About Ben
Ben Kjar was born with Crouzon syndrome, a rare craniofacial difference, and doctors told his parents he would live a different life. He is Utah Valley University's first NCAA Division I wrestling All-American, a world champion wrestler, and has represented the USA team internationally. He is an international professional speaker who has told his story to millions, in front of crowds of up to 10,000 people, and a real estate investor who has flipped nearly two hundred properties. Standout, the feature film about his life, opened in theaters on January 23, 2026.
Kjar's method is the same one he ran as a junior high wrestler, when he announced he would become Centerville Junior High's first three-time district champion and go undefeated doing it. By the end of ninth grade, he had. As a high school sophomore he wrote 3XSC on his arm and had it embroidered on his letter jacket: three-time state champion. He schedules his non-negotiables the day before, never the day of, and runs every goal through his Crown Code — faith, family, fitness, finance, fun, and fulfillment — six points he wears on his shirt. He is a father of three children adopted within thirteen months.
On the Franklin Planner Podcast, Kjar joined George Wright III and John Harding ahead of the film's release for a conversation about calling your shot and the daily rituals behind it. He told the story behind the title — his mother standing him in front of a mirror after a stranger tore into him at a grocery store — and laid out his three-part goal formula: call your shot, put shot callers in your corner, and set a shot clock. He closed with the world final in Greece he lost with a minute left, the silver medal his kids wore around the apartment, and the Greco-Roman title he won days later by refusing to stop.
Key ideas from Ben’s conversation
A goal is not called until it is written so clearly there are no mincing words.
Kjar wrote 3XSC on his arm and had it embroidered on his letter jacket, permanent, not dry-erase. He says the businesses, athletes, and teams that call their shot, add shot callers, and set a shot clock hit roughly 95 percent of their goals. The planner already supplies the clock.
Shot callers do the work with you; they do not cheer from the stands.
When Kjar lost at region his junior year, his principal skipped a school assembly to be in the wrestling room, and teammates offered to meet him at seven the next morning. Write those names beside the goal. Kjar's pet peeve is the fan with popcorn in hand.
Non-negotiables get scheduled the day before, never the day of.
Every Sunday Kjar opens his planner and writes the week; each night he checks the next morning again. His workout with his wife sits on the calendar as a meeting from 8:15 to 9:15, phones outside the room. Most people who say non-negotiable mean I'll try.
Goals are messy, and they get done by committing not to stop.
In Greece, Kjar led the freestyle world final with one minute left, felt fear of failure arrive, and lost. He came home to his kids wearing his silver medal and still yelling champion of the world. Days later in Greco-Roman, his only commitment was that he wouldn't stop.
If you play at 70 percent of your potential, your kids will be lucky to match it.
A speaker at Russell Brunson's event called parents not living their dreams one of the most insidious forms of child neglect, and it sent Kjar back to competition ten years after his singlet was retired. Kids sometimes listen but always watch, and how you live becomes their default reality.
