John Tesh: A Celebration of Song and Dance

INTELLIGENCE FOR YOUR LIFE After receiving thousands of emails from fans of his radio show, "The John Tesh Radio Show: Intelligence for Your Life," John felt compelled to write his first ever hard cover book, Intelligence for Your Life: Powerful Lessons for Personal Growth. Although John admits he is not a therapist or a Ph.D., he does have a personal vision and passion for encouraging and enabling others to better their lives through personal, physical, educational, professional, and spiritual growth. “The world is full of people who have dreams of playing at Carnegie Hall, of running a marathon, and of owning their own business. The difference between the people who make it across the finish line and everyone else is one simple thing: an action plan,” says John. He shares from personal experience his mistakes and successes. When John recorded his first album, Music from the Tour de France, he was confident that after finishing the project he could approach the record company to get signed as a recording artist. He still has the rejection letters on his wall today. It wasn’t until he sat down with David Michaels, the producer of the Tour de France, that he was asked some tough questions and came up with a “plan” to promote his new album. As a result, his action plan included direct response advertising and three months of fulfilling requests for 10,000 CDs and cassettes out of his Los Angeles apartment. He collected $122,000 in net profits and the names and addresses of about 6,000 fans who were ready for album number two when it came out. John says pursuing your dreams requires you to focus, but in a world filled with so many distractions, that is often hard to do. He shares advice from many experts that have been on his radio show: (1) Write down on three index cards at least two goals that you would like to complete during the next two months. Each time you see them you must say them aloud. For example, “I will lose five pounds in one month by walking ten more minutes every day.” (2) Tape the cards to your computer at work, to the dashboard of your car, and to your bathroom mirror. When you reach those two goals, add two more until the art of focus becomes second nature. If you practice that technique for 21 days (the length it takes to break a habit), it will become second nature. Developing focus is about breaking bad habits and replacing them with good habits. John says most studies say not to go cold turkey when it comes to breaking habits. It took about three weeks of sloppy and inattentive behavior to form a habit so it may take about 21 days to replace that habit with a healthy one. John shares how he had a terrible habit of checking emails repeatedly while hosting the radio show. So, he replaced his email checks with ten push-ups. When he gets the urge to check email he hits the floor and does push-ups. He still checks his emails, but he waits until it is a more appropriate time that is not so distracting. John also recommends rewarding yourself for breaking a habit. If you give up soda for five days treat yourself to dinner at your favorite restaurant. THE POWER OF DANCE It all started when John took his daughter to a hip-hop class. He popped his head into her class to take a closer look at the art form she admired, and he was hooked. His daughter’s passion for this style of dance ignited his own excitement. It also motivated him to reach out to the young generation of today to help them. “Today about one in seven children are obese and medical researchers know that dancing tones your entire body, improves your posture and balance, builds confidence and wards off illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and depression,” explains John. “Our hope for this TV special is that it would encourage millions of boys and girls to put down the video game controllers and get up and dance.” One of John’s latest projects is his latest PBS television special, ALIVE: Music & Dance. The show is a celebration of everything John is passionate about – faith, music, dance, and family. The special features 14 new performances by John as well as highlights performances by Breeze Lee, co-artistic director and choreographer of an LA based dance theater company and Julia Eichten, a ballerina currently studying at The Julliard School. The production is a blend of music and dance that includes a cast of nearly 100, a 60 voice choir of worship leaders, singers, band, strings, and dancers between the ages of 3 and 21. The show will debut on March 1, 2008 with the CD and DVD companions releasing in stores on March 4.