What if one decision could completely change the direction of your life? | One Move At A Time with Orrin Checkmate Hudson

I use chess as a metaphor to teach young people to not do the first thing that pops in your head. The first thing that pops in your head is usually a trap. So I teach six magic words. Take time to think things through. When you're first cracking anything, it's never your best. Things take time to manifest, and you've got to have timing. Great. Hello, this is Raymond Aaron, New York Times top 10 best-selling author, bringing you Respark Your Life podcast, the world's premier podcast to ignite the fire to allow you to live life on your own terms. Every single Thursday, I bring you a multi-millionaire world-famous celebrity to teach you about the most fascinating ways in order to live a far better life. Every single Thursday, you just need to subscribe by hitting the subscribe button. I'll see you every Thursday to Respark Your Life. Yes, this is Raymond Aaron, the founder and interviewer of Respark Your Life. And though I like to bring my world-famous friends, what I really like is to bring you stealth wisdom that you couldn't find out about anywhere else. And today, I'm beyond, beyond overjoyed to bring you someone that I love, I respect, I admire, I look up to from the very first minute I met him. And you may not know him, but at the end of this interview, you will never forget him. His name is Oren Hudson, but he calls himself Oren Checkmate Hudson. Why? Because somehow, somehow he got the message that he should take underserved and underprivileged kids who were in the worst jeopardy of getting into trouble with gangs, with guns, with drugs, and he took it upon himself to save them. How? By teaching them chess. Now, I want you to think of underprivileged kids in the worst neighborhoods of America and try to tell them, go to school every single day, go to every single class, pass every single subject, don't swear, don't do drugs, don't join gangs. And if you do all of that, I'll teach you chess. You might say, the guy's nuts. No kid would agree to that. And yet he's saved thousands of lives, thousands. He's saved them from drugs and gangs and guns. And as a result, he's won more awards than anyone I know, anyone. The Toastmasters Community Leadership Award, the Nonprofit Trinity Award, and the biggest one in the whole list, the FBI Distinguished Community Leader Award, and the National Dr. Martin Luther King Award, Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Award. And the list goes on and on for ages because as soon as people hear what he does, they are so deeply moved, as was I when I bumped into him. And I've loved this guy for decades. He knows all of my world-famous friends like Les Brown, and I am bringing him to you. Stay tuned. I know that sometimes when you're listening to a podcast, you can be distracted and do other things, but don't do that. Don't do that to Orin Checkmate-Hudson, my guest. Orin, are you on the air? Yes, sir. I'm here, Dr. Raymond. I love you to call me doctor. That's okay. You can if you wish. So Orin, tell us about this amazing service that you provide. Well, first of all, let me clarify what the word doctor means. Doctor means teacher, and you're the best teacher I've ever met. I met you when you were on stage with Donald Trump, and you beat everybody out. You was up there having people laughing, and you were doing it at the George Floyd World Hunger Center. I don't know if you remember that. That was about a while back. You and Donald Trump was on stage, and you tore the house down, but you did your thing. You had everybody laugh. You are the best when it comes to PowerPoint and making people laugh. So I praise you for that. Thank you. Now let's talk about you. I use chess as a metaphor to teach young people to not do the first thing that pops in your head. The first thing that pops in your head is usually a trap. So I teach six magic words. Take time to think things through. Got it. Because the first move may not be the best move. It may not be. The computer will say, make this move, make this move, make this move. And then after a few minutes, the computer says, nope, don't make that move. I make that move, I lose 15 moves down the road. The computer will change its mind because it sees a better move. I was doing something the other day on AI. And AI made some mistakes. You made a mistake. And it said, OK, give me more time to think. And the thing said, give me more time to think. So the longer it thinks, the better the answer is. So what am I teaching children? I'm teaching children your first crack at anything is never your best. Michael Jordan, his first crack at basketball, he got cut. Wow. Yeah. So things take time to manifest. And you got to have time and grade. Time and grade means I've been doing this a minute. So I've been here and there. I got the T-shirt. So I show children how to navigate through the complexities of life, how to make the next move the best move. I want you to give me an example. Think of a particular young person, boy or girl. Tell me their situation. Tell me about their parenting or their home life and their school life and their gangs or guns or whatever. And tell me exactly what happened. Tell me about their winning awards, going to other other cities and winning chess tournaments. Tell us a wonderful example. Well, there his name is Aaron Ford. He was the judge gave him one more chance to get his life together because he was in school. And he came home one day. This dad who'd been locked up for 16 years was back home. And him and his dad got in an argument, got in a fight. And the judge charged him with attempted murder on his own father. And the judge gave him one more chance to get his life together. And they reached out to me and said, Warren, can you come over and help work with this kid? I came over and coached him. And we spent a lot of time together and training. And we traveled to another city, which is about two hours from Atlanta to Augusta, Georgia. And we brought back the state championship. Wasn't easy because when we got there, Aaron Porter lost his queen in the match. But what we teach is you don't lose the game when the pawn takes your queen. You lose the game when the king falls. And so even though he lost his queen, he remember what we teach in class. Don't focus on what you lost. Focus on what you have left. And don't look back and keep it moving. And he ended up winning the state championship. So Aaron Porter almost went to jail for attempted murder on his own father. We turned his life around. And I'm living my dream of teaching children to think makes my heart sing. Wow. Well, I love teaching also. But you are teaching at such a greater depth. Chess is just the game that you use to teach them life. And what an amazing... Where'd you get this idea? Well, I'm gonna be honest with you. I was a gang member in my teens. I was 14 years old. And a teacher pulled me to the side. I said, listen, Oren. He said, you're following the follower. I said, what do you mean? He said, you're doing everything they say do it. I was. They say, do this, you do it. I was following the follower. He said, I'm gonna teach you how to think independently. How to think for yourself. I said, what do you mean? He said, I'm gonna teach you chess. I said, wait a minute. I'm a checker guru. I'm the hometown checker guru. He said, checkers? He said, checkers, you're using half on the board. He said, yeah, it's half of the board. He said, chess, using every single square on the board. He said, checkers is all men. He said, chess, the queen is the most powerful piece on the board. I said, let's get on with the classes. All right. So that's how it got started. The teacher redirected your life. I owe my life to James Edge, a white teacher in an all-black high school, Hayes High in Birmingham, Alabama, who taught me six magic words. Take time to think things through. Wow. And you've written a book on it. Tell me about your book. Les Brown in that 10th year wrote the foreword for my book. It's 240 pages. I thank God for people like Les Brown and Jack Canfield. God, I'm on speed dial. But the main thing is, they know my heart. They know what I'm about. And I beat both of them. Both of them, Jack Canfield and Les Brown, they both play chess. When I first met Les about 40 years ago, he said, Oren, I can beat you in chess. I said, you can? I said, let's go. So I beat him up pretty bad. And we've been friends ever since. Tell me the title and subtitle of your book. The title is One Move at a Time, How to Play and Win at Chess and Life. So it's got a chapter in there about legacy. It's got a chapter in there about 21 life lessons. It talks about a famous game, why people are the top Russian grandmasters in the world. His name is Rashid Ziafanov. So I'm living my dream because chess saved my life. And James Edge gave me the winning edge. And I'm just paying it forward. I've trained over 100,000 kids. My goal is a million. And I won't stop until I drop. Wow. Well, now, I know that you're devoting your entire life to this. But how do you survive? Do you have a job? Tell me about your life. I don't have a job. But people hire me to speak from time to time. And people see me. I've been on TV a lot. And TV has blessed me. And because of TV, I've gotten donations. People like Les Brown have helped me a lot. And then other people, I do good because I got a lot of seeds out there. In fact, every week, I'm always doing something for the community and giving back. So I get paid. God blesses me. And people are always trying to support the work I'm doing. So we welcome people to go to our website, besomeone.org. And we're playing a game without pieces. But God has been faithful. And God has honored my steps. Because I care about the world. And I teach the children. And so my life depends on it. Because it does. Wow. You just do good in the world. And enough money comes to you. Right. Yeah. And yeah. You just do good. Every week, I get a miracle. I mean, I'll go out to eat. I'm paying his meal. I mean, it's just God provides. Every week, I get a miracle. Every week, I get some type of miracle. And that's what I tell people. If you do good, good will follow you. Pass your bread on the water. And it will come back to you multiplied. Well, an example was, I held a huge summit, World Prosper Summit, on the weekend. And I noticed you were there. You didn't ask any questions. I just noticed your name on the list amongst thousands of people. I said, darn it. I miss that guy. And so on my own, I contacted you. And as a result, we're doing this interview, which is going to help you in book sales and in donations. And so that's an example of how, I mean, I met you 15 years ago. Well, you can track it back. Because you can say, when was I with Donald Trump on stage? And you tore the house down. You were the best speaker there. So you can track that back. Was it 2004, 2006? I don't know. When was it? I don't know. I don't know what year it was. But you were here in Atlanta on stage at the World Commerce Center. Yeah, yeah. And I did a bang up job. And people love me. And the best blessing is that you made sure that you met me. And when you came up to me, I said, who is this guy? And you started telling me your wisdom, started telling me what you're doing in your life, how you're dedicating your life to teaching. And I said, big deal. I don't dedicate my life to teaching. But you dedicate your life at a whole different level. I mean, teaching is the thing that I love doing more than anything. But for you, teaching is your life. Teaching these kids so that they turn their life around. No guns, no gangs, no drugs, attending school, no swearing, being polite. If I walked up to a kid in a bad neighborhood and I said, be polite, I would expect him to laugh at me and maybe to injure me. And yet they respect you. They love you. Tell me, at first, does your reputation precede you? And they say, I want in? Or at first, they say, what are you kidding? I'm not doing all that good stuff. What is it like most of the time? I remember doing some training for this movie star, Jane Fonda. And a lot of the kids didn't want to learn chess. They didn't want to have to do it. But when they saw the smaller kids learning, they go, wait a minute. They can do it. I can do it. So everybody started getting involved. And I make it fun and exciting. I have a rap song. I'm always being positive. And I love sharing wisdom. I love showing people how to make the right move. My message is, brains before bullets. Think it out. Don't shoot it out. The only way to fight is to use your head. Man up. Stand up. Pull your pants up. I want you to say that again because I love it. Which one? Man up. I'm holding. Brains before bullets. Think it out. Don't shoot it out. The only way to fight is to use your head. Man up. Stand up. Pull your pants up. Oh man, I love that. That's like the best collection of one-liners that ever existed. Now tell me about the two words, be someone. How did that come? Abraham Lincoln, his mother, her last words on the planet to Abraham Lincoln was be someone. And even though Abraham had failed many, many times to run for public office, he took those two words, be someone, to the White House. I understand my assignment. My assignment is to empower our young people to be someone. You know, your mind is a pearl. You can change the world. Be all you can be. Never settle for less than you can be. You can do this. You can do it here. You can do it now. You have everything you need to succeed. You have everything you need to be someone. And you've named your non-profit organization besomeone.org. And I was just scrolling through it. And I love it. There's so much wisdom. There's testimonial stories. There's a list of all of your awards. My gosh, it goes on for pages. Well, thank you, Miss. I got the George W. Bush award by the White House. I got the FBI award. And I won an award the other day. I can't remember what was the champion and award from. Yeah. So it was the Atlanta Business League gave me the Man of Distinction award. So that's just happening a little bit today. But I'm living my dream because it's so rewarding getting kids who are lost on the right track. It's so refreshing because you know what? Everyone is you. I tell people all the time. When I was a state trooper, I had the blue light vest, the bulletproof vest. But everybody I stopped, I treated him like the most important person in the world. Here's why. What you sincerely desire for others will happen for you. I get a kick out of being a person. I just I love it. You know, I was helping this lady the other day. She was needing a bus ticket, and I got it off her. He was happy, but she don't understand. I'm adding value to the world. Yeah. And you know, I love people. I want people to win. A lawyer called me not long ago and said, man, I sent my Latino friend to you, and you were the only one who would help him. I said, your Latino friend is me. And so everybody is me, and I'm going to do everything in my God-given power to help everybody. And to prove it, they're making a movie about your life. I'm making a movie on what I'm doing. Tell me. I'm making a movie on what I'm doing, and I've trained over 100,000 kids. My goal is a million, and I just love sharing wisdom. I love sharing wisdom and showing people what works for me. My credit score is 830. I got a good high credit score, and my goal is to help a million children, so I got to do a lot of fundraising so I can get this work done. Right now, I'm doing workshops every week to give back to the community, making the hood good. Think thrice and save a life. My message is brains beats bullets. 24-7, 365. Think thrice and save a life. Nice. Sweet. Tell me about the movie. The movie is going to talk about me being 14 years old, making the wrong moves. White teacher pulled me to the side, taught me to think and think for myself, because I was following a follower. Some people say following a fool. It's going to talk about my struggles and how I was able to overcome that, become an Air Force veteran, state trooper, then start a youth development program called Be Someone. Coached kids to win three Atlanta Public Schools championships. We won a state championship. Just on a mission to show children a better way of life. It's going to talk about my struggles and how I was able to overcome some setbacks. Be a giver and how you give, you win. To give is to live and to take is a mistake. Oh, man. You got the best one-liners ever. Barry Manilow said she came and she gave without taking. And she swept me away. You kissed me and you stopped me from shaking. And I need you. So to give is to live and to take is a mistake. If you give, you win. Elder John sings a song called The Circle of Life. In the song, it says we all agree as we join the stampede, you should never take more than you give. Never take more than you give. The average white man sings a song called The Love of Your Own. In the song, it says the sooner you give, the sooner you get to have. Yeah. The Sierra Club is based on the motto, leave only footprints and take only memories. Love it. Yeah. So, Oren, I want to end our wonderful interview because I know that my listeners will never, ever forget you. Ever, ever, ever. Because I introduced them to you in this podcast. So I'm going to give an instruction. Not homework. Homework means you can do it if you want. I'm going to give an instruction because I feel so deeply about this amazing Oren Checkmate Hudson. Number one, buy his book. Buy his book. For your own benefit, to learn one move at a time. One move at a time. Buy his book. It'll benefit you. It'll also help him. And the second thing is go to his website. It's an easy website address to remember. It's besomeone.org. besomeone.org and donate. Make as small a donation as you want or a large donation. But feel the beauty of his soul. Feel how he has completely dedicated his life. Not his job. It's not a job. It's his life. A job is what you're paid for. A calling is what you're made for. And man, Oren's calling this lifetime is to have kids learn the joy of checkmating. The joy of losing a queen and surviving and winning the game. The joy of winning in your own city or flying to another city into a big maybe statewide tournament and winning. And they never, ever go back to their old life. So besomeone.org and donate. Also go to Amazon and buy his book. Tell us the name again. One move at a time. How to win at chess and life. And the best place to buy the book is at besomeone.org on the website. Oh, so they can order it through besomeone.org. Yeah. It's the only place you can get an autographed copy. Oh my gosh. So if they ordered from Amazon, they get the book. If they ordered from besomeone.org, they get the book autographed. Oh man, you over deliver like crazy. Oh, I'm always going to give you more than you, than you expect. Promise a lot and deliver even more. Excellence is not enough. You got to be amazed. Excellence doesn't work. People will fire you. One of the coaches for the San Diego Chargers, he won 14 games. They fired him. Excellence doesn't work. He won 14 out of 16 games. They fired him because he lost the playoff game. They don't play. Excellence doesn't work. You must be amazed. Steph Curry is amazing. This dude hit 203 pointers in a row in practice. That's amazing. And so are you, and you're my hero. I admire you. I know all of the most famous people in the world. Les Brown, Dr. John DeMartini, Dr. Joe Vitale, Jack Canfield, Robert Kiyosaki. I know all of the most famous people in the world. And I look up to you with gigantic admiration. I am so glad we met in Atlanta. I'm so glad we're still in communication. I love you. And I know that because of this podcast, that people will buy your book and they'll cherish that you autographed it and that people will donate. Thank you. Honored to know you. I'm glad you came up to me roughly 15 years ago and made sure I knew who you were. You did a great job of that. You made an impression on a lot of people. You made people laugh. You are the real deal Holyfield. I'm good at what I do and you're good. You're great at what you do. Thank you. Wow. I sure hope you enjoyed that fascinating episode. Please make sure you subscribe and please tell your friends if you like it, that they will probably like it as well. For your information, this experience, this service, this podcast has been sponsored by the Orbit coaching program. All of my friends, all my world famous speaker friends, all have coaching programs. Mine has been independently rated as the number one high level coaching program. You cannot purchase it. You have to audition for it by me personally. If you're interested, please email me at re spark at Aaron.com re spark at a, a R O N say that you're interested in being considered for the Orbit coaching program and include your cell phone numbers that I personally will call you back.