He kind of put me through a little bit of a coaching session during our interview and it just, the, you could see the comp competitor in him, but at the same time, he’s super empathetic and he only wants you to lean into your ultimate human potential. And here are time to shine today. That’s all we really ask for in life.

So break out your notebooks on this one. If you like it, smash the like button. If you subscribe, we’d love it, especially my sponsors and affiliates. They absolutely love that. So without further ado, here comes my really good [00:01:00] friend, coach Chris Eversley. Let’s level up.

Hey, time to Shine today. Podcast Varsity Squad. Welcome back to another powerful edition of the Time to Shine Today. Podcast with me, coach Fergie. I’m your host, Scott Ferguson. I’m blessed to be your gap coach, specializing in mental performance conditioning, working with professional and amateur athletes, business leaders, entrepreneurs, entertainers, C-suite, and students to help them bridge their success gap.

To live a life of options and not obligations on this platform, we are stoked to bring you high performers who are not just chasing and attaining success. By redefining it through, providing above and beyond service and squad talk about going above the rim. My guy here that we’re bringing on my good friend Chris Eversley, he dunked his way through pro basketball courts across the globe, and now he’s slam dunking the game of leadership with people.

In in people operations. As the founder of Overtime Solutions and the voice behind the Everly Edge, he’s helping leaders level up with purpose, presence, and a serious edge with a deep passion for inclusive workspaces and a personal mastery and elite coaching. [00:02:00] He’s on a mission to build better humans and stronger teams, and I’m just so blessed to bring like a legit athlete on, ’cause some people are asking me, Hey, bring some athletes on.

Well, I’ve now delivered Chris, thank you so much for coming on. Please introduce yourself to the Time to Shine Today, podcast Varsity Squad. But first, what’s your favorite color and why? My favorite color is actually blue, and I’m wearing it right now because it always brought me good luck. So I, this is a situation that I’m trying to align my mental, love it, my mental state for the day with just, , feeling good, looking good, playing good.

Chris Eversley: And guess what? That’s when they pay good as , that’s when they pay. Good. It’s awesome.

L. Scott Ferguson: It’s so funny. Like I, yeah. I compete in, , submission grappling, right? Mm-hmm. And there we, that was one of the things someone just said the other day, and I, I remember it from Dion Sanders back in the day saying that, right?

Which is excellent. So. Chris, let, let’s hear the roots, man. I know you’re a fellow, Mid-Westerner like myself, , I know you’re a huge Pistons fan. I’m kidding. But No, but no, , from Chicago and whatnot. Let’s just hear kind of the, the [00:03:00] migration, ’cause I believe you went to play ball in Houston area at Rice and then out to the West Coast.

So let’s hear a little bit of this journey.

Chris Eversley: Yeah, I appreciate it and again, thank you for having me on here. I’m excited to tell people about the journey and just share our stories because again, as you’ve been looking for an athlete, I’ve been trying to get into more storytelling, so this is perfect. So love it.

It started on a quiet Thursday night back in 1991. Okay. Yep. I was born on Chicago, south side, pretty much born to a socioeconomics. Working class. Both my parents, , my mom worked for the energy company. My dad worked in the school system, so nothing super fancy. And I think that it’s something that pretty much set me on a path to just be greater than what my situation called for.

I think my parents. My parents were super instrumental. I, both of them played high level basketball. My mom played at Long Beach State back in the day when they were top four in the nation. Wow. My dad played at, at Chicago State, was drafted by the Bulls back in 1979 and then went overseas to play [00:04:00] in Sweden for seven years.

So I was pretty much born with the ball in my career. Wow. And every single day growing up, we didn’t live in the best of neighborhoods. So what my parents did to combat that was kept me busy. So any sports you can think of, I’m talking basketball, track football bowling. They just did anything they could to keep me away from the neighborhood.

So it pretty much kept me busy and really kind of started the high energy motor that I’m known for. And it would come to be the. The hat or the hook that I hang my hat on when it comes to not only my playing style as an athlete, but just as my business mindset of just resilience and keeping going and going.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Chris Eversley: So getting out of growing out through elementary school years, I actually went to Walter Payton College Prep, which is a, I believe last time they did the rankings. I believe they’re the top. I think number four, academically ranked public high school in the nation. So, , super nerdy. Yeah. So nerd.

Yeah. But the talent care of

L. Scott Ferguson: athletes is [00:05:00] Swic too, right?

Chris Eversley: Exactly. Yeah. ’cause it’s funny because the school opened in 2000, I graduated in 2009. Okay. And my friend Courtney Cunningham and I, we were the first athletes, first division one athletes. So she went on to play volleyball at Ole Miss. And I signed a letter to go play basketball at Rice University.

So again, taking that high level academics and going straight to the Harvard of the South is what they call it. Yeah.

L. Scott Ferguson: Rice. Yeah, absolutely.

Chris Eversley: Exactly right. So once I pretty much got situated there, it didn’t work out like a lot of things in our lives. Sure. So I’m a huge advocate of we don’t complain, we sit with whatever’s going wrong and we internalize it.

And move on to our solution. So being a solutions based, I ended up transferring because I wanted a better opportunity to showcase my skills, and that’s where I found Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Long story short, got out there, played for three years since you had to sit out back in the day, you didn’t have the transfer portal where you could Right.

Sign with the school tomorrow and play the next day, so, right, right. You had to do your hard time and it was honestly the best year for me. So I take [00:06:00] that year as a, as a foundation of one of my coaching pillars is. Sometimes you have to set that 0.5 speed. , We’re so accustomed to going 2.5, 3.3 0.0 speed.

Sometimes life puts you in that 0.5 for a reason and you really have to slow down and you really have to pause and you really have to grow so you can recharge the battery that way. , You overcharge, you charge your electric cars overnight, right? You have to think that your life journey is essentially the same way.

L. Scott Ferguson: We only have too much bandwidth, right? Right. Exactly. Right. And I

Chris Eversley: think everybody wants to do everything, but we have to figure out what we’re really good at. And sometime life teaches us that we don’t get to bend the universe to our rules. Right. The universe bends us. Yes. Which we’ll get into later on why that’s important, but Absolutely.

Yeah. So after I graduated well before I graduated, we actually went to the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history. Yep. So that was really awesome. And then. Once I graduated, went overseas to play professional basketball for five years, so my first, fourth and fifth seasons were all in Southeast Asia, and my second and third seasons were in [00:07:00] Belgium and Germany, respectively.

Nice. So really just getting out of. The south side of Chicago where I was born to go get on the auto bond or to go to Brussels palace and , to just be out in the world and all these places that I’d only seen in social studies, but geography, books and yeah, pretty much cut it short. I was, I was really bored.

Quite honestly, once you play professional basketball at the highest level, I think it started to refine purpose for me because for so long I’d enjoyed. Basketball as this thing, as this escape, as this sanctuary away from regular life. And when you throw money in the mix. Business comes in, egos comes in.

Sure. And your livelihood is on somebody else’s time and, and, and what they perceive as success. So at that point, five years, I was tired of practicing. I was tired of just getting on so many different flights. And there’s, it is with anything in life, there’s a, there’s an exhaustive component to it where there’s only so many times you can practice.

There’s only so many [00:08:00] autographs you can sign. Right. There’s only so many speeches you can give. So. I knew that chapter of my life was pretty much over. And then luckily unbeknownst to me, COVID was right around the corner. So. Retired right before COVID and then I was just chilling in the house like everybody else.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right? Yeah. And, and a huge thank you and shout out to Von Lie Dumond, for putting us together as well. And she, I affectionately call her my business crush. I absolutely love that woman, man. , Not indeed. Not only for the way she looks right, but like her personality in like just her need to be a Go-Giver and make those connections, right.

For between two people that she connected us. She’s the legitimate relationship creator, ? Exactly. So, and I absolutely love that. So what do you feel then, ’cause you are a coach, okay? Mm-hmm. , In, in a high level at that. So what do you feel, we’ll go really vanilla with this question, but what do you feel makes a great coach?

Chris Eversley: Sweat equity, I think makes a great coach. And that is a term that I use when I coached kids. And [00:09:00] at the end of every session, whether I was doing individual workouts or group workouts, I would always make the kids play a game. And I would say, you’re gonna go to the free throw line, and if you beat me in a free throw contest, then I’ll run.

But if I beat you, you have to run. Love it. And of course, 99.9% of the time Beat I was the winner, right? I was the winner. But I will get on the line with them and I would run with them. Hmm. Because not only did it keep me in shape, but it showed them that Coach Chris has my back service. He’s not just, he’s not just out here trying to make me run and collect his money and go home.

Like, no, Chris is sweating too. So,

L. Scott Ferguson: yeah,

Chris Eversley: in these runs, Chris, Chris could potentially pull a hamstring too, and he’s risking it out here, , racing against me. That really showed me something important. And because with children, and especially the ones that I was coaching that were high school and on down on the just basketball coaching circuit, you get that authenticity from them and they’ll, you, everybody already knows.

Kids say the darnest things, right? So you get that unfiltered truth, right? So, so many [00:10:00] of the kids just were straight up like, no coach. I really appreciated that you got on the line with me and you ran with me. So sometimes we were running. 15 down and backs. ’cause kids just couldn’t make free throws and I had to get out there and do it with them.

Right. So that really showed me the importance of, if I can get this unfiltered opinion from children who give you their honest opinion every single time. Wow. That never dies in anybody. That theme is gonna be consistent throughout people’s lives. So when it comes to coaching, when it comes to speaking, relatability and sweat equity are the most important things that really separate you from the coach because from from the rest of the pack.

Because if you can relate to somebody, because as humans, when you get into interpersonal dynamics of psychology, the first thing we want to do is feel mirrored. So if you feel truly mirrored with somebody, you’re gonna be able to go to a new depth with them. Yes. And they’re gonna give you more. And as a coach, you want to teach, you want to coach, you want to just help them realize that you’re a mirror of their situation.

And now [00:11:00] y’all can go down to the depths to really discover. What is that potential roadblock, whether that conversation needs coaching or if they just need some sort of reinforcement that they can do it?

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Chris Eversley: , I don’t look at coaching as instructional. I look at it as co-piloting.

L. Scott Ferguson: Thank you.

So many people like they’re consultants, right? Yes. And not coaches. We like people like you and I. We believe everyone knows what they want. They just don’t know how to talk themselves into it. But I’ve also believe that mining your superpower is curiosity. We’re super curious. Like we want them just to see that, that that switch go off when you ask that question and then them attack it.

And another thing you said, and squad, I hope you’re listening to this. It, it servant leadership. That’s exactly what he was talking about. , Again, I’m a Christian, , Jesus was his disciples feet, , he did that kind of stuff and it’s, I’m not saying it’s at the level, but my good friend Chris here, was shooting hoops.

And even when they had to run Chris r he showed them what it’s gonna have to take to get it done, to get [00:12:00] to his level. ’cause he wasn’t missing the shot. When people see that they follow. Thank you for bringing that up man. So let me ask you something with, like you, you said roadblock, I call ’em blind spots.

So when you’re maybe in that discovery session with somebody that you making sure you’re the right horse for the course, right? The more the right coach for, so is there any secret sauce, Chris, that you like to sh like, if you don’t mind sharing that maybe helps ’em shine that light on that blind spot though, where you know that you’re gonna have to lack of a better term attack.

Chris Eversley: Yeah, I think it goes back to the, the theme of relatability. So I think my unique superpower is using sports as a bridge to help people understand business. So most recently in my newsletter, I wrote about the difference between Blockbuster and Netflix was running through the tape. Yes. So Blockbuster got comfortable, they had a huge lead in the market.

Yep. So that is equivalent to having. A couple meters. Great read by

L. Scott Ferguson: the way. Yeah, right.

Chris Eversley: Thank you. I appreciate that. You did

L. Scott Ferguson: great. Yeah. It’s

Chris Eversley: it’s them [00:13:00] having that lead and them thinking that they’re so far ahead that nobody’s ever gonna catch them. Right. Yeah. , They weren’t the Usain Bolt in the conversation where they’re gonna look over their shoulder and still be gone.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right.

Chris Eversley: But they had all the tools to innovate. They had the head lead of infrastructure and Netflix came in with innovation, a cutthroat culture, and said, we are gonna change. The viewing experience in the home. Yes. For every single person across the world, not just in America. Mm-hmm. We’re gonna do this for the entire world.

So to have that foresight and kind of bringing it back to where I think my superpower and unique strength is in, in coaching people is just using sports because. We’re enamored as humans by design. We’re enamored with the things that make our athletes great.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Chris Eversley: , You and I talked about the Detroit Pistons.

L. Scott Ferguson: Mm-hmm.

Chris Eversley: People want to know why was that oh, 14 so good. Right. Why it was that defensive tenacity. It was that connectedness defense,

L. Scott Ferguson: baby.

Chris Eversley: Exactly. Right. It was that connectiveness to be [00:14:00] able to. Work together on a common goal, and people want that,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Chris Eversley: So my job is to point at various teams, and the beauty of sport is it’s never ending.

There’s every single, every single day, right? There’s sports going on. So you can draw parallels. So the part of the discovery call for me that’s important is finding out which bucket do I get to draw from? Does this person have an athlete past? And if they don’t. What are they interested in on a sports level that I can draw from to help me understand how they learn the best.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay?

Chris Eversley: And once we figure out what that is, then I have somebody I can work with. Love it. Right now if that doesn’t happen, I’m also not here to waste your time, right? I’m not here to say my super strength is talking to every single person because I can fit into so many different roles, just because you can speak to a lot of things.

Doesn’t mean you should. So if somebody’s not aligned or if they just don’t realize, if they don’t really get down with sports analogies, [00:15:00] then you’re just not for me. There’s millions of other people out there that are. But I think that’s one thing where I think a lot of people get into an issue with coaching is they try to oversell their ability to relate to their potential client.

And that’s where I try to make myself a little bit different.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. And I love that. Humble enough to say, you know what, I’m not the right horse for the course for you. Right. And that, that’s one reason why I kind of did this podcast. Also, , we talked off, Mike, it was a selfish endeavor to learn from people like you, but also now, , our, our credo here at Time to Shine today is we don’t wanna have anyone to feel like they have no one.

So. When I have you on here, it’s like, maybe I’m not that guy, but you are. And then I have, , I’ve interviewed over 500 coaches now, right. And consultants, therapists. So I always have somebody, and that to me is service. Being able to provide for people even if you don’t make out on it. Right. It’s just awesome.

So how about that discovery conversation where you [00:16:00] make sure you’re the right coach for them? Is there any good question that you wish they would ask you but maybe never do?

Chris Eversley: I think the one question that should go both ways, and this is something important because I believe every situation has two sides of a to of the same token, right?

So if you think about a coin, it has the heads and the tails.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Chris Eversley: So going on what you were saying before. There’s this concept of, the head side of the coin is equivalent to selflessness. The tail side is, is equivalent to selfishness. So for you and I, we love these conversations because selfishly we get to learn.

We get to get so much knowledge, we get to connect with people. We get to be that connector like is where we can point people in a different direction that may be super important to them. Right. So that is the selfish side of the coin. The selfless side of the coin is. You being able to provide a platform for [00:17:00] people to be able to live their best, live their best life.

Yeah. Tell their stories. And again, you’re super connected because of your past. So selfishly you get to learn and selflessly you get to empower other people to shine their light. Yeah. And that is extremely important. Yeah. So going back to your original question of the question, I wish went both ways is super important to know.

What is the one thing you can do better than anybody else on this planet? Because once you get that out the way, which that’s not easy because that’s gonna require you going to look in the mirror sometimes for weeks at a time to say, damn, what am I better than everybody else in the world at? And once you find that question out, because it’s gonna, it’s gonna require you to go to a deeper level of self-awareness.

Sure. And most importantly, purpose. Strong. So if you’re in corporate America, alright, cool. We figure out what this is. Maybe that is a trans a, a transitionary question for you to maybe go to a different industry or go to a, [00:18:00] a different role or whatever it is. But for my clients who are entrepreneurs,

L. Scott Ferguson: sure.

Chris Eversley: I take it a step further and I say, well, what can you do better than anybody else? And the second question is, why would anybody give a damn to pay you money or give you their attention in a crowded space? Right. And you and I spoke about that, the world in general, whether it’s our timelines, whether it’s our news feeds, everything is so saturated with everybody yelling and screaming.

And the world’s a very noisy place right now. So if you can answer those two questions Yeah, that’s true. The world becomes a lot more silent because you get the blinders on and say, damn. I’m really good at this one thing. I know I can do it better than anybody else. Now let me get this out into the world.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love that. Love it. And, and you’re putting the reps in too, ? ’cause someone like that, that really loves it. They’re putting the reps in like you. So let me ask you something then. So you went from kind of like pro, not from like, but you went from pro basketball courts overseas to [00:19:00] boardrooms and coaching leaders, right?

So what mindset shift was harder for you? A game day pressure or leading people through change?

Chris Eversley: I would say leading people through change. Okay. Because especially in today’s day and age where money is scarce attention is also scarce and people are feeling the socioeconomic pressure, they’re feeling the.

Just over worldly pressure of everything that’s going on. Right. That is extremely difficult to manage and it is a lot harder than ever being a team captain because if I was a team or I was a team captain, but if I miss a coverage and somebody gets a layup, we lose a game. Nobody loses any money. Except, I mean, they weren’t betting on sports when I was, when I was in college, so Course not.

No, right. Of course nobody was bet on sports, but no, they, , that isn’t. It’s important to Chris Eversley, the athlete. It’s not important to Chris Eversley the coach, because that’s not true pressure.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right?

Chris Eversley: True pressure is neuroscience, true pressure is [00:20:00] neurosurgery and making sure you don’t mess up anything.

True pressure is anesthesiology. These self-imposed pressures of the world that people have been conditioned to believe in. They’re very self-inflicted because we choose to subscribe to those conditional and societal constructs. Now, well, the one thing that I think is super important for people to realize is in no way am I trying to invalidate anybody’s story, but I do challenge people to really think about.

What is important, and for me, what I see as a coach is your day to day, you need to put food on the table. You need to pay bills, you need to pay X, Y, and Z to make sure you have a roof over your head. So we can go all the way back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Chris Eversley: We need. The basics. So we need to handle the basics and make that the most important thing that you worry about, right?

Don’t worry about how many likes you’re getting on a social media post. Sure. Don’t worry about how much your portfolio dropped in the last six days. All of that stuff will take care of itself. Will. Yeah. But [00:21:00] you just have to understand that. You are a unique case and whatever your purpose is, that is where you need to give your attention.

So for me as a coach now and as a speaker, I challenge people to find purpose because that is where the real work begins. It’s not done on a basketball court. Sure, you can make a couple shots and do a couple interviews, but what is a way that you can identify. That you can provide for yourself and your family that is sustainable and again, keeps people along.

For the journey, right? Because people relate to storytelling as we know,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Chris Eversley: They, they don’t care about statistics. Statistics are good for academics. Sure. But what is the relatability point? So you have a relatable story. So you have been able to translate that into coaching some of the highest performance society has seen, because guess what?

You are also one of the highest performers that somebody is that that society’s ever seen.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yes.

Chris Eversley: So I think it’s important for finding somebody out there, again, going back to being the right fit.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Chris Eversley: And now the right fit for [00:22:00] me is coaching people to be the best version of themselves in this way.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it.

Like, , our, our basically our mission statement at Time to Shine today is to, , elevate and inspire others to lean into their ultimate human potential. Like it’s, there’s nothing more that you can really do in life than to do that. If you’re there, everything you said, everything’s gonna kind of come, come your way.

So, have you seen the movie Back to the Future?

Chris Eversley: Which one you want? 1, 2, 3. Right. Alright.

L. Scott Ferguson: Gotcha. Gotcha. You, you just turned 40 this year that, that’s crazy, right? Mm-hmm. And I remember going to the theater. I’m aging myself. Right? But let’s get that DeLorean with Marty McFly. Let’s go back to the double deuce, the 22-year-old Chris, what kind of knowledge nuggets which you drop on ’em.

Not to change anything, Chris, but to maybe help ’em shorten a learning curve and blast through maybe a little bit quicker with the knowledge you have now.

Chris Eversley: Invest in Bitcoin. No doubt. Brothers. [00:23:00] Same Amazon, ? Right. Exactly. Grab a couple of those high players right now. But honestly, I would say resilience is the most important thing because.

To just kind of give a little nugget on why that’s important now. Yeah, please. So about nine months ago, I sustained pretty much a, a one in 4 million chance injury. So I dislocated my knee, but in the process I tore. Ligaments, my ACL, my LCLI tore another tendon that’s, I tore my hamstring. I actually blocked the artery that’s responsible for blood flow to your leg.

So I had a 10 hour surgery that ended up, , they ended up saving my leg with a bypass. But I, I’ve had extensive nerve damage. I’ve recently completed my fourth surgery, which was a nerve transfer. So the past nine months have just been absolute hell. And the reason I say I would tell 22-year-old Chris, that is because the way that I played basketball.

Is the way that I [00:24:00] approach my life. I missed many shots in my career, but I was also known for being a tenacious offensive rebounder. So that means I’m gonna miss some shots, but guess what? I’m gonna get the rebound and I’m gonna go back up. And I think that’s extremely important for people to know is because those reps, even though you may miss the shot, you still have to chase after that rebound because.

If we go back into the team sphere and we look at last night’s game of the NBA finals, TJ McConnell. TJ McConnell is maybe six one.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah,

Chris Eversley: right. And night after night. Funny story is he, we actually played against him and Aaron Gordon when I was in college, but wow. He. Is the shortest guy on the floor and was getting offensive rebalances and getting extra possessions.

That ended up being the determinating factor for them getting a game three win last night at home. So you don’t have to be the strongest, you don’t have to be the fastest. You don’t have to be the smartest. But I have a tattoo on my chest that says, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard [00:25:00] all day.

So if you are willing to commit to the daily grind and realizing that compound interest just isn’t for your portfolio, you’re gonna be a hell of a lot better than anybody out there because you’re willing to show up and put in the work when nobody’s watching, when the cameras aren’t on. I love it when the performance reviews aren’t going, when everybody wants to stand up and beat their chest and say, look at what I did.

You’re gonna be the person to say, well, I was able to get the job done. I just, I wasn’t just doing work. The work is done. Yeah. And this is what, this is what shows for it. So be the TJ McConnell and Yeah. And just, and showcase the resilience and show up regardless of your situation. And as long as you have a breath, there’s a game to play.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Yeah. That, that’s strong. And, and squat, he’s talking a lot about grit also. And , that you have in grit is a monotonous activity. You don’t wanna do it, but to be a McConnell, , or to be a spud web. And if you wanna go back to my day, , and be able to get, , do what they did.

They, they’re, they, , imple, they implement grit on a daily basis. And so, [00:26:00] Chris, how do you want your dash remembered? Then that little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date, your life date and death date. Hopefully it’s way, way down the line. But how does Chris Everly want his dash remembered?

Chris Eversley: I just want to be remembered as somebody who inspired and motivated other people, and I think it sounds cliche, but again, like I said, my, my entire thing was when I woke up from that surgery, the, the original surgery that was 10 hours that I, there was a actually higher than I liked to admit chance that I died because I lost so much blood.

So when I woke up from that surgery. And every subsequent surgery that I wake up from now, because again, this is a years long recovery process, I think to myself, I guess my work’s not done

L. Scott Ferguson: right.

Chris Eversley: So every time I wake up from a surgery, guess what, Chris, , take your meds. But guess what? We about to get back to work after these antibiotics are with.

So every single time that I wake up, I’m realizing that my purpose is still going and my purpose is still to give. [00:27:00] So until the day comes where I don’t wake up. I’m just gonna keep driving my purpose of giving back and trying to inspire others because , there was a old Tupac quote where he just said, I may not be the person that sparks the change, but I will inspire the person that sparks the change.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Chris Eversley: ? So I think that’s just kind of something that I’ve always just resonated with, and I think that it’s important for people to realize that you do have that spark,

L. Scott Ferguson: right?

Chris Eversley: You shouldn’t just be another cog, inve will. Each of us are as individual as our fingerprints, and that in itself. It’s important for you to find out what makes you unique because you have a way to leave a mark on the world and you just have to figure that out.

And once you figure that out, that’s the day you truly start living your life.

L. Scott Ferguson: So what do you feel then people might misunderstand about you?

Chris Eversley: I think people probably would look at the story of pro athlete retires. They struggle with a career transition. This person who has Who had [00:28:00] everything.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Yeah.

Chris Eversley: And the stereotypes that come with that, and what they don’t realize is. The things that don’t make the social media the highlight reels. , There’s plenty of low lights, especially again, like I said, in the last nine months, and what’s gonna be continuing to be low lights here and there through various recovery processes, but it’s important that people realize that.

Social media and what’s presented is not what it seems. And living in LA I see it every single day. Driving down the street, you got tiktoks, you got all these people doing all these things for likes and. That none of that really matters. And I think, again, breaking that stereotype of Chris was not just this athlete who was able to travel and make all this money.

Chris is somebody that is relatable, that went through this powerful story of transformation and transition. And that is somebody that I want at my table, metaphorically speaking.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Yeah. And like I have to ask you though, ’cause you give so [00:29:00] much, like how are you about being reciprocated to. And don’t be honest with me man.

Like how are you with that?

Chris Eversley: It’s tough. It’s tough because, , as givers, I mean, and you and I both like to give, I think that it’s, it’s really important, but that’s why I created that two sides of the token. Yeah. Kind of methodology, because that helped me reframe. Alright, Chris. Well, again, there’s two sides.

That means somebody’s gonna win and if you want to go through the laws of physics, somebody has to win. Somebody has to lose. Opposite but equal reaction.

L. Scott Ferguson: So

Chris Eversley: for me, it just really helped me reframe because even when I’m being selfless. In helping others.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sure.

Chris Eversley: I’m still learning. So that reciprocation, gosh, yeah.

Is not monetary. Right? That reciprocation is knowledge based. Because right when I have conversations like this, this is gonna be rewired into my brain. There’s new neural pathways that I’ll create, that I can re, I can apply physiologically coaching Physiologically. Yeah. Physiologically too, right? That I can apply to a client in the future, a stage that I’m speaking on.

So. [00:30:00] This is me. This is my reciprocal moment. That selfish knowledge gaining that I can take and apply down the road. Love that in a way that will return financially, because again, money’s a tool and we need to use it.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love it. , I have clients, or even some people I’m close to that are great givers, but you try to give them something and they’re like, ah, I don’t know.

, You know what I’m saying? So it it’s like I, I take ’em outside and like, see that tree. I’m like, what do we breathe in? We breathe in oxygen, we breathe out what? Carbon dioxide was the tree breathe in? Carbon dioxide? Was it? Breathe it out. Oxygen. Does a tree have a choice? Right? Why do we give ourself a choice?

Right? So I love that. So then what is Chris’s definition of a life well lived?

Chris Eversley: Life Well lived is a life defined with purpose. And again, it goes back to what we talked about before about answering those two really hard questions because you have to be your own advocate [00:31:00] in any situation. So that’s not just at work, that is yourself in your daily life because you need to see what is my life’s purpose, what am I aligned with?

And that’ll allow you to set a destination. Gotcha. And once you set a destination, you get to pick the vehicle to get there. Some people want a bike, some people wanna walk. Some people want a Maserati. That however you choose to get to your destination is your discretion. But having a sense of purpose at least defines that destination.

And that’s right. Whatever the path you choose to get there is and should be uniquely You

L. Scott Ferguson: so good, bro. Man, that that’s, that’s amazing. Yeah, absolutely. Amazing man.

Time to Shine today, podcast Varsity Squad. We are back. And Chris, I’ll make it a point next time on the left coast, or if you make it out here, we gotta hook up live, man. , Maybe get Vaughn to buy us a lunch. Exactly. No, for sure. Sure. Right. Some of these questions you, and I’ll probably just organically wrap about for 30, 40 minutes maybe each question.

Right. But today. [00:32:00] I’m gonna put you on the, on the free throw line. Got five seconds, no explanations. I promise you they can all be answered that way. You ready to level up?

Chris Eversley: Let’s do it.

L. Scott Ferguson: Here. Here we go. Chris, what is the best leveling up advice you’ve ever received?

Chris Eversley: Nobody cares. Go to work.

L. Scott Ferguson: Okay. Share one of your personal habits that contributes to your success.

Chris Eversley: Cold shower every morning. That is at least three minutes long. Yes, my man. So. See me maybe at a networking event or just hanging out, man, Ky looks like he’s in his doldrums. What book might you hand me that Summit had handed you other than the good book, but what book might you hand me that really kind of flipped the switch?

L. Scott Ferguson: A mindset Shift, the Almanac of Naval Ravikant. I have to look at that one up. Okay, very cool. Your most commonly used emoji when you text. Laughing face. I’m always constantly laughing for our viewers that are our, for our viewers that are actually watching. Y’all see me smiling a lot for our listeners.

Chris Eversley: I’ve been cheesing. Love it. Love it. Nicknames. Growing up GEVS was my [00:33:00] basketball one because I asked a lot of questions Yes, in trying to learn things.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Alright, how about any hidden talent and or superpower that you have that nobody knows about until now? I.

Chris Eversley: Nobody knows about. I am wired differently because now due to my surgery, when I think about flexing my big toe, my foot raises.

Okay. Wow. That’s the superpower.

L. Scott Ferguson: It is actually. How about chest checkers or monopoly?

Chris Eversley: Keep it basic checkers,

L. Scott Ferguson: right? Good checkers. Love it. Headline for your life.

Chris Eversley: Hard work beats talent when nobody, when hard work beats out talent, fail to work hard. No, I mean, I got a tatted on me. It better be my headline.

L. Scott Ferguson: Right. Love it. Any, do you ever, especially in the sports world, did you ever buy into any superstitions?

Chris Eversley: Yes. I always put my left sock on before my right sock and I always took a shower before games, even after pre-game workouts, I would still go in and take another shower.

L. Scott Ferguson: Wow. Legit. I bet the, the opponents even appreciated that.

Go to ice cream flavor. [00:34:00] Chocolate. All right. There’s a, there’s a sandwich called the chives. Build that sandwich. What are we eating?

Chris Eversley: Oh we have some pepperoni. We have some mozzarella. We have some, honestly, I’m, I’m really simple. I’m gonna sound very Midwestern here, but I’m a very meat and potatoes guy.

Love. So very, very basics. Put that thing on some toaster bread and let’s keep it pushing. Go. That’s deep.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. There’s a time machine that you have for 24 hours. Would you go ahead 20 years or would you go back to any time in the past just for 24 hours?

Chris Eversley: I would go back and past for 24 hours.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

Actually, me too. There’s a, there’s a big kegger in like 1989 right before I graduate. I’m kidding. No, but I would, I’d actually like not to change anything, but I’d like to go actually see myself from a, from a certain area, , whether it was in Iraq or just like just seeing myself and how far you’ve come.

Right. I don’t really, like, we write our future, so. Mm-hmm. I love that you said the [00:35:00] past, man. Exactly. So, last question, or no, I’m sorry. Favorite charity and or organization you’d like to give your time and or money to?

Chris Eversley: Best Buddies actually really was a, it’s a special education platform or program that I was a part of in high school, and it’s with yeah, we just, we partnered with them to, I don’t know, just show them that they can live a normal life, especially at that formulaic age where, , the formula of age.

Excuse me. So yeah, best buddies in Special Olympics, kind of hand in hand. Thank you, man.

L. Scott Ferguson: That’s awesome. Mm-hmm. I’m on the chair here in, in Palm Beach for the Special Olympics. There’s nothing better, man. Oh, yep. Nothing better. Last question. Best decade of music. Sixties, seventies, eighties. Nineties, or I guess for you two thousands.

Chris Eversley: I’m gonna say seventies. Wow. I have a dj, I have a DJ arts ego, and he loves the funk music. So really, , really being in the, being in the disco tech as they like to call it, and, , getting people going and giving people that groove and yeah, funk, funk and groove music is my favorite.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it.

So I, here’s a question I wanna ask you that probably should have asked earlier, but before we tie things up, [00:36:00] did you have an alter ego when you played?

Chris Eversley: I did, I had an alter ego and this man was, he was the most laser focused version of myself I think I’ve ever met until recently. Okay. And that’s how I know my coaching and my newsletter and my speaking are gonna be damn good.

Yeah. Because. That version of me is clawing at the door trying to wake up. So I’m waking up every day with this insatiable appetite to get better, not only for myself, but provide value for the people that are choosing to give me their time. So I love it. Whether that’s to be the newsletter every Sunday, whether that’s on a stage, whether that’s the one-on-one or group sessions.

That hunger that I had as a player, that relentlessness that I went after every single rebound with is waking up every single day for me now and every single day. He’s getting a little bit stronger. Like it’s, it’s like the, the Shining where, , you got a piece of that door is getting chopped, a single, it’s getting chopped away every single day.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Chris Eversley: And that here’s Johnny moment is is it’s upon us. And I’m happy to, to announce that.

L. Scott Ferguson: Does he have a nickname or does he have a [00:37:00] name?

Chris Eversley: Not the business one yet. Okay. Not the business one yet. The alter ego. Yeah. Alter ego. Back then was just was the chief, the chief was the, the guy yeah. Was was what everybody kind of like, when they saw that look of my eye, they knew I was, I was locked in.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Yep. I love it. ’cause like with especially my athletes developing, it’s part of like. Part of my love of coaching is developing the alter ego, right? Mm-hmm. When, like, I’m even in my alter ego right now, like my alter ego’s philo, and it is his name, but it’s like he didn’t let anything stop him.

? It’s like, it it fun fact here, maybe you can answer this, but how many downs of football do you think that Dionne Sanders played?

Chris Eversley: Ooh. I’d have to say in his lifetime or just a career or his professional career. Let’s

L. Scott Ferguson: say. Let’s say professional career.

Chris Eversley: Professional career. What, 20,000 downs?

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah. Maybe like, right. What if I, and I say this to my clients, but what if I told you zero

Chris Eversley: [00:38:00] Prime

L. Scott Ferguson: played?

Chris Eversley: Is it because he always views it as play and not work?

L. Scott Ferguson: No, it could because prime time played. Field. Oh,

Chris Eversley: see, you know what? You didn’t tell me I was signing up for riles today. Trick question,

L. Scott Ferguson: but no, seriously, , but it’s like that a lot of people, they can get outta their own way if they just become that person that you’ve been talking about.

Mm-hmm. You know what I’m saying? When you’re putting in the sweat equity and you’re getting after it. They can become that person, man. And it’s fun with me and my athletes, especially my younger ones that are on the come up. Mm-hmm. It’s like, all right, who’s our alter ego who we go leaning into today?

Right. , Just watch that performance go through the roof. It, it’s awesome. So how can we find your brother?

Chris Eversley: Oh, I mean, I, in, in light of our multiple di references today, I ain’t hard to find. Right. So I’m on LinkedIn, Chris Eversley Instagram, Chris Eversley. My newsletter is the Averagely Edge and it’s on beehive.

You could definitely Google that. Yeah. That is geared primarily just towards people who want to lead better and high performers and they enjoy that sport methodology and [00:39:00] yeah, you just kind of get, yeah, you get three key things every Sunday to help you level up your life and get it’s newsletter situated for the week.

So. Yeah. No, I appreciate you showing this and again, joining a, joining a, a winning roster of people just trying to get better.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah, he’s all over. He is. Got his LinkedIn, his IG guys. His website. So make sure every, all these will be in the show notes for you. And also just make sure, also I’m showing kind of the, the winning roster that it’s a newsletter you don’t wanna miss.

They come out on Sundays, is that right?

Chris Eversley: Yep.

L. Scott Ferguson: Sunday nights. Gotcha. Yeah, when they come out on Sundays. It’s a great read to get your week off started. Make sure you subscribe to it today. And squad, I’m also gonna do, if you’re, if you’re looking level up and you’re resonating right now with my good friend Chris, what I’m gonna do is I’m going to purchase an hour of power with him.

On my dime. So the first person that puts Jeeps, J-E-E-V-E-S, and any of our social, whether it’s Instagram, Pinterest, or you text it to 5 6 1 4 4 0 3 3 0. [00:40:00] I’ll get with Chris. I’ll make sure that your hour is taken care of. But I’d love you if you’re resonating with him right now, I would love you to get a complimentary hour of power on me.

So is that all right, Chris? I didn’t ask you before. Is that cool that, I mean, I’ll take care. Absolutely.

Chris Eversley: Okay. No, no, absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate that. , Usually when I was a pro I was throwing a lobster in my big man, but you just threw me a lobster. Now I gotta dunk it.

L. Scott Ferguson: I dunked that. Got it.

So do me a favor Chris, leave us with one last knowledge and I’ll get that we can kind of take with us, internalize and take action on.

Chris Eversley: Okay. I would just say that giving yourself grace is the greatest gift that you can give yourself. And I think it’s important because you’re gonna feel the societal pressures, you’re gonna feel the socioeconomic pressures, and you have to acknowledge that I had a very bad.

Habit of this toxic positivity mindset where I would think about something.

L. Scott Ferguson: Yeah.

Chris Eversley: And I would just move past it, like automatically. But I really didn’t take time to sit with it. So I developed it [00:41:00] into one of my talks, which is called like the spilled water moment, where you spill some water and you acknowledge it.

You sit like, damn, that really sucks. And then you go on to fix it. You, , you, you get the, you get the talent, you clean it up. But that point of acknowledging that something is bad, the reason that’s important is because it’s translatable across all realms. Yeah. That is translatable. And you losing your job that is translatable and you losing a loved one, but allowing yourself that moment, that moment of grief, of grief and grace is going to catapult you even further into the future than you even thought possible.

L. Scott Ferguson: I love that you just said that man, and that makes all the sense of the world and squad. We literally have had basically a free masterclass with my good friend Chris. Obviously here, no comes from the, , kind of a blue collar background, but he also knew that he wanted to be greater than this situation.

Not that there wasn’t love in affection within this household, but he wanted to be even better than that. He’s high energy, high motor guy. So like if you meet him and [00:42:00] he sees that and you see that and he comes in to give you a Midwest hug, just accept it, man. ’cause that’s where he is coming from. He’s coming from a pa place of service, , and, and sometimes he reminded us to set that speed to 0.5.

Like Ferris Bueller said in classic movie is like, life goes by fast squad. If you don’t stop, take a look around, it’ll just pass you by. , The guy, Chris used basketball at first kind of as an escape, , and in his happy place, if you will, shout out to Happy Gilmore too, coming out in a month, right?

But seriously, like basketball is his escape. And, but when money and business came into it, the his love for it might have waned a little bit and he knew there was time to make a change. , Now he’s in there leveling up companies. He’s leveling up people one to one, right? And that’s the kind of people we like to surround ourself with.

A, a person that’s all about the sweat equity and leaning in with servant leadership, providing themes of relatability. , He uses themes with sports as a bridge to really make that common ground so you can really dig in. And get curious and see which way that you’re gonna go with your [00:43:00] coaching relationship.

He’s the guy that listens intently, not just with his ears, like he listens with his neck. I can see him in sessions really leaning in and really wanting to get. They’re the people understanding that, , you’re gonna have low lights in your life, right? And if you’re going through ’em, let me make an introduction to my good friend Chris here.

Right? , He’s living a life that’s defined with purpose. , Once you find those purpose, then how to lean into it. And you can just, , attain anything that you would like, , and just, he’s a, he is very inspiring. I’m sitting here a better man for having this conversation.

Chris, thank you so much for coming on. You earned another varsity letter. Time to Shine today. Varsity Squad letter here, man. Seriously, I appreciate you, man. You level up your health. You level up your wealth. You’re humble. Humble dude, handsome dude. But you’re hungry, bro. So I really appreciate it. Thank you so much for coming on.

Chris Eversley: Oh, absolutely. Thank you again for having me. And speaking of curiosity, I just wanna give one last shout out to our good friend Von, for making this happen. And yeah, for everybody out there, again, just keep going. It’s a marathon and you, you gotta [00:44:00] realize that you got a, a long race to run and don’t let it pass you by.

Sometimes you gotta 0.5 it and enjoy the scenery.

L. Scott Ferguson: You,

Chris Eversley: but again, , I, I thank you. The entire team over there with you too. I know. It’s, it’s an important group effort. So yeah, looking forward to just connecting with people out there who are enjoying the story.

L. Scott Ferguson: Love it. Appreciate you Chris. We’ll chat soon.

Absolutely.Chris Eversley: Alright, thank you. You too.