In this episode of the Executive Connect Podcast, Melissa Aarskaug sits down with Corey Dissin, high-performance coach, entrepreneur, and author, for a raw conversation about discipline, accountability, and building real freedom. Corey breaks down why motivation culture keeps people stuck, how leaders confuse movement with progress, and what it actually takes to build a brand, business, and life that produces results. This episode is for founders, executives, and high performers who are tired of talking about goals and ready to execute. No fluff. No shortcuts. Just discipline, consistency, and proof of work.

Chapters:

(2:01) How Corey learned discipline early

(4:48) Building a business one step at a time

(6:42) Why busy does not equal progress

(8:47) Motivation culture vs real execution

(9:43) What accountability actually means

(12:12) How to break self-sabotage

(14:40) Building a brand like a business

(17:26) Discipline creates real freedom

(19:06) The daily habits that change everything

(20:28) Regret that high performers share too late

(22:03) How to stop waiting and go get it

(24:23) Beating fear-based inaction

(27:33) Why Corey wrote his book

(31:19) Rapid-fire discipline mindset

(35:57) Final advice and where to connect

Corey

(0:00) If you’re stuck and you suck, but you’re in luck, it’s the first thing you got to remember is that, you know, go get it. (0:05) It’s very simple. (0:07) It’s don’t talk about it.

(0:08) Don’t dream about it. (0:09) Don’t, don’t wish for it. (0:11) Don’t talk to your friends about it.

(0:13) Go get it, do it. (0:15) Whatever it is you want, do it. (0:18) You only get one at bat in this life.

(0:21) There’s no rollover minutes in the real world. (0:23) You’ve got to go get it. (0:26) And what is important to me, what I value, that’s what I went to go get.

(0:31) What you want is for you, but I can’t just, I just can’t tolerate, you know, you’re talking to someone that’s full of, you know, what, when they say, oh yeah, I’m going to do this.

Melissa

(0:45) What if I told you the next big breakthrough isn’t just another course, a Monday morning motivation post. (0:55) It’s discipline. (0:56) It’s showing up when you don’t feel like it.

(0:59) It’s building a brand that moves like a business and living a life that punches back harder than it gets hit. (1:06) Today’s guest, Corey Disson is a high performance coach, brand builder, and a no fluff powerhouse who believes in just one thing and no shortcuts, no excuses, just results. (1:20) If you’ve ever been stuck spinning your reels, Corey’s here for the wake up call.

(1:25) Get ready to shut up, show up and go get it. (1:29) Welcome today, Corey.

Corey

(1:32) What’s up, Melissa. (1:33) Good to see you. (1:33) Thank you for having me.

(1:34) Appreciate it.

Melissa

(1:35) Now you’ve said you’ve built everything about your brand business and life. (1:40) One disciplined step at a time, no fluff, no shortcuts. (1:46) Take us back to that mindset and where it really started to show up in your path.

Corey

(1:52) Oh boy. (1:53) I mean, it’s, it’s interwoven throughout my entire life, but, uh, I guess the, the genesis of that is quite honestly from my parents. (2:03) Um, you know, my mother instilled in me to be independent from when I was seven, eight years old.

(2:09) Uh, she was a teacher for 40 years and the teachers were always right. (2:13) And you had to, you know, do your homework, show up on time, you know, get A’s. (2:18) There was no such thing as a B when I was a kid.

(2:21) Um, and then my father was the hardest working man. (2:24) I know the man never got to work on time his entire career. (2:28) He always got there 90 minutes early.

(2:30) He used to drive my mother bananas, but he, you know, he would have to show up for a shift until seven o’clock and five 30. (2:36) He’s out in the parking lot, having a cup of coffee and an apple and listening to the news because it was his attitude. (2:42) And what he taught me was, is if your shift starts at seven, you start working at seven, you don’t show up at seven.

(2:49) And so hard work, discipline, taking things step-by-step stacking and attacking wins. (2:56) I didn’t know that that’s what it was called then, but, uh, it was baked in from the beginning.

Melissa

(3:03) Oh, so good. (3:05) I think we grew up with similar parents. (3:08) So I love it.

(3:09) Now talk to me about we’re both fitness junkies. (3:14) So talk to me a little bit about running a fitness studio, how it shaped your leadership philosophy.

Corey

(3:22) I mean, look, uh, I’ve always been a coach, a gym rat. (3:28) Um, and you know, that with the aggressive personality and the muscles and the whole thing, I’ve been led that way, you know, up and down throughout my entire life. (3:36) And, uh, in the heat of the recession in 2008, while running a national production company, uh, I got the bug in my rear end to say, I’m going to start a personal training business.

(3:48) And thank goodness my wife didn’t change the locks on me when I told her that. (3:52) Um, and I literally built it from the ground up. (3:55) I was just at my local gym.

(3:57) I would see someone who was executing a bench press wrong or doing a bicep curl incorrectly. (4:02) And I would just kindly go over and say, Hey, can I show you a tip to do X, Y, and Z? (4:07) And then that turned into, they started to ask me for advice.

(4:10) And then that turned into me charging them for said advice. (4:14) And, uh, for funsies, I said, let me see if I can get 10 people to pay me to be a trainer. (4:21) And when it got to 20, I had to get my own building.

(4:26) And then when I sold my business five years later, fast forward, I had, uh, my own three room fitness building. (4:34) I had owned all my own equipment. (4:35) I had a book of business, about 200 clients.

(4:38) I had six other trainers. (4:39) I had a massage therapist, a yoga class, bootcamps, all that stuff. (4:44) So it grew just from me getting after it every day.

(4:48) Um, and it was a fun experience, not just because I got to help people, but it also was on the job training for how to be a better entrepreneur.

Melissa

(4:59) I love that so much. (5:01) Now let’s talk about this leadership in team building. (5:05) So one of your core messages is lead yourself before you lead others.

(5:09) Let’s unpack that a little bit more. (5:11) What does self-leadership really look like and how do you embody it today with the work that you’re doing?

Corey

(5:18) Well, you know, as we alluded to prior before going on air here, there’s a lot of folks out there that do a lot of talking, you know, that say they’re going to do X, Y, and Z that, you know, critique this, that, or the other, but they don’t do it. (5:35) They don’t do it. (5:36) And the, and the sad part is they’re in positions of authority or they’re supervisors.

(5:43) And I always learned it. (5:44) You better damn walk the walk. (5:46) If you’re going to talk the talk and just simple integrity, if I’m going to take money from somebody and tell them you better do something this way, well, I better do it the same way.

(5:57) And I better do it real, real good first and show results. (6:01) That way I can lead by example. (6:03) There’s not enough of leading by example going on.

(6:06) There’s a lot of do as I say, not as I do. (6:08) And I am completely allergic to that.

Melissa

(6:11) Ready to lead smarter and invest wiser on the executive connect podcast. (6:17) We unpack executive strategies for wealth and influence hit the subscribe button. (6:23) Now don’t just watch act.

(6:26) I love that. (6:28) So it’s funny. (6:29) I, um, I talk a lot about being busy with actually making progress.

(6:35) I’d love to get your perspective on that and how leaders confuse movement with progress.

Corey

(6:42) Yeah, that’s a big one. (6:44) I mean, uh, I tell, um, folks in my network, I tell my clients, I tell my colleagues to be obsessed with something called IPAs. (6:54) And I don’t mean an ice cold Indian pale ale.

(6:58) I’m talking about income producing activities. (7:01) If what you’re doing is not an income producing activity, stop doing it because there are a lot of things out there. (7:09) There are a lot of distractions.

(7:11) Keep in mind how I said that there are a lot of distractions out there that, uh, confuse you and give you the illusion that you’re working, but you’re really not. (7:21) And, you know, there are courses, there are conventions, there are award ceremonies. (7:28) There are online forums where entrepreneurs in certain industries will participate in these events and think, Hey, I’m doing the thing.

(7:38) No, you’re not. (7:39) You’re just talking about the thing. (7:41) You’re going to do the thing.

(7:42) You have to sell the thing and make the thing. (7:47) Otherwise you’re not doing anything.

Melissa

(7:52) Yeah. (7:52) So that’s the, what the motivation culture. (7:55) And I’m a highly motivated person and I like to be motivated, but what’s your take on this new motivation culture?

(8:02) And that’s really having people chase inspiration instead of the discipline of actually being a founder and entrepreneur or whatever they’re setting their mind to.

Corey

(8:14) Well, the motivation part is much sexier than the actual work to start, you know, to say, you got to get after it and you’ve got to rock and do this, that, or the other. (8:25) That’s more of the talking, not the walking, not the doing the unsexy stuff, the boring, you know, uh, tedium that it takes to really be successful. (8:37) Most people avoid because it’s not, it doesn’t have that glow, that disco ball, that, that motivation has, you know, discipline is raw.

(8:47) Discipline is boring. (8:50) Discipline is repetitive. (8:52) It’s drudgery.

(8:54) That is often avoided. (8:56) And it’s another area where people get confused with. (8:59) So yeah, I’m motivated.

(9:00) I’m gonna get up before the alarm clock, but what are you doing once you wake up? (9:05) Okay. (9:06) You know, it’s a lot, it’s just more talk.

(9:09) Motivations talk. (9:10) I thought I was a motivator when I started this whole thing, but I learned in a hurry that that’s just cheap. (9:18) Discipline is where it’s at showing you can live a life of regiment, showing you can rock a routine and do the same basic tasks ridiculously well for a sustained period of time.

(9:31) That is what’s really motivated.

Melissa

(9:34) I love that. (9:35) Now talk to me about what accountability looks like in your world, the unfiltered version of accountability.

Corey

(9:43) I mean, accountability, you have to have proof, proof that the work is done. (9:50) It’s really simple. (9:51) If you don’t, if the work’s not done, you got to stand up and take it on the chin and go, I didn’t do it.

(9:56) Let me fix it. (9:57) And that’s another part where people fall off is that not only are they not adhering to a life of regiment and living a life of discipline, if they’re called out on it, they’re more concerned with the tone of the person calling them out versus what the message, what they’re calling them out about. (10:17) How dare you talk to me that way?

(10:19) How dare you use that tone of voice? (10:21) That’s rude. (10:23) Why would you talk to people that way?

(10:26) I don’t know any other way to speak. (10:28) I speak very blunt. (10:30) I speak very direct.

(10:32) You know, mean what you say, say what you mean. (10:34) It’s very simple. (10:36) Life is not complicated.

(10:37) People make it complicated. (10:38) I don’t know how, I don’t know how.

Melissa

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(11:31) It’s so true. (11:32) And, you know, going back to what you were saying, the discipline, how do you break that self-sabotaging behavior? (11:43) Like we go to the motivational conference, we learn about whatever we’re going there for.

(11:50) We set some, you know, regiment on how we’re going to achieve our goals. (11:56) And then that pattern shifts and we need to get a cup of coffee or, you know, we need to change the laundry or whatever it is that’s distracting us and self-sabotaging what we actually want. (12:09) So how do people actually break that?

Corey

(12:12) I try to, I try to phrase it in a way, I try to paint a picture in your mind. (12:18) When you leave that motivational conference or read that motivational book or see that motivational speaker and you’re going to make a change and you’re going to execute this plan and you’re going to achieve that big goal, whatever that is, you’re going to make that amount of money. (12:32) You’re going to get that big job.

(12:34) You’re going to own that property, start that business, whatever it is. (12:38) That goal is like the summit of Mount Everest. (12:43) Okay.

(12:43) So picture that in your mind. (12:45) Most people get off track because they figure out while staring at the summit of Mount Everest that that is a long way away. (12:55) To stay disciplined requires you do this.

(12:58) You stare at your feet, look at your feet, put one foot in front of the other. (13:03) And if as long as you take that one one step at a time, eventually you will ascend to that summit and reach your goal. (13:12) So what I would tell folks is, is you, yes, you want to reach the top, but you have to reverse engineer it all the way down to the core activities, to the base, to stay on track.

(13:22) And it always takes longer. (13:25) Consistency is like I said, it’s boring. (13:27) It takes forever.

(13:29) If you think you’re going to give yourself a year, give it five. (13:32) I would tell you, don’t even give yourself an arbitrary deadline. (13:35) You go till the work is done.

(13:37) But it’s the, when folks think about how hard it is to achieve the summit, that gives them the excuse to step away from what they’re doing. (13:49) Oh, it’s so far away. (13:51) It’s who’s going to know if I took today off or if I don’t go to the gym today, or if I don’t network today, or if I don’t make my emails or my sales calls today, it’s just one day.

(14:01) One turns into two, two turns into four. (14:03) Next thing you know, you’re saying, ah, this thing ain’t for me. (14:06) Let me try another summit.

(14:07) And you go through the whole cycle again. (14:09) I kind of come along. (14:11) I put my hands figuratively on your shoulders and give them a shake and go, Hey, stay focused.

(14:18) Look at your feet. (14:19) We’re going to look at your feet every day. (14:21) Don’t worry about the summit.

(14:22) Summit will come. (14:24) Summit will come.

Melissa

(14:25) Now you’ve helped a lot of people build their brands that are not only polished, but they’re actually practiced. (14:34) What’s the biggest shift you see with some people with their branding and building it like a business?

Corey

(14:40) Well, if you asked me this question five years ago, I would tell you, you really need a catchy slogan, or you need a gimmick, or you need some, um, magnet to get people to understand who you are and pay attention to who you are. (14:58) There’s still room for that, but a real personal brand is someone embracing themselves and putting themselves out there in an authentic way and not having any fear of doing that. (15:10) You know, most people get the branding part confused with, Oh, I went and spent a thousand dollars on a fancy logo with a designer.

(15:16) Now I have branding. (15:18) No, you have a logo. (15:20) A logo is great, but that’s just the noun.

(15:23) You got to do branding the verb. (15:24) You got to take that logo and show it to everybody. (15:26) You got to plaster it on everything.

(15:28) You got to put it on a shirt. (15:29) You got to put it on a business card. (15:31) You got to put it on your website, your social media pages, and you have to put it on all your posts, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of posts so that that logo becomes ubiquitous with who you are.

(15:42) That’s just one little, that’s a microcosm of how branding has changed is that you have to be able to stick with it. (15:50) It all goes back to small steps, consistency. (15:52) It’s all the same playbook.

Melissa

(15:55) Now, how do you think leaders show up these days online versus offline?

Corey

(16:03) You got a lot of, uh, got a lot of, let’s just say phonies online. (16:08) Um, that, you know, when you get past the screen and you see what’s backstage, it’s all just a ruse. (16:15) Um, you know, whether it’s a fancy car or a house or, uh, some slick sales presentation, you know, show me your tax returns.

(16:24) Show me social proof of give me a hundred clients that will vouch for you. (16:29) Those are the people who are really leading, who are changing lives. (16:32) You can say, let me rephrase that, who don’t have to say, I’m good.

(16:36) They get everybody else to say it for them. (16:39) And if you can’t provide that social proof, who are you really leading? (16:45) You know, the, you know, you can have social equity out there and be very popular online and have a lot of followers.

(16:50) Look, I’m not Gary V. (16:51) I don’t have 6 million followers. (16:54) I’ve got a modest growing following on LinkedIn and elsewhere, but my, my group is highly engaged.

(17:02) My group, that’s my funnel. (17:04) I get people that come to me through there and say, Hey, my wallet’s open. (17:08) I want to give you what’s in it.

(17:10) That’s the proof.

Melissa

(17:12) I love that. (17:13) Now there’s a lot of talk right now about freedom and entrepreneurship, but you say discipline is what actually creates it. (17:21) Can you break that down for us, for all those that are thinking about entrepreneurship?

Corey

(17:26) Well, what I like to say is, is, I mean, look, I’m a guy that had the big house. (17:31) I had the fancy cars. (17:32) I drove a Harley Davidson.

(17:34) I had all the toys, all the material things that is generally associated with success. (17:39) And I got rid of all of it. (17:41) I got rid of all of them because when, what you figure out the real currency, the real thing you’re shooting for, for freedom, the money buys you the freedom and the freedom creates something called QTL.

(17:55) And what QTL stands for is quality time left. (17:59) Because the reality is you can have all the money and have a nice, beautiful vault and jewelry and all that stuff. (18:05) They ain’t going to throw it in the casket with you.

(18:08) And what is in my opinion, what is very important is time with my wife, time with both of my sons and my daughters-in-law and hopefully grandkids, if they get to work, you know what I mean? (18:21) That’s what’s important, time with family, because you can’t get that back. (18:25) So I’m privileged to be considered as an authority, as an interview guest on your show, but I don’t work full time anymore.

(18:36) I haven’t done it in seven years. (18:39) You know, a typical day, week for me, maybe 15, 20 hours a week, I feed my little machine to keep, you know, the fridge full and the rent paid and gas in the car. (18:50) And guess what?

(18:51) I’m tickled as a pig and you know what?

Melissa

(18:56) I love it. (18:57) Okay. (18:57) So I’m curious, what’s one daily discipline that changed everything for you?

Corey

(19:06) Boy, you know, to me, I mean, there’s so many, but I guess it starts with waking up early. (19:14) Waking up early, before the alarm. (19:18) I mean, if I’m out of bed after five, I probably have a fever, something’s up.

(19:23) You know, I’m often, you know, running around the house 4am. (19:27) I get more done between like 4am and 9am than most people do in a week. (19:32) I’m just, my wife, we’re the polar opposite.

(19:35) My wife is not like me, but opposites attract anywho. (19:38) And I drive her nuts because I’m up and I’m making the bed. (19:41) I’m folding the laundry.

(19:43) I’m doing the dishes. (19:44) I’m taking the trash out. (19:45) I’m doing two or three social media posts.

(19:47) I’m sending out 10 invites to connect. (19:49) I’m sending, returning emails all. (19:51) And then I’m off to the gym for two hours to go, you know, break it in there for two hours.

(19:56) But that’s, it starts with getting up early.

Melissa

(20:00) I love it. (20:01) I’m part of the 5am club and funny enough, my husband is not, he’s moving closer that direction. (20:09) I love it.

(20:13) So what is, you know, thinking back on all the high performers you’ve worked with, is there one legacy regret you hear a lot from the entrepreneurs and high performers you work with?

Corey

(20:28) I mean, maybe they don’t articulate it as an exact answer to your question, but if I’m kind of assessing common themes that I hear is they didn’t stick with it. (20:40) They didn’t stick with it. (20:41) The consistency, realizing just how long you have to swing that hammer at the rock before it cracks.

(20:51) You know, there’s something, something that I refer to called the stonecutters credo, and it’s written by a name of Jacob Reese, R-I-I-S. (20:59) And I’m paraphrasing it. (21:01) I’m trying to butcher it, but basically what that says is it was written in the early 1900s.

(21:05) And he says when he’s in moments of doubt or crisis, he witnesses a stonecutter at his trade. (21:12) And it, you know, it was not, you know, after a hundred blows, the rock doesn’t crack, but on the 101st blow, the rock cracks, but it wasn’t the 101st blow. (21:21) It was due to the hundred before it.

(21:24) That’s a, that’s a way of life for me, for everything I’ve done. (21:28) Part of the reason why I’m here with you is because I did 7,000 things five years ago that led to this very moment. (21:36) You know, I couldn’t envision being with you specifically, but I knew my jam was being able to talk to people online and on podcasts and et cetera, about what I’m passionate about.

(21:47) And here I get to do it because I did some hard work early on.

Melissa

(21:51) Okay. (21:52) I’m a fan of your mindset. (21:53) Go get it.

(21:54) I love, I love, love, love it. (21:56) Talk to me about what that looks like. (21:59) And for somebody who’s feeling stuck today.

Corey

(22:03) Well, you know, if you’re stuck and you suck, when you’re in luck, it’s the first thing you got to remember is that, you know, go get it. (22:11) It’s very simple. (22:13) It’s don’t talk about it.

(22:14) Don’t dream about it. (22:15) Don’t, don’t wish for it. (22:17) Don’t talk to your friends about it.

(22:19) Go get it, do it. (22:21) Whatever it is you want, do it. (22:25) You only get one at bat in this life.

(22:27) There’s no rollover minutes in the real world. (22:31) You’ve got to go get it. (22:33) And what is important to me, what I value, that’s what I went to go get.

(22:38) What you want is for you. (22:41) But I can’t just, I just can’t tolerate, you know, you’re talking to someone that’s full of, you know, what, when they say, oh yeah, I’m going to do this. (22:51) And then next year, after I renovate the house, I’m going to take that trip or, or I’m going to start that business or I’m going to start my fitness plan.

(23:03) You know, what once, once I, you know, lose weight on my little diet, then I’ll go to the gym. (23:09) No, go to the gym now. (23:10) Go get it.

(23:12) You want to look good. (23:12) You want to be healthy. (23:13) You want to be fit.

(23:14) Do it now, go get it. (23:16) It’s with anything. (23:18) And I’ve just, uh, as you might be able to tell, uh, a hard charger.

(23:24) Um, I take action. (23:26) I take action without emotion. (23:29) And there’s a reason I’ll just rewind a little bit.

(23:33) I’m semi-retired. (23:35) I work 15 hours a week. (23:37) Pinch me.

(23:37) This isn’t real. (23:38) I live in a fantasy world. (23:40) I know that I’m not a rich man, but I answered to no one.

(23:44) I call my own shots. (23:45) I make my own schedule and all my bills are paid. (23:48) I sleep like a baby.

Melissa

(23:52) I love this. (23:53) And I love that we’re talking about the gym. (23:55) And as we kind of roll into the new year, um, and roll through the new year, um, I would be, you know, remiss without saying and talking about this analysis paralysis, this fear-based inaction.

(24:11) I’m going to get to the gym when I lose the weight that you’re mentioning. (24:15) What’s your approach to getting people to pushing through their fears and getting them out of their head?

Corey

(24:23) Most people don’t do what they want to do for one simple reason. (24:28) They are afraid what somebody else thinks you can attach that to just about anything. (24:33) And for the clients that I work with, when we hit that pothole where I’m afraid, what someone is going to say, I literally, while we’re on a coaching call together, we take that thing, whatever it is, and we do it together right there.

(24:52) We jump right off that diving board and say, let’s go right into the deep water because they got to learn that you’re going to float back to the top. (24:59) You’re going to be fine. (25:00) I’ll say things like, Hey, you know, um, the, the LinkedIn police are not going to come and arrest you at post, you know, post it, send that DM, write that email.

(25:12) Everyone is, um, they, they put people on the other end of that glass on some artificial pedestal. (25:20) Um, and they think they have to act a certain way. (25:23) Um, and you can’t be yourself.

(25:25) And I’m, I’m the opposite. (25:26) I’m like, please, please, please, please go make a mess, do it wrong. (25:32) Screw it up.

(25:33) Be the Tasmanian devil in a crystal factory, go bananas, have at it. (25:40) That’s, that’s how you’re going to learn. (25:42) And you also, that’ll help you shake off the fear of, Oh, I messed up.

(25:47) And guess what? (25:47) I literally, I’m sorry. (25:48) I’m going a million miles an hour here.

(25:50) I had a client that was afraid to do something. (25:52) This was last week. (25:53) And I said, I’m not going to mention his name.

(25:55) I say, Hey, okay. (25:56) You have a window in the room you’re in? (25:58) He said, yes.

(25:59) I said, go over there now. (26:02) And I hear him walking and I said, look out the window. (26:06) He looks out the window.

(26:07) I said, is, do you see the sun? (26:10) He said, yes. (26:11) I said, see, the sky did not fall because we did what you didn’t want to do.

(26:16) And it was, it sounds so almost insulting that I had to do that, but it was that shock to his system. (26:24) Like I can breathe easy. (26:27) It’s okay.

(26:28) It’s okay. (26:29) Now I can do it rinse and repeat and do it again and get the results I want over time.

Melissa

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(27:00) Just visit money ripples.com forward slash secrets and enter the promo code. (27:07) E X E C. (27:11) I love that.

(27:12) So let’s talk a little bit about your book, going the diss tense coaching session with the, with the gloves on. (27:24) I love that. (27:25) So what inspired you to write the book and tell me a little bit about a chapter that’s really hitting home for your clients right now?

Corey

(27:33) Sure. (27:34) So, um, you know, in, in, in running a, uh, a high performance life coaching, marketing, coaching, business, coaching business, there, there are certain boxes you kind of tick, you know, you got to do content. (27:48) You got to be on LinkedIn.

(27:50) You had to do LinkedIn lives and Facebook, this and Instagram. (27:54) I did, I started doing all these things and had a very nice business, great clients, you know, um, but the one thing that was kind of missing was everybody could tell me you got to write a book, you got to write a book. (28:05) And I had all of these stories.

(28:08) I mean, we’ve, we’ve kind of tickled little anecdotes here and there, just you and I in this short conversation, but I had all these anecdotes because I did plenty of public speaking. (28:16) I used to talk to high schools and colleges all the time that, you know, tell them to get them themselves off their rear end and pursue their goals and dreams. (28:23) And I’m saying that in a very PG way.

(28:27) Um, and I said, boy, what if I could take these collection of stories about people that I’ve met, experiences that I’ve had, and, and kind of bundle it into one little, nice, neat package that I could hand to someone else and go, now you use what I learned for you. (28:45) So that was a purpose of the book was to, to, um, share some of this life advice that, uh, basically you take the trip with me from like a teenager up until present day, then you see how I applied this advice over time. (29:03) And then quite frankly, it’s a love letter to my family.

(29:07) Um, because yes, I’ve been with my wife for married 25, been with her 29, 28, 29, you know, my sons are adults now, but they weren’t with me forever from the beginning. (29:22) And I wanted them to understand what made me, me and introducing them to some of these people, telling them these stories. (29:32) I hope, I hope that I’ve left a legacy for them that they could share with their kids and so on and so forth.

(29:39) And not to mention it’s documented, it’s in ink, it’s on the internet for a lot of other people to see, uh, cause it’s something you read about in the book and we’re kind of segueing into your part B of the question. (29:51) One of the chapters I wrote about was about my father, uh, who recently passed and, uh, legacy was huge to him. (30:01) He was always worried that someone, he wasn’t going to be remembered and the disson name was going to kind of fade away one day.

(30:09) That was just huge to him. (30:10) It stuck with me and it took me a few decades to figure out and understand what all that meant. (30:17) And, uh, I’m on that train now too.

(30:19) And, uh, I want to make sure, you know, my youngest just got engaged last weekend. (30:23) So you start to put the pieces together and read the tea leaves, you know, uh, I’m not at the kid’s table anymore.

Melissa

(30:30) I love it. (30:32) I love it.

Corey

(30:32) And I want, and I wanted to make sure to, to give them this gift. (30:35) And you know, the forward is dedicated to both of my sons. (30:39) You know, there’s chapters in there that, that talk about both of my parents, my wife, um, you’ll meet, uh, coaches I’ve had, um, mentors I’ve had, uh, people that helped, you know, that they were the shoulders that I stood on to get me to this point.

Melissa

(30:55) I love that. (30:56) I think that’s so fantastic. (30:58) Okay.

(30:58) I want to do something fun. (31:00) This is the first time I’ve done it.

Corey

(31:02) You weren’t having fun already. (31:03) Come on.

Melissa

(31:03) I know. (31:04) I know. (31:04) And this is so funny because I was thinking I was going to do this this week and we’re having so much fun and that I have so many, I have so many questions that I’m just going to hit you with some rapid fire questions and let’s see what, what we get.

Corey

(31:19) Okay.

Melissa

(31:19) What’s one non-negotiable rule you live by today?

Corey

(31:23) One non-negotiable rule is I don’t miss the gym period.

Melissa

(31:28) What’s the first thing you do when you start losing momentum?

Corey

(31:32) I don’t lose momentum. (31:34) I wouldn’t know how to answer that question.

Melissa

(31:36) Good answer. (31:38) What’s the belief you had 10 years ago that you no longer believe that, uh, toys and material items matter. (31:48) Amen.

(31:50) What’s the biggest productivity killer you see in leaders today?

Corey

(31:55) Um, I would probably say going down the rabbit hole on social media.

Melissa

(32:02) I love that. (32:04) What’s the fastest way to ruin a personal brand is to not tell anybody about it. (32:11) Right, right.

(32:13) What’s the lesson you learned the hard way?

Corey

(32:16) A lesson that I learned the hard way. (32:19) Uh, okay. (32:20) This involves a little story.

(32:21) We had time for story. (32:22) Yes. (32:22) Yes.

(32:23) We got all the time. (32:24) So this, I mentioned this story is in the book, but I’ll you guys a little sneak preview of it. (32:29) So I played high school baseball at a very, uh, prestigious program.

(32:36) I can go on and on about all the guys that played division one college ball and pro ball out of there. (32:41) But where I live, when I live there, when you play there, it was like Friday night lights for football, but it was for baseball. (32:46) If you had a Letterman’s jacket, you played for the varsity baseball team.

(32:51) You were somebody. (32:52) Anywho. (32:53) Um, when, uh, I was a, a junior in high school, I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta during spring break.

(33:01) Spring break was a big deal. (33:03) And all the cool kids would go to Panama city beach, Florida over spring break to party and be on the beach and all that debauchery. (33:10) Okay.

(33:11) So I had my mind made up. (33:13) I’m going to, I gave money to my friends. (33:16) I’m going to go down to the beach.

(33:17) I’m going to have a great time. (33:18) Well, it just turns out that our, our baseball team had a tournament in Tennessee that same And I had already committed to going to my, to go into Panama city beach, Florida. (33:28) So I said, you know, okay, I’m going to go talk to my coach.

(33:31) I’m going to be a man. (33:33) And I’m going to tell him that I made this commitment. (33:36) I need to, you know, hold the commitment and everything will be worked out.

(33:41) I had a meeting with him. (33:42) I said to him, told him the story and going to Panama city beach. (33:45) And he said, Corey, I want you to have a good time down there.

(33:51) I was shocked. (33:53) And then the next sentence out of his mouth was, I just need you to do one thing before you go. (34:00) I said, what’s that coach?

(34:01) He said, leave your uniform folded nice and neatly in my office before you go. (34:10) And then he said, I’ll pick you up tomorrow to go to Tennessee. (34:14) And I rode with the head coach all the way to Tennessee and did not go to Florida.

(34:20) So I got a tough lesson about what commitment and sacrifice really is had to give up the short term fun for the long-term game. (34:32) And I never regret doing that because that hit that coach is someone I still still speak to today, 35 years later. (34:41) And he’s like a father figure to me.

(34:43) I love that man.

Melissa

(34:46) Wow. (34:46) That’s a great story. (34:47) I love that.

(34:48) Okay. (34:48) So I have two more fun ones for you. (34:51) Because I curious what your song is, what’s your, if you were a mind, if you were a, if your mindset was a song, how about that?

(35:00) If your mindset was a song, what would it be?

Corey

(35:03) My mindset was a song. (35:05) Oh boy. (35:07) Let’s see.

(35:08) Boy, that’s, um, my mindset was a song. (35:12) I mean, you know, the, uh, the cliche one is to be like, you know, eye of the tiger from, from Rocky. (35:21) Um, that’s pretty big.

(35:23) I mean, you know, you can hear the, I mean, that’s, that’s totally, yeah, that’s, that was my track song.

Melissa

(35:30) That was my track song. (35:32) That’s so funny. (35:33) It is.

(35:34) It’s a good one. (35:36) Okay. (35:37) Any final, you’ve been so much fun, any final thoughts or anything you want to leave with our listeners that we haven’t touched on today?

(35:46) First question. (35:47) Second question, please, please share with our listeners the best way to connect with you and learn more about the great work you’re doing and the 15 hours a week that you work.

Corey

(35:57) Um, so advice to put in your back pocket and take with you. (36:02) Um, you know, I mean, God, they’re just so tough to boil it down to one thing. (36:09) Um, you know, keep your head down, keep your mouth shut and work, just work.

(36:15) Hard work cures a lot of things. (36:17) It’s like castor oil back in the day. (36:19) You take it, it cures.

(36:20) And it’s like robot tossing, you know, you know, you hurt, break your leg, pour some tossing on it, but, uh, just, just work hard. (36:26) I mean, all I could tell you is, is, uh, I don’t have a PhD or an MBA. (36:33) Um, but you’d be hard pressed to meet anybody that has ever worked as hard as me and is fortunate to be in the position that I’m in because I worked that hard.

(36:44) So all I can tell you is, is I take it from me from experience. (36:47) If a knucklehead like me can end up with the way I am, you guys are way smarter than me. (36:53) Just work harder.

(36:54) Don’t get caught up in degrees and all that academic nonsense. (36:59) Just go work hard. (37:00) That’s my advice to you.

(37:01) And then if, you know, to reach out to me, Corey, disson.com C O R E Y D I S S I N.com. (37:08) I always joke that, uh, you know, I have a marketing background. (37:11) I did it for three decades.

(37:12) If you Google me and you can’t find me, I’m probably not that good. (37:17) Um, but, uh, you put in my name, I’m easy to find LinkedIn’s my jam. (37:21) You like LinkedIn.

(37:22) Come see me there. (37:23) We’ll have a party. (37:23) It’d be a good time.

Melissa

(37:25) Corey, thank you so much for being here and being such an easy fun guest. (37:30) That’s the executive connect podcast.

Corey

(37:33) Thank you.