Well, hello, my friends, and welcome to the Live Inspired podcast with John O'Leary Monday in Morning Moments.

We record these so you and I can begin our days in on,

on fire with a burst of inspiration. Let's get after it today with a quote from our dear friend

Winston S. Churchill. Churchill reminds us that it's not enough to have lived. We should be

determined to live for something. After an uncompromisingly

courageous 18-year-long battle with ALS, one of the most resilient, impactful, joyful, and

alive individuals that I've ever met died last week. The lessons he taught me before dying,

though, should be learned and applied by the rest of us as we are determined to start living more

fully in our lives. Agu Niedo and I met first in 2015 at a leadership conference hosted by the

University of Southern California.

At that point, Augie had lived with the brutal realities of ALS for more than 10 years.

Having his physical health slowly fleeced from him, knowing the trajectory of the disease,

and recognizing the certainty of losing everything,

Augie tried to take his own life shortly after receiving the diagnosis at just age 47.

Surviving that experience, though, ignited within him a deep desire to not only refuse to surrender to the disease, but to become a masterful

example of an abundant life in spite of it. We connected after the talk and spoke for more than an

hour. I asked what the most difficult aspect of this brutal disease was. He responded, I. Augie sat motionless in a

motorized wheelchair. He was unable to move any muscle other than the big toe on his right foot. Using

technology, he helped design. He was able to use that toe to type letters and slowly to communicate with his friends.

Don't.

Augie was a pioneer and a leader in the fitness industry before his ALS diagnosis.

He founded, he grew, he eventually sold the hugely successful brand Life Fitness.

...