Joshua Coburn: Random Acts of Kindness
An Interview with Joshua Coburn: Random Acts of Kindness
Joshua Coburn, doesn’t look like your typical motivational speaker. A former groundbreaking, body modification artist, and self-proclaimed Badass, he proudly and prolifically displays his tattooing expertise all over his body. Coburn was a rebellious, punk-rock kid and, now that he’s grown, he’s still a rebel. Only now he’s rebelling against negativity, self-loathing and cruelty. Whether through his books, which include the classic “Inspiration on Demand”, his impactful manners and motivational speaking events, his Relief and Resource Center for teens and adults, or through spreading and tracking kindness with his “Know My Impact – Making Good Deeds Trackable Campaign”, Joshua Coburn has become an unforgettable, altruistic rebel who is changing lives in ways that few have done before him. www.joshuacoburn.com and www.myimpact.com
Interview of Joshua Coburn by Sandie Sedgebeer
Sandie Sedgbeer: For the past eight years you have been inspiring a positive revolution online, and in person, which is impacting the lives of many thousands of people all over the world on a daily basis. What inspired you to start inspiring others.
Joshua Coburn: It started with my Grandmother and with hardcore, punk-rock music. I really hit bottom in the late 90’s/early 2000’s due to bad decisions. My parents’ divorce wreaked havoc on me. I lost confidence. I lost my personal value, and I was just a lost kid who always knew what he wanted, but listened to the small minds and small-town individuals around me, telling me what I should do rather than following my heart and my gut instinct. During those dark times, I started to realize that I had to create my own happiness. My Grandmother never told me how to live, but she displayed real leadership, kindness, and a giving nature that I’d never seen in anyone. After she passed, all that really clicked; it was what her life was made of, and I realized that she had done that for a reason. Once I started slowly applying those qualities to my own life, I started to see my own purpose and value. And some of the confidence came from the music I was listening to; from hard core punk; from the PMA, the ‘Positive Mental Attitude’, that is pushed by that genre of music as well.
Sandie Sedgbeer: Your book “Inspiration on Demand” was the culmination of a project called “Help Change a Life”. Tell us about that.
Joshua Coburn: “I Helped Change a Life” started when I was digging myself out of that dark hole that I was in. I would write myself quotes every day, like “smile – it’s contagious,” and I’d stick it on a mirror or somewhere I could see it and it really helped me. Then I put it online; and I started getting messages from students in High Schools, single mothers, people who were struggling with weight issues, soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, saying that what I was posting was changing their lives, and they wanted to see things like that in a book. I thought: ‘Wow, that’s interesting, because essentially they were notes to myself, to keep me on track; and here I am accidentally, doing the same for others.’ The “I Helped a Life Campaign” started as a way to crowd funding the book. It was a group effort. We all chose the cover, and the cover design, the size – even the title was voted on. I wrote the words, but that book doesn’t belong to me, it belongs to the people it influenced and who supported it. They believed that I was changing their lives and, because of them it pushed my life and career to a whole other level as well, so they changed my life also.
Sandie Sedgbeer: It’s described on Amazon as “A kick-butt, grab and go, toolkit for anyone aspiring for higher level success in their daily lives.” So, how, precisely, does it kick butt?
Joshua Coburn: “Inspiration on Demand,” is a very accurate descriptor, because you can open it up when you need it and put your finger anywhere you want, and it will give you a kick in the butt. It was a good realization for me that this quote, or this idea, or that note on that page gives a bit of truth to the reader and, hopefully, something to chew on for the day. This isn’t me telling them how to live life, it’s simply me giving a suggestion, or something to focus on so they can get through the day with a positive thought and a movement to take action on; because quotes, words of wisdom, etc., don’t mean anything unless you’re willing to chew on them and take action. I never intended it to be a sit-down, read-through type of book. It’s a ‘when you need it, pick it up, get your fuel, and continue to move’ kind of book.
Sandie Sedgbeer: How did the book blossom into this new career you as a motivational speaker, a mentor, radio show host?
Joshua Coburn: I’ve been a writer for years, and I’d released other books that were based on how I was feeling at the time, but “Inspiration on Demand,” being kind of “of the people, for the people and ultimately by the people” really resonated with the public, and it lead to interviews on Fox News, and phone calls from different corporations wanting me to speak to employees, and maybe address positivity in the workplace. And schools. I’d been speaking off and on in colleges and high schools, in classrooms, but never at full-on large-scale events or assemblies, which is what I always wanted to do, but didn’t quite know how to get there. The book became my pathway.
Sandie Sedgbeer: The Badass thing is not such a bad thing after all; you get to confound people’s expectations. They look at you and see one thing. You open your mouth, and they see something else, and you’ve got their attention.
Joshua Coburn: Exactly, and that works for me. I remember when I was 19 years old with basically every visible part of me heavily tattooed, and I traveled a lot back in those days, and I would get in the conversation with total strangers at an airport. I would see them looking at me like: “Hmm, is this guy going to be rude to me, is he a threat, what’s the deal”? And I would extend my hand and ask them how their day was and break those walls down. I quickly learned that my tattoos, as personal as they are to me, are also a tool to be leveraged to open the door into somebody else’s life and their knowledge. The amount of things that I can learn from those around me is vast, and if someone’s going to let me in, I’ll take it. And the Badass label, the way I look, certainly allows that. When I’m walking into a corporate event, or especially at high schools and middle schools, those kids are used to suit and tie speakers, and what I bring to the table could not be more different.
Sandie Sedgbeer: I saw a video of you speaking to a group of school kids. The looks on those kids faced when you came on stage at the beginning of your presentation; they really didn’t know what to make of you, did they?
Joshua Coburn: No, they didn’t and don’t. I don’t treat my speaking events quite like a speaking event; I treat it almost like a rock concert. Before the event, I put loud music on, and it resonates down the hallways. Those kids hear it, and it changes the whole atmosphere. When they walk in they’re like, ‘how is this OK in our theater, or in our gym?’ They don’t know if it’s OK to stand up and scream or yell and, of course, it is. I’m there to push the limits of what maybe they think is appropriate and, of course, also to get my point across. It’s interesting to use the paradox that it is me and my life, because they form their opinions before I arrive, and once I’m present, what I am to them is vastly different. Which sparks curiosity, debate, and wonder, especially because I don’t tell them how to live, I let them into my life, and even if there are 2,500 kids in a room, we communicate, and I ask them questions and they all answer.
Sandie Sedgbeer: You talk to the kids about the importance of failing forward. What do you mean by that?
Joshua Coburn: Failing forward was a concept I’d read about as a kid, but never understood it until I started doing it. Often, we forget to celebrate the lessons in our failures because without those we wouldn’t have learned. We hear quotes about how our failures today are what help prepare us for tomorrow’s successes or victories. I fully believe it, and failing forward is just another way of describing that, and understanding that today may have sucked but you got something out of it that you could apply to tomorrow to grow.
