THE ED MYLETT SHOW - How to Reach Your Ultimate Goal - with Shaun White
Episode Date: May 2, 2019The MINDSET of one of the most DOMINANT ATHLETES IN ALL TIME Can you look defeat in the eyes and STILL keep a WINNERS mindset? The LEGENDARY Icon, Athlete and Entrepreneur, Shaun White, is about to ta...ke you on an amazing journey from defeat to VICTORY! He is a 3X Olympic Gold Medalist, 15X X-Games Gold Medalist, he’s won 11 ESPY Awards and ranked the #2 Most Influential Athlete of the Word! He’s listed Top 30 Under 30, named Best Male Action Sports Athlete AND Best Male US Olympic Athlete! Can you imagine that a person with this many wins first had to learn to embrace failure? Only with a SUCCESS MINDSET can you achieve this level of greatness and in this episode, Shaun is revealing exactly how he was able to reach his ULTIMATE GOAL. Find out how this POWERHOUSE was able to ACHIEVE CONSISTENTLY on the HIGHEST LEVEL! From birth battling a heart condition to being the youngest snowboarder EVER to win the US Open, to DOMINATING at the Olympics, leading in snowboarding AND skateboarding, and building an entrepreneurial enterprise… It’s not a fluke! IT’S a MINDSET! We’re breaking down how Shaun was able to SEPARATE himself and STAND OUT to become a WORLDWIDE SPORTS and CULTURAL ICON! It’s YOUR TIME to journey down the path of success! Visualize your definition of success! What does it look like? CLOSE YOUR EYES AND ENVISION IT RIGHT NOW! Now WATCH/LISTEN to this episode to learn what it takes to REACH your ULTIMATE GOAL!
Transcript
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Welcome to the Edmila. This podcast is for those who want to do more. See more and be more.
Welcome back to Max out everybody. I'm Ed Mylett. This gentleman to my left needs no introduction,
but I'm going to give him one anyways.
And it would take 20 minutes, maybe like 20 days if I list it all of it.
So here's what I'll just tell you about him.
Three-time Olympic Winter Gold Medalist.
15-time X-Game Gold Medalist and 11 ESPY awards.
Only guy ever to win a gold medal in the Winter and Summer X Games.
And then also, he made it all the way up. This was interesting to me.
He made it all the way up to number two on business weeks of the 100 most influential athletes in the winter and summer X games. And then also, he made it all the way up. This was interesting to me. He made it all the way up to number two
on business weeks of the 100 most influential athletes
in the world.
Pretty big deal.
And then was also on Forbes Magazine list of 30 under 32.
So this guy's accomplished so many things.
And this is from a young man who started out,
was a very young man with two open heart surgeries.
Most people don't know what I'm about.
So this guy right here, Sean White, everybody,
thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me, man.
This is awesome.
We've been talking about doing it for a while,
and so he's been skating earlier today,
and he said, I'll crash down at your house,
and we'll do this.
That's perfect.
I skate up the way, maybe an hour away,
so I just popped through.
I'm glad you popped my brother.
I'm super excited about it.
You know, I'm impressed I am with you,
and how much I like you.
I'm grateful for our friendship.
Yeah, thank you.
Let's talk about a few things with you.
I want to go back, because everybody, you're really an icon.
I mean, you're a sports and cultural icon.
And so, you know, everyone listening to this or watching this pretty much knows who you are.
But I don't think a lot of them know the whole story.
I thought, frankly, like because of snowboarding, I thought it's probably comes from a really affluent family.
Because it looks to me like an expensive sport.
It's a, yeah, it's a pricey sport.
I mean, snowboarding's tough.
You got the equipment, you got to get to the mountain somehow,
lodging food, everything in that bubble of the resort's really expensive.
So how does your mom, as a waitress, your dad was like really work with his hands.
It literally was literally digging ditches and holes for a water company, right?
So how does a family like yours end up getting you into this sport?
How did that even happen?
You know, we just kind of made it work.
I just remember at the time, any big expenses,
like we didn't go huge on Christmas and on these things,
like we didn't need the gifts.
We just spent the money on trips.
So we would take like a big family trip together up to the mountains
or go to Hawaii or somewhere like that to surf.
And my mom, you know, comes from that background of like how to stretch a dollar.
So you know what I mean?
Like we're flying to Hawaii, but we're taking like six stops to get there.
You know what I mean?
Like we're rushing to the front on Southwest because it's not a sign seat.
So like we made it work or we would wait till there's a big sale on take a step like that.
So like my mom had that like kind of can-do attitude and my dad was always going with the flow
and he was able to go do those sports with us.
So it was amazing for me growing up because instead of having my dad yell at me from the
side of a field somewhere, he was riding with me.
Doing it with you and your brother, right?
Talk about having something in common.
And then slowly, my brother started snowboarding.
I had to do it because he was doing, he's like seven years older, and then my sister started,
then my dad, then my, so it became like our family thing together.
So cool, but one of the things about you that I learned is like, this is really like,
it's your story, but it's like a really cool family story.
From what your family sacrificed to get you there.
But dude, you started, is this right?
Were you skiing at four?
Four, yeah, yeah.
I don't know how it all worked out.
We did these weekend random trips up to Big Bear and Snow Summit.
This is the mountains outside of L.A.
And we would drive up there and rent skis and go for it.
My dad skied in the past at some point,
so he already like was into it
and that's how it started.
And then at some point when I was probably like five
and a half, six years old, my brother was like,
I'm gonna do this thing snowboarding.
And I'm thinking, all right, well, whatever he has,
I want, I wanna do what he's doing.
So immediately I begged my parents
and they pretended like they were doing me a favor. They're like, oh, we'll let you snowboard. Yeah, for sure. But they're thinking,
okay, like I was that kind of horrible, like red headed child in your neighborhood,
like cutting down your roads, push your sins. I didn't mean to cut them down. I just like
had a lot of energy. And I was like, oh, wow, like what would this be like?
That's not going away by the way.
So once they put me on skis,
like I would like dart into the trees
and they couldn't find me.
I wasn't allowed poles
because I would like hit my siblings.
You were allowed poles.
Yeah, so like, you know, it turned into a weapon.
And so, you know, they're like,
we'll put them on a snowboard
and he'll be falling, like we'll keep track of him.
And it was true.
I was terrible when I first started out.
Yeah, I wanted to know that. I wasn't that great because
obviously the boards were so big but what happened is that you know everything kind of has a as a
you know ending destination and what happened is since there was no boards my size my mom called
Burton's no boards and was like hey my son loves no word and he wants to do it but we can't find
any equipment his size and he's like, oh my goodness, just so happens,
we're coming out with a kids line.
You should talk to the California rep,
he'll give you some product, and there you go.
And that's how it all started.
So I was sponsored when I was like six or seven, at that point.
You were sponsored at six or two years.
Yeah, yeah.
Do you know how?
No, he's crazy.
Yeah, let's talk.
So, no one's gonna ask you this before,
and it's just because I know people who know you and I,
I know you talk about your dad,
like was your mom more the driver of the two,
or was it just sort of a family thing you all enjoy doing,
or was it, was the mom,
you said dad didn't push you, did mom push you?
It's just like everyone was in the same direction.
Like dad was go with the flow,
but my mom for sure was the like, go get him type.
She was the one that was like calling Burton
to get the product, and she was the one, you knowem type. She was the one that was calling Burton to get the product.
And she was the one, you know, when we were on the mountain to make sure, like, why don't
we interrupt them in some contest?
And like, oh, hey, there's someone filming.
Like, why don't you show them what you go to your ears in front of him?
You know?
Like, those kind of just little things and it ended up actually growing my career dramatically.
But she was always the one like pushing those angles
and things, but they were always very,
you know, apparent with me.
They're like, if you don't like this at any point, tell us.
So how long were you in your first snowboarding contest?
I was probably six or seven, yeah.
And that was a big deal,
because when Burton gave me my first snowboard,
they're like, hey, look,
I was called Flow Rider.
Like you get flowed product, free product.
And then if on occasion,
they could help you with some travel money
to get to a competition.
But they're like, hey, look,
if we give you these boards,
it'd be nice if you guys entered some contests
and started to be in the circuit.
And it was a race.
And I was pretty fast and at the
time they didn't really make even Burton didn't make boots that you know were
for kids so I use ski boots and something about the hard boots like it
allowed me to edge really well so I was fast and I could edge really well and I
won the race and that was a big thing because I'm thinking at that point in life I
was still the terrible kid
in the neighborhood getting trouble for stuff.
And then all of a sudden, someone put a medal on me
and I was like, oh, seriously?
I can win something.
Wow, I felt empowered and I felt like I found that outlet
for all my energy and now my parents are supporting
and my brother.
So my brother and sister also competed at the time,
even my dad for fun at one point,
but it really kind of like gave me
that when in my sales to like have a focus.
It seems to me like there was something too,
you have in this older brother that you almost competed with,
talk about that for a second.
Yeah, the sibling rivalry was heavy.
I mean, I don't think he really cared,
but it meant the world to me to beat him at anything.
Yeah.
He was better at video games,
he was better at board games.
He could skate better than me,
he could snowboard better than me,
ping pong anything you name it,
he would always win.
And so I had always, you know,
this urge to better myself and get better
so that I could compete with him.
And that's something to be said because he's seven years older than them.
Yes.
So now I'm competing with him trying to beat him, but I'm seven years younger,
so I would go out and learn these tricks that he was doing.
And then drop back down to my age bracket and just cry.
Dominate people.
I think it'd be easy for people to listen to this or watch it to say,
that's a really cool story. Except what he's actually giving you is actually a recipe of how to be successful and I want you to all hear this
The first part of it is he found something he loved the second part of it is it became a family commitment
Mm-hmm, and so the family was behind it the third part of it is you picked somebody who was far better than you to compete and run with and train with and
In business you've got to find people that are ahead of you,
that are more successful than you, that you kind of run with,
that are in your circle, and you begin to match and mirror them
in the way they talk, they walk, they make sales,
they have ideas, they strategize.
It's the same formula in other places.
So I just want them to hear a little bit more about the family
and then we're going to get into like all the stuff everyone wants to hear.
No, please, yeah.
What Tomo big mo.
Oh the mo.
I want them to feel this, I want them to know about this family.
We did your research.
Of course.
So yeah, so things are starting to take off.
I'm now almost equal with my brother's skill wise.
And I've got more sponsors, more attention.
And I've been on this like winning tear.
And we're like family of five.
Like you said, it's expensive to make these rounds
and get to the mountains.
We're like the only way we think we can do it
is to, and my mom had already taken like a loan out on the house
and we were thinking, what's get a van?
It's like old school van life.
It was just getting those hit the road.
Like we'll get the van and show my mom. Found a van somehow It's like it's like old school van life We're just getting to hit the road like we'll get the van to my mom found a van somehow
And it had been used as like a stakeout van near the border to like watch you know the border and
And down by Tijuana and so we bought this van
It was just like awful like rust color nice which was probably a lot just of just rust
like awful like rust color, which was probably a lot just of just rust.
It was in the rust color.
Whoever was in it had like all these cats and stuff.
And so we had to like,
leave on this thing and like whatever we paid was too much.
And so, and but my mom like, all right,
well we're gonna stretch a dollar.
She took it down to Taiwan.
I got it re-apolstered, all the things we had it painted.
And my dad's, you know, pretty handy.
So he installed like a makeshift kitchenette
and like a little sink and we just made it work.
And so you could sleep five and you could squeeze six.
Which would happen because there would be
snowboarders along the way that like,
didn't have anywhere to stay.
And my mom was such a like, you can stay with us
and they're like, okay, which is fun until like day three or like, dude, scoot over.
I think that's right.
I need some space.
But yes, we loaded up the van and we started doing the rounds and that was probably the
one of, I mean, greatest times in my life.
Just the whole, because it's just the whole family together.
Norwatch movies.
We had like the little TV where you could,
with the built-in VCR, and we would just watch movies
and, you know, drive around from competition to competition.
And no matter what happened at the event,
like we would all have each other after.
So it's kind of like this thing.
It was like this built-in support group.
And it was just so much fun.
And I just remember being, yeah, I think just
road trip and all year with your family. So much fun. It really kept us as a close tight family
because we had these common threads. But that was the van. And it was a sad day when we
outgrew the van. I remember I bought my first home in Carlsback, California,
and I was 16, which was epic.
And the only reason I bought there
is because the school I was attending said that,
you know, it's a cany-dextra help with my schooling.
I'm traveling, I need to make up these tests
when I can, they're like, ugh.
This list of sports that's a tennis,
ice skating, horseback riding,
like we don't see snowboarding on the list,
so we don't find your sport legitimate,
we can't help you.
And I'm like, really?
That was Torrey Pines, high school.
And so I ended up buying a home in Carlsbad
and then qualifying for the new school district up there.
Here's that real legitimate.
Oh, it's my house.
Yeah, well that's what was so crazy.
I was like, you got a shirt, you know?
And so I ended up, you know, buying the house there. And it up, you know, buying the house there.
And then like, you know,
I can't believe I was telling this,
but we knew it was day, the day to get rid of the motorhome
because like we parked it at this,
it was a beautiful like beach community.
And like somebody had like, you know,
saved up their hard earned money and they're like,
we made it baby, we're in the beach community.
And like, and they got this van, part of the...
And so somebody had like, slashed the tires.
It was aggressive.
We're like, are you kidding me?
Like this happy, beautiful, like, you know, Truman Show style.
Happy community to just cut the tires.
It's like, maybe it's time.
Time to dump, make money.
So yeah, we got rid of the van and it went to a good home.
Vodivars took it on, but that was the van, yeah, we got rid of the van and it went to a good home. Vodivars took it on but that was the van
Yeah, it was awesome. Yeah, I just want people to picture this
You know this guys like you all see this icon you see the you know only dude ever just to say that out loud
That's one a gold in the winter and summer X games that blows my three Olympic golds like and I think they picture this
And then to find out dudes rolling around a big mo with his family, right?
Like I your mom had to mortgage the house your mom was a waitress your dad was a working man like blue collar
Like this is such an amazing story that I don't think most people know these elements of it
And also many of you are in the stage of your life
We're like you're living in a big mo like you're an entrepreneur trying to make your dream come true
And you're like I know what it's like to have the fleas infesting
You know, and I'm not living where I want to.
I'm not eating the food I want to.
I'm struggling, I'm behind.
And this is proof that these family sacrifices
can in fact be worth it.
And you mentioned the heart condition in the beginning.
I mean, that was the heaviest point of all of it.
It's like I was born with what's called
tetrology of flow.
It's a congenital heart defect.
And I was, I felt like an oversized heart.
So the heart, I was supposed to be somewhat sluggish
and very inactive.
And, and after the repairs, they're like,
hey look, we did our best, but we don't really know.
And so that was the biggest is that my family kind of
let me find my own boundaries.
And so they weren't like, hey, you can't go running too much.
And you can't, and obviously I picked these sports
with like skating, it's not working.
Flipping and spinning, but through all of this,
that was an interesting time too,
because through success became like,
not what we call it haters,
but like concern from outside opinion of,
like you're letting your cardiac kid go do these events
and like I'd have these huge injuries
and come into school with big black eyes and things
and like we started getting like backlash from the community because in California or like
Southern California like you know it like it said on the list it wasn't a sport that people normally do.
And there was no Olympics at the time.
Excaintra just started it was like kind of a Hail Mary at that point of is this really going
to work out will there be a future in this sport?
And so on top of like, you know, making ends meet, there wasn't that clear, you know,
if your kid gets into football, cool, he's going to get drafted.
And then he's going to get his big deal.
Yeah, yeah, there's like, you know, even even basketball stars now, like they're like,
hey, let's just save it for the big league.
Yeah.
Like let's wait till I go pro and cash in because it's not worth it now to get it for the big league. Let's wait till I go pro and cash in, because it's not worth it now to get hurt
in the high school or college years.
But yeah, so for us, it was,
that was like another element of it.
And that's why we were so like the underdogs
in the situation,
because we were happy with whatever we got at that point
because we came from these kind of humble beginnings.
So, every step of the way, any big thing, like, dude, when I've got my first hotel suite,
like somebody put me up, I was like, oh my god.
Yeah.
Like backflipment on the bed.
You've said some other stuff too.
I think, like, man, like, you know, a lot of people that listen to this have different
businesses, and many of them don't have their employees, or they do different things
for their career.
But, like, a lot of them that are listening do,
and there's no clear path, which is really cool
about your story was what you just said.
I had never thought about it.
There was no real clear path.
There's no clear path.
That's amazing.
But we felt to deep down,
we're like, look what, skiing is done.
What if the Olympics took it in?
What if this thing?
You used to think that before.
Oh, for sure.
And then we knew that in there was whispers of it at the time,
you know, I was in the loop, my parents were,
but I just remember knowing what my parents made
in their income every year and then thinking,
wow, like if I just did decent in this sport,
like for enough time, it just felt so appealing to me.
Did you ever feel any pressure, Sean,
like to take care of your family
since they had sacrificed so much? Or did that never ever feel any pressure, Sean, like to take care of your family since they had sacrificed so much,
or did that never enter the place?
No pressure, but I just wanted to.
You know, I was family, it was just that was it.
You know, it was like in the van, we're doing it.
We're making it happen.
And so like no matter what, I mean,
I would get a hotel room,
comp by somebody, and it was like
the all you can eat breakfast,
and I would be like filling the bag,
and like taking it back to the van.
It was like, we were in it together, you know?
Oh my God.
And so, it's amazing.
So yeah, it was like, every step of the way it was family.
So like, the day I was able to pay my mom back
that loan on the house, that was awesome.
It was about $50,000.
She took out on the house and I was able to give that back
to her and I felt so proud.
Was that so exciting?
I know the story.
Is that from that one contest
where the guy's one of the purse and you're like,
Oh, that was a heavy one.
I don't know if it was that one in particular.
I think it was years later when I really like,
I started making great money.
I'd signed a really big contract when I was 14.
So, just so everyone gets this,
turn pro at 13.
Turn pro at 13, yeah. And in in snowboarding 17 and skateboarding right?
Yeah, 17 16. Yeah, yeah, but so you find the first big you sign your first big deal in your 14
Yeah, it was an interesting time because you know my parents were my agents
So it was kind of like they go in and they're like well you know everybody thinks their kids great
and they're like, well, you know everybody thinks their kids great.
You know, I love my dog.
Look at his photo, but there's a lot of these things
running around.
You know what I mean?
And so my parents were like, okay, okay.
And it finally got to this point where I'd gone pro.
And it was undeniable that I was on this trajectory.
And at that point, I almost left Burton,
because the company had changed so many times
over the years, like everybody rode for Burton
at that point, it was kind of blown out.
Like everybody was sponsored and getting product,
it was like the hey, hey, everybody was on there.
And then they really tightened up the group
and made like a global team and a B team
and a whole thing and put me on the global team
and decided to like pay me.
For real.
Yeah, and so at that point my mom's like,
you're gonna be a millionaire.
I was just like, you know, and I'm like eating my peanut butter
and jelly sandwich.
Oh, that's great.
That's amazing.
That's my favorite.
That's literally like, I loved, you know,
still like family, man. So even in Japan that event my favorite. That's literally like, I loved, you know, it's still like family, man.
So even in Japan, that event,
there's an amazing photo because,
so I flew all the way out there and,
these competitors, you know,
they were getting like a podium to be there
and their travel was covered by their sponsors
and all this stuff.
And so they're in Japan.
They're having a good, they're in Tokyo,
like already having fun and good.
They're living their lives and that's great. But like, already having fun, and good, they're living their lives, and that's great.
But like, we had this great to make it there,
and like, again, we're filling the food bag at breakfast
and bringing it up to the room for the family.
And the next day at the competition,
you could tell people,
we're probably a little hungover jet lagged
and not into it.
And I had trained really hard
to just learn this new secret trick
that no one knew I had.
It was called the cab, cab 900.
You know, I'm so excited to unleash this big trick
and I get there and they're like,
what's called a team, you know, writers meeting
and I think everybody agrees we should split the money
and just put on a demo for the people.
Like the jump's not that great,
we're not feeling it blah, blah, blah, blah.
Cause they knew the price purse for first was so big,
50,000 down to like 20,000 down to 10.
And then like no one got paid below it
because they got the Pradeem's from the show up.
And so I'm sitting there thinking like,
wow, okay, music to my ears.
You're all hungover and I can kind of tell.
So this is probably the best chance I have of winning.
And dude, like, you know,
I'll have this big trick.
And three, like I'm doing the math and I'm having this big trick and three,
like I'm doing the math and I'm not even gonna break even
if we do split the money.
So for my expenses to get out there and whatnot
and I had to like sit there for a couple of hours
and be the only one, I was 15,
telling these like mid 20 to 30 year olds
that like I was not gonna split the money
and they just started to haze me.
Oh for sure.
Well, you know, like lovingly jokingly, I was not gonna split the money and they just started to haze me. They did. Oh for sure.
Well, you know, like lovingly jokingly, but seriously.
So there's like this big sign with all of our faces on it.
You know, the writer's list.
And, you know, I put my headphones on not to think and I hear them laughing.
I look over and they're drawing like dollar signs on my eyes and doing it.
You know what I mean?
They're like, dude, if you don't split the money,
no one ever wins it that doesn't split the money.
You should, you know, everybody was kind of on me.
And I just stuck to my guns.
I was like, I'm gonna do this.
And I saw it through and actually won.
And that was one of those first major wins for me.
And that was after a upset of not qualifying for the Olympics.
Like, I was teed up.
Like, I needed this big win.
And I held strong and I won.
And they handed me like $50,000 in yen, piles of yen.
And I have the most so back to the peanut butter jelly.
The best photo of like, what do you do when you're a kid
and you get 50 grand?
You spread it out on the bed.
Yeah.
Did you?
So like, what do you get your Halloween candy?
You're like, stupid.
Oh my god. and spread it around.
So there's a photo of me like eating my sandwich
and like, we're getting at the camera.
But the bed's just covered in cash.
And that was just like one of those things
that we're like, we're doing it.
We're doing the right steps.
And I stayed true to who I was and thought and everything.
And I believed in myself and it all worked out.
You know what I mean?
It truly like I had a plan in a path
and I wasn't swayed by others.
Like, and man at that time,
I wanted their acceptance so badly
because I was the kid.
I was the 13 year old that went pro.
And so like no one really took me serious in the beginning
because I was so small
and I couldn't wear the pro clothing,
because I was so little, I was wearing Burton's sub-brand,
called Back Hill, which had, like, their logo was a bumblebee.
I was like, you guys, we gotta talk about the bumblebee logo.
Like, you're killing me.
Yellow pants, like, no one's taking me serious, man.
Dude, okay. So finally, Yeah, I did. Okay.
So finally, I had my grocery,
and I could wear the cool guy clothes,
and then I won, and that was a real big turning point.
That's a great story with all kinds of points there.
We're trying to get you to conform.
For sure.
So he knows this, but I'm a psycho.
So I love when I'm around someone world class,
I wanna know how they think.
So you know, I've already picked your brain
on this stuff a few times,
but I wanna go through just some stuff.
You take for granted that you do,
that I don't think is normal.
So, especially in the metal part of your game.
So talk for a second about,
if you don't mind, I don't mean this isn't anything,
by the way your brother got married on this beach.
Yeah, it's tripping me out.
And your brothers, obviously you guys are super close.
Of course.
But you did tell me there's sort of a difference to you
about being able to compete in practice,
and then being ready for the big time
for the actual competition,
and that there's a difference with certain people
when it's time to compete.
And you're really good when the cameras are on
or when it really matters and some people aren't, right?
You sort of said maybe in your brother's case
that he was unbelievable in practice, but incredible.
But for some reason when it was competition time,
maybe not his A game would come out.
True or false?
Yeah, very true.
It was just that weird separator.
Like he was so talented and he could do any trick for fun
and we're cruising around the mountain,
but like, when a head guy at one of our sponsors
would show up, because he had his own sponsors and whatnot.
And like, that guy would show up.
I was like, let's take a run.
And it was like his moment to kind of show off
for the sponsors or whatever.
And he just would crumble.
Like, I don't know where I'm like, what happened?
He's like, I don't know.
Like, fully crumbling and same with the competition.
He'd be killing it in practice.
And all of a sudden the contest started.
He just didn't have that ability to like push it over the edge.
And for some reason, for me, it was always like
that defining moment where I was like,
oh, you're gonna film it?
Oh, we're gonna, something's on the line.
It's like the pressure's on the line
and I would do better.
Yeah, no.
Well, can I tell you one of the reasons
is something you say every time,
I don't wanna say to you because I think it's all
and how something's framed in our minds.
So for you, when competition came,
you've said this like 11 times to me,
and you said it again, you said it's my chance to show off.
Yeah, yeah.
And so, but a lot of people look like,
they increase the pressure for you. It's a chance to perform
and show off. For people that are listening to this, it's like that speech you have to give
or that client you have to go see. All your preparation has led. This is a chance for you
to show off. The pressure is less than, right? There's more pressure, frankly, practicing
because it's boring and it doesn't matter. But your mindset of what competition means is
different, bro. One of the separators is, they're dude, you're competing against, they're scared as sh- when that, when they're in the
start gate and you're like, I get to show off. Yeah. And the other thing you say I want
to you to talk about is, you kind of win either way, even if you lose. Oh, that's a big one.
So this mindset thing of yours is amazing, because it's, it's a meme on social media.
I either win or I learn, you know, but like most people don't live it. Tell them what you mean by,
you're going to win probably either way.
So this is important to deal with winning and losing.
Yeah. Well, it's like, it's, it's like defining that clear goal of like,
where do you want to do, where do you want to be, and what is that?
And once you have that clear goal, it's like the winning and losing along the way
doesn't matter as long as you get to that goal.
And so I look at it like if I show up to a competition
and I win, great.
I'm on the right path, I'm doing what I need to do,
but it's not time to celebrate too much
because things can change and I'm on the right trajectory.
I need to keep going.
And then if I don't win or I get second or third
or I don't even do well, it's just this wonderful,
here's where you need to be.
And every single time I look at it, it's like great.
Now I know exactly Blueprint of like,
that person that beat me did their best run.
That's all they have.
There's nothing in their back pocket.
They put their whole cards on the table.
Now I got to just beat that.
And so it gives this clear,
it makes that goal at the end so much clearer.
Because you're like,
wow, okay, this is what this is what we're playing at and this is how we're gonna get there now.
And it's so much better. I mean, man, I was so thankful. So so many losses in my life.
There was, there was an X Games where I showed up and I'd been injured the year before and I'd won,
came back to next year expecting to win, was teed up to do it.
One qualifying got injured during the practice for finals
and sat it out, came back the next year thinking,
oh, I'm gonna win this thing, got smoked.
Best thing that ever happened to me.
Oh my goodness, I got smoked and I was like, okay, great.
What is the guy that won doing?
He was doing these things called the 1080s.
So he was doing what's called back-to-back 1080s,
won into the next.
And for people that don't understand the tricks,
that it's just degrees of rotation.
So 180 is a half of a circle, 360 is a full circle,
all the way up to 1080.
And so I'm like, perfect.
He's doing that, then all I need to do is work on this.
And I up my bar, my game, and my level of where I wanted to be, and then did any little
step to get there. So it set the goal for me. And then I just needed to make the
steps up there. The next season was 2006, the Olympic season. I'm so thankful it
was that time. I mean, you couldn't have played it better. You know, I had the
motivation, I saw the goal, and then I knew how to get there.
Where if I had just been winning,
it would have been harder for me to just kind of like maintain
that like winning streak.
There's something about winning
and then continually winning because it's a fine line of like
trying to better yourself because you're already at the top.
But when you get that upset, it's like a nice like, okay, here's where we need to be.
See, this is so cool because it's rare in life that you get to get inside the brain of
the best of all time at something or someone that's world-class.
So for Edaartick, think about this if you had to compete against him.
Number one, he's very clear about his goals.
Number one, number two, he thinks he gets to show off when he competes.
And third, he wins either way.
And so this is pretty important for all of you to listen to.
This is how you become the best at what you do.
These are the mindset you have to adopt in your life right now,
in your business, in your career.
These are the same exact patterns.
There's another thing that you just said in there
that you said to me on the jet when we flew back.
I just want to say it back to you.
Because I love this belief level.
And you said to me, because you just sent it right there too,
but a liberate, if another dude does a trick
that you see that you can't do right now,
how's your brain work when you see that?
What do you think when you see him do that,
or are both of those?
I mean, usually I immediately break it down,
I'm like, okay, what did he do?
And then like, how hard would it be for me to do it?
And what would it mean to get there?
So I'm not gonna go try his trick.
I'm gonna go try all the tricks around that trick.
So if he takes off a certain way,
I'll just sit there all day doing that one take off.
And then if he, you know,
tricks are built off of other tricks.
So if he's doing a front flip,
I'll just sit there all day doing front flips.
Now I got his take off, I got the front flip.
Okay, how did he land? Okay, that's similar landing to this trick. So I'll do that all day doing front flips. Now I got his take off, I got the front flip. Okay, how did he land?
Okay, that's similar landing to this trick.
So I'll do that all day.
The whole run is the air he did, the flip he did,
and then this, and then I put it all together.
And I just, and I break down each little piece
and then I put them together,
but it's awesome to get a blueprint
of what somebody's already doing.
So a lot of my stuff, I've tried to train and secret at times,
because I don't want to just post it online and have like,
here's what I'm doing.
Yeah.
You know, but then again, you have to do that certain competitions,
but I love when people are pushing the envelope.
That like motivates me.
You know, it really does.
Like, I see somebody doing something and I go,
oh, great.
Like, and not only that,
I don't want to just copy what they're doing, but I'm gonna make it my own.
I'm gonna do it and then do it in a way that I would do it.
I love that.
You know?
The other thing that you have, you said this to me,
you're like, well, if he can do it, I can do it.
I'm sure you do it better.
Y'all for sure.
And I think, you know what I mean?
But you take that for granted, brother.
I think a lot of people need to know this.
Like, if another person's doing something, you could do it.
So if you see me or someone in a business river,
if they're doing it, this is automatic.
The fault mindset isn't, I see the trick, I can't do that.
It's literally something I say to myself
every single time I'm about to drop in.
So same idea, the guy in front of me drops in and falls.
Perfect, blood in the water.
Like what are the judges see right before my killer run
as somebody falling, great.
In comparison, it's like watching a bad comedian
and a great one.
You're like, oh, that guy was really good.
Maybe he wasn't even that good.
He was just much better than the last guy that came on.
So great.
And then if the guy lands a run, if he did it,
I could do it.
You know what I mean?
I watch and I go, oh, well, man,
if he can land this under pressure,
then obviously I got this.
And it all kind of like, it's ways to like bring it down
to a normal level of like a, you know, a doable sense.
Yeah, you set all your mental games up, Sean.
I caught this one when we were talking the first time.
You set all your mental games up where it leads to you winning.
No, there's like, there's not a door out where you don't win,
even if you don't win.
I think it's amazing.
So if the guy nails the trick in front of you, like if he can do it, I can do it better.
And if he falls, you're like perfect.
So you literally, this is something you do unconsciously.
I think it's a little bit of the separator for you other than the freakish practice and
stuff, but that's another little thing I want to talk about.
Hope you don't mind as layering all these things in there.
That I love about you is you've kind of learned your own preparation routine, meaning
I think you've told me you used to over-practice almost a little bit.
So could you, this is important for it, no matter what your career is, you've found your
ritual, if you will, for preparation.
So just talk about, like, little bit of the tweaks you've made on that over your career.
No, it's great.
It's something that really came in later in my career
because I would show up to the mountain.
They're like, you've got an hour and a half of practice.
I'm the first guy there.
I start doing my runs in my laps, and you know,
I'm young, and I got all this energy I'm going,
and I would do my run perfectly.
I'd get warmed up and start hammering out my run
and do the exact run as many times as I could
before the contest started thinking, great. I did this run perfect 20 times. I'm ready for the competition.
Always fall. Always tanked it during the contest. And I'm sitting there like,
man, I just nailed it so many times like why? Like I was so ready. Well, it's because
you just did it 20 times perfectly. Of course, there's going to be we're human.
Like there's going to be an error in there so then I thought well if I know after I warm up I'm good for 20 solid runs let's practice less so then I
now show up and I go okay cool like I'm gonna show up with that 30 minute warm up and then after
that I know I'm gonna land my runs because I'm like the hottest I'm gonna be all day I'm I'm not tired
I've just hit my like warm up streak and I'm going to do it. And so I watch
people all the time go up there and they over practice. And it's something that I noticed
tiger woods does in a way. I was watching a video and they were describing his mentality of things
where he'll like step up to the ball and he'll like look at the ball, look at where he's going to hit it, look at the ball again, then hit it.
And if that routine doesn't work, he goes back and starts the whole system over again.
So it's kind of the same idea of like you can overthink it, you can overdo it.
And if you know a system of like how to, okay, get to the ball, I look once, ball, look
boom.
Like, that's the system you want to follow. So now that I know that works for me, I get to the ball, I look once, ball, look, boom. Like, that's the system you wanna follow.
So now that I know that works for me, I show up.
What happens for you, I'm curious.
So now you're in the starting block.
So, is that what I'm saying?
Yeah, it's start gate.
It's start gate, you're at the start gate.
What are you doing when you're there?
You know, you've told me this, right?
But I'm like, my mind's racing as you're saying it.
Because, like, well, literally, the last thing thing I you won't find me at the start gate
If it's not my run, I'm taking laps
I'm free riding around the mountain because I don't want to sit there and like watch the count the counting clock going down
And it's like oh my god. Oh my god. Here's my run
You don't want that you want to show up like you just took a lap and you're fresh your legs are fresh and
And other riders have started doing it. I see them all now to show up, like you just took a lap and your fresh, your legs are fresh, and other
riders have started doing it, and I see them all now.
We're like pulling it around the chair, really.
Because if you sit there, it's too much to just sit and like watch this, oh my god, this
countdown to your moment.
So I take free riding laps around the mountain, then I show up, check in, how many more
riders, 10 more cool, I got one more lap, come back, get my board wax, I show up, and then in the start gate, it's an interesting time.
So the guys you really want to see are toward the end because after qualifying, they're
seated on the rankings from the day before.
So when I'm up there, I usually get three people out, and after the first of the three
go, I put in one binding.
Just put in one.
It's this specific.
Oh yeah.
And then after the second guy goes, I put in the second binding.
And I don't really watch those two.
I kind of glance, but I kind of like thinking to myself of my run.
I'm thinking of things and talking to people and anything to kill the time.
And then the third and last person drops and I watch that one.
And I'm waiting for like what we talked about.
I'm waiting for the, oh he made it so I can make it.
Or he fell perfect.
And that's my moment.
And what's wonderful is the power of music.
So when you're standing there, you can pre-pick the songs you want to play over the pipe
where you have, you know, beats, headphones, and whatever.
And that nervous anxiousness, like, like, think about your standing there at the top and
all of a sudden, like, you're contemplating all the things that could go wrong.
Which usually I've gotten to the point where I don't, because I'm so, this is such a useless
waste of my time to think of all the terrible outcomes.
I just want to think of that like, I'm going to win it.
That's it.
You focus on the goal at hand and then this song kicks on.
It's like your favorite song.
You're like, wow.
This is the soundtrack to my life.
You're like, you're like, on a soundtrack now to your greatest moment.
This might just be my moment, my time to shine. And all those things, those awkward feelings turn into these positive build and then they
send you.
And then I have a little routine of high-fiving my one guy and usually playing the same
song because it's a trigger.
So it's like one foot in, second foot in, that guy goes, whatever happens, check the score,
high-five my guy, and then go and and I don't really miss a beat like when they tell me to
go I'm like ready to go or if I'm not I'll take an extra minute like the step
up to the golf swing I'll I'll I'll kind of readjust put my goggles listen to
the song then go again dude but yeah one of my favorite things ever covered on
the show what's up this one of my favorite things
because I watch your whole physiology change
when you did it, it looks like you were in the go.
Oh yeah, I'm thinking, you're like, okay, yeah, yeah.
I can't, like, I did it, she even put you back in.
So I don't know that version of you.
I just,
They thought I wear a mask on her.
I know, right, because I'm like, yeah.
I'm not normally, I'm in my normal life.
I'm pretty mellow, they're like, you need to like,
jump out of the plane,
and see a live, like, no, like, I'm like,
having tea at the set. I'm like, very me be like, jump out of a plane, and feel alive. I'm like, I'm like, having tea at the set.
I'm like, very mellow and more normal.
Until you just want to do a routine.
You put me in the situation and it's like something's
on the line, people are watching in the pressure.
And then I have that moment to, I guess, shine or show off
or deliver something that I know I can.
It's ability to shrink focus in the moment.
And that routine, so if you're listening to this,
what's your routine before you make your presentation,
before you make your call, before you get into work?
What's your routine?
You have that song?
Everybody should have that.
I have it too.
When I speak, there's just every time I speak,
turn it on.
Every single time, if I speak, that's it comes out.
It changes my state.
I go into my little routine. What about last thing on this stuff, just because you're excellent, Every single time, if I speak, that's what comes out. It changes my state.
I go into my little routine.
What about last thing on this stuff,
just because you're excellent at this,
and I just want every, it's rare in your lifetime.
You get to listen to someone who's the greatest
all time at something.
And I know you always get humble when that said,
but it's a fact.
And I always look down and like, oh yeah.
I know, you do.
So, but like, what's-
I gotta give myself some more credit.
You do. Well, we're just in the beginning, because there's some stuff with- Well, I'm on the other side. So, like, what's- I gotta give myself some more credit. You do?
Well, we're just in the beginning
because there's some stuff with-
Well, I'm always, I never did
because I was so hungry for the next win
that I was so scared to celebrate.
Yes, I do know.
Most recently, my girlfriend was like,
where are the trophies?
Where are they? I was like, I don't know.
They're in storage somewhere, they're in boxes.
She's like, so you work so hard for these things. And you don't even like, look at them or like, where are they? And I was thinking, I don't know. They're in storage somewhere. They're in boxes. She's like, so you work so hard for these things.
And you don't even like, look at them.
Or like, where are they?
And I was thinking about it.
I was like, you know what, you're right.
Like, let's put, there's so many boxes that like,
I pulled them all out and like tried to fill our one room
with the house with stuff.
But it's so funny, because I never really took the time
to enjoy the wins as well.
And that's my new stage of life.
It's like, yeah, what got me here
won't take me the rest of the way.
And now I need that reassurance of like,
man, I've done so much.
Like I can't, that feeling of like hunger to like,
oh, I need it, I need it, doesn't work for me.
It's more that like, you know, I want to pursue this
and that's my goal because I feel great
about myself and about my accomplishments
and I'd want more now.
There's a perfect lesson there, bro.
I always wanna say something like I love it.
You said that because it's honest, number one.
And people listen to this.
I wanna say something to you because
it's happened for me in my career too.
If you're early in your career, you know what?
It's okay to be motivated by loss and fear.
There's nothing wrong with that. That's a driver. But after a while, if you keep pushing the
same mechanism on yourself, it doesn't work anymore. I'm watching it with Tiger right now, golfing.
He's a different guy. It's like he's actually enjoying the game. For sure. He's smiling. He's
laughing. I look at him, I watch it this week and he's looking around and he was looking at this
little boy and laughing. The old tiger be soaked the whole time.
And I think he's like, now this stage of my career,
the whole grind thing will work anymore.
He grinded himself out of golf almost mentally, right?
I think back now, he's sort of celebrating the enjoyment.
It's like you wanna win
because you're running up the score, obviously.
Reminds me by the way.
Did you just, go ahead.
No, I was gonna say that's a hard one
because when you're grinding,
it just feels like a deeper grommet.
It feels whole.
You're like, no, I just need to really regret it.
I need to really dig a deeper
and make that loss and hurt and whatever
into a positive motivator to win again.
Cause it should recipe.
Yeah, but you've just dug so deep that it doesn't,
you can't pull from there anymore.
And that's a eye opener.
I mean, I hit that point after the Sochi Olympics.
And that was hard for me.
I was sitting there like, at that Olympics,
I had the highest score of the night was my qualifying run.
I was like, why did I do the easy run?
I didn't mean so many thoughts coming through my head,
but I was literally holding the winning cars.
I just couldn't play them.
I just couldn't do it.
I couldn't get myself to do it.
And that was the hardest thing.
Is after that Olympics, they're like,
so can you do another, whatever?
And maybe his age, maybe it was this, whatever.
And I'm sitting there thinking,
like, if it were physical, it'd be so awesome.
It's so easy.
You can easily go do more pushups and sit up
to get a better trainer to motivate you,
but to get your mind, right?
Is it's a whole nother battle.
And so from that point on,
I started this process of like,
oh, should I bring them out like,
you know, be thankful and appreciative of today
and what you're doing,
and that in turn will bring more motivation later on.
You can't fool yourself when you've won that much, right?
For sure.
There's a role model for this too, by the way, who you know, which is Brady. I watched Brady
last year. The first year he didn't go to their non-manitory mini-camps. Especially
he didn't grind. He's like, you know what, this off-season, I'm on a vacation with my family.
I know the mental break I need to make, and I remember even me thinking, uh-oh, he's
slipping. He's losing it. And then he comes back and wins another Super Bowl. So he's evolved that formula a little bit over time.
So I just want you to know there's validation
from what you're doing.
And Tigers winning again in the same way.
So, but the other way, he was so crazy with his awards.
This is, I just need them to hear this.
Could you really dry clean your gold gold gold?
Does this remind you?
My mom.
This.
So we were,
yes, so my mom, man.
So I was, I'm 19, I gotta go, man,
I'm running around doing the talk shows
and doing all this stuff.
We put it on, let me check it and touch it.
You know, and by the end, the ribbon
that was attached to the metal is, you know,
was looking pretty grimy.
Unfortunately, and my mom, you know, I can't find it.
I'm like, where is it?
I'm calling my friends.
Like, you have my medal right?
And they're like, no.
And I'm calling around.
I'm trying to find it.
And she's like, oh no, I dropped it off of the cleaner.
And I was like, what do you mean?
She's like, oh, it looked dirty.
I dropped it off.
And I just remember going like, oh my god.
Like, you can't replace that.
You eat some in a faux panic.
I was like, oh, I will witch cleaner.
Like, okay, well, it's this one.
So we go over there and they're like, oh yeah, it's ready.
And they literally handed it to me in the plastic on the hanger.
And she was outraged that that piece of fat,
they charged us like five or $10 to have it clean and she was like
I'm like that's what you find bizarre like yeah, so I remember like okay, we gotta get a better place to
Remember, okay, we gotta get a better place to keep it. Dude, that's one of the greatest stories ever.
I wonder how many people that are in goal-mounts
of dry clean them, like, no, man.
For sure.
It's like, I just never forget getting it handed
to me in the plastic, like, little hanger.
They did a good job.
It was clean.
You're not.
It's new mother is nuts.
I love that story, brother.
Yeah, that was a good one.
Okay, come on more things.
Come on, things.
I'm enjoying this so much.
I'm making you go a little longer
because it's too good.
No, it's good.
Thanks for having me.
It's been fun.
Oh man, I'm loving it.
So you get scared.
Like we forget, like you're in a really dangerous sport.
Dude, I watched your crash in New Zealand.
Yeah, that was rough.
Was that the worst one?
Or was there one, the other one?
I've seen another one that was pretty. You got 62 stitches. Yeah, that was rough. Was that the worst one? Or was there one the other one? I've seen another one that was pretty. You got 62 stitches. Yeah, in my face.
And you're in your grill, right? Yeah. Like, I would say it wasn't the worst pain or the most
recovery time, but it was the most mentally jarring. I would say for sure. How so? Just because it's
like your face, you know, it's like it's uncomfortable to have stitches,
to have bitten through my tongue.
I can still feel it.
It was numb forever to eat food, still slightly numb.
It's just every day, the constant reminder of something, you know, looking in the mirror.
So that was rough.
And you know, because if you break a bone or if you tear something,
it needs to be fixed and reattached or whatever, like,
it's more involved where scars and cuts and bruises heal a lot easier.
But obviously since it was in my face, I was just like, okay, now what?
I'm like trying to brush my teeth and I'm just spitting up, you know,
stitches falling out of the inside.
What's the next wrong like? I mean, you just, stitches falling out of the inside.
What's the next wrong line? Are you, I mean, you just had that happen as a key
to get up as soon as you can or?
I was furious at that moment.
I wasn't hurt, I wasn't, I wasn't scared,
I was, I was mad.
I was angry at myself because I knew the mistake I had made
and I was the most upset that I couldn't just get up
and do it again.
That was my first thought.
The worst thing that can happen is you let it build
into this big, untouchable thing.
And that's what happened.
I had to be rushed to the hospital.
I'm bleeding.
I got to put my face back together.
And I didn't realize at the time, but I
had these very severe pulmonary lung contusions.
So my lungs were bruised.
And your lungs are like these big sacks of blood that you know when you breathe you take in the
oxygen and it sends it through your body and and I had bruised those so badly
that I was coughing up blood but I thought it was because I had you know the
sir I'd swallowing blood from my lip and my face and so that was like a fun
surprise later that I I went back to the hospital
and they're like, you're not going anywhere.
You need to go back up and I put me on a breathing tube.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, yeah.
It was a breathing tube with like humidifier,
hot air coming in, moist air to loosen the blood
and make sure there's no clots and things.
And then I had this fun bucket
that I would cough up into.
And that was rough.
I mean, that was just definitely being so far from home,
being injured, and I took a crash on the trip before that.
So this was the trip of like, we're gonna set it right.
Heck with last trip, this is this trip.
We're gonna make it happen.
And so everything was going perfect, beautiful day,
and then boom, one wrong move. So you get back to back, dude. But I do, I do, I don't know if I would call it, yeah,
I get scared. I don't, I don't know if I would call it that though. It's more of just like reading
the situation. Like, I know that like, I didn't get enough food or I didn't get enough sleep. The conditions aren't really the best.
And, you know, I don't know,
you walk in somewhere where you get a gut feeling.
Like, ugh, this isn't something's off.
Like, I walk away all the time.
You do, you just walk out of that.
And people don't realize that.
A lot about me and the longevity of my career
is because I walk away a lot.
You do?
When it's not good, I walk away.
I have to know myself and know my boundaries.
And like I said, earlier is like, what's the goal?
And the goal of my career is a marathon.
It's not a sprint.
It's not to appease a sponsor at this current moment
or to win this one contest.
There will be other contests.
And so it's having the kind of,
you know, when we were at that event and they were talking about having the guts to like ride
the crash of the economy,
and by deeper knowing it's gonna go back up,
like I have to believe in myself
and my cycle of my career, my longevity,
that like I will get to,
you know, more competitions, more more things more moments to shine.
And when it's perfect, then I'll do it.
But getting hurt right now doesn't really benefit
that long run.
And so there's plenty of times I show up at a photo shoot,
something like that.
And they built this giant 90 foot jump.
It's kind of breezy, a little uphill.
I can see they put these flags that blow to show
what the wind's doing.
Because I think you're going that far, and got something on your feet it becomes like a bit of
a sail. So if it pushes you the wrong way it can put you off access and then you go down or you know
if it's uphill wind and you're jumping it'll push you back. So you don't go far enough you hit
the top and then you bounce down to the bottom. It's like there's a lot like a go wrong the time
of day. It was hot in the morning when we were hitting the jump and the sun dropped behind the
peak and now the snow has cooled down and hardened so it's faster.
I think there's all these variables that go into it and so when I'm not feeling it, I
walk away.
And the tough part is when you get, you know, at that photo shoot, there's like six other
young up and coming writers like ah my moment to shine up
to one up Sean White and
You got to be strong enough to know like cool go for it man like hey, that's fun
I know me and I know I'm not cool with it and all you know if you maybe hit it and whatever and and a lot of times
They get hurt unfortunately, you know, yeah, you don't know their boundaries and they're so eager to try and please and try and,
you know, get that leg up
that they're not really seeing the full long run of it all.
Do you think, be honest too, here, okay?
This is a hard one.
So, in golf for a while,
Tiger Woods had this kind of intimidation factor.
Yeah.
Where, I don't know if guys just thought, I got to play even better than I really am to
beat this guy.
Maybe the extent of sales too far.
People pay the patriots.
It seems like they make more mistakes against the patriots than they do other teams, right?
I've seen it happen with Federer or even Agassi, one of your heroes in tennis, right?
When they play these guys, they learned how senior had that in NASCAR, the intimidating, or do you have a little of that,
if you're being honest in snowboarding,
like a little of an intimidation factor on guys?
I know that it's hard to say on campus, but I'm curious.
No, no, yeah.
It's interesting.
I mean, do you think about it?
I do.
It's a factor.
You have to factor it into the,
that's a part of knowing your competitors and knowing what's going on
and it's like I remember reading Andre Agassi's book and it was, it was perfectly said where like the, you know, whatever other tennis player
he was about to, you know, be in the match with with walk out and he'd get the cheer and then Agassi would walk out.
He'd get the cheer. You know what I mean?
It's just showing, it's a subtle reminder of who people came to see and what's going
on and not that I try to.
You know, it's so hard, I love talking to you about this because it's not a cockiness,
it's just knowing yourself and knowing what's going on and knowing the situation and how
to be present and to use it to your advantage.
But yeah, when I step up on the snow and and I know that I'm gonna get the cheer,
and I know they're gonna hear that,
and I know that when I show up and do certain things,
it'll put them in a mood of thinking
that they have to go for it.
And then at that time, I just put in an easy run.
How much of it do you have to visualize?
How much is visualization a part of what you do in both sports?
I think it's huge.
And I love that you touched on the other things
that I've done in my life because I started with the template of snowboarding
and then took the same ideals and applied them to skating and then to music.
So like when I was at the top of my game in snowboarding, I was like,
how did I get there?
Okay, I'd show up and I'd lose, see what the best guy was doing,
and then work on those tricks that are winning the event,
and work my way up to him.
You know what I mean?
And then the same thing happened in skating.
I was at the top of my game,
and I started at the bottom of the barrel again,
and applied the same sort of attitude of like,
oh, well, you know, what tricks is he doing that's winning?
And that even got me in a little hot water
because they're like, you can't do that trick.
That's someone's so strict. And I was like, you can't do that trick. That's someone so strict.
And I was like, well, what do you mean?
It's his trick.
I get a bit of understanding of like,
you don't want to copy somebody's run,
but everybody's trick is from someone else anyway.
So it's like the progression of the sport.
And in order to learn his trick,
then brought me to the point of learning
and even better trick.
So it's a stepping stone on my path.
It's not about taking his trick. And I worked that all the way to the same
situation. So when it came to music, I formulated a plan and I had a goal of like,
okay, I'm going to release an album or I want to do this. And then how would I do it?
And I took into all the factors of like, well, I'm probably going to get a lot of
hate being the fact that like I'm a known snowboarder, celebrity in this world,
and now I'm in this world.
And I faced that in skating because I was kind of not a tourist because I had been in the
skate scene, but I didn't compete.
And once I started to compete, it changed the dynamic.
And everybody kind of looked at me differently and treated me differently.
And it just became a new thing.
And so, from learning from that, going into music, I was like, oh, well, obviously,
I don't want to just buy my way in.
I could, but I don't want to,
we're not gonna have a giant tour bus,
and they're like, we're gonna hit the van.
I want people to see me carrying my amp off stage.
I want people to know that I'm not above the,
I grind it out like everyone else.
We want to do the thing.
And the only reason we were at La La Paloza was we were playing this like kids area.
Like we went to La La Paloza and I was like making a point of
it. I was like perfect.
I want people to see me there playing this like really,
you know, small, tiny thing to know that like I'm serious.
Like if you want us to play, what play?
Because we play.
That's what's up.
Like we're there as musicians and no gigs of gig.
Like we're down.
So like loading our gear and an out and whatever.
And that sort of mentality brought me there.
And what happened was one of the bands that was headlining,
it was called the Grove stage.
I don't know, they posted a sign.
Like our art will not be displayed here
and people rioted and trashed their gear
or whatever.
It was like out of a movie.
We need a band to play the main stage at 9 o'clock.
We're a band.
No!
Yeah.
Really?
So then we pull up and we got this big slot and every other musician's timed out.
So they can't just bump up the second tier act because that's when people know to come
to see them. So we got the headlining slot and I'm standing there and I'm like, all right, this is our
moment.
And then the same snowboarding mentality kicked in where I was like, it's time to shine.
So we churned it on with one of the best shows of our careers.
And the funniest thing that happened was we weren't ready for a time slot like that.
We didn't actually have enough songs to finish it.
They're like, what? You get that?
Every, you don't care who you are.
And even if you watch the rock movie, you're like,
I could be standing there and the crowd is cheering for one more song.
Like, this is the best dream come true.
And it happened.
At La La Pliz M's sitting there like, oh my god.
This is the best. And then I'm like, oh my God, this is the best.
And then I'm like, oh my God, we don't have another song.
We don't have another song.
And they're like, play the first one again.
I was like, that's great.
Yes, that is great.
But yeah, incredible time.
And you know, but I feel like visualizing,
like what are you gonna wear in that moment?
Who's gonna be there to celebrate with you?
What's it all gonna,
and it's having that clear visual of what you want?
And there's a lot of people,
I feel like they tell themselves what they want.
And I need this and I need that.
And like, it's like when you're sitting at home
and you're like, it's Friday night, like, should I go out?
Not like, and what do you truly wanna do?
Like, you don't feel like I wanna get dressed
and put on a set, like, don't think what you should do.
Know what you wanna do.
Like, know what you need, know what you need to do.
Like, you know what, if I really need
some interaction with people, you go out.
You feel it, deep down, if you really wanna go out or not,
or do something like.
And a lot of times, the real answer is,
like, I don't need them or anybody to validate what I'm doing.
Like I know what I want and I know what I need
and here's what it is.
And then you start living that way
and it kind of like the goal start to set themselves.
Like it just starts to become more clear.
And the more you do it, the easier it is
to define those goals and wrap things around them.
So I'm very visual.
I always have these little, all these little details.
It's kind of crazy, crazy, too deep.
Like, I'm still like, what's crazy about living in that?
Man, so, after the first Olympics,
I remember looking at the photos of myself,
and I was like, I look horrible.
I'm like, my hair was like, all crazy.
I'm like, ugly crying.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I bring your family up. I love you, dad. My hair was like all crazy, you know, I'm like ugly crying
Bring your family
You're like crying and they put you on stage and I just remember being like oh my god Like and those are the photos seem like round the world and obviously I'm proud of that moment
But I could you're young you're worried about your your image and whatnot and so I was like if I did it again
Like this is how it would go down.
And I had all these little plans of like,
I would take my face mask and roll it into a headband
because I would keep my hair in control.
I pre-planned every single thing of what I was gonna do,
how I was gonna do it.
And I got to relive that same exact day.
And this is where it gets weird, is that I was asked to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.
And as a music fan, that was like dream come true.
That movie almost famous came out and I was like,
I've got to be on the Rolling Stone cover.
And so I'm super excited.
And I remember being on the cover and they're like, take your shirt off.
I was like, you know, like my 19 year old, like, freckled boy body.
It's like, is this what you want?
I don't know, this is what we want.
You know, and I remember seeing it come out
and like the headline wasn't super cool.
It was about like my nickname at the time.
And like, you know, and I was like,
if I did it again, like, what would I be wearing?
And what would I do?
And so, so long story short, as I was at the Hard Rock
in Las Vegas, and I was walking through
during my 21st birthday, and I saw like a big thing
with like, slashes guitar from Guns of Roses.
And there's a video playing of Axel Rose.
And he's wearing these like crazy,
American flag shorts.
And it's like, that's cool.
Like, I don't think I can do the shorts.
That's a bold one.
And it's cold in the mountains.
So, maybe I'll make some just how these jeans made.
And the whole idea was that if I can win the Olympics
then maybe the Rolling Stone will ask me to be on the cover again
and then I'll have the jeans.
And it became about, and then even deeper was to be
on display in the Hard Rock.
There's the full circle.
And I was like, well, if I was on the cover again,
it's rock and roll, so then it might be a rock and roll
history piece.
So I literally like, I had the pants made, Rolling Stone,
I won.
It became more about like wearing the pants
and winning the Olympics, and it brought it down
to a fun, achievable goal and level.
And so I literally like won the Olympics,
got the phone call from Rolling Stone,
appeared on the cover in the pants, then within like the next you know month after the
Cover came out. I was on display at the hard rock. Okay. That's an amazing. It was crazy like I had I had and it all came to be and it all like
So there's such power and like you know the details and what you're gonna. I don't know
I mean I only say that because it's literally
happened for me.
Yeah.
I got chills because when you do things,
it's nuts, but I know what happened.
And the other thing is, see the really most successful
people I know are like hyper-visual, repetitive,
specific visualizers.
Like it's so specific.
I think a lot of people think they visualize,
but it's the specificity and the details of
picturing through. And the other thing is a lot of times they picture the celebration, they picture the
wind. Almost like the winds almost gonna happen, and then they think through it. And it's amazing. I've
had a lot of events like that nowhere near that great obviously, but like things I've visualized
many, many times, and then as they're happening, it's almost like a deja vu thing. How is it happening?
So that's a dude, there's so many things in here.
It's like we'll end up knowing three hours because it's bizarre to me how many of these things like
apply to everything in life. The other thing I want everyone to know about it too. We do a part two.
We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two. We do a part two and then we'll be done. We're just going to come to we won't cover it and then we'll put a wrap. But give me one more key thing you do that most people wouldn't know about.
You know, for me, I think the biggest thing that pops into my mind is like finding the
separator, finding the thing that's going to be different from everyone else.
So like when you're watching someone's run, a great example, I was at a big
competition and they had these two jumps that were side by side.
And earlier on in the day, we'd heard a rumor
that one of the main riders named Travis Rice,
he tried to gap between the two jumps
and didn't make it.
And now, no one else tried it, no one,
they just heard that someone couldn't do it
and then they all kind of like gave up.
And in my mind, I was like,
that's where I'm gonna make my move.
Even if I just do something over that,
you're gonna look at the run and what's gonna separate it
from everybody else is that Sean did something
on that specific hit.
And I truly believe I wasn't the best writer that day,
but I had that thing in my run that separated me
from everyone else.
So at the Olympics, I mean, that was it,
this last Olympics in Korea,
I remember sitting there thinking like, wow,
I was supposed to be leagues, hopefully I try to separate
myself from the pack with a trick
that just people can't hang with.
If I put it down, I'm guaranteed to win.
But since I was injured at level the playing field,
so I was thinking, well, what's my separator gonna be?
What's gonna be different?
So I decided to do my hardest trick
at right out the gate on the first hit
to show that, you know, I'm coming out swinging
with that sort of thing where my competitor
did an air on his first hit.
So you're left with this impression of like he came out,
he did the biggest hit of his, you know, run, right?
They're off the bat. The hardest
trick, hardest combination, and then I ended with the hardest combination. And what were
you left with? So it's that separator that you can find. Anything to kind of like make
you stand out from the pack. And that's what you want.
That's huge. So everyone, listen to this. You have to be thinking, what's your separator
for you personally, for your business, for your product, for your company, for your
family, for something in your sport, what's your separator? It personally, for your business, for your product, for your company, for your family, for something in your sport?
What's your separator? It's really really brother.
If you're all, you're all telling the same thing, but what's going to be that one unique thing that makes your stand out more than everyone else is that the packaging, is it the, yeah, I always find that that's that thing.
And even in my career as like the way I look, like I had long red hair.
And so like they're like, oh yeah, he looks different
than so I just grew it even longer.
Like I became, you know, I looked different.
I did things differently.
If everybody was gonna show up wearing hoodies,
like I would show up in like a nice suit or something,
like any little detail to kind of like put me
in a different, you know, bracket or a different place.
And then when you start doing that, everybody else looks at you different. Like, oh, he's different. He's special, he's, you know, I or a different place. And then when you start doing that,
everybody else looks at you differently.
Oh, he's different.
He's special.
He's, you know, I don't know.
I feel like there's more to it than just,
you know, competing obviously.
Like he said, there's more, there's layers to it.
Wow, man, that's outstanding stuff.
One thing I also want you guys to know about him
that we're not gonna have time to cover,
but he's not just done this in music.
He's also done this in the business side of his life
and in the investment and financial side of his life
without being very specific.
He's a very, very successful man financially.
And one of the things that I admire the most about you
is it's your humility.
So I've been with you, you treat someone at Chipotle
exactly how you would treat,
one of the more famous people that we both know, right?
You just, for some dude who's been this successful this long for you to maintain
We did it Chipotle. We actually did it Chipotle. That's a real place we've been together.
It's actually happened. I want to drive her. That's best by the way.
Where is this guy? You're literally standing on a corner made him in Canterbury.
But we were pretty happy. We're challenging. but you treat everybody the same, but that humility, he asks a lot of questions guys
about business and investment
and how to move his life forward.
And that only comes from being humble.
And I think that same formula of you picturing it,
putting the group together in the,
it's just the same exact formula,
but everyone will kick my butt.
If I don't at least ask you towards the end
about skateboarding.
Oh, please.
So this guy's obviously become an icon in the skateboarding world as well.
And people kind of want to know, I know you can't answer this, but I'll just say this, you were skateboarding before you came here today.
I was.
So people are kind of curious, what would you tell them about where you're heading in skateboarding?
And then I'm just curious the second part of that, which sport is harder for you of the two?
Tell them what you're doing with skateboarding to the extent you can, and then which sports
murder?
To bring it back, for the first time ever, the Olympics, for the summer Olympics, will host
skateboarding surfing, I think, rock climbing.
Those are the new sports that came into the Olympics for the summer games.
Obviously, I'm known in the world as snowboarding from winning the Olympics and things.
And everybody pictures me as such a snowboarder,
but in the background and not as much exposure
as the Olympics would give you,
I'm just as much of a skateboarder.
And so my skateboarding career was doing great.
I mean, I went pro at 16, and I basically
accomplished my goals of winning Winter Summer X Games,
and I was at the top of both sports.
And I only traded that out because it became so demanding
on my body to do Winter Summer,
which I had no stops.
And I thought, wow, what an amazing thing
to trade in music during that time.
It's the new frontier for me to do something.
And at the time, it was beautiful
because it was the only team element thing I had. So it was a nice contrast to my life
on the snow being this is my thing, me, me, this was like what are we doing in our collective
sound and how are we getting it done. So it was a nice contrast to my life at the time.
And at the time when they were skateboarding motivation,
like we said, digging from that same place,
if I got a win, wasn't really there anymore.
And I realized that from my snowboarding and things.
And so I kind of shelfed the skating and now boom,
they put it into the Olympics.
And it's given me this kind of like win to pick it back up.
And obviously picking up something that I don't do as often, you know,
it's so, everything's exciting, everything's fun, just, you know, being outskating different
parks and making new friends, you know, because everybody I skated with at the time skates
vert. And so I should be clear about that is that vert skating is like Tony Hawk and
myself. That's how I competed on these big ramps. Very similar to snowboarding. Right now they're doing park, which is like bowls and corners and hips and
rails and things like that. And so it's a different discipline, but I can take a lot of what
I learned from vert and bring it to the bowl skating. And then I've skated things like that
my whole life. So it's an interesting time. And I've officially decided to go for skate,
but what you talked about earlier,
Tom Brady taking a break,
I realized that after the Olympics,
nothing compares to it.
The excitement, the drive,
that every single moment in your life has meaning and purpose
because it's leading up to this moment.
And no matter what, when you're loose,
you're left with this like drop off.
You know, and it's difficult.
And no one really like, you've spent your whole time
doing and working at something
and somebody always said it's like,
somebody said something to me like,
you need to work at chilling.
You need to work at being able to just turn it off
and chill.
And it's hard without being a depressor.
You need to learn how to just be calm and be content
and enjoy that moment without that goal at hand.
And so naturally, I take the season after the Olympics off anyways,
and so I've been filling that time with skateboard,
and it's been like wonderful.
And so, I haven't officially decided to go for skate,
but I think the qualifying is in June,
so at some point I'm going to either have to...
Where do you think the qualifying is?
I think the first one will be the due tour event in Huntington.
I think it is too.
So you gotta come.
Okay, I gotta come.
Well, if you enter there, I will be there.
Exactly, exactly right.
So that's sort of a hint as to where you're going.
So brother, like I've enjoyed today, I can't even tell you, man.
I knew this would be great, but I just enjoyed it so much.
But I want everybody to be able to follow you because we're gonna be able to,
you know, the folks in my audience are already fans of yours,
but not all of my audience follows you in vice versa.
So where do they find you?
Where would you like them to be?
Kind of follow in your journey
whether it's skateboarding,
or snowboarding, or business, or music,
or whatever it is, especially finding you.
You can find me Sean White on Instagram,
S-H-A-U-N White, and then same same on Twitter and then I'm gonna
I'm kind of out of pause right now after getting some inspiration of what you're doing
I really want to dig deeper and have quality cool content that I'm putting out especially for this lead up
You know to the potential summer Olympics or even the Olympics after that for the next winner if I decide
That's what I want to do
But yeah, so I'm gonna dig deeper into YouTube But that's a exciting place for me where you can come check's what I want to do. But yeah, so I'm going to dig deeper into YouTube.
But that's an exciting place for me where you can come check out what I'm up to and see
a little bit more about what my life's like.
So stay tuned to him on Instagram guys.
It's in a bit, he's posting, but you're going to see a whole lot more on the future.
Yeah, yeah.
I'm going to tan up.
Thank you, man.
Yeah.
I enjoyed it so much.
I love it, brother.
It's like it was so wonderful. Everybody, I know you enjoyed today's program.
As I always tell you, please share this with people.
Number one program in the world,
fastest growing program in the world for a reason.
And also remember this, every day on social media,
I want to engage with you too.
That Ed, my, let, ed, and the reason I want to engage with you
is because I want to know what you're thinking,
what you're going through.
It helps me create content, tells me which guests to bring on.
So many of you requested Sean after you saw us together
and candid and I got him for you. And so remember every day on social media, on Instagram, I run the
max out two minute drill, what that means is in the first two minutes, when I make a post on Instagram,
if you make a comment on there in the first two minutes, you enter a daily drawing, just post. So
turn your notifications on after you follow me, if you make a comment in the first two minutes to
pick a winner every day, they get coaching calls with my guests, me, my book,
max out gear, tickets to my speaking engagements. So every day, first two minutes make a comment.
Also, if you miss the first two minutes, here's what's cool because you don't always get the notification.
As long as you make a comment every day on every post, you can win as well. So if you miss the
first two minutes, it's five hours later, make a comment, you're involved there as well. And if you make one every day, we pick a winner
from that group. So there's two ways to win. And here's a secret. I usually post between
like 7.30 a.m. and 8.00 a.m. Pacific time, which is 10.30 a.m. 11.00 a.m. Eastern time.
Typically post within that window so you kind of know when it's coming. But again,
first two minutes or any time you can win. So I I love to engage with you there. Again, share the program with everybody.
God bless you and max out.
This is the Ed Milett Show.
you