not gonna show up?

And going into this, I was like, I know he's gonna be there like, after reading his book I was like, he's the type of person who's like always going to show up. Question about the the time aspect. So you've mentioned it a few, a few different ways here we were mentioning, you know, Michael Jordan and all the time that he puts in and then like with your one man show all the performances that you did. And all throughout your book, you talk about this role of timeline and there's this dichotomy or there's a blend because short term goals are really important along the way. And that said, you're very much a proponent of having these long term goals. And you're very clear. It's like 20 years, like it's gonna take 20 years, one of my favorite, one of my favorite lines in your book is you're like comments, I'm paraphrasing, but you comment on, you know, people may be complaining about 20 years and you're like, well, are you not going to be here in 20 years? Like, you're gonna be here in 20 years, so why not?

My question is, there's a lot of ideas out there about success. Is it talent? Is it how you were raised? Is it 10,000 hours? Is it time? Is it, you know, what is it? Is it what you and I were talking about the beginning? Like, does it require that you're born with this passion that you want to follow? So what do you think it, what do you think it is?

Bo Eason
I mean, this is how I see it. I mean, I just, I'm really big on, I'm really big on declaring what our desires, you know, like what we want, what our vision is, what our dream is. And I was very moved as a kid in school at when they would start teaching us about the Declaration of Independence. And I always thought, even as a kid, I thought this is, I was a crazy little kid, but I thought of like, wow, here we are. You know, I don't know any of these founding fathers. I wasn't related to them, never met them. And yet they wrote this declaration that we keep alive 250 years after they wrote it. And we don't know these guys. We have, you know, all we do is we take the declaration that they wrote and we bring it to life by the way we live every day. So you and me are doing our, we're bringing their declaration into existence today because we get to do this podcast.

We have the freedom to express ourselves. We can pretty much say anything we want on this podcast. We have the freedom to do it. It has the freedom to hit the airways and touch a lot of people. I was always kind of, I don't know, amazed at that as a kid. I said, so if I'm bringing this declaration into existence, they're like the playwright, the founding fathers were like the playwright. And so I'm the actor that is bringing this freedom into existence by how I embody it in my day-to-day life. 250 years after it's, you know, been written. I always liked that. I think that's very cool. And so I said, well, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna declare, you know, Beau's independence and this is what it's gonna look like. And at first that looked like a position in football. Like it was that kind of small, it was that narrow. And I just said, if I could play this position with complete freedom and express all this, I call it TNT that I have inside my body, if I can bring that into existence with this declaration that I've made to be the best safety, then that would be a cool life. That would be inspiring. That would be fun. That would give me a job. I'd be occupied with this for many years. And that's what I loved about that first declaration. And that's why I call them declarations. Then when I got done with that, I've had seven knee surgeries while I played, a lot of injuries after five years in the NFL. And then I just switched it. And I just switched everything to, okay, my first declaration was I wanna be the best safety in the world. So I said, that worked. So maybe I'll do it again, but I'll choose something that is completely the opposite of being the best safety in the world. What could that be? Oh, I know, I'll be a playwright.

Melanie Avalon
Obviously.

Bo Eason
Which I had no, absolutely no training in. All I knew about plays is that I liked them. All I knew was in grammar school and in high school, I would go to the plays at school. And I didn't tell anybody that I wanted to go. I didn't tell anybody I was interested in theater. I just went to the shows and would see my classmates. Up there on the, on stage. And I just, it was moving to know that that, they were playing a character that they weren't themselves.

Joey that I knew in Spanish class is now up there. And he's like a completely different character. And I was, I liked that. So after many years, you know, playing football, I said, here's my problem. If you're the best safety in the world in 1984, 85, 86, if you're the best safety, guess what? In those days, that meant you were the most, the dirtiest player on the planet. You were the most dangerous person on the field. And so if you were dangerous and you were dirty and you intimidated people and hurt people, you actually got more money and got more acknowledgement and people would cheer for you. The nastier you were, the harder you hit people. If you knock somebody's teeth out, you got a pat on the back for it. And that was me. And I was really good at that because I was trained to be good at that and took a lot of years to be great at that. So then when that was over, I thought, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do now? What I do best is not legal in the civilian world. Oh dear.

Melanie Avalon
Oh man, skill did not transfer.

Bo Eason
That's right. And then I thought, man, I'm probably best suited for prison, you know, because that's kind of how I'm trained for. And then I said to myself, and it hit me fast. It hit me really quick, because I got scared. I said, New York City, I'm moving to New York City. That's how it hit me. And I had never lived in New York before. I had been there, you know, to play the Jets or the Giants, but I'd never lived there, never spent any time there at this point in my life. And I said, you know what I'm going to do to, I'm going to move to the place where I know they do that theater thing. They put people on stages and they put on shows. And I'm going to go learn how to be the best at that. And I'm moving there. And here's what I'm going to do for myself. I'm going to kill two birds with one stone, one, I'm going to learn to be the best at expressing this instrument that God gave me to the best of its ability. I'm going to be able to express this thing. Therefore, I'll be able to make a living by not hurting people. I can actually express myself in other ways. That seemed to be what they were doing on that stage as far as I knew. So I did. And that's how naive I was.

And I moved to New York City. And I just said, I'm going to be the best at this thing right here, being on this stage and saying these words and moving this body. And so I got, I just moved to New York City. I saved all my money from football so that I wouldn't have to make a living in acting for many, many years because I needed to train to get good at it. So I got into every class I could get into in New York City. Movement classes, theater classes, acting classes, improv classes. I mean, it was so fun. I had the best time and it was totally out of my comfort zone, but it was really fun. And because I already had a career and everybody, all these kids in my classes that I was in were much younger than me because they just came out of college or whatever. So they knew about acting and they knew about theater.

And I got in there with them and I was older than them. And I said, okay, kids, gather around. Listen, I want to be the best at this thing that we're doing here today. This thing where we get up on this stage, we play a role that is not us. It's from like, Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller or Eugene O'Neill or Shakespeare. I want to be the best at this. How do I do that? Who is the best at this? Who is the best at this that I can talk to? And at that time, this was 1990. And at that time, all the kids in my class said the same person. You know who they said? Al Pacino. Al Pacino. Yes, they said Al Pacino is the best at this. And at that time, he was doing all kinds of theater in New York at that time.

So they were able to see him and he was doing, Richard III, and I mean, he was, obviously he was a movie star, but they really loved that he was the best stage performer. So I said, okay, okay, Al Pacino. He's the best stage performer of his time. Okay, that's what I want. So you guys tell me, where is this dude, Al Pacino? Where do I get him? Where do I meet him? Where do I talk to him about this?

Bo Eason
Because if he's the best, right, then he's the only one who could help me. because he's the only one who knows what it is to be the best, so he's the only one who can share it with me.

So, and Melanie, you're not going to believe this, but like within a seven days, I am at Al Pacino's house. I'm not in his house. Crazy. And it was during Thanksgiving, I remember, because there's snow all over the ground. It was across the George Washington Bridge, you know, and still in New York, but right on the river there, and that's where his house was. Well, it was Thanksgiving, and so a car picked me up. I go to Al Pacino's house in this car. I get out of the car, and it's snow all over the ground. I'm walking toward the house, which was a very cool house, and Al Pacino comes walking out of the front door toward me, and he's like waving to me like, hey, Bo, I'm Al Pacino, and I'm like, no, shit, Al. I'm like, you're the godfather, man, you know. So, he goes, come on in. We're cooking. We're about to have some food. Come on in, and I am telling you, I walked in the door, and it was exactly the image that you have in your mind of, like, a godfather movie where there's 15 Italians in the kitchen stirring broths and pastas and gravies, and Al's the only one who speaks English. And he's like, Bo, we're going to eat pretty soon. Everybody's cooking. It was really friendly. We walked straight to the back of the house where he had a pool table in this room where he had, like, I remember he had all these scripts from movies and plays, and all the stuff he learned from Lee Strasberg was up on the, you know, like in this library. So, we went back there, and he says, I know why you're here, because I got introduced to him through Anna Strasberg, who is Lee Strasberg's widow. So, Lee Strasberg, his teacher, and the teacher of, you know, everybody from Marlon Brando to Sophia Loren to James Dean, you know, he was their teacher. De Niro, all those people were in Lee Strasberg's acting studio. Well, Lee Strasberg had died by this time, and his widow was still alive. Well, somebody in this class heard me talking about how I wanted to be the best at this thing. Well, they go, well, you should have dinner with Anna Strasberg, because she's best friends with Sophia Loren, and she has done scenes with James Dean and, you know, a who's who of actors, and you should sit down with her because she could probably point you in the right direction. Well, this all happened without me knowing. So, I went to dinner with Anna Strasberg. She told me about Al Pacino, and she told me that Al Pacino is the godfather of her twin sons. So, her and Lee Strasberg have twin boys who were in college at this time, and when I lived in New York, that was like 1990, and Al Pacino was literally their godfather in real life, not like in the movie, in real life. So, that's how I ended up at Al Pacino's house.

She's the one who made these arrangements. So, now, I'm playing pool with Al Pacino, and he knows why I'm there, and he says, okay, Bo, I know why you're here.

Bo Eason
Let's break down what, no different than me playing safety. So, when I wanted to be the best safety, I just found the best safety, right, and said, hey, what do I do? Point me in a direction. Show me, you know, what to do, and they taught me. Well, this is what he did. You know, he broke down my next 15 years. He broke down 15 years, not year by year, but just like he goes, Bo, this is going to take you 15 years to achieve. You're going to have to basically, for 15 years, basically, you're going to have to have your butt on a stage more than anyone else has their butt on a stage. That was basically the three hours. Here's what you need, who you need to work with, why and show up and do theater more than anyone else can do theater.

That's up to you, Beau. You get to be in control of your career if this is what you want. And so at the end of the day, I shook his hand. I said, thanks, Al, man, I really appreciate this. And I said, I bet you get this request all the time. And he said, actually, you're the first. And he goes, most people come to me and want me to introduce them to my agent, or they want me to give them a break in a movie or a part in some show that he's doing. And he said, you're the first one who ever wanted what I've got, my mantle, what I've got, what I've worked for all these years. So I did, I went to work. I'd never seen Al Pacino again. Other than seeing him in movies. And, you know, about 15 years after that, still in New York, I wrote a play that I'm the only guy in. It's the first play I've ever written. I didn't own a computer and I couldn't smell very well, but I wrote a play. It took me two years to write and it took me two years to rehearse it enough to get it on its feet. In opening night in New York City, all the critics are in the house and I was having an out of body experience because, you know, I had played against the most dangerous people on the planet. Like I, you know, I'd played NFL football for five years. I had never been as nervous playing any of those dangerous guys on a field, running into a 350 pound guy than I was for opening night in New York City. And the lights came on, the entrance music came on and I'm like, oh my God, I couldn't, my body was like paralyzed. And somehow, someway, my foot took a step onto the stage and we were off and running. And I'm out there on opening night. I'm talking, I'm saying the dialogue of the play that I wrote, but I, my feet, I can't even feel my feet on the ground. I'm going for about five, maybe six, seven minutes and I'm talking to the audience and it's like, I'm not really there, but I can hear my voice kind of in a distance and it's just weird. And they look like they're kind of liking it, but I don't know. And I make eye contact with a guy and he's sitting right on the aisle and he's pretty close to the front like row five and it's Al Pacino.

Bo Eason
It's Al Pacino and I haven't seen him other than in movies in 15 years since we met. And he just, he's got his arms crossed I remember and his lips are kind of pursed like Al Pacino does. And he's just looking at me and he's just kind of giving me like a really subtle nod like, all right, okay. You got here, buddy, you know what I mean? Like it was, he didn't say one thing, he just nodded. And I'm looking at Al Pacino in row five on the aisle. And I'm like, shit, that is Al Pacino sitting right here in row five opening night of a play that I wrote and I'm the only guy in. And I just felt like after that moment, after that six minutes of me not being able to feel my body, that just grounded me enough to get through the next 90 minutes and do the play.

And you guys, when you have those moments and this is what we were talking about earlier about Michael Jordan, the celebration is so fleeting. It's exciting to talk about and share with you guys right now after all these years later. But that moment was so fleeting, it was such a big moment but had like a short timeframe of it. And I just remember being so happy after that show going back to my dressing room and just being dissatisfied with, wow, I got here. I did what I said I was gonna do and here we are. And then what comes next, Beau, is 1300 more performances. over 17 years, one play, that's an ass-kicking. So that one fleeting moment bought me 17 years, you guys. I think that's all we can expect of our lives. I'm not looking to be happy day in and day out about these things or to be able to be euphoric about them day in and day out. It's these fleeting moments that we dedicate our lives to and you just have this little tiny spark of enjoyment. And I think that is that divine, that queer divine dissatisfaction that all us performers desire. And when I say performer, I mean, look, all of us get paid, all of us who are listening to this podcast, get paid, think about it, based on your performance. Whether you're a husband or you're a wife or a mother or any occupation that you have, you have to perform at a high level to be paid at these things. So I don't see my job as an NFL player or a stage performer or playwright. I don't see those any difference than my position as a dad. Like I have to come through, man. I have to perform well for my kids so that their dreams can be fulfilled. Same thing as a husband, same thing as a play as a screenwriter or a speaker. We have to come through as performers and that's how we're measured in this lifetime. That's how we're paid in this lifetime. And the better we are at performance, the more we get paid. And that's kind of just how I see it. And so, wow, that's the lesson. That's probably the lesson at this age that I've learned the most and passed on to my kids or anybody that'll listen. Because just last week, my daughter who has these dreams of being this great volleyball player, and she just got her first Division I offer to play volleyball, she's only 16.

Bo Eason
So all this injury she's had, all the physical therapy she has to go through, all the training, she's only 16. But all the dedication, all the dates that she's missed, or the prom that she missed due to a tournament, all those drives at five in the morning, they're no fun for a 14, 15, 16 year old girl to go through.

But for, I'm not kidding you, I bet it was less than a minute that me, my wife Dawn, and Lila, my daughter 16, because the other two are off at college, we jumped around in our living room after she got this offer. We jumped around with our hands on each other's shoulders, just like three of us, in a circle, like jumping up and down. Literally, I bet it was, if somebody timed it, I bet it was 42 seconds that we were like, yay, yay. And it was so fun. And it was so rewarding just for that, those fleeting moments, because now forever in Lila's life, on her wedding day, the day that she has her first child, the day that she graduates from college and gets this job or ends up playing in the Olympics, all of these days going forward, she'll know, wow, I know the secrets in life, which is mastery over time. That doesn't seem fun. In the moment, it seems like, wow, my friends are really out there having a good time. And I'm in a car driving two hours for a volleyball training. My friends are at the high school dance that I missed because I had other commitments. Those moments in that living room, the 42 seconds that her and Dawn and I got to share, it was so cool for the rest of her life.

And I always think of my kids when they get married and when they have kids and just how they're going to know that That's what it's all about, like this dedication, this mastery of this thing called marriage, called parenting, called volleyball, called stage performance, called best safety in the world. All of these things, I think that's what it all adds up to.

Melanie Avalon
So many things. First of all, congrats to your daughter. That's awesome.

And that was such a heart. It's a really heartwarming story about Al Pacino coming. That's so sweet. Like that's such an incredible full circle moment. Okay, so like you just captured at the end, because we were contemplating what is required for success. So it sounds like the idea of natural talent, maybe that leans you towards the thing that you're pursuing, maybe that makes you more inclined to want to do the sport or even the play or whatever you're doing. But in the end, it's that singular focus, and then that time, and then just rinse and repeat, like the showing up, the focus, the keep on keeping on on this, the one thing that you're focusing on. And it sounds like because your title is no plan B, correct me if I'm wrong, though, you can have multiple plan A's like your plan A can change.

Bo Eason
Oh, for sure. Yeah. I just, here's what I think the culture is kind of getting wrong at this point. And I got it wrong for a minute, too. We assume, you know, I remember becoming a dad and I thought, oh, to be a good parent, I should be able to give my kids more options than I had. And I think I was wrong about that.

And I think that's a bill of goods that we have been sold, is I think the less options we have, the better off we are. We got too many options these days to quit. And if you don't have the option to quit your dreams, like that's not an option for you, well, then guess what's going to happen? That dream's coming true, because if you're not going to quit your dreams, then that's going to happen.

And that's why I don't like false timelines, right? I like, you know, my daughter, you know, wants to play volleyball at a high level. Well, for her whole life, people are telling her that's impossible, you're small, you're this, you're that, all kinds of things, right? But she's only loyal not to what they say or what they believe, but to her vision of this volleyball player. That's all she's loyal to. And she doesn't have the option to quit. That's just not a part of what we do. You know, we don't quit. So that's like marriage, you know, you get married and you promise at the church in front of God and all your family that, you know, you're going to stay married till death do your part. Well, a lot of us haven't been able to keep that promise.

So we don't make those promises anymore. And we certainly will bail out the first time that something tough comes along, which is inevitable. So if you don't have an option out of this thing, this dream is going to come true. That's why I like the title of the book. There's no plan B for your A game. So for me, I just didn't have an option to be second best at safety. I didn't have an option to be second best at stage performer. There was no way out of it.

So that's why, you know, it took me some time to master those particular occupations and then reach those kind of levels because I didn't give myself an ounce. Now, there were a lot of other guys and gals smarter than me, better looking than me, more talented than me, more access than me. The problem they had was they had more options than me. I just didn't have any. And if you don't give yourself an option, guess what ends up? Plan A ends up being it.

The dream comes true. And so that's why, you know, I love, I never thought of myself as a talented guy. I just, I never led with talent like, Hey, I'm Bo Eason and I'm talented and I'm here to, to be a, to be a football player. I'm here to be a playwright because I got a lot of talent. I never showed up that way. I showed up like, okay, who is the best at these things that I desire? And how about I talk to them and ask them how they got there? And how about I do what they did to get there? And maybe that's my talent. Maybe my talent is I'm just never going away. And often I tease my wife about this. I go, look, you know, we've been married for 25 years and like, I'm not going anywhere.

Bo Eason
Now that might be bad news to my wife, but she, at least she knows there's no other option, right? She's the option and there's no other option.

You know, so when you, when you start to, you know, create your life like that, you get to live the life of your dreams, right? But you, you have to resolve certain things. You have to resolve the fact that you're not going anywhere. You know, and a lot of people, I think in our culture are chasing distractions and shiny objects and the, the trend of the month, they're just chasing those things and there's no reward in those things. There's only reward in the resolve of I'm doing what I'm actually doing for the rest of my life. You know, whether that's safety, whether that's playwright, whether that's stage performer, whether that's a dad, whether that's a mom, whether that's a spouse, that's where all our power is. That's where all our strength is as a human being. Yet our culture does not promote what I'm talking about, do they? In fact, some of you may be listening going, wow, this sounds hard. No, no, I'll tell you what's hard. What's hard is being temporary and chasing around these shiny objects. What's easy is a marriage that it's a lifetime and you don't have to chase around shiny objects anymore. It's resolute. You're done. You're baked. You're at the top of the heap. A friend of mine who kind of coached me to learn about this kind of stuff once said to me, he says, Beau, he said, and this would be helpful for everybody listening, who has the most power in prison? That's what he asked me. I'm like, well, I don't know anybody in prison. I've never been in prison. How the hell do I know? I'm guessing it's the guards or, or it's the warden maybe. I don't know. And he goes, no, no, the warden has no power in prison and the guards have zero power in prison. Who has the most power in prison is the lifers, the ones who are never leaving that prison have the most power in that prison because guess what? They're not getting out and they know it. They actually are aware that they heard the jail cell closed behind them, knowing that they're never going to leave that jail cell. So they are resolute about that.

They are going to start decorating the jail cell, knowing they're never getting out, so they're going to make that their home starting today. Most people are going to go to prison and then get out. Well, there have no power because they're counting down the days until they get released. And now they're at a prison. So they don't run the prison. They have no power. They have nothing to say about that prison. The lifers who are resolute that they are never getting out. That is their home. So they have all the power in the world. They decorate their home as if they're never going to leave because they know they're not the temporary prisoners know they're going to leave. So they're never going to decorate. They're temporary. Now think about that in marriage. Think about that in trying to be the best stage performer of your time. Think about that in trying to be the best in the world at something.

Bo Eason
Well, if you hear the jail cell close behind you after you make this declaration of what you want to be the best at, and you actually are conscious enough to hear the jail cell close behind you, you take a deep breath and you go like this, oh, okay. I am home. I am not going anywhere. I am staying right here.

The candy store is closed. I will not be visiting the candy store. I am here. I am resolute and I'm going to be the best. And that's what I mean by no options. If you have that kind of ability, then you have all the power in the world, because you're the, you're the person who can make your dreams come true and your family's lives come true. And everybody who works with you, their dreams come true because you're not going anywhere.

Melanie Avalon
Wow. Yeah, it's kind of like how I think a good example is when I sit down to watch something like on Netflix or on TV and there's so many options that I spend an hour trying to decide what to watch and I don't even watch anything.

It's like if I had just committed to something and reduced the options, I would have accomplished the goal. I have a question about this process because this is very encouraging because this basically means for anybody they can become the best if they do this. If they focus on the thing, reduce the other options, show up, just do it like Nike would say. And in the book you talk about... So two little quick questions here. So one, you mentioned, for example, with your daughter and even you, like your daughter maybe missing dances and you didn't go to your high school prom and I actually didn't go to my prom either because I graduated early from high school so I wasn't there for it. But making decisions like that, how do we know we're not... So like when you didn't go to prom, what were you doing? Because that was at night. Like why did you need to...

Bo Eason
What's that night? That's good. I like that. That's a great, that's so good.

Melanie Avalon
I was like, I'm going to ask him what he did instead.

Bo Eason
I know, right? But this is how I thought about it. I always thought of all the boys my age who were trying to be the best safety in the world. And this is when I was in high school, so it was several years from the dream coming to fruition. But I would always think of all the boys across the planet who wanted to be the best safety in the world. Little did I know, I was probably the only one thinking about that.

But I said to myself, because there was this girl, and I love this girl, she was so cute. She was in my school, and she wanted me to take her to the prom. And I was like, I wanted to, I secretly did. I didn't tell her. I didn't tell anybody. I just said to myself, now, here's my edge. Because again, I didn't necessarily think I had great talent. So I thought, you know how, like, when you're that age, you think everybody thinks like you do? So I thought every boy on the planet wanted to be the best safety in the world. Little did I know, no one did, except me. But I thought they all did. So I thought to myself, okay, all my buddies, they're going to the prom. All the boys who want to be the best safety in the world in 1984, they're all going to the prom here in 1977. And here's my edge. I'm going to get on them. They're going to go to the prom. And I'm going to do pushups. This is how I thought. This is how my brain worked. I thought these other boys are probably bigger than me. They're probably faster than me. They're probably better than me. But I'm going to get an edge on them by not going on dates. You know, so that'll save me a lot of time. And yeah, just girls in general, you know, like, because I knew I was obviously attracted. All my buddies were attracted to girls. And we spent a lot of time like being attracted to them and thinking about them and talking about them. And I said, well, what if I just use all that time for pushups or pullups or sit-ups? Like, what kind of edge could I get over all those boys who are distracted? Anyway, that's how I thought. And I still think like that to a degree, although, you know, I got over it. And finally, you guys would be happy to know that I eventually got a girlfriend and eventually got married. And, you know, so everything's good. But I just thought at that time, it was a distraction for guys who are 14, 15, 16.

Melanie Avalon
Wow, I am so glad I asked that. And that answer is so fascinating to me, because I think on the one hand, it can seem a little bit, it could seem unapproachable to people like, well, I'm not gonna miss prom because, you know, for my dream.

At the same time, it really speaks to the importance of this mindset and this focus. And, you know, and maybe there could have been a version of you that could go to the prom and still be focused. But for you at that time, it sounds like girls were going to be a distraction, you know, being in that atmosphere would be a distraction. So no distractions.

Bo Eason
Yeah, that's exactly right. And when I had my own kids, and they're old enough to go to the prom, and they do go to the prom, because they've read the book, they've heard me speak before, they're like, so dad, somebody asked me to prom.

I'm like, no, no, yeah, no, no, you're going, no, go. And so for my own kids, I had to like, talk them into it, like, am I not, am my dreams not going to come true?

Melanie Avalon
I'm so sorry, I went to prom. Oh, man, that's funny. Well, like I said, I didn't have the option because I had already left. Oh, my goodness.

And then on the flip side, okay, so this actually speaks really well because one of the tenets in your book that you talk about is when you're becoming the best, everything you do. I love this part of the book. You were saying everything you do is either preparing to perform or performing or recovering from performing. Even like laundry. So if laundry is not somehow factored in there, don't do the laundry. My question is, the recovery aspect of it is where I think, at least for me, I can get a little bit unclear in my life because what's the difference between recovery, like actual rest that you need, versus doing something because you need a break. But maybe that's actually just a distraction. Because sometimes what I'll do is I don't know. I'm pretty good with not scrolling too much on social media, but sometimes I do and I enjoy it. And then I have this debate in my head because I'm like, Melanie, you don't need to be looking at this right now. But then I'm like, you know what? I deserve a break because I work 24-7. So this recovery aspect, or all of it really, how do we know if what we're doing fits into one of those categories?

Bo Eason
Yeah, that's why you just wanna be conscientious of what you're doing. So there are times where I'm like, you know what? I just need to shut it down. I need to go to zero. I need to reset this thing. And I'll just sit on a sofa just like anyone else and flip the channels until Gladiator appears in front of me or Braveheart or The Wizard of Oz or Rocky is on some, cause if you think about it, those movies are on somewhere all the time somewhere. And I just watch it and I just veg out and I watch it because I need to, but I'm conscious of what I'm doing. Like I'm going, okay, Beau, you need to rest. You need to shut this down. Let's veg out and take the clicker and do it. Or I am going, I'm aware that I'm on social media. I'm aware that I'm going to scroll mindlessly through social media for like 40 minutes just to shut this thing down and be like every other person on the planet. And if you're doing that conscientiously, I love it. If you're unaware that you're doing it and you're doing it, that's a problem.

So I just want everybody to be aware of the distractions because the most dangerous distractions are the ones you're not conscious of. Those are the ones I had one the other day. So I'm scrolling through social media. So I'm distracting myself, right? Social media unconscious and somebody then texts me. So now I'm being distracted by my, from my distractions. And then the TV comes on and now I'm looking there getting texts and scrolling. And now I'm distracted by my distractions and I'm not conscious anymore. So that's where it gets dangerous. That's where it gets really, really unproductive.

As long as you declare or call your shots, I'm good with it. You wanna veg, I'm good with it, but you gotta declare it. Hey, you wanna go to the prom? Hey, let's declare it. I'm going to the prom. I'm not worried about my dream of being the best safety in the world. I'm gonna actually use this prom to, you know empower me in some way that I like. But when it's like, well, I'm just going here unconsciously then the rest of your life becomes unconscious and you need to forget your dream.

I always want the dream to make the decisions for you because that way it's not personal, right? Like if I wanna be the best safety in the world and then my buddies all come to me and they go, Bo guess what? We're getting drunk tonight. You're invited. And so then I have to go, okay that does sound like fun with the boys, you know drinking beers and being drunk. I've heard that's fun. That sounds like fun. Let me just check in with my dream real quick. Okay, dream. Does this drunken party with the fellas is that gonna get me closer to my dream? Or is it gonna get me further from my dream? And that way, at least I'm conscientious about what's getting me closer and what's getting me further.

And the dream usually, not all the time but most of the time makes the decision of let's get the boat closer to the dream. And usually a bad decision is, yeah we're gonna get further from the dream but let's do it anyway, right?

Bo Eason
You can make that in a conscious way. I just don't want people to be unconscious about where this decision is being made from and it's your free will, right?

I just don't want it to be unconscious. Like, oh, it's just habitual, I'll just go drink beer. I want you to think about it. I want you to understand that this is getting me further from my dream, but it's okay for tonight. I'll do it for tonight and then I'll get back on track afterwards. That's what I think is the most important about us being distracted and unconscious.

Melanie Avalon
Awesome, okay, I love that and it ties in well because you have chapters in the book about domination and one last topic we could touch on really briefly. I loved the chapter on being a predator because you completely provide a paradigm shift there. Like you make a case that we should actually be predators which I think has, people might think has a negative connotation to it. But your example, I hadn't thought about this before but you talk about how people don't establish a predator state in their body and when they walk around the world, their body acts like they're apologizing for being there. And I was like, that's so true. And so now I've become like more aware of how am I walking through the world and like, am I apologizing with my body for existing? It's fascinating.

Bo Eason
That's yeah, that's what we've kind of turned into. It's just that we forget who we are You know because I think you know our culture is really good at promoting to us That we're less than we actually are or we're less than capable of what we're what we could do You know and you know people I don't think human beings were made to be Work inside a cubicle.

I just don't think our human bodies of expression Were made to be in a cage. It's just like zoo animals, right? So let's just go back to what we actually are so animals like there's animals like a great white shark a tiger cheetah a lion a falcon those are all predatory animals right, so And predatory animals are Beautiful and there's almost nothing more beautiful than watching them in their element But if you see them in the zoo, they're they're beautiful, right? But you're getting about half their Their energy because they're caged they can't move so they're taking away or numbing their predatory nature now think of human beings Do you know that we're actually animals like everybody? I know this might be bad news for some of you, but we're animals, right? And so we got to surrender to what we are. We are animals Our culture promotes that animals are bad and that predatory animals are really bad But we're actually animals and not only are we animals we are Predatory animals and the most efficient Predatory animals on the planet. That's what you and me are. That's what our ancestors were That's the reason we're we evolved to get to this point. There are many species that aren't here only because They could not evolve. They weren't predatory enough So here we are You and me are predatory animals now if there's ladies on here Listening who have had a child, you know this better than anybody that when the predatory Nature kicks in when someone's about to do harm to your child You know what you turn into that fast in a split second You turn into a mama bear a grizzly bear protecting her cubs There is nobody wants to get in between a woman and a child Right, and if they do they might as well just lay down and die Because that's what's gonna end up happening to that happening to them. Well, that's the power of Being a predatory animal We are very lethal, right, but we're in control, right? We're in control, but we're very lethal So what I have found and the people that I work work with especially as a performer you cannot be Apologetic about your physical nature because I'll say and us animals us human beings are very physical in our nature That's how we that's how we get our cues our social cues by somebody's body language That's what we're attracted to is the movement The movement of a predatory animal.

Bo Eason
That's what the reason why we can't look away if somebody is moving freely through space Unapologetically, it's intoxicating. We can't look away from it. We love it. We love it in animals. We love it in human animals The problem is we don't see much of it in humans Except if you're watching the Olympics or you're watching a truly great Ballet like a Mikhail Baryshnikov or a truly great stage performance or acting performance or musical performance where somebody is trained in the body of movement Like an elite elite athlete moving through space You the reason it's hard to look away from that For example, the the gymnast the the female gymnast in the Olympics when they're at the highest level like that going for the gold medal Yeah, I dare you to turn the channel I dare you to look away from these tiny young girls Who are so in? touch with their body and winning this gold medal that they they will not allow you To look away.

They want they're so in touch with their own predatory nature to express fully, to allow this body to perform in a way that is beautiful doing three or four flips in the air before they land. This is what I'm talking about, guys. We may not be Olympic gymnasts, right? But we move in such a way that is very attractive to people. And the people who can move in certain ways unapologetically get paid a lot of money. And they have a lot of influence on the rest of the people around them. No different than the king of the jungle or the queen of the jungle does. In the jungle, they're the king and the queen. Because of them, they're statuesque, the way they move, the danger that they present. And they don't even have to be dangerous. They are dangerous. They're not trying to be dangerous. When they walk, they're dangerous. Well, we are too. But we walk around as if it's a bad thing. And we apologize for it by putting our hands in our pockets, by putting our hands in front of our sex, or putting our, crossing our arms in front of us. These are slight tells of apology. And as soon as people sense that you're apologetic of your own power, then you're not to be trusted. That's pretty cool, right? To think about it like that. And the guy that trained me, and he's the same guy who trains Margot Robbie, he's the same guy who trains anybody who wins an Academy Award for being a great performer, musicians, dancers. He trained you to return to what you actually are, which is this beautiful, beautiful animal moving in space that no one can look away from.

Melanie Avalon
really is helpful for me personally because, and you actually talk about this in the book, my upbringing was very religious and I was raised Christian. And I feel like these ideas of being the best or being something where everyone is looking at you, they can't look away because you know, because you're living in your true, you know, this, this nature that was kind of suppressed a little bit or seen as like egotistical or you should be humble, you should be modest. So it's really nice to have a reframe that is divorced from a morality aspect to it.

Like you say often in the book, like you're giving us permission to be the best. Like that's not a bad thing to want to be.

Bo Eason
Yeah, I I've got that feedback a lot too. Like people go well both you're you're conceded or you shouldn't be Attempting to be the best and I always say or you should be humble and I always say to them You guys there is nothing more humiliating that I've ever done in my life then Attempting to be the best at something is the most humble pie you're ever gonna eat, you know And I think that goes along With Christianity, I think that is how we were made in you know in God's image and he's God certainly wasn't Apologizing for who he was and the power that he had and that that's who we are So yeah, I get feedback about that sometimes and I just have to say that, you know You you want to eat some humble pie attempt to be the best at something attempt to win a gold medal watch what happens?

You're gonna get smacked right in the face You know with your humility and that's just how this goes

Melanie Avalon
I love it. I love it so much.

Well, I think listeners can see now why this was destined to be such an inspiring, incredible conversation. Oh my goodness. Have you performed the show since it closed? Did you ever do like a reunion show?

Bo Eason
I never, you know what, I didn't, I didn't. My wife, who was the producer of the play, always teases us, Axel, since he's a little boy, and he saw the play when he was little. I mean, like, he learned to walk on our stage in New York City. Oh, man. Yeah, only because, you know how kids are stumbling around when they're learning to walk? Well, the stage was like wide open, right? He has all this space, and the kids, she would bring the kids over after the matinee performances, and we would eat pizza in the dressing room, and we had two kids at that time. Now we have three. And those two were very young. Obviously, Axel couldn't walk, and they just love the stage still to this day.

And Don always says, I'm gonna keep producing this play and tell Axel's old enough to play the part. And then it's gonna get past to him, and he's gonna play the role. So he's 18 now. He's, you know, doing his football career right now, but I'm guessing someday he may revive this thing, you know, like a reunion of the play. And I hope this is, the reason I stay as healthy as I possibly can is so I can be there for it and see it.

Melanie Avalon
Oh my goodness, that's incredible. And is he still on track? Because I know in the book you talk about his goal being both NFL and NBA. Was that the goal?

Bo Eason
Yeah, that that that was his that's been his dream ever since he was little. It were it's shifted around. It's still there because the one thing I know about dreams is you write him down, you make a little 20 year plan and then you put him in the drawer and you might not see him for 20 years. And they still come true.

That's what's like a miracle about doing this, you know, having a declaration. Well, he still got basketball and he played basketball all the way up until this past season. He played still has that. But his position at quarterback is so all encompassing at the moment, you know, because they're just for that position. Like if he played a position like safety or wide receiver or running back, they can they have more time on their hands. A quarterback has to handle so many things, personality things, media things passing around the greatness to all the teammates. So they feel like they're getting better. It is a crazy position these days that is almost impossible to be successful at.

And, you know, if you watch any TV or any NFL football, you see that these guys get so much attention, so much money, so much of their, you know, their home life is revealed through, you know, social media and TV programming and stuff. It is so all encompassing that we've kind of had to take this on. But we're not getting rid of the NBA. The NBA is in a drawer right now fulfilling on itself. So stay tuned. We're keeping our eye on it. We'll just see where this thing, you know, where this thing goes.

Melanie Avalon
I love it. Well, and congrats to him. I mean, that's wild with the quarterback. Not surprising though.

Well, this has been so, so incredible, Beau. Thank you. Thank you so much for everything that you do and bring to our world. It's so incredible that you became the best at these things and then you didn't keep it singular to yourself. You know, you are creating this incredible work that inspires so many other people to also be the best. So, just that generosity is really, really profound and so appreciated.

What are you focusing on now? What is next for Beau?

Bo Eason
Well, now I've been trained because people would come to the play or people would see me speak or whatever and they would say, hey, could you teach my company to do what you do on stage, like to present and to tell a story? So that for the last 15 years, that's what my wife and I have been doing is really just training business people, entrepreneurs, coaches, a lot of doctors, a lot of financial people, just training them to present their own story because we have found that that really grows their businesses really fast.

If they have the ability to express themselves, share their story and then bridge it right into their business. And that's where we've been doing for 15 years now. It's been great. It's been amazing. We do two events a year, three day events where we train people with my movement guy that I talked about earlier and my team and we train people to do exactly what I've been able to do, which is be in front of people on camera and on stage and be able to express themselves, tell their story and build their business based on that. So that's been a big thing that we've done for 15 years. And if people are interested in that, there's easy ways to find out about that. You know, that's that's that you can go to, you know, boeysen.com. All the information is on there.

Melanie, if people want to get the book because we've talked so much about the book, I've got to wait for them to do that. Is that cool?

Melanie Avalon
Yes. Oh, please. Yes. Let's please share that.

Bo Eason
Okay, that's, it's very simple. It's boweasonbook.com, boweasonbook.com. And that's usually a good place for people to start, you know, to find out like what to do.

And I offer a lot of things and, and coachings and trainings that they may be interested in and we'd love to have them.

Melanie Avalon
Perfect. Okay, friends.

So go now to bowesombook.com and we didn't even remotely touch on There's so much in the book that people can can learn and experience so I cannot recommend it enough And yes, thank you so much bow the last question that I ask every single guest on this show Super short and quick, but it's just because i'm very very passionate about the role of gratitude and mindset So what is something that you're grateful for?

Bo Eason
Oh gosh I just wrote it down this morning. Every morning I just write down like a list of five and the five today and usually this is pretty what I think about the most.

I just wrote down the names of my three kids and my wife and just this relationship that I have with the people that I work with and the clients that I will work with in the future and I'm just grateful for them and my kids are just great kids and I can't believe it that they're mine you know I mean I'm like damn they're really you know because you hear all these horror stories you're like oh my gosh is really grateful for the the human beings that they've turned out to be and my wife and it's just been fun building that.

Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Beau. This was incredible. Hopefully we can meet sometime in person now that we've actually met and see a show or something. Thank you for everything that you do.

Bo Eason
That would be awesome.

Melanie Avalon
Awesome. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Bo Eason
Yeah. Thank you, Melanie. Appreciate you having me.

Melanie Avalon
Bye. Thank you so much for listening to the Melanie Avalon biohacking podcast.

For more information and resources, you can check out my book, What Win Wine, as well as my supplement line, Avalon X. Please visit MelanieAvalon.com to learn more about today's guest and always feel free to contact me at contact at MelanieAvalon.com and always remember, you got this.