Ep. 69; Would You Quit at Mile 20? The Mindset of an Ironman Triathlete: How Discipline, Endurance and Mental Toughness Translate to Career Success

Yeah

... marathons, in each one of them, there must have been a time when you had to think, "No, no, this is just, my body can't do this." Did you have any of those moments, and at that moment, w- how did you shift your mindset? What did you do? How did you get your grit back?

Yeah.

Tell us about that.

Almost every marathon I had it, believe it or not.

And even in, like I said, even in, on the plane rides, right? So, so w- when we got to Istanbul, Asia, and Turkey, I remember, you know, starting to get to really know these athletes, right? So you spend a little time, you know, speaking with them, whether it's on the bus or the, or the, or the plane or, you know, even on the run, right? And, and I, and I started asking the question, you know, you, like these are amazing people, like, doing amazing things and, and I asked the question, I said, "What happens when you wanna quit?" And I was asking that question throughout.

Like, I probably talked to 25 of the thir- 25, 30 people of the 50, right? And I asked that question, and y- every single one of them have the same answer for me.

And they basically, and I'll sum it up, they basically said, "Quitting is not an option." So I was like, that's how high performers and elite people think.

If you...

What...

So, like, so that gets me thinking even more now to this day.

What if we wanted something badly enough, it was important enough for us to go for it, we committed, and we said, declared, "Quitting is off the table.

It's not an option." Like, if we said that, like we can't quit, what would our lives look like? If we, everything we pursued that had meaning and we didn't quit.

So, like, everything that I do from that point, you know, from that point forward I, I started to hone in on that quit thing.

And quitting, we have to get really good at not giving up, ever.

And if we could, if we could subscribe to that, like I think everybody would have a more fulfilling life.

Because think about even when we did decide that things are important to us, wes like, "My kids'll forgive me, I quit.

My kid- you know, this will, this is okay.

I, it's not that import-" You know, "This happened, and I..." You know, you justify it, right? So if you took quitting off the table and you finished it, you know, first of all you're gonna feel a lot better about yourself, and then you're gonna show, set that example.

For me, to this day, my, my adult children are, are my why.

My biggest why is to finish everything that I declare I'm gonna do.

Because I want them to see that, that anything is possible, whether you're an elite athlete, a, a student, you know, whatever it is.

You know, it...

You know, I, like I said, I'm a backpack student and athlete, and I always have been, you know? And so if I ha- if I'm average and I can, and I can set my bar really hard, high, you know, and not quit, then I, I, I think anything is possible.

That is heavy.

Yeah

... marathons, in each one of them, there must have been a time when you had to think, "No, no, this is just, my body can't do this." Did you have any of those moments, and at that moment, w- how did you shift your mindset? What did you do? How did you get your grit back?

Yeah.

Tell us about that.

Almost every marathon I had it, believe it or not.

And even in, like I said, even in, on the plane rides, right? So, so w- when we got to Istanbul, Asia, and Turkey, I remember, you know, starting to get to really know these athletes, right? So you spend a little time, you know, speaking with them, whether it's on the bus or the, or the, or the plane or, you know, even on the run, right? And, and I, and I started asking the question, you know, you, like these are amazing people, like, doing amazing things and, and I asked the question, I said, "What happens when you wanna quit?" And I was asking that question throughout.

Like, I probably talked to 25 of the thir- 25, 30 people of the 50, right? And I asked that question, and y- every single one of them have the same answer for me.

And they basically, and I'll sum it up, they basically said, "Quitting is not an option." So I was like, that's how high performers and elite people think.

If you...

What...

So, like, so that gets me thinking even more now to this day.

What if we wanted something badly enough, it was important enough for us to go for it, we committed, and we said, declared, "Quitting is off the table.

It's not an option." Like, if we said that, like we can't quit, what would our lives look like? If we, everything we pursued that had meaning and we didn't quit.

So, like, everything that I do from that point, you know, from that point forward I, I started to hone in on that quit thing.

And quitting, we have to get really good at not giving up, ever.

And if we could, if we could subscribe to that, like I think everybody would have a more fulfilling life.

Because think about even when we did decide that things are important to us, wes like, "My kids'll forgive me, I quit.

My kid- you know, this will, this is okay.

I, it's not that import-" You know, "This happened, and I..." You know, you justify it, right? So if you took quitting off the table and you finished it, you know, first of all you're gonna feel a lot better about yourself, and then you're gonna show, set that example.

For me, to this day, my, my adult children are, are my why.

My biggest why is to finish everything that I declare I'm gonna do.

Because I want them to see that, that anything is possible, whether you're an elite athlete, a, a student, you know, whatever it is.

You know, it...

You know, I, like I said, I'm a backpack student and athlete, and I always have been, you know? And so if I ha- if I'm average and I can, and I can set my bar really hard, high, you know, and not quit, then I, I, I think anything is possible.

That is heavy.