{"id":218867,"date":"2022-08-16T16:55:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T20:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=218867"},"modified":"2024-10-10T10:48:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T14:48:52","slug":"motivation-on-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2022\/08\/16\/motivation-on-call\/","title":{"rendered":"Montclair Professor\u2019s ‘Success Hotline’ Reaches National Audience with Daily Motivational Messages"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally published in 2022. On October 9, 2024 the <\/em>Kansas City Star<\/a> published an article about Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., who phones into the Success Hotline daily as he works to embrace mental performance this season \u2013 one that has taken the Royals to the ALDS.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sundays are not usually busy on Montclair Sports Psychology Professor Robert \u201cRob\u201d Gilbert\u2019s \u201cSuccess Hotline.\u201d But this Sunday, hundreds of calls started pouring in thanks to a social media shoutout by U.S. Senator Cory Booker.<\/p>\n

Booker shared not only how Gilbert\u2019s hotline motivated him when he was applying for a Rhodes Scholarship in 1992 but also the hotline number, 973-743-4690. The then-Stanford student did indeed become a Rhodes Scholar. Fast forward 30 years and Booker, who took a lesson from Gilbert, also started sharing motivational messages to his mentees, family and followers via social media. On Sunday, August 14, Booker called the Success Hotline and \u201clo and behold, I hear the message,\u201d he shared with his almost 1.3 million combined TikTok and Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Every day for 30 years, Gilbert, a public speaker, author and motivational and sports coach, has recorded a three-minute motivational message for his legions of callers from across the globe. On this particular August day, he recorded message number 11,500.<\/p>\n

Many commenters on Booker\u2019s TikTok post mentioned calling the hotline and being grateful for now having Booker and Gilbert to motivate them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an adjunct and now inspired! He is still there. I love that you are too,\u201d wrote commenter and Montclair Social Work and Child Advocacy Adjunct Professor Sara E. Every on TikTok.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Senator Cory Booker shared with his followers how Professor Robert Gilbert\u2019s hotline motivated him and shared the phone number with his followers.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Janice, another of Booker\u2019s TikTok followers wrote: \u201cThis is a wonderful story and it\u2019s amazing that the hot line is still there. I\u2019m grateful to him for inspiring you to pay it forward & to inspire us!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Booker\u2019s friend and ex-girlfriend actress Rosario Dawson chimed in on Instagram: \u201cHow wonderful! Loving the podcast!\u201d (Yes, there\u2019s also a podcast of all of his recordings<\/a>, courtesy of Ironclad.)<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just blew up his line!! I\u2019m calling too!!\u201d Angie Murcia Stephen wrote on TikTok.<\/p>\n

Gilbert could attest to that. \u201cSunday, I had hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands, of people calling, all from Cory Booker,\u201d Gilbert says, adding that they left messages. \u201cThey are the sweetest, kindest people.\u201d<\/p>\n

After 30 years, Gilbert, who has taught at Montclair for 43 years, knows when someone has shared the number, as he sees spikes in call volume. One Texas athletic director who is a motivational speaker always boosts the number of calls after a speaking engagement. Gilbert\u2019s success has all been word of mouth \u2013 and now via social media.<\/p>\n

What prompted this extreme exercise in consistency? Before he started teaching sports psychology at Montclair, Gilbert was a high school wrestling coach and would see his students five to seven days a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m teaching graduate students, many of them coaches, and I only see them once a week. It really doesn\u2019t make sense because graduate school is much more important than high school wrestling,\u201d Gilbert recalls thinking to himself. As a way to \u201cbe\u201d with his grad students seven days a week, he purchased a phone system that allowed him to leave a three-minute recording and also collect messages from the students.<\/p>\n

He intended to do it only for the spring semester, which would have been roughly 100 messages \u201cjust as an experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rob
Rob Gilbert outside his office at Montclair State University, where he has taught for 43 years.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, the Success Hotline has built a loyal following, including some celebrities who have sworn him to secrecy. \u201cI never know who\u2019s going to call. Yesterday, Cory Booker called me. I have Olympic champions calling me. I have pro athletes call me. I have all these people that I would never know if I didn’t have my hotline,\u201d Gilbert says. \u201cI\u2019ve been getting thousands of calls, and I have eight lines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many listeners have been calling the hotline daily for decades. Among his loyalists is Richard Kennedy \u201989, a former student who now works for a law firm. Kennedy, who earned his degree in political science, took two of Gilbert\u2019s classes as electives but says that he would have taken them even if he didn\u2019t get credit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI listen to it every day. It\u2019s three minutes,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cThe best part is it\u2019s free. He puts a message out just to try to make your day every day religiously.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe teaches you how you should study, how you can memorize, how to motivate yourself,\u201d Kennedy says. \u201cHe teaches you how to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bonnie Gechtberg, another longtime follower, has called every day since her son Mark came home from Gilbert\u2019s class and told her about the new hotline. The 87-year-old says she told her son she didn\u2019t have time for that but he insisted. \u201cI listened to the first message, and I was hooked. I became addicted,\u201d says Gechtberg, who lives in Cranford, New Jersey, but has called from other states, as well as Mexico and Canada to get her fix.<\/p>\n

Like Booker, who ended his message with: \u201cI just want to say, Dr. Rob Gilbert, thank you for making a difference in my life,\u201d Gechtberg says he\u2019s changed her life. \u201cHis messages are so inspirational and there’s nothing else like Dr. Gilbert’s messages. His messages make my life better and make me a better person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state that boasts the highest number of devotees is Texas, Gilbert says, adding that he counts many Texas football coaches among his callers.<\/p>\n

Michael Baldwin, a senior account executive with commodities firm U.S. Gold Bureau in Austin, has been calling every day for years and is impressed by Gilbert\u2019s \u201cimpressive track record.\u201d<\/p>\n

A former employee of U.S. Gold, Callon Ihde, introduced colleagues to the hotline. Today, 50-60 people begin their day with Gilbert\u2019s words, Baldwin says. \u201cThe positive affirmational talks that he offers are a great way to start our day off. It gets your mind working in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like his fans, Gilbert is relentless in his dedication. He has recorded the messages from hospitals before and after medical procedures. He\u2019s recorded it while outdoors in freezing temperatures in Vermont. \u201cI\u2019ve never ever missed a day,\u201d he says. \u201cI had thousands of people calling from all over the world. I wasn\u2019t expecting that! It\u2019s been a whole lot of fun, so I\u2019ve never stopped since January 22, 1992.<\/p>\n

In three decades, there\u2019s been only one glitch: Side effects from a shingles vaccine delayed his daily recording until 5 p.m.; he usually records it at 7:30 a.m. While Gilbert says he\u2019s not a perfectionist, he does admit doing several takes. Sometimes, magic happens and he records his message in one take. Gilbert makes no money off of the hotline or podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I’m a teacher,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd what I want to do is to spread good information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story by Staff Writer Sylvia A. Martinez<\/a>. Photos by University Photographer Mike Peters<\/a>.<\/p>\n