Dana Jonson [00:00:09]:
Hello and welcome back to Special Ed. On Special Ed Today, my guest is Jimmy Claire, who is a beacon of resilience and inspiration, embodying the true spirit of overcoming adversity. As a motivational speaker, autism advocate, author, and the dynamic founder of Crazy Fitness Guy, he has a compelling journey. From facing daunting health predictions to surmounting bullying and numerous surgeries. Jimmy’s life story is a testament to unwavering determination. Living with spinal stenosis and embracing his identity on the autism spectrum. He channels his experiences into strength, leading by example through his commitment to fitness, self improvement and advocacy. Jimmy’s work includes the Crazy Fitness Guy Healthy Living podcast, which reflects his dedication to inspiring others to surpass their limitations and achieve their fullest potential.

Dana Jonson [00:00:58]:
Jimmy stands out not just for his achievements, but for his ability to transform challenges into sources of empowerment, making him a genuine motivator and guiding light for many. I’m really excited for us to chat today, Jimmy. Thank you so much for joining me.

Jimmy Clare [00:01:13]:
Thanks for having me.

Dana Jonson [00:01:14]:
Absolutely. So before we get started, though, I have to play my disclaimer because I’m a lawyer, so I play disclaimers. And so let’s get that out of the way.

Disclaimer [00:01:22]:
The information in this podcast is provided for general informational and entertainment purposes only and may not reflect the current law in your jurisdiction at the time you’re listening. Nothing in this episode creates an attorney client relationship, nor is it legal advice. Do not act or refrain from acting on the basis of any information included in or accessible through this episode without seeking appropriate legal or other professional advice on particular facts and circumstances at issue from a lawyer or service provider licensed in your state, country or other appropriate licensing jurisdiction.

Dana Jonson [00:01:43]:
Jimmy, Crazy Fitness Guy, I’m so glad you’re here. I am very interested to hear about the fitness component and how that fits in with autism, but I thought we would just start by going through your journey. You have. I presume that what you do do now with Crazy Fitness Guy has a lot to do with the journey that you took to get here. So I was hoping you would give us some background and talk a little bit about where you came from and how you got here.

Jimmy Clare [00:02:12]:
Definitely. So, growing up, my parents found out that I was autistic at the age of 8 or 10 years old, give or take.

Dana Jonson [00:02:22]:
That’s a little late, isn’t it?

Jimmy Clare [00:02:25]:
You could say that a little bit. Honestly, I didn’t get the official diagnosis until when I was, like, in third grade. Wow. And the reason why was because I was on the cutting edge of autism. I was born 1993. October 9, 1993. And we. And doctors didn’t exactly have a word for autism back then.

Jimmy Clare [00:02:55]:
And so we. So it was. It was different experts saying, I’m just. Just being difficult and called different names, et cetera. Like it was at first, it was like, I forget all the other terminology that they used. I mean, I’ve written it down for some of my speeches, but they’re just so wordy that. And it was before, like, Autism. Autism spectrum disorder.

Jimmy Clare [00:03:23]:
It was like Asperger’s. I mean, I remember that because. But there’s these other ones, like, very abbreviated ones.

Dana Jonson [00:03:31]:
Yeah, sure.

Jimmy Clare [00:03:34]:
So then my parents. So when I was diagnosed, they finally tell. They said to my mom, my parents, that I wouldn’t be able to live by myself. I wouldn’t be able to cook, clean drive, et cetera. And I didn’t feel. I didn’t know this at this. At the time, because my parents did. My parents did basically just, I would say cover it up, but they didn’t want to limit me to my abilities because I’m autistic.

Jimmy Clare [00:04:11]:
And so. And I was just writing this for an article the other day, and it came back to my mind, uh, because I liked what I said in the article. And I said, you know, it’s not, it’s not that my parents didn’t want me to know, but they want me to be limited by my diagnosis. So, you know, if I. If I wanted to try karate, I was. They put me in a. Karate. If I want to try piano lessons.

Jimmy Clare [00:04:41]:
Well, I mean, I. I did. I’m still in karate, but. And I like piano for a certain time, and they let me do piano. They include limitations on me. As long as it’s reasonable. If I said, oh, I’m going to go skydiving tomorrow, no, but that might.

Dana Jonson [00:05:01]:
Not be on the table.

Jimmy Clare [00:05:02]:
Yeah, that’s not on the table. But if I wanted to try something, they didn’t let my brother and I be limited by such. Like. My brother is. He’s obviously not on the spectrum, but he’s. But he’s. He’s my older brother. And no one in my family treated me differently because I’m autistic, but no one told me either.

Jimmy Clare [00:05:31]:
And I found out through when I found. When I. I knew I was a little bit different when I went to my own IEP meeting and I was like my stepping stone. My school said it was your stepping stone to being an adult. And it’s like. But they warned me that I was not able to speak at my own Meeting, I was like, what’s the meaning about me? And it’s like, well, some of these people are admin staff are a little cranky and it’s like, a little cranky. It’s like, no matter how my guts are, my meeting, there’s a stepping stone. They made me miss art class and it’s like, made me miss Jim.

Jimmy Clare [00:06:11]:
And this was before I got into work, working out because, like, I was, I was nearly obese from my age group. I just started P90X in 11th grade. I’m going to jump around a little bit. Sorry.

Dana Jonson [00:06:25]:
Sure. No, that’s okay. Because I was going to ask about the role of fitness. So jump right in.

Jimmy Clare [00:06:31]:
Basically, like, I got bullied from around 4th grade all the way to 11th grade in high school. And it started with name calling all the way up to slapping my neck, which is dangerous due to the spinal stenosis. And let’s just say my school, just so I don’t beat a dead horse. But my school was a little slow up on the uptake about spinal stenosis. And even though that Google was like around in 2008, nine and. And I’m like, okay, you know what? Spousalness is not new. You could Google this thing and see how dangerous this thing is. But anyway, ironically, they said I was slow on figuring of figuring out different math problems in English and whatnot.

Jimmy Clare [00:07:27]:
It’s like, I’m a little slow. And it’s like, how about you try a little bit of being a little slow?

Dana Jonson [00:07:32]:
Well, yeah, and it sounds like, I mean, back then too, schools weren’t as well equipped to deal with bullying as they are now. You know, lot of schools now have policies that they just didn’t have back then.

Jimmy Clare [00:07:42]:
Yeah, And I admit that too. I admit maybe I’m a little bit harder than my school district. They got a lot better. I give them that credit in this day and age. But for me, let’s just say it was a lot of head butting. And that’s an understatement. And so, uh, so basically I finally got. I had enough of the bullying.

Jimmy Clare [00:08:11]:
Uh, I, I stood up for myself and I stood up in my math class because I wanted witnesses. I didn’t trust the security cameras in my school because you know how like you see all in the TV shows and sure, movie is the wall of camera feeds. And so I never saw one of those in my school. And it was like, no, my school, let’s just say, not going to name many names, but let’s just say like, I felt like my School was a little kind of GP on the technology a little bit. They had like the most stupidest smart boards and they had these first ever laptops by this company. I’m not going to name any names, but let’s just say it was cool to work with. But it was like, this is kind of stupid. And was like, there was only one set of these computers in the whole school.

Jimmy Clare [00:09:05]:
Was like, now out of. I forget how many people were in my class. I mean, around my grade class, I think it was like over 400. It’s like, you want to decide to get a couple of different computer cards? Come on. Ridiculous.

Dana Jonson [00:09:21]:
So technology was lacking as well.

Jimmy Clare [00:09:24]:
Yeah. And so maybe. So I stood up to move the bullies in my math class. It was towards the end of it. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but I was very fed up and I stood up to the bullies right after they made fun of my friend who was in a wheelchair and because, like, she had one of those electric wheelchairs with the droid stick on it. And the classroom doors were like about that wide, so you can easily like bang into it, even. Even if you’re just carrying a backpack into the classroom. And they.

Jimmy Clare [00:10:07]:
They made fun of her by bumping her wheelchair into the doorframe. I was like, I like to see you drive one of those things. And I was like, that’s not funny at all. And like, that’s not funny. And. And so I went over to the bully’s face is. I cursed, I yelled, I screamed. And.

Jimmy Clare [00:10:25]:
And so basically one of the bullies tried to do one other thing to me and my friends, and I got one of them expelled. And once they finally got one, once they finally learned that one of them got expelled, they backed off of me because they probably knew who, like a billboard blew the whistle. And so.

Dana Jonson [00:10:49]:
Yeah, no, and. And sad that it has to get to that sometimes.

Jimmy Clare [00:10:52]:
Yeah. And I. And this was like after a couple of different attempts, reporting them to different principals. We had about four different principals in my high school. One of them was the head. And then the other three were restored at different grades. And to be honest, I always went to one of them because I knew he was going to do something about it. Something eventually.

Jimmy Clare [00:11:19]:
And I knew the head principal well at the time. The head principal at the time was kind of on his way out. So he wasn’t. He was just there to collect another paycheck until the next one come in. But then when the next one came in, I started to go into her first stuff too, because my guidance let’s just say some of the guidance counselors, like, well, why didn’t you come to us and say, because I know who’s going to get something done, right? Let’s just say they took kind of offense to that.

Dana Jonson [00:11:50]:
And I was like.

Jimmy Clare [00:11:51]:
She was like, I’m going to tell the principal. I was like, go right ahead, go do it. And like, and this was like close to the end of school year. So I was like, like, you’re never going to see me ever again. So I had nothing to lose. I just like, I’m kind of rhythm right now. I’m just kind of chain off right now. Just saw it off.

Dana Jonson [00:12:08]:
So did you finish high school after your senior year or did you stay on for transition services? Or was that just not really a thing back then?

Jimmy Clare [00:12:18]:
Oh, it was a thing back then because I finished up in 2012 and I decided to get out of school anyway. I got out of there because I just hated school and I needed a break because just between the bullying, just between the butting heads of every little nook and cranny is like, this is getting very old really quick. So I took a year off of college, I mean off of high school after high school. And so, and, and I forgot to add in that part. I’m so sorry, but I’ve only said the story about like 180 times. But every single time it’s either add more takeaway and it’s all good. Basically my. I lost the weight with P90X, which is the 90 day workout program.

Jimmy Clare [00:13:13]:
So that’s where I got the motivation to stand up to the bullies because I was. I lost 30 pounds.

Dana Jonson [00:13:21]:
Wow. And you said you did that your junior year, your senior year.

Jimmy Clare [00:13:25]:
Uh, it was my junior year that I lost the weight. And then so I stood up to the bullies in my junior year. And then after high school I took time off because most of my friends decided to go right to college. But I, because I hated school so much, I was like, I’m not going to college. Well, that lasted about three years. And then I enrolled myself in the fall of 2015 in college. I’m still currently in college because, you know, some semesters I was taking three classes at a time. I suicide two classes at a time.

Jimmy Clare [00:14:04]:
And then lately I’ve been taking one due to. I’m down to my last three semesters and great. I’m still. I’m currently in statistics and let’s just say me and math do not go together whatsoever. And doing everything online this semester just because I could Go in person. But I would honestly. And I’m not like selling myself short or anything, I’m a very small person. But just my math is not my.

Dana Jonson [00:14:37]:
Forte and statistics is hard.

Jimmy Clare [00:14:39]:
Oh yeah, I know.

Dana Jonson [00:14:41]:
I have nightmares about statistics still. So.

Jimmy Clare [00:14:44]:
Well, I’m. I’m currently living in a nightmare of statistics.

Dana Jonson [00:14:49]:
Oh gosh.

Jimmy Clare [00:14:51]:
And so basically not to sell myself short or anything, I got. And I decided to like, if I went in person, I would be literally pretending to understand the information. And I was afraid if I go in person for statistics, I would get called on by my, by the professor and say, hey Jimmy, do you know this answer? And I’m like, uh, it’s like I rather feel like an idiot in my own house and not then being called on and feel embarrassed so. Because like, you know, there’s some people who maybe catches on faster than me on certain things. So I was like, I don’t really want to sit there for an hour and 30 minutes and waste my time. I’m gonna go figure this out on my own.

Dana Jonson [00:15:51]:
So do you feel like you particular for this class? In particular, you feel like doing it online? Le more into your skill set and your learning style?

Jimmy Clare [00:15:59]:
Yeah, because it’s all pre recorded videos and I can rewind, come back and even if I’m not understanding it, I mostly have my parents to help me. But then I’m also tutoring with my friend online and he’s really smart at math. He’s kind of like a no it all sometimes. And I was like. And he’s like, sometimes he calculates stuff in his head. Really? And it’s like, well, what answers did you get? It’s like, well, I got this answer and then when I added up with my calculator, I was like, well, I got this answer. Who’s right, who’s wrong? He’s like, well, I know I’m correct. And it’s like, oh, okay.

Dana Jonson [00:16:48]:
Well, it’s good to have resources like that. So you did the PX90, that’s what it’s called, right?

Jimmy Clare [00:16:53]:
P90X.

Dana Jonson [00:16:54]:
P90X. Sorry. And obviously I did not do that. So what is that when fitness started to become a large part of your life? Or did you just do that and you went back to fitness later?

Jimmy Clare [00:17:09]:
No, that became part of my life a lot because being on the autism spectrum got into a lot of autism meltdowns. And I used to refer to autism meltdowns as like an atomic bomb, but it’s not instant. So I kind of changed it from the atomic bomb to her hurricane because, and the reason why I like the hurricane kind of is like category one all the way to category five. And mine always lands somewhere on four or five really quickly. And so. And at the time when I was having all these autism meltdowns and I was going through the bullying I was doing, I was in, I was seeing a therapist. She was prescribing me medication to deal with my emotions. And I hated it because one of the side effects was weight gain.

Jimmy Clare [00:18:10]:
And I’m sure that also didn’t help because I didn’t have the best nutrition coming into me. Um, let’s just say I ate a lot of sweets, a lot of junk food. I mean, not my parent, my parents. We didn’t have all unhealthy dinners, but we did have family pizza night and we did go out a lot to eat, et cetera. Uh, and so let’s just say. Well, all in all, let’s just say it was a mix of both of the medication and the nutrients that I was taking in.

Dana Jonson [00:18:45]:
Yeah, they. But that’s a big issue with some medications. Right. Because they so slow down your metabolism that it becomes very difficult to lose weight and very easy to gain it.

Jimmy Clare [00:18:57]:
Yeah. And then I also just didn’t like the fact not to name any names or anything, but let’s just say I didn’t like the therapist after a while because she was kind of controlling when I can get off of it and whatnot. And like, I’ll give you an example. So there was like, when I was in between, either out of college or I don’t think I was in college, enrolled in college yet when I was going in between stuff for the summer and the fall and whatnot. She’s like, before I was like, okay, maybe I was like, I’ll let you off the medication if you get your, if you get your. I can. If you get a part time job at the shore. And I was like, you will let me go off the medications? Like, well, what if I went off the.

Jimmy Clare [00:19:51]:
Off the medication?

Dana Jonson [00:19:52]:
That’s an odd thing, right? Get a job and we’ll take you off meds. How are those two things related?

Jimmy Clare [00:19:57]:
She was trying to. She was, she was kind of giving me like, do this and I’ll reward you with this. And I was like, well, my dog and. And we just didn’t see eye to eye anymore, et cetera. So I kind of just stopped seeing her. I mean, I went to see a dozen different therapists later on.

Dana Jonson [00:20:18]:
Sure. So fitness became a big component for you and how other than just the Weight loss. How has that really impacted you with your autism? You mentioned the autism meltdowns. Do you find that with the better nutrition and the better weight that you are more in control or less in control? Or is it just something that helps you feel better about yourself and that contributes?

Jimmy Clare [00:20:46]:
I feel like the. My health. I feel like the working out, like, takes the extra energy and the emotions out of my life out of the having so many autism meltdowns. And I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s sometimes I still have one here and there, but it’s not like. It’s not like a permanent fix, but it’s a lot way less than. Like for instance, during elementary school and everything, when I was down a lot of towns and middle school, a little bit into high school, until like 11th grade, et cetera. Like my. Pretty much, I had like maybe multiple times during each week.

Jimmy Clare [00:21:33]:
Now it’s like once in a blue moon.

Dana Jonson [00:21:35]:
Oh, that’s wonderful.

Jimmy Clare [00:21:37]:
And so like I said, that’s why. And like anything Isami said to me in school, I could have triggered it and literally called say Category 5 hurricane. And now it’s like when it happens in once in a blood moon, nothing is wrecked it just now it is like just emotions, words is said. Uh, not on purpose, but something really triggered it. But it’s like a build of emotions and not just. Right there’s something totally random that like something just triggered me off the wall, et cetera.

Dana Jonson [00:22:16]:
So. So getting all that, as you said, extra energy out, does that allow you then to better manage those situations? Because I would imagine that your emotions themselves don’t necessarily change, but perhaps your ability to manage them.

Jimmy Clare [00:22:32]:
Definitely. Because I know. Let’s just say I back growing up, I didn’t have a filter, so to speak, so I just set out everything off the cuff. And so now when I talk to others, I make sure it’s like I’m listening. I’m not just reacting. I’m also. And obviously there’s just sometimes where it might happen here and there, but it’s better managed versus than what it definitely used to be. Because like, let me give you a quick example.

Jimmy Clare [00:23:09]:
Like my. Let’s just say, for instance, I didn’t. I’m not gonna say what I got on my last quiz. I wasn’t very happy with it, but because math is not my forte and everything I said, it’s okay. You know, when I took my first nutrition class in college, same thing happened to me. Like, I. And I still pull up with an A. No, I’m not looking for an A.

Jimmy Clare [00:23:35]:
I’m just looking to pass statistics. But, but, but also, like when I was taking algebra 1 and 2, I didn’t do very well in the first quiz either. So I was like, okay, you know, there’s still time, like, and so, but years, years ago when I got like a bad grade, I flipped out. This time I was like, okay, I got a bad grade. Okay, what can I do to change this?

Dana Jonson [00:24:01]:
That’s amazing. And I know for a lot of students that holding it together during the day takes so much energy, say at school for things just like what you said, whether it’s the bullying or getting a bad grade or something not going the way that you want, that it’s so difficult to maintain themselves that when they get home, they fall apart. And without somewhere, as you said, for all that energy to go, it eventually bleeds into the school day. And as you said, it could happen right in the middle of class or wherever to have that meltdown. You find that having that outlet and that exercise really gets rid of some of that negative energy so that you can manage those feelings. And I would imagine it also helps your self esteem and mental health. Right, because they always say that exercise helps with your mental health and self esteem. So I would imagine that that would also contribute to your ability to manage other negative situations when you’re feeling better about yourself.

Jimmy Clare [00:25:07]:
Exactly. And then obviously there’s always that 5050 where something might be truly bothering me. Like for instance, a good example that just recently happened today. Like, I’ve been trying to get an MRI on my neck due to my spinal stenosis and my last MRI was 2015. And of course my, of course my insurance keeps rejecting it and it’s like, okay, this is not something you play games with. You can play games with something else. Like, oh, you had two dentist visits or three dentist visits, whatever. But my neck, do not touch my neck.

Jimmy Clare [00:25:45]:
And so like, I’ve been trying the right way for multiple times. Play this game, play this game and play that game. It’s like, okay, so today I did the opposite of what everybody else been telling me is like, you got to play the game. It’s like, well, now you can play my game. And so I told them, very polite on the phone. It’s like, by the way, I’m feeling like your service is really sucking right now. And I said that. And I know I probably should have said that, but I’m just really fed up.

Jimmy Clare [00:26:13]:
It’s like someone’s going to give me a mess today.

Dana Jonson [00:26:15]:
Yeah, it’s Probably a lot nicer than a lot of. A lot of things they hear.

Jimmy Clare [00:26:20]:
Yeah, well. And to be honest, like, I could have said so many other worst things to them, but I was like, okay, you know, how can I get my point across without saying put my own foot in my mouth? So I was like, okay, let’s just say that the service sucks and etc.

Dana Jonson [00:26:41]:
Well, I hope that they finally come through with that. I’m familiar with the insurance appeals. It can be very, very frustrating. And I’m not very good at containing myself when I have to deal with insurance. So I’m impressed. Why don’t you talk a little bit about how Crazy Fitness Guy came to be?

Jimmy Clare [00:26:58]:
So I got. Because I really enjoy fitness and talking about fitness, etc. When I first started college, I thought I was going to be the next personal trainer and whatnot. Well, as you can probably tell, I also am not. Let’s just say science is not my strong suit as well. You know, math and science, really, they.

Dana Jonson [00:27:24]:
Go hand in hand.

Jimmy Clare [00:27:25]:
Yeah, definitely not. Does not go hand in hand with me. And so we. So finally I got. Because I got into, let’s say, even a pickle in this science class that people. Then this professor, let’s just say if he’s told you part A is on the test. Well, A is not on the test. So I was like, is this a trick game or something? It’s like, how do I study for this? There’s no study, guys.

Jimmy Clare [00:27:54]:
Like, well, here’s what, here’s what the person said to me. And I quote, you should just know the bones in the body.

Dana Jonson [00:28:01]:
You should just know them.

Jimmy Clare [00:28:02]:
Yeah. And it’s like, well, I know the bicep, but I know there’s more bones than the bicep. And I know the tricep. And it’s like, but it’s like. But it’s like, I’m just a person know them in the body. And it’s like, I’m sorry. I’m like, google. I can’t program my brain to be like Google.

Jimmy Clare [00:28:18]:
I was like, that’d be nice because then I know everything then. But yeah, and so I. So I quickly withdrew from that class because me and four other people were failing that class. And let’s just say that class went from 28 to quickly 12 people. So that. That was not.

Dana Jonson [00:28:41]:
That tells you something.

Jimmy Clare [00:28:42]:
Yeah. And so basically how I got into a Crazy Fitness Guy was because I’m still passionate. I’m still very passionate about fitness because I like the name so much. Crazy Fitness Guy. I was like, okay, I gotta keep this name and keep this brand. Because I got into the point where it was too much time and too much money to rebrand. And so I was like, okay, you know what? I can be a motivational speaker, and I’m going to motivate people to live healthier lifestyles versus, oh, you know, I don’t have to change up everything. I don’t have to be the next personal trainer.

Jimmy Clare [00:29:25]:
And it’s like, it’s a unique name, it’s memorable, and it catches people’s attention. And it’s like, what’s Crazy Fitness Guy? And it’s a motivational platform. It’s for people on and off the autism spectrum to live a healthier lifestyle. Uh, I have a podcast called Crazy Fans. Got a healthy living podcast. It’s a monthly podcast. And you probably wonder, it’s like, how can you have a monthly podcast? Everybody does it weekly. And it’s like, well, monthly works too.

Jimmy Clare [00:29:57]:
And it’s like, there’s not a secret. There’s not a secret to podcasting. I. I, trust me, I debated with myself, but I was like, you know, I’m only one person, and you. I reach. Reach some of the top charts on some of the different platforms, and it’s like, obviously monthly seems be fine for other people, so who cares when you.

Dana Jonson [00:30:18]:
Have a really good archive of. You have a lot of episodes that are out. So, you know, if somebody’s just discovering it, they can totally. There’s plenty of material to listen to. I know. I only publish every other week usually because, you know, for the same reason, weekly is just not in my repertoire.

Jimmy Clare [00:30:38]:
Exactly. It’s like, it’s like we all have the same hours of days. But, you know, I was like, I’m still in school. I’m still. It’s like, it’s one thing if I was like, I mean, I would love to be doing all this full time, but you. And I want my degree to prove to myself that, hey, you know, even though I absolutely hate school back then, look, I’m in college, I’m getting my degree, I’m working on my degree. I’m not just I’m anything but lazy.

Dana Jonson [00:31:06]:
Well, that’s great. I love that you challenge yourself to, you know, your own standards as opposed to trying to meet somebody else’s. So what are some of the topics that you cover? I know it’s wellness in general, but what are some specifics that you cover in Crazy Fitness Guy? And is it specifically directed towards people in the autism community?

Jimmy Clare [00:31:27]:
I cover a lot of different topics. So even though that my target audience is in the autism community, it’s literally for anybody with extra challenges. It could be from autism spectrum, an autism spectrum or, or cerebral palsy, or just anything in general. And the reason I cater to both, but specifically saying for one is because when I saw, when I was doing research about podcasting, I saw that there was some podcasts out there that talked about autism, but then some of them have dropped off and stopped creating episodes. So I was like, you might. This is a very good niche that I says, like, let me get into this, let me tailor it. And so I make sure that people from all walks of life can still be a part of the platform of Crazy Fitness Guy. So I cover autism.

Jimmy Clare [00:32:33]:
I call fitness, lifestyle, nutrition, self help, self care, anything healthy living. The only thing I do not talk about is sex, religion, money and politics because it’s very controversial. Because like, well, you know, if I start doing this, I might as well just shoot myself in the foot before my career even takes off, which is.

Dana Jonson [00:33:00]:
Not usually your goal as a podcaster. Right.

Jimmy Clare [00:33:03]:
And so what, so what I tell anybody any if somebody tries to go on a political rant and it’s like, you know, at the end of the day, let’s just say we all hate everybody, all of our leaders and. Because that way no one knows who I like because I don’t like any of them, to be honest.

Dana Jonson [00:33:19]:
I don’t think you’re alone. I do not think you’re alone. What are your goals for Crazy Fitness Guy? I know that you cover anything related to wellness and, you know, not just autism, but disability in general. Do you have a goal of where you want to go with it or are you just going to kind continue with it as the topics come up that people want to hear about?

Jimmy Clare [00:33:41]:
Well, I have many goals, but to name you, I’d say the top four goals just because I like an even number. I want to be like one of the top 1% podcasters in the world.

Dana Jonson [00:34:00]:
Awesome.

Jimmy Clare [00:34:01]:
Yeah. I don’t aim low and I’m not cocky. It’s just that I’m that confident in myself and my brand and my motivation and my persistence to get there.

Dana Jonson [00:34:14]:
I love it.

Jimmy Clare [00:34:15]:
My second goal is to be able to speak on stages all around the world. Big events, sold out events, football stadiums, et cetera. My third goal, I want to be featured on a cover of a magazine. Any, any like a big high publication magazine. But, but for the time being, I would say somewhere between small and medium, just so it’s not so like, oh, that’s outrageous. But. And then the third one would be, I mean, the fourth one, sorry, apparently I can’t count either. I blame statistics.

Dana Jonson [00:34:59]:
Statistics. It’s all. It all goes back to the statistics.

Jimmy Clare [00:35:04]:
My fourth one would be making a consistent income for my business, et cetera, without relying. Have to rely on other means here and there. Just some little side hustles here and there. I’ll be straightforward. You know, I’m not making millions of dollars. I’m not Tony Robbins yet. I like the growth mindset, and that’s my goal. To make billions and millions of dollars then.

Jimmy Clare [00:35:33]:
Because to be honest, I don’t know what I would do without money.

Dana Jonson [00:35:38]:
I know. But I’d be willing to try. But I love the goals. I love that you set your own goals and that you’re aiming, as I said, for your goals, not somebody else’s. And I think that’s great. And I think you’re right. This is a really niche area that needs to be addressed. I think the wellness and health as it pertains to, say, autism or other disabilities may be different than how it pertains to somebody without those disabilities.

Dana Jonson [00:36:06]:
Because while we can say generally everybody benefits from exercise or from wellness habits or good nutrition, I think even just the example you gave of the medication being a component that was difficult, that there are other difficulties, or the ability to manage yourself behaviorally because you are able to get rid of that extra exercise, that I think that those components are really need to be discussed so that students or kids and adults as well don’t feel so alone and stuck in those areas.

Jimmy Clare [00:36:43]:
Exactly. And I also just wanted to share with real quick that the reason why I also tailored it just to autism was because there’s so many extra challenges out there. And so I was like, well, if I list them all, that’s going to be one long description that will not fit anywhere in the podcasting platform. So that’s why I did that. And also, I just wanted to point out, I don’t know if you also use video and whatnot for your podcast, but I’m also been featured in a billboard in New York City, Times Square, and I also been featured in Ticker News and also the Mighty and the Autism Parenting magazine. Not on the COVID yet, but.

Dana Jonson [00:37:31]:
But we’re working towards it. Yeah, that’s a goal. Well, that’s great. And I’m going to have all that information in my show notes. So anybody who’s on the go right now, if you want to come back and find Jimmy and what we’re talking about. We will have LinkedIn links to all of those components where he’s featured, as well as to Crazy Fitness Guy’s website. And like I said, there’s a lot of content and I think it’s all about wellness and it’s geared towards the autism disability community. Although as you said, it could apply to anybody.

Dana Jonson [00:38:03]:
It doesn’t have to be so, like, my audience is really typically parents, but I’ve heard that teachers and administrators are sometimes listening in as well. So not just for any one group. But I really appreciate you coming on and talking to me, Jim, because I think that this is very motivational and I think that you do have a good story and a lot to share and to motivate people to look into their wellness and to make that part of their routine and part of their toolkit. Really.

Jimmy Clare [00:38:31]:
Yeah. Thank you for having me.

Dana Jonson [00:38:33]:
Thank you so much for joining me today. Please don’t forget to follow this podcast so you don’t miss any new episodes and leave a review when you have a chance. If there’s anything you want to hear about or comment on, please go to my Facebook page, Special Ed on Special Ed, and find me there. I’ll see you next time here on Special Ed on Special Ed. Have a fabulous day.

Disclaimer [00:38:52]:
The views expressed in this episode are those of the speakers at the time of the recording and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organization, employer or company, or even that individual today.