Todd Mitchem - You, Disrupted: Seizing the Life You Want by Shaking, Breaking, and Challenging Everything

What do we all really want in life? Is it more money, sex, fun, love, satisfying work, or a combination of all and more? This book is about getting all of that, but, more important, it is about teaching you how to disrupt your own life in the positive, without all the excuses and fears we tend to put in our path to a life fulfilled. I have taught countless leaders, companies, industries, and people like you these lessons and, in the end, the one thing that I have found that stops everyone from truly living up to their potential can be summed up as a lack of understanding of how to take a risk. When you read this book, you will see that we, as individuals, are in control of something very critical as we embark on a paradigm shift around risk. Disruptors love risk because, as you will learn, they have discovered how to take beautiful ones, learn from any mishaps, and maintain a powerful positive attitude along the way. That sums up my journey in this life as well.

When I was born, I weighed in at a whopping eleven and a half pounds! Clearly, I was meant to be a Disruptor from the first day. I wish I could tell you that I was some sort of visionary and, from an early age, had it all figured out. But I didn't. I was born in a small town in West Virginia and lived in a trailer at the bottom of my grandparents property until I was five. So, yes, just like most of the population, I had a life filled with challenges, but they certainly didn't end there. My sister was born and was permanently mentally disabled by the second day of her life. This unexpected circumstance caused a ripple effect through my parents marriage, my sister's life, and me, changing the path of my life forever.

Eventually, due to the added struggles of having a disabled child as well as personal differences, my parents divorced and my life was ripped apart. I would go from my mother's house to my father's house, and I felt lost for a very long time. There was no stability in my life and I struggled to fit inall the way from elementary school through high schoolmainly because I was viewed as a rebellious and weird child. But, through all this time, I was only trying to find myself. As time passed, my life didn't get easier: my mother was stricken with cancer, twice; I was nearly killed in a car accident at the highest point of my corporate career, when I was the top leadership advisor in my company and was speaking to companies all over the world. However, despite the rough patches, I managed to find the best in my journey through life. I worked as an entertainer, traveled the globe, took huge risks, worked as a consultant with some of the top companies in the world, and ultimately took the biggest risk of my life: changing my career path completely to take on the emerging marijuana industry as a leader, founder, and government-affairs consultant. Whew! It has been a bumpy journey, to say the least.