 James Swannick here and we are on another Swannick live and today we're talking about how to break free from other people's expectations so you can reach your full potential. And today on the show we've got Sheldon Bailey and Sheldon has acted on Nickelodeon sitcom Game Shakers. He's a season actor. He's done more than 75 TV shows, 100 commercials. He also makes music. He's got two albums, Golden Eagle and Crazy Joey. A book of poetry. He produces music and film. And he's a former college and pro basketball player and I will get into this in a little bit, but as I understand it, his athleticism was cut short by a couple of injuries. So we'll talk about that. And Sheldon is also a very passionate swanese wearer. He's been rocking his swanese blue light blocking glasses. He's wearing them now. Looking very cool and hip. We should do a competition like who wore them better you or me. I can see that you've got you've got me beat on this one. Sheldon, great to have you here on the show. How are you? Yeah, thank you. I'm doing very well and I'm happy to be here. I really love this brand and everything that you all represent. Yeah, thank you very much. So tell us, you were an aspiring athlete and then it was cut short by injury. Am I right? Tell us about that. It wasn't necessarily cut short, but it kind of created a detour. So I was a star basketball player in high school and I was doing very well on my way to success in that sport. And I wanted to tear my ACL when I was 16, but not just my ACL, my MCL and my meniscus. So I almost had a complete tear of the left knee at age 16, which created, I had to have surgically reconstructed. And doctors and, you know, suggested that I didn't play basketball anymore. And, you know, at 16 I had a decision if I was going to continue or not because it was a very serious injury. But I decided to rehabilitate myself and get back out on the court. And within, I don't know, eight months time I was able to get back and earn myself a division one college scholarship. Nice. So what was the lesson that you learned out of that whole process? Well, one of the things basketball was so prominent in my life. It was like the one thing and I just knew I had it made. And so, you know, life threw me a big curveball. And I had to, you know, make some decisions on what I really value and cared about. I was a solid student, but I can't necessarily say that I really had to focus on what my education was about or what else that I love. I did love acting. I had been acting classes for a while. But so that kind of got me, that put acting more like more as in the forefront is a passion of mine because I knew I could do it and be healthy. Because that was one of the things that I did while rehabilitating. And then also, you know, just the things, where was I going? What was I doing? You know, hanging out with friends, you know, I looked at that a different way as well. Like I really became very focused on getting my goals achieved outside of basketball. Were there expectations on you from friends or family at that point or did that come later? So, yeah. Well, I was always a tall individual. So even before I was good at basketball, people wanted me to play basketball. Because I was extremely tall. I mean, by the age of 12, I think I was about six, two, six, three. I could dunk the basketball in the kind of way you wanted. So it became the thing. And also to be real culturally, I also think there's a thing as a tall African American male, you're definitely pushed towards, you know, success in, you know, in pro sports. So I always had that social pressure, peer pressure, family pressure to a certain extent to achieve a basketball. Did you take on that? I mean, how did you, how did that pressure resonate with you? Did you feel it and was it like a draining pressure or was it a motivating or an energizing pressure? Like at the time, how did it feel? Well, at first when I wasn't good at the sport, it was draining. But then it became motivating whenever my parents were divorced. And so whenever I got to move with my father, we spent a lot of time working on my game. And then I think that father's son time and my actual development became motivating and made me want to be that star that I felt like it could be or that other people saw in me. But then came later, I had to achieve certain things. All right, I went to college and played basketball, I played basketball as a pro. But even now with the age of 37, with two reconstructed knees, people still want me to be a basketball player. What do they say? What are some of the things they say? Who do you play for? Why don't you try to be an NBA? A lot of the time, just the guy at the checkout of the grocery store, the person that's bagging my groceries is a lot. It was like, man, you never thought about playing for the Lakers, never crossed my mind, but he never thought about it. Wow. This lady, I was in the grocery store and this older lady was like, baby, I hope you're using that height for something. I hope you're just not tall for nothing. Wow, if I wasn't, that would be all these constant shots of my ego every single day. So I really feel for tall guys that aren't good or didn't even achieve certain success in the sport. Because there's a lot of social pressure on being a tall guy and things being a tall black male to play ball. Yeah, there's a lot of stereotypes going on there and a lot of expectations and people, a lot of judgments that are being made very, very quickly. And I know that I must have put my hand up and say I have been guilty. I was guilty in the past of seeing very overweight people and people who are obese and unhealthy. And I was very, very quick to judge at a time of my life where I would look at them and go, oh, man, why can't you just like eat better? Or exercise? And so I would look at them through that lens. And it was only later on with some self-development work that I realized, man, that's just like the most judgmental selfish way to look at someone. Because I had no idea who they are, what their background is, what their story is, what's going on. I got no clue. And who the hell am I to judge anyone just for their choices or how they live their life? It's like, who am I? And so that was a big wake-up call to me. And it's funny because as you're sharing that now, I can see how that must affect you and other people when people that you don't know are just kind of making these snapshot judgments about you without even having a conversation with you, quite frankly. This is true. And the thing is, I was able to achieve a lot in basketball. I didn't make it to the NBA, but I got free education. I didn't make some money. I traveled the world. It is one of the main things that helped me have success in the entertainment industry. But I don't have time to go down this whole list of people, everybody who talks to me or wants me to be a basketball player because I've been quite accomplishing a wide range of areas in my life. And for me, that confidence, I rest with that. But for some people, honestly, they don't want to let it go. I mean, sometimes it carries on. I just need to exit. Yeah. We're talking to Sheldon Bailey, who is an actor, a writer, a rapper, an athlete, a father. You can check him out on Instagram. His handle is Big Shell Bailey. Big Shell Bailey. You can check him out there. I know that you've worked a lot with youth previously and you've helped your youth advocate and you've worked with several charities that benefit young people. Can you just tell us a little bit about how that came to be? Yeah. I feel like I came from a charitable family. My parents were the pillars of their families, the large families of siblings, and they were always giving. And then my grandmother, who also raised me for part of my life, was a Baptist minister and just very charitable throughout my whole childhood. I remember going to nursing homes as a kid. I remember her giving my clothes to my less fortunate friends. So it was something that was instilled in me. And I always felt it was important to keep that. And I always knew how it made me feel, and I always liked how it made other people feel. So I wanted to keep that involved in my life. And so whenever I've had the opportunities, I've jumped on them and I've created some opportunities to help as well. I've done that myself a couple of years ago. I set myself a goal of helping 12 charities in 12 weeks. It was one a week. It was a lot more challenging than I thought it would be, to be honest. That's actually a lot to identify, find, and then go and actually help. But I did it. Man, that opened me up so much. They've done a lot of studies in neuroscience that show that one of the quickest ways to get people out of depression or sadness is to have them be of service to other people. Have you found that in your own life that when you've been of service, that's changed your own mood almost? It sounds kind of selfish to say that, right? Like, oh, I'm helping people, and I get to feel good. It's not truly a selfless act. I think it's fine, though. I mean, for sure. It's okay. I mean, I'm not going into it to make myself feel better, but it is a reciprocal product of giving. It's one of those things, whenever you do give that you, I believe that the law of nature and the law of the universe is that it's coming back to you one way or another. But then that all can't be quantified. So you just go with the best intentions in heart, and it all works out. Yeah. Yeah, beautiful. You are rocking your swanis at the moment. Tell us a little bit about how they've been for you, how you experience them when you use them, what people say when you're wearing them. I use them quite frequently. I like to wear them. I mean, all the time, where I'm at night, I wear them during the daytime. They've been a good sometimes, you know, I hang out, you know, at lounges or events and maybe even the club. And they're a good alternative to just being bare-eyed versus also wearing dark shades. People compliment me on them a lot. They think they're very stylish. I think the tint on them really, people gravitate to the color. The color is nice. And so I think it gets people's attention. People always ask me how they are. I drive quite a bit. And so I like to wear their great driving glasses at daytime and night as well. Because here in LA, you know, on the freeways a lot, it's a lot of oncoming traffic with bright lights. And this really cuts that, like, I mean, tremendously cuts that pressure down from oncoming traffic. Yeah, I love it. And the view through the lens is pretty cool as well. If I put it up to the screen there, there we go. Just see the world through a nice little orange lens. But you would think wearing shades at night driving would be a problem. But I feel like I see it very well with them. Yeah, great. In your work, just tell me a little bit about what you're doing in your professional life at the moment. Because we've ratted off a few things there that you're an actor and a rapper and a few other things. So what are you working on or working in at the moment? Working on. I'll be in the studio later on this evening, making some music. I've made a decision that I will put out an album of music by the end of the year. And there's been a lot going on in the world. And so I've had quite a lot of different thoughts. And I've been creating a lot of music over the last couple of years, but hadn't really found the right time to put it out. But I feel now is the time. We're promoting our TV pilot that we filmed independently. He's my writing partner. And we've been accepted to several film festivals. Many of those film festivals have been pushed. We've premiered in tubes thus far, but some of the other ones have been pushed to the fall winter now. We have a really talented producer that is behind us as well, producing that show for us, having content that's doing that work. So those are like two main things. I always got some other things going on here and there, but really making this pilot a TV series and putting out my next bit of music and probably a book at some point in time soon or later is where I'm at. May I ask you a question? Please. You're like really motivational person whenever I see you on Instagram. And I mean, you have this really great product with these sunglasses. What is the driving force behind you? What motivates you? Because I'm interested. Yeah. So what motivates me and what got me into it is slightly different. And you could also say slightly connected. So what got me into producing health and wellness products is I have two businesses. I help people sleep better and work better by wearing these blue light blocking glasses. And then I also help people quit alcohol. Those people who want to quit alcohol quit alcohol. I've been doing that for a number of years. Those businesses were really born out of me already being alcohol free and also an already being health and wellness conscious. So basically I created businesses out of things that I was already interested in. It wasn't like I was like, oh, right. I'm going to go and build a business here because I can make money. It was well, actually I quit drinking in 2010. Lots of people are asking me about how they quit drinking. I'm going to start a business that teaches people how to quit drinking. And then with the glasses, I was in Palm Springs, California with a friend of mine who's a big health and wellness enthusiast. And he was wearing a really unsightly pair of orange goggles at dinner in Palm Springs. And I said, what are you doing, man? You look ridiculous. And those table of ladies over there are looking at you and they think you look ridiculous as well. And he said, no, man, I'm trying to block the blue light. And then he went on to explain the dangers of blue light and how it messes with your eyes. It messes with your productivity during the day. It messes with your melatonin production. So I was like, oh, I'm really into this. And so I wore orange goggles for about 30 days until I realized that I wanted to kind of look stylish and cool doing it. And that's how this business, this whole business of swanik was created because I really wanted to sleep better, perform better, be better and look kind of cool as I did it. To answer the second part of your question is what motivates me. It would be, I would be lying or it would be an untruth for me to say that what motivates me first and foremost is helping people. That's not the number one goal. My number one goal is actually to help my family, my partner, my children, my family, myself. And I've chosen to do it by helping people. Sometimes people have asked me years ago, what's your motivation for doing this? And I'm like, oh, I want to help people. And as I've said it, I've felt pretty incongruent, quite frankly, because I'm realizing that that's not the main motivation. My main motivation is to take care of my offspring and my family and to make sure everyone's cared for. And I choose to do it by helping people. And I think that's the key. So that's my motivation. My motivation is to provide for my family and also I'm always, always knock on wood and hopefully, and I have that intention, that I'll always do that by creating businesses and products that genuinely care for and help people. That's nice. Got it. Makes sense to me. Yeah. Is there something that's driving you, Sheldon, and everything that you do? Yes. Well, getting out of my talent is always, you know, is important. And that for me is being able to provide for myself and for my family based off of my talent and whatever other skills that I have as an entrepreneur are rewarding in this self. One of the motivations of wanting to take my talents as far as they can is to be a bit of a beacon or be a beacon to other people to follow suit or to want to pursue their dreams as well. So that's one of the things that keeps me on target with pursuing these goals that I'm passionate about is being able to motivate other people. And there's one of the things that really makes me happy is whenever I can go and I can go to schools and talk to kids. You know, I can talk to, you know, groups of adults and they seek advice from me. I'm able to give them advice based on a certain level of success and experience that I've had in life. And I think as always in my success as an athlete or entertainer, it really was always to I want to be able to do this to be succeed here so I can help other people. You know, I want to be a basketball player to make a certain amount of money so I can help my family or I want to make it out of this little town that I'm from. So these other kids that grew up in this town like me can believe that they can go and, you know, succeed outside of this environment. You know, that this being in this particular place, you can still go out here and see the world and have the world. And so it was always kind of like I just had this feeling as inclination as a very young person that I wanted to succeed and be successful. So I could help like a version of a younger me out. Yeah, beautiful. I grew up in the city called Fayetteville, North Carolina and it was just, you know, at the time nobody had ever gone pro out of there to play basketball. No, there was no famous actors or anything. But I could tell anytime somebody came into town, a celebrity of no, we all gravitated to it. And I wanted, you know, and so I was like, I want to be that guy to make it out of here and, you know, motivate people to, you know, follow their dreams and succeed. Is there a daily practice that you have that is helping you propel you towards fulfilling your potential? What are some of your daily practices or routines to keep you on track? I like to, I have to write something every day, write something every day. I at this point in time is like so automatic that it's not even something that I have to like put on my list. Like I will write a song, a poem, a story, something every day. I need to get up and move to exercise, even if it is a long walk or it's calisthenics or whatever. That is important to me. I need to do that. And it's naturally my mind is always kind of working through business ideas and business propositions kind of at all times. And, you know, I had to do something with my children, you know, every day. Yeah. I write 20 things I'm grateful for every day. I call it the daily 20. And by doing it, it activates my reticular activating system. So when I force myself to write 20 things I'm grateful for each morning, what tends to happen is that throughout the day I see more evidence that there's things to be grateful for. And so I see more of that. And that has certainly helped get me out of moments of sadness or I wouldn't say I've ever been depressed, but I've gone through phases where I've felt sadness and, you know, that kind of stuff. So, yeah, writing down is powerful. Yeah. That sounds good. Again, I always suggest it to people because I find writing down our thoughts and our feelings and different things to be very therapeutic also. Yeah. Have you got some productivity tips you could share with us? Productivity tips. Meaning what exactly? Yeah. So if you're going to, if you're going to like, like for example, you just, it sounded like five minutes ago, you were saying you just decided you were going to release an album this year. So rather than procrastinating and having things take a while, etc., maybe you've got something that just says, okay, I'm doing this. That's me. There was probably, sometimes things might lag a bit, but I am a very determined person. And I probably kicked that habit back a long time ago. You know, I don't like to talk a lot about what I'm going to do. I like to do it. And so that's my thing. If I have an idea, I like to get put it in process. And at first it, I have to work on maybe the common sense because I'm not that type of person. So it frustrates me when other people are talking about what they want to do or do this or do that, you know, and there's a lot of talking going on. And I'm like, well, what are you doing to get it done? Like, or whenever people come to me for advice, I'm like, okay, cool. Let's put a plan in motion. Let's go. I'm just kind of like, don't even come to me with that plan. If you're not serious, you're not really trying to do it. It just frustrates me because I'm ready. I'm ready for it all. So I see a lot of, I see tremendous potential in everybody, probably more so than they see in themselves. And, you know, I'm here, I'm like, let's get it done. And when some of these things might take a little bit of time to develop, but hey, anything worth it or you feel passionate about is worth doing it. But I find a lot of people are, they say they're not content, but they are content in their lack of motivation and movement towards establishing a goal and going to achieve it. And I'm here to help motivate people and to continue to motivate myself to achieve all the great things that we can achieve in life. So I want people to really believe number one and then be willing to go and work for it. Sheldon Bailey, thank you so much for that. I appreciate you joining us here on Swannock Live. Congratulations on your creative success so far and long may it continue. Thank you for being a proud wearer of the Swannys Blue Light blocking glasses. You definitely win the He War It Better Award. Thank you so much. Yeah, and thanks for helping children and, you know, being a great mentor for people as well. So, yeah, thanks for your time, sir. No problem. I will continue to enjoy my Swann with glasses. Hello, Elena out there. She's the person that has been hooking some things up for me. And I wish you all nothing but success and great motivation over there at Swann.