Bestselling Author Terrance McMahon has dedicated his life inspiring others to recover from the worst and re-create themselves grounds up. Terrance encourages students, entrepreneurs, and people from all walks of life through his books, the YouTube channel he co-hosts, podcasts, and plenty of public appearances. In a recent TEDx talk, Terrance talked about what got him to the point where he could develop self-help insights worth sharing with the public – and it wasn’t a wish to make a profit.
Terrance was born in Western Massachusetts into a long line of pro- and semi-pro baseball players. It was, therefore, no surprise when he got accepted into university on a sports scholarship. What should have been the cause for a celebration – starting college and making his way towards a career – almost immediately turned into trouble.
On the very day McMahon arrived at college, he suffered a panic attack. To calm his nerves and make it easier for him to transition into this new environment, he turned to alcohol. Again, this is hardly unusual – we all know how stressful the college experience can be, just as we all know that most people turn to short-term ‘band-aid’ solutions like alcohol and illegal substances to ease the pressure.
But, as he openly admits in his TEDx talk, McMahon’s drinking got out of hand – to the point where he lost his place at the college. Not only did he have to leave with no education and no job, but he and his partner had a baby on the way.
It’s tough to imagine higher pressure than that experienced in a situation such as this. McMahon managed to get a job as a door-to-door insurance salesman – figuring this was better than nothing, at a time when he had a growing family to support. When his child was born, however, he had an idea for improving the way insurance selling was done by traditional companies.
This idea eventually turned into his company, which began making six figures after only a couple of decades of operation. His drinking, however, hadn’t stopped – ultimately contributing to liver failure. Just when he thought there was no chance of survival, McMahon received a transplant and, quite literally, began his life anew.
This experience taught him how to ‘reinvent’ himself – he believed making improvements to his life wasn’t enough and that he needed a fresh start. He later used this experience to develop a self-help method, with the aim of helping other people overcome their demons in the same way.
Sharing his story on a public forum like this must’ve taken an unbelievable amount of courage, and the TEDx talk certainly goes a long way to put even more weight behind the wisdom and authenticity of McMahon’s book, SuperHero Self. After all, most of us would much rather take the advice of someone who’s ‘been there’ rather than buying into vague theories and programs based more on marketing than experience.