From First-Round Pick to Prison to Purpose

10 Things That Helped J.J. Davis Change His Life

By Mike Hartman

Everyone loves a comeback story, but real change rarely happens overnight.

Former Major League Baseball player J.J. Davis experienced success, setbacks, and life lessons that ultimately led him down a different path. When I asked J.J. what had the biggest impact on helping him move forward and create positive change in his life, he shared ten simple but powerful influences.

These are the ten things J.J. believes helped shape the person he is today.

1. God

For J.J., faith became the foundation. It gave him hope during difficult times, guidance when he felt lost, and strength to continue moving forward when life became challenging.

2. Prison

Most people see prison only as punishment. J.J. views it differently. It forced him to slow down, reflect, and take an honest look at his choices. What could have been the end of his story became a turning point.

3. Wife

Having someone who believed in him and supported him through life’s challenges made a significant difference. Her encouragement helped provide stability and motivation during difficult times.

4. Failure

J.J. learned that failure can be one of life’s greatest teachers. Instead of allowing mistakes to define him, he chose to learn from them and use them as fuel for growth.

5. Family

Family helped remind him of what truly matters. Success means little if it comes at the expense of the people who care about you most.

6. Purpose

Having a purpose creates direction. J.J. found meaning beyond personal achievements and discovered the importance of contributing to something bigger than himself.

7. People

The people we surround ourselves with influence our future. Positive relationships, mentors, and supportive individuals helped him stay focused on becoming a better version of himself.

8. Structure

Change requires consistency. Structure helped J.J. develop routines, create accountability, and replace unhealthy habits with productive ones.

9. Health and Wellness

Taking care of the body and mind became a priority. Physical health, mental well-being, and daily self-care helped create a stronger foundation for long-term success.

10. Eliminating Drugs and Alcohol

One of the most important decisions J.J. made was removing drugs and alcohol from his life. Clear thinking, better decision-making, and improved relationships followed.

Final Thoughts

What stands out most about J.J.’s list is that none of these things involve talent, money, fame, or achievement.

Instead, they focus on faith, relationships, accountability, discipline, health, and personal responsibility.

His story is a reminder that change is possible for anyone willing to learn from the past, take ownership of their choices, and commit to becoming better each day.

Continue Your Mindset Journey

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For additional support, Coaching On Demand with Mike Hartman provides personalized coaching focused on mindset development, goal achievement, leadership, confidence, and performance.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast, where host Mike Hartman, a performance coach and former professional athlete, brings his passion to help athletes and workplace athletes achieve their dreams and goals while being mindful of everything else in life. Mike also uses this platform to share his targeted assessment applications, healthy mindset course, meditation and goal setting technique for the athlete and workplace athlete. We're glad you're here. Now let's dive head first into this episode of the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast. Here's your host, Mike Hartman.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

His name is JJ Davis. He was uh big leaguer, played in the big leagues, uh, drafted eighth overall by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was one of the top young players coming out of the draft. People talked about him around the country and talk about uh uh an athletic build. He when I first met JJ, I couldn't believe it. I thought he was a basketball player. He was six foot eight and he was like built like uh six foot eight, built like a hockey player. I said, Oh my gosh, look at the size of this guy. And uh I was introduced to him by a really good friend, one of my closest friends was the assistant GM of a major league baseball team in in the big leagues, and he said, I really want you to work with this guy. And I did. I worked with him in the summer, and it was great. He worked his butt off, he trained, he did everything he had to do, and he ended up playing games for the Washington Nationals. But from if you look at it from the external side, from the outside, it looks like wow, this this guy's doing great. But JJ openly will tell you that it really uh how it always appears isn't always how it is. And JJ openly would tell you that he was dealing with with drugs, he was dealing with alcohol, bad attitude, you know, parting, staying out late. Um, and I and eventually cost him his baseball career. Like everything he had, it it was thrown away. And after you know, getting involved with uh some bad people, then he went in a different direction and ended up going to federal prison for drug trafficking, and he was sentenced uh you know in prison. Like it was something like when I heard about that, my stomach turned. I I couldn't believe it. And for a lot of people, that would have been it, they would have given up, but not JJ. JJ ended up turning his life around, and he said, I'm gonna learn from these mistakes, and I'm ready to to have new challenges, I'm ready to do different things, I'm really, I'm ready to bring some good into the world. And and when I talked to JJ, I met with JJ, we met about a year ago, and we were talking about you know his career and what he's doing in his life, and he was just a different JJ, he was so focused. Uh, he was always such an amazing individual, an amazing person. Uh, you know, yes, he got himself into trouble and he and he he had to pay for that, but he he told me a few things at that time that I uh that I want to share with some of you. And I asked JJ, I sent him a message, a text. I said, JJ, I I really want to share your story, but I do want some things that I could share with others on how, you know, what you learned about yourself on how we could pass on to others, and and can you do that? And he said, you know, the number one thing was was God. His faith became the foundation of everything that he followed. And so he took that as number one. He says, that's the number one thing that that he took he took upon himself is to become more spiritual, to have more faith in God. And I said, you know, that this is the the path that he took. The number two thing was that, you know, he says prison forced him to reflect and take an honest look at his life. Like when he had a lot of time to think in prison, like, okay, what am I gonna do with myself? Like, who am I? And he ended up making those changes on his own. He really did. He really wanted to change for himself, he wanted to be a better person in society, and then he met his wife, which to me, his eyes lit up when he was talking about uh his wife and the support that his wife gave him through this entire process, and for him, it was something that he fought for. Like he says, I'm gonna fight now. Somebody's fighting for me, and they want me to succeed so bad. And and for him, it was it inspired him, you know, to keep moving forward, and um just some of these other things. He shared just a handful of things with me. Uh, failure was important, and you know, instead of running from it, he learned from it. So you you see somebody that's uh that has all the potential in the world, and you know, it ended up backfiring. And he he looked at himself, you know, is a failure, but but he said, I'm gonna take the time, I'm gonna learn from this. Okay, what can I do differently? What can I do in my life? And and he really took those steps. Uh he told me a few other things. Like one of the biggest things for him was family is everything. He realized that you know you'll you'll meet so many people in in your life, and this is true about professional sports. Uh, you will learn, especially being a professional athlete, and you play at the highest level, that your phone is ringing, people want to be around you, they're calling for tickets, and it's so interesting, you know who your real friends are when it's all over. That's the one thing I learned. Uh, I mean, I have friends coming to see me in Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, and uh sometimes tickets aren't always free. You know, we get two tickets to every game, but I'd have my family there sometimes, and other times I want to treat my friends to tickets, and and and we're talking 150, you know, 150, uh 200 a ticket. You go to Madison Square Garden, and then you lose touch of your friends after. And JJ told me the same thing. He said, Oh, he had all these great people around him, everybody wanted to be around him, but when he was done, those people weren't there anymore. And uh I said to him, I said, you know, JJ, you don't need a hundred friends, you need one one good friend. Uh, I tell the same thing to my kids. Sometimes we need just good people around us. Sometimes it's four friends, sometimes it's five, but you need just good people in your life. And then to him, uh, he realized that. And from there, he said, you know, Mike, I need a purpose. I need a purpose. So he found a reason to get up every day and just become a better man, become a better person inside. He found that purpose. We talk about that a lot in coaching, like like we talked about before, like, okay, what is your purpose? What what do you want out of it? Well, sure, when when he was younger, he was a big league uh ball player. He wanted to play in the major leagues, but now life after sports, it completely changed. And to me, I I respected that so much because JJ doesn't hide behind a mask. He's gonna come up front and tell you, you know, his his mistakes, his failures, his setbacks, things that he regrets. The only thing he's doing is moving forward. And uh he he told me that, you know, one thing too is that he wants to be around positive people that influence him in his life, like mentors and and people that are are on his path, and and and he doesn't have time for people that are really not in his corner, like or people that maybe are just bad people, you know, bad energy. He could read it. And uh when we were talking, I remember he he did say something. You learn quick in prison, you know, you can read people very well, especially out in the real world. Like I he could read people extremely well, or you know, do I really want to be around this person? Not judging everybody, but just making sure that person has that energy that you want to be around, and he really taught himself that okay, I wasn't as an athlete, I wasn't the most structured ball player. I wasn't, but I need structure and discipline and daily habits every day in my life, and we share this with our athletes, we share this with people in corporate America. JJ started incorporating some really good habits. He's training, he's uh taking care of himself, uh, he he's walking a lot, he's journaling, and he really took the time to work on himself. So when you talk about self-help, what is that? It's it's it's helping yourself. How can you get better? So JJ really took that in. We always talk about the importance of having good habits, and that's one thing that JJ took um, you know, that's one thing he he takes pride in doing. Another thing he told me is health and wellness, taking care of the mind and body. And we say this a lot that the mind and body are one. When one is off, if your body is off, your mind's gonna be off. If you're if you're you know, if you're my if you're you feel okay, but your body doesn't, there's always it's it's a balance. So we always say the mind and body are one. And if you know, looking back, you know, you know, eliminating these things from his life took a lot of work. It took a lot of time, even a lot harder than trying to be a major league ball player. He really took the time into becoming a better person. So I'm I'm really proud of JJ. I've worked with him, you know, for for uh an entire uh he had the winter off, and before he went to uh spring training, we we worked together and uh I was worried about him back then. I'm not gonna deny that. I know he he he liked to party and do things, but maybe sometimes we need direction. So if you know anybody like in your life, and if it you know you see somebody that even has so much great potential, talent alone isn't gonna get you there. You you need the entire package, and uh I'm proud of JJ, I'm proud of what he's doing now in his life, and he's so positive, he doesn't want to talk about too much what happened before, but again, he's not hiding behind it. He'll share with you his mistakes. But the thing is that he's he says, you know, Mike, I'm always gonna start moving forward. And I told him, I said, JJ, you need to write a book. You need to write a book on this because I mean you you could help so many out, and you've taken the the the the challenge on and you've taken this um to a whole other level to just to be better in your life. And I hear a lot of people, it's it's interesting, like they tell me, yeah, I'm gonna change my habits, I'm gonna do this differently. I know I failed at things, but that didn't make me a failure. But I'm just gonna make sure I do better next time, and nothing ever happens. So the hardest part is starting. The hardest part to me is actually trying to trying to get better, working on this. And this didn't happen overnight. This took JJ quite a few years, and he took one step at a time, and I'm so happy. He has a great team behind him now. He's uh he's got an amazing family, and he's taken the steps of uh of getting better. So we're gonna be sharing many other stories. I thought it was important that I would share JJ's story with others, and uh JJ, I'm proud of you, and just keep it going. You know, uh there's a lot of ups and downs, and we know how life is, and the key is just to be as balanced as you can and just keep doing what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

We're so glad you joined us for this episode of the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast with your host, Mike Hartman. If you're enjoying the show, please feel free to rate, subscribe, and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcasts. That helps others find the show, and we greatly appreciate it. To dive deeper and learn more about the Healthy Mindset program, or to get in touch with Mike, please visit our website, healthymindset.ai. Thanks again for listening, and we hope you'll join us again on the next episode of the Healthy Mindset AI Podcast. Until then, be well.