The Blog of Motivational Speaker Josh Sundquist » my life

Interview in Fear.Less Magazine

Josh Sundquist — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:46:42 +0000

I was interviewed in this month’s issue of Fear.Less Magazine! Here’s an excerpt. If you’d like to read the entire interview, please download the magazine [PDF].

Ishita Gupta: How do you deal with fear?

Josh Sundquist: A helpful way I deal with fear – when I know I’m going to be afraid in a particular situation – is by being very prepared. Preparation calms me down because I can say, “You know what? I did everything I possibly could to prepare this speech. I read about the audience. I wrote a great outline and I practiced it a million times. I know it by heart.” Preparation gives you confidence and it is transferable to anything, especially a new situation.

IG: Let’s say you’re an entrepreneur and you’re starting to build something with no clue how to do it. Where do you start?

JS: The most important thing is to start doing things. If it’s too big and you think, “How will I ever do anything?” it will overwhelm you easily. With my book, for example, which is 100,000 words long, if I sat down and said, “Man, I’ve got to write 100,000 words,” that sounds crazy and overwhelming. But you have to think it out, write it down and figure it out, day by day what you need to do. Maybe you write 2000 words a day and that will take fifty days and fifty days is just a couple months, so you think, “I could probably do that.” You have to make it manageable for yourself.

IG: Your speeches are about creating a purpose in life. How can we begin to define our own personal purpose for our lives?

JS: Purpose comes from passion. What’s important is not what you think your purpose is but what you are passionate about. You have to sit down and look at that. What gets you excited? What keeps you awake at night? Whether it’s out of excitement or anger, whether it’s out of fascination or curiosity, whatever it is that makes you passionate, that is what sits around your purpose. If you can find the nexus of those points, that’s where you can derive a powerful purpose.

IG: How did you start “1MT, 1MT” [one more thing, one more time] and do you use it every day?

JS: I think about it often. I people achieve by being willing to do one more thing and do it one more time. It’s my motto and represents how I trained as an athlete. I was always trying to find one more thing to do that my competitors were not willing to do.

sundquist family christmas letter

Josh Sundquist — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 15:32:54 +0000

Greetings family and friends! Here’s what we were up to in 2010:

Paul (Dad) is still an accountant at the University of Virginia but his job responsibilities expanded when his manager retired last January. He has been doing both his job and his manager’s job much of the year, but recently some of his work is being transfered to another foundation at UVA. He enjoys playing tennis every week in our local indoor courts and is glad to have a four day workweek. Paul’s most significant accomplishment of the year, however, was joining Facebook.

Linda (Mom) loves homeschooling Anna and watching her ballets. She likes organic gardening, organic food, and reading (if anyone knows how do organic reading, please let her know). She is currently growing out her hair in order to donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

Joshua’s memoir Just Don’t Fall was published last January. It is a National Bestseller and will be coming out in paperback next month. You can check out his website and his YouTube channel to keep up with his activities. He recently became a vegan (though he wishes to clarify this was for health reasons, not for animal rights. He believes that the killing of animals for food is no different than the heartless slaughter of plants).

Matthew spent January to March volunteering at a law office and writing about the Supreme Court. He traveled to Argentina in March on a Fulbright scholarship to be an English Teaching assistant in San Juan University, which finished last month. He has published several articles in law journals this year and was recently cited in the New York Times. Some of his friends in Argentina have created a Facebook group encouraging him to shave his beard. It has seventy-five members.

Luke graduated from Turner Ashby High School in June and began college at Harvard University in August. He seems to enjoy it and is doing well in classes, playing intramural soccer and ultimate Frisbee. His recent interview in the Harvard Crimson has put him in contention for the coveted title of Most Funniest Sundquist.

Anna is homeschooled for the seventh grade and has also started posting videos on our family YouTube channel. She now has over 5,000 subscribers. She loves ballet, takes lessons four times per week and enjoys performing whenever she can. She recently got her very first haircut. If you’re reading this, there’s a 67% chance she’s already beaten you in Words With Friends on your iPhone.

-The Sundquists

Wal-Mart speech photos

Josh Sundquist — Tue, 18 May 2010 08:44:21 +0000

Check out these photos from my speech for Wal-Mart last week.

Photos by Curtis Myers

New Family Photos

Josh Sundquist — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:30:02 +0000

“Single Shoes” song

Josh Sundquist — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 02:26:35 +0000

Please always ask what I do with my extra shoes.

I’ve always just put them in a box.

Until now.

my MTV appearance!

Josh Sundquist — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:20:44 +0000

Here’s my appearance with the Jabbawockeez on MTV’s “Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew.”

NPR interview

Josh Sundquist — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 22:17:04 +0000

Check out this piece about m e from NPR’s Intern Edition.

Behind-the-scenes at MTV shoot

Josh Sundquist — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:46:19 +0000

photos from Children’s Hospital event

Josh Sundquist — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:11:38 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to return to UVA Children’s Hospital to speak at a fundraiser.

Click here to view more photos from the event!

Signing a book for Mark Andrews, the guy who taught me how to ski right after I lost my leg.

Here I am with Dr. Kimberly Dunsmore, my doctor from fifteen years ago when I had cancer.

Looking over my notes before my speech. That’s my mom and sister Anna sitting beside me.

good times at WBTX interview

Josh Sundquist — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 05:30:46 +0000

Here are a few highlights from a recent interview with Brad Huddleston and Jim Snavely at WBTX.

To watch the full-length interview, including interviews with my parents and brother, please check out Brad’s website.