The School of Greatness - 653 Become Superhuman and Achieve the Impossible with Iron Cowboy James Lawrence

Episode Date: June 13, 2018

"AS A PEOPLE, WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT OUR ALTER EGO IS.” One of the hardest things for us to deal with is pain. Our mind tries to prevent us from experiencing it. It's just trying to protect us and keep us alive. When we push through that pain, however, that’s when we accomplish greatness. Now I don’t mean continuing with a broken arm. I mean pushing through those tough times when your mind is trying to tell your body to stop, but you know you have more to give. That’s why I wanted to bring you today’s guest, the Iron Cowboy himself: James Lawrence. James did 50 Ironman Triathlons, in 50 days, in 50 states. He was constantly on the move for 12 hours a day, running, swimming, and cycling. As soon as he was finished, he had to travel to the next state. Most days James only had about four hours to rest. That’s no time for your body to recover. Did he hurt? Did he want to give up? Of course. But James ended up powering through, breaking a Guinness World Record. At the end of the 50 days, his body had begun to accept that this was its new reality (and he felt like he needed to do another triathlon after he finished!) Humans can push themselves so much further than we think. We just need to get over our mental barriers to see what we can really achieve. Learn what it takes to develop your skills and overcome your boundaries, on Episode 653. Some Questions I Ask: The universe was telling you to quit, how and why did you continue? (12:01) When did you do your first Ironman Triathlon? (21:00) Why do you think it’s important to put your body through a stress that your mind says no to? (25:36) What was your greatest fear growing up? (29:16) What’s the greatest personal struggle you’ve ever faced? (32:15) Were the conversations you were having with yourself more about forgiveness or the future you wanted to create? (37:56) How much mental training did it take for you to find your alter ego? (42:53) What’s your mental routine on a daily basis? (52:56) In This Episode You Will Learn: How James helped someone with Cerebral Palsy finish the triathlon (7:29) How long it takes for him to finish an Ironman Triathlon (14:32) The greatest lesson he’s learned from all 50 Ironmans (24:34) Something we can do on a daily basis to help us increase our mental toughness (27:25) How he’s preparing his children to take on the world (30:45) What he thinks about at hour 7 of the day during a race (34:51) The power of his alter ego (39:42) Why he felt the need to achieve the impossible (47:25)

This is episode number 653 with Iron Cowboy James Lawrence. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Maya Angelou said, you may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact,

it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. I'm excited about this episode because I don't think I've ever met a man who's put himself through this much pain. This man is James Lawrence. He's a record-setting triathlete known as the Iron Cowboy. He holds the current world record for the most Ironman distance triathlons completed within a single calendar year, 30 of them in 2012. He also holds the record for the most half Ironman distance triathlons in one year, 22 in 2011. He completed the insanely crazy 50 Ironman length triathlons in 50 consecutive days, one in each of the 50 US states. Yes, I did not mistake myself in what I said.

This man is almost insane, but he's so cool at the same time. And I was so excited to connect with him, to learn about how he disciplined his mind to go through so much pain in such a long time. You know, we're talking 12, 14 hours at a time to complete one of these Ironman triathlons. And to do it every single day for 50 days, it just blows my mind. So I wanted to learn how he was able to even train for this, how he was able to get a big enough why to stick it out.

You know, sometimes people can't even do a 20 minute workout and he's doing 50 days in a row, 14 hours a day, basically killing himself. How was he able to find a deep enough why? basically killing himself, how was he able to find a deep enough why? How do you keep going when you want to quit? How do you restart your career after you've failed big? We talked about the key to accomplishing a massive goal and avoid overwhelm or breakdown. Also, whether talent or hard work matters more in high performance and the best way to talk to yourself when you're alone and struggling. This, my friends, and so much more is a powerful episode. Make sure to share with your friends. LewisHowes.com slash 653.

Tag me at Lewis Howes on Instagram. Let me know that you're listening. And check out the full video interview show notes back there as well. Before we dive in, big shout out to the fan of the week. This is from Dig Kid who said, Truly great. Ever since I was a little kid, I knew I wanted to do great things. Throughout my life, when I talked about this drive inside me,

people around me didn't believe in me or didn't take what I said seriously. For so long, I felt like I was the only one who felt this way until I found the School of Greatness. For the first time in my life, I feel I've actually found a community that I belong to. This podcast changed my life. The first time I listened to an episode, my entire mindset that had felt so unusual from those around

me was instantly validated. The information, energy, guidance, and self-elevating content on this podcast is 100% priceless. So my friend, Dig Kid, you are not alone. And anyone else listening, you are not alone. If you've got that crazy passion, desire, dream, energy, you've got a community right here. It's called the School of Greatness. Welcome to the family. We've got to do a big family group hug sometime. And I think at the Summit of Greatness,

I'm going to have everyone who attends the Summit of Greatness this year, we're going to try to create the biggest group hug possible. Maybe one year, we'll create our own world record for the biggest group hug. That's what I want to create. So I want to see you guys there. Summitofgreatness.com. Make sure you get your ticket for the event in October. Big thank you again to Dig Kid. If you guys haven't left your review yet, you can do that on the podcast app on your phone or go to School of Greatness over on iTunes and leave one there. Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. We've got the Iron Cowboy, James Lawrence in the house.

Good to see you, man. Good to be here. Excited about this one. You did something crazy a few years ago. Let me make sure I got it right. 50 Ironmans in 50 states in 50 days is that right correct 50 ironman triathlons is that what it's called yeah so triathlon is anything swim bike or run yeah ironman is a brand it is a full distance triathlon

and so we covered the distance of a full distancedistance triathlon every day for 50 days, which is seven weeks. And then we did one in every state. And so for seven weeks, wake up, do a full-distance Ironman, and call it a day. And what's the distances for the Ironman? So an Ironman or a full-distance triathlon is a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 112-mile bike, followed by a standard 26.2-mile marathon run, which totals 140.6 miles. In a day? In a day. So the entire 50 days, we covered just over 7,000 miles across the country.

So a full marathon every day for 50 days by itself is a lot, but added a hundred and something mile bike and a two mile plus swim correct yeah and one of the days you took a kid with you right who was cerebral palsy yeah and you swam with him yeah he trailed in the back and like a little little towboat thing yeah you biked with him and you ran with him right right it's crazy man yeah so so the whole Dayton story is is unique in itself so in 2012 leading up to the 50 i broke the guinness world record for the most official ironman events in a single calendar year in a year in a year 30 30 yep and in that year on race 27 is when i spent that day with dayton and uh and and we had some some complications difficulty

turned into a huge day um we just made the cutoff by less than 25 minutes and gave him his first Ironman medal. And so I wanted to kind of have a do-over with Dayton in 2015 when we were doing the 50. But I didn't realize, and I have no idea why I wouldn't have realized this, but the compounding effect of an Ironman a day is insane, right? You did 30 in a year. Right. And then so- You had a week off. Yeah, exactly, right? So I'm like, ah, it should be okay. So by the time we got to Dayton on the 50 on day number seven, I'd already torn my shoulder. I was completely exhausted. We were trying to figure out logistics. We'd hit a deer in the middle of the night coming from Vegas to Arizona, and Dayton shows up, and I'm just like panicked,

and I don't know how I'm going to pull him in this day. And so the wingman, I had two guys with me full time that were everything to me. For the whole tour? Casey and Aaron, yeah, for the whole 50 days. They came out with me. We called them the wingman. But they were unbelievable. And so Casey and Aaron were exhausted as much as I was because they had to help me all day and then drive all night, right? So 24 hours a day. So we're seven days into this. And they're exhausted. And they go, I'm dating sitting there. And I'm like, dude, I don't know if I can. And Casey goes, I'll pull them. I'll pull them in the swim beside you. And then Aaron

goes, I'll pull them on the bike. And then we'll do them together on the run. And so the three of us kind of worked together to get Dayton through this day because we were so exhausted seven days in, having no idea how we were going to do this. And Dayton's sitting there, right? And he's excited to do this event. And so we were kind of like, okay, how are we going to do this? And so it's just a really cool. I still want another do-over with Dayton because. By yourself. Yeah, for me to do it and have another experience with him.

Problem is he's almost 20 now and he's a big kid. He's a big kid. And so back then in 2012, you know, he was in his teens. And between him and his car, he still weighed 195 pounds. So now, I mean, we're going to be pushing 250, which adds a ton of complications and things like that. So who knows if it'll ever happen. I've had two real special days with Dayton that I'll never forget. And one that I got to share with the wingman. And they kind of helped get Dayton through that. So special moments in my journey have been with him. So seven days in, you're thinking to yourself, what did I get myself into?

Oh dude, day one, I'm thinking to myself, what did I get myself into? You're like, I need a few days to recover. Well, for sure. Because 50 states includes Hawaii and Alaska. And so you have to fly. You have to fly. That's the only way. Sleep on a plane, no recovery. Sleep on a plane, no recovery. So the first three events that we did three full ironmans three days three states total six and a half hours of sleep on on an airplane right and to do the first one in order to get off the island of hawaii into alaska we had to start the first one at midnight so no sleep going into this project and then do the first three on no sleep and so waking up on day number four, you're like,

that was kind of the real moment where you're like, oh, my gosh. Why am I doing this? I have 47 consecutive Ironmans, and we have no idea how this is going to happen. And then every single day, we were presented with incredible reasons to quit and back out of this. Injury, no sleep. Oh, just, yeah.

Just hitting a deer. Oh, man. I mean, you hit a deer. Yeah, oh man, it just, I mean, you hit a deer in the middle of the night, it takes out your generator, and you can no longer take food with you because your fridge is gone. That's not something you plan for on day six. Oh my gosh. To have no solution for food, and when I've got to feed a crew and 12,000 calories a day for me, I mean, where are you getting your food, right? Because everything became so minute to minute and chaotic to solve this problem early, right? And so just things compounded immediately out of the gate starting on day one, and then it just was like this master puzzle of how to problem solve. The universe was telling you, you should quit. You should give up.

You should stop. You're crazy. Don't do this. So how did you push through and why did you continue? It wasn't even an option. It wasn't even on the table. We were all in as a team. A lot of people don't know this about my story. It's in the book, Redefine Impossible. But in 2008, I owned a mortgage company and then we lost everything. Like every mortgage broker. Exactly. I'm not unique in that scenario, but it hit our sector incredibly hard. And we fought for two years, tried to recoup, and just ended up losing everything, which was really hard for me as a father, as a husband, as a provider. I've got five kids, and just to be diminished to nothing.

And so this was a rebuild. This was an opportunity to do something where I had passion about and to hopefully have impact and get people to shift their mindsets. And so when I'm sitting there and everything's saying quit, for me, it wasn't an option. And I had to figure out a way to continue to move this forward because I knew if we got to the other side of this, doors would open up. Opportunities would change. And I've been shoved into this. Trust me, I'm not a designed motivational speaker. That's Tony Robbins. That's his jam, right? But the demand for it and what we did was so on the far side of possibility.

Extreme, yeah. Extreme, that it's really pushed and navigated us towards doing this as a career. And from stage, I talk about becoming uncomfortable intentionally. And that's how you evolve and you adapt and you grow and you learn. And for me, people are always like, what's next? And I'm like, dude, hey, there's no physical or mental next. Like, that was it. For me now, it's getting up on stage and doing these podcasts. This is me becoming uncomfortable intentionally so that I can impact people and help them get unstuck from the current situation that they're in. And so that was a huge driving factor for us.

I was like... You knew on the other side of pain was some possibility. On the other side of these seven weeks is a new life, is a new opportunity, is the gateway to our family having an opportunity to impact and help people. And ultimately, that's what the massive driving force for this was. And, man, we have been humbled. Just last year, traveled to 30 countries, sharing the message and the story.

People are just craving it. And the message that we get now after someone has felt part of our journey and the changes that they're making is so humbling and so gratifying and what wakes me up every day and wants me to keep driving. That's great. How long does it take on average to finish the Ironman triathlon? So on a world stage? For you. For me. Okay. So anything just right under 10 hours is a great day for me. If you're doing 50 in a row. 50 in a row, you're talking 14 to 17 hours. Okay. But if you're doing one, you're fresh, you've had a month of training. Nine something. Nine something. It's like your bet. And what's like the world record?

World record was just said again, it's just under eight hours. Got it. Okay. At the world championships, the pros at a professional level and the prime of their career, 803 to 805. Wow. They're right in there. So you're doing nine on a great day, which is still incredible. Sure. The average athlete is doing 20 probably. The 14. The time cap is 17. Oh, really?

Yeah, they cut you off at 17, they close the course, you're done. Got it. And so your majority of the field is coming in 13, 14, 15 hours. That's kind of like I've done it. Benchmarks are break 12, break 10, break nine. Those are your big benchmarks. You've really got to pace yourself if you're doing 50 in a row.

Oh, it's a totally different game. It's a slow game. It's a slow game. It's a big picture. And a lot of people don't have that, right? They just go out of the gate and implode. Yeah, guys try to do this type of thing all the time and they don't understand what it takes

and how durable you have to be and what type of athlete you have to be. We were heavily criticized for the amount of strength training we did leading up to the 50. They're like, dude, this is a 50-day endurance training. What are you doing powerlifting? You had to, though. Absolutely.

But they don't understand, look, the way to get injured is to not do physical strength. I had to go into the 50 kind of like as a lineman, knowing that I was going to be, you just break down. There was no recovery on the 50. It was a matter of holding on and staying mentally sharp. And we averaged four hours of sleep a night. You don't recover in four hours of sleep. It doesn't. Yeah, it doesn't get through it. The only way it gets through is if you're strong enough. So guys try this all the time and they get sidelined with ligament injuries

and tendons and stress fractures and all these things. And then you're done. And then you're done. You physically can't do it. And it's not a matter of pain. It's just if a ligament snaps,

like you snap an Achilles, you're done. Done. I don't care how mentally tough you are and whatnot. That's something you can overcome. I crashed on the bike on day 18. I fell asleep on my bike and crashed. But because I was durable enough, I didn't break my collarbones. I didn't snap an arm. I was able to navigate and fight through the pain and teach my body, look, we're going to do an Ironman

tomorrow. And so you've got to figure out how to heal during this process. And so even during training, as we were building strength, when something would come up, I didn't take the time off. I put a great team around me, and I was like, look, I have to teach my body to adapt while under stress. If I teach my body that when it presents pain to me, that I'm going to stop, it's going to go, okay, as soon as I present pain, he's going to back off, right? And so I

had to teach my body, look, you're going to show me pain, but I'm going to teach you and you have to recoup and recover because we have to do it again tomorrow. And it got to the point where my body was becoming so efficient that it craved. It craved doing an Ironman. The single hardest endurance event in sports, my body craved wanting to do it. It expected it. It started to recover quick and say, when are we going next? As soon as I stopped, it said, I have four hours.

I have four hours and he's going to go again. And it's going to regenerate. It's going to be strong. It's going to be strong. You're going to be awake, alert. What people don't realize is by giving my body an opportunity to recoup, recover, and force it into adaptation, my last 20 in a year of 50 where they said it was impossible were my fastest 20. Wow. Right?

I believe it, though. For sure. I believe it. I mean, as a decathlete, I remember my first decathlon in college. It took me like two weeks to recover. This is a two-day event, 10 events. It's not as extreme as a 14-hour Ironman triathlon. But for me, it's extreme in the sense that it's a lot of explosion.

It's like the fastest you can go, the most power, the most jumping. Oh, decathletes, that's a tough job. It's a whole other type of using your body. The most jumping. Oh the Catholics that's a that's a tough job It's a whole nother type of using your body and I was just I mean in my bed for two weeks like barely jogging to recover and Every month I would do another one and it got a little easier And I remember I needed to make the cut for the national to qualify for the national championships They only takes the top 16 in the country and my score was at like 20

So I knew that I had to do another the castle on about five days before the national championships To give myself a chance of making it and I do this I do them like back-to-back weekends And I just trained my body more and more to recover faster that I was stronger Every time I did that. And when I did the back-to-back weeks, it was like I was even stronger the next time with four days recovery going into the next decathlon. Initially, right when I started, I was like, man, I feel tired. But after the first event, it was like my body kicked into recovery mode.

It's kind of like when you go to the gym and you do a hard leg day. And then two days later, you can barely walk. Yeah, or sit on a toilet. Or sit and do anything. But you do more walk yeah or sit on a toilet or sit and do anything but you do like more legs again and you're like how am i gonna do this but after a few minutes your body like the soreness goes away it's crazy that's the hardest thing is to get back into the gym because after a long break because you're like man i am going to be so sore but once you get through that and then you can like perfect examples riding the bike i could do when i was in

the peak of my training six hours in a saddle was nothing. Oh, my gosh. And then after taking two years off, being forced to recover and being on these tours, I go do a two-hour workout on the bike now. And I'm like, holy cow. I took for granted the just conditioning that you get into and what that looks like. Because when we announced the 50, I was just coming off the 30. I was in peak condition. It was literally the next logical step for me. And when we announced it, we were mocked

and ridiculed because they could not comprehend that it was even possible. And I couldn't comprehend why they didn't think it was, right? Because from where I was sitting, the progression was- You just done 30. I just done 30. In a year. In a year. No, 50 in 50 days. I was sitting, the progression was. You just done 30. I just done 30. In a year. In a year. 50 in 50 days. Right.

But it is still crazy. But for me, in my mind, it wasn't that big of a leap. Yeah. But for the person who has a hard time conceptualizing 5K. They're like, you're crazy. Yeah, it's not possible. You're crazy. Yeah, and I get that.

When did you do your first Ironman triathlon? So I got into triathlon with my wife about 12 years ago and we started just doing the sprints, the real fast, short, which is so fun. I'm actually excited to get back into, into doing the short distance explosive stuff. But I didn't, I did my first Ironman distance in 2008. And so I think I was 32 and then it just, it just escalated really quick. You got hooked. You were addicted. I got hooked. And what's unique about the longer distance is there's so much more that goes into it. It's not just swimming, biking, running. It's can I master recovery? Can I master preparation?

Can I master the mental side of stuff? Can I plan properly? The nutrition component is so key. And so it became, I've got to master five or six different categories in order to excel at this sport. Yeah. And now I've done 90 Ironmans. And just still the distance scares me because there's so many unknowns and things that you like. This sport and this distance just demands so much respect.

I always laugh on the inside. When someone hasn't done an Ironman and then they do their first and then I'll get a message that says, what you did was unbelievable, but I didn't truly understand what it was until I did one. And there's no way I was waking up tomorrow and doing another one, right? That's kind of some of the greatest compliments I can get when somebody really puts it into perspective and has had an experience, and then it's like, oh man, this is, what you did was a whole other level. I've never done a half marathon. And I know if I did that, I'd be like, I'm done.

You know, it's like, I couldn't even do this. But I'm sure once you push your body to those limits, it starts to say, yeah, you can do another. People say the headline 50, right? The story of the 50. They don't realize the decade that went in and the groundwork and the foundation that went into that. And then even the past two years is still part of that journey because it's the recovery on the backside of that to get me back to where I'm functioning, right? And I can be a competitive athlete again.

So it's not the 50 days. Back up real quick, though. You were saying about fatigue and adaptation and the decathlon. If I did a journey like this again, which I won't, but let's say I was to do a week-long challenge, I would almost put myself under pretty intense stress leading up to it because I want to get through that difficult adaptation phase knowing I'm going to get stronger, right? I don't want my first seven days of an intense challenge to be the first seven days. Refresh. Right. There's a fine balance there, right? There's a tipping point where you've done too much, but I need to put my body in training. I've got to be conscious of the stress load that needs to be put on. And people are like, no, no, you want to take that time off and do this and that.

And you're forgetting that first week is traumatizing. And your body's trying to figure it out. It takes time for the mind and body to come into alignment, right? For me, it was day 30. How many people quit before 30 consecutive Ironmans before mind and body come into sync? Everybody, right? 99.9% of people quit. I'm telling you, when mind and body come into harmony, everybody, right? 99.9% of people quit. I'm telling you, when mind and body come into harmony,

that's when magic happens. Everybody's missing out on the magic because they quit because it's too hard. They don't allow that adaptation. You have to learn that the next step isn't going to kill you. And it's in that next step that you learn. You adapt, you grow, you evolve. We quit before that moment.

And very few people ever get the opportunity to experience what our team did 30 through 50 to where an Ironman a day became routine, right? What was the greatest lesson you learned from all 50? Oh, man. Mankind is alive and well. And people can shift. And it's okay to change your mind about a person. And the amount of people that came out and helped us, nothing great ever is accomplished on our own, right? I had an unbelievable team behind me. I had a nation and now a globe that has come out and supported what we've done.

I want to give back. I want to continue to share this story because of the impact that it's having. And so the biggest thing that I learned is mankind is cool. And to go around to 30 countries, we're unified. To not listen to all the crazy stuff that's going on in the world and just connect with people. And I think a lot of people are scared and don't do that. And again, they're missing out on really cool experiences.

Now you said something that I love and I've been talking about since high school is really putting yourself in uncomfortable situations as often as possible. Like demanding pain every single day in a safe environment, right? Not asking like someone to break my arm type of pain, but like putting your body through a type of stress that your mind says no. Why do you think that's such an important thing for every human to do? And what's the best way in your mind that we could do that every single day? We're either moving forward or we're digressing.

We're never just standing still, right? So the longer we stay in our little comfort, happy zone, we're eventually going to start to go backwards. Yeah. And so this concept of intentionally doing something difficult is a thing of beauty. When we started to run into situations where we were faced with adversity and whatnot early on, I was like, yes, this is great. Challenge us right now because we're strong.

Mentally, we're tough right now. And that perseverance and resilience that we're going to gain right now, man, I can't tell you how much we're going to need that in the back half of this thing. And so when we were up against it early on I was like, yeah, this is great. We need to learn this stuff now quick that this is what I've time This learning curve has got to be accelerated. And so so man, I think I think people need to embrace challenges it forces you to think it and it when you're backed into a corner and

Even though you can hit the panic button and choose not to see it, that's when you're going to solve the biggest problems. I mean, when we lost everything in 2008, I was either going to be complacent or I was going to face some challenges, some demons and fears, and come out on the other side of that. Looking back, that was the best thing that ever happened to us, to lose everything. It forced me to challenge. I would have never done this. I'd still be miserable writing mortgage loans, right? And just sucking at life, right? And so because that happened, it forced me into a scenario to where I had to become a problem solver. It's such a blessing. I wish more people would hit rock bottom because it helps them realize that, look, I can do so much more.

Yeah. What's something that we can do on a daily basis to help us increase our mental toughness or put ourselves through challenge or pain that's not going to kill us? Yeah, you know, everybody's going to be different. I talk about how everybody's hard is different. Everyone's hard. Everybody's hard is different, right? What's hard for you might be easy for me or vice versa. And it's hard to also say, hey, this is what you need to do because where are you at your journey?

At the beginning, middle, end? Are you approaching a different realm than anybody else is? So for you or anybody else, it's, look, just write down your 10 biggest fears. And then let's find the least scary of those 10 and then break it into 10 categories and then let's attack that. And then overcome these at such a small level. And as you start to have these small victories, right? Success breeds success.

Confidence breeds confidence. And as soon as we have these small breakthroughs, now we can start attacking some of our bigger fears, right? Whatever your fears are, whatever your heart is, we've got to isolate that. You've got to be conscious. You've got to have some conversations with yourself, right? Whatever your fears are, whatever your heart is, we've got to isolate that. You've got to be conscious. You've got to have some conversations with yourself, right? That's the only way an individual is going to find out, look, what scares me? What's holding me back? What is going to be the best version of me and how do I find that? And so you have to engage with

these conversations. That's why I love riding my bike because it's me, my brain, you know, and just allowing thoughts to flow and process. And so I either come home with some of my worst ideas or best ideas after a bike ride. My wife gets scared when I do these long rides. It's in those moments that you're going to say, look, what are my fears? How am I going to overcome those? And then we have to break those down and go, look, how do I overcome this smallest of small? And then as you progress, next thing you know, you're going to wake up and go, man, that's not scary anymore. And I've grown as a person. I'm a better individual. And as you

continue to do that process, you're going to wake up one day and you go, man, I've come a long way. Yeah. What was your greatest fear growing up? Great question. As a father, my biggest fear is not being the best person I can for them, right've got five kids, and four of them are girls. Wow. And so there's just this massive responsibility. I want to create or help influence these girls to be tough individuals that can handle their own. I mean, it's tough out there, especially for women.

I mean, it's a dogfight, and I want them to have resilience and to be tough and to be confident with who they are and to be themselves. And so I think kind of one of my biggest fears is letting them down and letting my wife down because she does such an unbelievable job with the kids, and she's very present. We hold a high value on her being home. She wants to be a mom and be really engaged with these kids. And as do I, but I also have to provide. And so that includes some travel. But I think one of our biggest fears is not doing everything I can to give them a shot at being successful.

Allowing them to suffer and struggle and giving them the tools to not be complacent or too comfortable, to push them mentally and physically. Because I think, love this generation. I think they're super powerful. It's the fault of my generation that we're being too soft on these kids and crippling them. And once they go away to college, they're like, I don't know. I don't know how to do this on my own, right? And so I don't want to, I don't, my fear is I don't want to put my kids in that situation. Yeah, your greatest advice so far is to say you wish everyone hits rock bottom.

Absolutely. So how do you set that up for your kids where you don't see them suffer? Yeah. Because you just want to protect them and love them and like just hug them. But you're also now. To love them at the highest level is to allow them to suffer. And to not pick them up when they fall, right? That is the greatest show of love.

It's super hard to do because we want to give them everything. to not pick them up when they fall, right? That is the greatest show of love. It's super hard to do because we want to give them everything. It's hard for people that don't have kids to understand the level of unconditional love or that connection you have with a child. It's hard, but it's something that I think you need to do. The highest show of love is to allow them to suffer and to learn and grow and adapt. What's that look like for you as a dad?

How do you let your daughters suffer? It's so hard. They're in such an innocent age range right now. I mean, 15, 14, 12, and 10 are my girls. They're just suffering in high school already. I mean, it's junior high and high school. It's such a transitional, difficult age. It's awkward.

It's hard. Kids are ruthless. It's so hard not to be like, ah, I'm mama bear and papa bear here, and we're going to protect you. We just allow them to, we give them guidance, and we just try to steer them and set an example. And I love that some of people in our lives are just dumpster fires, because they're great teaching points for our kids, right like look look at this this is the path you don't want to go on right we'll use this as an example my kids like yeah I don't want that you know and then hopefully we can just guide them and put them in the right smooth what's the greatest personal struggle you've ever faced I mean probably just as a husband

or father one to lose everything. Just the last decade's been really hard on my wife and my kids. They've been so supportive. To go all in and to kind of push all the chips in the pot, it's been super hard to go through that. And I think that's part of the reason why I succeeded, because I put these guys through so much. You had to complete it. You had to complete it.

I had to complete it. I remember laying on the side of the road on day 30 just in tears, and I was just like, it's just 20 more days. Figure out how to be perfect a minute at a time, and let go of everything. It's okay to be selfish for the next 20 days, because if you're not, the last decade was a complete waste, and you're going gonna have to restart

over in that now how much more sacrifice is going to be right oh my gosh and so it's like you start to put moments into perspective and and that that moment of me laying on the side of the road was probably eight minutes right it was an eight minute intense conversation with myself where i was just like it's like it's like you hear when you when you die everything is going to like flash through and you're going to see your whole life. In those eight minutes, everything that we'd done and sacrificed to that point kind of rushed through, and I had to make a decision. What am I going to do? And what does it look like in the next 20 days?

And how do we conceptualize and make that breakthrough to get to that next point? at hour seven on 30 days or 20 days in hour seven of the day biking running whatever it is what are you thinking about for those long stretches when it's just you on the road and maybe no one's around, no one's cheering at you? What do you think about to just get through the next hour or the whole day? And what's the conversation you're having or not having? Yeah, definitely the conversation you're having. Seven hours into a 14-hour day, you're halfway maybe, especially in a journey where it's seven weeks long. You're halfway maybe, especially in a journey where it's seven weeks long. Before you start counting down, you're at race 20.

You're not even halfway. And so those conversations are intense, right? You can think of a million reasons to stop moving. But I think that was one of the coolest things that I got to experience on the 50 was those long conversations I got to have with myself. I think it was one of the most incredible byproducts that happened to me. And I think people are so distracted and with everything that's going on, we've missed an opportunity to sit down and talk to ourselves and to self-reflect. When was the last time anybody asked themselves

who they wanted to be? When was the last time anybody asked themselves, have I forgiven myself for my past, right? Am I still carrying burdens? Am I still having conversations in my head from a decade ago? Hmm, why don't we replace that energy with something else? Right and so I think for me and on the 50 I got to have every conversation

I mean I had 50 really long conversations with myself. I got to forgive myself everything in the past I got to plan my entire future and now I get to continue to try to be the best version of myself I'm not I'm not perfect. I struggle every single day like everybody else. But I just try to wake up. I try to put my feet on the ground. And I just try to go to work. Wow. And I think if people can just, in those conversations, I wasn't thinking, what's tomorrow going to look like?

What's the run going to look like tonight? I'm worried about being perfect for the next 60 seconds. Right? To get through those last 20 hours it was literally 60 second periods and if I could put together perfect 60 seconds I had a shot at putting together a perfect hour if I had a perfect hour I could put together a perfect day if I had a perfect day I could put together a perfect 20 that's how I got through but in those moments I was never thinking I'd gone through the entire thought process in the first 30 days. And now it was, okay, now you're the Iron Cowboy.

Now this is a rebirth. This is an alter ego. And when I put on my glasses, I was the Iron Cowboy. It wasn't James Lawrence. I was the Iron Cowboy. And that dude's a bad, bad man, right? And so as people, we need to figure out what our alter ego is because when things get the most difficult when we're backed into a corner what are you going

to do what's your superpower what what's your who is that person that's going to do it and that's that's who the iron cowboy is that's who that dude is he's the guy that he's been backed into a corner and he's got to be selfish for a minute so that he can take care of everything in that moment that'll open up. And you've got to take care of yourself before you can take care of everybody else. So for those 20, I had to become the Iron Cowboy so that I could take care of my family the rest of my life. The last 20. Yeah, the last 20. Was the conversations you were having more about forgiveness

or the future that you wanted to create? I think you need a healthy balance of both. You have to forgive yourself in order to progress, right? And so that's got to be step number one. Right. Forgiveness. What was the hardest thing you had to do? You have to have a short-term memory too.

Yeah, yeah. You have to have a short-term memory and be okay with... Not holding on to something? Not holding on. Real quick, one of the best books that I've read is Eckhart Tolle. It's all about ego and the conversations that you're having with yourself that nobody else is having, and you're just beating yourself up. We need to deal it, replace it, get out, and move on, right?

One of the biggest, toughest things I had to forgive myself for? I think just putting my family through what we did. It wasn't my fault, but when we lost everything, I took that personally. That was a huge responsibility for me we had five little little kids right and the decisions i made after that they were on me and it was just really hard even though it wasn't a mistake and i don't i don't regret it it's put us where we are today it was just hard for to forgive myself for and my kids didn't know any different my wife did an unbelievable job but it's more it's more for for my wife sunny forgiving myself for, and my kids didn't know any different. My wife did an unbelievable job, but it's more for my wife, Sunny, forgiving myself for putting her through that. But we're ultimate

support for each other. It's still something that I struggle with because I want to give her everything, right? And so that's why I'm working so hard today. And we're building a house now, and we've got some stability, which is great. That's good. But you got to let her suffer, you said. A little bit of suffering. of suffer you said a little bit of suffering that's true a little bit of suffering I'm not the guy to teach your lessons though exactly yeah yeah you teach your daughter's lessons that's right yeah that's my job that's your job now it's interesting you talk about the the alter ego because do you think you would have been able to complete it without an alter ego? No. Why not?

Well, because we're all human, right? We're too weak. We're too weak. Our alter ego is the superpower part of who we are, right? It's the perfect model of our imperfection. And without an alter ego in those most difficult situations, you hear these incredible stories of survival, life and death. Someone's able to do a heroic thing, right? That's their alter ego coming out in difficult situations you hear these incredible stories of survival life and death someone's able to do a heroic thing right that's their alter ego coming out in a life or death they're there they've

been backed so far into a corner that their alter ego has to come out right and so I think everybody needs to find that alter ego because there's gonna be if you're on a journey and you're truly trying to progress and have impact and do do really cool things and just grow as a person, there's going to be a moment where you're laying on the side of the road and you need your alter ego to kind of bust through and do that. But again, it goes back to you can't develop the alter ego unless you intentionally put yourself in situations and do difficult things and sharpen that mental toolbox. So it all goes all the way back to doing difficult things and not being stuck so that you can develop the alter ego. So when you've put yourself in a situation,

you're backed into a corner and the world's against you, is that person there and ready to take on that moment? Wow. So when did you develop the Iron Cowboy as your alter ego? It became a brand in 2012 during the world record. I would wear a cowboy hat during the marathon portion so my kids could see me coming. And they get to pick my colorful cowboy hats. And it's a family kid thing that was great, right? It was a brand on day 30 is when it actually became the alter ego, when I had sharpened that toolbox enough. And the Iron Cowboy is just symbolic of the alter ego, right?

But I truly believe that on day 30 in Connecticut on the side of the road, it was that rebirth. And that the real Iron Cowboy was born in that day. And on that day in Connecticut for the next 20 days, that was the highest level of showcasing the Iron Cowboy. Really? Where does your mind go when you turn on the switch? How does it know when to connect the switch to, I'm James, just like starting out the Ironman like four hours into, this is getting really

freaking tough. I can't allow weakness to take over my mind right now, so I'm flipping the switch to the ego. Yeah, I don't think it's a flip that you consciously switch. I think it's almost fight or flight. And once you get good at it and practice it, you don't define or see the moment as, okay, I need to flip it. You're just in the zone. It just transitions and next thing you know, boom, I'm in it and I'm doing it. That's what I talked about earlier when the mind and the body come into sync with each other, right? That's a special place. It's like anything else. You have to practice that and get it. And people are like, how do I flip a switch?

How do I flip a switch? I'm like, you just got to practice it, and it's just going to happen. And you'll know when it happens, and you'll be the baddest person on the planet. Yeah. You'll believe that nothing can stop you. Nothing can stop you. And during those 20 days, it was going to take an act of God to stop us. Oh, good thing they didn't now how much resistance training or mental toughness training or

just pushing through these the pain constantly do you think it took for you in order for that to come out where you defined like this alter ego how many years of training how many years you know I truly believe that it was over two decades mmm before the alter ego came for sure so you were just a human I'm still just a human but you were just a human training the whole time for sure I grew up wrestling did six plus years of just intense that was everything I did and I learned a ton physically but mentally how to overcome that. I mean, I was a horrible wrestler when I first started and then went undefeated in my senior year. And

so just learned a ton. I tell a fun story in the book about a contest in Calgary where the Calgary Stampede, that's where I grew up. There was a contest to see who could ride the giant Ferris wheel for the 10 day stampede. and it was in those 10 days that their goal was absolute boredom you couldn't do anything on 10 days on a giant ferris never leaving you had two 10-minute breaks oh my god and so i learned a ton about myself mentally in those 10 days you did this yeah for 10 days correct for two 10-minute breaks a day yeah a day gotcha two 10-minute breaks a day yeah for 10 days bathroom or something right and eat food because you couldn't eat on the ride so you had to go to the bathroom and eat food two

10 minute shut up so i learned a ton you slept on it yeah yeah they'd stop it at night and you'd sleep and so so i learned during those 10 days i was like look i've i've been sharpening a mental toolbox for my whole wrestling career now i've really honed in on this, and that was a special 10 days. That's kind of where I transitioned. I had one friend in Utah. I'd won some money. I got fired from my job, and so I hitchhiked a ride and had one friend in Utah. Ended up meeting my wife and still lived there 19 years later, but that was a massive turning point for me, but it was not only a pivot in my life that changed the direction, it was the first early signs that, look, you've got control of your mind.

Last night, Rich Roll posed the question, are you born with it or can you develop it, right? And we're talking about- What specifically? Mentally, mental toughness. Are you born with it? Is it innate or can you develop it? I think everybody's born with a certain amount, right?

We all have different talents. But you can have the most talented person in the world that doesn't develop it, and they're useless. It's not a skill that they have. And you can take someone who has a small bit of genetic talent in a category and work their tails off, right? There was a kid growing up wrestling, and he was horrible, horrible wrestler. And I was like, this kid is never going to amount to anything. And he just had the smallest amount of talent. He showed up and outworked everybody.

And I came back to the club years later, and he won the national championship. Wow. National championship. There was no way I would ever have that this kid was gonna if you have a work ethic you can overcome Talent now the perfect storm and the people that are at the highest level you've got talent and work at broad James Yeah, that guy's this genetic free like that free, but he works, but he works hard so hard and he understands the principle He is a guy Simone Biles Shaquille O'Neal, Michael Phelps, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, all these guys born with talent were put in a situation and given twos and worked harder than everybody else.

That's the perfect storm. That's your superstar. That's your Conor McGregor. These are these icons that have changed and transcended their sport, right? Gift plus hard work. But same thing, you take a guy with a gift that doesn't know how to work hard, useless. You take a guy that has little talent and can work hard,

he can turn into something special. I believe I fall into that category. I crossed the finish line and they were like, you're gifted, you're special. And I'm like, dude, I'm not, I'm normal. And they're like, no, we're gonna test you. And they put me through a series of tests and they came back and I was a normal white dude, right?

But what they couldn't test was my mind, my strength, my power, my ability to show up every single day. I love Conor McGregor. He's quoted as saying, you're not looking at talent, you're looking at obsession. Our group was talented. I mean, obsessed on what we were trying to do. And we showed up every single day. Conor McGregor, I love him. After he won the title, he said, doubt me now. Put your feet on the ground, he won the title, he said, doubt me now. Put your feet on the ground, wake up every single day and say, doubt me now. You don't have to know how you're getting to your destination. Put your feet on the ground and say, put on your glasses and say, doubt me now. And just go to work.

Hard work can beat talent when talent doesn't work hard. And I find myself in that situation. Do you feel like you've done certain things to prove to people anything I don't care what anybody thinks things anymore but growing up did you you know was this a thing where you needed to prove someone wrong or to prove day 30 day 30 is when I had a massive shift it was the moment I stopped trying to prove everybody else wrong, and I started to prove myself right. That's the key.

Once I let everything go and focused on what I was doing, and I was like, look, dude, I don't care what your agenda is because it doesn't matter. I'm here to prove myself right. I'm here to prove that when I reach my mental and physical limits, what's the Iron Cowboy going to do? That's what I wanted to do. That's what this whole journey was about.

What am I going to do when I'm backed into a corner? And I could have walked up and gone home on day 30, but what am I going to do? Am I going to do what I say I'm going to do? Am I going to get up and do 20 more, right? As soon as I stop trying to prove everybody else wrong, prove myself right, boom, everything changed. How did it feel after that?

Dude, unbelievable. You said you were at your faster, prove myself right, boom, everything changed. How did it feel after that? Dude, unbelievable. You said you were at your faster times at the end, too. Last 20. Did you feel relaxed and less stressed? Less stressed. I stopped focusing on everything that I couldn't control. I allowed my team to be the role players they were supposed to be. Handle your business.

Handle your business right now and let the team you've assembled handle their jobs. That's when it works, right? Stop trying to do everybody else's job. Own your space. Trust the people around you. Let that go. Stop focusing and worrying about it. Put all the energy into the next 60 seconds.

It'd be perfect, right? That was that moment that mind-body came into alignment. Wow. When did you realize that? What was the trigger for you to think that way, that you don't need to prove anyone wrong anymore? Laying there on the side of the road, focusing on all the negativity in social media, just the backlash that we were getting, decisions we were making. Dude, you don't have the right to criticize what I'm doing until you've done 30 consecutive, consecutive Ironmans, right, until you're in that position. Only then will I allow

you to criticize. Share some feedback. Share some feedback, right? To you're in that position. Only then will I allow you to criticize. Share some feedback. Share some feedback, right? Do something even close, then criticize me, right? You know, the famous quote, don't judge a man unless you've walked a mile in his shoes. Don't judge me unless you've done 30 consecutive Ironmans. Now we can start to have a conversation, right? Decisions that I make are decisions that I'm making for the best cause. The documentary we have, it just came out on Amazon Prime. It's free if you're part of there. The Story of the 50. And people will get a good insight

of really what we were dealing with behind the scenes. So you had a film crew the whole time too? Yeah, we had a film crew there. And then if you're not Amazon Prime, pony up five bucks and watch it on Vimeo. It's available there too. And then of course we have the book, Redefine Impossible, that kind of dives into

all the behind the scenes and the incredible people we met along the way. Wow. Yeah, what a crazy Do you think if you didn't have that breakdown on the road for those eight minutes that you'd still be trying to prove people wrong? Yeah, I think so. I needed to learn that lesson.

I needed to have that mind shift. I needed to let go. I needed to allow the wingman, to allow Sonny, to allow my kids to be who they are and trust. It's one of the biggest things I learned was trust. Trust what you've put together. Trust the journey you're on. Trust your intuition.

Trust your gut. Look, dude, it doesn't matter what other people are thinking. That's their agenda. That's their opinion. You're not going to change people's minds. You've got to do you, right? And as soon as I was like, no, dude, I'm here for my family. I'm here for this, everything changed, right?

I let go and started focusing on the right things instead of trying to control the things I couldn't control. It's funny, for until about four years ago, and I talk about this on my show, I was always doing things subconsciously to prove people wrong about me. They said I wouldn't be able to do something, and I was like, let me show you. doing things subconsciously to prove people wrong about me. They said I wouldn't be able to do something, and I was like, let me show you.

And I would have this alter ego of putting myself through so much pain just to prove like a few kids wrong about me. Or to prove like a teacher or a coach or whatever it may be wrong about me. And I would be willing to sacrifice anything to prove them wrong. Anything, for years.

And I would get big results. I would achieve all those goals and prove them wrong. Anything for years. And I would get big results. I would achieve all those goals and prove them wrong and be miserable and unhappy. And I was like, why am I so unhappy and ungrateful for what I just achieved? I was like, well, I guess I just need a bigger dream to go after now. And I would do that for another five years and achieve that dream. And I'd be like, why am I still not happy happy? It wasn't until I realized, until I hit about 30 years old, I was like, man, I've been living my life trying to prove everyone wrong. It got me to where I'm at, which was some big results, but also a lot of suffering and pain that was unnecessary. When I finally said, you know what? I'm going to do things because

I love it and I want to lift others up. That's when everything started to change. Your motivation changed. Everything shifted. I had just as much passion, just as much energy without the stress and the overwhelm. And so I love what you talked about, which was let's prove people right, let's lift people up, and not listen to the negative thoughts of people saying what you can't do. Well, you're not going to change those negative people.

They are who they are. They're on a different journey. They're not open. And so why not shift our focus and attention to things that thrive and that have, like, I want to talk to people that are vibrating the same way that I'm vibrating, right? And I want to bring those people up and when you

want to get on board with this train, come on board because it's a lot of fun over here and you can hang out with all y'all miserables over there and you do you, I'm going to do me and we're going to have a good time doing it. And like you said in the experience that you had, everything shifts when you start doing things and doing them for the right reasons, right? Everything kind of just falls into place. Wow. What's your mental routine on a daily basis? Is there a certain practices you go through? Is

there a reading? Is there a prayer? Is there meditation or something you think about to train your mind every day still? I get this question a lot, and I should maybe come up with a very specific routine. Yeah, but life has just been so, so chaotic. I mean, last year I was in 30 countries, a lot of airplanes, a lot of hotels, a lot of in and out. Trying to get into a routine was difficult. One thing that's been constant is we're a religious family. And so to have a faith and to have family, those have been the main constants for us, right?

So just waking up every day and being grateful. That's been the biggest catalyst for me is, it's difficult for me every day and I struggle, but to wake up every day and try to be present and try to be grateful and focus on those things, that's my routine, right? And as soon as I start, the energy starts to get bad and whatnot, it's because I'm focusing on the wrong things. I'm trying to do for

other people and prove them wrong and for different reasons. As soon as I get re-centered back, my wife's great at kind of bringing me back and calling me on the carpet. But when we get back to that spot of gratitude and look, anything we send out, I mean, I'm huge on putting it out there, doing the work, and it'll come back to you. When things are going bad, it's because I'm focusing and sending out just this bad energy. And the reason the 50 was so successful, I was 100%, 200%, 300% all in. You could not convince me that it wasn't possible. And I need to put that in all areas of my life and just trust that our gut feelings

and our hard work and everything is going to put us exactly where we need to be. And we're going to track the things when they need to happen and just go forward with that faith and the belief. And so for me, just waking up and being consistent, my routine is when I'm grounded, when I'm around my family and I'm grateful and mindful of that, that's my routine.

And everything else just falls into place. Gratitude. It's the key, man. Gratitude is the key. There's a question that I ask everyone at the end. It's called the three truths. Oh, boy. And so imagine this is your last day.

Many years from now, you get to choose the day that you're done on this earth for all that you know right and it could be a hundred you could be 200 it doesn't matter you picked a day but you got to pick a day and it's it and you've created incredible things right you've written tons of books you're speaking all over the place you've done everything you wanted to create all your dreams have come true but for whatever reason you've got to take everything with you and so no one has access to any of your information anymore. But you have all your family, friends there,

it's a celebration, you're about to say goodbye, and they give you a piece of paper, and they say, we want you to write down the three biggest truths that you know about everything you've learned from life. The lessons that you would pass on to us in the world, and this is all we would have of your information. So you get to write down three things. What would be your three truths?

Man, these are probably going to be things that I really struggle with, that I work on. So we just covered one of them, gratitude. Gratitude is the catalyst to everything, right? It's how we vibrate. I wish I was more playful and present. And a lot of these are probably real common answers that people have. And as I get older, they will probably change, right?

Be grateful. Be more lighthearted. And be present. Just stop worrying about the small things. They're just a distraction. And in the big picture, 99% of everything doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.

And so, yeah, I guess that's it. Would you say you're not a very playful person? It's surprising. I'm probably more of an introvert. My wife is super playful, right? And I watch them and I'm like, I'm kind of envious of that. And I'm just, like, I'm not the type of person to get up and dance on a dance floor and whatnot. I'm just like, I'd rather just observe and watch and kind of be back in the room. Which is very bizarre because my on stage persona,

people would never assume that. Which is kind of my alter ego, right? That has to come out in order to have the impact that we want to have. My authentic self is a playful person. And I think it's been lost along the way because of the experiences and the loss. Hardening yourself. Hardening myself. And the social responsibility that I have to be the Iron Cowboy, right? There's that whole aspect of it, too, that we never talked about.

Just kind of the social pressures. Show up that way. When you show up somewhere and you're expected to be. You've got to wear the beard. You've got to be tough. You've got to have the persona. Absolutely. And all of that.

And so it's almost where you're like, I'm not allowed to be playful. I have to be the badass, right? Says who? Exactly, right? Who am I trying to – Says who? Yeah, this has been a great little conclusion. Yeah, I love that.

I'm going to give you a challenge then. Yeah, let's do it. If you accept, if you choose to accept, for the next 30 days in a row, If you accept, if you choose to accept, for the next 30 days in a row, you have to do a 60-second dance party every single day. Can I read this by myself? With someone else. Okay. And every time you're at home, it has to be with someone in your family.

Your kids, your wife. I will do this. And you get to film part of it. Okay. 30 days in a row. All right. With a friend. It could be strangers in the street. You're speaking on stage. You get get to film part of it. Okay. 30 days in a row. All right. With a friend. It could be strangers in the street.

You're speaking on stage. You get everyone to dance for 60 seconds as a challenge to yourself to be more playful. Okay, okay. If this is your truth. Okay. Then I'm going to challenge you. Do you accept or no? I accept. You accept.

30 days. 30 days. 30 days. All right. You're going to text me. Okay. At the end of 30 days. Perfect.

And let me know that you completed all 30. Okay. And if you didn't complete all 30, if you miss a day, what's the consequence for you? What's the stake? Man, that's a good one. 60 seconds. 60 seconds. 60 seconds.

You can do anything for 60 seconds. Exactly. I talk about the perfect minute. That's it. This will be fun. What's the stake? You'll have to tell me. I'll do it.

We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Okay. You'll have to tell me. I'll do whatever. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Okay. You'll have to do 1,000 push-ups. Ugh, girls. A day. Each time you miss a day. Okay.

1,000 push-ups. I'll do that. Have you ever done 1,000 push-ups in a day? I have, yeah. It probably takes a long couple hours. It does. It takes a long time. It takes a couple hours.

I remember doing it with a couple of my wrestling buddies. We'd put on a movie, and we would just do sets of 10 push-ups until we hit 1,000. It would take like two hours. It takes a couple hours. So you have to do 1,000 push-ups if you miss a 60-second dance party every day. Done. For 30 days. You have to videotape them, too.

Done. You should document it. Okay, perfect. Are there any questions you have for me before I ask the final couple questions? No. Okay. Well, make sure you guys get this book. It's called Iron Cowboy, Redefined Impossible, the story of 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 days

in 50 different states. There's also a documentary called The 50. The Story of the 50. The Story of the 50 on Amazon right now. You're on social media. Iron Cowboy James. Iron Cowboy James on all places on social media. Where do you hang out the most?

Instagram. Instagram? Yep. Before I ask the final question, I want to acknowledge you for a moment, James, for being a symbol of inspiration to so many people. Because there's not many people who are willing to put themselves through that much pain in order to complete a vision for their life in that short amount of time.

And to do something so audacious in the mind that everyone seems as crazy but you know is possible and to do it eventually for yourself and not for anyone else, I think is an incredible inspiration that you learn the process and the lesson of doing it for yourself or for your family, not to prove people wrong in the community. Also, I want to acknowledge you for your playfulness,

because I believe when you are playful and you bring out your heart, that's when you're going to impact even more people. For sure. So stepping out of the alter ego as much as you can when you're around other humans and giving us your heart, that's what's going to be mind-blowing and the most inspirational things. But I want to acknowledge you for that and for being so open today and sharing. Is there any question you wish more people would ask you that they haven't? I've never had that question. And I think people have really asked a lot of questions. Again, I'm a more private person than anything else. And so I tend not to think of what else can people ask me. Right. Right.

What's the thing that would help everyone listening or watching right now that we haven't shared that could really help move people forward in their life in some way? Forgiveness. Whether it's with you or other people. And stop having those negative conversations with yourself. They're hypothetical, right? And they're holding us back. And so I think if people can have those quick conversations and, again, forgive and move forward and be lighthearted, that's going to kind of be the key.

Awesome. Okay, final question. What's your definition of greatness? What's my definition of greatness? For me right now in the space of my life, it's being an example to my kids. I don't want to be remembered for the 50. I want to be remembered for being a dad. And it's cliche, but my kids are young and they're in an impactful part of the year.

So greatness to me is having my kids, me being a hero to my kids. Love it, James. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. You bet. Thank you. It's great. There you have it, my friends.

Do you feel like you're becoming more superhuman and like you can achieve the impossible already after this interview? For me, I feel like I can. And I've already agreed to take on an extreme activity that I would never probably do after listening to James. For me, he's inspiring me to get out of my comfort zone even more because I push myself hard. I train hard, but I do it in the way that I want to. I put myself through pain in the ways that I want to. And now's the time to challenge myself in other ways and types of pain that I don't want to, right? Types of

endurance events that I'm not excited about, but I'm going to do one because he inspired me. So let me know what you guys thought of this episode. Again, lewishouse.com slash 653. Share on Instagram at lewishouse. All the show notes, the links, the book, the full video interview is back at our website as well at Lewis house.com. And if you haven't signed up for one of our books, we've got the mask of masculinity, the school of greatness book. We've got so many incredible programs,

books, products, go check out Lewis house.com for anything else that you may be interested in. I love you guys so very much. And as Maya Angelou said, you may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. I love you. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.