25 Leadership Principles and Practices with Former NFL Player, J Leman

25. Leadership Principles and Practices with Former NFL Player, J Leman

 

**Transcription Below**

 

Matthew 6:33 (NIV) “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” 

 

J Leman is a former American football linebacker. He played college football at the University of Illinois, and was recognized as a consensus All-American. He was signed by the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2008, and has also been a member of the Oakland Raiders, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, and San Diego Chargers. He is currently a football analyst for the Big Ten Network, in addition to other entrepreneurial endeavors. He is married to Katy and they have three children. 

 

At The Savvy Sauce, we will only recommend resources we believe in! We also want you to be aware: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

 

Connect with J on all the social platforms: @jleman47 

The One Year Bible NLT

The One Year Bible NIV

The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod

The Alchamist by Paulo Coelho

The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartments

The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman

Natural hormonal enhancement 

J’s Usana Business

John Maxwell Resources:

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth

Developing the Leader Within You 2.0

The 5 Levels of Leadership

 

Thank You to Our Sponsor: Leman Property Management Company

 

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Gospel Scripture: (all NIV)

 

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

 

Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

 

Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” 

 

Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” 

 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 

 

Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” 

 

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” 

 

Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

 

Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”

 

Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”

 

Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

 

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“

 

Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“

 

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

 

**Transcription**

[00:00:09] <music>
Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here. 
[00:00:18] <music>
Laura Dugger: Today's episode is brought to you by one of my favorite brands in Central Illinois, Leman Property Management. With over 1,600 apartment homes in all price ranges throughout Morton, Pekin, Peoria, Washington, and Canton, they can find the perfect spot for you. 
Check them out at MidwestShelters.com or like them on Facebook by searching Leman, L-E-M-A-N, Property Management Company. Thanks for sponsoring today's episode. 
Our guest today is J Leman. J is married to Katy and they are raising three small children. J is a former NFL football player and currently he's an analyst for the Big Ten Network. This is in addition to other entrepreneurial endeavors. He's going to share leadership principles and practices with us. Here's our chat. 
Laura Dugger: Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, J. 
J Leman: Hey, thanks for having me. What a pleasure to be on The Savvy Sauce. I gotta tell you. I love the title. I think it's very original and I love that it kind of has... Like "savvy" is not feminine, but I think when you have sauce as a little bit of a feminine twang to it and I'm a guy and I'm gonna be on this, I think it's cool 
Laura Dugger: Well, we are very honored to have you today. For those listening who aren't aware of this fun fact, J and I are actually second cousins, but we didn't meet until we were both in college. From the first time we hung out, J, it was just obvious that you have a sincere joy in the Lord. So can you start by telling us a little bit more about your upbringing and where your faith began? 
J Leman: For sure. My parents are kind of, you know, I was born and raised in the area between Bloomington and Peoria, Illinois, and faith is a very strong part of their lives. They went to the University of Illinois. Long story short, they kind of turned away from God. [00:02:23] 
My dad had pretty much committed: I never want to be a Christian, I never want to work on a farm, and I definitely don't want to ever be a pastor. The funny thing is, they ended up getting married, and they were unable to actually have children for seven years. 
It was in that time, in their desperation, they actually returned to their faith, their childhood, asked Jesus Christ to come into their life, and gave their life over to Him. Then they started reading the Bible that Jesus actually still does miracles. And so they started to pray for a miracle that my mom could have kids. She was told by a couple of hospitals she couldn't have kids. 
They started praying and praying, and miraculously, my mother was able to get pregnant after she had been diagnosed that she would be barren the rest of her life. Because they were so blown away that she was healed, they ended up starting a church with my aunt and uncle and them, so four people. 
That started in 1977. They started meeting, they grew the church from 1977 to now to about 3,000 people. [00:03:28] It's the Vineyard Church in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. She ended up having four more kids, so I was the fourth kid out of five, four boys and a girl. 
We just grew up in a home where our family motto was, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be added to you. That's Matthew 6:3. So we grew up in that and, you know, very important part of our life. It's not something that we do lip service for. It's something that we really live out because we believe that, you know, we're a miracle family because none of us kids were actually supposed to be born, but God had different plans. I think that carried us... The way we were brought up, all in the faith, has really carried us on, and we've all continued in the faith as well. 
So my story really begins back in Champaign, Illinois. Like I said, I was born and raised in a Christian home. I was kind of an undersized athlete but my senior year I started to grow. I was kinda late bloomer. My second to last game of my senior year I got an offer. [00:04:29] 
I didn't have any scholarship offers at all other than to Illinois State. I was offered to play a tight end there, which is an offensive position. But I had no offers to play linebacker, which is a defensive position football until university offered me with like a game left in my senior season. 
So they offered me a scholarship. I was able to go to University of Illinois, and really came in at the bottom of the depth chart, but was able to start within a year of actually getting there, became a four-year starter, became an All-American linebacker there, and one of the top tacklers in the history of the game, led the team to the 2007 Rose Bowl. And then went on to the NFL for four years, got hurt my fourth year. I got cut seven times, never really made it. 
As great as my college career was, I was devastated in my pro career, because I got cut seven times, seven times. Remember I wasn't good enough. And I got three concussions in one season. That led me to post-concussion syndrome. I had to retire from football. 
At 27 years old, I had a baby on the way and was married, but didn't know if I would ever have a head that didn't hurt. [00:05:35] So about eight to nine months later, my head finally got better. I got into the business world, doing some work in the nutrition space, and built a business of about a thousand people that sell a product with me called USANA, which is really a vitamin product that really helps people kind of live their best life from a health perspective. 
Have done that and also have announced football games on TV for the Big Ten Network for the last six or seven years. I'm also an active entrepreneur and a real estate investor in Iowa and in the state of Illinois. I'm always, always up for the next big entrepreneurial hustle because I think that's kind of how I was raised.
I've been active in my church since I was a boy, but I have a wonderful wife, Katy, who I met at the University of Illinois. She played volleyball. We have three kids, six, four, and one, and we're having a blast in Champaign. 
Laura Dugger: Well, that is a full plate. You talk about your parents instilling scripture in you. What characteristics did they instill in all of you kids from a young age? [00:06:39] 
J Leman: The big three are basically faith, work, and sports. Faith was always central. I talked about Matthew 6:33. My dad grew up on a farm in Eureka, Illinois, and was terrified. He didn't say terrified, but was very worried that his sons would not be able to learn how to work or learn a proper work ethic, I should say, like he did. So it was always jobs every Saturday. We knew that we were not going to get college paid for, so we had to work to save up for it, or possibly get a scholarship.
So we started our own lawn service, Leman Lawn Service, got up to about 70 lawns a week. So it was pretty big with me and my brothers. Also, sports were a huge part of what we did. I had two older brothers and an older sister. The older brothers kind of got me into football and got me into basketball, and got me into track. [00:07:37]  
And so I would say, you know, faith, work, and sports were just basically the big things that really were hammering home to us. Of course, there are other values such as treating people right, faith, generosity, and stuff like that, but those are the big three I can remember.
Laura Dugger: You've given one example of starting the lawn service, but what are some other practical things that they did to instill those values in you? 
J Leman: I think just jobs after every meal. I still remember the list of jobs, whether it was wipe off the table or vacuum or broom or you would do the dishes or you had to take out the trash. There was a list and it was a rotating list. So number one, that. 
Number two, we all had jobs we had to do which was add water to plants every day in the summer. I still remember friends coming over and wanting to play and me really wanting to play, my dad would tell the friends, "Listen, you guys you have two choices. J is gonna be working until three o'clock so you can stay and help us or you can go home." [00:08:42] It's super embarrassing when you're a kid to hear that. But I understand now why he did it. 
I think one of my biggest fears in my life, if I'm being honest with myself, is that how do I transfer my work ethic and the way I was raised to my kids? Because I want them to really understand that nothing's really given for free in life, and you have to treat people the right way and work hard for things. So I think I always think about that because I know that was so valuable to me when I was growing up. 
Laura Dugger: Now that you are a dad, do you have any family anchors or best practices that you can share with us? 
J Leman: Yeah, absolutely. One thing, we truly believe that we've got to get the Word of God. It's our responsibility to expose them to The Bible, the principles in the Bible, the power of the Holy Spirit. We love the one-year Bible in our family. I personally read the one-year Bible. That's just a book anybody can get off Amazon for $15. [00:09:43] It's basically just a portion of the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalm, and a Proverb every day, and it's broken up into 365 sections, so you get through the Bible in one year. 
It's probably 10 to 15 minutes worth of reading. And a lot of times at breakfast, we'll read through a section, maybe it's the proverb, maybe it's a psalm, maybe it's a portion of the New Testament or a story in the Old Testament that we go through with the kids. I don't know how much they get, they're six, four, and one, and how much they're listening, but the very fact that we do it. 
And it's like, okay, we're going to do this. This is who we are. We're going to pray. We're going to ask if people get hurt, we're going to pray, run the spot for Jesus to heal them. If they're looking for something, we're going to ask Jesus to help us find something. So it has to be part of our lives.
And when we go to bed, we're always praying together, we're always reading Bible stories together. Of course, we're active in our church. It's way more than just relying on church, or if you go to a Christian school, we don't, and just relying on a school to teach your kid. We want to be really active. [00:10:49] 
And most importantly, we don't want to just teach it to our kids. We want to live it for our kids. We want them to look at us and be like, "Okay, we can see that God is real in Mom and Dad's life," and that they're excited about it. That it's not a chore, but that they're passionate about it, so therefore, I'm gonna be excited about it. 
Laura Dugger: Some of our listeners are also preacher's kids, so going back a little bit, did you feel like that cast a shadow for you, or what was that like to grow up a preacher's kid? 
J Leman: I think that's really a good question. I think it does cast a shadow if you let it. For us, I never really thought like, Oh my gosh, I'm a pastor's kid, everybody's looking at me. Listen, my dad was always for it. You should want people looking at you. You got nothing to hide. You should want people looking at you and you should want to be known. Those things are not bad things. But just know that the stakes are always higher that you're a Leman. That stands for something. You've got a really proud heritage, and know that you represent all of us when you're out there in public in what you do. [00:11:54] 
So I think we all kind of got that. We all knew that. Not that we didn't make mistakes. But at the same time, I think we all carried something with us that, okay, listen, Mom and Dad have really put their name on their back that they're going after God a hundred percent. They've given their life to the ministry. Not that it was like, don't mess it up. It was like, you've got a standard to live up to. I didn't feel pressure to do that. I just felt like it was the right thing to do. 
Laura Dugger: Now going back to your current phase of life, I know that it's a busy season. So how are you prioritizing your marriage? 
J Leman: Oh man, that's a great question. I recently moved back. I was in the Chicago suburbs for 10 years, where my wife is from. We met at the University of Illinois, and we decided to move back to the Champaign area, largely because of my parents' church. My sister and my brother-in-law are actually head of that church that my parents planted many years ago. 
So we wanted to support them. We love Central Illinois, the community. [00:12:56] We also love the church. But we moved back and kind of funny, Laura, is we are rehabbing a house right now. So we kind of bought a fixer-upper in a great neighborhood. It just needed a little TLC. We've been staying with my parents for like three and a half months now, which I would not say is like the best recipe for a healthy, romantic, intimate marriage is to spend with your parents and whatnot.
So we had to be intentional like, okay, how do we create time? We've created, you know, whether it's walking around the block with just us are going to working on the house after the kids are down. It's kind of turn into our date is where we go over work in the house together, scrape off wallpaper, will paint. And we just talk back and forth. 
Because when you don't have your own home and you're living with another family or in this case my parents, it's like you don't realize how much you really value personal time with your wife with nobody else around. So we've really had to make that our effort. [00:13:57] 
One thing I always try to do when we have kind of more standard weekly rhythm when we're not leaving somebody else's house is my wife is a big... I'm a love language guy, you know, she's a big quality time and acts of service person. So if I, in the morning after I drop the kids off, I can get her Starbucks and bring it to her the way she just likes, I want to do that. And after everything's done, the kids are down, I can take an hour and spend time with her. That really kind of fills up her tank. So I try to be intentional with that. A little bit trickier when you don't have a home of your own, but we find a way to make it happen. 
Laura Dugger: With the love languages, some people are very familiar with that book by Gary Chapman. The two of you, are you the same love language or are you different? 
J Leman: You know, I don't think, Laura, that a lot of people are the same. It doesn't seem like a lot of people have the same love language. I'm sure it happens. I know Gary Chapman in the book says that. Rarely are people the same love language. 
She is a quality time, acts of service person. [00:14:59] I am more of a... listen, I'm a words of affirmation, touch guy, so tell me how great I am and touch me all you want kind of guy with her. So it's kind of... I would say it's opposite. It's just different. But a lot of times we like to love how we like to be loved, right? We like to love others how we like to be loved, whether it's... We like to be touched the way we like to touch, you know, our spouse, or we like to have kind words. 
I find myself… I'm a very encouraging person, I feel like, and I'll say like a lot of... You know, I'll say a lot of great things to my wife, you know, like, you look great or thank you for doing this or this really encouraged me to do that. And sometimes the way she responds I'm like, Does she even hear what I'm saying? As opposed to when I just go and get her coffee without looking for any affirmation after it. She can't do something to get an attaboy. That's taken me like ten years to learn.
But, you know, go and get her a coffee, she gets probably more out of that than me giving her a thousand compliments, which wouldn't be the same for me. I've kind of just given up more of just I don't have to understand why it is. She's just different than me and I'm just going to do it. [00:16:04] 
Laura Dugger: And I love that your personality seems to be like, hey, no excuses. I'm going to go after the right thing. So I love those examples. 
J Leman: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think it's very difficult to really... in any case in life, it seems very difficult with your spouse to some degree to really truly put yourself in someone else's shoes. I think we all see through a lens that's a little bit colored by our own perspectives and what we like and what's in it for us. And I think we truly have to put ourselves in their position. 
Laura Dugger: Well, you seem to encourage work ethic, like you mentioned, and routine and healthy living. So how long have you been passionate about these disciplines? 
J Leman: Well, you know, I've always been an athlete since I can remember. But in college, I got to the point where I was not the best player on my team anymore. So I was looking for solutions to give me an edge of course legally. You know, I didn't want to use any performance-enhancing drugs. [00:17:06] I didn't want to do anything harmful to my body. So I was like, what can I do that I could get an edge in the competition?
And it really got me into really being a self-taught student, and I had some mentors along the way, of nutrition. Everybody talks about the Keto diet now, the ketogenic diet, where basically you burn ketones instead of burning carbohydrates. You get your body to burn fat, and it helps you.
Back in 2005, 13 years ago, I got on the ketogenic diet. I read a book called Natural Hormonal Enhancement. I found out that diet soda is poison. I found out all the stuff we've been taught about carbohydrates and cholesterol and fat were a lot of fallacy. I basically started to do all kinds of crazy things. I started drinking 20 raw eggs a day, I started eating meat, one and a half pounds of red meat, I started eating butter, coconut oil before anybody was doing that, and changed my body. [00:18:08] 
I went from 200 pounds to 245 pounds and grew two inches in college, which led me from being a scrub to being a pretty darn good football player by the time I left. I was always into it, my thoughts were always kind of counter to what they... they were always counter to the nutrition advice of the day up until very recently where it's kind of been substantiated. 
Then I got hurt in 2012. I had concussions and again, the doctors wanted me to go on drugs. I wanted to pray and I wanted to use nutrition and that's really when I got into micronutrition. That was the big part for me. When I say micronutrition... macronutrition is basically protein, carbs, and fats, the three big nutrients we all know about. Micronutrition is really vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, water, how those nutrients are actually used in your body if you get the right amounts, you know, timed right in your body, what they can do to heal. It really helped me with my recovery from a lot of football injuries and whatnot. [00:19:08] 
So I got really into that. I always joke with my wife because my wife is always healthy, but I always say that she was on the cancellation diet when I met her. She would say, "Oh, I had some ice cream. Let me have a stick of celery to cancel that out." I was like, "That doesn't work like that. You can't just do that." But it's been fun because we've grown together in how we actually eat. We eat really similar now and we feed our kids a very particular way. So it's an interesting thing. Yes, we're very into health. 
Laura Dugger: So what does that look like? What are some family meal examples? 
J Leman: I don't think you can beat eggs as far as a breakfast for kids. I mean, the protein, the fat, the cholesterol, so good for you. And people have been doing it for generations. So we're a big egg family for sure. 
Really, our dinners are very simple. It is a healthy meat. That includes red meat, but there's going to be some kind of meat, some kind of vegetables, some kind of fruit. And we might throw a starch in there like a sweet potato every now and then. [00:20:12] 
I always think, Laura, that we kind of grew up in the ultimate processed food generation. It's like, you want cereal? Sure, have cereal. Pop-Tart? Great. You want Kraft macaroni and cheese? Sure. You want a fruit by the foot. Like we ate all that stuff. And I'm like I want to give my kids that stuff with a 10-foot pole, you know, on a consistent basis. It's not bad to have a treat on that stuff. But it's like, that stuff's not good long term for your body. 
Our meals are real simple, real clean snacks. It's hard to get kids to eat healthy all the time. So there are snacks. We try to do more nuts, and you do throw some crackers in there once in a while just because it's easy for kids. But that's pretty much what we do. Lunch is always just fruit, cut-up meat and cheese, and vegetables a lot. So that's kind of our style.
Laura Dugger: You've talked about some health. Let's talk about habits as well. Do you have any daily or weekly routines that have really impacted your life? [00:21:11] 
J Leman: Yeah. I think I'm a huge... I want to spend time with Jesus every day. I've always gotten, I don't want to say always, but you know, for years and years I've gotten up early. I have read the one-year Bible. Since I was probably 14 years old I've read the one-year Bible probably every year except one or two years. So probably went through the Bible with the one-year Bible 18, 19 times. It's been great. So that's a big habit. 
I love to journal. I think I hear God's voice the best when I journal because it's concrete to me. I work out probably three to four times a week, usually weightlifting and whatnot. My big thing is in the morning, you've got to make time for what the most important thing in your life is. For me, that's my faith and my family. So faith, family, and health. 
A lot of times in the morning before the kids get up, I've worked out, I've spent some time with God. I get to spend then time with my family, making breakfast, getting the kids ready for school, taking one of them to school. I feel like if I start a day like that, you talk about faith, family, and health, you're really putting your priorities where you want to be at. [00:22:26] 
One thing I've recently... So many entrepreneurs are raving about a book called The Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod. That's The Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod. And he recommends basically following six practices every morning. And uses the acronym SAVERS to tell you what those are. 
SAVERS is silence. That's the S. A is for affirmation, V is for visualization, E is for exercise, R is for reading, and S is for Scribing or journaling. I was doing the ERS exercise reading and scribing, but I've gotten more into silence, affirmations, and visualization. And making that a discipline in my life because I truly believe that if I can be disciplined in those things, it's only going to accelerate the success and my journey to my goals and make me a better person overall for my family and my faith. 
Laura Dugger: We'll make sure to link to all of this in the show notes. And now a brief message from our sponsor. [00:23:26] 
Sponsor: Leman Property Management is this episode's sponsor. I can't say thank you enough to this reputable company. Leman Property Management offers over 750 apartment homes in 11 different locations throughout Pekin, Illinois. Whatever price range you may be looking for, whatever apartment style you want to call home, Leman Property Management will have the place for you. 
Operating in Pekin for over four decades, they've developed the name associated with selection, service, and value. They offer townhomes with quiet settings off the busy routes or spacious apartments on the edge of town. They have locations in the buzzing downtown if that's what you prefer or apartments with attached mini storage sheds of all sizes. They truly have every area of Pekin covered. Find out why so many Pekin residents have called a Leman Property their home over the years. 
The friendly staff, many whom have worked together now for 20 years or more, will make sure you are not disappointed. Find out more about them at midwestshelters.com or call their leasing office today at (309) 346 4159. You can also like them on Facebook at Leman Property Management Company. [00:24:42] 
Laura Dugger: How has leadership played a role in your career?
J Leman: John Maxwell is a great leadership author. He says everything fall on leadership. You know, I've started out not knowing if I was a leader or not, but I always realized that people listen to me. And leadership is influence. I think you first lead by example. That gives you the right to be a vocal leader. I think I've always led by example, giving tremendous effort in everything that I did and trying to do stuff the right way.
I think from a very young age, even high school, I was always a vocal leader. Not that I planned to be that way. I just was. What was interesting in my house is I was the fourth out of five, so the youngest got attention, my little brother. The one above me was my sister. And my mom even told me that she was praying one day and in fourth grade, she was just convicted by the holy spirit, like, no one pays attention to J. Like she just thought no one ever paid attention to me. [00:25:52] 
So what was interesting was because no one ever really talked to me or paid attention to me, I just had to talk. I started becoming more extroverted. Because nobody was talking to me I just had to talk myself and started talking to myself and trying to get attention. Which I think that made me more vocal and really helped me with my leadership down the line to be a vocal ear. Because I find a lot of people are hesitant to be vocal leader because I think they fear what other people might think of them.
Laura Dugger: And correct me if I'm wrong, but it just seems like you're the type that you don't embarrass easily and you have never-ending energy. So do you think any of that is part of your birth order? 
J Leman: Yeah. I mean, I've always had a lot of energy. I've always been a pretty wound-up kid and always kinda I pop right out of bed in the morning. Like I never really slept past seven in my life. You know, there are handful times you travel and you go to bed late, at three or something. But I always felt like I was missing out on the day if I did that. [00:26:55] 
Always been early riser. I truly truly think that because I was... You know, that's a larger norm. Because nobody really cared about me, I was nothing really special... I have two older brothers, they were kind of the leaders of the family, I was just trying to keep up in life. 
It wasn't until they had moved on and were in college that I finally got to high school and realized that I've been fighting with big dogs my whole life, and now I'm with people my own age, and it was a little bit different. So I've had a confidence about me that really let me step into my own as far as being a vocal leader. 
Laura Dugger: Which is, I think, God's favor on you as well. You've just really stood out in all these leadership positions. As you look at other leaders, what are some important characteristics that you believe other leaders should have? 
J Leman: There are just tons of characteristics. What are the important ones? I mean, I think integrity. I mean, do you do what you say you're going to do? It's very hard for me to imagine an atheist being a super-strong leader. [00:28:00] Now, I know there are those there, but I just think that your faith is a pillar that you lean on when stuff gets tough. You know what? I love that verse in the Bible where it says... where they sack a town called Ziklag, and they take David's family and all David's men's families, and they turn on David, and they're about ready to kill King David. It says, but David found strength in the Lord his God. Where do you find strength when everything is down? And I think that's where the faith piece comes in. So faith, integrity, character. 
I think the willingness to take risk and fail. Failure has just been a huge part of my story in life. I have failed numerous times. I tried to play in the NFL for four years, which I did, but I got cut seven times from the NFL team. My dream of playing in NFL got cut seven times. I fail numerous times in praying for people. I didn't see result I wanted to see. I failed numerous times in going for the sale. I've been told no in sales and business a ton. I was told no last week. [00:29:06] So “no” happens a lot. And how do you respond to that? That's true leadership. 
Then it's not just about you, it's not about me, it's about we. It's not how far I can go, it's how far we can go. It's not "you go do it", it's "let's go do it." So I'm a big believer that if you wanna... This is John Maxwell. If you wanna go fast go alone; if you wanna go far go slow and together. That's kind of my big thing is that there's a lot of different characteristics, but if you don't have the faith, integrity piece, everything kind of crumbles. 
Laura Dugger: We often hear that leaders are readers. So what are three of your current favorite books or leadership resources? 
J Leman: I read the Bible every day, but I won't throw that in there. I think that's just on a different level because the wisdom of God is so far and above the wisdom of man. It's just not even in the same category. But three books that I think are good that I'm kind of feeding off of, number one would be The Miracle Morning. Miracle Morning, which I just talked about, I think, helps you with your habits. [00:30:12] 
Number two I love The Alchemist. The Alchemist is a fictional book that's really about finding your destiny. Then number three, not a leadership book but I'm always trying to grow in my skill sets. So I've been basically reading two or three real estate books a month, maybe two real estate books a month, because I do real estate investing, have a little portfolio of properties, and I always try to stay sharp on that. 
So this year I've been studying real estate. Years prior I've been studying sales. So I've done a sales book or a business book. Other times I've been doing leadership or something else that's kind of been my niche. So those are my three books. 
I would say the third book, for instance, my real estate book right now is The Complete Guide to Buying and Selling Apartments. So that's a niche book, not really leadership, but I just believe it's feeding my brain some new information. 
Laura Dugger: Our listeners are some of the kindest people we've met. Your gracious comments through social media, email, and our website fuel us to continue producing more content. [00:31:13] Some of you have asked what you can do to support The Savvy Sauce. As you know, we greatly appreciate it when you share episodes with friends. 
And now, for as little as $2 a month, there is a new way to financially show your support. These contributions, ranging from $2 to $20 per month, will be rewarded with extra podcasts, free downloadable scripture cards, and more. Check out all the details at thesavvysauce.com and click on our "Patreon" tab to find out how you can be a supporter of the arts. Thanks for participating. 
Do you have any other tips for listeners who want to also become the best versions of themselves? 
J Leman: I would say if you don't have a faith, and for me I'm obviously biased towards Christianity, I honestly don't believe I can be the best version of myself without really understanding who and what I am in Christ, what is my identity in Christ because he created me before the foundation of the world and has a destiny and a call. [00:32:16] 
What I love is a quote from the book I just mentioned which was The Alchemist is: to realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation. I feel like realizing your destiny has so much to do with your faith. To me that's a huge part of it, you know, is having faith. 
Another thing that's huge is your habits, right? If you don't have proper habits... John Maxwell says you'll never change your life until you change something that you do daily. So what can you change that you do daily that can change your life? I think that's really comes out of your habits. 
Laura Dugger: J if listeners want to find you online, where can they connect with you?
J Leman: It depends on what your cup of tea is for social media, but @jleman47 for Instagram. Facebook, look me up just J Leman. You can search it. And it's just the letter J. No period, no A-Y. Leman is L-E-M-A-N. Twitter, it's @jleman47. You can DM me anytime you want. That's probably the easiest way to find me. [00:33:27]  
Laura Dugger: Well, if you've listened in before, you know that we're called The Savvy Sauce because "savvy" is synonymous with practical knowledge or discernment, and we want to apply some of your savvy ways to our own lives. So as the final question today, what is your savvy sauce? 
J Leman: My savvy sauce is really my morning routine. I think if you get the morning right, you set up the rest of the day. And I would challenge everybody on there, don't buy into the lie that you're not a morning person. I would challenge you to spend time with your faith, spend time with your family, and spend time on your health all before 8 a.m. I think that's so important. Because the faith is the only thing we can really take with us. Family is God's most precious gift to us here on earth. And if we don't have health, we can't really enjoy anything. So I really believe that if you can focus on those three things before 8 a.m., it's going to set up the rest of your day to be a success. [00:34:31] 
Laura Dugger: Well, J, as expected, this has been a blast. You just have a magnetic personality and your energy is contagious. So thank you for sharing all of that with us today.
J Leman: Oh, of course. This is awesome. Just so happy to be a part of The Savvy Sauce podcast. I love what you guys stand for and what you're doing. I think it's a much-needed podcast in a space that's flooding with just so much information, and sometimes you need something with real value. I think that's what this is. 
Laura Dugger: Thanks so much, J. I appreciate that. It really has been such a pleasure to have you today. 
One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term "gospel" before? It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you. But it starts with the bad news. Every single one of us were born sinners and God is perfect and holy, so He cannot be in the presence of sin. Therefore, we're separated from Him.
This means there's absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own. So for you and for me, it means we deserve death and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved. [00:35:39] We need a savior. But God loved us so much, He made a way for His only Son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.
This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with Him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin. This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus. 
We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us. Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 
So would you pray with me now? Heavenly, Father, thank You for sending Jesus to take our place. I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to You. [00:36:41] Will You clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare You as Lord of their life? We trust You to work and change their lives now for eternity. In Jesus name, we pray, amen. 
If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring Him for me, so me for Him, you get the opportunity to live your life for Him. 
At this podcast, we are called Savvy for a reason. We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So you're ready to get started?
First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible. The first day I made this decision my parents took me to Barnes and Noble to get the Quest NIV Bible and I love it. Start by reading the book of John. 
Get connected locally, which basically means just tell someone who is part of the church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ. I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you. [00:37:43] 
We want to celebrate with you too. So feel free to leave a comment for us if you made a decision for Christ. We also have show notes included where you can read Scripture that describes this process.