A Few Moments With – Scott Smith | Diet and Exercise | Real Life Fitness | PhitZone

From the July, 2009 issue: We catch up with Scott Smith from MotivationToMove.com. Pilot, black belt, entrepreneur, family man. What can you say about somebody with incredible talent and drive?

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Scott, thank you for the interview:

ITZ: You earned your black belt in karate. How long did it take to achieve that goal?

SS: A long time…. Technically three and a half years, maybe not quite. I was in my early 30’s, and while learning life lessons, I had a falling out with my instructor, and vise-versa, literally a week and a half before testing for my black belt. I moved on, and brought millions of people into martial arts through video production. About 15 years later, I was awarded my black belt from another high level Kenpo karate instructor. I learned that it isn’t just physical, it is

actually more than that. It is walking your walk and talking your talk. Giving back to the community.

ITZ: Motivation to Move has become an integral part of many people’s weight loss journey. How did it all begin?

SS: I was teaching kick boxing classes at the YMCA, and was having a hard time getting through to the people I was instructing. While at a Tony Robbin’s seminar, my wife looked at me and said, “you can do this“. I said, “YES I CAN“, even though, I didn’t know what that meant at the time. When I discovered podcasting, the minute I saw it, my jaw dropped. I ran out to the living room and said, “I found it, I know how to do this.” I wrote down 260 Motivation to Move Minutes. Put them on iTunes. That’s where it all started, in terms of online.

ITZ: What are the current program that MTM offers?

SS: Aside from specialty programs, we have the MTM show, The After Show, we have five Daily Boosts, five Fitness Boosts, the occasional guide to motivation, and of course, the Start Moving, Stay Moving program.

ITZ: You just completed your first MTM conference, Fusion. How do you feel that it went?

SS: I feel like it went really well. I didn’t schedule it to be very large, and I didn’t want more than 100 people to begin with. I think we ended up with a total of about 30 people there. Largely, because I didn’t promote it. I pushed it fairly hard, but only went so far. I think that the recession got in our way. What was really cool about it, is that folks came in from all over the world for it. So those folks who were there, really, really wanted to be there. It was a great experience, the program that I put on, was as if there were a thousand people there. I am really happy with what we did. Overall, a great experience.

ITZ: What is next?

SS: I think you are going to find that we will continue to streamline our self a little bit. We are working on the new website. We now know what people really want, what they respond to in me, and MTM.

ITZ: Who are your influences?

SS: I say this all the time, this is not kissing up to anybody, my influences are my wife, Joi. Sheryl was an amazing influence, she had me under her spell for 29 years. My mom, and Carlyn. You noticed I mentioned four women. There is no doubt these women influenced me in massive ways. I listen to them. It really guides me.

Professionally, no doubt, Tony Robbins, is a big influence of mine, I think little by little I really do something different. I have tried to pull myself away from that a bit. He is a huge influence, if only in the sense of we all have a messenger who speaks to us at some time. I think Tony was one of the first speaker types that was able to get through to me. I have a lot of broadcast influences, there is no doubt about that. I like movie directors. I like what they do, I like how they create magic. Steven Spielberg is one of my favorites, obviously.

ITZ: What advice should everyone follow?

SS: Follow your own advice. The trick is, do you really know enough to follow your advice? I think that’s the thing I had to learn, I have to trust myself. Not all of us have the knowledge inside of us to get what we need right away. That is frustrating because you want to make a change in your life, someplace, but you are constrained by your lack of knowledge. And so, I always say trust yourself. Have faith in yourself. But if you don’t know what you are doing, you need to go learn.

ITZ: What do you do to relax?

SS: My relaxation is laying by the pool. Riding the motorcycle. I like to go out to dinner with Joi. We don’t do that often. I actually get a lot of relaxation with my exercise, from going to the gym. Reading, and going to movies. I love action movies. I am a big romantic comedy fan.

Scott, thank you for taking this time to share some of your thoughts with us.

Be sure to visit out MotivationToMove.com. You can listen to MTM on iTunes, and the Daily Boost on iTunes as well.