THE ED MYLETT SHOW - 9 Mindset Shifts to Escape the Achievement Trap | Ed Mylett

Episode Date: February 7, 2026

What happens when winning stops feeling like enough and achievement quietly turns into a trap? In this mashup episode, I want to talk about something I see all the time with high performers. People who are doing well on the outside but feel empty, restless, or disconnected on the inside. This conversation is about escaping the achievement trap and redefining success in a way that actually brings peace, fulfillment, and joy. I sit down with LeAnn Rimes to unpack what it looks like to grow up chasing validation and applause, only to realize later that external success cannot heal internal wounds. LeAnn opens up about the emotional cost of performing for approval, the courage it takes to slow down, and how self awareness and self compassion became the real breakthroughs in her life. Her honesty is powerful and it speaks directly to anyone who has ever felt pressure to keep proving themselves. I also bring in Rob Dyrdek, who shares how redefining his definition of winning changed everything. Rob talks about shifting from grinding nonstop to building a life by design, where happiness, relationships, and impact matter just as much as productivity. This is a masterclass in intentional living and understanding that fulfillment is not found in the next milestone, but in alignment with who you really are. Throughout this mashup, I break down the mindset shifts that help you move from chasing achievements to creating meaning. We talk about why so many driven people feel unfulfilled, how comparison fuels the trap, and what it actually takes to feel proud of your life, not just your resume. If you have ever thought, I should feel happier than this by now, this episode is for you. Key Takeaways: Why constant achievement can quietly disconnect you from fulfillment How external validation creates pressure instead of peace The mindset shift from proving yourself to accepting yourself How to redefine success in a way that supports happiness and relationships Why slowing down can actually accelerate clarity and purpose This is about learning to win without losing yourself. It is about success that feels good to live with, not just impressive to look at. My hope is that this episode gives you permission to redefine the game and start playing it in a way that truly serves you. ⁠⁠⁠👉 SUBSCRIBE TO ED'S YOUTUBE CHANNEL NOW 👈⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   → → → CONNECT WITH ED MYLETT ON SOCIAL MEDIA: ← ← ←  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠INSTAGRAM⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠FACEBOOK⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LINKEDIN⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠X ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ➡️ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WEBSITE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now on with the show. Okay, welcome back to the show, everybody. It's so good to have you here with me today. And what we're going to talk about today is something that I bet you've never had discussed with you before in your life. And, you know, there's all kinds of different addictions in life. you know, we can become addicted to alcohol or we can become addicted to a person, we can get addicted to drugs, we can come addicted to gambling. And all of those are really well-known addictions. There's one addiction that I see become so prevalent in our culture today that I do

not see being discussed in the business world or in the personal development, the self-help world, because it's sort of a scary topic to touch on. And so what I want to talk about today is achievement addiction. And I know that may sound like an interesting thing coming from somebody whose show is all about, you know, achieving your dreams and making great things happen in your life and changing your life. But there can become an addiction to achievement that becomes very unhealthy. And one of my concerns about so many of you that are involved in the, you know, the podcast or personal development world is that you begin to miss the forest for the trees and that you begin to become addicted to achievement in a way that is unhealthy. You know, all kinds

of studies right now. If you write this down, just remember this phrase right. now process over product that if you're always focused on the product you're producing and the achievement that you must have you lose focus over the process and what happens oftentimes in life is we become so focused on the fruit of our life we become so obsessed with the fruit that we want to produce in our life that this takes all of our energy and focus away from building the tree that could actually produce fruit for a lifetime we become so addicted in the finish line in the achievement, this addiction to achievement, that it becomes incredibly unhealthy to our long-term mental health and also our long-term wealth accumulation, our long-term building, because we don't learn the process of delayed gratification,

and we don't fall in love with the process of doing something great in our life, as opposed to always being addicted to the product. And this achievement addiction become incredibly unhealthy. It can become unhealthy because you delay all of your bliss in your life until you get to particular destinations. Once I get this achievement, then I'll be happy. Once I get this relationship, then I'll be happy. Once I get this amount of money, then I'll be happy. And this addiction to the finish line keeps all of the bliss in our joy in our life into the future. There is a way to be blissful now and still being productive. The other thing that happens when you're addicted to achievement is that you become,

it can very carefully and sidiously become a perfectionism addiction, where you think everything you have to do has to become perfect. That can cause paralysis. that can cause you, I'm talking about analysis paralysis, that can cause you to not want to take risks or take steps or step into the unknown because it's all about the achievement. It's all about the finish line. This can lead to a life that's really not very harmonious. All kinds of data tells us right now, and I've said this previously, that actually the brain produces more of dopamine, which is our joy chemical, our pleasure center, the pleasantness in our life. We produce more dopamine during the process of achieving something than when we actually get to the actual finish line of the achievement.

Brain studies now show us that when you get to the end and you get to the dopamine, it actually falls off the charts downwards once you get the achievement. And then you're left wondering, is this all there ever is? Is this as good as it's ever going to be? And if you do that enough times, you repeat this achievement addiction pattern. Once you actually get to the achievement, if you do, and it's a very unhealthy way to get there. When you get there, it's not all it's cracked up to be. And eventually you and your brain go, this just isn't worth it anymore. And you stop the journey.

You stop willing to do the work that you once did. You may need to ask yourself right now, are you really working like you were working when you were starving and hungry if you're no longer starving and hungry? Because there was something beautiful to those days where you didn't have any achievement, wasn't there. In fact, in some strange ways, the hardest parts of my story of when my water was turned off and. You know, and we didn't have electricity in my house, and cars were repoed, and I had had a home going to foreclosure. In some odd way, there was a happiness there that I don't even have now in my life. Because I was so enthralled in the process of my life. You know, some of the most happy people in the world are the most happy when they're just so involved in process.

Why? Because process focus keeps you present. There's all this stuff in personal development. Be present. Cause yourself to be in the present. in the past, don't be in the future. The truth is, all there is is the present. And when you're focused on something that's the work you love in your life, the actual work, the actual dedication to the process, you're fully present. The minute you take your focus to the achievement, you're

no longer present and you're focused in the future. This can lead to anxiety, worry, frustration, an addiction that's unhealthy, it can lead to sacrificing lots of other things in your life that matter on the way there. I'm not for a minute saying, don't bust your tail and do something great. Don't misconstrue what I'm saying. Because I don't believe you can actually enjoy inaction and rest

unless you know what it feels like to be completely active and busting it. For me, I only enjoy inactivity after massive spats in my life of full activity. Then and only then can you appreciate rest. and enjoyment and unplugging. A life of being unplugged, a life of no process, a life of no achievements, a life of no expansion of your being is a wasted life. I'm talking about nuance here. What I'm saying is that you get so addicted to the achievements that you constantly delay

your bliss and your happiness at the expense of other human beings in your life. And secondly, when you get there, you're waiting for all the dopamine then rather than falling in love with what you do to get there. This is not a message about fall in love with the journey. sure that's part of it. I'm talking about falling in love with the process. And what's happened to a lot of people is they've become conditioned in their life. There's this conditioning that it's all about the achievement. Why is that? Because that's what we see. We see on ESPN. What do we see? We don't see the entire game of baseball or football or basketball, whatever the sport is. We don't see them practicing. We don't see them lifting weights and stretching. We don't even see most of the stuff that happens. We only see the highlight. We only see the home run. We only see the great catch. We only see the touch. We only see the touching. We only see the goal. We only see the dunk. We only see the three-pointer to win the game. And so we become highlight real and achievement addicted thinking that's all that matters. Not only is your brain not work that way. Your life won't work that way. And I worry sometimes in this space, this business, personal

development, self-help space, that everything's pointed to the achievement. And this becomes an unhealthy addiction as opposed to addiction to the things that can be healthy in our lives. There's also this addiction to accumulation, that some of I can accumulate enough things, if I can accumulate enough awards, if I can accumulate enough money, if I can accumulate enough cars, if I can accumulate enough conquests, if it's a woman, accumulate enough man or a man, accumulate enough women, if I can accumulate, you know, a jet, I can accumulate things, that somehow if I can just accumulate a bunch of stuff, that somehow that's an achievement and I'm going to enjoy my life and feel better. And just remember this in your life.

You cannot take it with you. You cannot take these things you accumulate with you, but you can leave it here. And what I mean by that is somebody who's accumulated a lot of wealth in their life, I can tell you, and I want you to accumulate wealth. I want you to accumulate success. I want you to accumulate awards. I want that.

But that should not be your obsession. Your obsession should be the work you do in the process, the people's lives you change in the process. That you can leave here. See, the award, the money, the jet, the house, you can't take that with you. But the lives you change, the difference you make, the consciousness you shift, the difference you make in your own family by being the one, the difference you make in other people's families, by the work you do in your business, your life, your good works, that you leave

here. Life's about being in the full present moment, every moment you possibly can be. And then when you're no longer here physically, you leave these things here. and they reverberate into history, the ripple effect of the works you do. That's something that's blissful when you're addicted to it. But the actual achievement, not so much. And so I want you to really evaluate this idea of accumulating things in order to be happy as opposed to being focused on what you need to do to change other people's lives.

The other thing I want to share with you too is that one way to get out of this is to begin to compete. I like to almost like gamify my life where I'll compete for different things. I'll compete in the gym every day. So it's not about how big's the bicep or how ripped are your abs or whatever your body fat might be or your weight or all that. That's an achievement. But to fall in love with the process of actually working out and actually competing to get stronger and faster, competition is a great diversion from the unhealthiness of achievement addiction.

And so I really want today for you just to sit back for a second and ask yourself, what does make me happy, right? What does make me happy? And am I thinking, I'll spend 99% of my time kind of grinding? But when I get to that achievement, man, that's when all my happiness will happen. Or is there a better way to live? Can you actually fall in love and enjoy the day-to-day process, the ups and downs of your life? You know, I'm convinced in my life, I made a decision.

I don't want a merry-go-round life. I want a roller coaster life. Most people will choose a life of the merry-go-round. It just keeps going in the same circle. You get on that merry-go-round, you go about one time. You start seeing the same things, don't you? And it comes back around again, and you see it again, and you see it again, and you see it again. It's nice and calm and slow with that goofy music, and it just repeats itself in a circle very slowly, little ups and downs as you just go in the circle and see the same things.

That's a merry-go-round life. And if you're listening to me right now, you have decidedly chosen. do not want to live life on a merry-go-round. You've decided you want the roller coaster, the ups and the downs and the butterflies, and your stomach goes all the way up, right? You know, it's just woo, and the screaming, yay! And you're scared. That's the journey of life that produces the most bliss is actually the roller coaster life.

But I think too many people think, I just want to get off the roller coaster, right, and get to the end of it and have achieved that I finished the ride. And I'm telling you when you finish the ride, That's when all the butterflies go away. That's when all the joy goes away. That's when all the bliss goes away. The joy and the bliss is in the ride. Even the ups that are going,

and you know it's coming. You do it all the way down, up and down. I don't want a life that avoids ups and downs. I want the roller coaster. But I want to decide I'm going to enjoy the process of that ride. So you can make two choices. You can choose to get on the merry-go round. And if you're listening to me,

you don't want to be on the merry-go-round. If you're listening to me, you either chose consciously to live a life off of the merry-go-round like 99% of the people do. Same life, same pattern, same conversations, same vacations, same nothing, no growth, no experience, no memories, no joy, no life. That's 99% of people. So if you're listening to me, either you've decided I want to get off the merry-go-round or you've gotten off of it.

But the other mistaken choice you can make is this up-and-down thing, I just need to get to the end, to the finish line, to who. rides over, and then you get off, and you go, yeah, wasn't that awesome? Right? Wasn't that awesome? That's a mistaken choice. That's the achievement addiction. The right addiction, I believe, is the nuanced one in the middle, which is to accept

you've chosen a roller coaster life. And the people around you have chosen to be with you in your roller coaster life. And it's to make sure those people around you get what they need as you ride your dream and you ride your roller coaster and that you get which you need, which is the bliss and the happiness and the fulfillment and the contribution that comes with the day-to-day riding of that roller coaster in the process and not waiting for all of the joy for the end of the ride. And so please guard against achievement addiction in your life. And I'm really hopeful that today helped you really hear something you've never heard before

and cause you to begin to think. Every week I'm producing content. I want you to begin to hear it when I'm doing these interviews through this idea. that you're not here to just accumulate and accumulate and accumulate because you can't take it with you. But you can leave the people that you help, the difference you make, the vibrational frequency you change, the consciousness you shift in your own family, in your own being, and the lives of other people. You can leave that here. And I sure would appreciate it.

And I know your family would. And I know you will if that becomes your obsession and your addiction. Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. don't forget to follow the show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. All right, hey, welcome back, everybody, to the show.

Today's an honor. I guess she's an icon. I think I would say she's an icon. I'm going to say that out of loud. She's an icon. She's iconic for sure. And she's just a really special being. She's an immensely gifted artist,

and you all know who she has once I say her name. But I've just watched her. When I used to watch her when she was young, I thought she was this really young soul. And as I've watched her become a woman, I think she's stepped into a space where she's actually like a very old soul. No, thank you. Very wise. She's gone through a lot. She's grown a lot.

And she's just got a new album out, by the way, that I absolutely love. I cried listening to a song on there called How Much a Heart can Hold with my wife. And her new album is called God's Work. And I'm really honored that she's here today. So share some time with all of you that I love so much. So, Leanne Rhymes, thank you for being here. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

So you go away and you come back and I'm just curious, like, does the anxiety manifest itself in any area? Like, could even be like coming here today or like, like, it does. It does. So you'll still, you'll still, and what does it look like for you like, I don't really want to do this or I'm not good enough to do this or how do I get out of doing this or like. Oh, no. I mean, yeah, I definitely, well, it could manifest in all those ways actually. Yeah, me too. That's why I ask.

I think it's definitely kind of comes back to this like worthiness. wound. Wow. It's amazing for you. I know it is pretty crazy if you think about it because of all that I've accomplished in my life. But I do think that that's why I was so adamant about accomplishing so much because I felt like I had to in order to receive love. Me too. And when you really boil it down, especially for myself, ultimately at the end of the day. And so now it's, I feel like that's definitely quieted down a lot. And I like I said, I can stop myself this morning and be like, no, you're like, it's all okay. Like, you're, like, You can have all the anxiety and all these feelings of unworthiness and you can still show up

and you're still going to, for me, it's like, I just ask, like, you know, I trust that whatever needs to come through will come through me and. It is. And thanks. And that's what, that's the thing. Like you just, for me, I've learned to kind of move that piece of me just to the side, not like out of the way completely. Just move it to the side.

Tell it, it can be there. Like, you can have your space in me today. Like, you can be. right here and I'm also with you. There's another part of me that's here too. Um, so it's a bit of compartmentalizing and at the same time allowing it to be complete. Like I, you know, for me in the past, like I used to never have stage fright, never have anxiety. Like when I was a kid, I was just, I felt superhuman. And until I, once I started to see my humanity, it changed everything. All of a sudden I had anxiety. All of a sudden I had stage fright at times. Like, I realized about when was that?

my humanity. It started, I would say it started, right, maybe around 28, yeah, 27, 28. Me too. For me, it was when other people started to criticize me a little bit. Completely. That's exactly when I happened. My husband and I have been married for 12 years, but we went through, you know, a very public affair. And, I mean, the press is just brutal. And especially for a woman and especially for a young woman who they built up to be America Sweetheart forever. And so it was like the ultimate story for them. And that's when I started judging myself through other people's eyes.

And one day that did switch and like maybe 32 or 33, I realized, wait, these are people's projections on to me. Like I don't have, that's not who I am. You know, my mistakes, I'm not my mistakes. And I'm not, I'm not who they say I am. And I think that it took me, it took me doing a lot of soul searching to recognize who I was in order for that not to be projected upon me. It's very good. Yeah. Same with me.

Yeah. It's intense. It's an intense role. Yeah. And by the way, this manifest, this projection from other people manifest in your life listening to this, maybe the same way it does for Lianna and I, but maybe differently. Maybe you're living someone's projection in your life. Your parents projected a particular career on you. Totally.

or beliefs in yourself or what you are or are not good at. They projected it on to you and you've adapted it and that's how you live your life. Hey guys, it's always interesting when you stop doing something that you realize, you know, I probably should have kept doing it because it mattered so much. I had been taking IM8 for a while. It's feeling awesome. Then life got a little bit busy over the holidays. I skipped some days.

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Q-U-I-N-C-E-D-C-E-D, free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash ed. And so a lot of our lives, there's this whole thing, or we live it in some ulterior dimension, you know, we're not, but we are oftentimes as living other people's projections. And for me and you, it was like, wow, we were sort of achiever, achiever, achievers, and then criticism,

and then I started to sort of look at myself as if maybe I've been fooling myself the whole time. You know, maybe. Maybe I am that horrible person they say. Right. Maybe I am. And maybe part of those. Maybe some of it was true. Maybe some of it was true for me too.

Some of it I was like, oh, I can see where I was kind of an asshole at that moment in time. You know, like, oh, I didn't take other people's feelings into consideration when I did blank, whatever it may have been. I can look back now and go, oh, yeah, like there were parts of that that were true, but that's not totally, that's not who I am. Me too. Yeah. My way out, I'm curious what some of your ways are. Let's talk about some tools out for you, what works for you. what works for you.

Ice baths. I'm just kidding. We were just for everybody. We were just talking about how much we can't stand ice baths before the show. Yeah, it's definitely not ice baths for the two of us right now. That's so dang funny. It's so true. I, for me, the hardest thing, I'll tell you something interesting because I've been in front

of people. I conflated two things too. I conflated like love with significance. when I did significant things, I felt loved. So if I would just keep doing significant things and sometimes in life, these things also work for you. Like one of the reasons you were so successful is because you did make this.

And then you're, oftentimes in life, if something works for you a little bit, it's really scary to give it up entirely because you're like, that's part of my recipe. If I don't have anxiety or worry, maybe I won't practices, or I won't be on my A game. And so there's a nuance to life.

That's the hard part about podcasting or writing a book. It's like, there's a new one. wants to something. But for me, the hardest thing that is now the most beautiful thing is what you just said earlier, me being alone with me. I realized, like, maybe it's different for a woman, but maybe it's not. But for me, like, I never even just stopped and really just, like, looked at me in a mirror. Like, just not, I'd look at like as my hair messed up or something. But I mean, just like, I love this man. I've, like, I've never done, I had never done that.

Like, I love this man. This is a good man. I never would. stop. I was just doing life. And then this idea of like getting alone with myself and being quiet and like just being with my breathing and these were so difficult for me. And when they were difficult for me, I thought, well, maybe that's because it would be so valuable for me if I could do it. And so for me, forms of meditation have helped me a lot. Sometimes like actually writing for me can be a form of meditation. So has what's worked for you? Like if you were to share with someone who says, anxiety I got worry I got fear I got anger what is actually worked most of the time yeah I mean I think that piece of creativity is super important I mean we're all creative beings like that is our nature

yeah and I think until we nurture that nature um and find a way of doing that like and I think what's so interesting too is we are all so unique like what works for one person will not work for the next person possibly and you know it's just you have to find your own path with it so I I dip in and things all the time. Meditation is pretty much a non-negotiable for me even if it's five minutes me too during the day I just need to sit breathe and you know I'll take in an inhale and like and do it like double time that double longer XL that usually will help my anxiety a little bit but yeah I mean I've really gotten into recently working a lot with my physical body like balancing my hormones like I've kind of went from the beginning meditation and breathing

to now like going running the gamut of pretty much everything you can think of. Me too. But, you know, physical, mental, spiritual, like emotional, it's all important. You can't leave one out. You really can't. Writing, I think, you know, has been such a big thing for me also creating. And I, yeah, it's interesting that you just said, because something clicked for me, you said that, you know, we get projected upon, like, the things we're good at, things we're not good at.

I think leaning into the things I've been told I wasn't good at like I I don't like to dance like it really I do not like to move my body and there was I think that also has to do with old religious programming too but it's I had this whole thing around someone told me one time that I was better singer than I was a dancer and I stopped dancing and which by the way like I might have been a fine dancer but if you're going to tell me a better singer I mean I'm like I'm I was exceptionally good at it's singing so I couldn't dance that well too um but yeah I felt like I just stopped doing it and so for me finding what those places are that feel really uncomfortable and even if it's for me putting one song on and like moving my body freely is and when I do that I'll ball like I'll ball and I'll have so much joy at the same time and then I'll stop I'm like okay if that's that's kind of my threshold of how I, but how I lean into those things. But I feel like it's finding those places for people that are scary and walking into them. And they don't have, you don't have to just, you know, run and jump off the cliff.

Like just dipping a toe into things to expand who we believe ourselves to be. Like it just, it opens our lives up in every other aspect, not just that one little space, but in every other aspect of our life starts to change. You're so right. That's where I want to go too. You're like doing the interview for me. But like I tied up my identity into everything outside of me all in my life. So like if I made money or I got a muscle or whatever it was, my identity was always tied to the external.

Man, it worked for me for a long time. Yeah, it does. It works. It works. But it like when I got wealthy or whatever. whatever. Like I, it never was quite what I thought it would be when I would get there. And I think it was because I had, I had tied it to the external instead of like, like, I just love this work. I love doing this work. So you had to have had your identity

completely tied up and being famous or being a singer. And did you, have you unpacked that at all? Like someone, your identity could be that, and stay with me, your identity could be that you're a mother. Well, someday, by the way, someday you'll be an empty nestor. And then what? So it could be anything out there. But did you, you must have a lot of that. It's still tied up. And to a certain extent around my voice. I went through this few days the other day where I was thinking, like, what could I live

without? And when I really. What could I live without? Yeah. Like, could I live without my voice? And that was one big one. I was like, I don't want to. But if I had to, I guess I would have to.

And I just looked up at the sky. I was like, don't do that. So, you know, this is not an invitation. Let's not prove it. To test that theory. Right. But I, you know, there was, like, my wedding, it was interesting things. Like, my wedding ring, like, was really, it's really important to me.

And, yeah, it's random little things that I was like. It's a powerful question. Yeah, it was, and it was like, okay, well, maybe that's because of how important, like, relationships, I was told how important relationships were at a certain age, you know? Like, how are these things, how are, why, why are the few things? that I wouldn't really want to let go of. Why are they so important? So I went through that for a moment.

And my voice is definitely one of those weird things when you're born into this world with something like that. And as you get older, like things shift and change. And I know that I'm not going to be doing this my whole life. You know, I mean, who knows? But I mean, at some point, I feel like I want a different experience. That's been the new thing for me too, is that whole term different experience,

especially when shifting things. that's like, oh, I want a different experience. What's a different experience look like? So it's been something I've been playing with. And I know for me, like, I will want a different experience one day than being on the road. Yeah. So, and I don't know. I mean, I've had moments like, look, COVID, you know, gave us an opportunity to kind of untangle from all of those things that we were attached to.

And I did for a moment. And I was, I was okay with it. I was okay with it. I think, look, I, you know, I just released an album. I haven't never, I don't even look at charts anymore. Like, I don't know what it did. I really don't. And I, maybe it's part of that self-preservation.

And also part of it, though, is, is not the reason I do it anymore. Right. Like, the reason I do it is to connect with people and help shift, help them shift or help them question. And it's really, yeah, it's so interesting how my reason for doing things has changed it really has what was someone would listen to this and they just said hey i'm i'm curious you're i saw you on a stage i don't remember whose event it was there's louis's oh yeah i swear i met you yeah yeah and um i had to go up after you i think you did i think i'd

go up after you i was like i'm not i rarely have ever had that film i don't want to go up after that because the room was so moved i just thought she's going to be doing this too like what meaning this meaning like leveraging this gift she has, but it was much more like direct approach. It wasn't like just enjoy my work. There was a message, spoken message, some chanting with it. I'm just curious.

I'm surprised you haven't gone further down that road. It's something I want to do. Yeah, well, maybe today's the beginning. Yeah, no, right? It is. It's funny when you, when you asked me to come on here, that's what I thought about. And I remember you saying to me,

you came up after and you were like, you've never done this before because I had such a, I was going through this whole, thing with Lewis. I'm like, I don't speak. I speak during my shows, but like, this is, you're asking me to give a speech. And he's like, just come do it for like 10 minutes. And then you can sing and then we'll have a chat. I'm like, cool. I can do that. But it did give me this bug of, this is another way for me to share and connect with people. And when you asked me to do this,

it made me think of that. I'm like, you know what? I need to do that. I've been speaking for 30 years, one time ever. I would really prefer not to go up right now after that person. And it was you. I'm serious. And it's not because you can sing better than me. I think that's kind of a given. I was like, no,

something just happened in the room right now that I'm not so sure I can match or do anything better then. And I'm dead serious when I say that to you. It's the heart. It's the heart. I mean, I think that I was so open.

I mean, I walked up on stage and just started bawling because it was, I was conquering. And that's what I talked about. I was crying out. I was conquering a huge fear.

Yeah. And I know that that's also the reason why I haven't done more of it, but the reason, as I'm crying, the reason I know I need to. Which is rather remarkable that you of all people were uncomfortable getting up in front of a group. But the lesson in it, the reason I bring it up is the lesson. I made a post Saturday about this. Like, start a new hobby. You said a new experience. That's the pathway to bliss, everybody. That's the pathway, is to do something new that you feel ill prepared for. That's a bit scary.

But maybe you have some potential proclivity for it. Like, I shouldn't decide that right now, I'm going to start doing 360 windmill dunks. It's just not a lot of dudes that are my bill that are doing that right now. So it's got to be something that you have some proclivity for, but create a new experience. Like, even if you're great at something, to your point, like, you're the best at what you do. But do you want that to be the entire experience of your life? Yeah. Right.

Like, that's the juice of life. And so why I was so proud of you, not even knowing you that day, and then to watch you just go, wow. But I remember thinking, this is probably something she's going to do a lot of. and then really you haven't very much since that time. No, I haven't since then. Well, but also COVID happened along those lines too. But it is something that I've, I just had this huge meeting the other day with my team. And I'm like, that is, that is on the docket of things to, like, to walk into.

Well, you just got introduced to a couple million more people. Yeah. So it's really good. I did a chant record during the middle of COVID because I felt like people just, people needed it. which was something new for me. I've never kind of branched out and did that. And then I think that kind of, you know, that informed this new record.

And I'm also working, I'm working on a chant too at the moment. So I'm wanting to create this whole like sound experience for people. You guys, when she does this, it's unreal. It's unreal. It's unreal. That was a great conversation. And if you want to hear the full interview, be sure to follow the Edmielette show on Apple and Spotify.

Links are in the show notes. Here's an excerpt I did with our next. With Amex Platinum, you have access to over 1,400 airport lounges worldwide. So your experience before takeoff is a taste of what's to come. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Conditions apply. Welcome back to Max out. I'm Ed Mylett, and I'm so excited to bring you the program today.

The man to my left is literally one of the most interesting men in the world. And at least for me, I can tell you that for today, it's been something I've been looking forward to for a long time. to pick this big brain of his. You probably recognize his face and most of you know his name. This is Rob Deerdick and this is a guy who at 16 years old dropped out of high school. He founded a professional skateboarding league. He's been a professional skateboarding. He's got 21 Guinness World Records. He's a media stud. He's a rock star in the entrepreneurial space. He's a branding master. But most importantly for me, this is a guy who's a tremendous husband and a great father. And we're going to pick his brain about how he's accomplished all of those things here.

today. So thank you for being here, brother. Thanks for having me. I've seen it in video now to experience what it's actually like to be here live. It's so much more beautiful and remarkable than I could ever imagine. Thank you, man. I appreciate that. So let's be honest, man, you've had a pretty interesting life so far. I have. I certainly have. I like to say I've lived a lot of lifetimes already. Do you feel that way? I do, yeah. What do you mean when you say that? Look, you want to be a professional athlete. You have this obsession and pursued and you achieve that. Like, then you take that and now like, I want to expand this and be, take this into television

and then you go and live this entire television life, all these different businesses and different things. You go from athlete to stunt guy to business guy to father to husband, you know, so each one of those is a pretty significant chunk of life that's completely different than I am today. I want to figure out how you did that. And I know the audience does too, because they see this guy on TV, obviously I think arguably you're the face of MTV, you know, by the way, what's interesting about that, too, is for multiple generations too. Yeah.

Here I have at my age, you're the face, and then my kids, you're still the face for them. And so the career's just been unbelievable, and I'm fascinated by you because when I saw you on TV, I kind of had this picture of who you were, which I think is probably accurate to some extent, but then there's these multiple layers of you, like there are all people. Yeah. And so what I try to do on the show is get to those other layers. And so let's just start out. How does a dude who drops out of high school at 16? Okay, so there's a lot of people watching this who, you know, don't have advanced degrees but want to go win in their life. Or maybe they're a parent.

They got a child who's struggling in school. Did you drop out because things weren't going well in school? Did you drop out because of the whole skateboarding thing? I'm just curious. Yeah, look, you know, I dropped out because I just was a professional skateboarder, right? And I, you know, one year in my junior year, I got straight days for the semester just to show them. I'm like, look, it's not even hard for me. It's not even a matter of if I need to do it.

This is my dream. This is my passion. I achieved it. I'm now a professional skateboarder. There's no, you know, in that year, in between that year, I had went to my first pro contest in Munster, Germany, and got fourth place in the world championships. And all my signature product had launched that year. And, you know, I was like, I don't need to go to school.

It's just not in my path. I'm not going to go to college. I'm going to, I'm going to move to California and be a professional skateboarder. And so even though I don't fully remember this, my mom tells me the story of going in and them all trying to tell me I have to go to school. Like principals, counselors, everyone, all in one room. And I just like convinced, sold everybody on like, and they were like, you wonder what? He probably doesn't. We should probably just let him go.

You're already marketing and closing people. Yeah. And so, you know, it was really the beginning of just let him. He's going to pursue whatever he's going to do. on his own and you gotta just sort of let him do it and that's sort of the process that that that allowed me to get out of school and I still had to go and take a night class so I got enough credits to get a diploma right right your GED or your diploma okay yes there a difference a GED and a diploma yeah I think that with the diploma is like you still had enough credits to get

your to graduate where a GED would be like a I believe like a not a formidable or a complete formal diploma. So how do you get there? How do you get from your 16, you drop out? Were you making enough money at the time that you could move to California? Or what happened? Here's the thing. In December of 1991,

I sold one board and got a check for $2. And I needed that $2. Because that was all the money I made that month. And I actually broke that up into quarters and went and bought a bunch of sodas that were at a quarter Dr. Pepper machine. Wow.

You know, I think, you know, even in that era, I would track all my finances, right? I would say back then when I was 16, I'm a, I got to treat myself as a business. And, you know, I would, you know, I would got a $400 check one month and a $600. And then it was all scattered in that one devastating December where it was like $2. And in the spring, you know, the company was growing and was ultimately like, hey, if you move to California right now, we'll guarantee you $1,000 a month. thousand a month and I was like you what what out of here man I felt like I hit the lottery like it was just like me and a buddy of mine who was also about to turn pro like jumped in our Honda

civics and shot across the country to begin our professional skateboarding career in San Diego that's crazy man so you get there I'm just curious as this is happening I do because people listen to this because I look at you I think some people look at you as the TV guy I look at you as the entrepreneur guy yeah and what's awesome about you is there's so many different marketplaces out there that see different versions of you some of you see the athlete yeah some of them see the branding guy with whether by the way the multiple brands you built from alcohol to apparel to you know the the food business that you and I are a part of now all these multiple brands and then there's obviously the tv show there's the producer there's there's

just all these layers to you did you see all this like you're 18 did you were you already kind of like a business savvy guy or were you a skater professional professional skater dude. Yeah, no, I mean, I was business, I was raised by entrepreneurs, right? You got to understand, even the company that I turned pro for was guys that I knew since I was 12 that moved back from California who started the Alien Workshop, the company I turned pro with, with my entrepreneur mentor who lived in Dayton, Ohio at the time. They all formed that company together.

And then there was a couple other guys with them that started other multiple companies that I was a part of, this is all that I watched at 1415. So in my mind, this is just what I was supposed to do. So even though I treated myself as a business and, you know, it was watching my finances and all this stuff, I started my first soup to nuts, built my first, like, pure brand at 18, right? Where as soon as I got to California, I did a partnership with a big manufacturing and distribution company and started Orion Trucks. I was reading a book at the time called the Orion Prophecy.

You know, I was super into conspiracies and aliens. And when I was in my teens and like, I was like, man, like we should name it. Orion. I hand drew the logo. It was like the star with an O around it. I put together, you know, five of the literally the most accomplished top level pros in the world, which then went and got two guys apiece. And the Ryan trucks, when it came out was the literally the, literally the,

the dream team of skateboarding that I had built for this accessory and I did all of that for 0.5% of sales. So you you have that kind of going like you get this entrepreneurial fever, you got the skateboarding thing going and then there's like kind of this time. I just want everyone to hear this because as an entrepreneur and as a man, as a person I should say, there's just false starts in life. Like you get going and then you don't. You make progress and then you regrets. And then I don't think you're ever prepared for every moment. Like you weren't prepared for the 0.5. You didn't know to negotiate the right percentage of those things. But right around 24, there's another kind of like defining time

for you, at least one of them. Doesn't your team come to you and go, hey, look, we think you're kind of toast now. So tell them about that. Look, in that gap, now I've found huge success, right? Now I've helped launch the DC Footwear brand and moved to California and now become a superstar and skateboarding and all this stuff's going. But it wasn't fulfilling me, right? Oddly enough, like, the pressure of being in the streets and being a pro skateboarder just wasn't like my angst to want to do bigger things in business and do other things besides skateboarding became incredibly problematic. I was launching all these different businesses that I didn't know anything about the industry's record labels and and retail stores and all this stuff with this newfound money that I had helped

develop by creating DC shoes and all the royalty money I was making it this time, getting hammered on life lessons with taxes, you know, when you first make big money, starting all types of dummy companies all over the country trying to like put my money in different places, Nevada Corps and whatnot. And I equated to this, I lost my way and along losing my way, I lost the belief in myself, right? And when you have had success your whole life, where you were a young kid you played soccer you became a top soccer player you decided to pick up karate you become an amazing taekwondo fighter uh you pick up skateboarding you path straight to professionalism but you're everything's first companies everything you do you're doing like so when you grow up

with a deep self-belief and everything you do uh works thus building this deep foundation that anything you put your mind to you can achieve it's a much more dramatic loss yeah when that drifts from you right because belief becomes a part of your identity which is connected to your ability to achieve which since that's what you've been doing your whole life you don't know any other way so when that dips from you it's a much more painful more dramatic thing I think a lot of you know big athletes like when it tends you know or the ones that were chosen ones from from junior high all the way and they get into their third

fourth year in the league and get hurt or like now you don't even understand how to like manage your identity because it's had this trajectory for so long. And it was compounded when DC basically told me they thought my best years were behind me and that this would be the last contract. You know and I think that was and I can say it in hindsight and telling the stories so many different times of like really knowing like now it was like you lost the belief in yourself and at the time I sought out a a I was looking for a hypnotherapist right like just to hypnotize me to be a better skateboarder right it was like hunting all these things right and I found Dr. George Pratt at

La Jolla Scripps and what he did was this technique that was he wrote a book called hyper success and he basically did this hypnotherapy to just give your inner cell your subconscious the belief that it was meant to have great success and whether it was the moment in time it was like being at the pit whatever it was but at that sort of 24 years like it was that moment of like no you've got to take control of all of this and from that point on I told them at the time I said you know I don't and at the end of I'll be a completely different person. And I rededicated my life to like skateboarding and, you know, took all the way back to like top 10 in the world again.

And then like all the signature products and all the filming and image and brand and everything just exploded. Basically from that point, straight into television, you know, four or five years later. Man, as they, usually when I interview somebody, you know, they've accomplished something in their sport. And we talk about that. Or they've accomplished something in business. something in business and we talk about that. The complexity of what you've done. I wonder, and it's probably even a good thing

that you don't always just step back and go wow, right? But the complexity of, and how many times you've remade yourself? Because that lesson at 24, that lesson at 16, I think there was another lesson when you're preparing yourself. We're gonna talk about later for finding someone like Brianna, that whole thing. See, I had this really weird thing happen. I'll tell you, when Max was six years old,

I was at this car wash. And there's a really nice guy to see there all the time on Saturday. old guy. Turns out he's about my age now, but at the time he was old to me, and just at a niceness, he says to me, he goes, hey, enjoy the six-year-old. Because when he turns seven, the six-year-old's gone forever. And when he turns seven, or when he turns eight, the seven-year-old's gone forever. And you've got little kids, you know, man, they just keep becoming these different versions of themselves. And I remember saying back to the guy without trying to be disrespectful, I said, back to him, I said, so when did that stop for you? And he just stared at me,

kind of blankly. And he goes, I don't know. And I said, you should figure that out. And what I respect about you is that you have not settled the 18 year old version wasn't the same at 24 the 24 year old man doesn't even resemble the 43 year old or the 44 year old or the 24 year old right just it shifts all the time i respect that about you so that happens and then you go on from there we can't document your whole life let me see this to that too right because i think i've heard you say before about how you're you're in pursuit of the vision of of you know something to the effect of you're pursuing the vision of the man that you expect yourself to become, right? Something to that effect.

And I would say when I finally shifted to that, that in that pursuit of that individual, I also knew that that individual was slowly changing with the experience that I was having pursuing it, right? And it's not that it's this, you're pursuing something that's not attainable. It's with experience and knowledge and understanding of yourself because you're on the journey just to master you,

that the more you begin to master you, the more that ideal version of you begins to evolve too. So you're in this sort of relentless pursuit that's clear that I think at some point it becomes fully optimized. The fully optimized version of yourself is who you will catch up with. Like that won't forever be elusive. Oh my gosh, that's good. And I think because we're so similar in that,

sort of idea, it's the moment I realized that, no, this growth is actually one of your key attributes, like embrace it and enjoy what you're able to achieve, but know that that's not part of your makeup. Like the relentless of pursuit is actually your makeup. Oh my gosh, brother. And that changed, it allows me to not very difficult to look black and reflect because, I mean, I just, enjoy the pursuit so much, you know what I mean. Me too. I've had the, I've had you, I've heard you say about this too. You make me feel really good because although we're a

little bit different personality-wise, you're probably the most similar person to me that I've met maybe ever. And just that, it's even hard to describe, but we're both just so obsessed with this pursuit of growth and change and experiences and life. And one of the things I struggle with is my memory. Yeah. And I know you do. So a lot. I know like. The gift and the curse. It's a gift and a curse. I think maybe one of the gifts of it is I don't remember all my failures that just hold me back and I keep telling all these old stories. But I really do have a hard time remembering things. In fact, when I get interviewed, the great gift for me when I'm interviewed is it forces some recall of memories I didn't have before. You have that too,

right? What do you think that is? I don't know, but just talking it out, thinking about it, with somebody else that experiences it. I think it's more gift than curse. Now, it comes back to haunt you when you're trying to like remember the details, like on certain things. And And it jams you up a little. Where it jams me up at this state is I'm taking in and learning so much at a high level and then it pushes out stuff that I could really use again when I want to use it for another situation, if you will, especially in business. But I also, it's also made me super conscious of stuff that I really want to know that I want

to remember and never forget that I tell myself that as I get there. Meaning when a major moment happens. You have to go, hey. And the engagement, getting wedding, children, like a moment with children. Like I'll, when I really, even just recently taking the helicopter to Catalina to celebrate my three-year anniversary, like I kept telling myself as we're flying over the city and look at the ocean. Like don't, like just feel this. Like remember this, look at this, remember this. So it's like, I have to practice that in those lots.

in right yeah that's why you guys if I started to try to list for you the amount of moments that he can't remember but also that have been amazing in his life some of me you just would literally it is what he said earlier it's many many many many many many many lives right so I want to touch on some of them where there's lessons but I just I'm gonna spend most of my time in your brain and in your heart so but you go all the way from let's be honest you go from Robin big you got ridiculousness right you got all of the moments that that happened on all of these shows too, right?

Fantasy Factory, like all of these different things, it's just, it's bananas. And so I'm gonna- And keep in mind, Fantasy Factory was basically a moment generator. You know what I mean? From being attacked by a shark, to jockeying a horse for a race, to like flip in a car for a Super Bowl commercial,

breaking a world record, jumping a car backwards, like getting towed into a giant wave and almost dying, like all these crazy, crazy highlight reel that no human being on the planet Earth, has correct right is did you just hear what he said by the way just just slow that down just a second okay a mauled by a tiger bit attacked by a shark you kissed a bear on the lips I kissed a bear right and then an easier one what so that I want to just stay on that just for a second because like those are once in a lifetime moments you've had over and over

and over again right so stay on that just meanwhile kicking ass in business meanwhile founding a skateboarding it's just it's like you make me feel small which is awesome right so Keep in mind too, they are fully intertwined. What do you mean? How is that? I'm negotiating a deal, a five-year multi-million dollar mega deal with Nike right before, like I gotta hang up the phone and break a world record for jumping a car ramp to ramp 90 feet backwards, right?

For a giant Chevy integration deal that Chevy's going to do a deal for being a part of our league while launching a complete new company. It's like you're taking full calls in between this sort of chaos and sort of all aspects of your life. That was a six or seven year run of doing all this insanity while doing all of your business and normal stuff inside it. So that's maxing out these different areas. The pun is intended, right?

But like, so there are people out here who use the complexity of their lives as an excuse not to succeed in any one of them, right? So, oh God, I'm a dad and I've got my business and I got my, you know, soccer league or whatever it is. How did you do that? if you were to say here's one of the reasons how I can compartmentalize and win in different areas, what would be one of the keys? Just sheer drive and relentless pursuit of success.

Now, the problem with that was is here you are, you know, someone that can do anything. You end up, you have the ability to do anything, so you end up doing everything. then you end up kind of standing for nothing, right? So you end up meaning so much to so many different people. You're not even sure what you stand for. Like, is your passion business? Do you want to do stunts? Are you a TV guy?

Like, do you want to be the commissioner of your league? Do you like skateboard? Like, what is, like, I had to stop and realize that because my hope was if I just kept doing all this stuff, one of them would show me the way, right? So, and as someone that's so driven and whose gift is execution, the moment you decide to do something, you're going to do it. I'm going to do a cartoon and a toy line. Like, okay, I got a cartoon on Nickelodeon and a toy line in Walmart.

I got attacked by a shark to launch it. I'm going to do a new television show. I got this, I read an article with Vinnie DeBone. I'm going to do this clip video show. It's going to be the biggest thing ever did. Like, you end up doing all of these things and you basically, behind that, there's 20. of them that aren't working that you're putting that same energy of running into the wall with, right? And furthermore, it's not leading anywhere since you're hoping one will determine what your future is, right?

And I stopped and yes, I would look at myself as this highly conditioned stress athlete where you could put yourself under the deepest pressure and, you know, take on 50 or 60 things at a time and operate smooth and have. happy and but it wasn't until I looked deep within myself and decided what type of life do you actually want it's easier to do when you're sort of in the midst of failure totally but you did it in the midst of success and so this is what it does right it when I finally transition to the the next level right or the or the fully designed version right which I'm on my way right to say I'm exactly two and one half years into. Then I'll speak about it and it'll be what I'm known for and what we talk about, right?

Because since I'm in the middle of transitioning in it, when you look at my body of work, it is like so all over the place. You don't even, it's so hard to like land on what it is because the stunt aspect is is really interesting. You know what I mean? And being a professional athlete and then like, oh, you jump up and, and oh, now you're doing all these businesses. We're partners together and this super innovative amazing brand.

Like, oh, but then, no, you're still shooting nine episodes of television a week. You know what I mean? And like, you're still, you know, entering your 12th, 13th and 14th season on ridiculousness, putting you at 10 years and 25 seasons and 500 episodes of television on MTV. Like, it's hard to put down, like, what does he really, what would he be known for? when really you would know me primarily for MPV if you know business or you've had a conversation then you're like okay this guy's like tuned in but my goal is to be known for the life that I created the life that I lived and the way that I systematized it and built it that ultimately people

could replicate in their own lives in the future yeah the example is going to be bananas I I actually admire the diversity of your success. It's been a lot of fun. I mean, it's like... Brother, come on. I mean, and I'll tell you another moment too, man, when I, after I got attacked by that chart, right? Because I'm like, this is so dumb.

Like, this isn't even, this isn't even to be good. Like, why am I doing this? That's every stunt. Every stunt. It's like, this isn't even that, this is so dumb. And afterwards, like, no one in the world. No one in the world. Right.

But I remember swimming up off of the, looking down on that boat and stopping as I was swimming up and there's like 50 sharks swimming around telling myself, just look and soak this into your mind because you will never be back here again. And I have that to go along with the great photo of that like shark on my arm, you know what I mean? But that... For all the achievers, though, and for me, like, I just want you to know something. You take... You mention it, but I got to be honest with you, it's one of the things you're supposed to say to me.

I don't think I personally, and I'm an achiever, and I enjoy my life, and people come to me for advice and how to live better. But I think I could do a better job of telling myself, hey man, stop what you've said, the flight to Catalina, the shark thing, like, stop. I think achievers have to do that once in a while. Stop. Appreciate this moment for a second, man. It's not coming back again, you know? And I, you and I were talking about your kids at their ages, and, you know, it made me think that I appreciate all those moments when they were two, when they were. infants when they were three, when they were eight and ten, and I didn't, you know, and I wish I could

go back in those moments again. But think about it too, though. You think about how optimized you are as a man today versus when they were born. True. Right. And the lucky thing for me is I had evolved to a place where being super efficient and using my energy for what I'm only passionate about and having clear goals and vision for life. is the foundation that I started with for the family. So I've never missed a pediatrician appointment. I've rarely, I've never missed waking them up, very rarely, when I'm gone or putting them to bed, right? And that's by design.

That's by moving out of a fantasy factory in downtown and living in Hollywood to a home in Beverly Hills and an office in Beverly Hills and being super close as you're developing this life and creating a plan from my, how I use my time and my schedule you know what I mean I everything is systematized around full balance I take my first meeting at 11 a.m. my last one at five it never changes I don't compromise my schedule and my time with my family and wife in my pursuit right I fit it inside it you know whoa so say something about that so we're gonna I want to get into this life thing now because I love the word about optimizing your life since the second we talked the first time we

we talked was going to be five minutes was turned into a little long phone call we actually together talked about these things yeah like these very topics are what you and i discussed when we first connected of all those stunts you had though i'm just curious because it leads to life we're going to go into life stuff now so you had the deal with the the tiger chasing you down and mauling you that to me even for me i don't know why that's even scarier than the shark thing for me seeing that sucker run after you dude like they're trained i don't give a crap sharks in the ocean on it But he was biting my neck and they kept saying, put it down. Put it down.

Because I was the it. Oh, my gosh. I'm like, is this guy supposed to be doing this? Dude, they're a millimeter away from some artery. Like, dude, there's just, come on, man. That's crazy. I'll tell you the scariest thing of all of them was jockey and a horse for a race. Like, that was the scariest of all of them.

Because the car stuff, you're in a cage. Like, you're covered in the mesh here, train tiger. Like, when you're on the back of a horse going forward. 40 miles an hour, like if you, when you can barely, if you get shot off that thing, you're basically in a, like, a car wreck with no car, right? Like, that was the scariest thing. Are you hearing what we're saying to each other right now? Like, you know what was scarier than getting bit by a shark? It wasn't the tiger, it was right in order. But then for me, I think, it feels good to be able to say it. You know what I mean? It must feel good. It's like, I don't think about it so often, but then just

even talking about comparing them and thinking about it and the fact that I own that as a highlight It's right forever. It makes me happy. Yeah. And it's also like, hey man, look, being on TV all that long for some people would be scary. Staying at the top that long can be scary, you know, not wanting to fall off the totem pole you've climbed up, the flagpole, all those things. I want to ask you about one of the stunts you did because I think like, at least for me,

it would cause me to do a little reflection. So if all of them you did, the one that captured my heart the most was the one where Laird dragged you on the, I think it's Laird on the C-Doo into riding the wave. Yeah. Okay. And so you ride this wave and you crash and you thought you were going to die. Yeah. Of all of them, is that the one that you were the most sure you were going to die in the middle of?

I'm curious. No, I mean, it's the only time in my life that I was dying. So tell me about what happened there and what it did you. I, you know, the trippiest thing about it too is like it was pouring rain and I swear, the moment I stepped in the water to do it, it stopped raining in a rainbow, went right over it. Right? And I'm like, what's, what? Like it was freaky enough and we're like what is going on like it was just this freaky

Sort of moment in time so it like already had this like weird tone and if you can imagine Like and then like some of the local Hawaiian guys were like asked where I was doing getting towed in and they were like Ooh, it's real sharky out there, right? So I'm like Sharky? Yeah, so after the shark thing or before like this is this is way after it? Okay, it doesn't when you doing like you know Go get us a Bahamas Reefi shark with a metal thing like it's super controlled when you're laying on your back in the deep ocean and all you can think of is like shark coming up from underneath to get you i didn't even i wasn't worried about what was going to happen in that wave i just wanted to get up so that i don't

get attacked by a shark right and and if you can imagine this you know i've grinded a 20 stair handrail and flipped the car ramp to ramp and and done all these crazy stunts and you face them You face the danger. On getting towed into a giant wave, it's behind you. So, like, you, like, I'd never surfed before. It's literally the only time I'd ever surfed in my life. You had never surfed before. Never surfed before.

And it was, like, the first wave I ever searched was, like, 18 feet, right? And so it's the most peaceful, amazing, like, you know, because you can't see it. And, like, you're like, what I mean? Like, what do we? And then it's like a house crashes on you. And you don't, like, you can feel something coming. and you can start to hear it and then just wham! And now you're in like this fight, everything in you

to just get to the surface, right? So, I was like, you know, it's really weird management of emotions and experiences as it's related to when you get into kill mode for stunts, right? Because you have to shift into a mindset of like, where you basically, you get to a deeply calm place because you literally nothing else matters And you understand that for this moment in time,

you have to put everything you have into making sure that you do everything for this to work. It's a different level of mindset, right? Because your life is on the line for this moment. And it's so much easier when you're facing it and you go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And in this one, so as I did it and fought back up, and then I wanna get out of the way,

water, I want to get back up, you know, all this. It wasn't as bad, right? So it was like, it was like, okay, it got up pretty good. Like, that didn't, you know, it's still water. You know, I got spun around, but it wasn't too bad. Okay, let's try to get a bigger one, right? Like, so you get into that zone. And now the problem was I got a bigger one and one right behind it.

So not only did I get annihilated, but then as I was like trying to find the surface, another one came down, and now I'm so deep and have no idea where the surface is. And, you know, believe it or not, this is a viciously vivid memory, just out of death. Wasn't trying to, hey, you've got to remember it. Yeah. You're about to die here. You want to remember this. You never hold on to this one.

You know what I mean? No, this is like, you're like, like, I, like, eyes open, spinning. It was just all white. And I just, remember, kept trying. to push to what I thought was the surface and I kept going nowhere and the light kept changing and I kept trying to find what I think was the surface and it all kept looking the same regardless of where I went and I was could not no more breath no more breath no more breath like as far as you can hold as far as you can hold as far as you can hold as far as you can't if you can't

you can't you can't and right as I like had to like pass out to take the breath like I popped right up and then he come flying and he was so freaked out, right? Because it's all fun in games. You're Laird Hamilton, you're gnarly. You literally don't even have the gene, like to even be scared of like water. You're like literally Aquaman.

So you're like, of course you could do it, Rob. Like he just looks at me as like, you're a stunt guy, you can do this stuff easy. He thought I died for sure. And he just, we are, he ripped me out of that, threw me on the back, we are done. Like he was so freaked out, you know.

And, you know, of course, we made that whole episode, we wrote that episode around testing your man level. And we had decided I had reached it. Yeah, you reached it. And the joke was like, man, you don't want to get to the edge your man level because you really lose some layers your man level if layers got to give you mouth. Oh, my gosh, yeah, right.

But yeah, that was. I think if people rewound that and they were listening to your description, what it was like during that time, some people feel like their life's in that place right now, man. Like they're just, everything looks the same. They can't get out of it. They can't get out of it. Really, what you eventually is you just kind of surrender. right and then thank god you popped up yeah i i uh that's my favorite story by the way of all

the stunts is to think that you that was the one where you thought you were dead i mean that's it's insane i want to ask you a couple things you said because i think that they're worthy of covering you said earlier about your habits and routines and your rituals and i've heard you talk about how that actually creates freedom for you people usually think the reverse they're like hey if i have all these rituals and habits and i've got no real freedom in my life you you would say that that's completely opposite right yeah well look i'm i'm i'm i And the more, I'm, I'm, people call it habits, rituals, I think it's systems, right? The more systematized, the less you have to think of, the more freedom you have to think about other things.

Like, like when you're optimized, you know, you know you feel the best when you're the best version of yourself. So the more like it is a machine and systematized for you to do it. And it's based around you. It's based around what are the things. that ultimately help you and you can actually do. You know, and I would equate meditation to it. Okay. Everybody will tell you meditation is great.

Meditation for me is impossible. Okay, you can't quiet yourself to me. Can't quiet myself. I'll never be able to get there. It is, it is, you know, even if it's great for the mindset, like, but I knew that eventually I needed to, right? And I eventually found a me. meditation machine, right?

So what it now allows me to do is meditate every single day at five in the morning. I couldn't do it if I was just going to sit there and try to quiet, but when I jump into my soma dome, which is basically like a giant egg with lights and sound and guided meditation, it now has become an essential part of my life because I needed to find something like that because that's what I needed to actually apply that to a habit. You found your system to meditate. And so, you know, for me, if you can imagine you're up in the morning, at five in the morning, irregardless of how you feel, you're going to feel a lot of different ways when

you wake up. And I go into that machine for mindset only. It is like I just think about everything I want to achieve and how it looks when it happens and every single layer and level and you pop out of that thing and you're just in a different energy, right? Very short intermission here, folks. I'm glad you're enjoying the show so far. Don't forget to follow the show on Apple and Spotify. We have all the links in our show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Now on with the show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. So grateful you've decided to join me again here this week. And this week, I have a question for you.

Do you play hurt? Because I think playing hurt is one of the invisible skills of all the great ones. And if you think back in your lifetime, the people that you've been the most emotional about when you've watching perform in sports or life in business. They were overcoming some pain they were in currently at the time. Typically in sports, it's some type of an injury that they have. And so I ask you, can you play hurt? Because I think that's the great separator in life and in business, is that the great ones are able to perform even when they're not at their best, even when they're hurt, even when they're wounded, even when they're down. And average ordinary people succumb to the injury, succumb to the pain, the down cycle in their life.

You know, I really believe the separator in life is not what you do on the days where you're feeling great. You're feeling healthy. You're feeling emotionally strong. Everything's going your way. Everybody performs well on those days. It's what do you do on the days that you don't feel that way? In sports especially, the greatest moments of my lifetime in sports, we'll talk about them in a minute, have been watching athletes perform under pain, under injury, under hurt. And in business in life, you know, we're not on television.

And so sometimes we don't realize that's the separator. The difference between winning and losing in life and sports is so small, it's almost too scary to talk about. One of the things that worries me is, I have to be candid with you. I think everybody can help someone. But one of the things that's happened in the business space, the entrepreneurial spaces, there's just so many people that are giving advice and information that have never built a business, that have never accomplished anything other than telling you how to accomplish

something. And so oftentimes I hear their messages and I'll commiserate with other people that I know that have actually done something in their life. and like, can you believe that they teach this stuff and that people are believing this? I worry sometimes that you don't get told the truth about what it really takes to win and that so many of you are listening to so many different voices, many of which aren't qualified to help you in the area that you're looking for help. And I say that with respect because I think everyone can help somebody. But by and large, if I want to get fit and in shape, I want my trainer to be fit and in shape.

If I want to become wealthy and build a big business, I want to listen to someone who's wealthy that's built a big business. If I want to become happier and more influential and more passionate in my life, I want to listen to someone who's done that. And so I know that one of the separators from the people that I know that have become mega successful in their lives is their ability to play when they don't have their A game, their ability to win and step up and sometimes play better. And so ask yourself this question, the last year, on days when you were down or not even feeling physically well, you had the flu or cough or, you know, you had an injury that you hurt your self. and your knee or your back was hurting or someone had hurt your feelings the day before. Or maybe a week or two before the day before you lost an account or didn't get a sale you thought you were going to get or something's going on with your kids. How did you perform those days?

Because that's the separator in life. And so we're so moved often by the people we see when they do this. I'll give you an example. I was recently moved by a young man. And I'm sure this will get back to him and he might be surprised that I saw this. but a young man named Cade Ballou. And he's a college baseball player at Auburn University. I played college baseball.

He's a lefty. I was a lefty. And so I took note of this young man. But the reason I saw him wasn't because he played college baseball or because he played at Auburn. He's a much better college player than I was, by the way. But the reason I saw him is that his mother had died. And the day that his mother had passed away, he still played in the game that night. And I guess evidently he went to the coach and says, you know, mom would want me to play tonight.

This young man under tremendous pain just lost his mother. Can you imagine? Just hours before. He said, I think mom wants me to play. And this young man steps up to the plate. I believe it was his third at bat. Guess what he did. You know it.

He had a home run. Mother of Auburn baseball outbuilder, Keebe Ballou. Stacey passed away this morning after a battle with cancer. Our hearts and Auburn baseball are with the Ballou family during this time. Some things just transcend the human experience. experience and how sports can bring everybody together. That's one of them.

One of the most inspiring things I've ever seen in 32 years of coaching was, Kay Blue getting hit a home run. First one of the season, hadn't hit a home run on all the good days. But he had a home run on that day to honor his mom when he was under tremendous pain where many people would have said, hey, hey, Cade, we wouldn't blame you at all, man. Sit out the game. Sit out the weekend. You know, that's okay.

And by the way, that would have been okay. you know, heal up a little bit. You know, there's so much this stuff in person about healing and all that stuff. And by the way, I think you can take action and still win while you're healing. And sometimes the winning can be the healing. Instead of just sitting around and machinating in your thoughts and trying to evaluate yourself all the time, get up and do something, right? And I say that out of love. I would say this if you were my children.

I talk to the audience as if they're an extension of my family. I also don't say these things sitting on some high horse because I've made the mistakes of not taking action on the days when I was down or hurting. I've sat out games when I was an athlete when maybe I could have played. And now in life, you know, as I got older, I realized that's the separator. And so Cade Ballou, man, congratulations, brother. Way to honor your mom. Just want you to know I saw it. And now you've moved millions of people through our audience here today.

On the day he was probably hurting the most in his life. He stepped up and hit his first home run of the season. I have to imagine that inspired his team. teammates have to imagine that his mom's very proud of him. The rest of his family is very proud of him. By the way, would we've been proud had Kate hit a home run? Sure. Would I be mentioning a guy at Auburn who hit his first home run of the year on my podcast to millions of people? If he wasn't hurt, no. And so what I'm saying is some of your greatest accomplishments, your greatest story. We've all heard the saying that your test can become your testimony.

Your mess can become your message. But it's true. In fact, oftentimes this adversity is a gift. It's an opening to get something for your pain. I've always said that I don't believe God's going to give you pain without a gift on the other side of it. That if you look for the gift of the pain you're going through, that all pain is temporary. And if you can survive the temporary, whatever the pain is you're going through, mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, if you'll survive the temporary, but while you're surviving and getting through it, look for the gift, look for the miracle. He's going to give you something.

He's going to give you a new friend, a new relationship, a new insight. a new thought, a new talent, a new ability, a new innovation, a new whole new life oftentimes, a new reference, a new whatever. It comes your way through pain. And so this is the people that we admire in life. You think about in your sports life, think about Michael Jordan, of all the championships that Michael Jordan won, it was winning the 1997 NBA finals, the flu game where most people wouldn't have played.

He had 104 degree fever. No one thought he was even to show up and play that night. and somehow he comes through and wins the NBA title playing with the flu, right? I mean, we remember this. It's iconic. Now, he won a lot of championships, but that's the clip that you see the most. Why? Because he played hurt.

He played hurt. It's Tiger Woods of all the majors that he won. He won the 2008 U.S. Open. They tell us on basically a broken leg. Are you kidding me? These are the stories of legends. These are the stories that are what icons do. And you have a chance when you're going through this.

Down day. These are the days where maybe you're going through it today and you're like, man, I needed this today, brother, or send this to somebody who needs it. My gosh, this is actually an opening for me. This is where I separate. This is my separation season. Because almost, you know, I almost get off in my mind on these days because I'm like, I know nobody's working as hard as I am. Not after how bad yesterday was. Not after how bad I'm hurting. Not after that let down. Most people are licking their wounds and staying down. And there's all this stuff. It says, well, maybe you should stay down for a while. Evaluate what happened. Learn the lesson. Yeah, maybe, or maybe you should get your ass up. Go back to battling, go back to fighting, go back to winning, get in motion again. I think you could heal, learn, and take action at the same time. Tiger Woods winning that U.S. Open on a broken leg, they tell us. Kirk Gibson in the 88 World Series hitting a home run coming off the bench. He was so injured, he couldn't play. He didn't play the game, and he didn't play at all after this home run.

He had won at bat, limps up to the plate. He couldn't play a position so they put him into pinion. hit. He gets up there, two strikes, Dennis Eckersley, bam, hits a home run over the right field fence to win the World Series game. One of the most, if not the most iconic home run in the history of baseball, one of them. Why? Because he had a home run in the World Series? No, because he had a home run hurt in the world. By the way, I was at that game. Funny anecdote, my dad wanted to leave that game, the inning before. We got up to leave and we ran into my T-ball Little League coach. We were in the bleachers at Dodgers.

Stadium and my t-ball coach says, you don't leave World Series games early, Mr. Maitlett. My dad went, all right, and we walked back to our seats. True story. Sat down in the next inning. Maybe the most famous home run in the history of baseball was hit by Kurt Gibson. But we remember it because he played hurt. If you're really old like me, it was a year before I was born, but I heard about it all my uprook.

Willis Reed for the Knicks coming out and inspiring his team to win. You know, when I speak, I walk out on stage to Thunderstruck by ACDC. and everyone thinks that's because he's such an ACDC fan. Well, I am a fan of that band, but that's not why I walk out. I walk out to ACDC when I speak because my favorite fighter of all time is Arturo, Thunder, Goddy. He came into the ring to Thunderstruck. My favorite fighter of all time, Gotti, why?

Because he was the best fighter of all time. Arturo was not the greatest fighter of all time. If you don't know him, go watch his clips. I don't care if you're a boxing fan, female male, go watch Arturo guys, because the shots he would take and keep coming. His fights with Mickey Ward. I mean, I'm just going to tell you, like, inspired me to want to be somebody. If you think about the movies, it's Rocky Balbo.

It's how he came back from being hurt. Cut me Mick, right? Those are the things that move us. The greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, and how he beat George Foreman and would come back from being hurt. The wonderful Carrie Scruggs, most of you don't know, that's one of the greatest clips of all time. Carrie Scrubs, 1996 gymnast, ends up basically winning the gold on a torn ankle.

And I remember watching that and crying. literally crying when she won. I wonder, by the way, why do we cry when we see somebody accomplish something great and overcome something amazing? Whether someone heals from cancer and they come back and they live, or an athlete that overcomes an injury like precious Carrie Scruggs did in the Olympics and just the world cried watching her go through this pain and went. I submit that we cry when we see these great acts of courage.

because we know that exists within us and we're not using it. We're not even crying out of happiness. There's a part of it's like, why can't I do that? I have the same capacity. I'm also a human being. I want to be proud of me. I want to overcome my pain. You know, the story that you're going through right now or have gone through,

it's only inspiring if you win. It's only inspiring if there's a fairy tale. It's only inspiring if there's a lesson, if there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. And so you've got to play hurt. And sometimes, I'll be honest with you, I think we exaggerate the pain we go through. We make it a bigger deal than it really is. You know, I've had people cancel because, well, I've got a cough or I've got the flu. Heck, this is a Zoom call.

I'm doing this today. My producer will tell you, I'm sitting here today. I've got at least two teeth that I need a root canal on today. I've got something wrong with my jaw where I can't really open my mouth to eat. enough that I can talk, right? And I've got the flu. But no one asked me to run a marathon today. They asked me to do six zooms. I'm sitting in a chair. What's the difference between sitting on the couch and doing nothing and sitting here and helping change the world? And I'm not bragging about me. Heck, I'll just tell you this. I played this whole year hurt. I haven't been on social media in a

year. I've had issues with my heart. I've had a back issue that's just very significant. I've had surgery on my back. I've got to, I played hurt all year. It's one of the best I've ever had now. Has it been the biggest growth year? No, but I've played her. Deon Sanders. Coach Prime was on my podcast a few weeks ago. His agent and my agent, Constance Schwartz, was also on some of the most popular shows we've ever had. And Coach Prime's this legendary coach now at Colorado. But what a lot of people don't know is Coach Prime played the entire major league baseball season and NFL football season at the same time, multiple years in a row. You imagine playing, imagine how hard it is to get to the NFL. Imagine how hard it is. Imagine how hard it is.

get to MLB, he got to both and played both. And some days would play a major league baseball game and an NFL football game in the same day. Imagine that. And guess what? One year he did it with a bronchial infection, walking pneumonia basically, for the entire year. Imagine that. You got a bronchial infection, almost borderline walking pneumonia for a year. And he plays a full NFL football season and Major League Baseball season and went to the postseason in baseball. baseball, but some people can't get on a Zoom because they've got a cough or their tummy hurts. Right? But you want to be a millionaire. You want to be one of the great ones ever. But any chance you're hurt, a little bit down, I'm just being honest with you. Maybe this isn't the message everybody wants to

hear, but it's the message everybody needs to hear. The separator is what you do on the days you're hurting. This man played an entire football season, entire baseball season, both with a condition that most people would cancel their zooms for. Can you imagine? And so it's amount how many punches you can absorb. Remember this. Your breaking point is God's building point. Just when you're ready to break,

just when you think you've got too much. If you'll push to that next level, that's when God starts to build. That's when he starts to break through. That's when the growing happens. But we don't take advantage of these opportunities. I'm almost to the point in my life where I believe adversity is a gift.

I can't tell you that every time bad thing. happened like today I didn't want to wake up with my jaw and I didn't want all that stuff. It's just like a year of stuff in my physical being. I've had issues personally and socially. It's like a tough year, you know. I'm not saying I would wish that. Same time, it's, I've learned a lot about myself. I've learned how much, to be honest with you, I love what I do and how much I care about you all because in a long time ago financially I didn't need to do this. And I kind of always thought in my life when I got very, very wealthy, I probably wouldn't work like I work still. But then when I got here, I fell in love over my lifetime with people and making a difference and serving them.

Almost like feel like it's my home and it's my calling. It doesn't feel like that much work to me. And so who am I to be, you know, telling you to do all these things? And so when I'm not feeling great, I don't. And so I'm really convinced that your breaking point is God's building point. I'll tell you another story of a guy you probably haven't heard of unless you live in Australia. I'm reading about this guy for a few years now, 1983. It started one of the world's toughest ultramarathons, 540-mile trek from Sydney to Melbourne.

I want you to imagine this. Some of the top runners in the world are running in this race. And a farmer shows up. True story. Dressed in overalls and like galoshes over his boots is what they say. I'm just telling you what they tell you. And so people are like, who's this farmer? This guy's got overalls on.

There's this combination of runners, but some of them are the best in the world. 540 miles. And so reporters ask who he was. he replies his name's Cliff Young. Oh, by the way, Cliff is 61 years old. Sheep farmer. Picture this. A marathon's 20-something miles.

Guess what? Five days, 15 hours, and four minutes later, he won. He finished first in this race. Crueling race. He beat the next closest competitor by about 10 hours. He becomes this Australian national hero, total icon of ultramarathon running,

you know, example of determination, perseverance. But what he was really an example of is pushing through pain. Pushing through pain. You know he won the race? He slept less. Now, there's some legends that say he didn't sleep at all.

Evidently, that's not true. But he just slept less. He didn't know how much sleep was really required of him. And all the training of chasing sheep on his farm is what equipped him for the race. So all these other guys were just running their normal race, this dude's chasing sheep for years and years and years around his farm.

Some days having to run days at a time. He was totally built for this. And so when the actual race comes along, he dominated. Because he'd pushed through pain for years and years and years and years. The actual race was nothing. And so I believe when you push through pain over and over and over again, it starts to not affect you like it once did. But if you avoid pain, if you shrink to it all the time,

If you give in constantly, it weakens you. Remember this. When you've gone through a difficult, painful, mental experience, a bad day yesterday, physical, spiritual, maybe it's in your relationship, maybe you just losing confidence. This is an opportunity to either strengthen you or weaken you. And how you respond means everything. I'm pretty sure Cliff, at 61 years old in overalls, didn't have all of the pedigree to be the guy to win that race, never mind by 10 hours. But what he had done is trained himself to sleep less than most people. What he had done is trained himself to push through pain over and over and over.

This wasn't something he trained for. It was his daily life. And it becomes this national icon. Isn't that incredible story? It's just incredible. So can you push through pain until you find your truth? I think of so many of my female friends and they'll tell me the greatest experience of their life is having children. Yet they'll tell me the most physically painful experience of their life for many of them was children.

childbirth itself. And so for that unbelievably painful experience, you get the greatest gift of your life. You not amazing? If you really look back at your life, man, you've come a long way. And if you look back, most lessons learned, most gains were made during your flu game, during your broken leg round, most of your great experience of your life were the painful ones. In some odd way, it's God's gift to us because when you go through the real pain of life, I believe it draws you closer to God. At least in my case, I had to conclude, I can't do this on my own. I need you.

Lord, please help me. And so ironically, sometimes pain is one of the great gifts we can have to strengthen our faith. But it also strengthens our resolve. There's also something that happens in us where we develop grit and toughness and resiliency and a relentless pursuit that are conditioned. Conditions aren't the thing that determines our behavior. Conditions and behavior can be separate. The Bible says in 1 Peter 510, and the God of all grace who called you to is eternal glory in Christ,

after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Life can be heavy. There are moments when the weight of the trials we go through, it feels unbearable. Pain can linger. Sometimes prayers seem unbearable. answered, and oftentimes we wonder whether we're ever going to feel whole again. But take heart

because your suffering is not the end of the story. Remember this, God sees every tear, every struggle, every weary side, and he's promised that after you've endured for a while, he'll step in and restore you. You've got to endure for a while, usually. And he steps in, strengthens you, he'll make you unshakable over time. Your pain is temporary. All pain is temporary. The only thing as permanent as our souls. But God's grace is eternal. Whatever your faith beliefs are, just know that. And what feels like brokenness now, it's simply the ground where he's planting something new for you. Just remember that. His hands are holding on to you all the time. They're rebuilding you. The storm you're facing right now, it's not going to destroy you because you're going to get up. You're going to

persevere and you're going to fight. One way or the other, you're going to get through it. One way or the other you'll get through this day. Remember this. One day at a time. One meeting at a time. My book, the power of one more, I tell you this because I believe it to be true. You don't need to decide to never quit. You just need to decide right now I'm getting up. Right now I'll make one more call. Right now, do one more workout. Right now, I'll read one more book. Right now, I'll go one more day. Right now, one more. Just do one more. It's such a powerful concept. If you've not read the power of one more, go get it. By the way, I should say this to you. You should be on my email list. Everything I send you is going to be free. If you go to Edmylet.com, you just put your email there. I think it's

says join here or follow here at the top, whatever. Go to Edmylet.com and be in there. And by the way, let God's grace carry you and trust that he'll bring you through. But you've got to step up and be resilient. Remember this, by the way. The best ability is availability. You've got to be available. The great ones like Dionne Sanders during that season, the best ability was he was available.

So many people just aren't available. They miss too many hours. They miss too many meetings. They miss too much stuff. They allow too many things in their conditions to affect their behavior. the great ones do not do this. And that's why habits matter, rituals matter, routines matter. Because when we're down, when we're under pressure, when we're hurting, we resort to habit mode because our brain kind of checks out.

If your habits to get up and fight, if your habits to get up and do it anyway, if your habit is to show up and give it your best regardless of how you feel, then that will be your default setting. But if your habit has always been, and it's been mine in the past, Yeah, I got to rest a little bit. I got to evaluate this. You know, I'm really hurting right now. They got to take a breather. Because that's what everybody does. But everybody's not successful.

There's this whole thing in the world. Now, everybody wants to be successful. Everybody wants to build a big company. Everybody wants a great body. Everybody wants a great relationship. Everybody wants a bunch of money. But nobody's willing to do the work on the hard days. They want to do the work on the good days.

Man, I just listened to a great Instagram video. Man, I'm fired up. someone said yesterday here we go but what happens when three nose in a row somebody quits on you somebody hurts you and you're feeling physically yo can you get up those days can you push through can you do what winners do and when you do what winners do you get what winners get you get what jordan gets you get what kerry scrugs gets you get what tiger woods gets there's a great story kobe bryan tears is achilles tendon but they need them to make the free throw just stay in the game to win They're like Kobe, you tore your Achilles.

It's okay, bro. He will show you the clip. He walks out on the court and makes two free throws with a torn Achilles tendon. That's why he's Kobe. That's why he was Jordan. That's why he's Tiger. That's why she was Serena. That's why Carrie Scruggs is Carrie Scruggs.

And I promise if you went through the lives of these people you admire, they played hurt. They found a way. They built that muscle. It's the separator. I tell my kids this all the time. Max, when he golfs, and he's determined, Dad, I don't have my swing. Hey, Max, it's the days you don't have your swing. Hang in. Shoot a decent score today. Go work on your swing on the range after. Come back tomorrow with your A game, but you've got to score with your B game or your D game. This is the separator. And let God's grace carry you through. We all go through pain in our lives. We all do. It's part of life. It's like if you're not in pain right now, you're probably going to be soon. So why not have a blueprint? a mindset, a habit, a way of being that says, oh, I see what's going on here, devil. Okay, I'm stepping up. I'm getting more faithful. I'm taking more action. I'm coming back

stronger. I'm built for this. And by the way, I know some of you listening go, I've just never been that way. That's okay. Neither were these people until they started to be that way. No one's born like that. What happens is they all hit a wall at one point and said, I'm tired of running. I'm tired of quitting. I'm tired of giving in when I'm hurt. I'm tired of backing up. I'm going to stop. At some point, Kobe Bryant said, I'm going to stop backing up.

I'm going to stop making excuses. I'm going to stop quitting. I'm going to stop flinching. And I'm going to step into this. At some point I did, and I'm not acquitting myself with those people. But I know what it's like to give into an injury. I know what it's like to lay down too long when I'm down.

I know many years ago, even at the prime of my health and fitness, I didn't work like I do now. and I'm probably in the worst physical condition I've been in in decades. Actually, certainly ever. Yet I think I've been delivering the best content of my life. Most athletes will tell you, by the way, any of you that played sports? My dad used to tell me this when I play sick. Most athletes, most business people, play better hurt.

Especially you've got a little bit of a fever running. Everything kind of slows down a little bit. It causes you to focus a little bit deeper and a little bit more. You kind of have to move out all the noise and stay in the moment because that's all you have energy for. A lot of times you're better. And here's the truth. None of that's real pain. I was thinking about real pain this morning.

I woke up, had a lot on my mind, and I was still fuzzy from waking up. And I thought, oh, I'll call dad. And it wasn't for about 10 minutes until I got up and started to move around. I remember I can't call my dad. My dad's been passed away now for three years. I don't have any of you who's ever lost somebody, but every once in a while you forget, you have a great moment you think you'll call them, or you have a dream that's so real when they're in it. And I woke up this morning, and for about 10 minutes, I was planning on calling my dad this morning.

And then I realized I can't. You don't know real pain until you crave a conversation with someone that's no longer with us. That's some pain. And then I had to decide today. Don't feel real good. Wish I could call my dad and I can't. That hurts. I think I'll honor him with what I do today.

I could have chose a different decision. Yeah. I've worked real hard. I've got a little bit of money. It'd be okay if I kicked the curb, can down the curb a little bit. Did this tomorrow. I don't want to do that.

Fact, what my producer will tell you is I texted him about two hours ago. I said, let's do one more today, too. So we're actually doing more today. He probably wondered why he's learning right now. I decided to do more today because it's one of those days. I'm not going to meet my normal standard. I'm going to do one more.

So real pain is that stuff. And if you have that in your life where you can't call someone because they're not here anymore, honor them and make them proud of you with what you do on the days you're hurting.