There are a lot of stories in the news about NFL players who have gone broke or have been involved in some form of negativity. Unfortunately, a lot of stores about the obstacles that professional athletes had to overcome to get to the NFL and remain successful in their post career go unnoticed. Anthony Trucks played linebacker for the Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He has an amazing story and has found a large degree of success after the NFL by adhering to a basic concept that he came up with. That concept is to “Trust Your Hustle.”
The life that Anthony Trucks has lived to this point is a testament of the strengths that he feels are the driving points towards success. Those strengths are perspective and work ethic. “Perspective precedes enlightenment, so until you see your issue from a new perspective you wont figure out what tools you need to overcome it and be successful, then there’s the biggest tool necessary for success; work ethic. Perspective allows you to see what tools you need to change, and the work ethic allows you the drive to use those tools to achieve the life you want.” Trucks said.
Overcoming obstacles is an understatement when talking about the path that Trucks had to work through. He dealt with being in the foster care system and having to deal with abusive foster parents as he grew up. Trucks was faced with a series of events that would make many people just give up. He decided to take a different path. “Early in life I chose to not let the world and my life experiences define me so I decided to be GREAT in my life DESPITE all that life was dishing out to me. I decided to push through all of life’s setbacks to achieve more than my counterparts who didn’t experience my hardships.” Trucks continued; “My personal life path has been anything but easy, and it has taken me through life struggles that no one should have to experience, leaving me with a choice to do good or bad. I chose good.”
Making the choice to be great led him to find football as the great equalizer. He saw that hard work would allow him to excel on the football field, even if he was not as privileged as some of the other people in school. His work ethic was his hustle. That hustle resulted in being an All-Region selection by Prep Star magazine and first-team East Bay Cream of the Crop by the Contra Costa Times. His successful high school career earned him a scholarship to play football at the University of Oregon followed a two year career in the NFL that was cut short due to an injury.
Life after the NFL still presented obstacles but he continued to break through them. Trucks found success by opening Trucks Training which was a place for athletes to train. His list of clients included professional athletes along with local youth athletes. He looks back on it and finds it funny how he got started. Trucks said; “When I opened my gym, I had no clients, no business plan, no gym memberships but I still went and opened a gym that was 8,000 square feet. It was the most illogical thing to do. Man was I dumb!” He continured; “I trusted my hustle. I knew that something would go wrong. It’s not always going to be right. All I knew was that at the end of the day, nothing would be perfect but when it came to it, I could perfectly work at it. I will drive beyond a drive to make sure it works so I trusted that part of it.”
The saying “Trust Your Hustle” is something that he wrote down and allowed to sit. It became a motto that he lives by. He looked at what he was faced with in life, how he overcame it all and wanted to figure out how he can share a part of his life with the world. This led him to start a company called Anthony Trucks Industries. The company features seminars that are called “Trust Your Hustle.” It’s a concept that he wants people to apply to their daily lives.
Trucks preaches to people about having the belief, the faith that they have the ability to do something. Owning the gym made him develop the desire to find out what people’s “why” is. A person’s why is what he refers to as a person’s belief and faith. Getting to the real why is what truly drives someone to do something. “If I can get to that true why, that deep why and get people to put it on paper, they push themselves to achieve their goals. Trusting your hustle is a process. You have to find your reasons, find your faith. There are positives and negatives.”
Breaking through the assortment of obstacles that he experienced required Trucks to have a positive outlook and the ability to always find the silver lining. He calls it “Stupid Optimism.” The idea is something that Trucks developed over time because he looks at things differently. He looks back on his life and know that there were dark times but he knows that he has come a long way because he always kept his head up. “I genuinely am thankful for every single day I am given on this earth. I call it ‘Stupid Optimism.’ I know how bad life can be, and what statistics say a person like myself should be doing in life, but through experience and achievements I know what it takes to reach success in life through planning, hard work, and passionate persistent persistence. I ALWAYS look for the positive in my setbacks because I KNOW they exist.” Trucks said.
There are many things that are going on in the NFL today. Trucks offered his perspective on some of them. “It’s tough, it’s a different world that we live in. They used to beat kids with switches and sticks. I don’t accept that but it happened in the past. The things that are happening give people a bad look. If you step into that role, you have to understand that one of the things that come with putting on the jersey is that people are looking at you. Whether or not it’s right or wrong, it’s being seen by kids. Things are so bad in society because people are not as good as parents. Kids don’t have the same fear of their parents as they used to. That doesn’t mean we have to go out and beat kids but more importantly, you have to teach them at a young age instead of putting them in front of a tv screen. Take Adrian Peterson, did he enjoy getting beat with a switch as a kid? Probably not, so why do it? It starts with being a great example through what you do and not by what you don’t do.”
Being a victim of domestic violence allows Trucks to have a unique perspective on the incidents that the NFL has recently been faced with. “These moments happen in high intensity. As football players, we are taught to be aggressive. I was a linebacker. I was taught to attack. The separation has to be taught before the game. That’s something that is rooted down deep. People are reactionary. As emotions get high, intelligence gets low. The more excited you get, your brain shuts down and you rely on instincts. The instincts work off of the subconscious mind and if those aren’t there before you get in, they’re not going to get the tools. Some guys are more astute and can turn the switch off.”
Anthony Tucker is a walking testament of his message. He trusted his hustle in numerous situations and he has achieved a lot of success throughout his life. He has a book called “Trust Your Hustle, A Life Forged by Fire” coming out in November. Here is a snippet of what you will get from visiting his site:
I teach people how to break free from the confines of their own mind and to tear down barriers from their past failures to create the life, relationships, business, job, etc. that they KNOW they can have and are capable of, but never pursue because they lack a trust and belief in themselves. I teach you how to become the person living the life you envision yourself to have once you learn to TRUST YOUR HUSTLE.
Be sure to stay up to date on the release by simply going to www.Trust-Your-Hustle.com
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Email: turron@proplayerinsiders.com
