Why Are We Shooting It Straight?

Shooting It Straight, episode number one, July first, twenty twenty five.

Coach Jim Clayton: Bam son.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is Shoot It Straight, the podcast where life blessings don't come sugarcoated and excuses get bitched.

I'm Randy Black, podcast guy.

professional question asker and apparently the only one here who doesn't yell pam son in public.

Coach Jim Clayton: Well we're working on that Randy.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm Jim Clayton coach mentor motivator and the guy who still thinks a whistle may be the best motivational

Coach Jim Clayton: tool known to man.

Each week, we're taking what Jim's learned from the court, the drills, the discipline, the drive, and translating it into real-world success.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's right.

Coach Jim Clayton: This ain't just about basketball.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about showing up when life presses for you.

Coach Jim Clayton: Full court.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about pushing through when the clock's ticking down.

If you're looking for fluff, well, you might just want to ride the bench.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're here to help you believe bigger, achieve louder, and motivate stronger.

Coach Jim Clayton: So buckle up and whatever you do, keep shooting it straight.

Coach Jim Clayton: Damn, son!

This is episode number one of Shooting It Straight.

I'm Randy Black, joined by my co-host

Jim Clayton.

Jim Clayton.

Great.

Great name to hear if you know anything about basketball.

And he's finally doing it.

He's finally getting a podcast going.

So we're going to take some time here on our debut episode to kind of go through and outline why it is we're doing this show.

What is the reasoning for it?

But before we that do that, anybody who might be new, I'm sure there's a lot of people listening who know Jim, but don't know me.

There might be some people listening that know me, but don't know Jim.

We're going to take a minute to kind of introduce ourselves, give our background info so you kind of know.

where it is we're coming from on this.

So I'm gonna throw to Jim and let him kind of talk for a minute about himself because I know he loves to talk a little bit.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh gosh, I hear you buddy.

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, you know again

Coach Jim Clayton: This is just something that I've been wanting to do for a long, long, long time.

Coach Jim Clayton: People have asked me, coach, you need to write a book.

Coach Jim Clayton: You need to do this.

Coach Jim Clayton: So this is going to be like my first stage to get into that book

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, so you know the things that I've learned, the lessons I've learned along the way.

Coach Jim Clayton: I've been an educator for 40 years in Cabell County.

Coach Jim Clayton: I taught high school

Coach Jim Clayton: Started a little elementary school at East Lynn Elementary, then I moved to Huntington East in nineteen eighty, coached there, shut school down in ninety-six, moved to Huntington High, was there through about two thousand and eight

Coach Jim Clayton: And then went to Cabal Medellin and finished up there.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I've been in the in the in the thick of things, you know, in the trenches with the students

Coach Jim Clayton: you know, really get into the guts of what it's all about.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so the things that I've learned is along the way is what can I do to help make everybody better?

Coach Jim Clayton: See, it's all about what can you do to help somebody else

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not really about me.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not about you.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about what can you do to make somebody else better?

Coach Jim Clayton: Because really when you do that.

Coach Jim Clayton: At the end of the day, when you put your head down on the pillow, man, you've got a real sense of satisfaction.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and it happens every day for me.

Coach Jim Clayton: It doesn't happen for everybody else, but it happens every day for me because I make it happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: See, that's the key to the deal.

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, I've coasted all over the world.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I've been around for a few decades.

Coach Jim Clayton: Quite a while.

Coach Jim Clayton: Learned a lot along the way.

Coach Jim Clayton: Didn't have a business model to follow

Coach Jim Clayton: I just learned through trial and and and just figuring it out.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's what a lot of people need to learn how to do because everything's not going to be handed to them right in their lap.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, here's what you do.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, so I had to learn through

Coach Jim Clayton: Trial and error learned through experience and I learned along the way one of the biggest lessons that I probably didn't know

Coach Jim Clayton: Especially being in education, is that failure and success are not opposites.

Coach Jim Clayton: They run side by side every day down the road.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you can't have really great success without some form of or many forms of failure.

Do you remember my fortune cookie?

Oh yeah.

Failure is feedback?

Oh yeah.

And feedback is the breakfast of champions.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's right.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's exactly right.

Coach Jim Clayton: But see in today's world, see in the old school world, the dinosaur world where I grew up

Coach Jim Clayton: That's how people learn.

Coach Jim Clayton: In today's world, it's kind of opposite because kids think failure is like, oh my gosh.

Coach Jim Clayton: They don't know you're going to learn from it.

Coach Jim Clayton: Everything's based like it.

Coach Jim Clayton: Here's how I know that.

Coach Jim Clayton: through my experiences.

Coach Jim Clayton: When you ask a player, how did you do?

Coach Jim Clayton: They go, we won, we lost.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I said, that's not what I asked you.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, how did you do?

Coach Jim Clayton: And they say, well, I did pretty good.

Coach Jim Clayton: But you see, they forget how good they did because they just think everything's based on win and lose.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I come with this question.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is the one I come with right afterwards.

Coach Jim Clayton: I say.

Coach Jim Clayton: Is it possible for you to play a good game and your team not win?

Coach Jim Clayton: Yep.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, well see, then don't be so hard on yourself.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now when all four of your other players play really good

Coach Jim Clayton: You're gonna have a good team win.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yep.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, so I I I've been through that segment.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, I've worked for Nike, I've traveled all over the world, done Nike speaking tours with them, met some fabulous people and coaches all over the world.

Coach Jim Clayton: Um I wouldn't change that for anything.

Met some uh pretty famous basketball players as well.

Coach Jim Clayton: Made some players along the way too.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now that was that was probably the

Coach Jim Clayton: the the the best of the best, but I'd already been a little bit oh, he is the best of the best.

Coach Jim Clayton: Let me clear that up real quick.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: But I've been with some other NBA teams before I really got connected with him

Coach Jim Clayton: I was with the Nets, New Jersey Nets.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's when they had Kenny Anderson.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Coach Jim Clayton: They had Drosin Petrovic, Sam Bowie.

Coach Jim Clayton: They had I mean they had Ramil Robinson.

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean, they had some really, really good players

Coach Jim Clayton: And then I was with the Portland Trailblazers and they had Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter.

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean they had a heck of a team over there too.

Coach Jim Clayton: Buck Williams back in the old school days from Maryland.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got to do all that kind of stuff and you know and and

Coach Jim Clayton: That's kind of the gist of how all this came together.

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, I I never really was, I mean, I guess I just.

Coach Jim Clayton: was a upbeat type of person.

Coach Jim Clayton: I never thought myself as a motivational person.

Coach Jim Clayton: But I got into, you know, motivation.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, do I want to be a motivated person where I motivate you one day and then the next day you can't remember what I told you

Coach Jim Clayton: Or do I want to be somebody that leads you and helps you and mentors you so that you don't forget it and you can use it every day in your life and help make your life better?

Coach Jim Clayton: So I chose the second one

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, if I'm gonna be good at this, I gotta get with the best.

Coach Jim Clayton: If you want to be the best, you gotta get with the best.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got with my buddy named John Maxwell.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yep.

Coach Jim Clayton: He's the leadership guru of the world.

Coach Jim Clayton: If you don't know John Max well, then you don't really know a whole lot about leadership.

Coach Jim Clayton: He's only written about a hundred bestsellers.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I went down and trained with him and learned and got, oh, the best of the best

Coach Jim Clayton: you know, and still use that st all that stuff.

Coach Jim Clayton: Every day I listen to him say something.

Coach Jim Clayton: And it don't matter how many times I've heard him say certain things.

Coach Jim Clayton: If he says the same thing over again, somehow I get a different vibe off of it.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and because, you know, learning is a lifelong skill.

Coach Jim Clayton: And there's an old saying that says, it's what you learn after you think you know it all that counts.

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, how many people think they know it all?

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, there's a lot of people out there with that.

Coach Jim Clayton: So, you know, that's kind of my background information of how I put all this together.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, I've always wanted to do it and really how this the last thing I'm gonna say on this is a great story and this is how I got the idea to do it.

Coach Jim Clayton: I didn't come up with it

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was reading a story about this this this this uh grocery store.

Coach Jim Clayton: And they have three or four alliance of people in there, you know like your grocery store.

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, all of a sudden, everybody's in this one line that the cashier's ever going, hey, we'll take you over here.

Coach Jim Clayton: We don't want to get in that line

Coach Jim Clayton: So they're looking like, why do they not want to get in that line?

Coach Jim Clayton: Well there's a little boy that was bagging groceries and that was when it was a brown paper bags, not a glass

Coach Jim Clayton: And every time he'd bag a grocery, he put little words of wisdom in that thing, like your fortune.

Coach Jim Clayton: Like a fortune cookie

Coach Jim Clayton: And they were in there wanting to get that fortune for the diet.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm thinking to myself, man, that is cool.

Coach Jim Clayton: What if I did that

Coach Jim Clayton: So instead of talking myself out of it like most people do, I didn't know anything about a computer.

Coach Jim Clayton: I couldn't type, cut and paste, couldn't do anything.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got one of my boys in class.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, Well, you gonna help me do this?

Coach Jim Clayton: He goes, Yeah, I'll help you.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I gave him the first quote

Coach Jim Clayton: And we did twenty-five on the first page.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I cut it out in little squares, put it in my pocket.

Coach Jim Clayton: Well I ran the the cafeteria.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so I so I just got 'em in there.

Coach Jim Clayton: They're all on their lines, doing their getting ready to eat, and I go

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah, anybody want you want to hear the word for today?

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah, cuz what's the word?

Coach Jim Clayton: I'd hand them one of those little strips.

Coach Jim Clayton: They go, that's cool.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, why?

Coach Jim Clayton: Use it.

Coach Jim Clayton: So the next day, they won't know the word of the day.

Coach Jim Clayton: So that 25 went to 50, went to 75, went to 100, got up to five or 600.

Coach Jim Clayton: And today I was passing out.

Coach Jim Clayton: And then I started thinking, man, I could do this a whole lot.

Coach Jim Clayton: Because that was before social media.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: So now I've kind of taken the same thing and turned it a little bit.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now you don't have to be in the line in the cafeteria to get the word for the day.

Coach Jim Clayton: You can get it every day.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's this is going to help share that even to a bigger audience.

Coach Jim Clayton: And what I found out is, which I'm sure you know,

Coach Jim Clayton: A lot of people need to hear positive vibes every day.

Yes.

Coach Jim Clayton: But when I send those things out.

We'll talk I'll talk about that in a second.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: I send that stuff out and they send that back and go, Coach, I needed to hear that today.

Coach Jim Clayton: Thanks for sharing that, Coach.

Coach Jim Clayton: I needed that today.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I go, if it helps one person to me, it's worth it.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's worth it.

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't worry about 100,000 people, one person.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's the case.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's how the whole thing kind of started.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's how and that's how I met you.

Coach Jim Clayton: I was doing a motivational speech at Teen Institute.

We'll talk about that in a little bit.

Yeah.

So

My background info, you know, like Jimmy, I was an educator.

Uh I still work in education, but I'm not in a classroom.

I haven't been in a classroom for over 10 years now

And I tell people, I miss it because I miss the kids.

I miss the interaction with the students.

When you teach a some teach a student something.

And it's so cliche to use it, but it it's so true.

That light bulb that goes off above their head, when you see that happen, when those eyes get big because they've got it, that jaw drops because they they're so

Just caught off guard by something.

That feeling is the best feeling in the world.

I know you know it.

I know it.

Anybody who's ever taught in a classroom and had success knows it.

That feeling, I miss that.

100%.

I I worked in educ I still work in education.

Um, I was a teacher.

I taught social studies, mostly history, some geography, sociology.

I loved sociology.

I loved teaching that course.

Uh, I was in a classroom for six years, and then I slid onto the tech side in education, was a tech coach for about two and a half years at Huntington Middle and Cabell County Schools here in West Virginia.

Uh and left Cabell County and went to Putnam County, worked in the technology department in Putnam County for another two two and a half years or so

uh before I left and I lived uh in Wayne County at the time and the high school that I graduated from, Spring Valley High School, had a position open and I went back there, stayed there for about eight months and realized I needed to move on because it was not the fit for me.

at Huntington High.

And I went back in twenty nineteen and the first person I saw in the hallway after I got in and got acquainted back to the building everything

was the guy I did my student teaching with, Bruce Sr.

And Bruce turned and looked at me and he pointed at me and said, I told you you'd be back.

And I laughed because he was right.

And it was it was a fit.

I enjoyed it.

It was a stressful job handling technology for that building.

Um, you know, we're the

You know, Catalington High's the fourth biggest school in the state of West Virginia in population.

It's in, you know, one person handled technology for that whole building was rough

Um, and I just I had other things going on in life and I had to I had to move on from it.

But I'm back in Putnam County, still working in education, working in technology, trying my best to make a difference every day.

I still get those interactions though with the kids every once in a while.

And it just I I have those and I just I leave the situation smiling.

I feel good because

I know that I have had an impact on that kid.

I've taught him something.

I've showed him something he didn't know about.

Um something has has hit

Um and and it's made a difference.

And that's that's what it's all about.

It's about making the difference.

I've been in podcasting now for about a decade, been involved in the space.

Um I've had I can't say I've had

Success.

I had moderate moderate things happen in podcasting, but it's allowed me to make connections with people that I never thought I'd have connections with, people that I can reach out to and go, hey, I've ran into this problem

Can you give me an idea?

Can you kind of guide me along the way and help me get there with what I'm doing in podcasting?

And it's been amazing.

It's been great.

You know, people I never thought I'd ever talk to in my life, like Adam Curry.

Adam Curry is the guy that invented podcasting.

He's the podfather.

He'll he today He's the goat.

He's the goat.

He is.

He won't say he is now.

He used to.

And now he says that because he's made changes in his life, now he says that

God just guided him to it to find a way to get to get messages out in a new way.

That's how he sees it now.

Never in the in my wildest dreams would I think I'd ever

Ha exchanged messages or or uh, you know, through telegram or email or even talk to the guy and I've had that opportunity.

Coach Jim Clayton: Don't underestimate yourself.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Coach Jim Clayton: And see if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be sitting here right now.

We sat in this room in July of twenty eighteen.

Coach Jim Clayton: How about that one out there?

Things that Jimmy has done in his teaching career working at the schools, working here at Sports City U, his business

And how that has impacted things and impacted lives and things and the way his mindset has worked and changed and grown over time.

Great podcast.

You can actually find it on YouTube if you search for the Randall Black show, Jimmy Clayton.

You'll find it.

It's still up.

It's archived on YouTube right now.

It's not available anywhere else, though.

But it's out there.

Um, and we had a fantastic time.

And at that time we sat here and somebody looked across the table from me and said, I'm gonna start a podcast.

Well, we've done it seven years later almost.

So it took a little while, but we got it going.

We've got it going.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's why I got you.

Coach Jim Clayton: See, I had to get a guy that knew what to do.

Coach Jim Clayton: that knew how to do everything.

Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And this guy this is the guy.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is the guy.

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, if it wasn't for him

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh let me sit there doing this.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I mean all the kudos go out to him, I mean, because I mean really uh

Coach Jim Clayton: It's really weird how things happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: But I always believe that things happen for a reason.

Oh yes.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I don't always know the reason.

Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'm not trying to always f I don't even try to figure it out.

Coach Jim Clayton: I just go with the fact that this is what I believe.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're blessed to be here.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is going to be a cool experience.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're going to share stuff with you guys that's going to blow your mind.

Coach Jim Clayton: And it's going to help you

Coach Jim Clayton: So that's the whole key to everything.

Oh yeah.

So, you know, the idea is that we came together because we got to know each other.

You know, Jimmy mentioned earlier, the very first time I met Jim Clayton.

I was attending CK High School, Sherido Canova High School, doesn't exist anymore.

Um, and we had a teen institute.

And at the teen institute, I remember this guy came in and was talking about things.

And he was the most I can't tell you exactly what he talked about.

But he was the most positive, upbeat, energetic guy I had ever listened to.

And I remembered that.

And I it didn't go away.

It stuck with me

And that second half of student teaching, I was at Huntington High School

And every day at lunch, I had the opportunity to sit down and eat lunch with Jim Clayton.

And I got to know the man that I remembered from that event taking place when I was a youngster.

And we struck up

I can't say at the end it was a friendship, but we knew each other.

We talked to each other every day for the time I was there.

And then there was a break and we didn't see each other.

until I took a job teaching at Cabble Midland High School.

And at the same time, Jim got transferred to Cabble Midland High School

And we had the opportunity for a couple years to work together in the same building, and I can remember walking in to the office, front of the building

to Mrs.

Daniels' office and Jim's there and he's talking about something he's like, I just I don't know how to do it.

I need help with it.

And she looks at me and I look at him and I go, let's go.

And we went back to his classroom and I helped him look at the thing, get the idea of what he was doing, tried to help him get started with it.

Coach Jim Clayton: And from that point on, I knew I didn't know anything about his Yeah.

And I can say from that point on, I knew I had a friend.

That if I needed something, I could reach out and go, hey, I need some help, Jim.

Can you help me?

And it's been that way.

You know, when I was doing that podcast, I reached out and I said, hey, let's let's sit down and talk.

What do you think?

And he's like, okay, let's do it.

And it we were able to take it and we turn I turned it into two episodes of that show because we were able to talk for a little while and get some get some a great conversation going and share some great info.

So we've come together because

Jim's wanted to do a podcast.

He's wanted to talk about these things.

And I reached out to him several months ago because Jim's had some health issues.

that, you know, I didn't realize we're going on.

And when I found out, the first thing it is, I reached out to him and I said, hey, I just want to check on you.

Make sure you're doing okay.

He said, I'm good.

I'm good.

I said, well, I'm going to come by and see you.

And I stopped in here at SportsCity U because we are currently upstairs.

We are in the what I'm going to officially dub today on the show, the SportsCity U podcast studio.

upstairs here in the building and I stopped in to check on him and talk with him and you know, I am I'm I'm I don't I don't hide it.

I'm Christian

I have a very strong belief in God and I believe God has the ability to touch individuals and heal them and take care of them.

And we stood right out here in the middle of this court, my arm around Jim, hugging him, and I gave him I prayed for him right there.

Coach Jim Clayton: You did.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'll never forget that.

Ever.

And

Since then, he's had some good news with things.

Things are getting better.

Things are looking looking better.

He's on the men.

Things are going good.

But that day he told me, I want to start a podcast.

He's like, I want to do it.

I want you to help me.

I said, okay.

Let me think about some stuff and we'll get to it.

And we took us a little while.

It doesn't matter.

But we got to it.

We got back to it.

And we sat down for a couple evenings and we talked about things and walk worked our way through it.

And we were maybe 30 minutes into that second night talking.

I said, you're ready.

Let's go.

You've got the topics.

You've got the ideas.

Let's let's start looking at things and let's get ready to go.

And that's why we're here today.

We've come together because like I'm not a sports guy in any way.

At all.

I coached football for a couple years because I was helping out a friend.

You know, it's one of those things.

It was a school I was teaching at at the time.

I'm not a sports guy, so I don't have those lessons

like Jim has from the court that he's used all these years and teaching people the game and and teaching them not just about the game though, taking that and applying it to life.

and how they can be a better person by what they're learning there.

I'm here because I'm the tech guy.

I'm keeping I'm keeping the tech going.

I'm making sure the recordings are good.

I'm the editor.

So I'm gonna edit this together, make sure it sounds good, get it all posted online, ready to go.

And um I might be a guardrail in a way, because sometimes Jim talks and you got to keep him going.

But we're here because he has stuff he wants to share, stuff he wants to tell everybody about.

Coach Jim Clayton: 100%.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'm gonna tell you something.

Coach Jim Clayton: Hey, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here.

Coach Jim Clayton: So it's a t it it's you know, it's all it's always it's a two-way street.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not a one-way street.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not the general patent rule my way or the highway.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's a two-way street, okay?

Coach Jim Clayton: And like I said, the things that he's really good at, I'm not very good at.

Coach Jim Clayton: Some of the things I'm really good at, he might not be really good at.

Coach Jim Clayton: But so some things we're shared, he can take it

Coach Jim Clayton: and use it in his life.

Coach Jim Clayton: And then the stuff he's sharing with me, I can take it, not very far, but I can take it and use some of the stuff in my life.

Coach Jim Clayton: Especially tech stuff.

Coach Jim Clayton: Because I'm not a real I'm not

Coach Jim Clayton: really like super novice, but I just don't have any patience.

Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And tech it don't like tech doesn't like me.

Coach Jim Clayton: It works fine 'til I need it, then it breaks.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that drives me crazy.

Coach Jim Clayton: But I ain't worried about that

Coach Jim Clayton: You know what I mean?

Coach Jim Clayton: We're here.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're gonna make it happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're gonna make some cool stuff happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: We're gonna have some great guests.

Coach Jim Clayton: We got some great topics to talk about.

And I'm pumped.

Yeah, we've got we've got we've got an idea.

Like a lot of see, you know, there's going to be times where we're sitting here and it's, you know, Jimmy's gonna come to the table and he's gonna have a topic and we're gonna start talking about it.

He'll let me know ahead of time.

I'll do some research, look into some stuff, come up with some ideas

And he and I will just sit here and shoot the breeze and go through it, talk about it, and see how he takes that idea and uses it to apply it to life.

And then I'm going to take those ideas and see how I might be able to do the same.

So we're kind of taking two different perspectives on it to try to share that and try to try to help people to see

that there are ways to do things in their lives that they may not expect.

Coach Jim Clayton: And not just one way to do everything.

Coach Jim Clayton: Exactly.

Exactly.

There's not just one way.

There's always

multiple paths to get somewhere.

The story I've shared with people before in the past, I mentioned her a little bit ago, Mrs.

Daniels at Cabal Midland High School.

Mrs.

Daniels and I, to this day,

Get along great.

If she sees me out somewhere, I see her, I walk up to her.

She walked up to me.

Big hug.

How you doing?

Checking on me.

Make sure I'm okay.

I make sure she's good

But we did a lot of headbanging at first.

We did not we did not see eye to eye.

But what happened is we both realized we had the same end goal in mind.

We just had different paths to get there.

And once we did once we figured that out, we were able to communicate with each other.

We could talk our way through it.

So if I thought her way didn't work and she kept pushing on me about it, I'm like, well, well, Ms.

Daniels, why don't we think about this

And give her that other route to look at.

And she did the same thing to me.

And it's that's it's it shows you that there's more than one way

Coach Jim Clayton: All roads lead somewhere.

Coach Jim Clayton: Some people just got better roadmaps or GPS.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's kinda how I'll take that right there.

But we've also got people lined up.

Jim's talked to some people he knows from all over.

No, not just the basketball world.

There's some people that are also in some other fascinating areas of life that we've got lined up to that we're going to talk to at times.

Alright.

Yeah, you're not even gonna believe it.

Well we're gonna bring people on the show, let them, you know, weigh in on topics or talk about things and you know

Some of these people, like I know we have a a a lady who plays professional basketball in Australia, who is one of your students.

Oh yeah, she plays sixteen years.

And she is going to come on and I know we'll get her to talk about what she's learned

From the teachings she got playing basketball or learning basketball, learning that game from Jim and how she's applied that in her life.

So it's just it's it's a gamut of things to talk about and look at.

We don't have

a very specific, we're always going to talk about this.

No, we've got a lot of different ways to look at stuff.

I know we've talked about, we're going to look at the idea of courage.

And having courage in the game can lead you having courage in your life that can lead to you having more success in your life because you're willing to put yourself out there

And it's stuff like that, you know, courage, determination, confidence, confidence.

Confidence is a big one.

Oh man.

Pressure.

Pressure.

So we have we got a lot of different ideas, ways we can go with it, ways we can

Kinda shape the conversation to help illustrate these ideas for people who are listening.

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Uh the thing, the the one of the big things though with this show that

I want to make sure people know is that this is the vehicle for Jim.

This is his vehicle.

I'm along for the ride.

I'll share stuff.

I've got stuff that's going to be valuable.

I know I do.

100%.

But this is this is Jim's vehicle.

I'm the guy who's helping him to steer that ship.

I'm the guy helping him keep the train on the rails.

The guy that's

Making sure the roller coaster stops when it's supposed to and then goes along and gets through the loop when it needs to.

Coach Jim Clayton: And let me tell you, that is critically important.

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, it's just that's you can't have one without the other.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, so you know, everybody talks about this and that, everybody talks about

Coach Jim Clayton: Me, me, me, me, me.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is not about me, me, me, me, me.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's about we.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's not a me show, it's a wee show

Coach Jim Clayton: And uh there's power in numbers when everybody's got the right agenda, they all on the right path, they got the right mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's amazing

Coach Jim Clayton: What can be a cop?

Coach Jim Clayton: Amazing.

J just like the kids on the court, we're a team.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh, yeah, exactly.

We are a team.

We're here one, two punch.

Pop pop.

We're here to work together.

to help get this message out, to get these get this information out, to have these discussions.

You know, and some of these discussions, they ultimately may not be they may not be fun.

There may be some hard stuff we talk about.

Because you know there's there's always, you know, the idea of

You've got to somebody you know, you can talk about from from anything, from basketball, from football, to being an artist, being a musician, you know, that

The idea of you've already mentioned it.

The idea of failure.

That's a hard conversation to have.

Hundred percent.

Coach Jim Clayton: Same principles apply.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: Don't matter what you're in.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, so same principles apply.

Coach Jim Clayton: So it's not just uh, you know, it only works for basketball, it doesn't work for no it cannot there's they transfer

Coach Jim Clayton: you know, right into each other.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: They run parallel.

Coach Jim Clayton: The lessons you learn over here can run parallel in the game of life.

Coach Jim Clayton: And, you know, that's really what it's all about.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: The game of life.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yes.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you know, my motto on the game of life is today's the day.

Coach Jim Clayton: Because we can't do anything about yesterday, because it's history.

And we don't know what tomorrow is gonna be.

Coach Jim Clayton: Nope.

Coach Jim Clayton: So that's hey, that's the future.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so today's a gift.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's why they call it the present.

Coach Jim Clayton: So we're in it right now.

Coach Jim Clayton: So we're going to make the best of it.

Coach Jim Clayton: And at 12.

Coach Jim Clayton: 01, here's what I want you to understand.

Coach Jim Clayton: This is stuff you're going to learn.

Coach Jim Clayton: At 12.

Coach Jim Clayton: 01 tonight

Coach Jim Clayton: It doesn't matter if you had the best day of your life or the worst day, because you know what?

Coach Jim Clayton: It ends.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I'm not going to start a new day

Coach Jim Clayton: Dealing with what I did yesterday.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's history.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's gone.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm gonna learn from it, but I'm gonna be better today.

Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's your attitude.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm

Coach Jim Clayton: And your attitude and your gratitude.

Oh, there we go.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's the most important two things, baby.

We've had several Jimmy-isms coming out there.

That's what I call them.

Some people don't.

I call them Jimmy-isms.

Jimmy's little phrases

that he puts out there.

And that's another thing.

Every week here on the show, we're gonna have what I call, I've dubbed it

Jim's Wisdom of the Week.

Cheesy Announcer Guy: Now it's time for Jimmy's Wisdom of the Week.

Cheesy Announcer Guy: This is where Jimmy shares one of his famous Jimmy isms to inspire the listeners.

We're gonna start it off with

The phrase that is, and there's another way to say it.

It's the brand.

It is the brand.

And it's this phrase right here.

Bam son.

Bam son.

I've heard that said so many times by this man that I had to make sure that he explains what it is for those people who don't know.

So Jim.

Bam, son, what does that mean?

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I'll tell you it's it's bam is a word that when somebody says, I don't care if you hear it on TV, somebody goes, bam.

Coach Jim Clayton: It just kind of gets you excited.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's a fast twitch word that boom it pops you up.

Coach Jim Clayton: So if you're sitting there bored of that, bam, it's going to bring you up out of your sink.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay, it's a little different than boom.

Coach Jim Clayton: See boom bam.

Coach Jim Clayton: See there's a little different than that.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so so I think, okay, so bam, what's that mean?

Coach Jim Clayton: What does that mean?

Coach Jim Clayton: So I started to think about it.

Coach Jim Clayton: I started writing it down.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's one of those three o'clock in the morning events.

Coach Jim Clayton: I wake up at three o'clock a lot of times and I've learned to have by notes

Coach Jim Clayton: And my pen and a pencil right by me.

Coach Jim Clayton: Because some of those are the greatest things and thoughts I've ever had.

Coach Jim Clayton: And if I don't write them down, I'm going to forget 'em

Coach Jim Clayton: Because they're in my subconscious.

Coach Jim Clayton: I think I'll remember that tomorrow.

Coach Jim Clayton: No, I won't.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I wrote this down.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, okay, what am I going to do?

Coach Jim Clayton: Bam.

Coach Jim Clayton: What's the biggest thing?

Coach Jim Clayton: Believe.

Coach Jim Clayton: Believe.

Coach Jim Clayton: If you don't believe in yourself, then don't expect anyone else to.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, okay, I'm gonna go with bullet.

Coach Jim Clayton: So what's A gonna be?

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, hmm, achieve

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, what do I want to achieve?

Coach Jim Clayton: Well, I want to achieve greatness.

Coach Jim Clayton: I want to achieve the right mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: See, because with the right mindset, anything is possible

Coach Jim Clayton: Because you're listening to the right side of your brain, it goes, you got this, coach, you can do it.

Coach Jim Clayton: Unfortunately, we flip the coin to the left side

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's the side goes, no, you can't.

Coach Jim Clayton: You're a failure.

Coach Jim Clayton: You can't do it.

Coach Jim Clayton: It ain't gonna happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: Nobody's gonna do it.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so see, so many people flip back and forth.

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't even turn that on my dial

Coach Jim Clayton: I call that W E A K Radio, the sound that brings you down.

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't turn that on my dial

Coach Jim Clayton: So I achieved the right mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I believe in myself.

Coach Jim Clayton: I achieved the right mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: And no matter what you do in life,

Coach Jim Clayton: You got to be motivated through the process.

Coach Jim Clayton: See, everybody goes through a process.

Coach Jim Clayton: And the ones that are successful, here's the difference in what they did that nobody else did.

Coach Jim Clayton: They paid the price.

Coach Jim Clayton: There's always a price you have to pay.

Coach Jim Clayton: And if you don't invest in yourself, you can't expect others to

Coach Jim Clayton: And you gotta be motivated.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now, motivation is a hard pill because it's not a natural thing.

Right.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now, I get up every day, man.

Coach Jim Clayton: I always say your day's determined before your feet hit the floor.

Coach Jim Clayton: So when I swivel those feet and my I come out of that bed, it's on.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's on.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you some of y'all there that are listening to this, you go.

Coach Jim Clayton: You walk downstairs, your mom says, Well, how's it going today?

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm tired.

Coach Jim Clayton: And you go, Oh tired.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh well, it'll be okay.

Coach Jim Clayton: You go to school.

Coach Jim Clayton: Hey, what's up?

Coach Jim Clayton: Man, I'm tired.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, you go, I'm tired.

Coach Jim Clayton: And by the end of the day, what kind of day did you have?

No, I'm not sure.

Coach Jim Clayton: A tired ass day.

Coach Jim Clayton: That's what you had.

Coach Jim Clayton: Hate to say it, but see that's you believe that crap.

Coach Jim Clayton: Okay?

Coach Jim Clayton: So when you go, how you doing, man?

Coach Jim Clayton: If I was worried about me

Coach Jim Clayton: Man, sh I'm uh it's happening.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'm having the best day ever.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, ordinary man be dead.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, man.

Coach Jim Clayton: So see, hey

Coach Jim Clayton: It's if I was worried about many, you know, I'm not worried about man because I'm God going on.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, and that's how I look at it.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I believe, I achieve, and I motivate

Coach Jim Clayton: Now the sun part that came a little bit later.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I got that off of I was watching one day, I was watching the Legends of the Bluegrass basketball.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was just sitting there

Coach Jim Clayton: And I was about to half pay attention.

Coach Jim Clayton: There was a guy that Billy Mike Runyon.

Coach Jim Clayton: He was a legendary coach at Paintsville High School.

Coach Jim Clayton: And there's a section in that video, he's got these boys in the locker room.

Coach Jim Clayton: And he's going, Dang, son, you can't guard that boy's son.

Coach Jim Clayton: He's wearing you out, son.

Coach Jim Clayton: What are you gonna do about that, son?

Coach Jim Clayton: And then I just said, BAM, son!

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's how that stuck.

Coach Jim Clayton: Took.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I that's I just put it together.

Coach Jim Clayton: Then it just kind of goes, BAM, son.

Coach Jim Clayton: Just there it is.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And if it wasn't for that, so I talked I met with him later, I said, I got a saying, which is kind of like my brand.

Coach Jim Clayton: I go, bam, son.

Coach Jim Clayton: And

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, I got the son from you.

Coach Jim Clayton: He goes, from me.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, you remember that episode in the locker room?

Coach Jim Clayton: He goes, oh yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: So then this is how you learn.

Coach Jim Clayton: I was at a camp here one time called my college prep camp.

Coach Jim Clayton: And had a guy in there that was a heck of a player.

Coach Jim Clayton: Johnson Central.

Coach Jim Clayton: His name was Cole Crace.

Coach Jim Clayton: What a player.

Coach Jim Clayton: He says, Coach, we're sitting out there at half court.

Coach Jim Clayton: He goes

Coach Jim Clayton: I don't mean to be critical, but he goes, I'm going to tell you something.

Coach Jim Clayton: If you do this, you're going to make lots of money.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, well, okay, Mr.

Coach Jim Clayton: Big shy says, show me what you got.

Coach Jim Clayton: He says, his eyes ain't your face ain't whatever he goes, but if you take your mustache

Coach Jim Clayton: And put it on a shirt and put, bam, son, you're gonna sell a bunch.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, really?

Coach Jim Clayton: He said, really.

Coach Jim Clayton: And everybody in the camp goes, that's right

Coach Jim Clayton: So I the lady across the street me was an architect.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, let me this is what I got a little bit.

Coach Jim Clayton: Now she wasn't a graphic artist, she was an architect.

Coach Jim Clayton: So she kind of drew it out a little bit.

Coach Jim Clayton: I said, yeah, that's kind of cool.

Coach Jim Clayton: But that ain't what I want.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I got a hold of my buddy I had in school, graphic artist, one of the best in the country.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I gave him the idea and guess what?

Coach Jim Clayton: He came back.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm

Coach Jim Clayton: There it was.

Coach Jim Clayton: So I said, all right, I'm gonna print some shirts, and I'll be dagged if old Cole wasn't right.

Coach Jim Clayton: Those things went like hotcakes

Coach Jim Clayton: Now they've been on the stove for a while.

Coach Jim Clayton: I broke them out for a while.

Coach Jim Clayton: But if I break them out, they're going again.

Coach Jim Clayton: I break them out after this podcast.

Coach Jim Clayton: Guess what?

Coach Jim Clayton: And on the back, it tells you what it is.

Coach Jim Clayton: Believe in yourself, achieve the right mindset, and stay motivated through the process.

Coach Jim Clayton: Nice.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's the formula to bam, son.

Coach Jim Clayton: And if you do that every day

Coach Jim Clayton: You're gonna have a great day.

Coach Jim Clayton: I'll do it every day.

We we may need to take we may need to take this logo and make some stickers or something.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh I got it.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh I'll send it to you.

Coach Jim Clayton: You can put it out.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh I got it man, I got it everywhere.

Coach Jim Clayton: But you'd love

Coach Jim Clayton: And I haven't seen it in a while and these kids have it.

Coach Jim Clayton: I got in every different color in the rainbow.

Coach Jim Clayton: Mm-hmm.

Coach Jim Clayton: And uh but that's how the word came came about

Coach Jim Clayton: And it's probably never ever gonna go away.

Coach Jim Clayton: And I'll send you one time, you're gonna die on this one.

Coach Jim Clayton: Had this little girl from Logan, West Virginia.

Coach Jim Clayton: And she is in here.

Coach Jim Clayton: And she is a she was a fire s she's a firecracker.

Coach Jim Clayton: She had on her little Logan shirt, she had on a sweatband.

Coach Jim Clayton: And so what I said to her, so I said to her, I said, What do you got to say about that?

Coach Jim Clayton: And she goes

Coach Jim Clayton: BAM son woo woo So I've got this video you have to see it once I see it

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh, you'll go wild.

Coach Jim Clayton: So now when I go at my house and I go, a little granddaughters, once four, once six

Coach Jim Clayton: I go the one that's four, I go, bam, son.

Coach Jim Clayton: She goes, whoa.

Coach Jim Clayton: And what's everybody do?

Coach Jim Clayton: They smile.

Coach Jim Clayton: They laugh.

Coach Jim Clayton: They take the edge off.

Oh yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And really that's the key.

Coach Jim Clayton: I mean, don't take life so seriously.

Coach Jim Clayton: You know, it's it's the little things.

Coach Jim Clayton: It's those little victories that we get every day.

Coach Jim Clayton: Not the big victories.

Coach Jim Clayton: We'll see those down the road.

Coach Jim Clayton: Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: But all those little success stories, I call them little victories.

Coach Jim Clayton: And all those little victories, you know what they do?

They add up.

Oh yes.

Coach Jim Clayton: And if you don't pay attention to the little things.

Coach Jim Clayton: Don't worry about the big ones.

Coach Jim Clayton: This ain't gonna happen.

Coach Jim Clayton: Everybody wants the big one.

Oh yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: They don't want to take the steps.

Coach Jim Clayton: And in my world, there's no elevator to the penthouse

Coach Jim Clayton: There's just steps.

Coach Jim Clayton: Oh yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: And we gotta take the steps.

Coach Jim Clayton: And when you step from one step to the next one, you're leaving people where they are, and you're stepping on people that are happy where they are

Coach Jim Clayton: So you're leaving something behind to get to the next step.

Coach Jim Clayton: And every time you step, you're leaving somebody to go to the next one.

Coach Jim Clayton: And all the room is where?

Coach Jim Clayton: It's at the top.

Yeah.

Coach Jim Clayton: What's the motor most overcrowded place in America?

Coach Jim Clayton: The bottom.

Coach Jim Clayton: Doesn't take much effort to be on the bottom.

Coach Jim Clayton: And everybody gets that when you tell them.

Coach Jim Clayton: But they think that.

Coach Jim Clayton: I say it comes back to your mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: Your mindset.

Coach Jim Clayton: Is it open or is it closed?

Coach Jim Clayton: And if it's open, man, sky's the limit for you.

Coach Jim Clayton: And that's kind of how it all came about.

Awesome

So we're gonna close this one up.

Uh before we do though, I want to give a shout out real quick.

As you listen to the open on this show, there was some music playing there in the background.

Kinda

Kind of sounded a little bit, you know, like Jackson Brown there.

Coach Jim Clayton: Had a nice, nice beat to it, nice rhythm to it.

And uh just want to give a shout out to my brother.

I have a twin brother for people who don't know me.

And he's uh he's a works in education.

He works in technology and education as well.

He was a math teacher for several years, but he's also a musician.

And then I s I said, hey, I got an idea.

I need some help.

Jim and I are wanting to do this podcast and we need some some music.

And he's like, okay, tell me what you're looking for.

And we lay I laid it out to him and I don't know why, but for some reason, I said, how about uh something that's kind of southern rock?

And his reply back was, are we talking like Leonard Skinner or are we talking like the Almond brothers?

And I went, uh, Southern Rock was not what I meant.

I said, I'm thinking more like that Southern California country rock sound

He's like, okay.

I said, you know, the Eagles, early Eagles, before Don Felder came in.

He's like, okay.

I said, maybe, maybe Jackson Brown.

And it's like that light bulb went off.

And he went, got it.

And a couple days, you know, a couple days later he sent me just a basic MIDI file.

He's like, what do you think of this?

And I was like, okay, that's good.

And I sent it to Jim.

And Jim's like, yeah, this is gonna be good.

It was off to charge.

He he worked on it, uh, put that together, and we want to you know give a big shout out and thank him for that.

Rick, you did a great job and we appreciate that.

Love it, love it.

Appreciate it, and we you know it it sets the tone on the show

It builds us in and it's gonna it's gonna catch you here on the way out uh here in a second when we start close when we close out the show.

But come back each week.

We're gonna be here, we're gonna be spreading our met spreading this message, uh building up

These life lessons and sharing them with you here on Shooting It Straight.

If you've enjoyed today's episode, make sure to subscribe, share it with someone who needs a boost, and follow us online at shooting it straight podcast.

com.

That's where you'll find every episode, updates, and

Coach Jim Clayton: In life, just like in a game, it's not about being perfect, it's about showing up, putting in the work, and taking your shot when it can.

Coach Jim Clayton: And remember, keep shooting it straight.

Coach Jim Clayton: Bam, son.