Rising Through Resilience: Jameson C Montgomery of Jaye Wellness Studio On The Five Things You Can Do To Become More Resilient

An Interview With Savio P. Clemente

Be okay being Criticized: Be okay being Criticized: On your journey, criticism will come, guaranteed! It comes with the territory as your advance in life. No one has ever achieved anything significant without opposition and push back from others. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep going.

Resilience has been described as the ability to withstand adversity and bounce back from difficult life events. Times are not easy now. How do we develop greater resilience to withstand the challenges that keep being thrown at us? In this interview series, we are talking to mental health experts, authors, resilience experts, coaches, and business leaders who can talk about how we can develop greater resilience to improve our lives.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jameson C. Montgomery.

Jameson C. Montgomery is an Author, Entrepreneur, and Creator of Jaye Wellness Studio. He has a passion for helping others with health and wellness related topics through content and motivational coaching. His mission is to help people around the world find strength from within.

Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your backstory?

Hi there! Thanks for having me. Where should I start? As a young boy, my father created a nutrition company, and I would literally sit on my free time and read what specific vitamins did for the body. I was immediately interested in health and nutrition. Fast forward, I started a wellness Youtube channel and have written several books about health and wellness. It’s my life, and I love it!

Can you share with us the most interesting story from your career? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

Being an entrepreneur and into health and wellness, fitness is also in the mix. After watching Shark Tank, I decided to invent my product. I was also heavy into fitness and fashion that I decided to develop a shoe that is also a resistance band. The resistance band string would be embedded inside of the shoe. I filed for a patent, had sketches created, and developed funding for this invention. The result ended up being a huge flop. No one appreciated the idea; I was asked, “what were you thinking,” and laughed at for filing that expensive patent. The lesson here is you cannot give up on succeeding. Most importantly, do not give up on yourself. It taught me to be more resilient and that my vision is my vision. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Short-term failure taught me life-long lessons.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

My company Jaye Wellness Studio seeks to be a one-size-fits-all approach. We all can apply techniques of health, wellness, and fitness. When I started on my quest to become an entrepreneur, this was my mission. Stand out by applying principles and adding educational value that everyone can join in. Not leaving it there, though — also using my motivational speaking approach to personalize the goals of that individual to help them succeed by leading others and reminding them of the tools they embody to help them succeed on their journey.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

I actually found a doctor online by the name of Dr. Alan Mandell. He also runs a successful Youtube channel inspiring others with motivation and health facts. I followed him for many years and was in contact with him through email and video discussion. It’s incredible how you can find someone online, and they turn out to be an inspiration in your life. The beauty of the world we live in to have this kind of access. We often hear the negatives of the online world but very little of how many positives it provides.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s shift to the main focus of this interview. We would like to explore and flesh out the trait of resilience. How would you define resilience? What do you believe are the characteristics or traits of resilient people?

I know a resilient person instantly. I can promise you it will only take me less than a day working with someone to understand their resilience level. I define resilience as a person who stays poised, leads by encouragement, and continues despite the odds. Do you know how often I hear that being a successful entrepreneur is not going to happen anymore? It’s too saturated; get a regular job. The art of being resilient is knowing the odds and doing it anyways. Those characteristics of resilient people do not need to return hate and criticism. Flops and a lack of interest in what you are doing are inevitable. When you talk to them, they are hopeful, see success in the future, and have no interest in quitting. Optimism, kindness, and poise are what are going to keep you in the race.

Courage is often likened to resilience. In your opinion how is courage both similar and different to resilience?

Courage gives you the energy to believe in something; resilience gives you the strength to deal with the outcome. Think of it like this; courage is offense, resilience is defense. You need a mixture of offense and defense to win the game, just like in a sport. It’s similar because they both are required to succeed. The words are married but not symmetrical. They are traits that lead you to success.

When you think of resilience, which person comes to mind? Can you explain why you chose that person?

Gary Vaynerchuk hands-down. He is using pure passion and work ethic to push through adversity. He had to acclimate to another country and its ways culturally, he had to adjust based on business and the directional pivots required. This country wants you to “stay in your lane” sort of speak, and his resilience to press through that judgment and criticism is phenomenal.

Has there ever been a time that someone told you something was impossible, but you did it anyway? Can you share the story with us?

I hear that every other month. “Youtube is impossible to be seen; too many entrepreneurs out there.” I am doing it every day. I put the mindset each day that I am worthy of being around the table with the A-listers. I refuse to believe I don’t have what it takes to succeed as high as others have. The odds deter people away from getting started on things. Prove the odds wrong is my motto.

Did you have a time in your life where you had one of your greatest setbacks, but you bounced back from it stronger than ever? Can you share that story with us?

Rough times often come in series. I had gotten in a car accident one day driving to school, and my truck was left completely totaled. Shortly after that, I had a close family member be dishonest with me after the lowest time in my life. This led me to be untrusting and feel very insignificant. I thank my Wife and Parents for sticking by me to help me through turbulent times. I bounced back because of my faith in God and the will to change what I did not like about my situation. Feeling hopeless and saying how the world is unfair will only prevent you from reaching more extraordinary achievements.

How have you cultivated resilience throughout your life? Did you have any experiences growing up that have contributed to building your resiliency? Can you share a story?

Absolutely! For some people, it doesn’t take a lifetime. I learned rather quickly that if I didn’t buckle up for the rough times and hold my head up high, I wasn’t going ever to feel abundant. I learned to extract valuable something from every situation, good or bad. I’ve had people come in my life to be my friend and stick around with motives, but again, this teaches you lessons. This helped me build resilience that everything isn’t what it seems to be, and I should always be vigilant. My heart is open, but I am always observing situations that present themselves in life. Fast forward, while building my network and expanding my brand, I keep these lessons in my mind. It’s with the time that resilience is built.

Resilience is like a muscle that can be strengthened. In your opinion, what are 5 steps that someone can take to become more resilient? Please share a story or an example for each.

Okay I wrote down my 5 steps to become more resilient. These are in no order at all. These are listed as a giant ball of importance.

1. Learn from your mistake and adjust accordingly: The world at times can make you feel that things are done with perfection or proficiency all the time. We see that perfection after the bloopers are edited out, years after someone has trained. We see the edited clean performance of things. Mistakes are the building blocks of life. Resiliency is developed after all those mistakes.
2. Be the student in life: Be the student in life: Everyone wants to be the leader. There is always something to be learned in life. Researching and learning from others is what is going to prepare you during those turbulent times.
3. Be confident in the decisions you make: Be confident in the decisions you make: This will shine and radiate in others. Your performance is going to produce massive results. When you are satisfied with your choices, you set the foundation for positive results. Leave your legacy as someone who refuses to give up on doing good in the world.
4. Take care of yourself: Your body is what drives you to success. If you do not take care of your health, you will not do well. When I faced a difficult moment in life, I could navigate through it because of the care I devoted to my mind, body, and soul. Feed your body, and it will lift you through turbulent situations and moments of adversity.
5. Be okay being Criticized: Be okay being Criticized: On your journey, criticism will come, guaranteed!

It comes with the territory as your advance in life. No one has ever achieved anything significant without opposition and push back from others. Keep your eyes on the prize and keep going.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I would start a movement with the hashtag I just created #escapetheneedtohate. If we use love and understanding as the driving force for anything we do or encounter, the world will be a better place. We can disagree without hate. Devoting time to simply understand things can avoid so many situations. Love before hate always.

We are blessed that some very prominent leaders read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them :-)

I brought him up earlier, but it would be Gary Vaynerchuk. I love his mantra of using kindness as his driving force while still leading his team successfully. He doesn’t need to slam others; he educates and inspires them while keeping it real and relatable. It would be a great experience to meet him one day.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can find me on Instagram @sirjaymonty or on Youtube searching Jaye Wellness Studio.

This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!