Mind Mapping a Comeback: John Diggs’ Big-Ass Box Breakthrough

Brad Minus: Welcome to another episode of Life Changing Challenges. Hey, I hope you got your compasses out because we are going on a journey. Today's journey is all about John Diggs and his mind mapping ability. Now, what is mind mapping? I'm not gonna tell you right now, I'm gonna let him tell you. but we got John Digs.

He is a speaker, he is an author, he is a coach. He's just about everything you can possibly imagine and has some wonderful success. he owes it all to mind mapping, and we're gonna get more into that, First, John, how's it going buddy? 

John Diggs: Hey, Brad.

Thanks for having me, man. I'm excited to be here and have a conversation with you, and hopefully share some useful and valuable information with you and your audience. 

Brad Minus: Can you tell us a little bit about your childhood?

Maybe, you know, what was the compliment of your family? Where did you grow up, and what was it like to be John as a kid? 

John Diggs: That's a great question. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. specifically Pacoima, California, which is about 20 minutes north of downtown Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley.

My parents were super young when they had me 18 years old. It seems like, that was just the mindset back in the late sixties to have a bunch of kids when you're super young like that. And I think due to the fact that the youth and the challenges they were having, their marriage didn't last but a couple years.

So my parents divorced when I was two years old. And primary reason for that, my mom was a part of a singing group with her five brothers and two sisters, and they were pretty good. It was actually Barry White's band. 

God Lee from two years old to like six years old. There were times where I saw my mom maybe a month or two outta every year. Hmm. you know, so it was, that was an interesting dynamic. But, you know, every time they came back it was just a beautiful thing. And as a kid, you know, I was in a neighborhood with a bunch of other kids back then and, this was before social media and internet and all these cable channels, so we stayed outside and most of us, including myself, fell madly in love with football.

You know, we played football all day, every day in the streets and tell the street lights came on and, you know, hopefully we afterwards, before we had to go inside. But, you know, fortunately that that passion, you know, earned me a scholarship to Washington State University where I played some football there and Nice.

Got a chance to play several years of professional football, Yeah, yeah, yeah. What for Seattle? No, no, not, I went to Washington State University. Go cool. Yeah, yeah. But, you know, I played in the NFL with, Houston Oilers, the LA Raiders. Then, three years up in Canada actually with Edmonton Eskimos and the Sacramento Gold Miners before I got two screws put in my right knee, which, is funny 'cause the doctor said that, I can go back and play, but.

If I twisted it or took another shot in it, I would probably have to walk with a cane the rest of my life. So I took that as a hint and a half to, parlay into something that I was already doing anyway, which was real estate. I was one of the smartest decisions that I made as before I ever played a down in professional football, I actually got my California real estate license and true story when those last couple years, when the Raiders were in Los Angeles, I played for them.

And I had, you know, even though I was on the team, I had like six and seven listings. I was, I was busy back then, so I kind of knew what I was gonna do when football ended. So when I got that industry, that's when I just dove headfirst into the, real estate industry, specifically the mortgage industry.

Brad Minus: Yeah. Let me let's step back just a little bit. 'cause first of all, I'm infatuated with Barry White, so that just kind of like got me and I'm like, man was in the same band as Yeah. I love that. And then, your mom was successful and 

That's, you know, with her being gone as much, it's not a surprise that there was some issues with the marriage. I feel bad for you. 'cause, you know, broken home is not all that great to be around anyway. Right. but did you have brothers 

John Diggs: I didn't have brothers and sisters, but I had a ton of cousins.

I had a ton of, you know, with nine people on my mom's side and nine siblings On my dad's side. Wow. You know, we had tons of cousins that, Despite my mom being gone and my dad wasn't really present at those times. you know, I did receive a lot of love. You know, we didn't have much as far as when it come to economics or finances, 

there was a lot of love. I have no, regrets or negative thoughts about my childhood, despite the things I just shared, you know, it was, I was, one of those happy kids and I didn't take much for me to be happy. You know, all I needed was a 25 cent, soda and probably some lemonhead.

I was happy as, 

Brad Minus: I hear you. Hey, listen, I was an only child as well. Yeah. we also did not have a lot. Mm-hmm. my dad, like yourself was an entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. so later on in life when I finally got to high school 

Things got better. Yeah. but we were, middle class, you know, that type of thing. Right. So, able to be comfortable, but not like overly rich, not overly poor. Right. so I was kind of right there. I also had a ton of cousins, but my parents were always there. I was in a complete nuclear family.

so, and that's where we differ. I definitely wasn't very good at football, let alone any other sport. the, drive that you got. Mm-hmm. Where, so you're talking about playing, you just loved it. Mm-hmm. to get to the NFL, you gotta be.

you have to have a certain amount of talent. There's only 1500 people. only 1500 players total. And that's in the, third, fourth string. what do they call it? like the development league you mean?

So they got, between the development league, the NFL, there's only 1500 players in there. I don't even think there was that many at that point. you gotta be driven. where did you, without a father that was.

Completely present for you and with a mom that was in and out all the time. where did you think you got that drive from? 

John Diggs: You know, I don't, I can't drive is a good word, but probably more fitting. And what resonates with me more is just love. Hmm. You know, I truly love just the game, you know, and that was our neighborhood.

You know, by the way, McCoima, California back in the sixties and seventies, you know, they put all of these plants, these, gm, Lockheed businesses was growing and they migrated families from all over the country and all African American families, they pretty much put in this little city called Pacoima, right?

Mm-hmm. and this city. There's actually a book on the greatness of my city that I grew up in because we have, Heisman Trophy winners. We have, a member of, earth, wind and Fire came from our city. the list goes on with all of the incredible, from senators to mayors.

Mayor Bradley of Los Angeles was from our city. I mean, there's so many, notable people that actually came out of our city. Cuba, Gooden, Cuba, Gooden Jr. Yeah. Gooden, Cuba, Gooden Jr. I mean, even today, what's those guys? Were those three brothers that play Drew Holiday? His mother is from our city.

Paul George's mother's from our city. These basketball players. yeah. So it's, it's like. And the reason that I'm saying that to you is that our city was so dynamic in a lot of ways that we had block parties and football games against various streets and stuff like that I don't know if it was drive, it was just a love to play the game.

we would play nonstop even in youth sports. the little kids had their early games, like at nine, 10 in the morning.

Then right after that, there'll be all of us playing in the back of the end zone for the rest of the day. You know, it was just a passion that I really just loved the game itself. But then in high school, and I haven't thought about this in a while, Brad, but in high school I was really, you know, I was a good player, but I was not.

Known as one of the greatest players in my neighborhood or in my city. They were guys that were just, I mean, phenomenal gifted born people to play the game. I just happened to be one of the lucky ones that made it out, if you will. You know, most of us, we didn't raised in a household where education was promoted and we didn't come from households where, they were good role models and leaders and mentors to help us make good decisions and stuff of that nature.

when I was in high school, that's when crack cocaine was festering all of our communities a lot of the gifted, there's some guys that would've been, gold medalists more than what we had. We do have a couple gold medalists that came out of PROCO as well, but we would have more dynamic.

Life changing in the world of sports and other things had it not been, for just that environment back then, you know? We had really shaky environments then when the powers that be allowed this cocaine to come into the neighborhood that just really destroyed a lot of things. And I was just, all I can really say honestly is that I was one of the lucky few that actually made it out, of that area, of that community at that time.

And I used to wear that on my sleeve, you know, all through at Washington State. I knew that, how lucky I was, just to make it on that level. So I really took it upon myself to represent. All of those people that I knew, that didn't have this opportunity like I had, and it was more of a prideful thing, 

Right. Going back home that guys knew that, he made it, made it out of this craziness that it was really big in the, mid eighties, early nineties. A lot of, my friends were murdered and killed or put in jail and all of that kind of craziness with that, when that crack infestation happened in our neighborhood, 

I have to say that, it was a love for the game, a passion. Then it became more of a prideful kind of thing for me. Like, wait a minute, you know, 

Brad Minus: got an opportunity, 

John Diggs: I'm gonna make the most of it. I have to represent not just myself, but all of those folks that I know that, I'm very prideful.

Yeah, 

Brad Minus: Did so would you say that you were, were you also a good student? 

John Diggs: I was decent. You know what saved me is that I had a girlfriend, a biracial girlfriend and I used to stay at her house a lot in high school, and her white mother was like, look, if you're gonna hang out over here, you can't come in with D's and C's.

So I love my girlfriend so much that, I had to study when she studied and all of that. And it was actually her Ms. Donis Bailey. I'll always thank her for that, she's the one that dropped the seed in my mind. The word college. as a kid I never even, yeah, that's whatever.

But she got me to think about that. And that was ultimately, where I really started to laser focus and distance myself from certain people in certain situations, certain neighborhoods, certain streets. I didn't go down because I knew that that's what I wanted to do, to, please my girlfriend, if you will, at the time.

I was just blessed in so many ways, to do what I did and lived the life that I lived back in those days. 

Right. Really, truly best friend, you know, he got caught, you know, I think it was in Tennessee with some cocaine or something, and they put him in jail for nine years, nine years of his life. He wasn't a criminal, he wasn't a murderer. He was just caught up in that world when of trying to make money, you know?

And, yeah, nine years of his life was gone, 

Brad Minus: imagine having, you know, people around you being stuck in jail and die.

Oh my God, I can't even imagine. so as much as I really, really want to like dig into your thick and NF L's career, but let's, let's get to the where, let's get, let's get, let's go a little bit forward than that. So you, you've done, you, you get to Edmonton. Fortunately, you end up with issues you need and you decide all right.

Hey, listen, this is, someone's telling me that I, I think I'm done here and I need to move. Yep. I need to move back. Did you end up going back to la 

John Diggs: Went back to LA and began my mortgage career. 

Brad Minus: Okay. 

John Diggs: I dove, you know, I, real estate was just something, but when I really sat back and looked at the industry itself mm-hmm.

You know, just like looking at the football itself, I realized I was more of a offensive player than a defensive player, if you will. So I got all into mortgages and, about eight years of navigating all of that and learning, everything I could about the mortgage industry by going from company to company and having mentors and those things.

I eventually ended up opening my own company in 2003. Wow. And went on to build the largest. Mortgage brokerages in Southern California, you know, at that time. 

Brad Minus: I will tell you a little story. I will give you a guess. 

John Diggs: Mm-hmm. 

Brad Minus: Considering the, of what we're talking about. 

John Diggs: And the 

Brad Minus: fact, can you guess one of the things, how I earned my money going through college?

I say what? Cold calling real estate appraisals. Nice. Yeah. Well, you made your own hours. 

John Diggs: Yeah, 

Brad Minus: You made your own hours. So it's like, all right. You get reports, you call, you say, Hey, can I come over at this time? Which is in between classes. 

John Diggs: Yep. 

Brad Minus: You know, went over there.

That's cool. And went to the, and then, you know, at the time there was no internet. So then you had to go to a real estate office. Take comps, go back, take pictures of the comps, a lot of leg work, and then go home And write it up. Yeah. But it was a cool job. and I think my dad for it, 'cause my dad was in it, and while I was home for the summer, one summer, he is like, Hey, do you wanna make some money?

We've got so many. 'cause obviously the rates had gone down and they were just flooded and they're like, I'll teach you how to do it, You know, and he was doing it to, he is like, when I went to school and I was like, all right, well I can come home on the weekends, I can do a few there, I can do a few at school.

I get, you know what I mean? So it was cool. So I understand the mortgage. Yeah, the mortgage industry. My dad also opened his own appraisal firm and did mortgages on the backend. 

John Diggs: 

Brad Minus: well, titles. He did titles. Okay, got it. yeah. But that's amazing that you built the biggest mortgage, mortgage brokerage in Southern California.

John Diggs: Yeah. And one of the things that helped me do that was not just the knowledge and the mentors. I had some of the most awesome mentors, one of my dearest friends, even to this day, Mr. Paul Wiley. You know, he owned Metro City's mortgage back in the late nineties and two thousands, and his private company was doing loans all over the country, and he was doing more loans than Bank of America, Washington Mutual.

I mean, he was crushing it. And he gave me a lot of insight on how to run a business. But what really set me apart, Brad, was that, I became this tech dude in the late nineties. I got fascinated with this software called act. It was a contact database management client. I know it well.

Yeah. And I fell in love with it and, put down the PlayStation and started messing around with this software and got fascinated with it. So much so that I had, it integrated with like six or seven different softwares that I found we're looking at 2002, 2003. And I actually had it proactively sending out emails, like Constant Contact and MailChimp.

I was doing that like in 2002 before anybody even knew anything about. This kind of process. So I was going to real estate agents and transactions. I was like, Hey, what do you think about this kind of proactive communications to your clients before doing and after the transaction?

Oh, that's awesome. You know, is your current loan officer doing anything like that? No. Well, you like to work with me and I can send this same kind of system out to your database so we can get more referrals, and things of that nature from your clients. Perfect. And back in those days, people were so unaware of things that they would literally give me their whole database.

I mean all her emails, all her contacts, everything. And then so I can put it in my system and we can do these joint marketing campaigns. But yeah, I was crushing, back then and I was making. More money and at my mortgage company twofold, more than I ever did as a professional football player. I mean, I was crushing.

Wow. Yeah, it was crazy. I mean, the millionaire lifestyle for real with big homes and cars and. Being young and silly and stupid. You know, I used to do crazy things like go in there and grab my loan officers. Some whoever's in the office at the time be like, let's go to lunch. And they would think we were going down the street.

But I'll take 'em to the little local airport and we actually take a helicopter ride to Long Beach just for lunch and fly back. I mean, I was silly. Didn't know, you know? 

Brad Minus: you thought it was gonna last forever. 

John Diggs: Back then, from 2002 to the mortgage meltdown, the mortgage meltdown actually started in 2007 in March, right?

2007. But then recession hit the year later, like in 2008. But yeah, you know, I was having 80, 90, a hundred thousand dollars months, it was crazy back then. And so, I was just like. Throwing money away. But then, the mortgage meltdown hit, like I said, and literally within six, seven months, I lost every single thing I had, business savings, homes, cars, even my wife and kids.

I lost everything, you know, which is begins that Ted talk, you know, the story where I talk about that. I was really from, I mean, just the psychological experience of, you know, former football player, great mortgage businessman to getting declined jobs at Target. I remember submitting an application to Target and Target said, no, you're overqualified.

I was like. If I'm submitting a damn application, I need the job, but it was, it was tough. So I was forced to move back to my mother's house, 

Brad Minus: with all this going on, was it just poor planning, was it that, you were over leveraged?

how did that happen? I get that the mortgage, you know, that you're. What happened? Dried up. 

John Diggs: Yeah. See what happened is business owners like me, right? when the mortgage meltdown hit, I remember calling one of my wholesale reps that had a bunch of my loans that I've been doing business with for years, and I just called him, Hey, you know, we got those loans funding, which was probably around 30, $40,000 worth of loans that was supposed to close just that day.

You know, my company, I had 18 loan officers, three processors, you know? Two receptionists. I had a pretty nice sized company and he called me about an hour later and said, John, when I got to the office, my manager and boss told us to get on this call where they had everybody in the country on this call, and the owner, president of the company said, effectively immediately, we are no longer in business.

And I was like, what about my loans? I got loans that people that are buying homes that are expecting to move into these houses this weekend. I got people that are refinancing, trying to get cash out and all of this. What about all that? John? We are no longer in business.

I went over there. I remember I had like six big duffle bags and three of my loan officers, we went to that company. before electronic stuff. big tackled legal folder. Throw 'em all in these duffle bags and shot 'em to another company.

And you know, a week later that company said the same thing, you know, we're no longer in business. Then all of a sudden it just started happening, all like this. And next thing you know, I got, $40,000 a month in expenses and payroll and things of that nature. And guys like me were holding on thinking that, you know, they can't do this, this would be catastrophic.

You know, they can't do this, so let's just hold on another month. Meantime, that 40, $50,000 that's coming outta my savings eating 

Brad Minus: 

John Diggs: You know, after eight months of that, nine months of that, I'm like having to let people go. And, it was just a bad, bad deal when I'm having that kind of expenses and making, maybe a fraction of what I used to, so it was really bad.

So much so that, They had to sheriff lock my doors on my office and I had to wholesale all of the furniture that I had in my office Let friends go 'cause I had one of those community companies where. My friend that I just told you about actually, that went to jail for nine years.

He got outta jail when I had my company and I brought him over and had him start doing some telemarketing for him, you know, to help him get on his feet and things. So I had a big family business and it was just hard to deal with my family members as this was imploding, So that's how it essentially happened.

And I know some guys that actually killed themselves. because of the pressure of, where life was going, having had all of this luxurious abundance for so many years and all of a sudden that just taken away from 'em. That thought of being homeless and in poverty. And by the way, another big thing is that most of all my career and resume was all in the mortgage industry.

Right. But the mortgage industry was gone, you know what I mean? So it wasn't like I had skillset to just parlay into something else, you know? So it was bad times, man. 

Brad Minus: I hear you. I got very lucky. so my day job is tech. I'm in it. Okay, nice.

And I happened to be working for JP Morgan at the time, and my contracting company that I was working for. contracted me to JP Morgan for a couple of projects that I was working. 

John Diggs: Mm. 

Brad Minus: they told me, they're like, Hey, we have to, we have to take 20%.

Of your salary, if you wanna keep working there, then we need to drop 20%. And I was like, whoa, I can't afford that. so I finagled something where I only had to take 10% and I got hired. It was one of the very few times in a contracting company that I ever got hired by the actual company.

So JP Morgan was like, well, we don't wanna lose you. And I says, well, I can't afford this. And they like, met me halfway. and they hired me on. So not only that, I was able to at least obscure the pain a little bit. And then obviously, part of that was that they were, working their mortgages and 

they were doing loan modifications and doing everything possible to get people on it and keep people in the mortgage business. So that was that. But it was tough, man. I gotta tell you, my dad was in the middle of, having an appraisal business and the whole bit.

So he was having issues. Yeah, it was a rough time. It was bad. so you got through all of this, you ended up back at your parents, and you were married? yeah. and you had a, and you had 

John Diggs: I had three, I just had a newborn. 

My youngest daughter was born during all of this stuff. Oh, wow. Which made it even more complex. And my, I didn't really have, a great connected friendship. Partnership, like marriage. It was tumultuous. We had our ups and downs. We broke up a lot. it was just a lot of, issues that was going on with her and her mother and all of that stuff, which is kind of a story for another day, 

Finances, you know, I was able to mask all of those challenges because of the money I made. we had a bunch of distractions, you know, we'll go to Vegas, go to Hawaii, travel, and yeah, we weren't really dealing with that, but when the money tightened up and we had to really just kind of look.

One-on-one to each other. That was just too much for us to break. So she actually took my kids, which even made it worse. she took my kids, which I thought she was just moving to Pasadena, which was only like 25 minutes from my mother's, but she ended up moving to her mother's house in Cottonwood, Arizona, which was like a seven hour drive away in a whole nother state.

Didn't tell me. It was just that, you know? So that was a part, another layer on all of this. Now I lost my girls, you know what I mean? What I'm saying is that it was moving into my mom's, and there was one, and I think this is valuable, is that there was a story, it was April 27th, 2009.

I'll never forget the date. We just got evicted out of our apartment. Couldn't afford it. It was crazy. And I had to go get the last stuff out of there. And going over there is when I got the call from my oldest daughter talking about they was going to Arizona. So I'm just like really confused and hurt and disappointed at my life.

And remember I walking in, I had this box and I walked into my two youngest daughter's bedroom. It was now empty. You know, you could see bare walls and indents of where their bed was on the carpet and all that stuff, man. And it just hit me hard. It was like a Mike Tyson body blow, you know? I dropped the box and just fell to the ground and just cried that whole night.

But then the next morning, you know, again, by the grace of God it just, it's like I woke up like this new dude, you know, it's like my, my I, that old me had died. You know, my soul was scrubbed, if you will, or whatever it was.

And you know, I just woke up this new dude like, alright. You know, I survived death. it can't get much lower than this. It's just on and upward at this point. So let me, figure out what I need to do to rebuild my life. I went back to my mother's house with, a gym bag that had my workout clothes.

I took my mountain bike with me, and I just took this big ass box that was just full of all of the motivational DVDs, books, tapes, cassette tapes, CDs, everything I've accumulated over the years. You know, I knew I had to. Revisit that box, to help get my mind right and rebuild myself. I was always into self-development by way of my mentors.

I learned NLP long time ago and took all these landmark education courses. I knew I had to go back and revisit that self to properly reset myself. So that's why I took that big ass box to my mom's house. 

Brad Minus: yeah. And the TEDx talk is, it's ridiculously inspiring.

Okay. motivational, inspiring. It's, it's, it's amazing. so here you are. Mm-hmm. you basically have nowhere to go but up. Yeah. and you're in your mom's house and you're spending this time, like going through all of your development books again. 

John Diggs: anything for money at this point? I think I might've been on unemployment, like just getting like 200 bucks a week or whatever it was at that time, I had to fill out unemployment and things of that nature. So I had, 

Brad Minus: yeah, 

John Diggs: it was definitely not a, not an abundant situation at all.

Good thing my mom was there. She was taking care of me and Navigate helped me, you know, with a lot of that stuff. But, yeah. 

Brad Minus: Was she still singing at the time 

John Diggs: My mom stopped singing back when, you know, early eighties, late seventies. And, you know, a lot of those drug stories that I've mentioned, yeah.

Destroy the family and poor decision, poor leadership. Poor education, you know, and all of that kind of stuff. destroyed that family, you know, destroyed the, the family group, you know, when I was maybe 10, But no, she was, actually the, one of the head, driving instructors for LA Unified School District where she taught people how to drive buses.

even though my mom is every bit of five feet, she, her little butt was wheeling these big old buses 

Brad Minus: by far some of the best bus drivers I ever had were all under five feet. Yeah, little. I don't know how they did it. They just, I must be something about extra, you know, compensation.

John Diggs: Yeah. The good thing I had her, she was helping me out a lot. and during those times, when you mentioned me going through that box, as I started kind of opening that big ass box and peeling through, what was going on, that one book, it was called The Mind Map Book by Tony Boon.

I don't remember ever buying it. I think someone must have given it to me and, I never read it, but for whatever reason it resonated with me at this point. So I read it. and it intrigued me and I, probably made one of the most powerful decisions I ever made in my life.

And I decided to mind map the contents of all of the stuff that was in that box. So for literally for three, three and a half, four months, all day, every day, I was mind mapping those books. I mean, I would grab Thinking Grow Rich and I would go through it and read it and just extract key words and put it on a mind map.

I grab a book, mind map that book, toss the book, grab another Mind map that book. And I probably did anywhere from 30 to 35 different books, you know, unlimited Power, how to Win Friends and Influence People. I mean, all of the top. Motivational books, you know, I really just brainstormed and developed mind maps around that.

And that was, it started be becoming so intriguing and fascinating with me that it was like, you know, I was looking forward to doing it all day every day. 'cause I didn't know at the time what mind mapping was, but I knew it was something about this process that was different than anything I've done before.

So I just started really digging into it. And I think it's probably good for me to say that after that time, about three months or so went by and I felt I had a good, strong handle and I really walked away with two powerful distinctions from those three months of mind mapping those books.

And the first one is that all of the. Those thought leaders, you know, the Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, Edgar Toles, the Les Browns, I mean anybody you can think of all of 'em. I realized it, it rang true to me that all of them was basically saying one thing, which is the power. Another power of mind map is that when you can step back, you could see connections to things that you don't normally see.

and what they were all saying was, you know, life is meant to be loved. You know, that is the purpose of life is just to love it. They all have their different philosophies and strategies and mindsets and systems and all of that stuff on how to do it, but that's really what all they were talking about is, Hey, if you do this, you'll live.

Love your life as best as possible. You know, even I was really understanding that that's what the prophets were saying. Jesus, Muhammad Buddha, Gandhi, all of 'em, were all talking about, Hey, you know, life is meant to be loved, and here's how you do it according to me, And so I really took that to heart.

Like, wow, that is truly, I gotta love my life, But then the second distinction that I took from that Brad, is that from all of those guys, is that to truly love and live my best life, I have to first get clear on who I am and what love and life means to me. Not what it meant to my dad, not what it meant to society, not the norms, but truly go inside myself to have a conversation with myself, an honest, forthright, authentic conversation with myself and God on.

What is my life gonna be about? Who do I need to be to be doing, have all of the stuff that I am defining to love and live my best life? and that began what is now known as my I am mind map. 'cause I just took a poster board and I put, I am in the center and I just started asking myself point blank, who the hell are you?

You know what's truly most important? 

Brad Minus: Absolutely. and I'm gonna let everybody see the TEDx, where you basically called out at the time, you weren't there, but you made it yourself. You self-actualized. Yep. Into these, components. We'll call 'em a component.

Healthy, wealthy, Successful. and you basically, you know, I don't want to call it manifesting, but it's kind of owning what you. Owning what you want. And that's what they always say. live like you already have. Live like you want to be living.

So, alright. and that's great and that's fantastic, but there's obviously a difference between theory, hypothesis, and realization. Mm-hmm. So let's start from here.

there's the TEDx talk and that will be in the show notes. But let's say you've got the, map. You've figured out how all the connections are made. 

John Diggs: Mm-hmm. 

Brad Minus: What did you do at that point? Physically hard stuff to dig yourself out. 

John Diggs: Yeah. You know, that process caused me to shift my way of being, you know, when I got clear on what I self, I started vibrating differently.

I started. Believing things were possible that I didn't believe before. I started to realize things that, I couldn't see before. And I know, just by me vibrating in a different place of living in intention, as you mentioned, or living on purpose, that I started attracting different people, different experiences, different opportunities.

And after four months of going through and really getting clear on who I am and what I wanted to do with my life, one of my loan officers that I had in my company went to another company and that company had just purchased this software called Encompass. They didn't know how to install it.

They just bought it knowing that it was something that they needed to install. And that loan officer told them that, Hey, you know, my former boss. He is a computer whiz. We did everything on his computer system. You might want to talk to him. And I talked to that guy.

I needed a job, and I went in there and commanded, $12,000 a month to do it. And I believe that clarity that I had, that congruency that I had about who I am and how I'm living, that when he asked me how much it was gonna take instead of leaning back in doubt or insecurity, I leaned forward with all confidence.

And he was like, deal. And that was so from being homeless with my mom, I mean, rags the riches really. Yeah. Eight months later, you know, I landed this six figure gig that, immediately transformed my life. and I know it was just because of that clarity that mind mapping helped me sort out 

Crap that I was dealing with, organize it in such a way that it became a roadmap on how to actually get my life back on track sooner rather than later. And, from there, I've built one of the top mortgage software development companies, all the way up from 2010 to 2020.

I became one of the top software developers of this platform because by the grace of God, this encompassed platform became one of the top platforms. In the entire mortgage industry where I think 80% of all mortgage banks throughout the entire US is using this platform now.

Right. So I was on it right when they just released it. So I became one of their experts before the country even knew about it. So a lot of people would buy it, pay a hundred thousand dollars for it, but then they would have to hire someone like me to come in and actually implement it and install it in their system.

So by me having a mortgage background, being a loan officer, being, you know, a mortgage owner, and now having all this computer experience of the software that really kind of set me apart from all of the other people that were trying to do it. Back in those days where I was from 2010, I would say probably to like 2016, 2017, I was one of the top guys.

In the entire country for this platform. And that enabled me to not just transform my life, you know, mentally and physically, but financially, you know, I was having some very lucrative gear. 

Brad Minus: So what's interesting about that is, and we have something in common there is, I started in software when I was a kid.

my dad had the signage firm and he asked me to network the signage firm that he had that was commercial, like, hospitals and stuff. the door panels, the emergency room this way, the lighted directories. And then he had a printing press on the bottom and he asked me to network it together.

That was the start. And then when I got to the military. I did some things in Korea that made people turn their head. You know, I never actually ever did my actual MLS, but, when I walked to the Pentagon, the guy that nominated me for the position of the Pentagon, he said, Hey, this guy's really, really good looking with computers and stuff.

And so my sergeant major. He brought me into this room and he goes, I hear you're some kind of computer hot shot. Well hot shot. Come over here, show me. And I walked into the room and he's got like 10 or 15 high hot shoppable compact servers and a ton of different, workstations and then the software and the operating system.

And basically says, all right, hey, this is the Army's new human resources, information system. This needs to get put into the e ring at the Pentagon, because that's the army system. That's the E ring And, you need to get that in and put up there in a year.

You got a year to get it done and figure it out. And, okay, here you go. and I have questions and I'm like, well, what about this and what about that? He goes, I don't know. He says, figure it out. 

John Diggs: Figure it out. 

Brad Minus: So, what I do now, is project management.

I do project portfolio program management. Nice. usually for most of my career they've got a project, they come with me, they give me the resources, I do the project, and then I go to the next one. recently I've actually been hired for the first time, as a full-time employee.

But that's basically what I've always done. But I got that by my sergeant major saying, here it is. And me going, well, how the heck? Alright, I know I gotta learn it, but how do I organize this whole thing? Yep. And that's when I found project management. And the rest is history. 

You had this guy come in and said, Hey, my boss knows about computers. Whether it was more than one system or not, he knows enough that he could learn it, get it done. Yep. Get it for you. And you walked in with this conference and said, 

John Diggs: Daniel, 

Brad Minus: all right. And then same you can sped up from there, which is I think is phenomenal.

But all of this started with this I am mind map. 

John Diggs: 

Brad Minus: Absolutely. It's powerful. And I imagine once you got to this first company, you sat down with the boss and said, well, what do you want? And then you mind mapped that. Where this goes, everything goes, and then you're able to just execute from there.

John Diggs: I started using Mindmaps, every day from 2010. I would do something or have a decision to make or something that I needed to brainstorm. I didn't even think about the word mind mapping.

it just became a part of my daily go-to kind of deal on how I organized and structured my thoughts. when COVID hit in 2020 and we were quarantined, that's when I said, now is, a great time 

For me to start writing some books and sharing this message about this tool called Mind Mapping with the world. You know, and I found out that the godfather of Mind mapping Tony Boon, he passed away in 2018 You know, and I was just like, you know what, this is, this would be something I've always, I think as a kid, kind of saw myself as some kind of motivational speaker guy.

Yeah. You know, I've always had people that kind of looked up to me and, would kind of lean on me for advice and I always used to love to talk and perform and speak in front of people, you know, from high school to all the way through college So I kind of knew that some point I would hope to get into that childhood passion of, being a orator kind of deal, I guess.

But, so I started moving down that path and, you know, since then, like you'd mentioned, I did a TEDx, I wrote 10 books on mind mapping and actually became an international bestselling author last year, and now I'm just like, I really believe that all of the things that I've done in my life, that this now, I'm now in true alignment with my calling.

You know, the football was just the fun thing. You know, mortgages was just something to pay bills, you know, the software business was just something to give me the lifestyle that I wanted to live, you know, but this, you know, being a, a MAPE mentor, 

Brad Minus: I love that. 

John Diggs: This is my 

Brad Minus: MAPE 

John Diggs: 

Brad Minus: that is the chinet right there.

John Diggs: yeah. I came up with the word mape because, you know, those people that have heard of mind mapping are use mind mapping. They primarily use it for three. Purposes, you know, most Fortune 500 companies, mind map, lot of Ivy League schools teach mind map, but they primarily use it for note taking, brainstorming, and like project planning stuff.

Brad Minus: We use it all the time. 

John Diggs: What I found though, Brad, since 2010 of being truly involved in this mind mapping community around the world is that I am the only one that's really teaching it, promoting it, training it as a personal development tool. To how to use it personally for problem solving decision making.

So I kind of wanted to come up with a name for my style. And that's where I came up with map engineering, you know, engineering beautiful mind maps to love your life more. And that's where the distinction between mind mapping and map engineering lies. 

Brad Minus: No, I love it.

I absolutely love it. So you talk about engineering. It's really cool because of the whole thing orienteering. It turns into map engineering. I love it. 

John Diggs: I think it's fantastic. 

Brad Minus: So find your journey, find your path.

Yep. Which comes into, and you start with mind mapping, map and ear. It's perfect. Absolutely perfect. I love it. I am totally amazed by what you've done and where you've come from. 

John Diggs: I thank you. 

Brad Minus: I know people that, like the mortgage crisis caused so much havoc. I went through, some issues myself. Not nearly to the point that you did. But I completely understand it. the motivation you have, the inspiration is second to none, and I appreciate that you're able to come onto life changing challengers and share your story.

for those of you@johndiggs.com, J-A-J-O-H-N-D-I-G-G s.com John has booked, I Am The Power of Knowing Who You are. Big player, power and Inside Guide to making big plays on and off the field. Map nearing your college years. 

He is. Got 'em for the younger kids too. Blessed and grateful. Embracing Life's of Blessings with gratitude, love, life, which is his biggest message, is loving the life you're in, embracing your journey to fulfillment and joy. And my favorite title because it'll go back to his Ted Talk, so you gotta listen to his Ted talk is what's in your big Xbox.

Yep. Absolutely. The coolest titles, the coolest names, and the most inspiration that you're probably gonna get, in any of these books. So, you know what I'm gonna tell you right now? I am going to put every single one of those books have a separate, link inside the show notes, the link to his homepage.

all of that's gonna be in there. the question that you all should be asking yourselves after you read the book and you get to the last one, which is what's in your big ass box, should be. I am mastering clarity, focus, and purpose. Big player power mapping during your college years.

Blessed and grateful. Love life. What's your big ass box? Yeah, that's what should be in your big ass box. What do you have coming up, on the horizon? 

John Diggs: Wow. this has been an amazing year for me. my IM project has been going great as I've been, speaking at colleges.

I just got off of leading a webinar for the Michigan Mental Health Wellness Association. Amazing. I got my big play Power Book is where it really starts to take off now because that's a book that I wrote strictly for student athletes to show them how to use a mind map to get clear on the perfect play they can make.

The perfect game. They can have the perfect season, they can have the perfect career, they can have, let's map all of those details out so you can start visualizing yourself, experiencing those things, before they actually occur. Kind of future pacing, if you will. To get really clear on, what is your biggest play that you can ever make, and most athletes never really thought about it, 

I'm speaking at Washington State University, my alma mater. In two weeks I'll be speaking at Arizona State University, which I have a nephew there, Egio O'Neal, who's his senior year.

And I've been working with him really anticipating him having a breakout year and becoming a first round draft pick because I've been working with him as far as really mapping out, what he wants from the game. 'cause what I've been finding. Is that when athletes or anyone for that matter use a mind map, to crystallize what it is they want, 

When it comes time to meditate, visualize or imagine it, it's easier for people to see the mind map. You know, all of that structure, which helps it become more real, which helps it, you know, if you are a law of attraction kind of person You know, this is what the secret is about, you know, is to really start to imagine yourself already experiencing that which you want.

And so I use that for, big play power strictly for student athletes. And mapping Air College years is starting to really take off for me. Again, I'm speaking at various colleges around here, Mesa Community College, to show students how to map out their college journey. You know, just don't come in as a freshman.

Right. You know, without no self-awareness. And now you're getting pulled and tugged with all of these peer pressure things that happened in college that, you may end up regretting or having some guilt in the future. Get clear on who you are now and what you want your college experience to be like so you can properly set yourself up for after college is all what Maper College years about.

and I think it's important for me real quick just to note about the what's in your Big Ass Box book. If after I did the TEDx talk, which I had a big ass box on there, I realized that people may not physically have a big ass box like I had that needed sorting out, that needs sorting out.

But they do have a big ass brain that needs some sorting out, just kind of like how I did my box. And that book is really getting people to realize that, when people ask you to think outside the box. What they're really asking you to do is to think outside of your current belief systems, right?

You know, be open to new possibilities. And a mind map is a perfect tool to get people to think outside of their normal thought processing. Just by the structure, visual nature of a map. You start thinking outside of the box. That's what a mind map is perfect for. But then when you start developing a map and practice and exercise, you move from just thinking outside of the box to living outside of the box to where you start to really resonate with that.

Anything and everything is truly is possible. there's nothing fixed, from your thoughts to your emotions, to your circumstances. Anything is possible. You can change in a flash if you want to, and that's where the power lies is when you are living outside of those limiting beliefs, which are essentially the edges or the walls of the box.

So that's really the intent of big ass boxes, is to get people to realize, wait a minute, life is truly loved outside the box. Exactly. a lot of people suffer living inside of a small box. That's where most of our suffering comes from, is that we only can think inside of this small box and don't think that there's possibilities to change their whole circumstances 

I'm here to tell you folks, anything is possible when you believe it to be true. 

Brad Minus: Yeah. That is my biggest message. do something that's way outta your comfort zone.

Way out. even if it's not something that maybe is a career builder or even something that you're majorly passionate about, find that one thing that you're like, wow, that is really cool. I would like to accomplish that once. Lemme challenge just once.

I talk about doing an Ironman, doing a marathon, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to Everest, whatever. But it's that one thing that you built for, that's outside of your realm of family your career and all that.

Something that's outside, that's just for you, just for you. That transposes itself. So, for instance, I remember after my first Ironman, it was like any obstacle that came by, I'm like, wait a second, you're crazy, man. You're crazy.

I freaking swam 2.4 miles. Then I got on a bike and biked for 112 and then I did a marathon. What can't I do? What can not I do. Now I know the only thing that is limiting me is my head, because I did all of this.

You can do it. Exactly. And I think the greatest way to get out of your head And figure out where you wanna go, is mind mapping. 

John Diggs: It is. If you stare, and for those who don't know what a mind map is, it's just taking a blank piece of paper and start with a central topic in the center, whatever that may be.

Ironman. whatever you wanna put in the center. I wanna be an actor, I wanna make a trip, I wanna resolve a problem, I wanna make a decision. Whatever it is you're thinking about, just start with the little circle in the center of a paper that's in landscape and just start letting it flow.

Any of your ideas that come outta your mind that relates to that, just start putting it on that spa, that page. Then you wanna leak it all to the center, but then everything you put on the page. But now you start asking these questions about all of those things you put in the page.

Why is this important? Why did I put it in the page? Do I really like it? Is it really important is I'm using the right word right here? And as you start to go through these, down this rabbit hole, if you will, and start building your mind map, all of a sudden it starts expanding. And that's the power of mind map.

What is, and I do this all the time with folks, I have this mapping exercise called the five Ws and H. That I put people for the who, what, when, where, and how.

So I have a person, especially with like problems, you can put problem, whatever you want to title that problem to be in the center. It put who, what, where, when, why, and how. And now you start asking your questions like, who's involved with this problem? Who shouldn't be involved with this problem? Who can help me with this problem?

Every who question you can think of, put it on your map, then go to what? What's happening, what's going on? Then you go to where, then you go to when, then you go to why, then you go to how, asking yourself some true thought provoking questions as it relates to who, what, where, when, and why of that problem.

You do that on a mind map? Always. The best solutions to that problem reveals itself. 'cause now you actually have a visual tool to see all of the components of the problem that you would've never saw if it was just stuck here. 

Brad Minus: Exactly. 

John Diggs: And I do this all the time, Brad, with folks, and I mean, they'll come to me all stressed out.

'cause the problem is swirling all in here. And I just walk 'em through this exercise and you can see their whole energy shift. Now the problem is not inside. They're now looking at the problem like a third person now, and now they're more calm and more open, and now they can see all of the key components of the problem.

And now it's like they know the decision they have to make and they can make it with confidence now because they seen everything around it versus trying to solve a problem when it's just swirling chaotically in your head. That that's just one exercise that I teach people, with problems in the center from decisions, goals, anything.

This five Ws and h I've seen it transform people and, and you just, you can use a napkin folks. You don't need no fancy ancy mind mapping software like I use, you can grab a napkin and a crayon If you're dealing with a problem and just map it out like this. I guarantee you you'll get greater perspective of what you're facing.

Than you ever had before to rest assured with confidence that you are making the right next best step to address or to move forward with whatever you're dealing with. it's truly powerful. 

Brad Minus: I could not Yeah, you heard it. You're right here, folks. John has completely laid out mind mapping for you.

And you can get more details@johndiggs.com, and grab some of those books and start reading. 'cause I'm telling you, you're just absolutely gonna be, inspired and motivated. First thing you gotta do is go down to the show notes. And click on his TEDx. Start there. Listen to the whole thing.

Right. A lot of it is gonna be repetitive because he is said a lot of it. And then after you see that. There's no way you're not gonna go visit john digs.com And start picking up some of those books because, and all of those books are gonna be linked right there as well. So make sure you get all those and start with one and work your way.

'cause it's, it's going to blow your mind and any issues that you've got. Choosing mind mapping, you're at least at, in the very least, you're gonna have a more of an understanding of it and what you need to do to solve it. So. Exactly. John, 

John Diggs: I'm here to help. Anybody needs it. I'm here to help.

And with Brad, I always here for you brother, you know. I appreciate that. I appreciate you more than you know. I thank you for having me. I thank you for allowing me to share this. Passionate message that I have with you and your audience, and know that I'm always here for you if you need anything, brother.

I appreciate it. I love you, man. I appreciate you. Thank you. 

Brad Minus: Okay, so all that stuff's gonna be in the show notes. If you're watching on YouTube, please go ahead and hit that Subscribe. And the, notification bell so you always know when we're dropping an episode, if you're watching on, on, 

Spotify, you can watch or like, or listening on Spotify, you're listening on Apple. Please go ahead and give us a review any feedback I get will just help me evolve the podcast to help more people. And that's what I'm here to do. I don't get paid for this folks.

This is strictly a labor of love. I love talking to people like John and like all the other episodes that we've got. so check those out if you want, but like I said, leave us a review and I don't even care. It's if it's a good review. But for John, thank you, thank you, thank you. 

We will see you in the next one. And thanks for listening care folks.