No Matter How Broken You Are, He Explains How to Get Whole | Nick Santonastasso on Impact Theory

You know, Nelson Mandela has this quote, "In life, I don't lose. I only win or learn." So many people think like they've lost, but like if you just pull one [music] piece of one one piece of information that's good, whether it was a different perspective, extracting knowledge, a different way to go about life, a different way to not fall on your face, like that's winning. I just want people to realize like they have everything inside of them to do whatever they need to do. You know, over [music] the 23 years of my life, I've realized that it's not this. It's not this physical body. You know, people can see me on the street and be like, "Wow, look at how disabled that guy is." And I'll be like, [snorts] "Have you seen your mindset? Like have you seen the way you operate? Like have you have you seen the way that you react to situations that you're pissed off in traffic, that you think the world is happening to you? Like [music] I'm not disabled. Like you're handicapped." The biggest and baddest people are handicapped and crippled by the limiting beliefs, the things that they tell themselves. And that's why I say the [music] biggest disability is a bad mindset. It's not this body. And so that that's how I want to shift people's perspective is realizing like, "Man, this guy's got no legs and one arm, but he's doing all these amazing things." [music] And letting people know like you have everything inside of you to do whatever you need, but you need to you need to get [music] this right. Hey everyone, welcome to Impact Theory. Today's guest is a multi-hyphenate in the extreme. He's an entrepreneur, author, athlete, competitive bodybuilder, model, and internationally sought-after speaker. He has racked up an extraordinary list of accomplishments, including building a seven-figure social following, all before his 25th birthday. This guy has inspired so many people that when The Rock bumped into him at the gym, The Rock asked him if they could take a photo together. True story. He shared the stage with Deepak Chopra, Steve Forbes, and Suzy Welch, and was even invited to speak at the Tony Robbins Global Youth Leadership Summit. This is a string of accomplishments that anyone would be proud of, but what makes him so damn captivating is that he did all of this while being one of only four living people with a rare genetic disorder known as Hanhart syndrome, which caused him to be born with no legs, only one arm, and only one finger on that one arm. Now, knowing that, replay his list of accomplishments in your mind. He owns his own company, published a book about his life, was a varsity wrestler in high school, and he competed in a bodybuilding competition, placing higher than able-bodied competitors. And he's a model and speaker who's traveled around the world inspiring countless people. This guy could tap out today and his resume would still stand among the greats. But if you ask him, he's just getting started. So please, help me in welcoming the man who realized very early on you can either find a way or find an excuse. The author of Victim to Victor, the indomitable Nick Santonastasso. Nick. That was amazing, my man. That was amazing. Thank you. what you've done is it's bananas, man. I'm excited and I want to talk about the whole notion of no excuses. Like, when did you I love the way that your parents treated you growing up? Tell us about that. Is that where the whole idea of I just got to figure this [ __ ] out came from or Yeah, so it's funny cuz stuff reflecting back, I asked my parents, I said, you know, "How did you intro me to the family?" You know, because I'm the baby. And so I have I have three other siblings. I have two sisters and one brother. And so they were like, you know, when you were born, we kind of just didn't talk about it. We kind of just brought you home and like they just started loving on you and didn't see anything different. And so my parents, like they they always talk about like they had three kids, so they they they were kind of getting used to being a parent and kind of figuring out the system of how to be a parent. And so with me, they sat me down at an early age and were just like, "Here, Nick, like they're going to put things in front of me." And so they, you know, they they put my clothes in front of me and would give me suggestions and kind of help me out a little bit or, you know, they'd put me in my high chair with food in front of me and be like, "All right, Nick, like let's just figure it out." And I think like I always talk about like that was my biggest advantage. A lot of parents do too much for their kids or they or they kind of coddle them, which is basically handicapping your child, right? And so like my parents helped me exercise that muscle of literally falling on my face and getting back up. And so like everything that I viewed, I just knew it was going to be hard or I knew it was going to take a little bit more time and that was the kind of the phrase like it's not can but how, the more empowering like how am I going to get through this? And so like the challenges as a kid, they were just like the little games for me and I just wanted to figure out, you know, how I can push myself or I wouldn't want to ask for help. I always tried to be independent. Mhm. Have you come up with a process for figuring stuff out? One of my favorite stories about you is licking your finger to pick up Cheerios faster. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That that was really smart. But when I think about So you've talked about opening a gym for people that uh you have a phrase for it. What do you people that need different types of equipment? Accessibility. Yeah, so when I think about you trying to figure out how to balance your musculature, that seems like nigh impossible. That's hard for me and I have the symmetry naturally. How the hell do you figure stuff out like that? So obviously you start with it's possible, but then how do you break that down and actually get to a solution? Yeah, so basically like with fitness and so I needed to figure out ways that I can lift symmetrically and I also needed to figure out more knowledge on nutrition cuz I didn't know what I was doing when I started and I actually when I moved to Tampa 2 years ago, I met one of my best friends Cody who like dedicated when I did that preparation for bodybuilding, it was a 12-week show, he trained me every single day. And basically when I started like when I moved there, he sat me down and like dude, listen like your form is all messed up. Like you're not lifting right and it's and it's it's not pissing me off and I I need you to have a base. Like I need you to figure out that you need to isolate yourself and you need to move your body certain ways and micro movements and so basically having that vision, but then like reverse engineering and saying like what what are these little steps? Because I think if we just have a vision and we just focus on that like if we don't have those little steps like we get overwhelmed because it's like from A to Z, right? And so we need to figure out what we do in the beginning and so for fitness, he like sat me down and was like, all right, like the the importance of rolling your shoulders back and like only moving this to contract your, you know, your chest muscles and with your back like just basically like super strict on form because when I first started lifting for the first like a year, I was only lifting my left side. So like I totally just gave up on the side and was like, yeah, no. So like I used to bench press and I remember my my buddy used to like slam my right side down. I would just bench this way and I fell in love with not only the physical aspect of lifting, but the therapeutic, like how it made me feel and I was like, I want to do more of this and I realized like looking into bodybuilding, I was like, oh, you need symmetry if you want to compete. And so basically just sitting sitting me there and figuring out these little micro movements because he's like, dude, like you may think you can't contract all your muscles, but I promise you if you isolate and you have the right posture and you really just contract and and are focusing on working through the muscle, then I promise you you can build that. And it's and it's funny because I actually had a prosthetic made probably like 2 years ago that would give me some sort of an extension so I get more contraction, but after lifting with Cody and just really figuring out my body, like I don't use the prosthetic anymore. Like I can get like full full contraction um from my chest, my back. Like I'm still trying to clean things up, but like just isolation and and being super hard on like my form and not like lifting not correctly, like not lifting in a in a wrong way because, you know, a lot of people go into the gym and it's just like they think it's just one movement real fast and they don't know that like isolating things is really how you work through the muscle. And so I was just like, yo, give me a game plan. That's what I need. Like I need some steps and then I'll just go from there and improvise myself. I love what you're talking about about being really strict with your form and having a training partner that's holding you to a standard. That was something I found really interesting in your approach to wrestling in high school. Yeah. Um tell people about that. I think that's super powerful. Yeah, so when I got into middle school and high school, I was like full victim. People may have not known it because I knew energy was contagious and so like my parents never do knew about my suicidal thoughts. My sisters, my brother never knew about that because I knew like I don't want to bring that energy and put it on other people. And so I do you know where that face fake you know fake smile fake mask and just go on with my life. And my older brother was a wrestler and I'm from Jersey so wrestling's like a big deal. And so like like I said my parents and my siblings never treated me any different so I was beat up just like everyone else like you know practicing suplexes on and like just I was I was super normal. And when I got into high school I was at in this point where I was like I need something you know like I need to be with my friends more that makes me feel good. I need I what sport can I do with them? What extracurricular activity can I do with them? And it's funny cuz my best friend Dan we're still best friends to this day his whole entire life he wrestled and his freshman year he decided to bowl which was a little bit different and he you know he came up to me he's like Nick like you can bowl you just roll the ball down the lane you get to eat cheese fries when you come back and I'm Italian so anything that's got to do with food like I'm in. And so I was like man because I needed something that was going to instill confidence in me because I was also a kid that thought like confidence was something you were just born with and I was like man I don't I don't got it. I don't got legs I don't got an arm I don't got confidence. Like I don't have anything. And so I was looking for a way out. That was my right we we have drivers in life and we talk about you know pain and pleasure. Mine was like I didn't want to feel this pain anymore. I didn't want to feel uncomfortable in my skin. I was an out of shape chubby kid. And so I was looking for a way out. So I bowled my freshman year actually. That's how I first started getting into sports and I remember our JV and our varsity team our varsity team was pretty good and our JV team was undefeated and then I joined and gave the JV team the first loss and they're probably upset with me but they never expressed it. And I didn't feel like I was a part either because everyone had these new like bowling jerseys and I had this old one like that just they didn't have room for me but I was on the team basically. And so after freshman year I realized like I need something more. All my best friends they were wrestling Dan went back to wrestling and you know after school they go to practice. And so that was that time where I was either alone thinking about things or you know I was I was in the house with my family but I wanted to be around my friends more because that made me feel good. And I had to I had like an amazing set of friends. And so I was like I want to be a wrestler. And at that time this arm was actually 5 inches longer than it is now and my bone was going faster than my skin. So like the majority of my life I've had problems with it. So when I was in first grade I had the music teacher come up to me and was like Nick do you want to try to play the drums? I'm like yeah you know I I would love to. I don't know how you think I'm going to play the drums but I'd love to. And so we go into the the music room and what they did was they ace bandage a stick on this arm and this arm was a little bit longer they ace bandage a stick on this arm and they gave me a snare and he was just giving me rhythms to practice. And I actually picked up drumming so well that the school bought me an electric drum set and they moved me to the middle school band because I was too advanced. So basically I would play this electric drum set and what I would do is I would sit on the pedals because they were they were wireless. And so I can sit on the high hat pedal with this quad and sit on the the bass pedal with this quad and I play a full set of drums. But with wrapping the stick around my arm like so what it was was the bone was growing faster than the skin so it was super sensitive like I couldn't really touch it on things and so it would get infected from lack of circulation whatever may be and so like there would be points where my arm would get affected and I need to drain it. And I would always tuck my arm in because I didn't want to hit it a hard enough because if I did the bone would have came through out out of my skin. And so when I wanted to become a wrestler you know my parents were like no way. You know and the one thing that I thought in my head was like my arm you know. So when the guys asked like Nick get out of your comfort zone like let's go roll. I'm like guys you know about my arm like I don't want this to bust through that won't be very good. And you know when when someone tells you an idea and you maybe blow that idea off and you're like yeah. And then like you're on the bus or you're in your car right and you're driving home we all know like we start marinating on things and that's when the how kicked in. I was like well how can I become a wrestler you know? I know this wouldn't instill confidence in me I'll be labeled an athlete. You know people told me I couldn't be an athlete, right? Like people told me I couldn't be all these things. I was like, if I could be labeled as an athlete and and run out on the mat with my team, that would just make me feel good. It would uplift me. And so, I came home one day and I waited for both my parents to get home cuz they work, you know, different jobs. And I sat them down and said, "Hey guys." I said, "What do you think? I I want to become a wrestler. Like what do you What are your thoughts?" My mom was like, "Nick, no. Like oh no. You know, wrestling's the most physical sport. Like what are you going to do? Like if you hit your arm and your bone comes through your skin, you know you're going to hit your arm. Like wrestling's one of the most physical sports." And, you know, me as a 16-year-old kid, I looked at my parents and said, "Can we Can we cut it off?" And they were like, "Well, Nick, like what do you What do you mean cut it off?" I'm like, "Yeah, you know, like the my arm's stopping me. Can we just like trim it, you know, cut it off? Can we do something about it?" And they were like, "Nick, the the right word is amputate. You're so aggressive with your words. Like you really want to amputate your arm?" And I was like, "Yeah, like this is holding me back. I want to wrestle." And like I said, Tom, they didn't know about how low I was. They just This was just something that I wanted to do. And even as a baby, you know, my I actually did an interview with my parents and I got to like ask them questions that I always wanted to ask them. And when I was born, the medical industry I'm jumping around all over here, but the medical industry wanted wanted to cut my finger off. Or this this bone is this finger is actually two fingers in one. So, they wanted to split it. Or they wanted to put, you know, um pins in my legs and bone lengthening. And my parents always told these doctors and he said, "You know, I'm not in the position to make that decision for my child. Like it's not my life. Like who am I to say yes and then put my child in a bed and have him in the bed 6 months, you know, lengthening his bones? That's not for me to to make that decision." And so, they were kind of almost happy that I brought to them that that solution. That, you know, they knew my arm was hurting. They knew it was growing. It wasn't going to stop growing. And so, for for me to go to them and bring that decision and have it as my choice, they were cool with it. And so that was pretty cool. So my parents accepted like, "Dude, this is what you want to do. It's only going to better the quality of your life. We're in." And so my sophomore year, my parents scheduled the appointment for me to amputate my arm. And I didn't tell any of my friends I was doing it. I didn't tell any of my teachers. I was just like, "Hey, like this is what I'm going to do." And so I go back to school and I got like 17 stitches on my arm and I always say I was the happiest kid that just cut his arm off. You know, I go into school and like people are like, "Nick, what did you do?" I'm like, "I cut my arm off." They're like, "Why?" And I'm like, "I'm going to I'm going to become a wrestler." You know, I told everyone I was like, "I cut my arm off cuz I'm going to become a wrestler." And people are like, "What?" You know, they didn't they didn't understand it. You know, my friends supported they're like, "Dude, it's coolest thing ever. Like I can't wait till you're on the team." And people are like, "Dude, let's be real. You know, how you going to become an athlete, let alone a wrestler?" And tell my whole life there was always that that the other people putting limiting beliefs on me or putting their limits on me. Like from the moment I was born, the doctors handed over a list of my parents who were like, "Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Anastasio, your son survived the super crazy thing, but here's all the things he won't be able to do." And you know, my parents threw that list out and they weren't going to let other people put limitations on me. And so they always just were firm believers like, "Nick, you can do whatever you want. You know, your your mindset is the biggest superpower." And they always engraved that into me. And so you know, I told these people I said, "You're right. I'm not going to become a wrestler. I'm going to be I'm going to be a varsity wrestler. And and you're kind of going to watch. And I'm I'm going to try my best. And that was always my thing is like as long as I try my best, as long as I attempt it, then you know, I'm that's not failing because there's a lot of people in life, whether it's in their personal life or in their business life, and they sit on the sideline and they're like, "Man, I don't have the resources. I can't build a business." Or "I'm not old enough. I don't have the knowledge." Or "I'm I'm too old that I can't build a business." And I always tell people I'd much rather be in the trenches. I'd much rather be on the field than sitting on the sideline wasting time and thinking, "Man, I can't do that." So So, whole view of life is like I try everything. My thing is like, why not? You know, I'm just going to try everything. And so, that was like the the turn for me of of starting wrestling. The cool part for me in that story though is that you asked your friends to beat you up, to not take it easy on you, to smash you into the mat, to do whatever they needed to do to actually make you a good wrestler. Yeah. Why do you have that mentality? Yeah, I knew I knew from an early age I was They actually put me on the Today show when I was 13 and I told Ann Curry and I was like in my squeaky voice, I was like, you know, failure's your best friend and you know, you learn by falling on your face and getting back up and I I've learned that just through life in itself. Like I said, whether it was getting on a chair, whether it was trying to put my clothes on or feed myself, everything was challenging at first. Like I'm not going to sit here and say I was perfect at everything. Like I just figured out my way. No, like things were hard. You know, and so that was always my mindset of like things are going to be hard, but like I'm going to learn from me falling on my face. Like I I'm going to pick up and say, what can I do differently so I don't fall on my face next? And so, with going into wrestling, I'm very competitive. Like I'm a competitive person and I don't want people to hold back on me. I never wanted the people to hold back on me. If I was going to lose, I was going to lose like like a champion, right? And so, you know, I told my And it was easier cuz it was my best friends, but I was like, guys, like please don't hold back on me. I don't want you to feel bad. Like my arm's all good. Like we can beat everything up. Like just do what you need to do. And there was moments, you know, my junior year I was a JV wrestler and my only win was my coach putting me out for a varsity forfeit so I can get my varsity jacket and I was like, I don't want it. I didn't earn it cuz we can agree that you know, things feel better when we earn them. And so, my senior year, I remember there's exercises where basically it was called um shark. And so, what it was was I weighed about I weighed 85 lb. That was the least weight you had to be to qualify to be varsity. And so, all the wrestlers were cutting weight and here's Nick stuffing his face trying to gain weight. I'm chugging Gatorades before weigh-ins just so I can be eligible for varsity my senior year. And so, I wrestled 106, 106 lbs. So, that means that the everyone that I was wrestling was 20 lbs heavier than me. Because I was 85 lbs. And so, the exercise would be basically there'd be four wrestlers in a circle. And there would be one guy in the middle, and that guy had to get five takedowns or else he just kept beating up for the whole practice. Well, guess who sucks at getting takedowns? The guy with no legs and one arm, right? So, you know, they put me in this exercise and already in my head I know like, "Dude, like I I never wrestled." Like I never did it. Like I've only watched my brother. And so, there was moments where I'd be in that circle for 30 minutes just straight getting my butt kicked by all these guys. Slammed down, picked up. And there was one point where, you know, I I went off the mat crying. Like I broke down mentally and I remember my coach came up to me and he was super jacked and intimidating. He got down on my level and he's like, "You think I don't cry, son?" And in my head I'm like, "Dude, you don't cry. Like look at you." But he's like, "Dude, like I just want to let you know that like you going [snorts] out there and playing full out, it's it's it's motivating all the guys regardless." And that's when I realized that, you know, even in those low moments of getting my butt kicked and I'm I'm pouring sweat, I'm laying in other people's sweat, but if I can look over to my friends and crack a smile, that that will just motivate them and drive them. So, it was kind of like, you know, the accountability group, but if someone was down, we'd lift them up. And if I was down, people would lift me up. And that's how I got through wrestling cuz it was super hard. And my senior year I was able to be the 106 lb varsity wrestler for my high school. Which was like, at the time that Vine came out. So, I was making Vine videos and I went from like, you know, unconfident kid to like a million followers on Vine and a varsity wrestler out of like nowhere. And and I was just like, "Oh my god, like look what I look what I accomplished." Um but the wrestling just showed me how much I could push myself physically and mentally. And when I was on the mat, that it was just one-on-one. And I want, you know, I if I lost, I I I lost like I went out with a with a battle. Like I I didn't lose easily. Like there was in wrestling after the the season, you either go into districts and then regions. If you win districts, you go into region. If you win regions, you go into states. It's all like independent. It's not team. And so, I wrestled I remember I wrestled a region placer. And in wrestling, you either get pinned or um you lose by a decision or a tech fall. A tech fall means that they maxed out on points, so they took you down so many times. Well, this kid had to beat me in a tech fall because he couldn't pin me. And so, like focusing on our strengths, like the one thing I was really good at was my neck bridge. So, like I would practice like I would sit and practice and I'd have my coaches maul on my head and I continuously pick my head up because I wanted to figure out a way where I don't give up the max amount of points. Like how am I going to bring the most value to the team? Well, I'm going to stay off my back because I see these other guys going to their back and giving up full six points. If I could just stay off my back, I'm pretty valuable. Like And so, I would I would strengthen my neck. And so, in this match I'm I'm I'm versing this region qualifier and I hear his coach on the line like pin him, stick him, stick him. What are you doing? And he just couldn't do it. And he was so pissed off and he had to beat me with points. And that just made me feel good. Like regardless that I lost, I gave my best and I didn't give up the full amount of points. And so, just focusing on my strengths because if I always focus on like, oh, I don't have legs and I don't have an arm and I wouldn't I wouldn't be where I was if I always just focused on that. And I think there's something else in there that's powerful, which is that you developed strength. So, knowing that, okay, there are certain things I'm not going to be able to do. Maybe I'm never going to be the takedown champion, but I can actually strengthen my neck. Yeah. And so, finding ways to be extraordinary, I think is something that a lot of people don't focus on. They And it's weird. It's like if you have this I talk about it with the inner city. So, I worked with a lot of inner city kids and the inner city breaks most of the people that it touches. But every now and then you get a Jay-Z who has made far more extraordinary because of the hardship. Richard Branson talked about how he thinks part of what made him successful was that he had dyslexia. And so, he was like, I was just trying to compensate for that, and maybe I overshot the mark. And I thought that's actually really interesting. These disadvantages, they diminish most of the people that encounter them. But, some people who have the mindset like you have, they find ways to turn that into the strength, to find ways that, okay, I can do something that other people can't do. They put all their energy into getting extraordinary at that thing. And then, that's what, you know, gives them that confidence, that lifts them up. I think it's a really extraordinary way to look at life. Now, taking this notion of I don't want to play at being a wrestler, I actually want to be a wrestler. So, I want my friends to go hard on me, and I don't want out of the center of the shark game until I earn my way out. How does that play out in life for you now? Like we said before, like I know everything's going to be hard. And I feel like when like even now kids or or some people, if they quit because things are hard, they just haven't done uncomfortable things enough. They haven't got out of their comfort zone enough and experience, you know, what that discomfort is. And so now, for me, it's it's just I know everything's going to be challenging. And like the camp at how thing, like people say, you know, may maybe mindset mumbo jumbo, but like the majority of not only entrepreneurs, but human beings, like we start off with can't. Like the majority of people are like, oh, you can't do this because this, this, this, this, and this. And it's like, humans are very disempowering creatures. Like if we don't catch our thoughts, if we don't catch our patterns, if we don't catch the things that come out of our mouth if they're negative, like we need to switch that. And so now, me, like my guys, everything is how. Like how are we going to do this? How we how are we going to, you know, get through this problem? And let's let's um reverse engineer everything. That's how I do it now is just figuring out, you know, what is our strength? That's the one thing I've realized, like I'm 23 years old, and, you know, starting a company, I didn't go to college. So, I'm learning as I go. And that that's the whole thing is like I'm a student of the game, and I realize that I only know what I know, and I'm only 23, and there's so much to learn, and I'm just going to learn by throwing ourselves in the waters and like figuring out how to swim. And so, especially in business, the one thing I realized is like a good leader puts people where they excel. You know, they put people where they prosper. And so, it's like figuring out like what are your strengths and what are you good at and let's put people there and then like delegate or outsource your weaknesses. And I think it's funny because in the school systems it's total opposite. It's actually like what are your weaknesses? Let's go work on this. And then like entrepreneurship is like let's double down on our strengths and like outsource our weaknesses. And so, I think that's a a crazy concept because I wasn't very good at school and I know you weren't very good at school until you applied with that with that passion behind it. But like I um I always just had limiting beliefs that I wasn't smart and wasn't good enough. But now like I'm reattaching a better meaning to like learning and like self-education and so like reading more books and realizing like all the knowledge is here and I just need to apply myself and actually apply myself into something that I enjoy or something that we're focusing on. Yeah. And so, I've kind of like, you know, got to got over that like the old me of I suck at school to like I'm just going to read books and like write notes and I'm going to learn that way. And that's how I'm going to ride like I'm not going to have like a a pain behind learning. Also realizing like communication-wise through through your people like the behavioral assessments and how you operate because, you know, communication is key. That's one of the core values in our company is like transparent communication. Like the only way we're going to work through something is if we openly communicate about how you feel. I don't care if you're pissed off at me. I don't care if you hate me in the moment. Like I need to know so we can work through this. Yeah. That that to me is I think the most interesting thing about your personality is the search for truth. And I'll say that it's the same thing that I find interesting about your approach to wrestling. It's a search for truth. I I actually want to be good. I don't want to go out on the mat against a real competitor only to find out you guys have been taking it easy. I mean, that's it's not fun first of all and two, it's not a way to actually grow and improve. Yeah, like realizing like, you know, you know the saying the world the world's happening for you and not to you. But like my whole thing is like the victim mentality. Like I went from victim to victor realizing like we can play off of every situation. Like right now we're floating through plane energy and like someone comes up to you and calls you a name, like it's up to you whether you react in a negative way or a positive way, and like people are pissed off that they're in traffic, but you realize that you woke up today and you're breathing. Like, I want people to be like, "Whoa!" Because it's like the Charlie Brown effect, you know, like your mom tells you to do your homework, and you're like, "Eh." Your dad tells you to do your homework, and you're like, "Eh." And then Uncle Nick comes over, and I'm just like, "Yo, let's do your homework." And you're like, "Yeah, like oh, doing homework's the coolest thing." It takes a different person from a different walk of life with a different perspective to really break through that barrier. Especially through all the priming, right? No matter how long you've been priming and programming your brain, like it takes someone to come in and just boom, just throw some perspective and totally break through that wall and get you to look at the world differently. So, I want people to realize like, you know, Nelson Mandela has this quote, "In life I don't lose, I only win or learn." Like, if people can realize like, so many people think like they've lost, but like if you just pull one piece of one one piece of information that's good, whether it was a different perspective, extracting knowledge, a different way to go about life, a different way to not fall on your face, like that's winning. And so, if if I just want people to realize like they have everything inside of them to do whatever they need to do. You know, over the 23 years of my life I've realized that it's not this. It's not this physical body, you know, people can see me on the street and be like, "Wow, look how disabled that guy is." And I'll be like, "Have you seen your mindset? Like, have you seen the way you operate? Like, have you have you seen the way that you react to situations, that you're pissed off in traffic, that you think the world is happening to you?" Like, I'm not disabled, like you're handicapped. And to let people know that, like the biggest and baddest people are handicapped and crippled by the limiting beliefs, the things that they tell themselves. And that's why I say the biggest disability is a bad mindset, it's not this body. And so, that that's how I want to shift people's perspective is realizing like, "Man, this guy's got no legs and one arm, but he's doing all these amazing things." And letting people know like, you have everything inside of you to do whatever you need, but you need to you need to get this right, your operating system, your computer system through the simulation that we live in, whatever it may be. Yeah, one thing you talk about which I find really interesting, and I don't hear a lot of people talk about this, it is my particular obsession, which is values. That your value system is going to guide your behavior. It's going to be the thing that you chase. How do you think about that? What are the values that you hold? Are there universal values that you think people should hold if they want to have an empowering mindset? What does that look like? Yeah, so my values actually changed um shout out to the OG when I went to one of Tony's seminars. So, you know, when I met my guys and we created the company, they've they've went to Tony Robbins seminars, they volunteered, they're like, "Dude, you need to go see this guy." And so, the one thing that I've realized is like the the core value or the the things people need is like significance. Like people that are significance driven and uncertainty and certainty and and what I've realized is that I replaced, you know, maybe significance with my number one core value is contribution. The majority of people immediately think like money. Like, "Oh, giving money." But like there are so many ways that you can contribute, whether that's, you know, nice shoes. We were talking about this. I was like, "I may not have legs, but those are great shoes." You know, there's so many ways we can contribute and I realized that, you know, we talk about success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure, right? Like being successful but not feeling fulfilled, I mean, you know, you know, I know that we've been around so many people with mass amounts of money and there's still something missing. Because their core values aren't aligned. They're not aligned with their purpose. And so, I moved contribution to my top core value. And so, now any way I can help. I realized that I'm just like my dad and I like to I get fulfilled through giving people experiences that they don't think they could ever have before. Another core value mine is longevity. I'm not here for quick fixes. You know, a lot of people in the entrepreneurship world, they're you you know, you're you're growing up the day and age that we live in. Everyone's looking for quick fixes. What can I get out of this person? What I What the What's the value, you know? And And for me, I'm here for the long game. You know, how can we continuously help each other build? Because like winners don't hate on other winners. You know, we just want to see other people win. And so, how can I just provide longevity relationships and nurture those relationships? I think that, you know, in business relationships are like key, right? Like just like everything. And so, how can I nurture those relationships? So, contribution and longevity were my big switches. And also being being a student of the game is like a core value in personally and professionally. And being a student of the game what that means is like you are always in the mode of like I can learn something from every situation, whether that person's like the janitor or the CEO, right? But that requires you to drop your ego. And so I also learned about ego and how that can take control. And so like student of the game mentality is like you dropping your ego, realizing like I only know what I know. And I'm I'm here to learn from every experience, whether I I don't like it, whether I do like it. Like I used to hate constructive criticism. But then I realized it's like one of the most powerful things and like that's my ego getting getting in the way and saying like oh, I'm too good for someone to say that. Like no, you're not. Like dude, you're only 22, 23 years old. Like what do you know? Like kind of just putting myself back down to earth and being like dude, just be a sponge. What do you like when you're trying to get your ego out of the way, how do you conceptualize that versus confidence? You've talked a lot about confidence and very powerfully. But how do you balance those two? Because I think if [clears throat] I'm honest, I think people need an ego. But I violently agree that if you don't know how to set it aside, if you don't know how to be open, you're in real trouble. So, how do you find the the confidence, the sense of self, the you know, the almost like the gravitas to be able to walk into a big situation and feel up to the task and at the same time be the sponge who listens to everybody? It's a It's a perfect example. So, when I had the opportunity to speak for Tony's leadership for the kids, I went into the green room. This is a perfect example. It's It's crazy. I went to the green room and the MC, I never met him before. I don't know if he's ever met me. I don't act like I'm anyone ever know me. Like I don't care, right? And so I go in there and you know, I'm confident in my ability to go out and crush the stage. Like I was I was already peak state. Like I'm ready. Like I'm ready to pump this up, right? And so I go into the green room. They have a trampoline, and I'm like jumping on it like doing my thing, and the MC comes in and I and I looked at him and I said, you know, we meet each other and I said, "Hey, man." I said, "Do you do you have any advice?" And I just wanted to hear his thoughts. Like, what you know, what can you tell me from your experience of being in front of the kids already from today, MC? Like, I just want to learn. And like, that's the thing like I was I was already confident in my ability, but my ego like I dropped my ego and realized like there's still some something you can learn from this guy. Like, I would never just check him off. And so, you know, he got down on my level. He's like, "Yeah, like" He was so happy, too. Like, that's the other thing like people are always scared to ask questions or ask for knowledge. Like, people love that. Like, people want to feel like they're needed and they want to give their knowledge to you. That makes people feel good. And so, I was like, "Hey, man, you know, you have any advice for me?" And he's like, "A lot of energy and great storytelling." And in my head I was like, "I got I YOU KNOW, I GOT THAT. THAT'S my confidence." But my ego was That was the balance of like, "I know I have great storytelling and I know I have great energy. I'm going to burn this down, but who am I to say that I can't learn from that guy?" And that was kind of that was Does that make sense? Like, that was my balance of like, "I'm confident in my ability. Like, I'm good. Like, I didn't have to ask that guy for help, but like student of the game, baby. Like, I I got to I got to ask everyone. Whether whether he said something to me and I was didn't even resonate and I was like, "Thank you so much for your time and and your knowledge." Like, that's how I balance it. It was just like realizing like, "Yeah, I do have confidence, but there's always room to improve and learn." So, what is that path to confidence? That's interesting that you So, I'm a huge believer in what I call physiological hooks. I believe any mental state Maybe not any mental state. There are many profound and foundational mental states that you can learn to achieve by addressing your physicality. You're alluding to one right now. What is the path that you walk people through if if they really don't have confidence? How do you help them get it? Yeah. So, when I was that kid in high school who didn't have confidence, um you know, I was setting I was setting these little goals. So, I wanted to become a wrestler. Well, first I wanted to amputate my arm. So, I amputated my arm and I did it and I was like, "Dude, you did it. Like, you got past this hurdle. Boom." And then, you know, you not only physically appalled yourself, but you mentally appalled yourself. Like, good job, you know, you you kept that promise. And then, I wanted to become a wrestler. And I did that and I was like, "Well, let's see if we can push it to, you know, varsity wrestler." And I became a varsity wrestler and this is just like, you know, Ed talks about it, too, is that keeping that relationship you have within yourself and like, so many people are trying to seek validation from other people. They're trying to be working on relationships with girls or trying to, you know, seek validation from other things and Instagram and materialistic things and when the biggest relationship that they should be working on is the one within themselves. That's what everybody needs to be working on. Like, once Really fast, um I want to push you there. So, [clears throat] how? How does one work on the relationship with themselves? Yeah. Start little. So, for for someone who, say, is not in shape, I say, you know, fitness was a huge thing for me. Now, it's a staple of my life. Um it's something that has instilled so much in confidence in me because I wasn't I wasn't comfortable in my skin. The one thing I realized is like, I can't change no legs and one arm, but I can get a six-pack. You know, I I can feel a little bit more comfortable in my body. Well, if I get if I get in shredded and people are looking at my muscles, maybe they're not looking at my finger and my weird arm or whatever I thought at that time. And so, I say it start little. You know, say that is, "I'm going to wake up 15 minutes earlier this whole week." And you do it, boom, like, great job. Or I'm going to I'm going to do yoga. I'm going to go to the gym, you know, this amount of times or I'm going to eat healthy. Whatever those little goals are for you, start little and then work your work your way up because like, humans love the feeling of progress. And I've realized looking back at my days, like, my lowest days, my most like darkest days, are the days where like, I'm sitting around too long and I'm not doing much. I'm not moving the needle forward in any area of my life. I'm kind of being like a bum. And so, I always tell people it's a good thing I have one finger, the one finger technique and that is doing one thing today that you know is going to evolve you into a better human being. And that could be a big thing, but it could it could be a small thing, too. Like um knowledge. Like it could be I read 10 pages of a book today and I'm I evolved. You know, I learned a little bit more than I did today or I asked that question and I learned something. Like people need to start small. Whatever area you're at in your life, but just start small. So, I'd I would tell people to set these little micro goals. Set these little micro goals and just commit and then like every time you don't every time you commit and you don't follow through, you're diminishing yourself like yourself integrity, the value. Like how do you value yourself? Like how do you want to show up? Like do you want to Like if I told you I was going to show up here and I didn't show up here, like that's terrible. Like I just diminished not only myself integrity with myself, but with you as well, my word. And so, like if we're viewing ourselves as the most important thing, we're like our body, our temple, like don't diminish your self-value. If you say you're going to commit to something, follow through and I promise you you're going to feel so much better on the other side because you followed through. You're like, "Wow, I actually did what I said I was going to do." Like, "Oh my god, it's amazing." What do you do, maybe the right word, when you don't follow through with what you said you were going to do? Yeah, it's kind of like uh recalibrate. You know, like, "Okay, well, what did I do wrong?" And And maybe that goal was too big. Do you punish yourself at all? Um I think there there is a point where you can set consequences. You know, if I don't do this, then I got to write a check to someone I don't like or you know, there there could be consequences and if you find yourself the person that always committing and derailing, then add consequences. You know, you know, like and and add rewards like for for the things that you do accomplish. Like say you're going to go to the gym 30 days straight and you do it for 30 days straight, go to the spa. Like go do something. Go go treat yourself. But I think if you're the person that, you know, commits to something and you continuously derail, add like a time limit on it and add a consequence. Maybe manipulate yourself and say, "Well, this is a consequence. I'm going to have to read 30 book 30 pages of a book." But really it's benefiting you, you know? And so, like do like if you need the guardrails, then add consequences. But if you're if you're continuously just ripping through it, I would say just, you know, add those rewards. But it's also okay to say like, "Wow, maybe that goal was massive." Like, let's set let's set these little stepping stones so I can get to that goal. Don't like totally beat yourself up if you don't do it, but like realize like maybe you need to set little smaller smaller intentions or smaller steps. Random question for you. What are your thoughts on prosthetics? I saw some video footage of you learning to use legs, and you started using prosthetic legs when you were very young, but I don't see you use them often. Yeah, it's great question. So, when I was a baby, they actually put me in um fake legs for legs that didn't move. I mean, back then I don't know if they had the technology, but basically the prosthetics, the legs, would help me sit sit sit upright in a car seat or in the grocery store. And it's funny just just the tail end um my my siblings used to play a play a prank. And so, my full name is Nicholas, and so they would call me Nick and my legs a Liss. And so, like in the grocery store, they would like pick me up and be like, "No, I want Nick. No, I want Nick." And then they rip me apart my legs in front of people and people like, "OH MY GOD, you know, he just ripped his legs off." And so, they would always do like, you know, funny stuff like that. Um and they also my parents also gave me an arm, and I would always fling the arm off. I didn't like it. And so, I never liked it, and there got to a point where I was probably 12, 13, 14 where, you know, I'd be on the bus and I'd see kids riding their bike, and I go, "Well, why can't I ride a bike?" Like and I go home to my my parents and I'm like, "Dad, like I want to ride a bike." And you know, what do you do like when you like don't really have an answer for your son? And they eventually got me like a three-wheel bike that I could ride, but um I was like, you know, I would have those little hissy fits sometimes and go home like, "Why can't I run around and why can't I ride a bike and why am I short? Like, what is going on, you know?" And so, after, you know, years years of like the the progression of technology and a lot of prosthetic play places were turning me down, um I finally we finally found a place when I was like 13 or 14 and um with prosthetics like so for my legs, I don't have much quad. Probably only have a couple inches of quad, and so the least amount of leg you have, the harder the prosthetic is. And so we finally found people that were able to fit me, and so they fit me in at first they fitted me, they were called stubbies. And so basically they were just like stilts. And so probably like a couple couple inches long, no knees, and I would just I would stand up in them, and I finally was standing up in them, and I could walk around, and I would strengthen like my lower back. And I That's also the thing I realized is like all the muscles that go into play if you guys simply standing up. Like your obliques, your abs, your lower back, your your quads, your butt. Like all these stuff that I didn't know goes into hand of you guys standing up. And you guys may not know it cuz it's just natural, right? And so finally it came to the point where I had my I had full legs. Like they fitted me with full legs, and they had knees in them. And it's super expensive technology, and they sat me up, and I'm like, "Oh my god, look how tall I am." That was the first thing I realized. I was like, "How How tall can you make me?" Like, "We can make you as tall as you want." I was like, "No, I want to stay pretty low to the ground. I don't even know how to fall How do you guys fall with legs?" Like I just didn't know anything, right? And I could like I could like stand up in the legs, and like walk with like a walker, and like my lower back would fire, and like all these muscles. And I was a chubby kid. Like I wasn't in shape then. And it was the first thing like physically where I kind of told myself, I was like, "Dude, like you're not strong enough." The legs were 7 and 1/2 lb each. And I don't have much quad, and back then I was still wasn't in you know shape. And so like trying to move these legs were just like so hard. And so you know me, I wanted to get in the legs and run. Like you know, you just run right away. And here I am, I'm walking with a walker. I'm like, "I don't like this, you know?" And so it was the one thing I realized like physically like you need to be you need to be stronger for this. And so it I love that you asked me this question is because now so I stopped using legs. I told my parents like, "This is slowing me down. Like I You see me run around. Like I'm running around, flip tires. Like this is slowing me down. Like let's just put them aside. They'll be really expensive flower vases for now. And like if if I happen to get back into them." And that you know, I have to thank my parents for being like super easy, and not being so upset with like, "What do you mean? We just bought these super expensive legs, and you don't want to wear them?" Um, so shout out to my parents for that. Um, but the cool thing now is getting into fitness and being the bodybuilder I am now, like I haven't really talked about this much, but low-key like I'm always strength I'm strengthening everything and one day like I'm going to get back into my legs and shock the world. No, I totally agree. Where can people find you? Yeah, people can find me um, my long my last name is pretty long. Um, Nick Santonastasso, but on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, if you type in Nick Santo, I'm the guy with the no legs, one arm. Um, there's not many people that like me. Um, but I got the really long last name and uh, you like I said, you can find me on all those platforms and um, my book's on Amazon, Victim to Victor. Wherever they can find me, I'm the unicorn guy that doesn't really look like everyone else. I love it. What is the impact that you want to have on the world? The impact I want to have on the world, right? The echo. Like some people have, you know, echoes that last a couple weeks, a months, like I want, you know, when I when I die, I just want people to be like, man, you know, that guy gave everything he could for other people. Like he just laid it out all laid it out all online. Like just gave everything he could and you know, showed people that, you know, he was right, that the biggest disability is a bad mindset and that when I when I pass, like I just want people to continuously be the victors of their life and realize that life is all about perspective. The the lens the lens we look through, you know, like you can have that victim you can look at things and be the victim or you can look at things and see all the positive in the world. And the fact that we're we're literally spinning on a rock in in in the universe, well, we call it the universe, we don't really know what it is, but we're literally spinning on a rock right now and we have the ability to be conscious and and experience the human experience, which we is wild. Like we're actually live and like right now as we're talking, like we can't feel the blood that's rushing through our left ear right now because that's just life. Like life is absolutely wild and when people, you know, I always say if people can just reflect like at least once once a day on the fact that like we're on this rock and it's spinning around and we don't really know what's going on, but we're here, like you'd be you'd be a little less, you know, you'd be hesitant to complain about traffic or the fact that your leg hurts because something else in the in the grand scheme of the universe is going on that's way worse than what you have going on. Even me, a man with no legs and one arm, I ain't got no problems. I mean, that's a perfect place to end. Thank you so much for being on the show, brother. That was incredible. Guys, check this man out and if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. Until next time, my friends. Be legendary. Take care. Dope. Dude, that was wicked, man. Thanks for having me on the show. It's a pattern I keep of me. I always [music] do a little extra. I always go the extra inch and the quickest and easiest place to do it [music] is the gym cuz I can always grab one more weight, one more set and it Here's what it does. It shifts your identity.