In Search Of Heroes Spreads Good News About Everyday, Real-Life Heroes Who Deserve Recognition For Their Good Works

RALPH ZURANSKI: Does it take courage to pursue new ideas?

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: Oh! Absolutely, you have to be able to recognize an opportunity when you see it, and opportunity is only as good as being able to recognize it, and it takes the courage to maybe do something that you have never done before. I'll never forget the very first time that I went to a live seminar, I had to leave my house for 5 days, and that was out of my comfort zone!

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: I mean, it was kind of a bizarre thing, and like I said, I was at that time married to a person who didn't quite understand why I was doing that. But it took a lot of courage to get out of my comfort zone and everything that I've done since then is because of taking the courage to pursue something that I had never experienced before. So, absolutely, it takes courage.

RALPH ZURANSKI: So you think that when you do pursue new ideas, that you will experience some discomfort in pursuit of your dream. How important is it to be willing to experience discomfort?

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: Oh! Crucial. In fact, for me, I am happiest when I am uncomfortable. And that might be a strange thing to say, but I never like to be too comfortable. Um... You work out a lot, you know, with weights, right, Ralph?

RALPH ZURANSKI: Yeah.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: So, you know that to experience muscle growth you must go past comfort zone, and if you do the same amount of reps or the same amount of weight all the time, you are never going to experience any growth!

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: Well, it's the very same thing with business, very same thing with your personal life. You need to experience just a little bit of discomfort to grow and to pursue your dreams. So, I always try to maintain a little discomfort and stretch myself just a little bit, and see exactly what I'm capable of.

RALPH ZURANSKI: How important is it to believe that your dreams will eventually become reality?

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: O! It's very very important! If you don't think that your dreams can become reality, then you have no business pursuing them. If there's something that you want, you have to have the belief, you have to have the drive, you have to dedicate your daily life in taking little tiny baby steps in trying to make them come true.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: My girls wanted to go ice-skating recently, and they needed to take ice-skating lessons, and they had a dream of becoming an Olympic skater. Although that's a very big dream, they don't get to become an Olympic skater unless they take that very first ice-skating lesson. So, they know that, and they still have those dreams, and they're very happy because of it.

RALPH ZURANSKI: You know, everybody has doubts and fears and sometimes they're paralyzed by them. How do you overcome your doubts and fears?

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: That's a good question. Obviously remaining positive, writing down my goals, writing down my thoughts, getting some time alone to think about how I can conquer them, I'm very self sufficient, I don't really have too many things that I'm fearful of, I mean, I'll give you an example.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: When I went into the hospital a couple years ago, I did not like getting my blood drawn, and I'm not a very big fan of needles. But, I knew I'd have to go in there and give some blood at the hospital.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: And basically, I took some time before they did that and just a couple minutes to think about the positive things that were happening because of this, and obviously I would become healthier, obviously they would be better able to diagnose what was wrong with me if they took the blood, and so I kind of gave myself a pep talk, so I tend to be very self sufficient in my own pep talks and usually I can overcome just about anything if I can think of why this is going to be a good thing as opposed to being a bad thing.

RALPH ZURANSKI: Is there anything that helped give you the will power to change things for the better in your life?

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: Well, like I said, I'm kind of self sufficient. I don't want to sound uh, you know, too cocky when I say that I kind of help myself. But that's probably not the answer that you're looking for. I will say that my dad did help me out a lot and my mom was instrumental.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: My brother, who divorced the very same year, also he gave me some suggestions, such ideas as making sure that I stayed on the straight and narrow and I think that, just basically, my family helping me out, but again, you've got to get it right in your own mind as well. Other people can only help you and take you so far.

DJ DAVE BERNSTEIN: You have to say to yourself "you know, I can do this, it's all, it's all up to me". Unfortunately, it's the converse in the lives of other people. Sometimes the family members tell you you can change things and you are very negative. You get maybe suicidal thoughts. You get the thoughts or you get the thoughts "oh you know, life is over... there's nothing you can do about it right now". So it is important that you get it right in your own mind, and that you accept the input of others, and that you let others be part of your life.