THE ED MYLETT SHOW - What It Takes to Overcome the Unimaginable Feat. Austin Hatch

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

How Do You Keep Going When Life Hits You Twice? Today’s guest, Austin Hatch, is a living, breathing miracle—and one of the most inspiring men I’ve ever had the privilege to sit across from. Austin survived not one, but two plane crashes. The first claimed the lives of his mother and siblings. The second, just eight years later, took his father and stepmother and left Austin in a coma, fighting for his life. Yet somehow, against all odds, he not only survived—he found a way to thrive. In this conversation, Austin and I go deep into what it takes to get back up when life knocks you down harder than you ever thought possible. He shares how he rebuilt his body, his faith, and his identity after losing almost everything—and why gratitude, not bitterness, became his anchor. Austin’s story is not about avoiding pain; it’s about choosing purpose through it, believing that God can still write a story of victory even when tragedy has stolen so much. We talk about what it means to carry grief without letting it define you, to forgive life for what it’s taken, and to find meaning in the middle of unimaginable suffering. Austin’s journey to eventually fulfill his dream of playing basketball for the University of Michigan is a testament to what happens when resilience meets faith. This episode is about more than survival—it’s about transformation. If you’ve ever wondered whether you can rise again after devastation, Austin’s story is living proof that you can. Key Takeaways: How Austin survived two plane crashes and found the will to rebuild his life Why gratitude—not bitterness—became his greatest weapon against despair The role faith plays in turning unimaginable tragedy into testimony What it means to carry grief without being defined by it How to keep moving toward your dreams even when everything says it’s over Lean in to this one. Austin’s story will not only move you—it will change the way you see your own challenges. — Max Out ⁠⁠⁠⁠👉 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 podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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what happened to this young man let me just set the stage but I'm going to let him you know explain the story to you can you imagine being a plane crash with your family and you live but several of them don't and you have to carry that with you but just imagine that for a second and then it happens again did you hear what I just said it happens twice you're in two plane crashes where you lose family members and somehow you end up living what does that teach you about life what does that teach you about your faith grit resilience how to move on grief we had a lot to talk about today with this young man and he's really the only person on the planet qualified to take us through this because i've never heard of anything like this in my life

He also then went on to play college basketball, everybody, and has become a mega achiever and is living out his dreams. Austin Hatch, it's really an honor to have you on the show, young man. Thank you for being here. Yeah, thank you, Ed. I really appreciate the opportunity to contribute to the podcast. I'm really, really grateful. When I say what I just said, like I introduce it that way, is it almost an out-of-body experience

for you, no pun intended, when you hear that this is now the story of your life? Because at one point, it wasn't the story of your life, right? You were just a young man with a wonderful family with some dreams and basketball and all that. When you hear it, what dawns on you, even when someone else describes it? I'm curious. Yeah, it's sometimes hard to believe that, you know, that actually happened to me and my family. It's like, you think about it, you know, that's like where you see in a movie or something, right? And it's sometimes hard to put yourself in the shoes of somebody else that you see a story that's so crazy.

Hard to believe that could ever happen. But, you know, obviously, God forbid it did happen to me and my family and stuff. respond, right? What are you going to do about it? And I think in life and business, we all face challenges all the time. We usually can't control them, but we always have a hundred percent control of how we choose to respond. And that's basically my model for life. Can't always what happens to us, but we can always control how we respond. Certainly want to talk about that, but I want to set the stage a little bit too. So when you said like a movie, no one would believe this if it was a movie. If someone said to me, I was in a plane crash and I survived and I lost some family

members. And I'm going to have you walk everybody through that in a moment, if you don't mind. You go, okay, that's a crazy movie. But then you said it happened again, twice. That's not a movie. That's like, okay, turn it off. That's not true. That never happened. There's no way. So how old were you the first experience? And for what you're comfortable with sharing, take us through what happened so everyone understands the depth of the loss here that took place in your life yeah well first of all i've got an incredible family in heaven and i'm so grateful for them and their impact on my life and their continued impact on my life i'm just truly truly blessed to have them um amazing mom julie she was an incredible homemaker everybody's best friend you know she was kind of woman that

lit up the room wherever she was she was she was the life of the party wherever she was and um you know i think that kind of brings up the whole idea that there's people in the world that brighten up a room when they enter like they bring some kind of energy right but then you know unfortunately there's also some people that brighten up a room when they leave right so so i guess you know my mom is obviously that first person who who she she brightened up the room wherever she was um an amazing woman and i had a older sister lindsay she was three years older than me um she was an incredible incredible girl too and obviously like any siblings do you know you have your fair share of you know disagreements and battles and stuff but it's that's normal that's how it should be right

and I had a little brother Ian three years younger than me. So when I was born, I was 9, 9, 24 and a half inches long, so I was a big baby. My brother was a little smaller, but he had a big heart. He had a big heart. So we called him, we called him Mr. Big. So I'm 6'6. He probably ended up 6, you know, 6, 6, 3, which I'm not short by any means, but, you know, not as tall as me. But, yeah, it was awesome.

We had an amazing family. My dad, Steve, was a doctor. in Fort Wayne, we're in Indiana. And, yeah, we had the real, you know, have the dream childhood. We all did. My grandparents had a place in northern Michigan where they retired up there and we'd go visit them all the time

in the summer. And we were flying back home. My dad was the doctor. I was there. Also, we had a small family plane that would fly. And so Labor Day weekend, 2003, September 1st, 2003. we were flying home from northern Michigan to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where we lived. And as you're preparing to land, tragically, the airplane crashed.

And I took a life of my mom, Jewel issue 38 at the time, dad's high school sweetheart. My sister, Lindsay, as I said, was three years older than me. She was 11 years old, about to turn 12 the next week. My little brother, Ian, was only five. Devastating loss, obviously incomprehensible loss. but you know my dad and i did our best to rebuild our life and obviously you know that's not something you ever get through so to speak it's never that kind of a loss is never in the rearview mirror um it was with us every single day but we just did our best to to keep moving forward and try to

on to them with how we lived our life every day you know the reason i admire you so much it's beyond words but a lot of people listening is they're going through a hard time in their life life is very difficult i'm going through a hard time and then as i hear you talk i'm like compared to what like that's hard you know this young man wakes up and his mom and his siblings are gone i'm putting myself really with you right now obviously there's the loss there's the fear there's whatever the horror of the experience of of being in a plane crash in and of itself is like there's probably watching your dad deal with his grief did you have any like Survivor's guilt at that time?

Like, why'd I live and they went? I wonder if any of that ever entered the equation in your mind. Yeah, you know, it probably did at some point, but I mean, I was eight years old, about to turn nine. And I was so young that I don't think emotionally, I wasn't really there yet to think that was. And I followed my dad's example so close. My dad was my hero, right?

And I saw how he responded. to that and I was little but whether or not I actually knew it I was paying very close attention to him yeah and how he responded because if he if he shrivels up in a hole and stops living his life and what example of that's not for me like what am I going to do if I don't see him bounce back get back to practicing medicine get back to doing triathlons and running and biking and swimming and doing all like he mean obviously we were impacted tremendously by the loss but you got to keep living, you know? Yeah.

I want to go a little deeper on that. What did you learn? Let's say someone listening has had a tragedy. Their spouse just left them. Boyfriend, girlfriend broke up with them. Job loss. Financial loss. Anything.

Health issue. What did you learn from your dad? I know you're eight, but you did learn you had to go through this twice yourself. What advice would you give to somebody? Is it like, hey, take a moment and pause and heal a little bit and reflect or get right back up? You know, is there an appropriate time when you're knocked down literally in life? Because there's different theories about it. You've actually lived it, so it's not a theory.

What would you say? What's your best advice? I think it's very healthy to grieve a little, like for not let the negative emotion or not let the frustration or any of that consume you completely. Yeah. But I think it's very healthy to have a, you know, have a reasonable amount of it. Because it's like you can't just like keep all your emotions and. inside you forever you got to actually express yourself because if you keep it all inside you

at a certain point it's like a balloon like you can't just keep blowing up the balloon for decades and expect it to never pop you know what I mean so it's like yes using that balloon analogy like when the balloon starts to get a little full like you need to let it pop a little bit and like express yourself right like you don't want to let it just get so big and bottle up so much emotion that like when you let it out it's like the whole world comes down it's like friendship like you don't want to wait until your friend is driving you completely completely out of your mind crazy to confront him or her about it right or your spouse my wife hey honey you're an incredible mom you're an amazing wife but this thing you're doing is is really bugging me and let people know

like like if this is an issue because if an issue goes underdress it becomes like a cancer you know I agree it's one of those nuances of life that is that you know if I've counseled people that have gone through grief I don't know that I've counseled someone who's gone through well I know I heaven counsel someone has gone through the double whammy so to speak that you had so okay so stay with us everybody i know you're going oh my gosh this is actually real everyone and you can see how we're going to get to the good part in a minute because austin's built an amazing life there's some dadgum lessons from it and he's good at teaching him and we're going to get into him in a minute but so austin you'll watch your dad grief you grieve probably shock take us through where dad ended up

what happened inevitably with your dad and you on the plane again once again yeah so so a couple years later dad was remarried met an amazing woman um named kimbrough three kids of her own we had a great blended family awesome to have a mom and siblings at home again and um didn't replace what we lost obviously but it was great to have a mom and siblings at home again and we you know we were a family right and um life was good and i was my dream was always play basketball for michigan yeah I was working every day to make that dream of reality. And life was good. I mean, we were going on family trips.

We were going, we did all the great family stuff. You know, what most families do. And I was working on my game. And freshman year, had a good season. Sophomore year had a better one. And Coach B-Line from Michigan, former coach, came to see me play sophomore year. Had a good game, beat a rival school from across town.

And it was a big upset. And it was, you know, it was a good game for him to see because that played well. and after you know a couple months later after you saw my transcript from sophomore year so i had good grades um you offered me a scholarship to play for him june 15th 2011 145 p.m. remember the call clear as day yeah it was a dream come true you know my mom was went to michigan graduated in class of 87 my grandpa's went to michigan you know we grew up going to football games in annarbor in the fall and michigan's big a bigger part of my family as anything i think a lot of people may not know like i just want to interject those of you that aren't sports fans it's almost religion if

you're a michigan grad like it's it's a huge deal to get a chance to go to michigan and then to play and to get offered a scholarship when it's your dream it was a it was incredible achievement on your part and i just want to make sure they understand the magnitude for your entire family honoring your mom's legacy after she had passed i know the depth of emotion and and pride you had in achieving that but go ahead keep going yeah so it was amazing and i hope to have a great career i think i could have been pretty good there had to get a lot better obviously had to get a lot better but but nine days later june 24th 2011 my dad steve my second mom kim and i were flying to northern michigan this time the service you returned from the first plane crashed in 2003 and it's in bad weather had

to go to a different airport and as you're preparing to land again the airplane tragically crashed and took the life of my dad, Steve, my second mom, Kim, and should have killed me too, man. By the grace of God, I'm here. And, you know, I was in a coma for a couple months and came out of it. I had to relearn how to do everything. And, yeah, I had a long road to recovery,

but I think we made a pretty good comeback despite the circumstances. God bless you, bro. This God bless you. First off, you eventually come out of the coma and now you realize I've Liao lost my dad and my new mom. this can't be real so what did that look like what did what did you have to relearn to do i have to think you almost had to relearn to think bro relearn to believe i have to imagine everything you

thought you knew you probably really doubt it and i bet as i said that sentence there's a lot of people right now driving or they're running on the treadmill they're listening going you know in a different way i'm right there right now everything i thought i knew maybe i didn't know I'm wondering all of it, rebuilding your mind, your body, your ability to walk, everything. Take us through that. Yeah, well, it came out of that coma, you know, late August, early September 2011. And it's not like I came out of the call. I was in a coma and then I opened my eyes and everything was good.

Like the waking up process took a few weeks. I had to get reacclimated to real life, right? I kind of understood the severity of what happened, obviously. but yeah it was a kind of a rude awakening obviously right and realizing what I had lost and yeah man it was but I believe there was a way I was going to find a way and I would say that one of the most incredible moments for me between obviously all the amazing support that I had I had so many people and all my family all my friends from Fort Wayne like I had so many people there to support me out of the goodness of their heart you know they just did it for me

I obviously probably made them feel good to be there for me in a tough situation, but they were just there, my friends, my family. I had so many people that were there for me, which is incredible. Another big thing for me was Coach B-Line. He got a special clearance from NCAA because at that point, when you're an unsigned recruit, just verbal commitment, I could only see him on campus at Michigan or at my high school. Yeah.

Obviously, unique circumstances or he got a special waiver from NCAA to come see me in the hospital. And this is not verbatim, but he basically said, Austin, man, I can't wait to coach you someday. I can't wait to have it on my team. Whenever I were to come play for me in Michigan, man, I can't wait to coach you. Walk. I can't, I couldn't walk, right?

I didn't know if I was ever going to walk ever again. But yeah, just that belief. And obviously all the doctors and people that took care of me and help me recover and stuff. And I look at my life, like this is what I went through. You could argue that's the worst case scenario, right? Oh, gosh. Yeah. What was? Yes, bro. Yes. But what I was going to say is, like, I've had the best case scenario of all the amazing support and people and love. And yeah, I'm just very grateful for it all. Yeah. And you're also incredibly humble. Part of that's that Indiana upbringing probably. But let's just be honest, bro. Your special. Wait, I didn't get charged for my donut. It was free with this Tim's rewards points.

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What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groom lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parmesan delivered. A banana? That's a no. But a banana? That's a yes. A nice tan. Sorry. Nope. But a box fan? Happily, yes. A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by Regency app for details. By the way, God chose you for some reason to live this life, right? He holds you in the palm of his hand. There's something special about you. And I love that you give credit to Coach B. What a wonderful man with that job, everything pulling at him to spend that time with you's remarkable, all the people around you. Absolutely. But you are the one who rebuilt your life. You didn't do it alone, but you did. Really hard question here. What was harder believing in life again and building your thoughts or learning to walk? definitely the thoughts because all the physical stuff like as far like the basics of it like

re-learning to walk re-learning how like that obviously it took some time i'm not going to say it came easy but like that wasn't that wasn't the hard i mean it was difficult but it wasn't it wasn't hard it was difficult but it wasn't hard and like the the hard stuff was like what but I lost and, you know, believing that, like, getting, like, trying to, you know, wrap my mind around what happened and then still convincing myself or, like, believing that, you know what, I'm going to find a way. I'm going to find a way. I don't know how, don't know how I want to get to Michigan.

I don't know how I'm in a coma. I'm in a wheelchair right now. I can't walk. I can't really walk, but I'm going to find a way to make it to Michigan and join. the team and get a great education and i think the biggest thing and what was so impactful for me is i had so many people there who believed in me and were positive and they because it's like i think i think i think our mutual friend john gordon i think i think he's a guy who says uh you know positivity is a competitive advantage right and like being positive doesn't mean we ignore the

negative but like obviously we acknowledge it but it's like you know what We're going to find a way. I actually think that it's acknowledging the negative. And I think that that way you know you're telling yourself the truth. And we're going to get into grit and some other things here in a minute, some of your strategies. Do you still live in a lot of fear, Austin? I would think that if you do not, wow, why? Like I would think I've had two experiences. I live afraid now. I would think life has taught me to be afraid. It's taught you a completely different lesson from your experience. The most definitive answer of the show so far was right there when you just said no immediately. Why? Because if you think about it, like I had to take stats in

college, didn't do very well. But like one of the things is like past causation doesn't predict or increase the probability of future causation, right? Like if you think about it from like that standpoint, just because I was in these two really bad accidents before doesn't mean that I am somehow. I'm more likely to get in a third one. It doesn't. Like, sometimes you let our mind tell us things that aren't true, you know, and I just think that, and also, too, like, for me, like, and this is a whole other issue, but, like, I don't fear dying.

I don't want to die, obviously. I've got a wife and two beautiful kids. Like, I obviously not, but, like, if it's my time to go, man, it must be my time to go. Why? Why are you that way? Is it be, would you have been this way before, both experiences? Did this teach you something about? life and death that you didn't know before that it altered your faith like why are you not afraid

to die most people are most people it's their greatest fear i don't know for a fact where i'm going but i think i think i'm doing things the right way god willing i'll make it to heaven and you know honor him i continue to honor him in my life and i'll get to see my family again right like i believe that and you know i haven't seen my mom and siblings in 22 years haven't seen my dad and dad and second mom in 14 i'm obviously i'm excited to see them someday but god willing it's 70 years from now my wife and i have you know a lot of kids as many as she wants and a lot of grandkids a lot of grandkids so you know one thing i've learned in marriage let's just say i wanted three kids she wanted six we're going to compromise and have six right that's good

one more thing and then i want to go to all the strategies everyone's like all right i'm ready to write some notes here in a second too because they're all you know moved i want to ask you something personal and you can share with me as much of it as you want to or you don't one of the things that happens in the work i do when someone's experienced some type of trauma and by the way trauma can be everything from you watch your mother and siblings die in a plane crash and that's severe trauma clearly to you know your parents didn't love you enough there's a spectrum of trauma in life it could be one bad experience where you got laughed out of a classroom or the breakup one of the challenges that a lot of people have. And I'd like you to be as honest as you're willing to be about

this is they replay the video of their mind of the incident. They replay it over and over. And even if someone's left them, they replay them with this new person over and over. And so they're almost tortured with the thought of an event that took place once that they then put themselves through thousands of times. It was bad enough once, but they put themselves through thousands of times. And when I really get to the heart of the work of what's still causing them to be held back, it is often this video in their mind of the incident or the imagined incident. You've had two horrific videos that you've experienced. Do you still see them? Did you do something to not see them? And what attention do you pay to it? The second one, I had such a bad head

injury um i don't remember like a couple months before that crash i remember stuff if i see pictures or i see a video of it like if you ask me about something i like i don't remember like like for example like committing to michigan june 15 2011 i don't remember that when i see the footage of it right okay like it's like on a test you take a test you don't know the answer but then so when someone tells you the right answer oh i knew that i just didn't think about at the time so it's like that so i don't remember the second one at all um they had a really bad head and head injury which is a blessing to not remember that um first one i unfortunately do um a little like you know you know more than more than i more than i'd like to um and yeah i just i don't know not that i like you know you know

suppress it or or try to ignore it but it's like yeah as devastating it is as it is as tragic as it is and, you know, I miss my whole family every day, obviously. And I think about, you know, our kids, now my mom, she would be an amazing grandma. Yeah, but it would have just be incredible. But the cool thing is for me, Ed, like, I don't have to wonder what life would be like now if they were here. Like, I know what it be.

Obviously, not, like, in detail, but I know how involved they'd be. I know they would be coming up here all the time. And, you know, like, I know the kind of grandparents they'd be. I know, like, how my siblings, Ian and Lindsay, what kind of aunts and uncle, like, what they'd be like, right? And, yeah, it's just, I mean, and one thing that I found is, um, I'm, I'm very grateful. Yeah, I know it. For the life that I have. I'm just so grateful, Ed.

I mean, I can't believe it. Like, that I married the girl in my dreams. We have, we live in. I just can't believe it, right? And one thing I tell you about you, bro, one thing I want to tell you. Like, I study patterns in people. and I was going to say before you said that, I just want to acknowledge something because I think sometimes people do things well unconsciously. Almost everything I've asked you, you've immediately gone

to, but you know what I'm grateful for? But you know what I'm grateful for? But you know the people around me? But you know my wife? What I'm grateful for? And I think what you do is you do see that video and then you immediately begin to replace it with gratitude and gratitude videos and gratitude thoughts and you you've built a massive superpower muscle of giving yourself the gratitude dose that is greater than the grief dose because you've done it repetitively and you're bigger. I just want to tell you what I see in you that is part of your greatness and just speak it to you. You almost struggle to tell the hard parts of the story because you're so wired with the gratitude of where you are now yeah and well thank you for kind of words i appreciate it one thing

that i found um it is it's i don't know neurologically you know how this works you know my best friends is a is a neurosurgeon and show so maybe you should ask him about this but like it's a it's it's literally impossible to be truly grateful and very negative at the same time it's literally impossible right like those two emotions can't coexist and like like being and i'm not say we should ignore all negative emotions and only think about the positives we should think we should acknowledge the negative yeah like i acknowledge what i've lost obviously like like i said like obviously terrible losses losing my family and the plane crashes and stuff but it's like look at the life we've built and we're going to build every day and it's just like man like how can you again not that not that not that

not that all the great things now like make all the all the tragic losses like disappear obviously not But it just makes for a better experience in life just to be positive and be grateful and focus on the good. I admire you. Reading, playing, learning. Stellist lenses do more than just correct your child's vision. They slow down the progression of myopia. So your child can continue to discover all the world has to offer

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and Chewy Fudge with a chocolatey coating. Swing by a gas station and get an O'Henry today. Oh, hungry, oh, Henry. I admire you a great deal. The more I talk with you, the more my admiration grows. I appreciate it. Yeah, it's true. You're a tough dude.

I want to get into some of the things you've done to build your life because it's a remarkable life. And we'll take them through little Michigan stuff here in a second, too. And then the amazing speaking career you've built, and you need a great speaker, guys. I've got to be honest with the last few weeks, multiple people have reached out to me and said, I just saw this guy Austin Hatch, man, he's unbelievable, and I evidently's about to go do your show. So that's real feedback behind the scenes about him.

Thank you. I appreciate that. It's a fact. You're tough. But you also, you're gritty. You've actually kind of got a formula on grit you share. This is where the notes start kind of getting taken everybody on what this man did to build a life from not one, but two, just unimaginable. imaginable tragedies in his life.

Take us through Grit a little bit. Your thoughts on it. A lot of people talk about Grit is, you know, working hard for the long-term goal, the toughness, the, all that. That's great. And being persistent, perseverance, obviously that's all true. But I think grit isn't just about working for the long-term goal. I think grit's every day.

Grit's every day. And I think about my recovery journey. You know, I was blessed to make a good comeback. I had an incredible support team who helped me make it. But, you know, I was trying to get to Michigan. But grit wasn't just Michigan. Grit was every day. Grit was getting out of bed.

Grit was walking the hospital floor. Grit was learning how to jog again. Grit was, you know, grit was learning how to get back in school. So I think grit's more specific than just working hard for that long-term goal. So I think it's, I'll give you the two-minute spiel. Please.

And so it's four letters. I think there's four key components to it. Really believe that. But I think it's driven by a greater purpose. I think we need to be driven by something bigger than ourselves, whether that's your faith, your family, your teammates, your colleagues, the organization,

whatever your purpose is. I think we need to be driven by something bigger than ourselves because if it's just for us, it'd be nice if I overcame this challenge or achieved this goal in the face of these trials, but it's only really for me, so it's gonna require too much time and effort and sacrifice. I'm not really sure that it's worth it all, right?

But if it's for something bigger than yourself, for your family, for your friends, you know for your for your teammate like if it's for something bigger than yourself i think we're always going to be willing we're always going to be willing and that's what i think a lot of life and business comes down to like it obviously the the best business plan or the best you know like like the team in sports the best game playing the most the best prepared team is probably going to be successful but a lot of the time is the team that's the most willing like are are you willing to compete as hard as you can for the whole game or just for the

the first half. Like when you're tired, are you willing to find a way to keep competing, to keep giving a little more than you think you can. So I think you've ever got a purpose for what you do, whatever you do, sports, business, family, anything. If you ever get a purpose, we're always going to be willing. So, very good. Purpose drives grit. The G, the growth mindset, use adversity's opportunity. I really believe that. Challenge is our opportunities, not the challenge itself, not the adversity itself, not the loss. itself but the opportunities in how we choose to respond right it's a choice to have the growth mindset it's a choice it's also a choice to have the victim mindset right if you're a little

sorry for ourselves well i didn't deserve this man how i did why is this happen to me and not the other people not them why is it easy for them and not like right it's easy to think that way how much easier would life be if this didn't happen but why not just have the growth mindset okay this happened so what now what right like at coach bly at michigan coach blyne we lose the game um and he would say every time we're going to watch the film of the game and find a way to get better from it we're going to watch the film and get better from it and like i think that's an idea in life too like not get better because we lost but look at our mistakes look at why we lost and then turn those into learning opportunities so that we can be better for it in the future so i think if you just

have that growth mindset all the time, it's not if we overcome our challenge, it's not if we achieve our goals in the face of adversity. I really believe it's when. So the R is the decision to be resilient. And I don't think you're resilient if you bounce back from challenges and achieve your goals. Like, I don't think I'm resilient because I made it to Michigan after being in two plane crashes. That doesn't make me resilient. I mean, I understand people who think that way. But I think I'm resilient because I took action every day. I took massive action every single day. and I think achieving your goals is the result of that. Like if you're disciplined and committed to the journey and take massive action every

single day, there's almost no way you don't get to where you want to be, right? And I think just showing up every day, ready to go, ready to compete, ready to take action. That's what resilience is to me. Very good. That's what resurgence is to me. What's the eye? The eye. It's the big one.

They're all big, but I think it's the big one. the eye the eye's integrity and of course integrity you know doing the right thing and nobody's looking very important obviously going about a business the right way um act you know in the financial services space that you know however the language reads you know we have a free share responsibility that act in the best service of clients or however the how whatever integrity means to you um that's great um you know like my school growing up the school model was integrity in all things integrity in all things right because like if you don't have integrity nothing else matters but in addition to that i think integrity includes following through our commitments

especially when the circumstances change right a lot of people make commitments when everything's all good or when circumstances are stable but then when things change yeah sorry you know i made this commitment to you and everything is all good but sorry now that i'm dealing with this other issue not sure i'm to be able to follow through on on my commitment to you it's pretty common happens all the time unfortunately it's Sure it does. But like most college coaches, when they recruit a player to offer them a scholarship to come play, that's normal. They're going to follow through if, you know, the player is going to come play and contribute to the team, right?

But if they get hurt, I think, or something happens, like, they follow through on the commitment whenever, when they get what they thought they're going to get, right? From the player. Coach B-line didn't get that for me. But he still followed through in his commitment. He said, I made a commitment, so I made a commitment. I made a commitment, so I made a commitment. And the follow through was a no-brainer. And he said, it's just what we do at Michigan.

Of course I'm going to follow through. I made you a promise, man. Of course I'm going to keep it. I gave you my word. And I think, you know, like, from an organizational, cultural, collaborative team, family perspective, right? Like, if we can all do that, man. free if we can all have our followers and our commitments not be based on circumstances if everybody

that we work with everybody we interact with every day knows you have austin ed abby sarah susan yeah if they made a commitment yeah they're going to get it done she's what they do of course they're going to follow through yeah yeah most people's integrity commitment is conditional if you deliver on what you said i'll deliver on what i said if circumstances are great i'll give you everything i got but when circumstances and conditions change most people's effort or commitment changes. And what you're saying is it's non-conditional, non-circumstantial, unconditional integrity, keeping your word. And that's what you've done. That's how this life we're talking about has been built. This is so good. That's why I'm letting you go. What's T?

Steve, last hour I'll go real quick. Team first mentality. Team first mentality. Every person on every team has a role at, and that role is very important. We don't have the same role now. I'm not saying that. But every person on a team has a role and the role is a very important. You know, I've got about eight teams in the NBA now. Some who you probably know, you know, Jordan Poole, the Wagner brothers, Karis Levert, you know, DJ Wilson, you know, like these guys are really, Duncan Robinson, my buddy in Miami. Like these guys are really good players.

They're really good players. They were the best on my team. You know, my wife was a three-time All-American volleyball player at Michigan. Yeah. So she was the best on her team. She was the best on her team. I wasn't. I'm in the record books at Michigan as the all-time lowest scoring full scholarship athlete in program history.

I scored 1.4 years. I scored 1.4 years. But I was on the team, so I had a role, right? Yep, yep. So be a great teammate, shaggballs in practice, help with drills, rebounding shoot-around before games, bring positive energy to the gym, and work hard to be the best that I could be. and what i learned man is that is that yeah you may not be the best on your team but you could be your best for the team and whatever your role is we can all be our best four of the team and that's

just kind of how i looked at it and i'm like man i wanted to find some way to contribute to michigan i scored one point but if i could contribute by being positive and bringing energy every single day if that's what i could do it's what i could do you know so listen to what you're doing right now. There's millions of people hearing this. By the way, I didn't even know this when I ask you the question. If you're on YouTube, you see this, but a lot of you listen on audio over his right shoulder right now is the word grit. I didn't even see that when I asked you the question earlier. It's all over you. You know, you said something about massive action. And how do you know when you're doing that? How do you know when you've taken enough or it is enough

or it's too much? You know, because I say that too, immediate, massive action, right? It's hard to define that how do you know like when you were going you through your rehab how do you know well i think you know my dad my hero he always said awesome whatever you want to do in your life man be a doctor like me go to michigan have a family whatever you want to do in your life you said go bigger go home hmm go big or go home and i think you know when you've gone big enough i think and and not to sit not not not to focus on the results but like if you're not getting the results want if you're not getting to where you want to be kick it up a notch and go bigger right like what if you're in a spot like you were austin i'm gonna i want to challenge you on someone if you're

in a spot where you are where you're in a wheelchair someone's listening this right now they're like man i i i'm on the canvas bro like i'm i'm just thinking for this person right now if anybody can relate to this it's you right like you this is a dude who's you know he's being humble He was an, you don't get a full boat scholarship to Michigan basketball when you're still a junior in high school. If you're not unbelievably great, okay? And now you're like, I can't stand up. I can't tie my shoes. I can't.

So what about small actions? So it still can be massive, but it's small. So there's the big. And by the way, you know how much I agree with you on that. But what about the person who goes like, Is there any credit, any worth to just doing something towards my goal, something to get up? Just metaphorically tying my shoes, like what you wanted to do at one point. Well, that's what it was for me, Ed.

That's where it started. Like, I couldn't walk. I couldn't, I did, as I was rebuilding my strength, I started in the hospital, I was doing wall pushups, like standing up, pushing against the wall. So I was, I was 225. when the second plane crash happened. I was strong. 6.6.2.25.

I was a sophomore in high school. I was 16 years old. And then when I came out of the coma, I was like 160. So I lost 60 pounds of muscle, right? Wow. Like, and, you know, people are like, oh, you know, pretty good recovery and come back and stuff. It was one day at a time, man.

It was one day at a time. It was three really hard years of recovery. but you just take take massive action like you know the whole saying be where your feet are like take massive action today and wherever your feet are today

like okay can't really walk right now can't really do like much right now okay I'm going to do I'm going to do because I think massive action is relative right you can do what you can do

right like you can't ask more of yourself than what you're capable of and I think I think not to say people know we don't know our potential obviously but like like I said like with resilience like how do you know

if you've gone big enough you don't know but I think most people at the end of the day you put the head on the pill and said yeah we went big today I think you're right I think you know when you don't with Amex platinum access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets

can score you a spot track side so being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime that's the powerful backing of Amex pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at mx.ca slash y-Nex. I think you know inside when you put your head on that pillow at night, I left a little bit in the tank.

I left some on the field. You know, I know I have. I know in my baseball career, I left a lot there. I could have done more. I could have worked harder. And when I got into business, I was like, I'm never going to have that feeling again. If I lose, I'm going down with my A game. I'm going down with everything I got, guns blazing.

What I found out was winning is actually inevitable if you don't quit and you go guns blazing. Like you just outlast everybody, even if you're not the best player on your team. And if you're not the best. I got an interesting question for you. I want you to really think about it. We've got a few more left. And by the way, I've enjoyed this today. It's a remarkable honor of mine that I get to meet people like you and get inside their heart, more than their head.

you know your head's one thing but your heart's much bigger if you could go grab you i appreciate it well it's just true brother it's just it's obvious um your strong good capable man if you could grab that 16 year old that was getting on that plane with your dad if you could get on there with kim then you grab you before you get on knowing what's about to happen in this young man's life. I wonder what you would tell him to never forget. Like, what would you want him to know if you could grab him now, knowing what you know right before that experience was going to happen? What would you say to him? Don't forget how you worked to get to Michigan. Don't forget it.

It's about you're going to have to work a lot harder to, rebuild your life like it's the same it's the same mentality though it's it's it's i think sometimes what we what we think is that you know what we offer a lot of people who are listening to this like you you already done great things in your life and if you're going through something right now or you're dealing with some issue like i'm not belittling it by any means but i'm saying like have the same mindset to over to overcome your challenge is that whatever you're dealing with that you had towards achieving your goal, whatever goals you had in the past,

whether it's playing sports and when you're younger or getting a career, achieving exposition or what, or getting this promotion or that or whatever. Like, remember the work and remember the mindset you had when you're going after that. And now that you're dealing with this other issue,

it's, yeah, it's a different, it's a different problem. I can approach it very similar. one of the way. Last question. Last question for you. Let me ask you this. Be as candid as you could be. You, how'd this make you look at your faith, your life? When I say this, like, those are two incidences of this man's life, but he's had an entire life also. He said the birth of his own children. He's had his own wedding. He said, other setbacks, other hurts, other traumas, other victories, quiet moments of doubt, whether he'd ever play basketball

again, whether he'd ever get to Michigan, whether he'd ever be a father, whether life is fair, all of the, this is just two incidences of a life, right? And people forget that. How is it impacted your faith? Like, if you said, I'm mad at God, I think there would be people that wouldn't blame you or I was or I questioned my faith or I still question it I I really wonder where it's caused you to land in what I think is the most important decisions and areas of life 100% it's actually it's strengthened my faith because I've realized that like God's been there he's been there with me through it all every step of the way and um you know I think there's a couple verses i just want to talk about real quick um so james one two and three says consider it pure joy when

you face trials in many kinds because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance right consider it pure joy and nobody's nobody's happy when they go through stuff but i think joy is a more permanent thing right like joy makes it more like christ is like because i think the joy is that it's gonna make me more like christ like going through self and overcoming this getting the opportunity to respond to it So consider your pure joy when you face trials in many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And then a couple of verses later, James 1-9 says, blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love them.

It says you're going to be blessed if you persevere under trial, right? Like not, and I hope my life is proof of the Bible being true, but it's like, man, look at my life now. I am so blessed. I'm, like, I have, I'm not going to say I have everything that, I have what everybody, everybody wants, but I'm like, I have an amazing family, amazing extended family, amazing in-laws and amazing, like, I'm just so blessed. Like, I can't believe that I'm, like, we have this life. I can't believe this is real life, you know?

Yeah. And then, so bless is the one who perseveres under trial. Because that person will receive the crown of life for Lord, just promised those to love them. Last verse, Ed, believe it's Philippians. one six um he who has begun a good work in you will see you through to completion right and i and obviously i not my my my place to you know break that verse out and like you know translated or whatever but like i don't think it says he who has begun a good work in you if everything stays simple and easy then he'll see you through to completion i didn't say that just says he who

who has begun a good work in you, he's going to see it through to completion. Like, I don't think that's, again, I don't think, like, kind of like the massive action wasn't a conditional thing or the integrity was a conditional. Like, God seeing it seem good works through to completion is not conditional. That doesn't seem like it. Again, this is my understanding or my perception of the verse. But I think, you know, if he's begun a good work in you and if you stay committed and faithful and honor him, he's going to see it through to completion.

amen brother i just i don't know it's just times in your life where you sit with somebody they've got so much humility as you all can hear from this young man and uh do you want to be more like them like right now i can tell you my emotion is i'm a little bit emotional but i'm grateful for the time with you i'm grateful that i got to share you with the world but i want to be more like you i'm humbled by you and you've had that effect on me today like you're a good man you're a good man your parents I appreciate it's true your parents your parents are very very proud of you bro and it's so obvious why you were chosen to live this life and you won't accept that

because you're too humble you're too humble of a guy the praise is what I mean but you're the right man for this existence you're the right man to deliver this message and And I want to, on your behalf, tell everybody that if you want to have a great speaker come into your business or your company or your organization, you just heard from him. And here's why. A lot of people are good at talking about theories and philosophies and concepts and strategies. Very few people live it and have lived it. And so this is a real story. It's not a movie even though it sounds like it.

It's a real story and he's a real person and he can really move your group. he moved me today and i hope that he moved all of you austin hatch thank you sincerely for being here today and god bless you brother thank you again for having me i really appreciate god bless you as well look forward to staying in touch yeah let's keep getting after i'm always here for you and uh i'm taking these lessons of grit and action and toughness and faith from you uh into my journey brother it added to my life and i know it added to millions of other people's all right everybody if you enjoyed today's show and i know you did or it moved you or it affected you or you think it could affect or help someone else please share it on your email your text your social media i'd be

grateful if you did that just so that more people are affected and go follow austin on social media as well god bless you everybody max out this is the edmunds show