A Letter
To the #Entrepreneurs, #Athletes, and #Achievers of Our World,
I have been very fortunate the past few weeks to sit down with today’s most influential entrepreneurs and athletes for my upcoming personal growth + business mindset book.
Closing each interview, I always like to ask what they would like to know about myself or the book. In a few of my conversations, former NFL players, self-made multi-millionaires, and internationally recognized speakers have asked me…what started this?
It’s a long story and at times, not a pretty one. It’s raw. It’s emotional. It’s putting myself in my parent’s head to imagine what it must be like to sit down and plan my funeral while they are bedside watching a machine breathe for me.
What started this, is the genetic killer, Cystic Fibrosis. It’s partially my battle between loving to laugh and my fear of the coughing fit that ensues when I do. It’s my battle in searching for moments that take my breath away, while my lungs struggle to fill with air.
Soon, I’ll share the blog that went viral in summer 2015; ultimately leading me to several national news televised reports, winning a battle against insurance companies for the entire state of California, fan mail from parents who now truly believe they can see their kids graduate high school…fan mail from teenage girls who believe they now will live long enough to meet prince charming and get married…fan mail from parents who know their child now has the possibility to outlive them. All of my wishes came true because of the philosophy and mindset of the win.
When I was first approached about writing a book, it was suggested I create a memoir on dying with a terminal illness. However, my life is far from over. I’m not terminal in that Cystic Fibrosis will kill me in a year. I’m not terminal in that I’m no longer actively planning out the last few years of my life. I’m not terminal in that I have updated my will. We all pass, but it’s just not my time. What the world needs, is not a gut-wrenching story about negative aspects of living in a hospital for months out of the year, what the world needs is a better place to wake up every morning.
In my darkest days, I packed my suitcase for the emergency room full of clothes, nail polish, makeup, a homemade blanket from high school, and books. When I didn’t have friends visiting, I had mentors coaching me, albeit they never knew it. When a doctor would tell me that I lost a large portion of my lung function due to infection, coaches like Darren Hardy, Napoleon Hill, Rick Pitino, Larry Winget, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter all kept me company. They all contributed to my “why”. I felt that for me to leave any impact on this world, especially if statistically I only had a few years left, I needed to “brainwash” myself to think like they thought.
After years of brainwashing, I noticed common threads throughout the mindsets of today’s household names. I began to see how entrepreneurs, athletes, and high achievers view the world around them, and that was how I started viewing my life in the hospital. Those “vacations at Club Med” became a spiritual awakening for me. I had two weeks of uninterrupted meditation time every two months. I packed my suitcase with countless books and highlighters and became a student and a self-titled groupie.
I have such a love for entrepreneurs and athletes and how they play life’s game. The way achievers view the world, the process and habits they form to pursue what they want, the “why” behind what gets them through when things aren’t smooth. I love the constant paradigm shifts they have, their unpredictability, the endless sports analogies relating to business (that embarrassingly, I had to go home and Google). I know out of their darkest days, came the brightest sunrises. I firmly believe that when they lose everything (and a surprisingly high amount have), they will win it all back. As Senator Brian Nieves said, “this is a story that needs to be told”, but instead of it being about me…it’s about the way we all win the game.
Much love from your biggest fan,
Klyn Elsbury
Want Even More?
1. I AM ____: The Untold Story of Success is my best-selling book that went viral in 2016; it takes real-life stories of successful influencers during their darkest times and puts it against the backstory of dealing with the terminal illness, Cystic Fibrosis.
2. Life. ALL IN. is a free 15 week email course that comes with a guidebook that teaches you how to uncover what you truly want in life, how to build the habits to get it, and how to love others during your journey
3. Inspirational Keynote for Entrepreneurs Organization
Let’s Connect.
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