E169 - Mat Fraser, CrossFit legend: Being disciplined when no one is watching

Mat Fraser is a retired CrossFit athlete and legend of the sport. He is the first athlete to have won five CrossFit Games titles consecutively from 2016 - 2020. After breaking his back in two places as an Olympic hopeful weightlifter, Mat was told he'd never be able to lift again. In this episode he shares how he has overcome his setbacks through hard work and discipline. Discipline is a crucial aspect of Mat’s work, most importantly, being disciplined when no one is watching. 

He shares how his parents' parenting style encouraged him to try everything from figure skating to t-ball, he tells Jake and Damian the lessons from his parents he carries into his work today. In this episode they discuss, why we should all do things we are bad at, training for the right reasons and finding the right people for you.

Mat’s book Hard Work Pays Off is out on the 29th of December 2022. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hwpo-Transform-Crossfits-Five-Time-Fittest/dp/0593233751

Thanks to WHOOP for being our partner on this series speaking to world leading experts who can positively impact you and the life you live. WHOOP is a wearable health and fitness coach that helps you to sleep better, train smarter and recover faster.

If you're interested in improving your health and overall performance, you can go to join.whoop.com/hpp to get a 20% discount on a WHOOP membership this holiday season.

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# Podcast Episode Summary: Hard Work Pays Off - An Interview with Mat Fraser

**Guest:** Mat Fraser, retired CrossFit athlete and five-time CrossFit Games champion

**Topics Discussed:**

* Mat Fraser's journey from Olympic weightlifting hopeful to CrossFit legend
* The importance of discipline and hard work in achieving success
* How to overcome setbacks and challenges
* The role of parents and mentors in shaping one's work ethic
* The value of trying new things and stepping outside of one's comfort zone
* The importance of training for the right reasons and finding the right people to support you
* Mat Fraser's new book, "Hard Work Pays Off"

**Key Points:**

* Mat Fraser's parents encouraged him to try a variety of activities, from figure skating to T-ball, which helped him develop a strong work ethic and a willingness to try new things.
* Discipline is crucial for success, especially when no one is watching.
* It's important to train for the right reasons and find the right people to support you on your journey.
* Setbacks and challenges are inevitable, but they can be overcome with hard work and perseverance.
* Mat Fraser's new book, "Hard Work Pays Off," provides insights into his training methods, mindset, and approach to life.

**Memorable Quotes:**

* "The only thing you have control over is your effort." - Mat Fraser
* "99% of the time, the only thing I have control over is giving my best effort." - Mat Fraser
* "You don't need to be good at your hobbies to enjoy them." - Mat Fraser
* "I wonder what the silver lining is going to be from this situation." - Mat Fraser
* "Hard work pays off." - Mat Fraser

**Overall Message:**

Mat Fraser's story is an inspiring reminder that hard work and perseverance can lead to great achievements. He emphasizes the importance of discipline, finding the right people to support you, and training for the right reasons. His new book, "Hard Work Pays Off," offers valuable insights into his training methods, mindset, and approach to life.

# Podcast Episode Summary:

## Mat Fraser: Building a Life of Fulfillment and Success

### Introduction:
Mat Fraser, a retired CrossFit athlete and legend in the sport, shares his journey of overcoming setbacks and achieving greatness through hard work and discipline.

### Key Points:

1. **Importance of Discipline:**
- Discipline is crucial for success, especially when no one is watching.
- Mat emphasizes the need for self-discipline to stay focused and achieve goals.

2. **Diverse Parenting Style:**
- Mat's parents encouraged him to try various activities, from figure skating to t-ball.
- This diverse upbringing taught him valuable lessons that he applies in his work today.

3. **Embracing Challenges:**
- Mat believes we should all do things we are bad at to improve and grow.
- Stepping outside of comfort zones leads to personal development.

4. **Training for the Right Reasons:**
- Mat emphasizes the importance of training for the right reasons, not just for external validation.
- Intrinsic motivation leads to more fulfilling and sustainable progress.

5. **Finding the Right People:**
- Surrounding oneself with the right people is essential for success.
- Mat highlights the importance of having a team that supports and challenges you.

6. **Non-Negotiable Behaviors:**
- Being nice to everyone, regardless of their status or potential benefits.
- Completing tasks thoroughly, even when they are not directly rewarding.
- Considering the impact of actions on others and the long-term consequences.

7. **Biggest Weakness and Greatest Strength:**
- Mat struggles with doing things he wants to do when there are other obligations.
- His greatest strength is his ability to work tirelessly towards a goal when given direction.

8. **Dealing with Criticism:**
- Mat explains that he only seeks explanations from people whose opinions he values.
- He focuses on constructive criticism and ignores negative comments from those he doesn't respect.

9. **Advice for Overcoming Unhappiness:**
- Mat suggests realizing that most people are too preoccupied with their own problems to care about others' actions.
- He encourages people to do things they enjoy, regardless of what others may think.

10. **Final Message:**
- Mat emphasizes that taking action today is crucial for achieving long-term goals.
- He highlights the importance of starting small and consistently working towards desired outcomes.

### Conclusion:
Mat Fraser's journey exemplifies the power of hard work, discipline, and resilience. His emphasis on intrinsic motivation, surrounding oneself with the right people, and focusing on the long-term impact of actions provides valuable lessons for anyone seeking to achieve success and fulfillment in life.

[00:00.000 -> 00:06.480] Hey, how's it going? I'm Jake Humphrey. This is High Performance, the podcast that reminds
[00:06.480 -> 00:11.440] you that it's within. Your ambition, your purpose, your story are all there. We just
[00:11.440 -> 00:16.000] help unlock it by turning the lived experiences of the planet's highest performers into your
[00:16.000 -> 00:21.640] life lessons. And in this special collaboration episode with the wearable tech brand, Whoop,
[00:21.640 -> 00:26.320] we are about to speak to one of the greatest athletes on the planet today myself
[00:26.320 -> 00:34.480] and professor Damian Hughes welcome CrossFit legend Matt Fraser. The only time an experience
[00:34.480 -> 00:38.640] is a waste is if you don't pay attention to it or you don't take notes on it and apply it towards
[00:38.640 -> 00:44.240] the future so even even some of the jobs relationships uh sports experiences that I
[00:44.240 -> 00:45.360] had that were terrible,
[00:45.360 -> 00:50.320] they were just as valuable as the good ones. If it were easy all the time, everyone would be
[00:50.320 -> 00:54.960] super disciplined, but there's going to be days one after the other where you're like,
[00:54.960 -> 01:01.200] I don't want to do this. But it's like, nope, if I want the results in six months, if I want those
[01:01.200 -> 01:06.140] cheers in front of 10,000 people, I need to suffer through through these shitty moments
[01:06.140 -> 01:10.620] And luckily I was in a career where you know, I didn't have to brag myself every day
[01:10.620 -> 01:11.060] You know
[01:11.060 -> 01:11.660] I
[01:11.660 -> 01:17.980] Enjoyed showing up to work if I if I want the future that I want if I want that gold medal around my neck
[01:17.980 -> 01:23.240] I need to work hard on days that I want to and on more importantly on the days that I don't want to
[01:23.540 -> 01:25.840] and on more importantly on the days that I don't want to.
[01:28.360 -> 01:29.800] Oh, I'm so excited to bring you this episode. Look, our brand, as you know,
[01:29.800 -> 01:32.720] is about taking the learnings from one person's life
[01:32.720 -> 01:35.420] and turning those into the lessons for your life.
[01:35.420 -> 01:38.180] And who better to take lessons from
[01:38.180 -> 01:39.560] than a man who's been named
[01:39.560 -> 01:42.840] the fittest person on earth five times.
[01:42.840 -> 01:46.360] He won five CrossFit Games titles for a long period. He was the
[01:46.360 -> 01:52.100] man to beat in CrossFit and nobody could. You're about to hear the mindset that got
[01:52.100 -> 01:55.300] him there. And I think it's actually great that we're speaking to Matt at the end of
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[02:57.600 -> 02:58.360] Right, let's do it mindset behaviors mottos hard work growth mistakes. We're about to cover the lot
[03:01.320 -> 03:08.120] With a true sporting legend whoop huge Thanks for making this episode happen and you know what if Whoop is good enough for Matt to be associated with, it's certainly good enough for me.
[03:08.120 -> 03:14.560] Here we go, in this high performance Whoop special, lessons from a true hero of CrossFit
[03:14.560 -> 03:15.760] games.
[03:15.760 -> 03:22.440] Welcome, Matt Fraser.
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[03:53.680 -> 03:58.040] LinkedIn ads allows you to focus on getting your B2B message to the right people.
[03:58.280 -> 04:02.980] So does that mean you should use ads on LinkedIn instead of hiring me, the man
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[04:11.760 -> 04:17.280] Yes. Yes yes it does. Get started today and see why LinkedIn is the place to be, to be. We'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com slash results to claim
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[06:02.680 -> 06:11.480] Well look Matt, welcome to the podcast. Let's start with our first question to every
[06:11.480 -> 06:14.480] guest. In your mind, what represents high performance?
[06:14.480 -> 06:16.800] Matt Threlfall You know, I think it's, it's all relative
[06:16.800 -> 06:21.400] to the person that, you know, is, is doing it. You know, high performance to one person
[06:21.400 -> 06:27.760] is a lazy day to somebody else. And so it's setting up realistic goals of,
[06:27.760 -> 06:30.580] what can I accomplish today?
[06:30.580 -> 06:33.200] What can I do today to put me to where I wanna be
[06:33.200 -> 06:34.360] in five years?
[06:34.360 -> 06:36.820] And having that perspective,
[06:36.820 -> 06:38.560] looking that far down the road
[06:38.560 -> 06:40.280] and trying to set yourself up for success,
[06:40.280 -> 06:43.100] it's gonna look different for every single person,
[06:43.100 -> 06:45.160] but it's taking those steps
[06:45.160 -> 06:50.880] today, you know, for a goal that you may never accomplish and you may never see the results
[06:50.880 -> 06:56.760] of it even for years at a time, but it's always those stories, you know, years down the road
[06:56.760 -> 07:01.800] when when you see somebody accomplish this incredible thing and it's like, how did you
[07:01.800 -> 07:09.360] even where did you even start and it's like, well, I started 15 years ago, you know, and so it's always taking those steps, even though the
[07:09.360 -> 07:10.960] end may never be in sight.
[07:10.960 -> 07:15.360] Well, let's talk about where it originated from for you then. I mean, to be crowned the
[07:15.360 -> 07:21.560] fittest man on the planet is amazing. To do it on five occasions is remarkable. I think
[07:21.560 -> 07:26.500] so much of this is based on your mindset rather than on your muscles and your physiological makeup
[07:27.140 -> 07:30.240] So tell us about your upbringing tell us about your early experiences
[07:30.680 -> 07:34.300] And the messages that you were given that may well have helped you to get to this point
[07:34.300 -> 07:38.500] Yeah, you know there there's things from from my childhood that they were definitely
[07:39.020 -> 07:42.260] Contributors to the success of the goals that I was chasing
[07:42.620 -> 07:45.680] But at the time I had no idea
[07:45.680 -> 07:47.460] that they would ever contribute
[07:47.460 -> 07:49.480] to anything in my adult life.
[07:49.480 -> 07:51.320] Both my parents are athletes.
[07:51.320 -> 07:54.880] My parents were pairs freestyle figure skaters.
[07:54.880 -> 07:57.460] They four-time world champions.
[07:57.460 -> 08:00.120] They were on the 76 Olympic team.
[08:00.120 -> 08:02.480] And so many of their traits
[08:02.480 -> 08:07.040] and so many of the things that I saw them do on a day-to-day basis
[08:07.040 -> 08:12.640] that were just normal, they developed them from their work ethic in their sports career,
[08:12.640 -> 08:18.720] and then they applied to my sports career when CrossFit and figure skating have very,
[08:18.720 -> 08:27.280] very little to do with each other. There's very few similarities, but seeing the work ethic that my parents applied and
[08:27.280 -> 08:28.480] in very different ways.
[08:28.480 -> 08:32.520] My mother was a family physician.
[08:32.520 -> 08:35.980] She retired a couple of years ago, but she was a doctor my whole life.
[08:35.980 -> 08:40.640] So I saw the work ethic of there's nothing to materialize.
[08:40.640 -> 08:45.360] She's sitting down and just reading and doing research and you know prepping for the week ahead
[08:46.320 -> 08:50.360] But it's that working in silence when there's nobody looking there's no end
[08:50.880 -> 08:55.920] Result that you know people are going to applaud for and then my dad on the other hand
[08:56.640 -> 08:58.580] Stay at home father my whole life, you know
[08:58.580 -> 09:05.920] He was the the driving the kids to sports practice cooking cleaning, that was his role in our family.
[09:05.920 -> 09:09.940] But I saw him and he was very good working with his hands.
[09:09.940 -> 09:15.580] So watching him do this grunt work where it's not fun, you're out in the heat, you're miserable,
[09:15.580 -> 09:21.280] you're hungry, you're sweating, but you keep working until the job is done.
[09:21.280 -> 09:25.480] You're not done work when you feel like you're done for the day. The job's done when the job is done. You know, you're not done work when you feel like you're done for the day. The
[09:25.480 -> 09:30.600] job's done when the job is done. And it takes just as long to do it right as it does to
[09:30.600 -> 09:36.800] do it wrong. So, you know, I was able to take both of both those examples from my childhood
[09:36.800 -> 09:41.380] of these different forms of hard work. And luckily, I feel like I got the best traits
[09:41.380 -> 09:45.500] of both of like, I love that working in silence when no one is looking,
[09:45.500 -> 09:48.260] and then I love performing in front of a crowd.
[09:48.260 -> 09:51.500] So I have the best of both worlds coming together
[09:51.500 -> 09:53.500] where it's like, I just love, you know,
[09:53.500 -> 09:55.700] working towards an end goal.
[09:55.700 -> 09:57.380] And those are from my parents that, you know,
[09:57.380 -> 09:59.420] they had never heard of CrossFit.
[09:59.420 -> 10:02.100] They had never heard of weightlifting before I did it,
[10:02.100 -> 10:04.420] but I was able to still have those character traits
[10:04.420 -> 10:05.040] that contributed. weightlifting before I did it, but I was able to still have those character traits that
[10:05.040 -> 10:06.040] contributed.
[10:06.040 -> 10:11.800] So beyond the hard work and the workings in the shadows there, Mark, which I love the
[10:11.800 -> 10:17.000] concept of, what other traits did you learn from both your parents that you can now look
[10:17.000 -> 10:21.720] back on from your own career and recognize that they were the origins of it?
[10:21.720 -> 10:26.320] I'm thinking in particular for any of our listeners that maybe parents themselves
[10:26.320 -> 10:30.320] and what they could do to set a good example for their own children.
[10:30.440 -> 10:33.440] It's one of those things where I don't think my parents are doing it intentionally.
[10:33.480 -> 10:35.920] I don't know if they were ever doing actions.
[10:37.000 -> 10:42.280] Setting out to be a good example, but I'm sure as any new parent sees, or, you know,
[10:42.280 -> 10:47.280] if you're, you're, if you're an aunt or uncle and it's like when you see
[10:47.280 -> 10:52.600] the four-year-old nephew repeating your actions and you're like, oh shit, I didn't even realize
[10:52.600 -> 10:54.080] you were watching me.
[10:54.080 -> 10:57.760] You know and it's like every example, it's like the first time you let a curse word out
[10:57.760 -> 11:01.200] in front of a four-year-old and then they repeat it and you're like, oh I didn't even
[11:01.200 -> 11:03.920] know you were listening to my conversation.
[11:03.920 -> 11:06.520] I think it's very much like that where my parents,
[11:06.520 -> 11:09.600] you know, they set my brother and I out.
[11:09.600 -> 11:11.840] They had, I don't wanna say rules, but you know,
[11:11.840 -> 11:14.800] it was like, you're not allowed to come home after school
[11:14.800 -> 11:16.720] and just sit on the couch and watch TV.
[11:16.720 -> 11:19.720] You have to sign up for an activity after school
[11:19.720 -> 11:21.240] and it can be whatever you want.
[11:21.240 -> 11:23.600] So very, very early on,
[11:23.600 -> 11:25.680] like when I was five or six years old, maybe
[11:26.800 -> 11:31.120] my parents tried me in figure skating and I was just like, Nope, I don't like it. And they,
[11:31.120 -> 11:34.880] I think they had a big sigh of relief and they're like, Oh, thank God, you know, like we don't have
[11:34.880 -> 11:41.280] to be at the rink at 5am and, you know, do all that. But, you know, they didn't care if it was
[11:41.280 -> 11:49.440] sports. They didn't care if it was music or math, Lee, they didn't care if it was sports, they didn't care if it was music or math, they didn't care. They just wanted us to work towards something and have something to do after
[11:49.440 -> 11:55.040] school. So, you know, for myself, I chose the sports route. You know, I loved, you know, football,
[11:55.040 -> 12:01.280] skiing, that type of stuff. My brother went the music and art and, you know, he made a career out
[12:01.280 -> 12:09.040] of it. And my parents did not care that we followed in their footsteps They just wanted us to apply ourselves and work towards something
[12:09.720 -> 12:13.760] So that reminds me then of like in David Epstein's brilliant book
[12:14.280 -> 12:18.160] Range where he talks about people that end up doing really successful
[12:18.320 -> 12:24.800] one of the things that he identifies is that a lot of them try a variety of different activities and different
[12:24.400 -> 12:28.720] mae'n dweud bod llawer ohono yn croesawu nifer o weithgareddau gwahanol a gweithgareddau gwahanol yn ymwneud â'r un arall yn y pen draw.
[12:28.720 -> 12:30.920] Ac mae hynny'n swnio'n llawer yn yr ymdrech
[12:30.920 -> 12:34.840] y bydd eich rhaglenwyr yn ymwneud â chi i wneud nifer o weithgareddau,
[12:34.840 -> 12:37.720] sy'n aml yn ymdrech i lawer o rhaglenwyr
[12:37.720 -> 12:41.400] cael eu cael ymgyrchu yn y ffilosofi o Earl Woods
[12:41.400 -> 12:49.400] o'r fath o'r blant sydd ar gael gyda'r clwb golf yn ei ddewis ar y byd o'r ddau os ydych chi'n byth yn mynd i fod yn y superstar rydych chi'n gobeithio iddynt fod. his philosophy of you've child's got to have a golf club in his hand at the age of two if you're ever going to be the superstar that you hope them to be. What's
[12:49.400 -> 12:54.480] your view on that then Matt in terms of early specialization versus the
[12:54.480 -> 13:01.000] importance of variety in your in your activities? I think if you look at any
[13:01.000 -> 13:06.240] extreme of those examples of you know you you have the example of Tiger Woods where,
[13:06.240 -> 13:10.040] you know, he's in the garage with his father swinging a golf club at, you know, two years
[13:10.040 -> 13:17.160] old and then you're going to see the examples of these other sports superstars that, you
[13:17.160 -> 13:21.120] know, they played three sports through their entire college career and, you know, each
[13:21.120 -> 13:26.080] one of those experiences contributed to the one that they got successful in.
[13:26.080 -> 13:28.060] I don't think there's a right or wrong answer.
[13:28.060 -> 13:30.720] I think if you dig for any example,
[13:30.720 -> 13:33.180] you're going to find the benefits
[13:33.180 -> 13:35.540] of one extreme versus the other.
[13:35.540 -> 13:38.760] I think it comes down to personal preference.
[13:38.760 -> 13:42.320] So like for myself, the rule of my parents was,
[13:43.300 -> 13:46.120] we could try and do anything we wanted after school,
[13:46.120 -> 13:50.460] but once we signed up for something, we had to finish out our commitment.
[13:50.460 -> 13:55.660] So I did all the typical sports as a youngster, you know, five years old playing t-ball or
[13:55.660 -> 13:58.200] soccer or whatever it was.
[13:58.200 -> 14:02.040] And pretty quickly I realized that like, hey, I don't like t-ball.
[14:02.040 -> 14:05.200] And you know, I tell my parents like, hey, it's not for me.
[14:05.200 -> 14:06.760] I don't wanna go to practice
[14:06.760 -> 14:08.240] or I don't wanna go to the game.
[14:08.240 -> 14:09.200] And they're like, okay,
[14:09.200 -> 14:11.000] like you need to finish out the season.
[14:11.000 -> 14:13.120] Like you have teammates that are depending on you.
[14:13.120 -> 14:16.040] Like you made a commitment, so you need to finish it out.
[14:16.040 -> 14:17.360] But as soon as the season's done,
[14:17.360 -> 14:20.080] if you never wanna do it again, you don't have to.
[14:20.080 -> 14:22.360] And so with that, you know,
[14:22.360 -> 14:25.000] it reinforced that commitment of,
[14:25.440 -> 14:28.640] even on days where I don't feel like doing it,
[14:28.640 -> 14:32.160] and that happened in my career that I had success in.
[14:32.160 -> 14:35.580] There were days where I was like, I don't wanna train,
[14:35.580 -> 14:37.380] but it was ingrained in me that like, nope,
[14:37.380 -> 14:39.340] I signed up for it, I said I would do it,
[14:39.340 -> 14:41.080] so now I have to do it.
[14:41.080 -> 14:42.680] But even those experiences,
[14:42.680 -> 14:44.320] some of the worst experiences of my life
[14:44.320 -> 14:51.200] were the most guiding ones because not only is it important to know what you like to do and what you want
[14:51.200 -> 14:57.440] to do, but it's also very important to know what I don't like. And it's a very easy example,
[14:57.440 -> 15:01.080] you know, when you're first dating, before you find, you know, the person that you're
[15:01.080 -> 15:05.100] going to spend the rest of your life with you start dating and and
[15:11.700 -> 15:14.700] it's usually in those bad relationships that you figure out what qualities are actually important to you and you know, and also what qualities you hate and
[15:15.300 -> 15:20.740] And so it's the same thing like when I was going through different sports or different work experiences, whatever it was. I
[15:21.900 -> 15:23.660] Was picking up the good traits
[15:23.660 -> 15:25.320] but I was also paying attention to the ones
[15:25.320 -> 15:27.480] that I don't like or the ones that I wanna make sure
[15:27.480 -> 15:31.180] that hey, when I move forward to the next chapter,
[15:31.180 -> 15:33.960] I wanna make sure to not have this quality
[15:33.960 -> 15:35.740] or this trait or whatever it is.
[15:35.740 -> 15:37.600] The only time an experience is a waste
[15:37.600 -> 15:38.960] is if you don't pay attention to it
[15:38.960 -> 15:42.200] or you don't take notes on it and apply it towards a future.
[15:42.200 -> 15:45.540] So even some of the jobs, relationships,
[15:45.540 -> 15:47.980] sports experiences that I had that were terrible,
[15:47.980 -> 15:50.620] they were just as valuable as the good ones
[15:50.620 -> 15:53.120] because I could apply them forward and realize like,
[15:53.120 -> 15:55.340] all right, next time when I'm picking a spot
[15:55.340 -> 15:57.620] that I want to train for months at a time,
[15:57.620 -> 15:59.980] I want to make sure that it has this, this, this.
[15:59.980 -> 16:02.980] Like any experience, you got to take the pros and the cons
[16:02.980 -> 16:05.740] and apply them forward and figure out what the hell you like.
[16:05.740 -> 16:07.660] One of the things I love when you talk about
[16:07.660 -> 16:09.580] what your parents did for you was saying,
[16:09.580 -> 16:13.080] if you do a club or a group or a sport, you stick at it.
[16:13.080 -> 16:15.180] We were joined by Ryan Holiday on the podcast,
[16:15.180 -> 16:18.020] who's obviously written many amazing books about stoicism.
[16:18.020 -> 16:20.820] One of them, Discipline is Destiny.
[16:20.820 -> 16:23.340] I really want to get into the power of discipline
[16:23.340 -> 16:28.560] in your life, and I'd love you to share what you've learned about that with our listeners so they can employ it in their lives
[16:28.720 -> 16:33.380] How vital was discipline to your success in CrossFit?
[16:33.380 -> 16:39.380] Oh, I think I I don't think I would have any any success without discipline, you know
[16:39.380 -> 16:43.880] and and and I think the important thing to realize is that discipline isn't
[16:44.480 -> 16:46.060] It's important on the days
[16:46.060 -> 16:47.800] where everything's going well and everything,
[16:47.800 -> 16:50.880] you know, the stakes are high and all that stuff,
[16:50.880 -> 16:53.860] but I think discipline has some of its biggest effects
[16:53.860 -> 16:56.360] when nobody's watching, when you're miserable,
[16:56.360 -> 16:59.160] when you want to quit, and it's staying in it
[16:59.160 -> 17:00.900] even in those moments.
[17:00.900 -> 17:03.960] You know, working hard is easy when everything's going well
[17:03.960 -> 17:05.420] and everyone's patting you on the back and people are encouraging you and, you know, working hard is easy when everything's going well and everyone's patting you on the back
[17:05.420 -> 17:07.880] and people are encouraging you and, you know,
[17:07.880 -> 17:11.340] your success on the outside is being reflected, you know,
[17:11.340 -> 17:14.040] you're being rewarded for what you're doing.
[17:14.040 -> 17:15.680] But especially in the career that I had, you know,
[17:15.680 -> 17:20.000] you're in the public eye six days a year, maybe, you know,
[17:20.000 -> 17:23.920] you have, you know, three days of competition at regionals
[17:23.920 -> 17:27.480] and then three or four games, three or four days at the games
[17:27.480 -> 17:29.000] where people are cheering for you
[17:29.000 -> 17:31.240] and you're competing against other people.
[17:31.240 -> 17:35.320] The other 359 days a year, you're by yourself.
[17:35.320 -> 17:38.120] You don't have anyone clapping for you,
[17:38.120 -> 17:39.900] patting you on the ass, telling you a good job.
[17:39.900 -> 17:43.140] So it's on those days where the discipline,
[17:43.140 -> 17:44.200] that's really important.
[17:44.200 -> 17:45.760] That's where you're getting better.
[17:45.760 -> 17:47.080] If it were easy all the time,
[17:47.080 -> 17:48.480] everyone would be super disciplined,
[17:48.480 -> 17:51.880] but there's going to be days one after the other
[17:51.880 -> 17:54.360] where you're like, I don't wanna fucking do this.
[17:54.360 -> 17:57.880] But it's like, nope, if I want the results in six months,
[17:57.880 -> 18:01.260] if I want those cheers in front of 10,000 people,
[18:01.260 -> 18:04.800] I need to suffer through these shitty moments.
[18:04.800 -> 18:11.080] And luckily I was in a career where I didn't have to bribe myself every day, you know, I I enjoyed showing up to work
[18:11.640 -> 18:13.320] most days of the week
[18:13.320 -> 18:15.720] But there's still those rare times where it's like nope
[18:15.720 -> 18:20.120] If I if I want the future that I want if I want that gold medal around my neck
[18:20.120 -> 18:25.380] I need to work hard on days that I want to and on more importantly on the days that I don't want to
[18:25.400 -> 18:30.320] So what I'm interested in is I appreciate that one of the techniques you've spoken about is
[18:30.720 -> 18:35.180] Imagining that gold medal around your neck that got you through those horrible moments
[18:35.400 -> 18:37.080] But what are the techniques?
[18:37.080 -> 18:40.120] Did you draw on that our listeners could be able to?
[18:40.400 -> 18:44.920] Apply in their own lives when they're going through tough times and they need to just keep going
[18:45.080 -> 18:48.280] Yeah, I think I I think having that very
[18:49.400 -> 18:54.880] Confident feeling that you know when when you're at the bottom when you feel like you've hit rock bottom
[18:55.000 -> 18:56.800] So you have two choices one
[18:56.800 -> 19:01.680] You can just not do shit and just sit right where you are and just accept
[19:01.840 -> 19:10.560] The situation you're in or you can work and take steps to try to get out of it even if it's not even I don't know if I can
[19:10.560 -> 19:14.640] get out of this but I don't even know how to get out of this well if you fail
[19:14.640 -> 19:19.640] at trying you're you're gonna end up right where you were anyways like if
[19:19.640 -> 19:24.400] you're at rock bottom you can't go any lower so screw it like what's the why
[19:24.400 -> 19:25.840] would you not try to get out?
[19:25.840 -> 19:29.000] Like the only other option is just accepting where you are
[19:29.000 -> 19:30.760] and accepting the situation you're in.
[19:30.760 -> 19:33.160] And if you don't work to get out of it,
[19:33.160 -> 19:34.640] that's the rest of your life.
[19:34.640 -> 19:38.400] Nobody's going to throw you a lifeline and just be like,
[19:38.400 -> 19:40.320] hey, let me fix your life for you.
[19:40.320 -> 19:43.720] I heard one example years ago of,
[19:43.720 -> 19:45.200] when you're driving down the road
[19:45.200 -> 19:47.400] and you see a car broken down on the side of the highway
[19:47.400 -> 19:50.240] and somebody waving and trying to,
[19:50.240 -> 19:52.560] cars will just keep zipping by all day long.
[19:52.560 -> 19:53.600] I've been that guy.
[19:53.600 -> 19:55.240] I've been broken down on the side of the highway
[19:55.240 -> 19:57.200] and tried to get somebody to pull over.
[19:57.200 -> 19:58.900] And it's impossible.
[19:58.900 -> 20:00.680] As soon as you say, fuck it,
[20:00.680 -> 20:02.320] and you start pushing the car,
[20:02.320 -> 20:04.880] now somebody's gonna pull over so quickly.
[20:04.880 -> 20:06.760] People don't want to help somebody
[20:06.760 -> 20:08.640] that isn't willing to help themselves.
[20:08.640 -> 20:10.640] But as soon as they realize that like,
[20:10.640 -> 20:11.640] oh, you're on the side of the road,
[20:11.640 -> 20:14.880] you're pushing that car, God knows how far,
[20:14.880 -> 20:16.400] then somebody's like, okay,
[20:16.400 -> 20:17.640] they're trying to help themselves,
[20:17.640 -> 20:19.880] and then they'll pull over and like,
[20:19.880 -> 20:22.760] either help you or push it, whatever it is, you know?
[20:22.760 -> 20:25.000] And so that was one thing that I always kept fresh
[20:25.000 -> 20:28.960] in my mind of when I was in those low points was,
[20:28.960 -> 20:32.620] one, I can either try to get out of it or sit here,
[20:32.620 -> 20:36.960] and the end result of both is probably the same results
[20:36.960 -> 20:40.300] I'm in right now, but then also, like, nobody wants
[20:40.300 -> 20:42.620] to help you unless you're trying to help yourself.
[20:42.620 -> 20:48.600] And so it's like, all right, like, let's just start working. And then hopefully somebody sees and somebody wants to contribute
[20:48.600 -> 20:53.600] or help or whatever it is, but at very least, it's going to keep your mind occupied and
[20:53.600 -> 20:55.720] keep keep working towards something better.
[20:55.720 -> 20:58.780] You know, I love the analogy of the broken down car. So first time I've heard someone
[20:58.780 -> 21:01.720] use that and I'm taking it forward.
[21:01.720 -> 21:04.120] Yeah, give me credit twice, then use it forever.
[21:04.120 -> 21:05.000] Yeah, thank you. That's exactly it forever. Yeah. Thank you.
[21:05.000 -> 21:09.800] That's exactly what we'll do. I love the phrase. Don't be disappointed by the results you didn't
[21:09.800 -> 21:14.520] get for the work you didn't do. And I really want to talk about this with you because I
[21:14.520 -> 21:20.180] just want people to hear someone like you talk about putting in the work in those difficult
[21:20.180 -> 21:25.840] times when there are no bright lights and there is no crowd and there are no rewards
[21:25.840 -> 21:30.320] which then give you the freedom in the competition to know that you've done everything. You know
[21:30.320 -> 21:34.840] I for a long time I worked in Formula One motor racing and I remember talking with Jenson
[21:34.840 -> 21:38.080] Button a former world champion he said the only thing he could do was make sure that
[21:38.080 -> 21:42.160] he was the fittest driver on the grid because when he's on the on the grid at the beginning
[21:42.160 -> 21:46.520] there's loads of things not in his favor but that was the one thing that he was able to control
[21:46.520 -> 21:49.240] was to be the fittest physical driver there,
[21:49.240 -> 21:50.680] which, you know, after 90 minutes
[21:50.680 -> 21:53.320] behind the wheel of a Grand Prix car becomes important.
[21:53.320 -> 21:56.520] I'd love you to explain to our audience
[21:56.520 -> 21:58.760] what power that gave you to know
[21:58.760 -> 22:00.700] that you'd put those hard yards in
[22:00.700 -> 22:02.280] when the bell rung in competition.
[22:02.280 -> 22:03.240] Absolutely.
[22:03.240 -> 22:09.040] For anyone who's not familiar with my career, so my rookie year, 2014, I got silver medal
[22:09.040 -> 22:10.320] and I was doing backflips over.
[22:10.320 -> 22:13.440] I was so excited, had no expectations going into the competition.
[22:13.440 -> 22:17.880] So to hit the podium was, you know, felt like a huge life achievement.
[22:17.880 -> 22:22.960] The following year, my expectations now changed.
[22:22.960 -> 22:26.800] So 2015, I was, I think I was the favorite to win. I was expected
[22:26.800 -> 22:33.520] to win and I expected myself to win, but I expected it to come easy. And so of course,
[22:33.520 -> 22:39.920] I got second place again. And then after that, for the next five consecutive years, I did things
[22:39.920 -> 22:45.160] right. And I won five years consecutively, but the, the
[22:45.160 -> 22:50.200] 2015 season, I remember after like it put me into a spiral. I,
[22:50.240 -> 22:52.440] I didn't show up to the gym for a couple of months after I
[22:52.440 -> 22:54.400] didn't know if I wanted to continue. I didn't know if I
[22:54.400 -> 22:59.400] wanted to sign up again the next year. And, and I, I had to
[22:59.400 -> 23:03.160] really sit down with just a pen and paper and just figure out
[23:03.160 -> 23:06.920] like why I got the exact same results
[23:06.920 -> 23:13.720] the year prior, but I have a complete 180 difference in how I feel about these results,
[23:13.720 -> 23:15.940] the emotions that are associated with it.
[23:15.940 -> 23:19.440] And I realized that it was had nothing to do with the results.
[23:19.440 -> 23:20.960] It was because I knew it was my fault.
[23:20.960 -> 23:23.640] It was because I cut corners my entire preparation.
[23:23.640 -> 23:26.880] So the part that bugged me was I knew that the results
[23:26.880 -> 23:29.400] reflected the work that I put in.
[23:29.400 -> 23:34.200] And I knew that that did not line up with my potential.
[23:34.200 -> 23:36.700] And that's what like put me into a spiral.
[23:36.700 -> 23:39.040] So every year after that,
[23:39.040 -> 23:40.760] I didn't leave anything up to what if.
[23:40.760 -> 23:42.880] I had one singular goal I wanted to win.
[23:42.880 -> 23:52.880] And so every single decision during the day, I made sure to look at it of okay what action to this you know decision is going
[23:52.880 -> 23:57.440] to put me closer to my goal and some some of those decisions were very obvious you know
[23:57.440 -> 24:02.460] like hey do you want to go to an all you can eat Chinese food buffet tonight well that's
[24:02.460 -> 24:05.360] an easy no like that's's gonna be shit nutrition,
[24:05.360 -> 24:07.440] I'm gonna, it's gonna affect my training.
[24:07.440 -> 24:09.520] You know, do you wanna stay up until 2 a.m.?
[24:09.520 -> 24:11.240] Well, that's an easy no.
[24:11.240 -> 24:13.360] But then there's gonna be some decisions
[24:13.360 -> 24:14.840] that are a lot harder,
[24:14.840 -> 24:17.960] that where you don't necessarily see
[24:17.960 -> 24:20.640] how this is going to negatively affect it.
[24:20.640 -> 24:24.200] And you know, sometimes explaining those decisions
[24:24.200 -> 24:27.000] where it's like that margin is so thin to
[24:27.000 -> 24:31.240] somebody on the outside where they might not get it and they might go, Oh, come on, like
[24:31.240 -> 24:34.320] that's not going to affect your performance next week.
[24:34.320 -> 24:35.840] Like come out to dinner with us.
[24:35.840 -> 24:38.400] And it's like, no, sorry, it doesn't line up with my goal.
[24:38.400 -> 24:39.400] I can't.
[24:39.400 -> 24:44.000] I think it was moving forward into the 2016 season when I, when it became a very real
[24:44.000 -> 24:47.100] possibility that like, I may never win this thing and I
[24:47.100 -> 24:48.040] had to
[24:48.040 -> 24:50.040] Put steps in place
[24:50.600 -> 24:56.160] To basically put a safety net under myself of like what can I do if I'm going to dedicate?
[24:56.620 -> 25:00.540] Everything in my life to this one single goal and I may never achieve it
[25:00.540 -> 25:06.960] So what can I put into place to make sure that I'm okay with whatever results come?
[25:07.320 -> 25:10.400] And I put it in a place that I just won't leave anything
[25:10.400 -> 25:13.080] to what if, I'm gonna make sure I won,
[25:13.080 -> 25:15.320] I apply full effort to everything I do,
[25:15.320 -> 25:19.240] and then I'm not gonna sacrifice anything.
[25:19.240 -> 25:20.560] And there's no guarantee of it.
[25:20.560 -> 25:22.560] There's no guarantee that the results are gonna work out,
[25:22.560 -> 25:28.000] but I figured that with training like that and making those life decisions, that
[25:28.000 -> 25:34.000] even if I get 10th place at the games, I'm going to hold my head high because I know
[25:34.000 -> 25:37.000] that those were the results that I deserve.
[25:37.000 -> 25:39.000] Those results are what I was capable of.
[25:39.000 -> 25:46.560] Um, and so I hope that if I did everything correctly and I didn't get the results I wanted
[25:46.560 -> 25:51.440] I would still be able to hold my head high because I was a I was proud of the effort that I put in and
[25:51.960 -> 25:59.600] You know, I won time and time again, but it was never the end results that were like the big proud flag
[25:59.600 -> 26:02.640] You know, like I don't know where my medals are, you know
[26:02.640 -> 26:10.240] I know they're around here somewhere But two of the medals are framed the other three are sitting in a grocery bag somewhere tucked away in like a sock drawer
[26:10.600 -> 26:15.200] It's not the end results that caused me to hold my head high
[26:15.320 -> 26:21.780] It's the whole process up to it like every fond memory I have is from training not from competing
[26:21.780 -> 26:29.160] and so it's just making sure that I do the actions on a daily basis that make myself proud and then I found that you know if I'm
[26:29.160 -> 26:32.560] coming home from training every single day proud of the effort proud of what I
[26:32.560 -> 26:36.680] did that at the end of the year when everything accumulates and the end
[26:36.680 -> 26:41.320] results show I'm proud of those two. But if you will Matt will you take us into
[26:41.320 -> 26:46.200] the arena with you I'm really intrigued as when you've done that preparation in the shadows
[26:46.560 -> 26:50.280] The moment before you actually have to step into the heat of battle
[26:50.560 -> 26:53.960] Will you give us an insight into how you talk into yourself?
[26:53.960 -> 27:00.560] How you managing your nerves and how you're putting yourself in the best place to go out there and give you best
[27:00.600 -> 27:03.520] You just gave me a big old case of goosebumps
[27:04.240 -> 27:05.440] Thinking about getting corralled.
[27:05.440 -> 27:08.840] So in the big competitions,
[27:08.840 -> 27:11.260] the event process is pretty elaborate.
[27:11.260 -> 27:14.000] So there's an athlete area
[27:14.000 -> 27:17.680] that's on the other side of campus of the competition venue.
[27:17.680 -> 27:19.920] And every athlete has like their cubby and chair
[27:19.920 -> 27:20.760] where you can just chill,
[27:20.760 -> 27:21.980] but then there is a warmup area.
[27:21.980 -> 27:24.560] So usually say an hour before the event,
[27:24.560 -> 27:26.700] they'll say, hey, heat four men,
[27:26.700 -> 27:28.040] we're corralling you in 10 minutes.
[27:28.040 -> 27:30.600] So you start doing a bit of warm-up there.
[27:30.600 -> 27:33.460] Your name gets called, you get corralled,
[27:33.460 -> 27:35.180] and they corral 10 people at a time,
[27:35.180 -> 27:38.280] and then you have to walk probably like
[27:38.280 -> 27:42.280] three quarters of a mile or so to the actual venue,
[27:42.280 -> 27:43.840] and then there's another warm-up area there.
[27:43.840 -> 27:48.000] So you usually have about 45 minutes before you hit the floor. So you're there warming up and
[27:48.600 -> 27:53.920] Then 15 minutes before the event you get corralled again, but now you're underneath the stadium
[27:53.920 -> 27:57.440] so like you're looking at the door that's walking out on the competition floor and
[27:58.080 -> 28:00.720] And so you get corralled you get put in your lane
[28:00.720 -> 28:04.240] And then you have to just sit there for 10 minutes before you go to the floor
[28:04.240 -> 28:06.720] Just sorry to interrupt, but are you on mind just sit there for 10 minutes before you go on the floor. Sorry to interrupt but are you, are mind games
[28:06.720 -> 28:11.240] employed at this point? Are you walking taller? Are you making sure that you sort
[28:11.240 -> 28:15.520] of like don't look out of breath or that you feel great and you've got a swagger
[28:15.520 -> 28:19.600] or a bit of kind of shit-talking with some of the other competitors? What's
[28:19.600 -> 28:23.880] what's going on there? Everyone's posturing. Everyone's posturing the back.
[28:23.880 -> 28:25.600] Everyone wants to look invincible. Everyone wants to look invincible.
[28:25.600 -> 28:27.240] Everyone wants to look strong
[28:27.240 -> 28:30.600] and trying to intimidate their competitors of like,
[28:30.600 -> 28:33.160] you know, hey, when three, two, one, go,
[28:33.160 -> 28:36.280] don't even bother trying to keep up with me, you know?
[28:36.280 -> 28:38.800] Or the other way of like, hey man,
[28:38.800 -> 28:41.440] I think the best approach for these 50 pull-ups
[28:41.440 -> 28:44.080] is to break it into six different sets,
[28:44.080 -> 28:45.040] take lots of time in
[28:45.040 -> 28:49.000] between and then you go out on the floor and you, you know, you're trying to give everyone this
[28:49.000 -> 28:53.160] game plan of like, hey guys, you should pace it early. But then three, two, one, go, you're going
[28:53.160 -> 28:57.600] on broken and trying to go as fast as possible. So it depends what, what the event is, you know,
[28:57.600 -> 29:03.040] if it plays to your strengths or your weaknesses, how many men are competing, who's competing. So
[29:03.040 -> 29:07.920] the, the final time that I would get corralled, so your five, ten minutes before hitting the
[29:07.920 -> 29:11.600] floor, I would recite the serenity prayer to myself.
[29:11.600 -> 29:17.400] And it was to force myself to look at the situation that I was about to enter and decide
[29:17.400 -> 29:21.160] what in this situation do I have control over.
[29:21.160 -> 29:26.480] And in the grand scheme, like a lot of people think they have control over everything that's going on on the floor.
[29:26.480 -> 29:29.200] And it's like, in the grand scheme, you don't have control
[29:29.200 -> 29:29.880] over shit.
[29:29.880 -> 29:33.160] You know, you don't have control over, you know, who's in the
[29:33.160 -> 29:36.080] lane next to you, what movements you're doing, who your referee
[29:36.080 -> 29:38.840] is, how loud the crowd is cheering, what music is playing,
[29:38.840 -> 29:41.400] how you feel you have control over none of it.
[29:41.400 -> 29:46.160] And so I would go through all these things in my head
[29:46.160 -> 29:48.400] of like, hey, if the competitor next to me
[29:48.400 -> 29:51.380] goes out blazing fast, that doesn't affect me.
[29:51.380 -> 29:53.560] If they go out super slow, doesn't affect me.
[29:53.560 -> 29:57.620] If my ref is giving me some unjustified no reps,
[29:57.620 -> 29:59.080] there's nothing I can do about it.
[29:59.080 -> 30:00.220] I just have to accept it.
[30:00.220 -> 30:03.080] So how am I going to respond to these scenarios?
[30:03.080 -> 30:05.420] And so there was two two things one
[30:05.840 -> 30:10.580] Was 99% of the time going out on the floor and in most situations in life
[30:10.860 -> 30:14.000] The only thing you have control over is your effort
[30:14.120 -> 30:19.240] you can only control how hard how intelligently you hit this workout and
[30:19.680 -> 30:22.480] And so that was one that when I was going on the floor Mike
[30:22.960 -> 30:27.800] It doesn't matter who I have as a ref doesn't matter who's in the lane next to me, it doesn't matter.
[30:27.800 -> 30:28.800] None of these things matter.
[30:28.800 -> 30:34.920] All I have control over is giving my best effort and trying to do this workout as well
[30:34.920 -> 30:40.320] as I can based on the training and the life experiences that I've had up to this point.
[30:40.320 -> 30:48.040] And I still have that when I'm going into business meetings or building something or training other athletes.
[30:48.040 -> 30:50.240] It's like 99% of the time,
[30:50.240 -> 30:51.680] the only thing I have control over
[30:51.680 -> 30:54.760] is giving my absolute best effort.
[30:54.760 -> 30:59.240] And even that, I promise you, I'm gonna fuck up sometimes.
[30:59.240 -> 31:00.560] And it's just like, all right,
[31:00.560 -> 31:02.680] let's just do this as best we can
[31:02.680 -> 31:04.320] with the life experience that I have.
[31:04.320 -> 31:07.920] And then hopefully I can be proud of the results regardless.
[31:07.920 -> 31:12.820] For those listening to this that aren't aware of the serenity prayer, I mean, it's a special
[31:12.820 -> 31:15.280] few lines, isn't it? Would you just repeat it for people?
[31:15.280 -> 31:18.900] Yeah, so grant me the serenity to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to
[31:18.900 -> 31:22.920] change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. So like when I was down
[31:22.920 -> 31:26.500] on the floor, if I did a rep that I knew was a good rep
[31:26.500 -> 31:29.600] and my ref was like, no rep,
[31:29.600 -> 31:31.200] well, what do I have control over here?
[31:31.200 -> 31:34.300] Either one, I can sit here and try to argue with my ref
[31:34.300 -> 31:37.700] where it's like, that doesn't, that makes me look bad.
[31:37.700 -> 31:40.700] It now puts that referee on the defensive
[31:40.700 -> 31:43.700] where they, you know, they're more likely to, you know,
[31:43.700 -> 31:48.660] get their back up and then try to show their authority of like, no, I'm right.
[31:48.660 -> 31:49.660] That was a no rep.
[31:49.660 -> 31:53.360] So it's like you're, you're not helping yourself in any way.
[31:53.360 -> 31:55.960] And it's like, all right, you know, if this keeps happening, what do I have control over?
[31:55.960 -> 32:00.800] Well, I can call over the head judge, you know, but until that point, so until that
[32:00.800 -> 32:02.360] point, that's not the right decision.
[32:02.360 -> 32:04.320] You know, it's like, all right, what do I have control over?
[32:04.320 -> 32:07.780] And most of the time you don't have control over shit,
[32:07.780 -> 32:10.040] only yourself and how you attack the workout.
[32:10.040 -> 32:12.820] So it's like, it can be frustrating sometimes.
[32:12.820 -> 32:14.640] Sometimes you want to be the puppet master
[32:14.640 -> 32:16.880] of everything that's going on around you,
[32:16.880 -> 32:19.080] but that's not practical.
[32:19.080 -> 32:21.540] Look, Matt, one of the big focuses for us
[32:21.540 -> 32:26.600] on the High Performance Podcast for 2023 is change. And change is the only
[32:26.600 -> 32:30.740] way we grow. And I know that, you know, when you first started out, you know, your career,
[32:30.740 -> 32:34.120] if we can call it that, because you were very young, was weightlifting, you got injured
[32:34.120 -> 32:38.440] in your back, and you had to pivot completely towards CrossFit. So there'll be people that
[32:38.440 -> 32:43.000] are listening to this, they've seen you five times crowned fittest man on the planet, hugely
[32:43.000 -> 32:45.940] successful, massively recognised, millions
[32:45.940 -> 32:49.380] of followers on Instagram and they'll think, well he must have always been good at this.
[32:49.380 -> 32:53.980] But I think it's really important to explain to the listeners who might be scared of change
[32:53.980 -> 32:57.380] because it's something they're bad at, that everything that you're good at, everything
[32:57.380 -> 33:02.780] that we're good at, we were once bad at. Can we talk about giving advice for people for
[33:02.780 -> 33:07.760] whom being bad is the reason they never start anything and encouraging them in in this new year to go for it?
[33:07.760 -> 33:27.440] Yeah, I well, I actually saw I saw one thing yesterday. And it was kind of like a comedy like video on Instagram, but it was like a PSA. And it was like, Hey, guys, like just for the for whoever needs to hear it. You don't need to be good at your hobbies to enjoy them.
[33:27.440 -> 33:32.160] And for myself, I was like, oh shit, that's good to hear every once in a while because
[33:32.160 -> 33:39.360] I'm a beginner in a lot of things that I do, whether it's dirt biking, shooting guns, jiu-jitsu.
[33:39.360 -> 33:43.560] It's like, well, no, I'm at the very start line.
[33:43.560 -> 33:45.200] I've done a couple lessons.
[33:45.200 -> 33:48.800] I'm absolute shit at all these things, but I love doing them.
[33:48.800 -> 33:53.200] And it's like, well, yeah, you're not going to pick something up and just immediately
[33:53.200 -> 33:54.920] be the best in the world at it.
[33:54.920 -> 33:58.080] It's like, no, it requires a lot of fucking hard work.
[33:58.080 -> 34:03.840] And I think looking at change, it can be tough to have this perspective without having the
[34:03.840 -> 34:09.560] experience. It can be tough to to have this perspective without having the experience But for myself, you know as you mentioned so I was a competitive weightlifter
[34:09.720 -> 34:13.680] Started weightlifting when I was 12 years old moved to the Olympic Training Center when I was 18
[34:13.920 -> 34:17.280] Broke my back when I was 19 thought my career was over, you know
[34:17.280 -> 34:24.280] It was you know, but I competed junior world championships like I had a relatively successful weightlifting career and then
[34:25.040 -> 34:30.140] Broke my back The rehab for that was brutal.
[34:30.140 -> 34:33.700] It was the beginning of the end for me, you know, it made me build resentments, lose the
[34:33.700 -> 34:35.700] love for the sport and all that stuff.
[34:35.700 -> 34:38.820] And anyways, to the point that I finally walked away from the sport.
[34:38.820 -> 34:42.960] And it was one of the saddest days in my life because it was, I trained every single day
[34:42.960 -> 34:43.960] for 10 years.
[34:43.960 -> 34:44.960] That was my goal.
[34:44.960 -> 34:50.480] That was my life. That was my singular direction of what I wanted to pursue. And now I'm out
[34:50.480 -> 34:54.920] of it. And now I'm just a regular. So basically my whole identity got stripped away. Like
[34:54.920 -> 34:59.000] my whole life, I was the kid that was going to go to the Olympics. And so, you know, the
[34:59.000 -> 35:04.640] lowest of the low in my life was leaving the sport and not having anything to turn to.
[35:04.640 -> 35:05.300] Well, I look back at it now. Thank God that I and not having anything to turn to.
[35:05.300 -> 35:06.640] Well, I look back at it now,
[35:06.640 -> 35:09.400] thank God that I didn't make it to the Olympics.
[35:09.400 -> 35:10.920] Thank God I had that back injury
[35:10.920 -> 35:15.000] because if I had fulfilled my dream
[35:15.000 -> 35:17.760] of going to the Olympics in weightlifting,
[35:17.760 -> 35:20.240] I would have never pursued another sports career.
[35:20.240 -> 35:22.400] I would have never gone to CrossFit
[35:22.400 -> 35:24.960] and tried to compete in it, all these things.
[35:24.960 -> 35:26.800] And in the moment, if I were 19 years
[35:26.800 -> 35:30.480] Old and somebody's trying to tell me like oh, there's going to be a silver lining to this
[35:31.360 -> 35:36.680] Terrible terrible thing you're going through I would tell him the pound sand. I'm like, no, I don't believe you this sucks
[35:36.680 -> 35:42.600] Don't try to tell me any different, but it's like thank God that I had that change. I was forced into that change
[35:43.280 -> 35:46.780] Because if I had accomplished my goals with weightlifting,
[35:46.780 -> 35:49.820] I would have never pursued competing in CrossFit.
[35:49.820 -> 35:52.260] And it was because of that experience
[35:52.260 -> 35:55.400] that ever since then, like an injury would happen,
[35:55.400 -> 35:56.580] a roadblock would happen,
[35:56.580 -> 36:00.100] something would be in the way of me achieving my goal
[36:00.100 -> 36:02.020] and I would still be sad, I would still be upset,
[36:02.020 -> 36:03.940] I would still be very hurt over it.
[36:03.940 -> 36:06.360] But I remember in my head thinking like,
[36:06.360 -> 36:09.000] I wonder what the silver lining is gonna be
[36:09.000 -> 36:10.280] from this situation.
[36:10.280 -> 36:13.200] Like, I wonder in five years
[36:13.200 -> 36:15.840] what I'm gonna think back to this situation.
[36:15.840 -> 36:18.240] And I remember like I had one scenario
[36:18.240 -> 36:21.680] where I thought my, everything I had worked for
[36:21.680 -> 36:23.800] was being stripped away and hopeless.
[36:23.800 -> 36:29.000] You know, you're just, you're crying uncontrollably, everyone around you is doing what they can to try to support you.
[36:29.000 -> 36:33.000] And I remember being hopeless and still very hurt, but wondering,
[36:33.000 -> 36:35.000] I wonder what good is going to come from this.
[36:35.000 -> 36:41.000] I wonder what life lesson or I wonder what opportunity is going to get presented to me because of this.
[36:41.000 -> 36:44.000] And sure enough, it did. It wasn't immediate.
[36:44.000 -> 36:49.880] It was six months to a year later, but it was one of those situations that when the
[36:49.880 -> 36:54.880] new opportunity got presented to me, I went, oh, thank God that shit a year ago happened.
[36:54.880 -> 36:56.700] And it's like, yeah.
[36:56.700 -> 37:02.000] So anytime I'm in those hopeless scenarios, you don't need to see the light at the end
[37:02.000 -> 37:04.960] of the tunnel, but you just need to believe that that light's there.
[37:04.960 -> 37:07.680] I don't know when I'm going to see it. I don't know when I'm going to find it,
[37:07.680 -> 37:15.120] but that light is there and this situation will contribute to something good if I let it down the
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[39:32.880 -> 39:36.560] we're talking to you now I can see on the
[39:34.320 -> 39:39.840] wall behind you one of your mottos that
[39:36.560 -> 39:41.720] hard work pays off. Yeah. I think that's
[39:39.840 -> 39:44.440] a really important message that we'd like
[39:41.720 -> 39:48.880] to explore. What is your definition of
[39:44.380 -> 39:50.800] hard work? You know, it's, once again, it's
[39:48.880 -> 39:53.880] going to change depending on
[39:50.800 -> 39:56.880] what scenario you're in, what room you're
[39:53.880 -> 39:59.360] in, but for myself, you know, that motto
[39:56.880 -> 40:01.000] actually didn't start in CrossFit,
[39:59.360 -> 40:02.800] actually started, one of those
[40:01.000 -> 40:05.240] degrees is mechanical engineering and
[40:02.800 -> 40:05.560] one is a business degree, but it was during
[40:05.560 -> 40:10.880] the mechanical engineering degree that my first semester in college, I did college the
[40:10.880 -> 40:14.560] same way I did high school. I didn't do homework. I didn't study. I didn't bring my books home.
[40:14.560 -> 40:19.240] It's like, no, if it didn't get done in the classroom, I'm not fucking doing it. And so,
[40:19.240 -> 40:23.600] you know, obviously once I get to college and I'm taking real college courses, that
[40:23.600 -> 40:24.600] shit no longer flies.
[40:24.600 -> 40:27.760] Is that your definition of hard work? If it doesn't get done in the classroom, I'm
[40:27.760 -> 40:33.840] not fucking doing it. I'll pass that to my kids, yeah? Thanks for that.
[40:33.840 -> 40:42.880] So I think you can imagine what I was like as a high school student. I was not thriving.
[40:42.880 -> 40:46.480] And so anyways, one of my college courses,
[40:46.480 -> 40:48.200] my first semester, I'm failing.
[40:48.200 -> 40:50.360] And it was, I looked at it, I was like,
[40:50.360 -> 40:53.360] all right, well, what happens if I fail this course?
[40:53.360 -> 40:55.320] Well, that means I can't be a mechanical engineer.
[40:55.320 -> 40:56.960] And for me at the time, it was like,
[40:56.960 -> 40:58.800] there was no other option.
[40:58.800 -> 41:01.600] Like, I can't, like, this is the only thing
[41:01.600 -> 41:02.440] I have going for me.
[41:02.440 -> 41:04.480] I need to make it work.
[41:04.480 -> 41:06.880] And I didn't know how to fix it.
[41:06.880 -> 41:08.160] And so I just went, okay,
[41:08.160 -> 41:11.080] I'm not gonna leave anything up to what if.
[41:11.080 -> 41:14.240] I'm going to read this fucking textbook from cover to cover
[41:14.240 -> 41:18.640] until I can recite every fucking formula from it.
[41:18.640 -> 41:20.240] Like I had never really studied before,
[41:20.240 -> 41:22.520] but I was like, all right, like I don't know how to study.
[41:22.520 -> 41:23.720] I don't know how to do this efficiently.
[41:23.720 -> 41:26.960] So I'm just gonna do it, even if it's not the right way.
[41:26.960 -> 41:29.040] And I'll figure it out as I go.
[41:29.040 -> 41:32.140] And so I remember just sitting in the library for, you know,
[41:32.140 -> 41:35.840] all day on the weekends, like I would be the first one there,
[41:35.840 -> 41:37.120] I'd be the last one to leave,
[41:37.120 -> 41:39.380] and I would just read a chapter
[41:39.380 -> 41:41.880] and like any word that I didn't understand,
[41:41.880 -> 41:42.920] I would write it down.
[41:42.920 -> 41:45.040] I would then at the end of the chapter,
[41:45.040 -> 41:47.040] look up all those words individually
[41:47.040 -> 41:48.920] and then go back and reread the chapter
[41:48.920 -> 41:51.120] and see if I had a better understanding for it.
[41:51.120 -> 41:54.200] And then I wasn't just doing the questions
[41:54.200 -> 41:55.400] that were assigned on the homework.
[41:55.400 -> 41:58.700] I was doing every problem in the book.
[41:58.700 -> 42:00.880] And was there any guarantee
[42:00.880 -> 42:02.680] that that's what was gonna help me?
[42:02.680 -> 42:03.520] No.
[42:03.520 -> 42:04.560] But is it gonna hurt me?
[42:04.560 -> 42:05.960] Probably not.
[42:05.960 -> 42:10.040] So it was just one of those things where I was like, failure is not an option here.
[42:10.040 -> 42:14.160] So I'm not going to leave a single stone unturned.
[42:14.160 -> 42:20.320] And then that exam, the next exam when I got it back, I set the curve for the class.
[42:20.320 -> 42:24.880] And it was 120 kids in the class and I got the highest score.
[42:24.880 -> 42:28.880] I am the guy that everyone's staring daggers at because I just fucked up the curve
[42:28.880 -> 42:29.880] for everyone else.
[42:29.880 -> 42:33.680] That was a feeling that I was like, Oh, that's what it feels like that.
[42:33.680 -> 42:36.160] I like that feeling.
[42:36.160 -> 42:39.680] And so I always said like the most valuable thing that I learned from college, it's not
[42:39.680 -> 42:40.680] these two degrees.
[42:40.680 -> 42:44.880] Like I haven't used these at all, but the most valuable thing that I learned from college
[42:44.880 -> 42:46.980] was I learned how to learn.
[42:46.980 -> 42:51.660] I learned what style of studying works for me.
[42:51.660 -> 42:57.740] And I applied that exact same thing to my fitness where it was like, okay, I don't know
[42:57.740 -> 43:00.100] how to train X, Y, Z.
[43:00.100 -> 43:03.500] Well, let me seek out an expert and I'm not going to leave any stone unturned.
[43:03.500 -> 43:08.740] I see the value of these things that I'm practicing that it's not even a guarantee that they're gonna come up
[43:09.120 -> 43:11.120] but when they do
[43:11.120 -> 43:15.760] I'm going to look that much more prepared. I'm going to be that much more impressive because
[43:16.400 -> 43:21.320] you know that we see things coming out now of new movements in CrossFit and I'm and
[43:21.600 -> 43:24.120] Everyone's kind of struggling with them and a lot of them
[43:24.120 -> 43:26.960] I'm looking I'm like I've been training that movement for eight
[43:26.960 -> 43:31.400] years with the one in a million chance that it would come up in competition.
[43:31.400 -> 43:37.400] And yeah, a lot of the stuff never came up, but the rare time that it did, I'm ready for
[43:37.400 -> 43:38.400] it.
[43:38.400 -> 43:42.580] And so, you know, that's just kind of how I go about everything of like looking at these
[43:42.580 -> 43:48.160] situations of like, what could get thrown at me that would derail me what am I not prepared for and then figuring
[43:48.160 -> 43:52.520] out how to get prepared for it. I love that I mean what I love you know like
[43:52.520 -> 43:55.680] when people talk about learned helplessness you know people that exist
[43:55.680 -> 43:59.200] in a world where they're made to feel like there's nothing they can do to
[43:59.200 -> 44:08.120] change their situation this is learned helpfulness this is working working out the puzzle to solve the equations that
[44:08.120 -> 44:12.600] lie in front of us. And the reason why I think that is so fantastic is that I know when I
[44:12.600 -> 44:18.420] said to my friends, I'm interviewing you, all of them just assumed you were like a seven-year-old
[44:18.420 -> 44:23.140] with a six-pack and you were a 14-year-old with boulders for shoulders and everything
[44:23.140 -> 44:25.680] came easy. But here's the truth,
[44:25.680 -> 44:29.460] you had to work out the algorithm of life, not just the algorithm of life, but the algorithm
[44:29.460 -> 44:35.320] that worked for you in life. And I guess the message is, anyone can work it out for themselves
[44:35.320 -> 44:40.120] if they put the work in to figure out that equation. And then suddenly you figure out
[44:40.120 -> 44:45.840] that equation and all these doors open up to you because options appear. Yeah, I mean there was
[44:45.840 -> 44:52.240] very little that I did in any sports career, anything that I've touched that I was naturally
[44:52.240 -> 45:00.080] good at when the first time I did it. Like the first CrossFit workout I did, because of my weight
[45:00.080 -> 45:05.860] lifting background, I can move a barbell, you know, better than anyone else at the gym that I was at.
[45:05.860 -> 45:09.180] That seemed like it came naturally for me, but I had already been practicing it for 10
[45:09.180 -> 45:10.180] years.
[45:10.180 -> 45:11.440] You know, I had been doing weightlifting for 10 years.
[45:11.440 -> 45:16.220] So it looked like my weightlifting started out like I was just naturally good at.
[45:16.220 -> 45:17.220] No, fuck no.
[45:17.220 -> 45:19.340] Like I worked my ass off for it.
[45:19.340 -> 45:26.320] But like my first CrossFit workout, it was, it was, I think it was overhead squats with 95 pounds, so those
[45:26.320 -> 45:28.560] were super easy for me.
[45:28.560 -> 45:33.900] But then I had, I think it was a 400 meter run or an 800 meter run, and I specifically
[45:33.900 -> 45:39.320] remember having to pull off the running trail to get out of people's way.
[45:39.320 -> 45:43.980] Hands are on my knees and I'm like coughing, like dry heaving, like hurting.
[45:43.980 -> 45:47.720] And I remember this gentleman, and he was a member at the gym for years
[45:47.800 -> 45:53.960] Damon he was probably mid-50s like high 200s probably like 275 pounds or so and
[45:54.360 -> 45:56.700] and he just like hoofed by me and
[45:57.120 -> 46:03.960] Like full full gray hair like relatively overweight, and I was just like that guy's beating me
[46:02.840 -> 46:04.720] like relatively overweight, and I was just like, that guy's beating me.
[46:04.720 -> 46:08.900] Like, I'm 23 years old and like I have abs
[46:08.900 -> 46:11.560] and this guy is outrunning me.
[46:11.560 -> 46:15.840] And so it's not like the first time I touched CrossFit,
[46:15.840 -> 46:17.200] I was just good at it.
[46:17.200 -> 46:19.520] It took a lot of fucking time,
[46:19.520 -> 46:20.960] but it was one of those things where like,
[46:20.960 -> 46:22.660] I would sign up for a competition
[46:22.660 -> 46:25.820] and then analyze the results after.
[46:25.820 -> 46:28.300] The nice thing about competing is it gives you
[46:28.300 -> 46:30.700] a pretty good study guide of what you're good at
[46:30.700 -> 46:31.900] and what you're shit at.
[46:32.780 -> 46:34.820] You look at the leaderboard at the end of the competition,
[46:34.820 -> 46:36.700] it's like, all right, first place, first place, first,
[46:36.700 -> 46:38.540] like, all right, I'm good at these things,
[46:38.540 -> 46:40.100] and then a 35th place.
[46:40.100 -> 46:42.220] It's like, all right, well, if you're looking for
[46:42.220 -> 46:44.460] what do I have to train or what movements
[46:44.460 -> 46:46.880] do I have to train, that's a pretty good indicator
[46:46.880 -> 46:48.480] that if you got dead last on an event,
[46:48.480 -> 46:49.820] you probably shit at the movements
[46:49.820 -> 46:51.280] and you need to practice it.
[46:51.280 -> 46:53.080] So I would sign up for these competitions
[46:53.080 -> 46:55.960] and then I was looking at the results.
[46:55.960 -> 46:57.920] It's like a cheat sheet of like,
[46:57.920 -> 47:00.880] you wanna figure out how to become the best in the world?
[47:00.880 -> 47:02.820] Sign up and analyze the results.
[47:02.820 -> 47:05.400] And it's like, if you did poorly on an event,
[47:05.400 -> 47:07.400] you should probably work on that event.
[47:07.400 -> 47:09.000] And I just did that on repeat.
[47:09.000 -> 47:11.700] Like my first couple of years training,
[47:11.700 -> 47:13.560] I competed like a maniac.
[47:13.560 -> 47:14.880] Like if there was a competition,
[47:14.880 -> 47:17.240] I would compete every single weekend.
[47:17.240 -> 47:18.720] And then I would just break down the results.
[47:18.720 -> 47:20.400] And it was nine times out of 10,
[47:20.400 -> 47:23.080] your lowest place finish is the thing
[47:23.080 -> 47:24.240] that you need to work on the most.
[47:24.240 -> 47:27.760] So it made life pretty simple. So one of the things that you spoke about Matt when
[47:27.760 -> 47:33.120] you got that back injury and you had to retire from weightlifting was the sense
[47:33.120 -> 47:36.400] of identity that was stripped from you. You were the guy that was going to the
[47:36.400 -> 47:41.200] Olympics. I'm interested now then as a guy that's constantly analyzing
[47:41.200 -> 47:46.140] situations and working out how to get better. Now that you've retired from CrossFit,
[47:46.140 -> 47:49.520] that you're no longer a competitive athlete,
[47:49.520 -> 47:51.660] how do you cope with the loss of identity
[47:51.660 -> 47:53.480] that naturally follows from that?
[47:53.480 -> 47:55.900] So one, there was no loss of identity
[47:55.900 -> 47:59.060] because once again, I took previous experiences
[47:59.060 -> 48:00.320] and applied them forward.
[48:00.320 -> 48:03.100] And there's a lot of stuff that contributes to this,
[48:03.100 -> 48:06.440] but one is looking at when I started CrossFit,
[48:06.440 -> 48:09.520] I started having success and it became my career,
[48:09.520 -> 48:11.880] it's very easy to look at it of,
[48:11.880 -> 48:14.000] oh, this is gonna last forever.
[48:14.000 -> 48:15.600] And it's, well, no, you're a fucking idiot
[48:15.600 -> 48:17.680] if you think your professional sports career
[48:17.680 -> 48:19.480] is going to last forever.
[48:19.480 -> 48:22.040] No, your body has a timestamp on it.
[48:22.040 -> 48:28.160] And because I came from weightlifting, I knew that. like I thought I would continue weightlifting until the day I died
[48:28.160 -> 48:32.620] I thought like no nothing can stand in the way of my goal like all these things and then
[48:33.340 -> 48:38.520] One day it's just you wake up and you're like, I I don't want to do it. Like I don't want to do it anymore
[48:38.520 -> 48:43.220] I've been feeling this way for a long time. And and so when I stepped away from weightlifting
[48:43.220 -> 48:47.480] I had this huge identity crisis because I was like who am I?
[48:47.480 -> 48:51.360] What do I do? What am I known for? So when I started CrossFit I
[48:52.040 -> 48:53.680] Knew I was like, okay
[48:53.680 -> 49:00.200] I need to make sure to keep an identity off the competition floor because even if my career goes perfectly
[49:00.200 -> 49:02.200] It's going to end at some point
[49:02.280 -> 49:05.520] Odds are most professionals don't get to pick
[49:05.520 -> 49:07.540] their retirement date, it's picked for them.
[49:07.540 -> 49:08.880] You know, the body gives out,
[49:08.880 -> 49:10.740] you have an injury, something.
[49:10.740 -> 49:13.440] So two things, one, I always assumed every training session
[49:13.440 -> 49:17.060] was gonna be my last, and I assumed that every paycheck
[49:17.060 -> 49:19.960] that I ever got was gonna be my last.
[49:19.960 -> 49:22.880] Because you can hit PRs in training,
[49:22.880 -> 49:26.180] and then God forbid you get in a car accident
[49:26.180 -> 49:28.480] on the way home or you pull your trap
[49:28.480 -> 49:30.580] putting your gym bag on your shoulder.
[49:30.580 -> 49:31.980] You don't have control over those things.
[49:31.980 -> 49:34.060] You can do things to try to control them
[49:34.060 -> 49:35.460] or try to put the odds in your favor,
[49:35.460 -> 49:37.740] but if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen.
[49:37.740 -> 49:39.320] There's not shit you can do about it.
[49:39.320 -> 49:43.380] So I went into my CrossFit career knowing
[49:43.380 -> 49:46.240] that I'm going to have to step away from this at some point.
[49:46.240 -> 49:53.760] So that's why I put so much emphasis on planning for the future and not spending money the way
[49:53.760 -> 50:00.560] that I'm bringing it in because it's a false representation. If I compete in a competition,
[50:00.560 -> 50:08.560] I make a hundred grand. A lot of people are like, like man a hundred thousand bucks is not bad for two days work and it's like well no it's 20 years of work
[50:08.560 -> 50:12.920] to to get that result and then I'm not looking at it as like this hundred
[50:12.920 -> 50:17.080] thousand dollars is going to represents two days of a salary I'm like this
[50:17.080 -> 50:20.280] hundred thousand needs to last me 50 years so I just made two thousand
[50:20.280 -> 50:31.880] dollars a year for the next 50 years so that you know the day I'm not capable of competing anymore the day. I don't want to compete anymore. I'm never forced to I'm never I never have to
[50:32.600 -> 50:37.300] Compete longer than I should because I need the paycheck or I need to do it
[50:37.300 -> 50:39.500] No, I want to do this because I love it. I want to do it
[50:40.080 -> 50:46.600] The correct way I actually returned to weightlifting after my back injury. Like, so I got my L5 repaired.
[50:46.600 -> 50:48.760] It was about a year of rehab and stuff,
[50:48.760 -> 50:51.920] but I realized that I was training for the wrong reasons.
[50:51.920 -> 50:54.240] I was training to prove other people wrong
[50:54.240 -> 50:56.580] because once I broke my back, you know,
[50:56.580 -> 50:57.440] I heard it from everyone,
[50:57.440 -> 50:59.180] people that I thought were friends,
[50:59.180 -> 51:01.320] people that I thought would always be there to support me
[51:01.320 -> 51:03.520] of like, ah, you know, he's broken, he's washed up,
[51:03.520 -> 51:04.980] he'll never return, all this stuff.
[51:04.980 -> 51:07.200] And I saw them distance themselves.
[51:07.200 -> 51:09.200] And so once again, it was one of those things
[51:09.200 -> 51:11.640] of making sure that the people in my life
[51:11.640 -> 51:14.840] aren't just there, you know, for the good times.
[51:14.840 -> 51:18.420] And one of my proudest things from my CrossFit career
[51:18.420 -> 51:21.200] was because I saw that from my weightlifting
[51:21.200 -> 51:22.600] and I applied that experience forward,
[51:22.600 -> 51:26.140] I made sure to put people in my life
[51:26.140 -> 51:28.500] that were there for the good times and the bad times.
[51:28.500 -> 51:30.900] The bad times are more important.
[51:30.900 -> 51:32.220] And so it was a great sense of pride
[51:32.220 -> 51:33.780] that every year that I won,
[51:33.780 -> 51:37.340] I have the same picture after the award ceremony.
[51:37.340 -> 51:39.060] I have Matt O'Keefe on one side of me
[51:39.060 -> 51:40.220] and I have Sammy on the other.
[51:40.220 -> 51:41.340] They're both holding my check
[51:41.340 -> 51:43.260] and I have the gold medal around my neck.
[51:43.260 -> 51:48.680] And I don't give a shit about those good times, but it's what those represent of like every year
[51:48.680 -> 51:52.460] They're they were really really hard times where I questioned a lot
[51:53.200 -> 51:57.360] But having that support group around me knowing that when I come off the floor
[51:57.640 -> 52:03.200] The hug and the support that I'm gonna get from my loved ones has nothing to it's not contingent on my results
[52:03.240 -> 52:06.600] that was coming from from my weightlifting career of seeing
[52:06.760 -> 52:11.080] how I was treated when I then couldn't produce the results as
[52:11.080 -> 52:14.680] a weightlifter and applying those things forward so that
[52:15.080 -> 52:18.240] when I knew the inevitable end of my competitive career was
[52:18.240 -> 52:22.120] coming, that I wouldn't have to deal with, you know, these
[52:22.120 -> 52:24.320] terrible, terrible times of trying to figure out who the
[52:24.320 -> 52:25.600] fuck I am.
[52:25.600 -> 52:27.640] So I made sure to have projects put in place.
[52:27.640 -> 52:30.000] So that's when I, the day I retired,
[52:30.000 -> 52:33.400] I already had a book deal signed in ink
[52:33.400 -> 52:34.800] so I could work on that.
[52:34.800 -> 52:38.600] I already had plans of releasing HWPO training,
[52:38.600 -> 52:41.800] the programming, because I know I don't do well
[52:41.800 -> 52:44.760] with idle hands, and I knew that when I step away
[52:44.760 -> 52:45.360] from competing, I'm never coming back. idle hands. And I knew that when I step away from competing,
[52:45.360 -> 52:46.920] I'm never coming back.
[52:46.920 -> 52:48.960] And so I want to make sure that I have something
[52:48.960 -> 52:52.260] outside of the gym that is making me feel fulfilled
[52:52.260 -> 52:55.600] and something that I can work towards and feel good about.
[52:55.600 -> 52:56.760] How happy are you?
[52:56.760 -> 52:59.320] Oh, I wouldn't fucking trade it.
[52:59.320 -> 53:01.120] I joke with some people of like,
[53:01.120 -> 53:02.880] dude, if I knew it was gonna be this good,
[53:02.880 -> 53:04.200] I would have stepped away sooner.
[53:04.200 -> 53:11.680] I love that. Brilliant. Right. We've reached the point where we ask you our quick fire questions, Matt.
[53:11.680 -> 53:17.360] The first one is what are the three non-negotiable behaviors that you and the people around you need
[53:17.360 -> 53:26.120] to buy into? Being nice to anyone. It doesn't matter what they have to offer you, being kind to somebody when you have
[53:26.120 -> 53:27.120] nothing to gain from them.
[53:27.120 -> 53:28.840] That speaks volumes.
[53:28.840 -> 53:32.760] One, the work is done when the job is done.
[53:32.760 -> 53:37.360] And so, you know, like we had the perfect example of that last week in Dubai where we
[53:37.360 -> 53:42.440] showed up expecting to have one role with this competition and my whole team, there
[53:42.440 -> 53:48.000] was five of us total, and our first day of seven there, we realized like, Oh shit.
[53:48.280 -> 53:48.560] All right.
[53:48.560 -> 53:50.140] We, this is going to be a long week.
[53:50.140 -> 53:54.100] We need to fulfill these jobs that we had no intentions of doing.
[53:54.480 -> 53:58.560] And there wasn't a single fucking question from anyone in my group.
[53:58.720 -> 54:01.880] It was just like, you tell us where to be and when to do it.
[54:01.880 -> 54:03.560] And we're, and we're getting the job done.
[54:03.960 -> 54:09.660] So I think that willingness to work, even when. You even when you're not going to get rewarded for it, I
[54:09.660 -> 54:12.700] think that's a very, very important one.
[54:12.700 -> 54:14.360] Basically just doing the right thing.
[54:14.360 -> 54:19.500] Doing the right thing, whether you're being compensated for it or not, that's very important.
[54:19.500 -> 54:21.300] What else is non-negotiable?
[54:21.300 -> 54:22.940] Being considerate of other people.
[54:22.940 -> 54:27.320] You know, it's very easy to look directly, like, almost as if you're looking down at your toes
[54:27.320 -> 54:29.000] and you're only looking at,
[54:29.000 -> 54:32.040] all right, how does this next action impact me?
[54:32.040 -> 54:33.760] But it's like, all right, well, if you take this action,
[54:33.760 -> 54:35.600] what's the trickle to everyone else?
[54:35.600 -> 54:37.960] And trying to look at, always look at the bigger picture
[54:37.960 -> 54:40.440] of, you know, if I say this thing,
[54:40.440 -> 54:41.800] how is it gonna be received?
[54:41.800 -> 54:43.480] Do I need to talk to other people?
[54:43.480 -> 54:49.900] Do I need to put explanation to it? You know, so always looking at how your actions are going to affect
[54:49.900 -> 54:52.220] and compound down the road to other people.
[54:52.220 -> 54:55.840] So what's your biggest weakness and your greatest strength?
[54:55.840 -> 55:00.740] Biggest weakness. I have a very hard time doing things that I want to do when there's
[55:00.740 -> 55:07.200] still things that I have to do. So, you know, like even if there's a deadline on a project that's weeks down the road,
[55:07.200 -> 55:10.560] I have a very, very hard time not,
[55:10.560 -> 55:13.720] I have a very hard time relaxing until that job is done.
[55:14.940 -> 55:17.680] So, you know, the biggest thing that I've implemented now
[55:17.680 -> 55:20.640] is, you know, if it's just a regular work day,
[55:20.640 -> 55:23.060] whether it's not like this big pressing project
[55:23.060 -> 55:27.360] of like making sure that I have a couple of hours for myself every night.
[55:27.360 -> 55:28.360] And I'm terrible at it.
[55:28.360 -> 55:32.780] I'm terrible at not working and just like enjoying.
[55:32.780 -> 55:36.920] So like last night was a perfect example of, you know, I'm home alone and I'm like, all
[55:36.920 -> 55:39.640] right, like I finished all my work for the day.
[55:39.640 -> 55:41.600] I'll go down and like clean the garage.
[55:41.600 -> 55:43.080] I'll go out and do some yard work.
[55:43.080 -> 55:44.480] I'll do all these things.
[55:44.480 -> 55:48.040] And then I'm like, I have an hour before I go to bed.
[55:48.040 -> 55:50.320] And I'm down here cleaning the fucking garage.
[55:50.320 -> 55:54.440] I'm like, No, I need to go do something that's like relaxing, because it compounds over time.
[55:54.440 -> 55:58.080] So I'm just not good at taking time for myself and just relaxing.
[55:58.080 -> 56:01.280] I'd say my greatest strength is you point me in the direction you want me to go and
[56:01.280 -> 56:03.540] I'll fucking work to my fingers bleed.
[56:03.540 -> 56:08.320] You know, so like with Sammy and O'Keefe, I tell them all the time, I'm like, hey, I'm not the
[56:08.320 -> 56:13.280] creative. I'm not the one, you know, coming up with these unique solutions. So putting people
[56:13.280 -> 56:18.080] in place that are creative and kind of know those situations. But then I just tell Sammy and O'Keefe,
[56:18.640 -> 56:23.760] like, you point me in the right direction, and I'll go until the job is done. But I just need
[56:23.760 -> 56:25.200] you to tell me that, okay,
[56:25.200 -> 56:27.520] yep, you're working on the right thing and then I'm good to go.
[56:27.520 -> 56:31.640] Al- Love that. What is the one thing people get wrong about you or misunderstand about
[56:31.640 -> 56:32.640] you the most?
[56:32.640 -> 56:34.640] Metal Jesus Where do you want to start?
[56:34.640 -> 56:37.640] Al- Where do you want to start?
[56:37.640 -> 56:40.960] Metal Jesus You have to find that line of like, whose
[56:40.960 -> 56:46.700] opinion do you care about? And it's for those people, those are the people that are getting the explanation.
[56:46.700 -> 56:48.700] And those are the people that are telling me that
[56:48.700 -> 56:52.700] when I do something and they come to me and they're like,
[56:52.700 -> 56:55.900] hey man, that was probably a shitty move.
[56:55.900 -> 56:58.100] And I'm like, oh shit, like, okay,
[56:58.100 -> 56:59.700] you know me like the back of your hand,
[56:59.700 -> 57:00.900] you know my intentions,
[57:00.900 -> 57:03.700] you know my reasoning behind doing these things
[57:03.700 -> 57:08.840] and you still think it was a bad move. okay, then I need to go change something.
[57:08.840 -> 57:14.240] But I've just found that no matter what you do, you're going to have somebody criticizing
[57:14.240 -> 57:15.240] you.
[57:15.240 -> 57:18.640] You're going to have somebody, whether it's public or private, whatever it is, you're
[57:18.640 -> 57:23.800] going to have somebody that disagrees and doesn't like it.
[57:23.800 -> 57:32.000] And if you get it in your head that I'm going to explain myself to every single person that disagrees with what I do, you're going to do a lot of explaining and probably not too many actions.
[57:32.000 -> 57:46.080] And so, you know, that was one thing that I set up for myself was I made a list of people that are, these are the people whose opinions matter to me and if need be I'll
[57:46.080 -> 57:50.960] explain myself to this select group but after that if people don't like me for my actions
[57:52.320 -> 57:56.400] and they're not willing to take the time to ask the questions on why I did these things and you
[57:56.400 -> 58:01.440] know what could possibly be the other outcome that they're not seeing then it's probably not
[58:01.440 -> 58:06.240] worth my time to to explain it you know it's I forget who said it, but they were like,
[58:06.240 -> 58:08.400] hey, if I did something that pissed you off, call me.
[58:08.400 -> 58:09.960] And if you don't have my phone number,
[58:09.960 -> 58:12.080] you probably don't know me well enough to be pissed off.
[58:12.080 -> 58:14.920] And that was one of those things that,
[58:14.920 -> 58:16.800] Sammy's opinion, O'Keefe's opinion,
[58:16.800 -> 58:19.920] I have a handful of friends, my parents,
[58:19.920 -> 58:22.800] those people's opinions matter to me.
[58:22.800 -> 58:24.440] But I always look at it of like,
[58:24.440 -> 58:29.440] I'm not gonna take criticism from somebody that I wouldn't take advice from. What is it they say? Don't take
[58:29.440 -> 58:36.880] travel advice from an estate agent. Yeah, true. It's a good one. So, you know, it's, it's hard.
[58:36.880 -> 58:42.240] It doesn't feel good hearing, you know, people ripping you apart. And you're like, Oh, my God,
[58:42.240 -> 58:49.560] you're just, you totally missed the point. You totally missed why I did this action and you're just assuming the worst. But at the
[58:49.560 -> 58:53.440] same time, it's like, all right, you know, fuck, I'll try to do a better, better job
[58:53.440 -> 58:57.520] explaining next time, but I'm not going to sit here and like apologize for what I did
[58:57.520 -> 59:02.240] or, you know, anything like that. So it's just, all right, you know, you know, I fucked
[59:02.240 -> 59:06.600] that up. I'll take that into consideration for next time next time I do something like that
[59:06.600 -> 59:10.700] I'll do it. I'll do it better. What one question should we have asked you that we haven't?
[59:10.700 -> 59:15.120] Oh, no, you asked the one question that I really like the are you happy?
[59:15.480 -> 59:21.360] You know, I think that's a very important question that doesn't get asked enough and you you're full of brilliant life advice
[59:21.880 -> 59:28.360] I would just love people that are struggling with happiness. What one thing would you say to them
[59:28.360 -> 59:32.160] if that is an issue for them right now?
[59:32.160 -> 59:35.240] You know, it's something that I struggled with
[59:35.240 -> 59:37.080] and I still do.
[59:37.080 -> 59:40.760] If I'm left to my own devices, I'm a very blue person.
[59:40.760 -> 59:42.800] You know, I am, like there's some people
[59:42.800 -> 59:47.160] that can no external actions happening and they're just happy.
[59:47.160 -> 59:51.800] For me, with no external actions, I am typically a,
[59:51.800 -> 59:53.000] I don't wanna say like depressed,
[59:53.000 -> 59:55.560] but I'm more of a sad, calm person.
[59:55.560 -> 59:57.960] And like through middle school, high school, college,
[59:57.960 -> 01:00:00.440] like I never felt like I fit in, even still,
[01:00:00.440 -> 01:00:03.780] like I'm very uncomfortable in crowds,
[01:00:03.780 -> 01:00:06.660] I'm very uncomfortable in new situations.
[01:00:06.660 -> 01:00:10.020] And for myself, I remember being in middle school
[01:00:10.020 -> 01:00:11.860] and going clothes shopping with my parents
[01:00:11.860 -> 01:00:14.820] and seeing clothes that I liked,
[01:00:14.820 -> 01:00:16.560] but I was like, mm-mm, I can't wear that,
[01:00:16.560 -> 01:00:18.380] people will make fun of me for it.
[01:00:18.380 -> 01:00:22.060] Or, I can't join that club,
[01:00:22.060 -> 01:00:23.980] people will make fun of me for it.
[01:00:23.980 -> 01:00:27.200] And funneled me into this situation, this life
[01:00:27.200 -> 01:00:30.080] that I was like, I'm not doing actions that I wanna do.
[01:00:30.080 -> 01:00:31.800] I'm not doing the things that I want to do
[01:00:31.800 -> 01:00:34.600] because I'm worried about the opinions of others.
[01:00:34.600 -> 01:00:37.960] And then having enough life experience of realizing
[01:00:37.960 -> 01:00:41.000] nobody gives a fuck what you do.
[01:00:41.000 -> 01:00:43.040] Like nobody cares.
[01:00:43.040 -> 01:00:44.880] Like yeah, maybe the middle school kids
[01:00:44.880 -> 01:00:48.300] will make some jokes on you wearing a piece of clothing
[01:00:48.300 -> 01:00:49.680] that's a little bit different,
[01:00:49.680 -> 01:00:53.060] but as soon as you realize that like it doesn't matter
[01:00:53.060 -> 01:00:55.320] and in the grand scheme, nobody cares.
[01:00:55.320 -> 01:00:57.040] Everyone's too worried about their own problems.
[01:00:57.040 -> 01:00:59.380] No one cares what you're doing.
[01:00:59.380 -> 01:01:03.120] That was incredibly freeing to me of, you know,
[01:01:03.120 -> 01:01:07.320] doing silly shit like, you know, fucking silly shit. Like, you know, I fucking last summer,
[01:01:07.320 -> 01:01:09.040] like I contributed the entire summer
[01:01:09.040 -> 01:01:11.920] to buying these mini bikes and making this dirt bike track
[01:01:11.920 -> 01:01:15.040] and racing around the yard, like some 12 year old kids.
[01:01:15.040 -> 01:01:17.280] I'm sure to a lot of people that are looking at me like,
[01:01:17.280 -> 01:01:20.840] what the fuck are you doing, wasting your time doing that?
[01:01:20.840 -> 01:01:22.080] I don't care.
[01:01:22.080 -> 01:01:22.900] I like it.
[01:01:22.900 -> 01:01:24.440] I'm the one on the dirt bike giggling.
[01:01:24.440 -> 01:01:27.840] Like, yeah, you stay on the sidelines with a frown on your face. I don't give a shit it I'm the one on the dirt bike giggling like yeah you stay on the sidelines with a frown on your face I don't give a shit I'm gonna
[01:01:27.840 -> 01:01:31.480] have fun I'm gonna do the things that I like to do and so I think having that
[01:01:31.480 -> 01:01:36.680] realization that just do the stuff that you like to do you know as long as it's
[01:01:36.680 -> 01:01:41.880] not hurting anyone else do it and once you realize that you know yeah the words
[01:01:41.880 -> 01:01:45.280] will sting for a second but but enough time. It's
[01:01:45.280 -> 01:01:49.820] like, oh, you stop caring about the criticisms from other people too. As long as you doing
[01:01:49.820 -> 01:01:53.060] the right things, there's always going to be someone criticizing you. Fuck it. Make
[01:01:53.060 -> 01:01:57.100] sure you have a smile on your face. That's what matters. You have to spend all day with
[01:01:57.100 -> 01:01:59.700] yourself. Make sure you're somebody that you want to be, be with.
[01:01:59.700 -> 01:02:08.540] I love that. It reminds me of that famous quote from Dr. Daniel Amen that said that at the age of 18 you do nothing because you would what other people think about you
[01:02:08.540 -> 01:02:13.760] It's a faulty and you say I don't care what anyone thinks of me and then you get to 60 and realize nobody was ever
[01:02:13.760 -> 01:02:15.520] Thinking about you in the first place
[01:02:15.520 -> 01:02:19.860] Exactly. It was actually one of one of my buddies God. I I don't want to assault him
[01:02:19.860 -> 01:02:21.960] I I want to say he's about 50 years old
[01:02:21.960 -> 01:02:25.880] but I remember years ago he was talking about like I was talking about wanting to get a dirt bike
[01:02:25.880 -> 01:02:26.880] or a motorcycle or something.
[01:02:26.880 -> 01:02:29.700] And he was like, ah, he's like, you know what I want?
[01:02:29.700 -> 01:02:30.680] I want a pit bike.
[01:02:30.680 -> 01:02:33.160] I want a mini dirt bike to rip around in my yard.
[01:02:33.160 -> 01:02:36.380] I was like, Greg, you're fucking 48 years old.
[01:02:36.380 -> 01:02:38.280] Like everyone's going to laugh at you
[01:02:38.280 -> 01:02:40.560] if you're driving around this kid's dirt bike in yard.
[01:02:40.560 -> 01:02:44.160] And just the confidence that he brought back to me of like,
[01:02:44.160 -> 01:02:48.000] what do I care if people are laughing at me I'm the one having fun and I was like and
[01:02:48.000 -> 01:02:51.760] for whatever reason that example just clicked with me and I was like oh yeah
[01:02:51.760 -> 01:02:55.600] who does give a shit what the people on the sidelines are saying about me I'm
[01:02:55.600 -> 01:02:59.240] the one on the dirt bike having fun I can't hear what they're saying so screw
[01:02:59.240 -> 01:03:03.720] it and and that's when I really jumped in both feet of just like yeah I'm gonna
[01:03:03.720 -> 01:03:05.800] do the shit that puts a smile on my face.
[01:03:05.800 -> 01:03:08.240] And if you wanna join, I would love to have you.
[01:03:08.240 -> 01:03:11.920] But if you're here to insult me, I'm not even listening.
[01:03:11.920 -> 01:03:13.000] Matt, final question.
[01:03:13.000 -> 01:03:14.760] Your sort of one final message really
[01:03:14.760 -> 01:03:16.880] to the listeners of this brilliant hour long conversation.
[01:03:16.880 -> 01:03:19.440] Thank you very much for your time and your generosity.
[01:03:19.440 -> 01:03:21.720] What would you like to leave ringing in their ears?
[01:03:21.720 -> 01:03:23.960] They've come to this episode for some inspiration,
[01:03:23.960 -> 01:03:29.080] for some education, to be uplifted. Your one final message to them to live a high performance
[01:03:29.080 -> 01:03:30.080] life.
[01:03:30.080 -> 01:03:35.880] I think realizing that looking at where you want to be in five years down the road starts
[01:03:35.880 -> 01:03:41.200] today. Like your actions today will contribute to where you're going to be five years, 10
[01:03:41.200 -> 01:03:45.820] years down the road, and you will never make it to that big lofty goal
[01:03:45.820 -> 01:03:48.960] down the road without taking the first step today.
[01:03:48.960 -> 01:03:54.320] Like for myself, I graduated with a double major, double minor on the Dean's list in
[01:03:54.320 -> 01:03:55.320] college.
[01:03:55.320 -> 01:04:00.120] I wouldn't have done that without that taking my first course.
[01:04:00.120 -> 01:04:02.400] I became the five-time CrossFit Games champion.
[01:04:02.400 -> 01:04:08.160] I had my first day in a CrossFit gym where I felt like everyone else already knows each
[01:04:08.160 -> 01:04:12.560] other, I'm a loner here, everyone knows something that I don't, they all have a better understanding
[01:04:12.560 -> 01:04:14.400] of what's going on, I'm lost.
[01:04:14.400 -> 01:04:18.080] I had those feelings of insecurities on my first day.
[01:04:18.080 -> 01:04:21.860] You would be a fool to think that you're not going to have those feelings on your first
[01:04:21.860 -> 01:04:23.120] day as well.
[01:04:23.120 -> 01:04:29.320] But everyone had their first day in the gym. So it's like, if you want to pursue, you want to go to the CrossFit
[01:04:29.320 -> 01:04:34.880] Games, you need your first day. You need to be shit at it at some point and you'll never
[01:04:34.880 -> 01:04:36.600] get past it unless you're willing to.
[01:04:36.600 -> 01:04:37.800] I love that.
[01:04:37.800 -> 01:04:41.240] Mike, it's been amazing, honestly, a real privilege to listen.
[01:04:41.240 -> 01:04:52.360] Thank you guys. Thank you. I appreciate it. Damien, Jake, I absolutely bloody loved that conversation. It was brilliant,
[01:04:52.360 -> 01:04:58.080] it was just refreshing, straightforward and really simple, but not simplistic,
[01:04:58.080 -> 01:05:01.960] simple in terms of what we can do with it. And I think it's important, you know,
[01:05:01.960 -> 01:05:05.760] that there is a, there is a strength when it comes to high performance. Like, we can do the heavy
[01:05:05.760 -> 01:05:10.240] stuff, we can do the deep stuff, we can talk about challenges in life, we can
[01:05:10.240 -> 01:05:14.360] help people get over, you know, negative periods and all those things. But I think
[01:05:14.360 -> 01:05:17.960] sometimes there is a real value in someone joining us and saying, this is
[01:05:17.960 -> 01:05:23.160] how I did it. Yes, there was some negative times, but positive, positive, good stuff,
[01:05:23.160 -> 01:05:25.700] you know. I just think it, I don't know, I felt
[01:05:25.700 -> 01:05:30.160] uplifted by that and inspired by that and I really hope people at home did as
[01:05:30.160 -> 01:05:34.400] well. The big thing for me was, if I've annoyed you, ring me. If you haven't got my
[01:05:34.400 -> 01:05:38.120] number, then you don't deserve to be annoyed. Bang! Straight between the
[01:05:38.120 -> 01:05:42.440] eyes, that sort of thing, you know. There's that and also the, if you've
[01:05:42.440 -> 01:05:48.880] broken down on the motorway, flagging a down nobody stops if they see you pushing it everybody wants to help you that idea of
[01:05:48.880 -> 01:05:53.440] don't wait for somebody to come and save the day for you start saving the day
[01:05:53.440 -> 01:05:56.800] yourself just take a small step in the right direction.
[01:05:56.800 -> 01:06:00.080] Absolutely brilliant so there you go look we're delivering all kinds of
[01:06:00.080 -> 01:06:02.960] different guests for you on high performance and that man's been crowned
[01:06:02.960 -> 01:06:07.120] the fittest man on the planet five separate occasions but actually I don't
[01:06:07.120 -> 01:06:11.040] think it's about the physical fitness that he shared his learnings and lessons
[01:06:11.040 -> 01:06:15.040] with us today it's about his life fitness John I mean his ability to
[01:06:15.040 -> 01:06:19.040] navigate the world that's the secret yeah being the CrossFit Games champion
[01:06:19.040 -> 01:06:22.460] yeah and if you listen to this thinking how do I get up my entire remember what
[01:06:22.460 -> 01:06:26.080] he said, every
[01:06:23.600 -> 01:06:28.160] expert started as a beginner, everybody
[01:06:26.080 -> 01:06:30.160] had their first day in the gym and if you
[01:06:28.160 -> 01:06:32.120] make today your first day of
[01:06:30.160 -> 01:06:34.120] adopting some of Matt's mindset,
[01:06:32.120 -> 01:06:35.720] we're going in the right direction. Were
[01:06:34.120 -> 01:06:39.320] you born a professor or did you have to
[01:06:35.720 -> 01:06:41.000] study for it? Exactly, exactly. But it's like that
[01:06:39.320 -> 01:06:42.400] for all of us, it's about taking just
[01:06:41.000 -> 01:06:47.160] that one step in the right, in the
[01:06:42.400 -> 01:06:46.240] direction we want to travel.
[01:06:48.200 -> 01:06:50.520] Ah, I loved that episode, you know, don't forget as well as listening to these conversations,
[01:06:50.520 -> 01:06:52.440] you can also watch everything that we produce here
[01:06:52.440 -> 01:06:54.440] on High Performance on our YouTube channel.
[01:06:54.440 -> 01:06:57.360] The YouTube channel is growing at a crazy rate of knots,
[01:06:57.360 -> 01:06:59.120] hundreds of thousands of people every week
[01:06:59.120 -> 01:07:02.240] coming and watching the conversations that we're having.
[01:07:02.240 -> 01:07:05.880] So just go to YouTube and type in high performance podcast
[01:07:05.880 -> 01:07:08.160] and you can see all of our content there as well.
[01:07:08.160 -> 01:07:11.880] Thank you so much for making 2023 a year that myself
[01:07:11.880 -> 01:07:14.840] and the rest of the team on this podcast will never forget.
[01:07:14.840 -> 01:07:17.480] You know, we are simply here to try
[01:07:17.480 -> 01:07:21.180] and have the conversations and create the content
[01:07:21.180 -> 01:07:23.080] that is gonna make your life better.
[01:07:23.080 -> 01:07:24.440] And every single time you reach out
[01:07:24.440 -> 01:07:26.000] and tell us that it's working,
[01:07:26.000 -> 01:07:29.000] it fills our cup up, it gives us the energy we need,
[01:07:29.000 -> 01:07:30.000] and it makes us go again.
[01:07:30.000 -> 01:07:33.000] Thank you very much for all your feedback in 2022.
[01:07:33.000 -> 01:07:36.000] I look forward to sharing the new year with you.
[01:07:36.000 -> 01:07:38.000] Remember though, there is no secret. It is all there for you.
[01:07:38.000 -> 01:07:41.000] So chase world-class basics. Don't get high on your own supply.
[01:07:41.000 -> 01:07:45.160] Remain humble, curious, and empathetic.
[01:07:45.160 -> 01:07:46.360] And we'll see you soon.
[01:08:02.690 -> 01:08:03.690] Bye!
[01:08:03.690 -> None] Bye!