134: Get Out of the Dumpster and Banish Your Limitations with Dr. Reggie Padin

Published: Sept. 9, 2016, 1 p.m.

Have you ever\xa0found yourself in the middle of a "dumpster moment"\xa0that prevented you from getting to the next level? Dr. Reggie Padin has. He's the author of, "Get Out Of The Dumpster: A True Story on Overcoming Limitations" and tell us how he went from being\xa0a high school dropout living in a dumpster to someone who's found his purpose through soul searching and has become a dean professor, instructor, and coach.\xa0He tells us how\xa0to the make the right\xa0choices and find your next steps.\n\nDisplay TranscriptRobert Plank: Dr. Reggie Padin is the author of an Amazon best selling book called Get Out of the Dumpster, a true story about overcoming limitations, and includes the story of how Reggie went from being a high school dropout, hauling garbage out of a dumpster by hand, to become a PhD, dean of a corporate university at a billion dollar company, a professor, an author, an executive coach, and a spiritual leader. Lots of cool stuff. Welcome to the store Dr. Reggie.\n\nReggie Padin: Thank you for having me, Robert, it's a pleasure.\n\nRobert Plank: Cool. I'm glad that we have this cool story in front of us that I can't wait to unpack. The thing about this show and the people that I have on, lately I feel like I've had a lot of guests on and what's the most interesting part for me with anyone's story are the places they've failed, the places they've struggled. It seems like lately with my guests I've said where was your low point? Where did you struggle? I've been hearing a lot of, "I've never struggled. It's always come easy for me."\n\nReggie Padin: What?\n\nRobert Plank: I'm thinking, "What are you talking about?"\n\nReggie Padin: Wow.\n\nRobert Plank: I love the stories where people get stuck. Can you tell us a little bit about your story personally?\n\nReggie Padin: I'm going to go in a completely opposite direction because I've struggled a lot. The title of the book, Get Out of the Dumpster is an actual real life story. I was in a dumpster because of the choices I've made as a young man. Primarily the biggest mistake I made as a young person was dropping out of high school. I dropped out of high school, married very young, started having kids right away. It's a recipe for financial disaster when you don't have an education. It so happens that during that time we were experiencing one of the worst recessions ever. It was tough. I had to dig deep and dig myself out of that situation, out of that dumpster which was a big struggle. I'm glad to hear that people that have not faced struggled in their lives. I have. The good thing in what I've learned personally is it doesn't matter the dumpster you're in. I was literally in a dumpster. What I found out is we all face dumpster moments. It doesn't matter the dumpster you're in, you can dig yourself out. It doesn't matter the struggle, you can do it, you can get out.\n\nRobert Plank: Cool, that's a pretty cool message. Tell us about a little bit what happened. You said that you dropped out of high school, you had the kid. What was the situation there?\n\nReggie Padin: It was a tough situation. Again, I made the mistake of dropping out. The only jobs that I could find without a high school diploma, without an education, was really as a gopher, as a janitor, doing odd things here and there. I ended up working for a company that I didn't know at the time was experiencing financial difficulties, in fact they were going bankrupt. When a company's going bankrupt they have to make cuts. One of the things they cut was the waste management company. I got a call in from my boss one day and he called me to his office and he said, "I need you to do something." In fact he didn't say I need a favor he said, "I need you to do this. Go get one of the company trucks and back it up to every single dumpster around the company and I need you to go in there and haul all that garbage by hand, place it in the back of that truck and drive it to the landfill. That became my job. Can you imagine?