The Tim Ferriss Show - #140: Shaun White: The Most Unholy Snowboarder Ever

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Starting point is 00:02:50 that you'd dig it a lot and you can, of course, easily subscribe any time. So easy peasy. Again, that's tim.blog forward slash Friday. And thanks for checking it out. If the spirit moves you. Hello, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is always my job to deconstruct world-class performers, to tease out the habits, routines, favorite books, toothpaste, whatever it might be, that you can apply and try in your own lives. This particular episode comes from a fun event, my first live podcast, which was at the iconic Troubadour in LA. I had a blast, all spelled out, and you can have a taste. There were quite a few amazing guests at the event, and we're going to divide them up into a few different episodes. The first is a professional snowboarder and skateboarder.

Starting point is 00:03:53 You know who this is. Two-time Olympic gold medalist, Sean White, spelled like Sean of the Dead, S-H-A-U-N, at Sean White on Twitter and so on. He holds the X Games record for gold medals at 15, as well as the highest overall medal count at 24. I believe he is also the only person to win gold at both the winter and summer X Games. Sean has earned the number two spot on Business Week's list of the 100 most powerful and marketable athletes, and he has created an incredible business and life for himself. He has made a lot of smart decisions where many athletes, and he has created an incredible business and life for himself. He has made a lot of smart decisions where many athletes, particularly those who peak at a young age

Starting point is 00:04:29 or become famous at a young age, make mistakes. And, Akdong, for those near LA or willing to travel, Sean is hosting an incredible event called Air and Style this weekend. Think of it as X Games meets Coachella, where you can listen to world-famous bands and musicians like Incubus, Grammatic, one of my favorites, then see jumps off of a 16-story ramp. That's not a joke. 16-story, among other excitement. So check it out at airandstyle.com, all spelled out. For 20% off, whether that's general or VIP admission, you can use code TIMFERRIS, spelled properly with two R's and two S's. I don't get any cut and I've bought it myself at full retail. Four tickets for myself and friends. The code is only good until midnight Pacific on February 19th. That is Friday,

Starting point is 00:05:16 February 19th. So jump on it. Once again, that's airandstyle.com. And without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Sean White. I thought we could start at the beginning. A lot of people are not familiar with the conditions with which you came into this world. The very beginning, the birth. The very beginning. Sean White. Let me take you back. No, it's actually a little bit of a sad story, you know, or just a bit of a struggle in the beginning.

Starting point is 00:05:47 You know, I was born with a heart defect. It was called Tetralogy of Fallot. So I don't know too technically what happened, but some of the valves in my heart were leaking. And I had to go in and have multiple open heart surgeries in order to correct this. I was known as what's called a blue baby. Actually, my skin was turning blue because I wasn't getting enough oxygen. And so, you know, my mom sent me in there, multiple operations. They said, you're going to have a sluggish heart. He won't be very active. You know, you should be ready for these things. And then, you know, sure enough, I was like,

Starting point is 00:06:19 I want to do that. You know, I want to go jump off things and you know run around and i only had a a couple incidents where you know i like passed out on the soccer field once or you know i i did something where i overexerted myself and you know i just i wasn't ready for that but um i don't know my parents never really told me i couldn't do anything which was i i think the reason why i was never feel fearful uh you know so i always So I went out and I would do sports. I would do whatever. The only thing I was told I couldn't do was scuba dive. Scuba dive?

Starting point is 00:06:51 Scuba dive. I don't know why. It was like an anomaly of something about the air bubble getting, I don't know. Okay, got it. That was per doctor's orders. As a little kid, you're not really encountering a lot of scuba. It's like, ah, that's whatever. Now lot of scuba it's like ah that's whatever now as an adult it's a real pain you're floating on the surface and everyone's down there

Starting point is 00:07:13 petting sharks riding right surfing sharks all right when did you first meet Tony Hawk? Man, Tony Hawk. I was probably like five years old or something like that. He would come to the local skate park. I was just lucky enough to grow up in Del Mar was the area, and he skated at the local YMCA in Encinitas. And so I would go there, and he would just be there. So I got to kind of like say hi and watch him do his thing. And, you know, it's one of the best ramps in town. He grew up skating Del Mar.

Starting point is 00:07:52 I never, I wasn't of the age group that got to skate the cement park that they had, but there's a very famous skate park at Del Mar. And so I ran into him all the time and I was a little fearful to talk to him. I mean, it was Tony Hawk. So was a little fearful to talk to him i mean it was tony hawk so i never really like said much to him i just wanted to impress him enough with my skating that he would come talk to me one day and so yeah he finally came to me and i was just like yes do you do you remember what move or attempt that a move got him to finally break the ice and come over? I can't recall. It was probably doing a McTwist,

Starting point is 00:08:32 which is a trick invented by a skateboarder named Mike McGill. And it's like a front flip while spinning a 540. So 540 is degrees of rotation, you know, if you take a full circle as a 360. So keep adding up. That was five, an H5. No, no, no, that was later. I'm just like, man, I already felt badly about myself.

Starting point is 00:08:55 The stitches were healing, and I was ready to go. My mom's like, get out there. Just a fetus with a helmet on. Yeah, showed a lot of promise. No, but I started to learn, and he owned the company Birdhouse Skateboards, and so it was my dream not only to, once he then talked to me, in my mind, he was then going to ask me to ride for a skateboard company. I had it all worked out.

Starting point is 00:09:17 So, you know, he finally came up to me, and we became friends, and he invited me to come do some demos with him because he was doing these, you know, hey, we're going to show up, and we're going to come do some demos with him because he was doing these you know hey we're going to show up and we're going to we're going to skate and you know uh sell skateboards for birdhouse and things like that and i was kind of like the token little kid on the ramp but i was learning at the time better and better tricks so i slowly became um you know a really really good rider is it skaters is it fair to say, and you might have

Starting point is 00:09:45 even used this word already, but that he was a mentor to you? I mean, you've known him for a very long time, or is that not the right label? You know, he really, he was and he wasn't. I mean, that's the funny thing, is he never really kind of like sat me down and gave me certain advice. It wasn't like,

Starting point is 00:10:02 hey, you should... It wasn't Yoda imparting. Yeah, you should make your own video game or you should do this. I mean, it never really was him telling me what to do or advice or anything. He was just actually the only guy going through everything that I was just about to go through. I mean, his video game came out, he just landed his 900 at the X Games and he was world famous and people would approach him. And I was just sitting standby witness to all this, like, well, how did he talk to his fans? And like, oh, he's still a normal guy. He's like, he's eating the dirty ice out of the limousine minibar. Like, you know what I mean? Like,

Starting point is 00:10:39 he's like, I don't care. Like, whatever. Like, he was just the same guy. I was like, oh, that's cool. And he isn't like, I was eating ice. I was a kid guy I was like oh that's cool and he isn't like I was eating eyes I was a kid I was like all right it's good so you know as a kid I was just like looking up to him and he was doing it but he was great he was a family man at the time and so that's something that really kind of allowed us to become friends at least in my eyes because he was he was this like untouchable figure. And then he asked me to come to a demo once or to go on the, actually, it was the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skate Park Tour, which I was just, like, baffled. I was just amazed he actually asked me to go on this. I remember getting to his house. He had this big house, and the gate opened

Starting point is 00:11:20 up, and my mom's like, just go in. I'm like, okay. And I like wander in there. And, uh, you know, he had a couple of nice cars and it's like back when like having a TV screen and your car was just the craziest thing ever. And he had a PlayStation in the glove box, in the glove box. I, you know, kid, I was just like, this is just incredible. And all I remember is I go to grab the remote the controller and it was just sticky and I was like what the there's like jelly on it it was like and then there's like and I'm looking I'm like wow this is like there's chips buried in the seats and I was like oh man there's like a car seat I was like oh this is a dad he's a dad I was wondering where that was going yeah no no another tim ferris show exclusive it was sticky and no so

Starting point is 00:12:05 you twisted group of people um i'm a terrible influence it's true no it just brought him down to reality i was like oh he's a dad he's got to deal with kids and these things and it allowed us to become friends i took him as a person rather than as this like untouchable guy so that's how he really influenced me growing up. He never really kind of steered me in any direction. He was just someone to be observed at that time, at that young age. He is, I haven't spent a ton of time with Tony, but we were in Ethiopia for a brief period of time for Charity Water.

Starting point is 00:12:39 And he was just the most down-to-earth guy. And similar to David Blaine, the illusionist, he cannot stop doing magic. I mean, if he goes on a plane ride, he's walked through the lobby, he just cannot stop performing magic for people. At any dinner party, it's great, but he just cannot stop.

Starting point is 00:12:57 And Tony would walk around, this is rural Ethiopia, and he would carry his skateboard everywhere. Oh, I thought you said Tony was doing magic. Damn! and he would carry his skateboard everywhere. Oh, I thought you said Tony was doing magic. No. I was like, damn. Tony just holding out on me. You're like, wow, the skill set never ends. No, no. Illusions.

Starting point is 00:13:11 I'm like, oh my God. I clearly need more. I'm like, I don't see Tony doing a piece of magic in his whole life. No. Okay, I'm sorry. All due respect to Tony. I'm not sure that's his game. David Blaine's doing magic.

Starting point is 00:13:23 David Blaine. And David Blaine had the skateboard. Yeah, Tony had a skateboard everywhere. Tony had a skateboard. And this is like the middle of nowhere in northern Tigray, Ethiopia. And he's carrying it. Anytime he found a patch of anything approaching asphalt or rideable, he would get out of the car and he'd want to introduce kids

Starting point is 00:13:45 to being on a skateboard for the first time. It was just the coolest thing. And he did this like 15, 20 times, but very down-to-earth guy. I mean, for all of the fame and all the attention. Took you like three hours to get back to the hotel? Yeah, three hours. The car kept stopping?

Starting point is 00:14:00 Yeah, exactly. He's going. He's doing it again. He's got to skate. It's gravel, guys. This's doing it again. He's got to skate. It's gravel, guys. This could take a while. What did your parents do? My mom was a waitress, and she worked at the Hilton Hotel at Torrey Pines.

Starting point is 00:14:22 It's now the Sheraton. No, it was the Sheraton. It's now the Hilton Hotel at Torrey Pines is now the Sheraton. No, it was the Sheraton. It's now the Hilton. And my dad worked for the city of San Clemente in the water department. And I don't really know what that means. I just, I'm pretty convinced he was the guy that, like, had the roadmap out and was, like, actually sleeping behind it. You know what I'm saying? Like, he was, like, fixing main breaks and all sorts of things that were going on.

Starting point is 00:14:50 But we always, whenever I asked my mom, she's like he's sleeping he's he's sleeping on the job that was kind of it's like oh mom it's pretty harsh okay and uh do you have siblings uh i um have an older brother and an older sister i have actually two older sisters and um older brother. So I'm the youngest. But the two, so there's my sister Carrie, who's one year older than me, and then my brother Jesse, who's a half-brother, who's seven years older. And then I have a sister named Jessica, who I don't see as much. So she's kind of the one that's like, that's why in the beginning I was like, oh, I've got a brother and a sister. So she's a half-sister, and she's great, but we don't see much of her yet.

Starting point is 00:15:30 When you started to get attention at such a young age, and I'm looking at these notes, tell me if these are accurate, because I know there's a lot of inaccuracy on the Internet. It's okay. So Burton sponsored since seven, or had a relationship with Burton since seven. Yeah, seven years old. And then, of course, that continued then after that. Did your parents do anything or say anything in particular to keep you grounded or from just going off the rails? Because a lot of people who get attention that young end up kind of flying off the rails.

Starting point is 00:16:02 I don't know. It was a strange circumstance because, like, you know, I was sponsored by Burton, but it wasn't the biggest. I mean, it was a really amazing thing, but it was the circumstance of just, like, the right place in the right time. And Burton Snowboards was actually coming out with a whole line of kids' products, and they needed kids to ride their boards. So they're like, oh, we got a local kid here, and he'll ride your stuff,

Starting point is 00:16:25 and then a local kid there. And so I was kind of like part of the development team. We were testing products, doing all these things for them. But I remember the encouragement was they're like, we'll give you this free snowboard. You keep riding. We'll give you another one. And so it didn't really like, I mean, as a kid,

Starting point is 00:16:39 like it's all the motivation you need. You're like, oh, I'm getting to this next snowboard. But, you know, I lived in San Diego area. There's not much snow. I mean, if you were a... Yeah, I mean, like I was... I'm no geographer, but that does make sense to me. So what I'm getting at is like, you know, I had my whole life on the mountain.

Starting point is 00:16:59 And then I'd come home and I'm like walking to school like everyone else. I was like doing homework and walking the dog, like doing normal things. So I never really got to kind of like have my head, you know, blown up because I never lived in the mountains where like, I guess kids that knew you were sponsored would think that was very cool. And that was very whatever.

Starting point is 00:17:18 It wasn't until I got older that I got a really big head. I'm not sure if you mean literally or metaphorically. This is hard to compete with. I just had a lot of hair. I have a lot of forehead. I tried to deglaze it for you guys. I hope I'm not blinding anyone. But they were cool.

Starting point is 00:17:39 I mean, your question was about me letting it go to my head, I guess. My parents were really great at making sure, you know, I just had a normal childhood in that sense. Like, you know, I was doing the snowboard stuff, which was cool and all, but they're like, you got to do your homework. You got to do, you know, they were encouraging with the snowboarding, but they kept me in line when I came home. So looking at your career, it strikes me, and there's a great profile for people who haven't seen it. Fast Company did a while back. But you've made some very smart decisions that have allowed you to have a lot of longevity and to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that I think athletes, but just general people in the public eye fall prey to.

Starting point is 00:18:20 Can you talk about how creative control and those types of approvals came to be? No, it's a great question. I mean, I feel very fortunate that I was able to grow with my success within the sport. It started here, the free snowboard, and then it became, hey, we'll give you a travel budget to get around to your competitions. And then I actually started getting paid to snowboard. I went pro in these things. Sorry, I got a little lost. What were we talking about?

Starting point is 00:18:50 Oh, no. I do this all the time. You just had a little loss. I've had a little loss. Just how the, when did you realize that you needed to make decisions about creative control? Oh, the approvals, yeah. No, I'm sorry. So I totally got lost there.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Excuse me. No, so what happened was, you know, I was growing with the success, and so sponsors were coming to me and asking, hey, we want to do this ad. We want to put you in this commercial spot or these things. And I'll never forget the day this kid came up to me

Starting point is 00:19:19 and asked me to autograph this poster for him. And I'm looking at the poster, and I'm like, I look horrible in this photo. It and i'm looking at the poster and i'm like i look horrible in this photo it's just terrible like the worst photo ever and you're you're i was young i was like super sensitive about how you know you're insecure i'm still pretty sensitive about it it's like the only redhead around i was like oh this just won't work and so all i all i remember is i i signed this poster for this kid and I'm thinking now he's going to put it on his wall. All his friends are going to see it. This is just awful. And so,

Starting point is 00:19:55 but the product in the shot was amazing. I mean, this thing, you snatch it off the page and drink it. It was just looks so good. And I'm like, this isn't fair like you know I want to I want to I want to change this I want to be able to prove these things and I asked my agent at the time about it and I my parents I was like what's up with this and he's like oh you want the right you want to look through all these and actually approve the I'm like yeah I want to be a part of that I want to know what's going out with my name on it and that that was like my slow intro to having more control of you know the imagery and my likeness and and all of those things that come out um that i'm endorsing i guess yeah i remember

Starting point is 00:20:33 somebody told me a while back there like it takes 10 or 20 years to build a reputation and just one bad decision with that type of thing to completely pedo it what are some of the who are some of the business mentors that you've had or career mentors or role models for that matter uh i was really fortunate when i was younger to um come across an agent named mark irvin at img and um he was a really great guy. I mean, we worked together for probably eight years or more. But he was really someone that I look to and he's like, you know, we could do these things and we can we can, you know, work with these companies and we won't even do the deal until we have the approvals. And and kind of like we put ourselves out there to where, you know, we wouldn't even get the deals unless unless we knew they wanted to wanted to like work with me, not tell me how to, you know, do what I do. Um, but he was a great mentor in that space. And it was funny cause my mom, I mean, when he tells the story, it's pretty good. Cause, um, my mom asked him to represent me and he said no, cause he was really busy, had all these other big

Starting point is 00:21:41 clients. And, um, and then he, I think he went back and, like, checked me out online. He's like, oh, this kid might be on to something. And he came back to meet me, and he said he didn't want to meet with me and my mom. He just wanted to meet with me. And he's like, I'll never forget it. I realized how young you were because you sat down and ordered a milk. I remember the last time I was like, oh, just take a milk.

Starting point is 00:22:05 On the rocks. Just a hot day in San Diego. I was like, give me that milk. Yeah, so, you know, he was a great guy, and he taught me a lot of important lessons and things along the way. And I don't know. I feel like I always had a bit of excitement about it. I always wanted to know more,

Starting point is 00:22:28 and my mom is definitely someone that's influenced me, you know, probably way more than anybody you can imagine. I mean, she was the one that was driving. Obviously my father as well, but my mom was at the time, she was my mom. She was my business manager. She was kind of my agent. She was, you know, making sandwiches. She was kind of my agent. She was, you know, making sandwiches. She was doing everything.

Starting point is 00:22:53 And so, you know, I'm really so thankful that she was there at that pivotal, you know, that important time in my life. What has been, and we don't have to name names necessarily unless you're comfortable with it, but what have been some of the hardest opportunities to say no to that you're glad you said no to? Oh, man. Bobble Uh, bobbleheads. Bobbleheads. Bobbleheads. Can you imagine? It was just like, that was a real one. I turned down. I was like, I don't know. This could be cool.

Starting point is 00:23:23 Then I saw someone else's bobblehead and I was like, damn, the one that got away, you know? I don't know. I'll probably end up doing this in a year. We'll all look back at this and laugh. Well, you could have different versions of the bobblehead now. I was like 16, and they're like, we should do the Sean White fragrance. I was just like, what? Is it winter fresh? What are we going to like,

Starting point is 00:23:45 what is this going to be? And it just didn't. And I was blown away at the amount of money they were willing to offer me. And I was just like, man, like pad sweat. What are we going to call this? Like, I don't know what to do. And so I remember, I remember turning it down and that was a crazy time because I was like, well, I don't think I could have ever in my wildest dreams imagined turning down this amount of money. Yeah, I mean, as a kid growing up, my family and I, to make ends meet, we would camp out in this van at the mountains. My mom and dad bought a van, and then they took it down to Tijuana to get it reupholstered, because it had crazy amounts of fleas. It was used as like a lookout car for the police. I can't even make this up. This is real. So they took it down to Tijuana,

Starting point is 00:24:34 had it reupholstered and like flea bombed it. And then like this was our home. We would go up to the mountains and like and now I'm just turning down this massive amount of money to not do a fragrance. But, you know, those were important things. And I feel like at the time, you know, as many things I said no to, there was a nice list of things that I was currently involved with. And I was like, you know what, for every one of these, there's probably a couple more down the line that are the real deals that you want to wait for. And, you know, if it was meant to be, it would have been, you know, it would have made sense. But it just doesn't make sense. Were there any particular reasons you said no to that or any particular thinking as to why that didn't make sense for you at the time?

Starting point is 00:25:17 Yeah, I just was like, I can't picture it on the shelf. I can't picture me standing in front of a crowd like yourself trying to like oh look it's great i mean i can the dog loves it and the people like what am i how am i going to promote this and how it doesn't really you know i didn't even use deodorant at the time right it's like let alone a fragrance you know it's like what's bo like what oh excuse me i'm here i might have been you. I'm blaming you. It might be me heavy breathing into this moment. But yeah, so it just didn't make sense. And I had to really ask myself, is this something I can pull off? Is this something that's going to kill my cred?

Starting point is 00:25:53 And think about it. I mean, the world of snowboarding was a very core group. And at that time especially, it was like a very touchy scenario to be in, to be doing big endorsements with you know corporate America so if you looking back at say Torino and when it seems like you're just suddenly thrust in front of the largest audience and had the greatest awareness compared to previously what advice would you give yourself? What advice now would you give that Sean White? Oh man, that's a tough one. I would say it's a

Starting point is 00:26:39 tough one because I'm a firm believer in the fact of all those mistakes that I made at that point got me to this place and I wouldn't really have learned my lessons and things. I would have told myself to just kind of like enjoy it more. You know, it was a really, to be honest, it was one of the hardest times in my life. I mean, I just won the Olympics. It was an amazing, like, we did it, you know, in my family and, you know, in the community that we lived in. You know, I had a, someone yelled Bob Burnquist earlier. Over here.

Starting point is 00:27:10 Here we go. You know, there's a skateboard of Bob Burnquist, and I had crashed into him during a demonstration. I fractured my skull. I broke my hand. I broke my foot. I had to go to school, you immediately after this like crazy accident and the teacher saw me and like cried at the sight of me and i'm like looking around and like i'm like why does everybody look so nice this is crazy everybody's dressed up it was picture day um and i was like

Starting point is 00:27:39 okay like i had these huge black eyes from the from the head trauma and all these things. So wait a second. Is this like school photo day? It was the picture day. So did you do a junior high like one of these with massive black eyes? Oh, yeah. The photos. I had to do the full on like the side turn.

Starting point is 00:28:01 And I'm in a dirty T-shirt. Just look like a victim of mugging yeah sorry I got a little lost on where I was going with that I was talking about advice to myself when I was younger I still don't know where I was going

Starting point is 00:28:24 with that oh okay I got it I still don't know where I was going with that um oh okay I got it yeah no we were talking about like the community that I grew up in and they didn't really understand what I did they're like okay he goes

Starting point is 00:28:38 yeah that's cool he goes up to the mountains and like you know they ask my parents like so you smoke weed like you know my mom like what are you talking, so you smoke weed? Like, you know, my mom, like, what are you talking about? Well, you snowboard, you go to smoke some weed, right? And like, you know, people in the community just didn't really understand. And so there's a big difference between holding up an X Games medal and a gold medal from the Olympics. I mean, everybody understands that and can recognize that accomplishment.

Starting point is 00:29:01 So it not only kind of like took the people that said I was going to be nothing and that I was, you know, never going to make it in the sport and the teachers that didn't support me and all this, it really, it meant that we had succeeded. And so I don't know, it's kind of, what do you do next? You know, I'm 19. I just like, we did it. And now what? I'm like, I guess we should try to do it again, I guess what you know where do you get that same fight you know you'd won the fight and it's like what's next and so I had a really hard come down from that I didn't know what to do with myself then I had an undefeated season when I won that that year in 2006 and so I was like I got second place at the event um then the following season I was like well this year's already not as great

Starting point is 00:29:44 as the last one. And, you know, I was really hard on myself. And so that was a time where I would look back and tell myself to just obviously, you know, let things happen and refresh. Now that I'm older and I've competed at the Olympics, I know what that come down feels like. I'm prepared. You know, like this last Olympics, I was like, win or lose,

Starting point is 00:30:03 I'm going to go play some music with my friends. Like, that's what I really want to do. But at that time, it was really tough. And I was dealing with the new success and fame from the Olympics and endorsements and money and what to do. And I was 19. I mean, like, normally you move out of home. When you're 18, you go to college. I was still at home with my mom.

Starting point is 00:30:25 Like, okay, cool. Like, now what? Like, I didn't.'t i was like i guess i could buy a house that'd be cool like let's move out well the plot thickens because the house we were in i actually owned um but i was like go to your room you're like no you go to your room. I purchased the house as an investment, you know, and when you're 18, you can't actually even. I'm sorry. Before you're 18, you can't actually even own anything. You can't like write things off in your taxes. You just get slammed. And so my parents, like it looked shady in the beginning, but they took the money, they bought the house, and then they put it back into my name under a trust and things.

Starting point is 00:31:04 It's complicated. But anyway, so as I got older, I was like, you know what? I love you guys. You did this such a great thing by supporting me my whole life. I just won the Olympics. Like, you just stay in this house and live here. I'm going to go get a new place. And that was a whole new, you know, like just growing up at that time is tough.

Starting point is 00:31:22 And then to add all those extra things on top of it was even more overwhelming yeah you mentioned enjoying it i remember hearing an anecdote from neil gamet is one of my favorite writers and he became very well known from sandman i don't know if anyone here has seen the comic book or the graphic novel sandman it's amazing and so just sort of reinvented the genre of the graphic novel and he was doing this long signing one point at like the first peak in his fame and Stephen King was like enjoy it and he's like yeah I didn't he's like I just didn't enjoy it I was too overwhelmed by all these new factors so you seem you seem like you've done a very good job of educating yourself from many different sources. And I, in the course of trying to prepare for this,

Starting point is 00:32:08 heard that you are a fan of the Andre Agassi autobiography. Yes. That is an incredible book, open. I recommend it to everyone. Why are you such a fan of that book? It was incredible. I mean, well, I was a fan of Andrere agassi just in any ways i had read an interview that he didn't stretch before competitions i never stretched before competitions like i just

Starting point is 00:32:31 loved i just thought the guy was so cool and he had like the white lamborghini with the headband and just like cut off shorts it was just awesome yeah and i just remember seeing that as a kid and going this guy's he's got it go he's got something right here I was like he's doing it right um you know and I just I just thought he was so great and um I remember after the Olympics we got a phone call from Steffi Graf um and my my team manager for the company was like dude I just got off the phone with Steffi Graf like Andre's a huge fan he wants you to come out and um you know, have a have a hang out during his birthday and go snowboarding. And so we became friends after that. It was really

Starting point is 00:33:11 great. And so he sent me the book when it came out. I was like, oh, this is great. I read the book. And man, I really enjoyed the book. It was so amazing to hear his story and his kind of like struggle of of not enjoying the sport and and then finally finding his love for it. And I don't know, it was just an interesting way he told the story. And I compared so many things of that to my life. And I think the part that I enjoy the most is that once he realized that his life wasn't tennis and that it was his family and it was his foundation, he actually played better. He stopped. He got that little bit of like, I don't care. I'm going to play my heart out. I'm

Starting point is 00:33:49 going to go home to people that love me and people that, you know, care about me. And that was something that I've always felt my whole life is that like I snowboard for sure. I love it. I do it. But that's not my life. I mean, my life is many things. It's one great, amazing facet not my life I mean my life is is many things it's it's it's one great amazing facet of my life but that's that was something that I was like wow you know I really relate to that because when I come home I have a whole different you know world of friends and things that I'm interested in and music and art and you know all these things and so I really enjoyed that part of it and and how open and honesty was obviously the book open uh how honest he was about everything and and you know the ups and downs and yeah it was really cool I've never had so many people come up to me I was reading the paperback and want to talk to me about

Starting point is 00:34:35 the book I was reading okay just like airplanes restaurants uh yeah and uh you mentioned in a sense him not letting tennis be his entire identity and then playing better. I remember this master negotiator said to me once, he goes, he who cares less wins. But there's a really fine line, right? Because you have to be driven. You have to take it seriously. But if you have all your chips kind of in one area and you have an off day and then it like destroys your self-worth what do you what have you done when you've lost some of that enthusiasm yeah but you're still in say competition

Starting point is 00:35:11 mode how do you how have you resurrected that or addressed it referencing the book he had an amazing quote which i'm going to probably butcher right now but he said the feeling of winning doesn't feel as strong or last as long as the feeling of losing and i nailed it that one was for you andre because the pressure was on no but it's very true it's very true like you can win something and be like that was great what next but like when you lose something it's just like this it just weighs on you and everything isn't as shiny and bright. Everything is just kind of weighed down by this and you won't

Starting point is 00:35:50 let it go, you know, and it's, it's amazing. And so in my mind, I always kind of twisted things in my favor. I always kind of like made it to be what I wanted it to be. So if I would show up at a competition and win, I go, okay, great. I'm exactly where I need to be. This is what I'm doing. And if I didn't win, I would just turn it in my favor. Like, well, now you know exactly where you need to be. You've seen what the best are doing and you need to now one-up that. And, you know, if you look at something and kind of try to see that other side of it,

Starting point is 00:36:18 you know, I would get motivated from that. You know, I would use it in my favor to go compete and go get better and and do all those things so um you know that's what kind of got me through it I guess but I just had this will to always you know win to be the best I mean and a lot of it stemmed from the fact that I was told even the heart condition and all these things that I wasn't really going to amount to much so it was like I it wasn't so much of a I want to to do this. It's like, I'm, I have to do this. Um, there was an amazing, um, situation where I was in Japan at this competition called the Toyota big air. And, um, I was, I was like a wild card entry. So I was paying my travel to get there with my, my mom flew out with me and, uh, you know, we're paying for the

Starting point is 00:37:03 hotel or paying for the food, all these things. All the other riders were invited, so when they got there, they got paid some per diem money to show up. And then there's a big prize purse of $50,000. Everyone went out that night and partied like crazy. And I was a kid, so I was at home at the hotel with my mom. They show up hungover to the event, and they're like, you know, the jump's just lame. It's not. It was lame.

Starting point is 00:37:28 And it's not cool. And, you know, we don't want to compete today. We're just going to do a demo. We're all going to split the money. And, like, I'm doing the quick math. I'm like, man, this doesn't even cover our flights out. And so I was like, I don't want to do it. I don't want to split the money.

Starting point is 00:37:42 And they, like, hazed me. And they're like, oh, you're all about the money and blah, blah, blah. And I just sat there like, I'm writing really well today. I'm not doing it. And you know, they had like a big picture of all the writers faces and they're drawing dollar signs in my eyes. I was 15, man. Like that was intimidating. It was like my heroes, like making jabs at me and man, I won. Good for you. I won. Good for you.

Starting point is 00:38:08 Yeah. It was $50,000 in a car. I was 15. I was like, oh my God. What did we do? It was in yen too. Was the spirit? There's a photo.

Starting point is 00:38:23 The best photo in the world because i have it all laid out on the bed because i thought it was so cool i was like i mean look at all this you're just fake money yeah and and my mom and the best photo ever because i have a peanut butter jelly sandwich it's like i was like i did a good job and i'm like eat my sandwich. But that's, you know, one of those things where, I don't know, that was just one demonstration of like me being confident in my riding, knowing what I was there for. And I wanted to win.

Starting point is 00:38:54 I mean, people wanted to know like, why didn't you get, you know, pulled into drinking and drugs and these things? And I just didn't have time for it, man. I wanted to win. I wanted to be the best and nothing could really get in my way what do you think the the sources of that strength and face of that type of peer pressure I mean that's unusual for a 15 year old especially when you're being faced by your idols or suddenly you know throwing darts at you uh did that come

Starting point is 00:39:22 from your parents or is it just something internally that you've always had or is there a different answer i think it was both you know i'd put in the work i'd put in the time i felt like i was the best rider and and these guys had their travel paid to get there they were all doing you know what i mean i just felt like you know what this is my day and i'm not gonna let them ruin it and i and i'd work toward this goal um and and you know i i usually set goals every single season i set a goal it's either like something very serious and it's usually two goals it's something very serious and something funny something stupid like what what would be an example of each it's ridiculous oh

Starting point is 00:40:02 one of them was to um win the olympics ridiculous. One of them was to win the Olympics and then one of them was to see how many cars I could win. How many cars? How many cars? Because at the time the automotive industry, they were just like handing out cars. I was like, okay, I got my car in Japan. That's great.

Starting point is 00:40:19 So I was on a roll and I think by the end of the run I had like nine cars. And they weren't, there was like a roll, and I think by the end of the run, I had like nine cars. And they weren't, there was like a Suzuki Sidekick, and like this Volvo, and a Jeep, and these random cars. But that was like one of my goals, like how many cars can I win? I ended up like donating them at the end,

Starting point is 00:40:40 because I had to pay taxes on them and all these things. I was like, all right, somebody could just have this here you go here's the suzuki sorry the steering wheel is on the wrong side yeah enjoy just take it there you go do you still do goal setting like that i do um yeah they're always random man uh the vancouver o Vancouver Olympics, I can't believe I'm telling you this. I had, my goals were to, again, win the Olympics. And then the other goal was to wear these pants. And the pants that I had made were these American flag pants. It's just following me.

Starting point is 00:41:24 I saw this photo of Axel rose wearing something similar they're probably a little more snug and shorter i was like i can't pull that but i'm i can i can make some pants like that and yeah it was just like this stupid goal like man if i won like maybe i don't know like i could get on the cover rolling stone or something like that i had been on the cover of Rolling Stone or something like that. I had been on the cover when I first won the Olympics and had this ridiculous nickname that I've been given, the tomato and all these things. I was like, that's so not cool. If I win again, what if they put me on the cover

Starting point is 00:41:57 and what if I'm in American flag pants doing some Axl Rose type something? And so that was my goal. I had the pants like made and then tailored up at the Vancouver Games and I won so I could wear the pants. Did you wear them while you were competing or was that just a celebratory? No, it was just celebratory pants for after.

Starting point is 00:42:21 These are all true stories. And then I got on the cover of Rolling Stone wearing those pants. That's amazing. You visualize the dream and the goal, and then you make it happen. But that's what's fun is it takes a lot of the pressure off of it. Winning the Olympics is a very big goal. It's a very stressful goal to have you know so it's nice to have something else to offset it oh man like obviously if i won all these cars that

Starting point is 00:42:51 meant i was gonna win the olympics because i was winning all the events you know if i get to wear the pants it means i won the olympics it's like it kind of downplays the whole you know uh magnitude of it so that's kind of why i do it did you come up with that yourself or did you they were cool pants did you did you come up with that yourself or did you borrow that from someone else you did no I just kind of like everything was so serious at the time and I don't know that was just kind of my way of dealing with it when you're getting ready to compete and I was just watching some of your video today and struck struck me how relaxed you seemed i mean seemed uh and just even in the in the landings in particular i was paying attention and what are

Starting point is 00:43:34 you saying to yourself if anything when you're up there kind of at the gate about to be released for your run what is What is your internal dialogue? I don't think there's anything that could be repeated at such polite company. Oh, these people aren't polite. Trust me. No, I don't know. They're my listeners. They're not polite.

Starting point is 00:43:56 I usually, I'm not really thinking about anything. And that's the beauty of music. They play some music at the top. You start singing along. And then I go down my run. And I'm usually just kind of like humming along to the song and the goal is to like you're completely focused and then there's that bit of like not caring and that allows you to then just do the tricks like you've practiced you know what to do you're your own worst enemy at that point because if you

Starting point is 00:44:18 overthink it you know you're gonna you know like a couple questions ago I was like where am I going with this and then I forgot what the question was like you know you can't let yourself you know get in the way of what you're trying to do and so i always describe it like i'm thinking of you know each wall so i'm doing my flips and thinking about the next trick so that's a way to kind of like avoid over analyzing this landing or something like that the tough part is's the last hit because there's no more hits after that. So there's a really funny video of me at some competition. It's really cold out. And you can see my first hit, I do my big trick and there's this big puff of breath because it's so cold that you can see my breath. And then the next trick comes, I'm doing my thing, puff of breath, all the way down. And that last hit, there's no breath. I was holding my breath, trying to make sure I land that trick.

Starting point is 00:45:08 It's always that flow you get, that kind of like one hit to the next, and I really can't pinpoint one specific moment out. And usually at the top, I'm just kind of like, I don't know. I'm usually either, I don't either, I probably just say a little prayer and kind of, I, I, I think I, I, I say, who cares? I do. I go, who cares? Like, what's the, in the end of the day, like, like who cares? Like, what's the, you know, what's the big deal? I'm, I'm here. I'm going to try my best and who cares? Like, I, I'm going to go home and my family's there. And like the Andre Agassi reference, I mean,

Starting point is 00:45:46 who cares? I'm going to, I'm going to go on from this, you know, even though I'm so my whole world's wrapped up in this, like who cares? So it's very, uh,

Starting point is 00:45:56 very stoic in the, in the most positive way. It reminds me also, I was interviewing a triple H, the professional wrestler, Paul Levesque, and he's friends with Floyd Mayweather. Before one of Floyd's championship fights, Floyd invited him into the locker room where

Starting point is 00:46:12 he's doing his warm-up and stuff. He goes, well, I don't want to interfere or bother you while you're getting in your head and getting ready to fight. And he goes, you're not bothering me. He's like, if I'm not ready, I'm not ready. Oh, wow. He's like, if I'm ready, I'm ready. It's like's like there's nothing i'm gonna do in the next 10 minutes it's gonna make a difference oh man uh are there any other books uh that have that that you particularly

Starting point is 00:46:35 love or have given to other people the book i've given the most uh it's called 50 shades of chicken are you serious it's a cookbook on chicken it's delicious and it's got this this like i love chicken i love this and it's got this chicken all tied up on the front like just begging to be yeah um besides that um Besides that, The Outliers. Malcolm Gladwell. And I can't quote the whole book because I kind of, I'm sorry, Malcolm, but I read half of it. Just my attention span wanders. But I kind of stopped just because i i really i was reading it and and i really enjoyed the book and i i you know i i actually just left it on the plane

Starting point is 00:47:31 why i stopped i should have just bought another one but um and then harry potter came out you gotta do you gotta do um a chicken book came out um no so I was reading the book, and I was amazed about the story about the hockey players and this kind of anomaly in the system, and I started applying that to my own life. And I was like, wow, well, people would think I was at a disadvantage growing up in Southern California. I was like, well, I don't find that as a disadvantage at all. It was probably sunny and nice out in majority of the year or the winter season you know our winters aren't like you know somewhere in Colorado or Vermont so the amount of days I could actually go ride would probably I don't know double or triple the amount of someone

Starting point is 00:48:14 growing up somewhere else and then at the same moment the person that was building the parks at uh Bear Mountain and Summit Snow Summit Resort um you know it was like this small mountain so they're like oh yeah do what you want you snowboarders go do what you want and this guy was building these amazing jumps this amazing half pipe he now builds all of the courses for the world's best events that's where he got his start at these mountains um you know they weren't gonna let him go to aspen and like tear up the, you know, the groomer or trail or whatever. So, um, you know, that happened. And then another thing I compared to my life is that, um, the half pipe that they had,

Starting point is 00:48:54 had a T bar. I had like a tow rope at it. So I was thinking, wow, the amount of days now that I'm riding because it's sunny and the amount of runs I'm getting, cause I don't have to unstrap and hike back up. I would just do my trick, get back on the chair and go back up. I was like, wow, I'm packing in like, you know, months of training in these small windows compared to someone else that lives in, in Vermont or something where it's like below, well,

Starting point is 00:49:21 well below freezing and they're hiking the pipe. They're tired. That's, you know, when you're cold, it's like, it's frightening to go, it's frightening to go okay i'm gonna try this flip like no you're not like it's super intimidating now like it's cold you want to go home and get warm like i was in these conditions where the snow was soft i got some guy building the best terrain um around and uh yeah so there's a lot of fun things that came into play especially especially Burton Snowboards just happened to come out with the snowboard line. So a lot of fun things, you know, that I was able to apply to my life from that book. How is your physical training, since we're talking about training and practicing, how has your physical training changed or evolved?

Starting point is 00:50:01 I'm actually doing it now. You have physical training? um i'm actually doing it now you have you have i'm serious yeah no it's it's strange i've i've i i consider what i do is sport i consider myself an athlete but i never really treated myself as one um especially when you're 16 you know you just bounce back like or you're younger you try these tricks you don't have to work out i i'm like, we're taking the chairlift. We're going downhill. I'm not like, you know, going up against someone that's twice my size and I got to deal with that. It's definitely like an individual sport and it relies on the element of being creative. You know, I can come up with a brand new trick that no one's done before and be the best in the world where it doesn't matter how hard i hit the gym i still have to be inspired and then have the you know the guts to go do this

Starting point is 00:50:51 trick and perform it and and you know master it but uh recently i watched a documentary um called seven days in hell and i was like oh this is This is really great. But below that was the actual doc. It's a mockumentary with Andy Sandberg and one of the guys from Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. I'm sorry. Yeah. Great actor. And so really funny film. Right below it was the actual documentary of Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe.

Starting point is 00:51:20 And I was like, oh, I got to watch this. And I'm watching. And Jon was uh i'm sorry bjorn you know had his trainer wake him up somebody was hitting balls with him and the other guy's stretching him and i was like he's got his whole team this is amazing like why don't why don't i have that why don't i do that and like this is this is probably like a couple months ago and so i was like i got on the phone i was okay, I need a trainer. And I need this girl to travel with me and help me stretch. Swanye.

Starting point is 00:51:50 You know, get my back fixed from the plane. And it sounds so ridiculous to me now that I didn't do it before. You know, my eyes were just opened by seven days in hell, which is pretty funny. But, yeah, so I i was like what i did before um is i would just show up in a city and i just roll the dice and be like hey do you know anyone that's good at physical therapy or massage and you get the one that's like they're just not they're not doing anything you know you're like oh that was great thank you you know and or you get somebody that's like this is sean white like i gotta impress this

Starting point is 00:52:26 guy in one session he's just all elbows all elbows yeah although i can barely walk after the thing so i was like hesitant to even get training and i was like well you know my back's so locked up it's really helping like me stick my landings you know like yeah it was crazy and so i just recently decided you know wow why don't I take this into my own hands? And obviously I'm getting older. And, yeah, it was something I really wanted to do. And it's made it so much easier. Surprise.

Starting point is 00:52:56 But, yeah, it's something I don't know. I just didn't really think about it. And, yeah, I'm 29. I was like, oh, I should probably get the gym. Is there any particular type of training or piece of that training now that you feel has helped you the most? Yeah. And when I say I didn't train, I mean, there were moments where I was like, okay, I'm going to make sure for this month I really hit the spin bike or I'll do this or there was various trainers where i would meet up with them and then you know we we'd hit it for maybe a couple weeks and then i'd fizzle out because i would go on trips and things and um the only really time i did go to the gym was after injuries i hurt my knee and it freaked me out i

Starting point is 00:53:37 was like wow i gotta hit the gym i gotta really protect my knees and my things that are gonna keep me in the sport um but the training that i find now that really helps was uh it's balance and core and uh invisible i can't even say it to visualize my runs and things you know to picture myself i'm very visual like i know what i'm going to see when i hit the jump i know what the the landing's going to look like i know what you know who's going to be waiting at the bottom of the of the run to you know high five me you know good job like all these things i visualize everything down to the pants i'm gonna wear like literally it gets pretty involved and so you know i i feel like the training when you're thinking about you know those positive outcomes and you're thinking about what

Starting point is 00:54:19 you want to do what you want to achieve wall training is a very powerful thing. And then, um, yeah, just, just, just simple, simple things that I should have probably been doing for a long time now. So when you're coming up on a, an important competition and, uh, not at the gate, but in the hours preceding that, what is your, what are your rituals look like or routines i don't know i mean my mom's super very superstitious and um and so like i wasn't in the beginning and now it's slowly rubbed off on me because i would come home or i'd come back to the hotel after the event my whole room was packed up my whole bag was packed up i was like these maids are really going for that extra yeah they're going the extra mile here like what's going on and so she was like these maids are really going for that extra yeah they're going the extra

Starting point is 00:55:05 mile here like what's going on and so she was like oh if i sneak in your room and pack up your bags it means you're going to be safe and you're going to win the event it's just like all right lady like lady you're scaring us you know and so i remember uh you know i won and then i won the next one and i'm like no there i am packing my bag you know i don't want then I won the next one. And then I'm like, no, there I am packing my bag. I don't want to break tradition. But nowadays, like the things I do is I tend to eat a steak before I compete. The night before some skateboarder told me he does it. I tried it. I won. Now I have to eat a steak. Now you're locked in the sticks. Yeah. Yeah. Which is pretty crazy because I didn't eat a steak before Sochi. Really? Yeah. But you, oh, you did not eat a steak now you're locked in the sticks yeah yeah which is pretty crazy because i didn't eat a steak before sochi really yeah but you oh you did not eat a steak that day

Starting point is 00:55:50 i did not eat a steak even that's when you picked up the superstition kind of like your training no it adds to the superstition but um but yeah so there's like a bunch of things like that mess you up before sochi not having the state totally there's there were like five of those things that i'm talking about that all took place before the event um it's not because i didn't want steak i didn't all of a sudden be like you know what going vegan like no i was just like you know they didn't even know if they were going to run the competition you know leading up to the event we had three days of practice and the half pipe was unrideable for three days and so the meeting that night was to decide if they were even going to do the event the next day which is a very tough scenario as a competitor because you're like all right tomorrow we're gonna maybe do this you know

Starting point is 00:56:36 you get all psyched up and it's like this big maybe and so the meeting went till 2 a.m and uh my coach at the time is the one that cooks the steaks, and he's just like, we're in Russia. You want me to find you a steak right now? I'm like, I'm not one to break your dish, but you want to do a tonight of all nights? Anyways, that story aside, but yeah, there's things where I get a song that's played, and I have to hear that same song if I win. It depends.

Starting point is 00:57:04 For 2006, it was ACDC's Back in Black. One was Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin. One was a Black Keys song. What was the song? I think Howlin' for You. All right. Yeah, so there's strange things. I was 16.

Starting point is 00:57:24 I went to my first concert ever. It was the Oz Fest. And yeah, I went with my parents. I was like, oh, this is incredible. Also my first concert. Yeah. And I bought this T-shirt that said the Prince of fucking Darkness. And it was it was Ozzy and Flames. And I was like, this is great. And I started wearing it under my jersey every competition. And I was winning. Ozzy was like, you know, helping me out. And so, you know, just random things like that.

Starting point is 00:57:52 So there's like select T-shirts and songs and things over time that, you know, I kind of. So you mentioned, this could not, I couldn't have planned this. You bringing up the Ozzy Osbourne, what was it, Prince of Fucking Darkness? Yeah. Okay. So did you design a jacket called the most unholy jacket ever? Yes, I did. Can you explain that?

Starting point is 00:58:17 Well, it was amazing. At the time, I was really young, and I was slowly gaining this popularity, and so Burton Snowboards came to me, and they're like, we want to do a pro model snowboard boot. I was like, wow, okay, cool. I have no idea what to do. So I asked my older brother, Jesse, and he was always very artistic, and we came up with this really cool quilted prim, and it sold out.

Starting point is 00:58:44 It was an amazing hit. We came out with another one, and that grew into, you know, boots and a board and helmets, and then it became a whole clothing line at Burton Snowboards called the White Collection. And basically, you know, that had free reign to do whatever I wanted. He's like, well, it would be hilarious if the tagline was super long. You know, we had the tags for the jackets at the store that was just like this long, like a foot long. I was like, oh yeah, the most unholy jacket ever. That'd be great. So that was pretty much why we named it that. We could have these really long,

Starting point is 00:59:17 big obnoxious tags on the jacket. Were there any other names that are particular favorites? Oh man, I can't recall. There were some good ones. But it was fun. We would always do these strange things. I mean, I was always about the little details. So there was a pass pocket that you have in your jacket that you flip up and get scanned to go on the chairlift. And there's always this lame photo of Jake Burton.

Starting point is 00:59:41 He's not lame. Just the photo was lame. No offense. But I remember thinking, like, God, they print this out they make it why don't we do something really funny in there so we we turned it into this like my brother figured out how to take one piece of paper and fold it into like a little comic book and we would like display these bizarre you know like pieces of art and sayings and things and hairy armpits and just weird stuff so um yeah it was all about those little details but people appreciated it you know when you bought the

Starting point is 01:00:09 jacket you were always discovering like fun things and um you know in the unholy jacket we had this like one pocket that you would flip up and it would say the most unholy jacket ever and on the other side it was like people dancing in flames and things it It was just fun. You know, I really enjoyed doing it. And that was my introduction into designing. You know, I just like getting the right of approval for my ads and things. There's a natural kind of progression and story to all of these things that I'm involved with now. You know, I didn't wake up like, I need my own clothing line. Like, no, it was my brother was amazingly talented artist we had this great opportunity and we enjoyed doing it we would make the drawings on napkins the samples would get made

Starting point is 01:00:50 in china we'd bring them back make adjustments and then you see somebody wearing your jacket and it's incredible it's this fulfillment of like wow he stood in front of this huge wall of clothing and picked my jacket like that's so cool you know that that connection there now you you have i mean this is part of the reason why i wanted to invite sean and everyone who's who's been here so far is that you have you're good at several many different things and i'm always curious about how things transfer so for instance music uh could you tell us a little bit about the music? And then I'd like to hear if anything that you had learned through competing in sports or practicing sports translated to music.

Starting point is 01:01:37 Music was a strange one just because no one else in my family is musical in the slightest, especially my sister. She just cannot carry a tune to save herself but um yeah i don't know it was just one of those things where i i turned it into a competition to be honest i won a guitar at a snowboard contest and i was like wow well what if i could just be at a party somewhere and play one song and one song turned into like, okay, I'm now training to be a guitar player. And at that age, my world revolved around like, I'm going to be the best at this. Like, I don't care. I'm going to be the best at this. Um, and, uh, you know, one other thing I do besides set goals for myself is I just like pick these battles that just do not exist.

Starting point is 01:02:24 There's like the sweetest kid at the skate park. He, he skated for birdhouse and I just like pick these battles that just do not exist there's like the sweetest kid at the skate park he he skated for birdhouse and I just I was like I have to destroy this guy like how old were you and he decided he needed this right when I knew he was on birdhouse I was like he's gotta go he's gonna be dead like I just built this in my mind and like he was the sweetest nicest kid ever there's like a tall, blonde kid. And I was just hell-bent on destroying him. In my mind, I didn't want to hurt him or anything. You just dethroned him.

Starting point is 01:02:52 Yeah, yeah. He had my spot, and I wanted it. I wanted to be hanging with Tony and doing the demos and stuff. And so at the same time, I was learning guitar. There were two other kids in the neighborhood that were learning guitar. And was like they gotta go they gotta go and so I would sit on the plane and I would like stretch my fingers because I couldn't reach all the fret I was like one day these things are gonna it's gonna pay off and so I'd stretch my hands out and um because it's difficult to reach all the frets and then I was on the plane and I would take my guitar pick and i would i couldn't upstroke at the time and so i would i would play the side of my pants seam

Starting point is 01:03:30 your neighbor must have loved you i'm serious i i would sit there and listen to music and i would strum i would strum the side of my pant leg to the beat of the song and the to the rhythm of the music and um you know to get my get my wrist acquainted with that motion. That was serious, man. I hope we have videos. That's going to be a hell of an animated gift. So I remember the one day I show up and the one kid had been playing guitar.

Starting point is 01:03:54 It was very unfair. He'd been playing for 10 years or more and I'm like, he's got to go. And so the one day I got my fulfilling moment where it was like a Metallica song and he couldn't play the one riff and I could. And it was just. Do you remember the song?

Starting point is 01:04:07 It was so sweet. It was Master of Puppets. Pretty sure. Yeah. First metal album ever. And yeah. So I picked these battles and it's. Master of Puppets.

Starting point is 01:04:18 That's a hard song. It's very hard. Yeah. I was, you know, I was just going for whatever. And at the time, you know, any kid that picks up a guitar, I guess my friends were all listening to Metallica. And it's very guitar riff driven. So it was nice.

Starting point is 01:04:31 I was always picking out the leads and things. And I didn't know any chords or why it made sense. I just learned from guitar tablature off the internet, the numbers that represented the frets and which string. And I would just sit there for hours like, OK, number two, all the way down to fret five and I would like hours and hours stretching the fingers and just getting ready but yeah it was fun and then and then deep down like anybody that picks up a guitar is like man what would it be like to play on stage and to do this and from that young age I was like very

Starting point is 01:05:02 self-aware of that like I didn't want anybody to take a photo of me with a guitar. I didn't want to play for anybody or let anybody in that world because I wanted to just show up all of a sudden and be really incredible at it. So that was kind of like how I do things. I'd rather go and train private than show up and be like, oh, yeah, whatever. I do that with a lot of strange things so that was kind of my way of like you know practicing keeping it fun and and it's nice you make these like i don't know it really got me to be good at guitar i like i had this competition and i had these

Starting point is 01:05:37 things going and it really helped me um is the performing different from competing and snowboarding obviously physically it's different but but is it emotionally, psychologically different for you? Yeah, it's way different. I mean, the feeling is the same because it's like that instant gratification of, like, do you need a big air? Do you hear the crowd here? You've played with some large crowds. I mean, this is sort of like high school graduations.

Starting point is 01:06:01 I mean, these are big operations. We had some pretty amazing opportunities. I play lead guitar in a band called Bad Things. It's composed of mostly friends of mine from the neighborhood I grew up in and some amazingly talented guys I met in L.A. And we started making our own songs, and we got offered some gigs and things. And there was one moment where we got invited to go to Lollapalooza. Um, and I was like, man, this is, this will be heavy. Uh, just wait. It

Starting point is 01:06:31 was for the kids stage. So I was like, I was like, you know what? It'll be more so punk rock. And we just go like play that kid stage. And like, cause I, I don't think I should be on the main stage. I'm just because I'm in the group does not mean that we should be giving these scenarios. And so, we show up and we did our thing. We had a really great show for the kids. And then the most amazing thing happened.

Starting point is 01:06:57 It was like out of a movie. So, the main act on the Grove stage at Lollapalooza decided they weren't going to play. They put a big sign out that said, our art will not be displayed here. And their fans completely demolished their gear and all this craziness ensued. And they looked around, they're like, we need a band to play the main stage. I was like, we're a band? Literally, we're a band? And then literally like we're a band and then it was crazy like you come

Starting point is 01:07:27 with us um and so there we were i was like oh my god this is our moment like we gotta do this and they're like okay you ready for this set and so so we played one of the most incredible sets we've ever had you know we rose to the occasion. We had this amazing set. And just like anyone that picks up a guitar and dreams of being on stage, you dream of that moment you're walking off stage and everyone is cheering for one more song. And the best moment of that, as I look at my buddies,

Starting point is 01:08:01 is like, do we even have another song? We don't have another one. He he's like play the first one again you know until we go back out there yeah like it was incredible it was an incredible moment in time and um yeah and so that got us a lot of credibility in that space that we actually owned the moment and we played for people. They enjoyed it. And that got us a lot of credibility. So then we got offered to tour with Jared Leto's band, 30 Seconds to Mars. And there we are in like Romania for 10,000 people. You know, it was incredible, incredible, you know, to open up for them. And then we did a run through the U.S. with a band called Phantogram.

Starting point is 01:08:43 But yeah, it was it was just great it was just great to be playing on stage, doing something different, and that excitement. And all I'll say is that you're out on stage with your friends. It's not all on my shoulders. I can kind of miss the pedal, or something can happen and go wrong, and it's not the end of the world in that sense. If the show goes on, you have time to make up for it. Obviously, I'm a perfectionist, so nothing can go wrong.

Starting point is 01:09:09 I have to have it perfect. But it's just great to be out there with everyone, really combined effort. It's not all up to me. If I play a perfect show, the drummer probably didn't hear the mix in his set, and it was a terrible show. So everyone has to come together to have an amazing performance so that's that's something different and you have some very exciting stuff coming up soon and that is yet another sort of branch of sean white enterprises uh can you

Starting point is 01:09:37 explain for people what's coming up yeah um it's really incredible uh It's an event that's called Air and Style. It's coming up here in Los Angeles February 20th and 21st at the L.A. Coliseum Expo Park. It's a sports and music festival that started about 20 years ago in Austria. I was a competitor at the event. I then became the host of the event. And then some interesting circumstances led me to being the new owner of the event. I then became the host of the event. And then some interesting circumstances led me to being the new owner of the event. And my dream was to take that passion for music and touring festivals and obviously my knowledge and experience and love of snowboarding and combine those two. So down at the Coliseum, we built a 16-story big air jump. What is an air jump?

Starting point is 01:10:25 A big air jump is just like one big jump. 16 stories. 16-story tall, yeah, it's massive. 16 stories. Is it like a ski jump, one of these? Yeah, it's just like one big hit. And so basically the world's best are coming to compete on it, and then you mix that with an amazing music lineup.

Starting point is 01:10:42 We have J. Cole, Incubus, Haim. We have Action Bronson. Even Cascade will be there, which is very exciting. And yeah, A$AP Ferg, Rudimental, really amazing bands, all-time low. And so the idea is that you have this mashup. I mean, obviously, my world of sports is so close to music that you have this this mashup I mean obviously my world of sports is so close to music that like it's it's just nice to see everybody come together and experience these things and it really represents the culture behind the sport so we have art and fashion

Starting point is 01:11:14 technology all these things that you would find at a festival but the amazing part is that it's a tour so this actually takes place in Beijing in December. We just had a stop in Austria in Innsbruck. So this is the final stop of the tour. So all of these snowboarders have been competing this whole entire time, and we crown the winner at this last event in Los Angeles, and we make this really cool championship ring. So, yeah, everybody's trying to win it. I feel like I've never been in person to the X Games.

Starting point is 01:11:42 I've never been to Coachella. This is my chance to just kind of do both at once. Exactly. That was the goal, you know. And it's cool. I mean, it's like one of those things of like, why didn't this happen before, you know, combining the two? I mean, if you're watching a tennis match, wouldn't it be cool if halfway through, like, you know, like. Ozzy Osbourne bites a bat's head off and starts reffing it.

Starting point is 01:12:02 Yeah, all these chicks came out and rocked the show. I mean, it was really cool. And it was an opportunity for me to do something brand new. And, you know, after the last Olympics, I didn't win, and I was sitting there, and normally you're kind of flooded with these offers of, hey, you could get some easy money by doing a deal with so-and-so or doing this and that. And, you know, I was getting offers, but it definitely wasn't like what you get when you win. And, and it was, you know, in hindsight, it was, it was the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and go, what would I like to do? You know, and actually put my own money into it and build this thing that's, that's been my dream. And it's, it's really something to be seen. We did

Starting point is 01:12:40 it last year. It was a total blowout. We kendrick lamar play and and you know it's really my vision came together and it became real when my mom showed up she was just like what did you do like this thing's massive it's 16 stories and um yeah how do you get tickets yeah uh you can go to aaronstyle.com or you can go to frontgate tickets.com umcom. And it's great. It's $75. They'll get you in the gate. And then what's really cool is kids under 10 get in for free. And the whole idea behind that was, you know, you can come to the event, watch the professionals do their thing,

Starting point is 01:13:19 and there's a whole learn-to-ride area for whoever wants to ride. But, you know, hopefully kids will try it out, fall in love with it, then go up to the mountains, and it kind of refreshes the sport with the youth and, and, and all that. So, and that's how I got my start. I was introduced to it. So I can only hope that, you know, somebody comes to the event and becomes the next so-and-so because, you know, they got their start trying out snowboarding, but yeah, uh, hope you guys can make it. Check it out. So, uh, one of you, I know you have a bunch of commitments coming up too. So I'll ask just a couple more questions, and then we'll wrap up. I'm sure we can talk for hours and hours and hours.

Starting point is 01:13:51 We'll do a round two sometime. But when you think of the word successful, who's the first person that comes to mind? Successful. I can only pick one person. No, you can pick multiple spots Donald Duck I was like

Starting point is 01:14:16 what's that really say man I don't really know I guess top of my mind right now would be Andre Agassi you know he's got the kind of success that you know Man, I don't really know. I guess top of my mind right now would be Andre Agassi. He's got the kind of success that, besides the money and the fame and the things, I mean, he's got a family. He's got people that care about him.

Starting point is 01:14:39 If he was in a troublesome scenario, he could call somebody that would come help him out with that. I mean, I measure it in that. Who do you rely on to tell you when you're wrong or give you tough love, that type of advice? My brother, definitely. Jesse. Jesse, my brother Jesse. We put out an album with the band, and I wanted to thank him in the credits

Starting point is 01:15:02 because he told me I couldn't do it. He's like, what are you going to be? Kevin Bacon? What are you going to? I was like, well, I'll show you. And it was really helpful. It drove me to actually complete the album and things. But he'll give me the straight on everything.

Starting point is 01:15:18 He'll come in and tell me what he really thinks. How does he deliver that? It depends. He's either like, he'll just make fun of me until I like, you know, or he'll or he'll be very sincere about something and want to give his input. But he he was the one always doing the new tricks. He introduced me to the sport. You know, I was always wanting to do what my older brother was doing.

Starting point is 01:15:41 So he's he's the guy that's always been that one I go to. So you mentioned new tricks. People always talk about coming up with good ideas in the shower. I've never had that experience. Maybe I just don't take enough showers. But when do you tend to come up with new tricks? It really depends. Usually it's by mistake.

Starting point is 01:16:00 You go in, you're like, okay, I'm going to do the two flips, and then I'm going to come out, and this is exactly where I'm going to be. Wrong. Completely wrong. You end up doing something new, and then you can go, wow, well, that actually worked out. I'm going to actually build upon that. Now you've got a brand new trick that no one's ever done before. Or I don't really dream about it or something like that. I had a friend call me once and told me about a trick that was a

Starting point is 01:16:25 possibility and I completely disagreed, but it got me thinking about another scenario. You know what I mean? It always comes from something different, but that's usually how it happens for me is by mistake or I'm just in the right mood and I want to try something. Is there any historical figure that you would have enjoyed meeting? Man, this is tough. We can also come back to that or just hit pause on that one. So if you could have, let's see, I'll go with the billboard again. So if you have a billboard and you put anything on it that is not an

Starting point is 01:16:59 advertisement for anything that's coming up immediately soon, what would you put on it? I'm sitting here trying to promote an event and I can't even put it on the billboard. No. I don't know. Put it on the billboard. Man. Probably my dog. Your dog?

Starting point is 01:17:17 I'm like that guy that's like, my dog's the best looking dog ever. You should check his Instagram account. It's really... It's gaining popularity. Yeah. Wait, what is your dog's Instagram? Mayor B. M-A-Y-O-R-B.

Starting point is 01:17:34 It's pretty hilarious. My sister runs it. You're in for a treat if you check it out. Got it. So this would be... The billboard would be for your dog's career. Yes, yeah, because he's... yeah, he's got it going. Is there any ask, aside from checking out the, obviously the event, suggestions for people who are here listening to this,

Starting point is 01:18:00 just something to take with them to ponder or to do? I don't know. I really kind of, I based, you know, this is just some advice from me, I guess. And it's served me very well over the years. But it's the simple lessons that you can look out for. I mean, like, when I wanted to learn a new trick that was really difficult, or I wanted to, like, in the beginning of my career, like, I couldn't ride what what's called switch so the natural way I ride is left foot forward it's called regular and if I was right foot forward it's it's called goofy but so I'm regular and when I put my right foot forward

Starting point is 01:18:35 that means I'm riding switch it's my unnatural way of riding it's like if you're gonna hit a baseball and then you had to kind of go the opposite way that you would normally do it. And I couldn't do it. It was super hard. I made myself do it all day, every day until it just became easy. It was a simple thing of like, man, this is, I'm just going to do it until it becomes so easy that it's not hard anymore. And that really paid off for me in the long run. It's kind of like if you can get past that boredom of like, wow,

Starting point is 01:19:04 I'm not good at this. This is hard. I mean, I don't know if anybody's broken a hand before, but you'd be amazed how quickly you can learn how to use chopsticks with that other hand. I mean, it's by really just forcing yourself to do something that you're not good at until you're really good at it. I mean, that simple lesson, you know, the simple thing of, you know, learning what not to do. People want to know how I learn tricks. I'm like, man, I try them and I try them and I try them until it becomes something that's so easy for me. When the world's watching, I can do it. You know, it's a simple, simple things I take. And then I guess just keeping your eyes open for what's next. I mean,

Starting point is 01:19:42 a guitar fell into my lap. I was just, you know, I was just aware enough to be like, wow, I should try to play this. I should try to become, you know, great at this. I pick all sorts of fun hobbies for myself and definitely set goals because set a fun one, though, too. So can't be all serious all the time. You wear yourself out all the time where you get the big stuff done. Sean, where can people find you on social and so on to find out more about what you're up to?

Starting point is 01:20:08 And you can also mention where people can get the tickets for the event. Yeah, you can go to AaronStyle.com, and you can get tickets for the event. If you can't make it to the event, it's going to be streaming live on Go90. It's Verizon's new app, which is really cool. You can download it, and then you can not only check out the event coming up, but the past events to see what the riders

Starting point is 01:20:28 are doing and where their rankings are at. I'm Sean White on Instagram. Check it out. Spelling for everybody. S-H-A-U-N-W-H-I-T-E. I have a same on Facebook, and I'm Sean White Snap, if you want to get

Starting point is 01:20:44 down with the Snapchat. What else? Yeah yeah check it out it's an amazing event and I'm really proud of it and it's something that really speaks to me, the sport and what I'm all about I hope you enjoy it Sean White everybody

Starting point is 01:21:01 thank you so much for the time.

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

The Tim Ferriss Show - #140: Shaun White: The Most Unholy Snowboarder Ever

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Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

The Tim Ferriss Show - #140: Shaun White: The Most Unholy Snowboarder Ever

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.