Finding Mastery with Dr. Michael Gervais - Exhausting Every Moment | NFL Legend, Ronnie Lott

Episode Date: November 22, 2019

This week’s conversation is with NFL Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott.Ronnie has been a champion and a leader his entire life.After graduating high school in 1977, Ronnie went on to the University of Southern California where he helped his team win the 1978 national championship. He was a unanimous All-American and team captain in 1980 and graduated in 1981 with a degree in public administration.Shortly thereafter, he became the first-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers.His legendary football career included four Super Bowl titles and 10 Pro-Bowl appearances.He is one of only five 49ers to play on all of the team’s 1980s Super Bowl wins. He retired from professional football in 1994 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.Post-football, Ronnie has found success as an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Silicon Valley and also has a long history of philanthropic involvement.So what has allowed Ronnie to be successful at pretty much everything he’s done in his life?It starts with a commitment to excellence, a determination to be great, and his relentless will to keep trying.For Ronnie it really comes down to “exhausting every moment.”What I hope you pick up on in this conversation is that Ronnie’s thoughts and actions reflect a man who’s had the courage to go for it, a man who hasn’t feared the consequences of coming up short.In Ronnie’s words: “You’ve got to dare at moments to see that you can do certain things. Sometimes you fail and sometimes you win. But the most important part of it is, did you try? Did you try to do something that maybe nobody thought you could do? “ _________________Subscribe to our Youtube Channel for more powerful conversations at the intersection of high performance, leadership, and meaning: https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingMasteryGet exclusive discounts and support our amazing sponsors! Go to: https://findingmastery.com/sponsors/Subscribe to the Finding Mastery newsletter for weekly high performance insights: https://www.findingmastery.com/newsletter Download Dr. Mike's Morning Mindset Routine! https://www.findingmastery.com/morningmindsetFollow us on Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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you are capable of. And so you got to dare at moments to see that you can do certain things and sometimes you fail and sometimes you win but the question is which I think is the most important part of it is did you try? All right. Welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais and by trade and training, a sport and performance psychologist, as well as the co-founder of Compete to Create. And I have a massive frog in my throat.

I'm not sure what happened, but I've been ripping and running lately. And I think that my vocal systems just have become compromised. And so if you can bear with the voice here for a little bit on the intro, I just want to make sure that we get this podcast up because it's fantastic. And I can't wait to introduce the guests that we have this week. And the whole idea, if you're new to this podcast, is to explore the inner world of people that have done the extraordinary. And we want to understand what they're searching for. We want to understand their psychological framework.

And we also want to dig to understand the mental skills they use to build and refine their craft. Now, this week's conversation is with NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. And Ronnie has been a champion and a leader his entire life. After graduating high school in 1977, Ronnie went on to the University of Southern California, where he helped his team win the 1978 National Championship. One year out of high school, how about it? He was a unanimous all-American and team captain in 1980, graduated in 81 with a degree in public administration. Shortly after that, he became the first round draft pick in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers. And his legendary football career included four Super Bowl titles and 10 Pro Bowl appearances. And he's one of the only five 49ers to play on all the teams

in the 1980s where the team had multiple Super Bowl wins. And then he retired his professional football career in 1994 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000. So illustrious career. And then post football, he's also found success in entrepreneurship as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, and also has a long history in philanthropic involvement. So what has allowed Ronnie to be successful at pretty much everything he's done in his life? It starts with a commitment to excellence. And he talks about what that really means and a real determination to be great and a relentless pursuit to keep trying, even when it doesn't work out. And for Ronnie, it really comes down to exhausting every moment. What I

hope you pick up in this conversation is that Ronnie's thoughts and his actions reflect a man who's had the courage to go for it. A man who has not feared the consequences of coming up short. And one last thing before we get into this conversation, if you love this podcast as much as I do, I hope that you can do two things to help out. One is tell two friends, tell two about Finding Mastery and then show them, grab their phone, show them how to listen, how to subscribe. This would be a massive accelerant to our community. And the other way is to support our sponsors. And you can find all the information and discounts currently available at findingmastery.net forward slash partners, using the codes that we provide and the

links that our sponsors know that you found them through our community through Finding Mastery. So with that, let's jump right into this week's conversation with Ronnie Lott. Ronnie, how are you? I'm doing great, man. This is really special. I'm ready for it. Okay, good. Because we can make an easy argument that you have defined the position in your field of being the greatest defensive back safety to play the game and i'm not so interested in that okay i'm much more interested in how you have organized your life to think like how you've organized your life to do just that. And I'm also interested in

transitions. So you came into the league transitions right away, pro bowl, you transitioned out of the league, high success, two franchises, a capital business. Can you talk to me about early life and how you learned how to transition? Well, that's a great question. I think one of the fascinating things about being a military kid is that you learn how to get along with people. And the reason you learn is that you're moving. And so when you're moving every three or four years, we moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Washington, D.C. And when we moved from Albuquerque to Washington, D.C. and I was, you know, about four or five years old in that four or five years old, you start to realize that you got to go to school. And as you're going to school, you have

to fit in. There are certain things that we all try to do when we're young, you know, to assimilate is a really interesting thing to, because that's a really, you know, format of how we think about how to get along. And, and, you know, then you, you know, join certain organizations. I remember joining the Cub Scouts, you know, and, and you're a Cub Scout? Yeah, I was a Cub Scout. And nobody that played against you would ever believe that you were a Cub Scout. Yeah, and so what's fascinating about being a Cub Scout is that the uniform meant something. And my dad had a uniform. My dad was in Air Force.

My dad played and still does play an exceptional role in my life in terms of understanding that he, who didn't have a lot, who realized that there were certain teammates in his life that helped him, you know, get to where he wanted to get to. As a matter of fact, one of the great stories is that there was a general that helped my dad and this general helped my dad get a job and helped him transfer to California. And I think what was amazing about that general was that think about what he thought about when he said, hey, you think you can do the job? And I think that this is a unique opportunity for you. And my dad could have easily not accepted it. He could have easily folded. And yet he was able to explore.

He was able to understand. He was able to know that this could be a better situation for his family. And my point is that in the journey of life, you find, you know, guys like my dad and other people like that that are interested in exploring and learning how to play with, you know, different teammates. And then you move to California. And when I moved to California, one of the great things early on, I had a coach. And I remember the coach saying to me, he goes, hey, can you play with white kids? And I was like, looked at him, and I was like, you know, I'm 10 years old. I'm like, nobody had ever asked me that question. And I remember sitting there distinctly going, man, I can play with anybody.

Because at the time, you're defined by how to get in the game and how you play and how you perform. And, um, I've always felt like, how do you get in the game? How do you perform? That's what your dad taught you. Those are the big things. Like, how do you show up and how do you perform? How do you? Yeah, because you know and I know today we showed up, we're performing, we're playing. And hopefully what we're doing is we're allowing people to see that they can do the same thing and that they have the capability of being extraordinary. I think any individual has the capability of being extraordinary. I think any individual has the capability of being extraordinary. Now, one of the great things that happened to me when I was a little bit older and it happened when I was playing Pop Warner football, I met this guy named Deacon

Jones. And Deacon Jones played the rams and a phenomenal football player unbelievable he came and spoke at a banquet in san bernardino and at the banquet he said you you be the best and he was talking to the whole room, he goes, but if you're going to be the best, I want you to be the best no matter what job you take, and for whatever reason, when he said that, and even right now, I remember sitting there going, how it made me realize that, wow, and then he said, even if you're a garbage man, you'd be the best garbage man, I want you'd be the best garbage man. I want you to be the best garbage man where you can talk. And I have one, by the way, that comes up and he talks to me, says things, loves what he does, engages, is always excited about doing his best. Those are moments that I learned early on about that you can be great and that you can have extraordinary moments and you can rebound.

And so at 10, 11, 12 years old, you know, I was experiencing you know feelings of a failure too where you know you you you you would lose a big game and and you would pout and or you would get smashed by Redlands because the Redland Terrier pups were you know just more organized and better at what they were able to do and and uh coach Womack at you know and and and coach womack over in redlands man was phenomenal and and he had a he had a system that was a great system and and then and then i realized that systems matter in the way you play in the way you're and this is all young age oh yeah no i was at a young age and so you got you got transition you got your dad to be a massive figure in your life. He taught you to explore, to take risks. You've got an influential mentor that came one day and

talked about being great in every part or any part of your life that, that you, you know, you choose to venture into it. And then you've got what it feels like to be on the other side of people that are organized and have great systems. And you say, hey, that's not us over here. Like, you know, we're not as put together, I guess. And so this is all at a young age. Yeah. And I think what's interesting for me is as I look back, Bill Christopher at Eisenhower really cemented a thought of which, you know, he would play every game. For three years that I was at Eisenhower, he would play, you know, the theme of Patton. And the theme of Patton was Americans don't, you know, we don't accept losing and we don't tolerate losing. And we lost some games when I was at Eisenisenhower but the the theme was of what we were

is as americans you know we don't quit and one of the great moments of my life is when you go into san quentin and you see guys and then i went back you know i was there about 10, 15 years ago, and then I went back last year. One of the most intense penitentiaries. And I saw a kid there, and I saw, oh, he's not a kid, but he's a man now. And I saw him, and he goes, do you remember me? I go, yeah, I remember you. He goes, yeah, because I took you around. I go, yeah, man, so how you doing?

He goes, I'm doing great, man. I'm, you know, and, and what, what it taught me was that he can do that. He can be successful in being there and being, having purpose and being centered and being able to continue to live a life of significance. In a very harsh, confined environment. And so I think that that's where you also realize that you got people exercising their best too in certain situations, certain conditions. Do you look for opportunity to excel or do you look to mitigate risk? Ooh, that's a great question. I look to opportunity to excel. The mitigate risk piece means that intellectually I would have to, you know, quantitate so many things that would make the moment not as exciting, not as purposeful.

So you're looking for moments to be exciting, to be animated, to be alive. Is that a primary driver in your life? I think the reason why I feel like that is that I tell myself this a lot every day, is that I wake up trying to make a play. You know, Pete will call me and say, hey, Coach Carroll, Coach Carroll will say, hey, what do you think about this? In other words, help me make a play. My intent around that moment is no different than, you know, when I played for him. No different than when he said, so how did you feel when you, when you stripped the ball from that guy right there?

Did, did you really, did you understand what you did? Did you process it? Did you, did you believe in it? Did you know it? And that was the first time that somebody had made me stop and to think about, I did that and I saw it. And I had always been seeing that. And I had always been interested in taking those type of purposeful risk moments. But I would tell you that one of the great things that I've learned is that if I went in the private equity world and I talked to everybody in their world and you would say, do you mitigate risk or you look for excitement or opportunity? A lot of them would probably tell you that they look for opportunity first before they think about risk. And the reason why is that you got to make a play. If you don't try, you never know what God's going to provide for you. Finding Mastery is brought to you by LinkedIn Sales Solutions. In any high-performing environment

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I was with Coach Carroll yesterday. We're talking about you. And he kind of leaned back in his chair and he said, you know, he's a really special human. He says, I've always marveled on how he's been so committed to world-class, committed to being great ultimate compliment from a world-class coach and i know you guys are friends but that he's marveled in how unique and special you are and your commitment to being world-class yeah i think that what that when i look at some of the thoughts and some of the comments that pete shared one obviously humble but two the thing that I always marvel about is even back when I met him many years ago, the intentions of what he wanted was not just to be a coach, but to, to, to help you think about stuff that maybe you don't ever think about. And one of the great athletes that I've had the good fortunes of getting to know is a guy named Willie Lanier. And Willie Lanier played his whole career after his rookie year having a hematoma.

I think it was a hematoma, a situation where he started to bleed and bleed from the inside from a brain injury. And then he continued to play to be a Hall of Famer, never using his head. And you realize that. Wait a minute. How does that how does how does that happen? That you can't ever use your head again. And yet you become one of the best ever. And not only the best ever, but you still have relentless commitment to the cause of being able to never surrender. You think of a warrior like that or you think of a warrior like Jim Brown and you think of these warriors and yet you find guys today that are not taking the same path in the same life that the great warriors you know took and so I always said to myself I want to be like them I want to be in that class and I want to be around those kind of people. And, you know, to me, I think the great thing that I've learned about all of this is that, man, how lucky am I to be able to see that sports has given me a pathway to be able to exercise some of these thoughts and views about life. So let's talk about Debarlo and coach Walsh. What was it like

for you to be at the epicenter of something very special and dominant in sport where there was a culture of greatness and not just being world-class even, but world leading? Like how, what did they teach you? What did, what was it like to be in that system and why did you why did you give yourself to it as a because you were already on the path now oh yeah but i think the i think bill was committed to the cause of excellence and only so many people could really appreciate that and then eddie has been remarkably committed to this idea of tenacity, of always wanting to win and compete and be the best. And he took, you know great people around him and great people committed to him and great teammates and great you know relationships and and you

realize that it worked and so in his dna that his dad taught him in his DNA that his family has taught him. He has been to me the best owner because he was the originator of allowing owners to say, you know what? These guys can be a part of me. They can be a part of me. Now, Red Auerbach, I don't know if he was an owner, but Red, when he was running the Boston Celtics, had a little of that, a little of that. And you win as many championships as they won. But the Yankees obviously had it.

And so all of a sudden you see that, you know, these things, these attributes of family and the attributes of getting people to be committed to the cause of winning and sacrificing and giving. And then I think Bill, in his excellence, Eddie, in his determination and tenacity, combining those kind of elements led to us to understanding that, you know what, it's possible. All of it's possible, but it all has to have excellence. It all has excellence and determination. And to the point where our last Super Bowl,

I remember coming off the field and Guy McIntyre saying, we didn't play the perfect game and we end up beating Denver 55 to 10. But his point was, it wasn't our most excellent game. Okay, so the thing about psychology that is wonderful and frustrating is that we can't see thoughts yet. So my best way to understand that is I want to understand framework first, which you've been sharing your framework about how you think. So it sounds like greatness, risk via exploring, determination, and a real commitment to excellence are all part of the framework for you. And then what does it sound like in your head pre-practice? Wow. I know it's been a long time. Yeah, I think in my head before every game, I used to look in the mirror. The man in the mirror, the song that Michael Jackson wrote, the man in the mirror.

You know, can you change your ways? And when you think about change your ways in that song, you know, can you change your ways? Can you change your ways? You would listen to that song? Yeah, I would listen to that song. But my point about looking in the mirror in life is that you are who you are. It's a reflection of what you see yourself as. And it's a reflection of what you think you are capable of. And so you got to dare at moments to see that you can do certain things. And sometimes you fail and sometimes you win.

But the question is, which I think is the most important part of it is did you try did you try to do something that maybe nobody thought you could do did you try to create an environment where nobody thought that you could do what did you try even on the goal line to throw the pass that people said that you shouldn't but you tried and you should be honored by trying then i have another saying i have this bracelet and it says you know exhaust every moment how many people have fought in this country pat tillman i remember meeting him and being around him he exhausted every moment of his life is that like squeezing every ounce of presence is that what that is like yeah man Lee here yeah that's a good one right there in sports and on the field man it is so exhilarating when you are completely here and i love watching the warriors play because the joy of them of them being completely

in the moment and being present is what's allowed them to be the band and the team of who they are. And so I'm, I'm, as I'm watching them, I'm trying to, I'm trying to look for little moments of things that can be applicable to my life today. And there's a lot to learn as you're watching that. And that's what Pete, you know, I'm indebted to him because I really enjoyed the process of understanding the moment of being in his presence of seeing why ball is so important and why it should be important and in the essence of and yet ball it's not just ball it's just life and what i love about pete is that he goes man i'm not i'm, I'm not leaving, man. I love this stuff,

man. This is for life. And I was like, I get it. I get it. You want to exhaust it all the way to your grave. That's for sure. Yeah, that is for sure. And, in parallel tandem, his commitment for people to explore and find and figure out even through the tough times and hard times and the wonderful times, fun times, you know, the celebration to find one's best. And you shared before we turned the mics on that you actually went to the Jets. You played, you want to be coached by him yeah and i think one of the reasons why i wanted to be coached by him is that we met in in in 86 and the thing that i loved about our interactions was things that that no coach really had ever talked to me about

one of the great things about being coach is when somebody enlightens you to something that gives you another feel, another meaning, another way of intellectually exploring your capabilities. that Bill Campbell, who was a coach at Columbia, that came here to the Valley and became an incredible leader. And when you were around him, he was always able to tell you the truth. Tell you the truth about what you should be thinking about. And sometimes the truth hurts. You know, a coach will tell you, even on good plays, there are things you could have done better. And there are coaches that will also tell you that, what the heck were you thinking when you did that? Those moments are the moments where you really start to crystallize the fact that to really be great, you can't have a lot of those moments. To really be great in life,

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If I can extract a couple of frames that you have, each moment is the opportunity to be fully in it and animated, exhausted to use your language. And it's also the intersection where we can make a play. So if we blow it because we're not aware, we're not focused in the right way on the right things, we're distracted, we're not informed well enough, or we don't have the skills to be in the present moment, we're going to make decisions and actions that other people would say, what in the world are you doing? Like, okay, so it's not just football or sport it's life as well it's life and i think that what's amazing to me is that you see a lot of successful people that you bump into matter of fact i always crack up because

people come from all over the globe to this to where I live right now, Silicon Valley. And I've met so many people that have come to this country, and they've gone from rags to riches. And I've said, you know, if I did a show with you, I would love to go around Silicon Valley and talk about those people that i meet that that make me feel like they're making great plays all the time and i can tell you right now that group of people that i've met in this valley inspire me all the time because they will tell you sometimes I didn't even have no hope, no belief. And I, and I, I just, I kept grinding. I stayed after it. I kept after it. And, and what I love about Bill Campbell is he taught a lot of executives to just keep staying after it, to keep finding it, to keep getting it.

This idea of an athlete leaving the game and saying, I don't know what to do. There are too many models of great people that are doing wonderful things that you should, if you're relentless and committed to like you were when you played and being a rookie, you'll be relentless and committed to being productive in, in, in our society. Cause you got what a lot of people don't have. And that is the try hard, the ability to compete hard. And that's what I mean. When I meet some of these entrepreneurs that are here in the Valley, I thought I hit hard. You know, and those are the same elements that I see with my garbage man.

Those are the same elements I see with certain people that deliver the mail. Those are the same elements I see with people who are working in the hospital, you know, for 12 hours. Those are same elements that I see of people who are just living their best life. What are those elements? If you could say there's five and of course there's more, but if you could just name five elements that you would say, you know what I wish? I wish that people could get these five things in their life. Like we're talking about the psychology though, if we could get those things right, they would lead an extraordinary life. They would feel fulfilled. Yeah. I think the first thing that I would say is understanding your try in life and being excited about how you try in life and being courageous around how you try in life. I think that's a really fascinating subject and it's something that is very valuable.

And then the other thing that I think you've got to always think about, it's not about you it's always about all these other teammates and people around you which what does that mean i think god has always said you know find a way to just find a way to figure out how to help somebody see success see their best, see their moments, see whatever it is. And I think what Deacon Jones did for me that day was to say, hey, don't you see it? You can see this. And he lit something up in me. And every time we would see each other before he passed away, I could see that. Every time I'm around Mean Joe Green or Willie or Jim,

I'm always like, every time I see them, I'm like, there's something there that you want to go, you know, thank you. Because they still are thriving, existing, and making things happen. So I think you've got to serve. And then the other thing that I think is that manufacturing thoughts. We'll manufacture some good thoughts and we can manufacture some really crazy things. And learning how to manufacture the right DNA. and i have a good friend here her name is phadra and she was like i love she's manufacturing thoughts about i don't need all that she because she was like thinking that she needed all of this and then she said no i don't need all

that i just need to be this sometimes you think you need to be all this and you just need to be this and so that was a very woo moment for me and when i say woo moment it's like you know i look for woo in life you know everybody looks like the kung fu yeah but everybody always says woo in a game when you you see a big hit or something, woo. Yeah, right. And I'm like, man, you should live your life having woo every day. Because there are woo moments every day, man. Somebody does something, you go, woo.

You know, what if everybody bumped into somebody? You saw somebody do something extraordinary. You said, woo. That's what you would do on the game. I mean, it's so funny funny the crowd actually stands up and you'll any game any moment in the game when somebody does something they go and it's it's it's universal it's a universal feeling that people do that and yet do they do that with their life do they do that with their life? Do they do that with their life? Great question. And then the last thing is this thing about exhausting life.

Jerry Rice is arguably the most gifted competitor, but he exhausts everything about the game of football. And he was the hardest working person I've ever seen. And so I want to honor that because the best ones do that. You know, the best people that you bump into, they just exhaust all of it. Where did you learn that phrase? I saw it down in Tampa.

There was a young man who had it when he shared it with me. I was like, oh, I got it. That's good. I like that. I like that. I like that. It was, and it was, and so, yeah, he sent me a bunch of these bracelets and I was like, okay, yeah. yeah he sent me a bunch of these bracelets you know i was like okay yeah and and so those elements

are elements that i think i try to apply and obviously they're they're going to always be more those are great elements of core that we can train all of them we can make a difference and grow them the the manufacturing of thoughts brilliant never. Never heard that phrase. I love it. Now, if we switch gears and pivot just a little bit, you have lived a relentless life, dedicated and committed to being great. The transitions have been remarkable, and you've done it eloquently right when you step in and out of the league.

What has been the cost? What has been the cost? What has been the dark side? What has been the tax and the flesh that you've left by living this way? The cost is sometimes not understanding love. To me, it's about, you know, are you playing with the right people? Sometimes you'll find that some people, they love you, but they only love you this much. There's conditions, you know. I think you mentioned it earlier when you were talking about family. Did you see your sport team as a family? And there's some challenges I have with that. And I'm not saying it's right and wrong, of family, I think of, you know, the military family. There's a performance based, you know, thought of you're my family, but I have to protect you and you have to protect me.

At the same time, there are moments in those situations where depending on who you are and where you're at and how you're ranked and what you are, there are a lot of consequences. But then you go to the elite, to the Navy SEAL and the Navy SEAL goes, I only do it this way. And you go, what? And he goes, I only do it this way. And you go, what? And he goes, I only do it this way. And what I find is really amazing to me is when you even visit it and you think about you're going've learned that that's all that matters. And so the reason a lot of SEALs tell you that, you know, when they come and assimilate back into society, it's hard because they're looking for that receptivity of that to happen. And a lot of people are like, you want me to do what? And therefore, family is not really

family. It's not really family because you're not really giving me family attributes. In your framework, there could be elements of family in a sport team, but it probably doesn't encompass everybody on the team. Well, again, there could be, right? It doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that, yeah, it doesn't mean that all are all fit in. You can feel sometimes when you walk in a room, if how the guy feels about you before you even think about trying to talk to him about

can I play with him? I remember coaches looking at me going, and you would sit there and go, wow, man. I see it all the time in sports. That's what makes it so complicated is that you sit back and you go, man, all these guys that have all this institutional knowledge. I remember lots of times, Bill Walsh was phenomenal.

Phenomenal about his institutional knowledge of the game. One of the best ever to design and architect a game plan. None better. None better ever. But was he the best at architecting a relationship with people he would say probably not because that was hard for him and it was hard because i remember times he would sit there and i always would sit there and the player that was hurt, Bill would put him on a sideline and tell him not to put certain clothes on. So I was like, wow, why is he doing that?

He'd isolate him. Because he didn't want a reminder, right, that you could get hurt. Yeah. And it was his way of how he had to deal with that emotion around it. And because a lot of coaches would say, Oh, I'll just get them out there on the pads. Let them stand out there.

But he had a process of how he wanted that person to, you know, be in my point to you is that that was, I had never been around that before. I'd never seen that. And it was odd for me to, to witness that. As I'm in this conversation with you, your EQq your emotional

intelligence is really high you you pay attention your eye contact the softness the intensity the back and forth the checking in like your emotional intelligence is really high your institutional knowledge is ridiculous what about montana joe montana joe Montana to me, and I say this, in two minutes, there is no one that will ever match his ability to critically think about making the right decision with the ball at the end of the game. No one. Why he goes down as being so clutch. So at the end of the game, the last two minutes, when it's a tight game, you're saying there's nobody that makes better decisions, has better poise and presence than him.

I love it. I love it. Last hit. How do you define or articulate mastery? The concept of mastery. The way I define mastery is around the idea of finding yourself knowing that you have put all these incredible hours, all this incredible work, all these incredible gifts to be able to say at one point in your life that you finally found the idea of mastering a moment. Not all moments, but a moment. And I think one of the great things about watching sports is that we will watch a moment like we watched when Tiger was walking up

and there were times where we'd see Ali you know doing what he was doing and there were times you see Jordan there's times you see Willie Mays there were times that you see Ronnie Locke close the gap and my point is that you would see all these you know all these incredible athletes you know master moments and you know what what i always wanted to do was to try to be in that realm of saying you know what i was able to try to contribute my moment you know i have a good friend. We went to have breakfast one day with George Roberts. And I tell the story because George goes, hey, I'm in the second inning

of my life. And he was just, you know, we're sitting there going, what? He's in his 70s and he's like in the second inning. And we were like, we got to go get our track shoes on because we got to go work out.

And my point, though, about life is you start to, you can see where people, or Clint Eastwood recently, talking about the movie he just made and Toby Keith, and don't let the old man in. What does that mean, don't let the old man in. And what it meant for Clint and what it meant for Toby and what it means for all of us is a really interesting thought that now in the mirror for me, I get to think about that. I get to try to figure out what that means and and to have purpose around that feeling and

have purpose not just not just singing the song but to have purpose to know that there's some value to what clint and what toby was sharing and and so that's right if you're if you're not if you're not if you're in the right huddle, you can learn a lot. Ooh. That's really, you end it with that? Yeah. Get in the right huddle. Because we all want to be in huddles, man. Yeah.

You know, we all huddle up. We all huddle up for greatness. It is more evident here in the valley than anywhere else in the world that you can huddle up and change the world. It's amazing. Ronnie, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Thank you so much for diving into another episode of Finding Mastery with us. Our team loves creating this podcast and sharing these conversations with you.

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