David Pollack: Standards Over Feelings | Re-release
Mick Unplugged
In this episode of Mick Unplugged, host Mick Hunt interviews former NFL player David Pollack about the intersection of faith, leadership, an
Key takeaways
- The 50-40-10 principle: You can beat 50% of people by simply showing up; 40% by preparing and organizing; and the final 10% requires extreme grit and direction.
- David Pollack's faith was catalyzed by a simple invitation to a church event and the mentorship of his physics teacher, Mark Watson.
Main topics
- The 50-40-10 Principle
- Faith and Mentorship
Notable quotes
Standards over feelings.
Conclusion
The episode serves as a powerful blueprint for building resilience and
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) Two big things happened in my life that I always like to share. 50-40-10 by David Pollard. You can outdo 50 % of the people in this world by showing up more, showing up with a good attitude, showing up ready to rock and roll. 40 % is the next step. In the right direction, with the right effort, I'm beating 90 % of people. But we got 10 % left, Mick. To you, white standards. are important. Don't worry about how you feel every day because your feelings change every day and what people say change and the task changes, but that doesn't change who you are and what you bring to the table every single time. Will you succeed all the time? No. I Speaker 3 (0:40) tell people leadership is a four letter word, C-A-R-E. Speaker 1 (0:44) Yeah. I think, first of all, if you have influence over one person, you're a leader. So everybody got that crazy person in your family that likes you for no reason. So you're, everybody's a leader. Dude, I've failed all along the way. I mean, I have failed so much more than I have succeeded. And I like to share those because those are real. The three H's is hard, it's hot, and it hurts. Speaker 2 (1:09) Welcome to Mick Unplugged, where we ignite potential and fuel purpose. Get ready for raw insights, bold moves, and game-changing conversations. Buckle up. Here's Mick. Speaker 3 (1:20) Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged. And today we're about to get personal with a really good friend of mine. We're talking about a ton of accolades. SEC Player of the Year, two times. We're not talking about one side of the ball. We're talking about Player of the Year, two times. Defensive Player of the Year, one time. All-American, two times. Three times. You name it, he is that guy. Number one or first round draft pick. But what's more important to me? He's a man of God. He's an amazing father. And he's an amazing husband. And to me, that solidifies the man of who he is. Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor Speaker 2 (2:03) to Speaker 3 (2:04) bring my friend, Mr. David Pollak, on to Mick Unplugged. David, how you doing, brother? Mick, wait, wait to sell Speaker 1 (2:09) me, dog. Golly, I'm not worth a million bucks, but I feel like it right now. Hey, you know that $5 you sent me? It goes a long way, bro. $5 still goes a long way in my world. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me on. Man, Speaker 3 (2:22) I'm honored to have you here. You know I've got a connection to Georgia. One of my uncles played football at Georgia in the early to mid-80s, was the running back right after Herschel. So shout out to my Uncle Tron because I'm a Bulldog first, right? So growing up, I knew it. Tar Heel second. Absolutely. All I knew was Georgia, right? So me and my family, we're talking my Uncle Wayne and my Uncle Randy, my cousins, Torrence. I got to give everybody their shout out now because they'll kill me if I have David Pollack on and I don't talk about Torrence and Randy Jr. and Dexter. So I did my job. Now, David, it's about you. Speaker 1 (2:59) Covered. Speaker 3 (3:00) Covered. Now I guess I'll do mine now. Yes, sir. But David, man, like we can go so many places. You have an amazing. journey, an amazing story. But for me, it all starts with you being that man of God first. And I would love for you to just talk about not necessarily your spiritual journey, but that moment that you knew God's my everything. Speaker 1 (3:22) Yeah, I didn't grow up with it at all in the household. And I had two great parents, Mama and Daddy, Kelly and Norm. And they did everything for me, loved me, supported my dreams like crazy. But church just wasn't something we did. And two events happened, two big things happened in my life that I always like to share. One, it started with an invite. And I think that's what we all have the ability to do. My neighbor across the street was like, hey, man, we're going to the church. And I was like, yeah, OK. And he's like, we're having this lock-in. I was like, double out? Church? And you're going to lock me in the church? I'm out, bro. No way. And then he said, this is what got me, Mick. He said, we play sports and stay up all night. in right now. Punch that ticket. And I was like, I get to stay up all night and do that. So that's the first time I'd ever heard about God. I never heard about God really. And I'm sure there were examples of people that tried, but I wasn't ready for it. And God put this mode in front of me. So a simple invite got me in the door. And then I had a teacher named Mark Watson, who was my physics teacher. And Mark was so chill. and so even, calm, cool, nice. And he had a Jesus sticker on his computer and he played praise and worship music at a public school in between classes. And I'll never forget, man, I had the good ability to. annoy just about anyone. And I had so much energy and I was all over the place. And Mark was just like, oh, it's okay, chill. And just had a really different spirit about it. And then I was like, well, this dude's different, man. So I tell people all the time, it started with an invitation and then a life worth emulating. A dude that was living out the gospel that was so crazy and so different and unique that I said, that's different. I want that. And then when you spin it forward, going into the summer, so that was my junior year. That summer, we had to read 200 pages for outside reading for English. And I went to my English teacher and I said, hey, I'd like to pick the Bible. And she was like, why? And I was like, I don't know. I just, I want to read it. And she was like, well, I can't because you can't because I can't sit down with you. I don't know. And I said, Mr. Watson can. And I went to Mr. Watson. He said, absolutely. And Mr. Watson sat down with me. He volunteered his time. And he literally sat down and he started to take me through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And he was laying out the gospels for me. And I was like, holy cow, wait a minute. Like, go back. What? Like, okay, Matthew did this. And this is Mark. This is Luke. This is John. Different accounts of Jesus. And who is Jesus? And started to learn, man, and just fire questions. And Mark was so patient and so kind and just started to answer my questions. And then. From that point on, man, my life was absolutely never the same. Accepted Christ, started going to church, and then got to go to the University of Georgia where God put more people in my life to continue my development. Speaker 3 (6:05) I love that, man. And to me, that's what it's about, right? It's how do we bring others, which you talked about it starting with the invite, but then how do we go deeper and then begin to share that knowledge, that love, that joy with others? And I commend you for that. It's one of the... the things that I've always loved about David Pollak. You know, again, I talked about the accolades in the opener. Amazing. You are, my Uncle Tron's going to kill me, my favorite Bulldog player of all times, just like many others, right? I'm not the only one, but you are my favorite Bulldog player of all time. But before I got to know you personally, always understood your journey, always heard stories about you. And that's just who you are. And that's what I love the most, man, is that you are genuinely you, but you are... passionate about your love for Christ, you're not ashamed of it. And you know where I'm going with this, because there are a lot of people that behind closed doors, they're there, but then they feel like certain opportunities they need to hold back or, you know, certain things you've got to hold back. I love the fact that you're always David Pollak. And Speaker 1 (7:09) I get that, Mick. I understand why. And I'll be honest, like I've also failed in some opportunities that I think I could have done better with sharing my faith and being more bold. But like, I remember I got invited to the Playboy Mansion. You know, I was an all Playboy, all American as a junior. And I remember I turned it down because that's not like what I wanted to be known for or in alignment with. And I remember like that, that all of a sudden it got, it went crazy. And I had so many opportunities to talk about it. I was like, holy cow. And then I started to. to go and to do. But like, again, there's a process, man, that I think when we come to faith, we don't automatically know how to share, you know, our testimony and articulately put certain things. But if we go back to my last story and how I came to faith, everybody can invite somebody to church. Everybody can do that. It's the preacher's job then to deliver the word or bring them to someone that they know. And everybody, the most important witness that we have. is living our lives, is living out the gospel. I don't care if you know scripture inside and out, if you don't treat people with respect and you don't love others, like if you don't do those things, nobody's going to go, man, I want to emulate that. Mark Watson, like he was so different and so unique. And so, and he lived the fruits of the spirit so much that I'm like, I want more of that in my life. And so we have an awesome opportunity to turn people on and we have a awesome or a bad opportunity a lot of times to turn people off. by the way we live our lives and the way we treat them. Speaker 3 (8:30) Totally agree, brother. Totally agree. So let's go into some of these accolades, but not the accolades, but more of how you got there. Because these are the words of Mick and Mick only. And because we're not face to face, you can't like slap me or anything. You were not supposed to be there, bro. I'm just going to be honest. Like you were, you were not supposed to be there. It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of consistency. Because I tell people this all the time, especially in the business world. Talent's great, right? But it's going to get you so far. And, you know, people always say hard work outworks talent when talent doesn't show up. And I always say,