Day 244: JJ Virgin
“I think one of the best things that I do is surround myself with some really amazing people, and we all are looking at how we can take it to the next level, because it’s really easy to get comfortable, right? When you are with really big thinkers and really big doers and people who are really changing the world, making this a better place, you’re not going to sit there, sit tight and rest on your laurels.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, JJ, for agreeing to be part of the Project today, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
JJ Virgin: Yes, thank you. I’m JJ Virgin. I have a Ph.D. in holistic nutrition, I’m a certified nutrition specialist, and a celebrity health and nutrition expert. I’m the author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, and the costar of a cool new reality show airing in September, and that’s all I can tell about that.
Toni: Okay. Well, we’ll have to keep an eye out for that, won’t we?
JJ: Yes.
Toni: So JJ, you think about that word inspiration, who do you think you inspire, and how does that happen?
JJ: You know, I think the biggest way we inspire is by who we are and what we do, not what we say. I am a speaker. I speak all over, but I think the most powerful time when you speak is when you first walk up on the stage and those times when you were on the stage saying nothing. I’ve always been known for walking my talk, and as a single mom, as the breadwinner of the family, I have a special needs son, I’m pretty typical of most people out there. Everybody’s got something, right?
And I think I inspire those women out there who look at me and go “Well, shoot, you know, look what she’s going through; I can do it too.” And so that’s why I’m always very clear about hey, you know, I wasn’t born … I was born to be tall, so I lucked out there, but I work at being very fit and healthy every single day, and it’s something all of us can have.
Toni: And so how did you get into the business of sharing that mentality and that lifestyle with others?
JJ: How could you not? You know, I think we all have a spiritual gift, and we all have a calling, and I’m very lucky that I’ve always known mine. I knew it when I was a little girl. Since I was a teenager, I’ve been teaching dance. I was into nutrition at age 12. I’ve always been involved in health.
It was interesting – I went to a psychic yesterday, and she told me that my whole world revolved around health and business, and that I had to be in a business where I went and changed lives and made an impact. I’m like “Uh-huh.” But to me, this is the foundation for everything. You know, not to be cliché, but if you don’t have your health, really, what difference does anything else make?
The challenge out there is the plethora of misinformation and how difficult it seems like it is, when in reality, you know, being your best is really just a matter of implementing some simple action steps consistently day after day. And if you start from where you want to be, which is a healthy, lean person, put those steps in place – you’ll get there.
Toni: So let’s talk about exploring potential in others, because there are a lot of people who know they need to get fit, that want to subscribe to an exercise program, a mentality change. The work that you do, the example that you set, when you’re onstage speaking, what happens between you and that audience that’s going to help them to explore not only their physical potential, but their mental potential?
JJ: Which is so important, because they do go hand-in-hand. And again, most of what I do with people is help those people who are looking to go to a higher level in their work, in their career, in their business, in their life by up-leveling their health.
You know, I think at first there might be a bit of a disconnect, because people will tend to look at me and say “Well, I can’t look like that.” I will tell you that I’m 47 and fitter than I’ve ever been in my life because of my mindset and because of letting go of those limitations, and because of science and the fact that I put a lot of customized testing into my programs.
But you know, the first part is to let people dream again and let them know really what is possible. Because for so many people following the wrong advice out there – which that could be a whole 10-hour call – they’ve just given up. They just figure it’s hopeless; they figure this is as good as it gets.
So when you start to tell the stories of the people like them who’ve completely changed their lives by finding out those problems in the metabolism, taking the action, doing small action steps to change them over time, they start to have the hope too, and they can start to dream about where they want to be.
And where I like to take them is let go of all the chatter in your head about why you can’t be this way, about your genetics or your environment or your motivation or your cravings. Toss that. Or your time, right? Get rid of that, and just tell me where you really want to be. What would you look like standing on the stage? How would you feel? More importantly, what would that do for you?
You know, people come into my programs with all different goals. Some people want to lose weight, some people want more energy, some people want better skin, some people want to have greater sex, right? Everyone comes in differently; they all leave with one unifying factor, and that is they are all more confident.
Toni: I just wrote the words down, inspirational spark. That’s what I’m hearing. Especially in the Get Inspired! Project, there are people that are doing great work, and I’m hearing from you that it is about that inspirational spark. There has to be a spark that occurs between you and your clients.
JJ: And you know, that spark I think, is the possibility spark. I remember listening to this woman who was … she was sitting in on a talk I was doing – not because she wanted to be there – I was one of the speakers, and she said “You know, I sat there and I didn’t want to hear you. I didn’t like you.” Right? She said “I didn’t like you because I looked at the way you looked and I looked at me, and I just, you know, I was angry.”
And I started to tell some stories, and she started to see herself, and she started to see the possibilities, and she realized she didn’t have to be where she was, which was 100 pounds overweight. She actually was doing the wrong behaviors. You know, your body does exactly what you tell it to do, so if you’re doing the behaviors … and unfortunately, she thought she was doing healthy behaviors. They were the very behaviors telling her body to hold on and store more fat. But as I started to tell these stories, she sat there and cried.
We’ve been working together a couple of months. She is 35 pounds down so far, and her whole life has changed because, you know, weight loss … getting healthy is a metaphor for life, right? You know, when you see what’s possible there, it starts to impact – how could it not – every other area of your life.
Again, that’s why I like to work with people looking to up-level their business, up-level their life, because when you go out there to get more stamina and more energy and better mental clarity and better resistance to stress and to know you’re looking your best, your personal best, it’s going to impact everything.
Toni: So what inspires you?
JJ: Well, fortunately, the number one thing that inspires me is I’m driven by results in other people, and it is so … like getting an email from someone, seeing someone’s life change is to me the most inspirational thing, and it just keeps me driving out there. What’s really inspiring is to see changes in people I’ve never met, never spoken to, who’ve actually made the changes either because they read my book or they were in a group program, or because someone who was in one of my programs told them some of the things I said and they started doing that.
I mean, that’s when you really know you’ve had this impact. And honestly, you know, I’m here to leave this place better than I found it, and I know that my mission is to inspire the world to be proactive about their health and then show them through simple action steps how they can do that. And so, I wanted to make sure … and I was on Dr. Phil for two seasons; the thing I was known for was the simple little sound bytes. That’s what I’ve always worked on. Little things that you can put into action right away.
Now, I am in business for myself, and I really manage my mindset. I’ve decided this past year that it was going to be … it was about a year-and-a-half ago that I was going to step out in a way bigger way, play a much bigger game, and I’m not going to say that it’s been easy, and I’m very lucky that I have a group of women around me, a mastermind group, that we all support each other, inspire each other.
But I start every single day off in gratitude. I start with inspirational quotes and my intention … where I want to be, because we have to be so clear about where you’re going, and then you need to live from that place. I find that really inspiring as well.
I mean, the idea that we … I think we as women right now, we are living in the most amazing time ever. We are the ones changing the economy. We’re the ones changing health. We’re guiding healthcare right now, and it’s just an exciting, exciting time to be. There really are zero limitations, and the only limitation is that I need to make sure I get my seven to nine hours of sleep.
Toni: That’s very difficult for us women to do, isn’t it?
JJ: Yes, it is, but I am adamant about that sleep, man. That’s a big part of my program.
Toni: Well, JJ, as I’m listening to you, and I can hear the passion in your voice, I’m wondering how did you come to this place? How did it become the passion? You said that you’ve always known that you’ve wanted to do this type of work, and so I guess you’ve known, I don’t know, what you were passionate about, but how did it evolve and what kind of courage did it take for you to step out to do this on your own?
JJ: Well, fortunately, I really love a challenge. In fact, I strive for challenges. If I’m not getting challenged, I’m bored, and you know, if I’m bored, it’s really bad. Don’t let me get bored. But I will tell you that if you really keep pushing that “where you want to be” out there, you know, the answer always comes.
I remember I kept putting it out there when I first wanted to work in health, and I became a personal trainer and I really wanted to help people transform their health and their lives. I loved it, but I was working one on one and I thought “Gosh, I’ve got to have a bigger impact. I’ve got to have a bigger impact.” I just kept praying for a bigger impact.
Someone came up and asked me to speak for groups, and I wasn’t a speaker, but you know, she said “Do you speak?” And I thought “Yes, I speak,” and so I’m a speaker. Then I started speaking before groups and I loved the fact that, you know, I could do a talk and it would have legs and it would go on and I’d impact more people. But I wanted to impact more people.
You know, this all feeds on itself, and I kept saying “Okay, how do I get to more people, more people?” And the next thing I know, I’m on Dr. Phil for two seasons. Then I went “Okay, now how can I take this to the next level?” Because you know when you’re on someone else’s show, there’s only so much you can get out. A lot of my good stuff is on the floor somewhere. It never made it.
So you just look at how can you continue to get this message out there and how can you get it so that it leads you? That’s when you know something really, really has legs, is that it’s not dependent on you right there, it’s being passed on, passed on. And all of sudden you’re hearing your stuff out there, and people don’t even know where it came from, and you’re like “Oh, that was mine – it’s getting out there.”
And so that really … the need for continuing challenge and the need to continue to play a bigger game because of the impact that I want to have, that’s really what’s making me challenge myself. And I’m not going to tell you … I’m going to say that this last year-and-a-half when I decided to really go to the next level, I was kind of at a crossroads. I was at a turning point. I thought, you know, “I’ve got a nice life, I could either just keep this simple, or I could do what I’m supposed to do, you know, and it’s going to be a lot of work, and it’s going to be pretty scary at times.”
And there are times that you look at it and you go “Who am I to do this,” right? You know, I mean, who am I to spread this word, who am I to do this, and sometimes it’s so scary that you know, I sit there and go “I’ve never felt fear like this,” and then you push through it. And then you get bigger fear and you push through it.
So it’s that challenge and knowing you’ll always break through, and sitting in that uncomfortable place that really you have to be willing to do, to really push through. I don’t want to ever feel like this is as good as it gets, this is the end of the road, you know?
Toni: It’s really interesting, because there’s people that are listening to your interview all over the world – men, women – it doesn’t matter what their ages are either, and the message I think that just came out of the answer to this question is for you, is to just keep pushing and to know – and that’s not always easy – but to know where you want to be. What do you want, and putting it out there, but then also stepping out of that comfort zone, which I’m really relieved that you said that there is a bit of a fear and trepidation that comes with going for it, you know, and that you have to …
JJ: More than a bit.
Toni: Yeah, I mean seriously – and those people – there are people that will tell you “Oh, I just did it and there wasn’t any fear,” and I applaud you for saying that there is. That’s almost refreshing, quite frankly. But anyway, so it’s getting out of those comfort zones and just doing it, and I also heard that you have to be completely tenacious, that no matter what it is, think of it even differently. “Where can I go even further,” and what a great message that is for those that may know what they want, but not know the process that they have to go to get it, and that also applies, I would imagine, to fitness.
JJ: It applies to health, fitness, everything. You know what? It first comes with the decision that this is what I want. You make that decision and then you just start the process. I will tell you, the process that I’ve done over the last year-and-a-half to take … I mean, I created a million-dollar company in … it will have been a year – that will be – that’s just the start. To me, the reason the money is important is because it shows the impact. You can’t really do anything without money, so you know, you can’t make any big impact without money, and there’s a lot of stuff I’m planning to do out there.
But I literally … one of my girlfriends calls it “building the plane as you’re flying it.” I just literally just kept it out there and just kept making the shifts as I was going, and you know, it just … whatever you believe in, God, Source, or Universe, just kept guiding me along.
Toni: So how do you then continue to explore your own potential to keep building this plane as you’re flying it?
JJ: I’ll tell you, I think one of the best things that I do is surround myself with some really amazing people, and we all are looking at how we can take it to the next level, because it’s really easy to get comfortable, right? When you are with really big thinkers and really big doers and people who are really changing the world, making this a better place, you’re not going to sit there, sit tight and rest on your laurels.
Toni: Absolutely; you have too much work to do.
JJ: Yes.
Toni: Well, JJ, it has been an absolute pleasure talking to you. We will have links at the bottom of this interview as far as how to reach you, get a hold of your books, and we will definitely keep an eye out for that reality show. And for the time that you have given out of your schedule to be part of the Get Inspired! Project, we truly thank you.
JJ: Thank you. I appreciate it, Toni.
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For more information about JJ Virgin: www.jjvirgin.com
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