High Performance Mindset | Learn from World-Class Leaders, Consultants, Athletes & Coaches about Mindset - 730: PUSH Past the Barriers: Turning Setbacks Into Setups for High Performance Johnny Quinn, Olympian

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

In this episode of The High Performance Mindset, Dr. Cindra Kamphoff sits down with Johnny Quinn—U.S. Olympian, former professional football player, keynote speaker, and bestselling author of PUSH: Breaking Through the Barriers—to explore what it really takes to move forward when life doesn't go as planned. Johnny shares his remarkable journey of being cut from the NFL multiple times, losing millions in contracts, suffering a career-altering knee injury, and ultimately redefining his identity beyond the game. Rather than letting setbacks define him, Johnny explains how one powerful question—"What's next?"—became the catalyst that led him to represent Team USA in bobsled at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Throughout the conversation, Johnny breaks down the invisible barriers that hold high performers back, the difference between a setback and a setup, and how daily mindset choices shape our response to change, loss, and uncertainty. He also connects lessons from elite sport to leadership and organizational culture, explaining how accountability, resilience, and discomfort are essential ingredients for sustained high performance. This episode is a powerful reminder that confidence isn't about certainty—it's about adaptability, ownership, and the courage to keep pushing forward when the path changes.   You'll Learn: How to respond when your identity, plans, or goals fall apart Why asking "What's next?" is a powerful performance mindset The difference between a setback and a setup for growth How daily mindset practices build resilience and confidence What elite sport teaches us about leadership, culture, and accountability How to break through mental barriers that keep you stuck Johnny's definition of confidence—and how to cultivate it   Episode Resources & Links Learn more about Johnny Quinn: https://www.johnnyquinnusa.com/ Order PUSH: Breaking Through the Barriers: https://www.johnnyquinnusa.com/push/ Download our 2025 Confidence Crisis Study: https://confidencestudy.com/ Request a Free Mental Breakthrough Call with Dr. Cindra or her team: https://freementalbreakthroughcall.com/ Learn more about the Mentally Strong Institute: https://mentallystronginstitute.com/  

Today on the high performance mindset, we're joined by an extraordinary guest who embodies relentless adaptability and the very idea of pushing beyond what's possible. Johnny Quinn is a U.S. Olympian, a former professional football player, a best-selling author, and a dynamic keynote speaker. I've heard him speak multiple times. After being cut from the NFL three times, losing millions in contracts and suffered a major injury, Johnny didn't quit, and he asked instead, what's next? went on to compete for Team USA and Bob Sled at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

His book Push, Breaking Through the Barriers, equips people to embrace change, take risks, and redefine what success looks like in life and performance. And now Johnny inspires teams and leaders across organizations to build resilience, think bigger, and to turn setbacks into set-ups for growth. To Johnny, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Sandra, great to see you again and glad to be with you. I can't wait for everyone to hear more about your journey, and I think we're just going to learn so many lessons of resilience and adaptability from you. So let's just get started, and why should people listen to our podcast interview today? Well, one thing I learned in sport, and this is true in life, is that you are always improving or you're not improving. There's no such thing as standing still or staying still because we are all under bother time. And so when you think about improvement, whether sport, business, school, leadership, professional development, whatever it may be, we want to evaluate, hey, and what I'm hearing, can I use this to springboard me forward? And so what I know from your background and if we have listeners today tuning in, there's going to be a lot of fruit that they can use immediately in their life. I completely agree.

So I'd like to get started and just talk a little bit more about, you know, how you got back up. So you're cut three times in the NFL, lost $2.6 million in NFL contracts, blew out your knee. First, like, tell us the story about that and what you feel like you learned from it now, you know, many years later. So I entered the NFL at 22 years old, and it was a dream come true. I signed my first undrafted free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills, fresh out of college. It's a three-year deal, $1.2 million. And so, hey, look, I am excited.

I am thrilled. Three days, Sandra, into OTAs, off-season training activities. I get injured. I pull my hamstring. Here's what's crazy about this. I ran four years of Division I college track, never had a hamstring injury. But day three, and in my childhood dream coming true, a hamstring injury, and with your background in the NFL, you know this. The NFL stands for

not for long, and boy, they have me on a flight back to Texas so quick. I was out of there, but that was the first time somebody sat me down, looked me in the eyes, and they said, Johnny, you're not good enough. We're not keeping you around, and we're not letting you, you know, get your hamstring healthy. As a matter of fact, Johnny, today we are hudding you. And it was at that point, Sandra, this was the first time that somebody essentially said to me, hey, you're not good enough at your career. And they set me home. And 22 years old, fresh out of school, I'm going to be honest with you, I didn't know how to deal with that.

I think I had to handle that. You know, this is devastating to me. And so it was at that point, and I can look at it now, I can earmark that point. That was when I became an avid reader, an avid reader. And let me tell you why, Cendron. Because here's what I had to figure out. I needed to know were there men and women in sport and business and life who are older than me. Did they ever have a massive setback or a massive failure?

I'm classifying this as a failure. I'm 22 years old. Oh, my gosh, I just lost my first career. Can you recover from that? is that okay? And you know what I realized, Cedger, when I became a reader? Is that I realized, you know what?

Failure? Setbacks are actually part of the requirement for future breakthrough. Right? So I was able to understand that's something that was devastating of getting cut, losing my career, losing that kind of money early on, could actually springboard me to future success. And so I got cut when I was 22 years old.

I go to the Green Bay Packers on the 23. Red Farms retiring the first time. Eric Rochie, he's taking over as the starter. You know, I'm going to make it in Green Bay. I have my first reception on Monday night football. Three minutes later, Cendra, I get cut. Again, they send me home. And then I go in the Canadian Football League.

I make the team in Canada. You know, my agent's going to give me back in the NFL. I scored my first pro football touchdown. Right. Center, things are going to the right direction. and then I blow out my knee in Canada. And so at the end of the day, my football career was an absolute train wreck. And so although I entered the NFL at 22 years old, and you mentioned this on my intro,

by age 26, I've been cut three times, lost $2.6 million in NFL contracts and blew out my knee. And that was tough. That was tough. You know, and looking back when you're 26 years old, it's hard to put that. that all into perspective. You know what I mean. Tell us this about like how you dealt with it at that point and when you decide, okay, I'm going to be done feeling sorry for myself and here's what's next for me. Yeah. So it was hard to see that door shut on football. But when I go back and I and I think about that timeline, particularly after the third cut blown out knee, you know, at this point

my age, it's like, Johnny, you look like the image goods on paper, right? To a general manager, your three cuts have blown out knee. Like, you're done. You're out of here. There's no, there's no more. And so I look back and I think about the people in my life who are pouring wisdom into me. That was crucial. And so I'm always evaluating, who am I letting speaking life, you know, into me?

And when you're at a loss or you're going through a failure, you're going through something that's very frustrating, that might be one of the first things we want to look at Hey, who's advice are we actually taking or letting them pour into us? And when I realized that football was closed, here's what, here's another thought that I had. I said, you know what? Football's over. Okay. It's a great run.

Unbelievable experience. But I still feel like I have something left in the tank. I wonder what's possible. So do you know who else wonders? Children. As a growing dog, I've got two young kids right now. We play these wonder games. We're dreaming, babe.

We're, you know, we're playing make-believe. And so I want you to notice something. I'm 26 years old, and I'm still demonstrating this idea of exploring what could be possible. I didn't limit myself through a frustration. Instead, I understood it. It hurt. There were tears, for sure. Right.

But I started, I started drinking again. just like a child dreams. I'm doing that here in my mid-20s. Does that make sense? It does. And then at what point did you decide, like, hey, I want to try bobsled? And I made you to the Olympic team. Right.

Yeah, you know, it was so funny. I grew up in Texas and so you played football. And I was always thinking, man, I wonder if slipball gets into the Olympics. That'd be so cool to be a football Olympian, right? So one thing started to line up. My mom had a co-worker who was a bobsled her back in the day. My agent represented a bobsleder back in the day. And because you can't go to college to do NCAA bopsledic,

there's no such thing. They recruit from other sports in football and track and field are two of the main sports they recruit from. So I kind of had the mold, right? I had the speed, the power, kind of the build that a bobsleder has. And so I sent some of my film, of me sprinting to a driver at the Olympic Training Center. And I get in a call with him and he's like Johnny, hey, when do you come out in a couple months?

You know, let's push a bobsled around. Let's even see if you like this thing. And so I said, okay, I'll come out. But if my agent, if he finds a football team on the out of year, I'm out, right? I'm going, I'm going back to football. Yeah, yeah. True story, one month before I am supposed to go try out bobsled, I get a phone call from this driver.

Johnny, one of my guys has showed up overweight. Do you want to come up now and compete in the U.S. four-man team trials? I'm on the phone like, well, buddy, tell me, where, where's the race? He goes, it's in two days.

I said two days. Oh, my gosh, no way. I'm like, I've never pushed a bobsled in my life. He's like, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, Johnny, all you have to do is get inside the, the slad. True story,

Sandra. I said, okay, I flew into the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York, the night before

team trials, and we took third place. And that started this journey. Wow, this four-year journey to make the Olympic team.

Isn't that wild? Yeah. Yeah. That's wild. It also makes me think like, okay, there's lots of things you did to get there,

right? Like you were a college, Springer, a football player, and, like, you knew the right people. So you competed in football and in track in college? Because that's incredible. That's right. That's right. My scholarship was in football, but I connected the dots early on.

I'm only 5, 11, and 7.8s. I know our listeners can't see that here. But I knew if I wanted to get to the NFL, I had to get faster. And so, again, I'm a logical thinker. And so I think through logical conclusions. Okay, if I need to get faster, what do you do? Oh, just go walk on a lot. the track and field team.

And so I spent four years running division one track, and I got faster. And what was, you know what was frustrating is when I got come from all those times from pro football, I thought back, I said, man, I wasted so many of those springs doing college track when I could have been, you know, at the lake with my buddies or, you know, whatever. And you know, the funny thing is when I started bob sledding, there's so many similarities to track, it was so neat to say, hey, something that I committed to back then, I was still able to use and transfer into this quote-unquote new career. That was cool. And you never know how those things take place and what's going to help you. And you're doing now, you know, five years from now.

You know, what's cool is like, Johnny, you got to not only like experience the NFL and the Olympics, right, how unique is that. What do you, when you watch people there and you're, you know, just part of teens, like you said, Aaron Rogers and Brett Barb, like tell us a little bit about like, What do you think the best of the best do mentally to separate them from the rest? Yeah. What I've noticed, particularly in the NFL locker room and then at the Olympic Training Center, is that there are, people are familiar with different levels of athletic ability. I mean, some guys just have it.

Some guys work extremely hard. They take them the next level. The same thing is true mentally. Some people are extremely mentally strong. Yeah. But Cedger, some people need to work at it. I actually play in that second category where it's areas that I need to work in. One of the things when I got to the Olympic Training Center that I purposefully did.

Because look, everybody at the Training Center is an athlete. You don't get invited to the Olympic Training Center just to come check it out. I mean, you have to be athletically gifted. But at the Olympic Training Center, you had Olympians and you had Olympic holdfuls. Again, athletically very similar. But the Olympians were operating at a different level. safety starters in the national football league so very similar there and so here's what I did I would observe

not not not be a weirdo but I would observe when the Olympians were what time of the day did they choose to work out well when we were in the cafeteria Cedra what what are they putting on their plate and what are they passing in the cafeteria and so I would just make observations on huh that's the way it's done

And so that was neat to see that in two different arenas that carried over. But Bob Slid, the best of the best, are always evaluating the different options that I have access to. Does that make sense? It does make sense. Yeah. And it's cool that what you just said about some people are just, you know, mentally strong and some people have to work at it. What do you define as mentally strong? And how did you see people be mentally strong?

in both areas, both the Olympics and in the NFL. Yeah, so I break it down to what I call two words, borrow wisdom. Morrow wisdom, right? And so depending on where our listeners are in different seasons of life is I'm always running this healthy diagnostic on is this accurate information. And so here's what I'm doing, Sedger. I'm constantly running this diagnostic on what am I watching, what am I reading, who am I listening to?

Just similar to how when we turn on our car to drive for the day, if there's a check engine light that goes on as much as we hate seeing that, hey, something's roken, you know, something's going to go south if we don't get this check engine light taking care of. That's the same thing I do when it comes to mental preparation is I'm always running this diagnostic, particularly in this digital age that we live in, where we've got access to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll is,

Hey, is this content healthy? Because here's one of the things I've noticed, Sandra. Some of the biggest lives floating around culture today are wrapped in partial truths. And so as I study these, these what I call ultra performers, men and women in sport and business, who just, again, are mentally tough, mentally strong, always looking to develop that mental clarity. what I've realized they're able to do is they are able to pause between the stimulus and the response. In other words, they are able to look at something, Sandra, even something that is, you could say highly controversial, you could say something that would give a lot of a, we would call a wow factor, they're able to look at that and look at something and what I call spot the line. They could look at and say, hey, that part's truth.

Okay. But wait a second. That part isn't. That takes wisdom and discernment. Yeah, absolutely. And sometimes the lives are within ourselves, you know, where we aren't necessarily being completely truthful to ourselves and we're thinking of the worst case scenario or, you know, what possibly could go wrong. And, you know, as we're recording this, we're just a few weeks into our upcoming is going to be the Winter Olympics in 26. So we, we're just a few weeks into, we're just a few weeks into, we're When you think about not only preparation, what it takes to prepare to get to the Olympics, but what do you think it really takes to shine at the Olympic Games? Like, what does it take mentally?

Well, this is about to be a reward for these Olympians. I mean, four years of work coming down to 17 days in the Olympic Games. I'll give you some perspective. I was on Olympic ice for shortly over three minutes. Four years of work. Oh, my. Three minutes of Olympic ice time. I mean, think about that tradeoff.

Four years of mental. physical grind, three minutes on Olympic ice. The question I get, Senator, is it worth it? Absolutely. It's all worth it. So we're about to see athletes compete at the highest level physically, at the highest level emotionally, and at the highest level mentally. And so it's going to be a reward for these Olympians as they step into Olympic Village

and on Olympic ice and into their competition. And so I think we're going to see war records being broken. we're going to see incredible stories of triumph. Like I love the Olympic stories. They'll show on NBC and then the evenings of what this person overcame. And here's what I hope our listeners get from that, is that they get the understanding that they can do it too. That we are not stuck on where you are.

You might not be happy with where you're at, but we can keep pushing forward. I love that. That you're not stuck where you are. and you can keep pushing forward. And I think about the Olympians I've worked with, you know, you're right, like four years of work for three minutes or or sometimes it's, you know, think about like 100 meter hurdles or 100 meter dash, you know, it's like seconds.

But I think they're able to like regulate themselves. They don't let them, oh, make it bigger than it is, you know, and it's like, they see it as, sure, it's important, but they can handle the pressure. They can regulate themselves so they can really, you know, perform well in the most. moment. One of the other things I wanted to ask you about, Johnny, was, I love your book Push, and you talk about breaking through barriers. What's a barrier you feel like you've broken through and what's an invisible barrier most people don't even recognize and, you know, that's holding them back? Yeah, you know, one of the barriers I broke through is becoming a Texas winter Olympian,

right? Those words aren't supposed to go together. You know, you watch the movie Cool Runnings over and over and you watch some Jamaican team. You're like, you know what? I think I can. No, here's what I've noticed, an invisible barrier that most people sit behind, is that they've been labeled something growing up. And they haven't understood that a label is an opinion, not a fact. Just like a piece of clothing that you wear. You might not.

You might like it. Somebody else might not. Whatever. It's the same thing when it comes to labels. Who cares what you've been labeled before? for it's what you do now moving forward you know cindra picked up on something that you said just a minute ago you said you know there's a lot of times that we can just kind of go to you know the worst case scenario or what could go wrong and cindra you're true we can go there but cindra at the

same time we can go the other way too we can go what could be possible right what's the best thing that could happen and i would say you know as a having that up to play professional football and then now a U.S. Olympian, that is a choice that we get made. Wasn't born with that, Sandra. It's been developed. And so I think that's very hopeful for our listeners is that this is a choice that you can make to shed off those invisible barriers that maybe you've heard in the past. Yeah, I'm thinking about actually a client I work with right now who was labeled, you know, a certain way when he was growing up. And he's had a hard time like we just started coaching together and he's had a hard time moving past that but that's right

you know we are told a certain thing and we we believe that instead of taking a step back it's like is that actually true and is it that something I want to believe about myself right yeah you're spot on there yeah absolutely hi this is cinder campoff and thanks for listening to the high performance mindset did you know that the ideas we share in the show are things we actually specialize in implementing If you want to become mentally stronger, lead your team more effectively and get to your goals quicker. Visit free mental breakthrough call.com to sign up for your free mental breakthrough call with one of our certified coaches. Again, that's free mental breakthrough call.com to sign up for your free call. Talk to you soon.

So one of the things, as I've heard you speak multiple times, you talk about the difference between a set up and a setback. What's the difference? And can you give us an example of not only in your life or perhaps some other examples of that? Yeah. So when I got cut all those times in professional football, definitely on face value, a setback. Right? Had a clear, had a multi-million dollar contract. My dream is coming true.

I mean, right? I'm stepping into, you know, everything I dreamed about. It's here. And then it got taken away. 26 years old At the end of the day It's an NFL failure That's what it was

I hate saying it But it's true I'm going to be honest Be truthful here with myself But at age 30 When in the world of pro sports They start to call 30 Hey you know

Hold on now You're starting to You know get up there a little bit I remember I was in Eagles Austria It's midnight Eagles Austria It was 5 p.m. back here in the States And they named me Olympic team And we're on speakerphone

In this conference room right and the uh the olympic committee is naming the team and cindra i've always had my name left off always but cut cut cut this was the first time i heard my name called on speakerphone that i made it and it was at that point that i realized that those times in pro football that i thought or setbacks actually set me up for this opportunity. And so now in business, right, I'm 12 years retired from sport. I do the same thing in the marketplace. I'm talking to a meeting planner and they're going to bring me in to speak.

And then they cut me, send her. They decide to go with somebody else or whatever it may be. Yeah, yeah. I'm going to take that conversation that I had, although it feels like a massive setback. It is, right? I thought you had an opportunity and then they go with another speaker or, you know, whatever it may be.

Right. I'm going to use that to set up my next conversation. And so it's this, notice what I'm doing here. I'm framing the situation. I'm framing the scenario. Anybody can do that. Absolutely. And what's the way that you frame it?

Because I think for me, like what I need to do is just disconnect myself from the outcome. You know, like I need to move on. really quickly and it's like, well, you know, next gig or next, there's another opportunity coming to me. You know, and just kind of like, and I feel like that's great energy in terms of just like a mindset of abundance. But what do you, what do you do when you're in that moment? And yeah, you've been cut from the speaking event or you're not chosen.

What do you do to reframe it? So I do like that. I like the ability to move on quickly. I would put it this way. It depends the level of effort and commitment you put it into. So let me give an example. When I got cut from all those pro football teams, I mean, that was my life work up until there.

That wasn't just a phone call, hey, we're going with a different speaker. That's a different loss, right? Right, absolutely. So what does that require? That actually requires some morning. It really does. And as a guy, I'd say it's tough to say that. But the bigger, the commitment,

and if that you're now in that setback phase, it does require a level of mourning. And you need that. Here's the key go, you don't sit in that. We mourn. We process. Here's the key.

Here's the key. And then it moves. We mourn we process than we move. On a sales call, on a speaking league, you're right. Those are quick. I'm on to the next one. Hey, nobody's next. We're not going to burn that bridge.

We'll check in with you, you know, this time next year. But you're right. I'm on to the next one. But notice my commitment is that my life's work into that, right? And so that's where it gets very personal. Yeah, it's a little bit easier to move on in that regard. Yeah. And so like what's interesting in terms of the difference is like a team cuts you in the NFL like that might be done. If you don't get a gig for speaking, it doesn't mean that you're done. Yeah, we're on them in that. There's millions of opportunities. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. And so I call it, hey, no means next. No means next. That's the phrase. Cool. Cool. Well, tell us about your what's next question, actually, because I heard you speak about that as well. And like, how have you seen high performers use that as an asset? Yeah, so I'm always forward-thinking on what's next in my career, what's next relationally, what's next in a project that I want to do that keeps me forward-focused. And let me tell you why. And then here's where I got this from,

Cendra. When I was an athlete, here's what would happen. They'd have former athletes come back and talk to us. And one of the things I noticed early on, and it kind of rubbed me the wrong way, is that former athletes would come back and they would tell me or tell us the group

about the good old days and what it was like when they played. And here's what I picked up from that, Cedra, is that that was the best thing that ever happened to them. And so they're always looking backwards. Or, Cedra, here's another thing that rubbed me the wrong way with former athletes that would come back. Steger, they were so out of shape that I could even imagine

they played sports back in the day. And so one of the things that I think about what's next is in a key street forward focus is, look, going to the Olympic game, and truthfully, being named to the United States Olympic team carrying that title U.S. Olympian is a major milestone. And my life, my career, it's been incredible. But Cendra, I want that to be like number 13 on the list of accomplishments.

See what I'm saying here? Is that the best thing that ever happened to me? It's incredible. It was a lot of work. It was worth it. And so what does that do, though? What does that do from a framing standpoint? It keeps me focused on what's next.

Okay. Who am I going to impact next? And so when I think about our listeners here, there's no doubt our listeners have probably had some incredible milestones in their career. Also, let's celebrate those. We use those as motivation. But I'm always thinking what's next. So tell us a little bit about what's next for you. I think that will inspire everyone.

He's listening to say, well, Johnny keeps on dreaming. He went to the Olympics and it's not the biggest thing it's going to do. So tell us what's in your future? Yeah, let me give you a professional what's next and a personal what's next. So professionally, professionally, I've spoken to, in one setting, I've spoken to 5,000 people. That's my record, 5,000 people in one setting as a professional speaker. Stedra, I want to speak into an arena of 20,000 people one day. What's that going to require?

That's going to require me leveling up my assets, leveling up my content, continuing to level up on my professional side. So that's my what's next goal there on the professional side. First of all, let me give me an example. So my wife and I, we've been married. This year will be 12 years for us, okay? Why do I think about what's next? 20 years from now.

So I'll put us at 32 years, okay? Think about this. When I hit that garage door open her in my car 20 years from now, and that garage door goes up, do I want my wife, her name's Amanda? Do I want her saying, oh, Johnny's home or Johnny's home. Johnny's home. And so what that allows me to do is I can think about the future,

but my daily actions matter today on how I want my relationship with my wife to be two decades from now. And so I'm always thinking about what's next. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that also helps drive you to show up in the way that you want to show up today. That's right. That's right.

I love that. So one of the things that you talk about within push and obviously the way that you have lived your life so far is like by picking yourself back up and finding out what's next. As you think about sports and playing in the NFL and track and college and the Olympics, how do you see resilience the same or is how is it different in sport and in business? Well, one of the things I've noticed in business and when I try to start, search for or what I call common denominators. And one of the things that we all have access to, which is the same is time. That's about the, when I say time, time in the day, not time in years or

even months, but time in a day. Because a lot of us, we come from different resources, have access to different resources. And so I've noticed the only common denominator is we all have 24 hours in a day. And so what I've noticed is that these ultra performers have, have found a way to maximizing their time. And one of the things I use is a funnel that I got from a guy with the name of Rory Vaden, wrote a book called Take the Stairs. It's a New York Times bestselling author, where when a task comes on my plate syndrome,

the first thing I'm thinking through when I'm moving it through this funnel is, can I eliminate it? If I can't eliminate it, can I automate it? If I can't automate it, can I delegate it? and if I can't delegate it, then it's mine. So it's eliminate, automate, delegate, mine. This is a way for me to maximize my time no matter what I'm doing or what I'm looking at. And so when I think about people who operate in this level of resilience, particularly in real life, in real world, the ones who are doing it the best maximize their time.

Awesome. I love that. eliminate, automate, delegate, and if it's not, it's mine. I have. It's wise. There's. So, go, Roy Vaden. Yeah, he's so good.

How would that shape your career and the impact that you can make now as a professional speaker? Well, it was the first thing, the first action step on a throttle really hit me differently because the idea of eliminating something or quitting something. You know, as athletes, sometimes we're the worst. You know, everybody's heard this quote before. It goes like this, Cedra. Winners never quit.

Okay? It's a great quote. It's on coffee mugs, bumper stickers, hashtags. I mean, everybody's heard it. The problem with that quote is that it's been taken out of context. Cendra, winners quit things all the time. Yeah. They quit things that don't work.

And so to our listeners who are listening today, can I encourage you? I'm going to give you, let me ask you this, will you be a quitter today? You're hearing directly from a United States Olympian. Let's quit something that does not work. And so that's one of the things that when I think about kind of moving up, you know, further in the future and some of the best leaders do is that they're able to eliminate things that don't work. Yeah, and you're right.

Like if you're always doing things that you shouldn't be doing or that you can have somebody else do or that, you know, you can eliminate or. and mate. You're just like taking more of your time. So how do you think that is different than in sport or is it similar in your opinion? It's very similar. We're always looking in sport or we're looking at reducing variables in sport watching game film of, you know, the way we executed a play versus the way I played on the offense. So the way the defense tried to destroy the play. And one thing I noticed in sport and business is the same is that you want to reduce variables. You reduce variables of things that could go wrong.

And so you're automating your processes. Hey, that sounds familiar in business where I've got to get my standard operating procedures in place. Same thing in sport or automating things that can be automated. So the synergy and the transfer, whether it's in sport, business or even in life, it's all the same. Here's the only thing that's changed. The arena. That's it. That's it.

The arena's different. I understand that. Everything else is the same. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I was thinking about, tell me what you think about this, but I think in sport, sometimes it can be more difficult for athletes to be resilient because they're so tied to the outcome. You know, like the outcome is so defined, whether it's like you won or you lost, where sometimes in business that outcome isn't as clear.

And I think it can be really easy for athletes to be defined by the outcome, right? Like, even when you said, like, your NFL career was like a failure. And I was thinking to myself, no way, you were in the NFL for three years, the three teams. How incredible was that? You know, that's not a failure. And, you know, and honestly, isn't the average NFL time in the 2.3 years, I think? Yeah. But you almost of them, Johnny.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's funny how you mentioned that. I would say sport in that sense is very similar to sales because if you don't get the win, sport or sales are very similar. But, you know, you're right. So at the Olympics, Central, we missed the medals by 1.8 seconds.

Or 1.8 seconds. So was that a failure? Absolutely not. Now, did it go the way we worked for or dreamed about or working towards it? It did not. But I learned so many lessons along the way and we lifted everything out on the IMS. Now, mind you, even though we missed the podium by 1.8 seconds, we finished 10th. that just shows you how close.

Oh my gosh, that's so close. Everybody is there in that wild? Yeah. Is the Bonset usually that close? Oh, yeah. I mean, it comes down. It's just like, you know,

football's the game of Ventures, Bopsl's a game of milliseconds, right? Yeah, it comes down to the wire. So, you know, you bring up a good point. There are some things that are similar. There are some things that are different. But, you know, I didn't win a Super Bowl. I didn't play 15 years.

And I didn't win an Olympic medal. Is that a failure? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. Now, what did it do? It built resilience in Maine that now that I can deliver on stage and relate with my audience that, hey, you know what, I've been a part of a team that things didn't go well. I went after a goal.

I mean, we came up 1.8 seconds short. And you know what I found, Sanders, is the NFL is cool. Olympics are cool, but a lot of people can relate to something that has been taken away or something that a relationship gone south or a business venture not working out. That's where the relatability is. And what makes the ultra-performer different, and anybody can do this, they really can, is that we don't sit in it. We don't live in it.

Yeah. We process, but we move forward. Yeah. Yeah. Kind of like what you were. saying is more in process and then move forward. That's the way you said earlier. That's right.

That's right. Well, Johnny, what have I not asked you from your book or from your wisdom that you'd like to share with us? So one of the things that I've got at my website, Johnny Quinn USA.com, is I put together a think guide and you cannot buy it, but you can download it for free. It's a list of the best books, the best. the best blogs and the best podcasts that I mentally use to prepare for the Olympics and what I use every single day in business.

And so if you want to sneak peek into some of the tools that I use to strengthen and sharpen my mindset, you can download that for free at my website, Johnny Quinn, USA.com. Awesome. And where is it on your website? Top, bottom. Yeah, all the menu. Yeah, right in the middle.

On the menu. Write the menu. You can't miss it. right, I'm going to download that. Come on. Johnny, what a cool interview today. Thank you so much for just your vulnerability and your honesty. And I appreciate the things that some of the things I wrote down in, you know, just like

at the end when you said like going to the NFL and getting cut for, you know, three different times and being just short of a medal, right? None of that is failure. It's all growth and learning. Right. We talked about borrowed wisdom. I love that you said that. I love when you said that some people maybe are naturally mentally strong while others have to work at it.

And then we said, you know, just sure when you're moving towards a goal, it's a big goal you're really working towards hard at. Like, of course, you might have to mourn and process and then keep moving forward. And then the last thing at the end when you said, no equals next. Next. I like that. Yeah. And doing this what next idea. Oh, so many great things.

And then of course, Roy Vaden's eliminate, automate, delegate, and if not, it's yours. Where can people find more about your speaking and hire you to speak to their group? Yeah, everything on my website. Everything on my website, Johnny Quinn USA.com or if you're on socials, I've got the same handle across all platforms at Johnny Quinn USA. Awesome. Thank you, Johnny, for being on the high performance mindset. Thank you, Sandra. Talk soon.

Way to go for finishing another episode of the high performance mindset. I'm giving you a virtual fist pump. Holy cow, did that go by way too fast for anyone else? If you want more, remember to subscribe. And you can head over to Dr. Sindra for show notes and enjoy my exclusive community for high performers, where you get access to videos about mindset each week. So again, you can add over to Dr. Sindra.

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