[00:00] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Welcome to another episode of success for the athletic minded man, real talk on harnessing your athletic drive for clarity, consistency, and focus in business and life. This is your host, Jim Harshaw, Jr. And today I’m bringing you an episode with clips from Olympians, tips, tools, tactics, takeaways. Mindset of Olympians because we’re heading into the Olympics are coming up this month as of when I’m recording this.

[00:30] Jim Harshaw Jr.: So you may be listening to this sometime far off into the future. And if you are hello from the past, I’ve interviewed so many amazing people, Olympians, Olympic gold medalists over the years. And so we’re going back and finding the best clips, the best tips and tools and takeaways. The best segments from those episodes and bringing those to you in a condensed format.

[00:53] Jim Harshaw Jr.: So you’re going to hear from Bonnie St. John. Bonnie is a Paralympian. She was the first African American to win medals in winter Olympic competition. She took home a silver and two bronze medals at the 1984 winter Paralympics. You’re going to hear from Ruben Gonzalez. Ruben has become a great friend of mine and he actually joined us at our client Pathfinder retreat in Colorado back in May.

[01:19] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Ruben is a four time Olympian in the luge. Fascinating story. Fascinating person. Uh, you’re going to hear from Shannon Miller. Shannon is a seven. Time Olympic medalist with two golds, two silvers, and three bronze. And she was a Olympic gymnast. And you’re going to hear from Jake Herbert and Andy Hrovat.

[01:38] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Jake is a good friend of mine. Become friends with Andy through the wrestling circles over the years. Both were Olympians in wrestling as well as Ben Askren. Ben Askren was an Olympian and Lee Kemp as well. So now here’s the catch with Lee Kemp. Lee Kemp was not an Olympian. And Olympian, this is the year that the United States boycotted the Olympics.

[01:59] Jim Harshaw Jr.: So he would have been the Olympian that year. He was a three time world champion boy. And this would have been the year for, for Lee to win his Olympic gold medal. So I included Lee. In this as well, because he was just an absolutely astounding. He was one of the best in the world. If not the best in the world pound for pound wrestler.

[02:16] Jim Harshaw Jr.: So Lee Kemp. So you can hear from six different Olympians. Uh, I’m going to call Lee an Olympian, even though there’s an asterisk there. You’re going to hear from six different amazing people who I’ve got to talk to over the years. And here’s the catch. Listen. Success for the athletic minded man. Why am I bringing some of my, uh, women guests on the show?

[02:33] Jim Harshaw Jr.: I’ve interviewed some amazing women in the past. The podcast was not focused on men. It was success through failure, but we’ve certainly narrowed things, uh, narrowed our focus this year in 2024, but we have so many great guests, male, female, and so, uh, bringing all of them onto the show, bringing you some clips from them.

[02:51] Jim Harshaw Jr.: All right, here we go. Let’s get into it. With these clips and highlights from my interviews with Olympians, we’re going to be talking about defying the odds. We’re going to be talking about the role of mentorship and how that gives you an advantage. We’re going to talk about dreaming big and goal setting secrets and tactics from Olympians.

[03:12] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And we’re going to talk about lastly, practical wisdom, like actionable takeaway from people who have been the best in the world at what they do. The first topic we’re going to be talking about is defying the odds and how they had to overcome their own adversities in life and in sports. And so you’re going to hear some absolutely incredible tales of how these Olympians think and how they dealt with significant hurdles and setbacks in their lives.

[03:39] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Let’s hear from Bonnie St. John.

[03:42] Bonnie St. John: I got a scholarship to go to a ski racing academy in Vermont in senior year of high school. And I was living in Southern California with no money and trying to be a ski racer. So I needed to go somewhere where there was snow. I needed to get coaches. I applied to this school and I tried to raise the money and I failed to raise the money.

[04:01] Bonnie St. John: So I called the headmaster before school was going to start and said, I’m glad you accepted me to the school, but I failed to raise the money. You know, I had sent out all these proposals. He knew what I was doing and he said, come anyway. So that’s how I got a full scholarship was I failed to raise the money, but I still try.

[04:15] Jim Harshaw Jr.: So

[04:16] Bonnie St. John: I finally get to this school. This is my dream, you know, all the way from San Diego, all the way to Vermont. Like it’s about as far away as you can get from home and still be in the U S to get there. And on the first day of school, I fall off a ski simulator and break my ankle. It was so hard, but I still went to the gym.

[04:31] Bonnie St. John: I still did abs workouts and weight workouts. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t go on the soccer field. Still went to classes. Six weeks later, I finally got out of the cast. It’s like, Oh, now I can run across the soccer field and I start to run and there’s this sickening snap and it’s the sound of my artificial leg breaking in half.

[04:48] Bonnie St. John: So I call up the place. It was made in Los Angeles. They can fix it in a day. I express mail it out there. I’m waiting. It doesn’t come back a week. It doesn’t come back two weeks. They shipped it accidentally. Book rates, surface rates took three weeks to get my leg. So when I was at Burke mountain Academy, one of the things that’s amazing about that story of breaking both of my legs and one gets lost in the mail and all that is it could have meant, like you’re saying, go home, fail at this school.

[05:13] Bonnie St. John: And these are, yeah, you’re, you don’t have a leg left to stand on.

[05:18] Jim Harshaw Jr.: You love the one legged jokes. That’s great.

[05:19] Bonnie St. John: Yeah. But when people ask me, why didn’t you go home? And when I look back and I think about it, I think, you know, I tried so hard to get there. That was my dream. I wasn’t going to go home unless somebody made me go home.

[05:31] Bonnie St. John: And I thought the principal would say, you know, you should go home. Or my mom would call up and say, you’re trying to kill my daughter. You know, I thought some adult was responsible adult would stop me. But in the absence of that, I wasn’t going to stop myself. And if you don’t stop yourself, if you don’t let failure stop you inside yourself, you know, what can stop you?

[05:52] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear from Lee

[05:54] Lee Kemp: Kemp. Wrestling, I think, saved my life, if not literally, almost literally. I mean, I was at such a low point in my life that some very close friends that understood me and were trying to help me, they got me back into wrestling. I mean, literally, I’d been out of wrestling for 14 years, literally.

[06:12] Lee Kemp: In 2006, John Bartas, a good friend of mine, Uh, we were college roommates, actually, at Wisconsin. He ended up later transferred to Arizona, University of Arizona. But John invited me to the world championships. And he was, uh, the team leader for the Greco Roman team. And so he was very involved in USA Wrestling.

[06:31] Lee Kemp: So he, Brought me to Colorado Springs and literally got me a position, coaching position with, uh, on that 2006 world team. And then 2007, I was one of the junior world team coaches. And in 2008, I was the Olympic coach. None of that would have happened without John, really, John Bartas, but bringing me back into wrestling and coming back into wrestling, it was.

[06:55] Lee Kemp: a healing environment. It was an environment that, you know, I guess you would say I was like coming home and it sort of put me on a healing path and it put me on a path of just feeling good about myself again, if you want to call it that. And it put me on a path of realizing what my passion was and it was trying to help people.

[07:16] Lee Kemp: These young men and women win Olympic gold medals and world medals. So I’ve been on that path ever since then. So wrestling played a very integral part in that.

[07:25] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear from Ruben Gonzalez.

[07:27] Ruben Gonzalez: Right before the Olympics, like the two months before the Olympics or three months before there’s going to be seven races, seven world cup races.

[07:34] Ruben Gonzalez: And so I want to train at all these different tracks to start getting good there. And so I went to Eagles and I was sliding. Well, this year with this new sled, I’ve had a breakthrough where I’m able to control it a lot better. A clean run means that you didn’t even brush any wall. And I’d never had more than four clean runs in a, in a row till earlier this year.

[07:57] Ruben Gonzalez: I was training in park city, Utah earlier this year, January and February. And I think I got seven in a row, man. And I was up at Eagles and I had eight right new record. And so I crossed the finish line and I hit a rut where bobsleds break and it threw me into the wall and threw me off the sled, but. That was okay.

[08:19] Ruben Gonzalez: I mean, I banged up my hand and my chest a little bit, but mainly bruised ego. And the sled went on ahead to the 15th curve and hit a patch of snow where it just stops. And so whenever there’s a wreck, right, a crash at any track in the world, the announcer, right, because it’s like an air traffic controller, he’s got cameras where he sees what’s going on and he says, hold on track.

[08:40] Ruben Gonzalez: So up at the top is Grayson Laffer, a kid from Australia. So I crash and I walk up to 15 to pick up my sled because I can’t just walk off the track and leave the sled for somebody else to hit it. That’d be crazy. So I pick up the sled and I’m carrying it and I’m about 20 yards away from the exit of the track, the exit we take.

[08:59] Ruben Gonzalez: And I hear this, uh, look out, look out, look out. And then next thing I know I’m flying through the air. So instead of saying, hold on track, they said, track is clear for grace and laugh. Doom. And he just, you know, he came right into me and he hit me and. He was going fast. I mean, at that point, he’s probably going 60 and it was a miracle that we’re both alive, what actually happened in, uh, I was carrying the sled, like bag, like luggage, old style without the wheels, right?

[09:31] Ruben Gonzalez: Just hanging. And as he came up, he lifted his legs. And he put his body back down because he was already breaking. He put his body back down to try to go under me, but he lifted his legs and his sled hit the back of my sled and it’s 50 pounds. Okay. And it flew off like a Frisbee and the impulse of him throwing me.

[09:52] Ruben Gonzalez: Just made me spin around where his sled went right under mine, didn’t even touch my feet, because he would have just clipped my foot off probably. There wasn’t even an ambulance there, so if something like that had happened, probably would have bled to death before hanging out. And then my sled that’s flying over him, he somehow slid right under it and it didn’t hit him.

[10:10] Ruben Gonzalez: So that was like, we had guardian angels. But when I fell, I landed badly on my elbow and dislocated my arm. So that’s it. You know, I’m, I’m, I’m done. And it was all negligence on part of the track. I mean, it’s ridiculous. That track has a bad reputation for being fairly easy. to do. But after the finish line, all bets are off.

[10:32] Ruben Gonzalez: It’s really stupid. So coach said, don’t take your first flight back to to the States. Stick around a few extra days. You gotta grieve this. You have to let yourself go through all the different stages and take advantage of it. Okay, what can we take advantage of right now? Well, you could be at the track next to the different coaches and listening to what they’re telling the different athletes.

[10:53] Ruben Gonzalez: And in between, you can ask questions and learn more about that part of the sport. And so I did. It pretty much robbed me of a month of training, which I need dearly to reach a level where I’ve never been before. I mean, but coach says I got a shot, so I’m not going to listen to my doubts. I’m going to listen to his knowledge and I’m going to submit to his leadership because he’s got fruit on the trees.

[11:15] Ruben Gonzalez: He’s done it. He says, I got a shot. Fine. What do we got to do? And came back and went from a cast to this big clunky brace. And then the brace came off and then, uh, starting to do exercises, you know, to get my range of motion. And every morning when I woke up, even, even if I had been doing lots of stretching, it was back to 0.

[11:36] Ruben Gonzalez: 1, which is very disconcerting. Right. And, and the doctor said, It’s going to be like that for several months, okay, or you, or it’s pretty stiff in the morning, but every day I’m getting more and more range of motion and I’m doing different types of exercises and upping the weights and building it up.

[11:54] Ruben Gonzalez: Everything’s a challenge. And once in a while, you know, wrench gets thrown into the works and then you have to re regroup. Right. And the goal doesn’t change, right? You don’t move the goal. The goal stands, right? You just change the play. If the last play didn’t work and you come up with a different game plan, but quitting is not an option.

[12:11] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Okay. Now let’s move to our next topic, which is mentorship advantage. Let’s hear some stories of, of guidance and support and how these Olympians had coaches and mentors in their lives and how they help them shortcut that path to success. Let’s hear from Lee Kemp.

[12:29] Lee Kemp: You know, the first thing I tell people who, who say to me that they want to improve their situation, no matter what it is, is you first have to be committed.

[12:38] Lee Kemp: And the word committed means a lot of things to a lot of different people. Committed to some people just means showing up every day. Well, that’s not enough. Sometimes you don’t, you wish those people didn’t show up because they don’t add, they don’t add any value to being there. There’s a level of commitment that has to happen.

[12:55] Lee Kemp: And that level means you have to accept. All the aspects of the job, whatever it is, whether it’s wrestling, whether it’s business, whatever it is. And the way you know what all the aspects of the job is, you have to have a mentor. And I could not have been a great wrestler without a mentor like Dan Gable.

[13:12] Lee Kemp: When I went to that camp and I saw all the stuff he was doing, it was way more than I ever dreamed that I could do. But in order to be great, I did without hesitation. And became very committed to all the aspects of the things that I saw him doing. To give you an example, there’s some athletes that I coached that I’ll show them the things that I think they need to be doing.

[13:34] Lee Kemp: And sometimes they say to me, coach, you know, I really don’t really feel I can do those things. And, you know, if that’s what it takes to be great, then I just, I just, I won’t be great then, you know, I can’t believe I’m hearing that sometimes, but, but that’s sometimes people make that decision, but the people Just make the decision blindly to follow, in faith, blind faith I call it.

[13:56] Lee Kemp: Do all the things that are being asked of them and required of them. That’s true commitment. And acceptance follows right after that. You have to accept all the aspects of the things that you’re doing. There’s so many times you’re with people that are doing things begrudgingly. You can tell they don’t really want to be there.

[14:17] Lee Kemp: They don’t want to do it. Whether it’s a sport, they’re running, they’re not doing the runs hard. They’re coming in last. They’re just, they’re just putting in time sort of, and in their minds. You know, Hey, I was there. I did all the drills. I did all the, or in business. Hey, you know, I’m, I’m showing up every day at work and I’m, I’m doing the bare minimum of what’s being asked of me.

[14:36] Lee Kemp: Well, that’s not what it takes to be great. You got to do all the things that the great people do. And what I noticed that great people are constantly looking to get better, actually, to find other ways to get better. So they’re constantly finding new ways, new things to get better. So anyway, that is the starting point.

[14:57] Lee Kemp: That is the starting point, is commitment and acceptance of all the things. Now,

[15:03] Andy Hrovat: let’s hear from Andy Hrovat. I knew I wanted to coach, but I didn’t think coaching was an actual profession. To me, it’s more of a hobby. You know, it’s what I enjoy doing. But I didn’t, I couldn’t see myself working for a university because, you know, that is, uh, Uh, dealing with more red tape than actual being involved in a sport and loving what you’re doing, you know, and I don’t want to have to log every phone call I make every text message I send, you know, it’s just, that’s not who I am.

[15:29] Andy Hrovat: And it’s not how I operate and work. And Jake could attest to that. But, you know, since I, since I retired in 2012, you know, I kind of was. Floating around a little bit, trying to figure this out. And, you know, it wasn’t until Calum Russell came from being unseated to winning the U. S. Open, you know, I got my first real job offer, which was the exact same thing I was doing in Ann Arbor, but for twice as much money.

[15:53] Andy Hrovat: And when I turned that down, I was like, Uh, you know, I turned it down to, you know, going to business for myself. And that’s when, you know, I talked to Jake and, you know, I proposed that, you know, we do all this together and, you know, because I knew what his passion was and then from there, you know, is learning what to do, because I, I mean, I’d never been involved in, in business and, in business, just like, you know, wrestling, it’s, it’s about learning and when I went over to Russia to learn the best way to train for wrestling, you know, it’s the same thing with When you’re trying to build businesses, you know, you want to surround yourself with mentors.

[16:26] Andy Hrovat: You want to surround yourself with, you know, people who, who have done things, you know, greater than you have done, you know, people who are currently doing great things and learning. And, you know, Jake hit on this a little bit just now is the power. Power is not being able to do something one time. Power is being able to do it anytime you want.

[16:48] Andy Hrovat: And now let’s hear from

[16:51] Ben Askren: The difference between having a great coach and having a bad coach is enormous for kids, especially when they’re growing up, not only for their wrestling abilities, but for just for life in general, having that good male influence in their life. And if we can provide a great wrestling experience better than what they’re getting, then that’s a benefit to the community, a benefit to the kids.

[17:08] Ben Askren: So we, we, we almost feel like it’s our obligation to do as much as possible. And when we talk about wrestling people working in their business, I, I would love. To coach, just go in and coach wrestling every single day. I would enjoy that much more than planning on how are we going to run this business five, 10 years into the future and how are we going to grow it?

[17:25] Ben Askren: That’s, that’s not nearly as fun to me as coaching wrestling, but I also see it as my obligation.

[17:32] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Quick interruption. If you like what you’re hearing here and you want to learn how you can implement this. Into your life, just go to Jim Herschel, jr. com slash apply to see how you can get a free one on one coaching session with me.

[17:45] Jim Harshaw Jr.: That’s Jim Herschel, jr. com slash apply. Now back to the show. Okay. Let’s hear from Olympians and how they dream big. You have to dream big. If you think you have a shot at being the best in the world or among the best in the world, you have to dream big. So let’s talk about goal setting secrets from Olympic coaches.

[18:02] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Legends. Let’s hear from Shannon Miller.

[18:06] Shannon Miller: I think goals are incredibly important. I think it’s true. If you don’t have a goal, then you don’t know where you’re headed. Now, uh, you know, saying that it’s great to have a long term goal. Um, my coach used to sit us down on the floor exercise at the beginning of every season and we had to write down, And I mean, black and white, ink on paper, we had to write down those long term goals.

[18:28] Shannon Miller: So, you know, what did we want to accomplish that year? Well, I want to make it to the state meet. Eventually I would write, you know, I want to represent the United States at the Olympic Games. And then he made us turn that over because it’s great to have a goal. But how are you going to get there? And I think that’s a lot of times where we fall short is we have this great goal, but we don’t really work every single day.

[18:51] Shannon Miller: We don’t have a specific task each day in order to get us there. So what were the things I could come into the gym every single day and work on that would further me in getting that goal? You know, those are things like conditioning. It’s not fun. It’s not glamorous, but if I did the right pushups and sit ups and all of those things, I would get stronger and I could do the bigger scale.

[19:11] Shannon Miller: So it all worked toward that goal. And I think oftentimes we can set those big goals and we can even set those baby step goals. Along the way, and I look back at my career and I think, you know, what made the difference, you know, when I face challenges at work, or if I missed the mark, I think back to my career and I think, what made the difference between me and the girl sitting next to me, because we both wrote down our goals.

[19:36] Shannon Miller: So what made the difference? And when I look at my career, I look at, um, the importance of. Going that extra step, we always talk about working hard, but if you ask most nine year olds, I mean, your daughter’s almost there, ask most nine year olds to do ten sit ups, and they’ll do ten, maybe they’ll do a few less, but how many are going to do more?

[20:00] Shannon Miller: And it’s the same with adults. How many of us get up and say, you know, we’re going to do more than what was asked today. And I think that’s often what makes a difference in succeeding toward your goal is, are you willing to take that extra step? Are you willing to do more? Even when you’re successful, then you create the next goal and you’re always willing to go a little bit above and beyond everyone else.

[20:22] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear from Jake Herbert.

[20:24] Jake Herbert: It always comes back to the quote, Dan Gable said, once you wrestled, you wrestled. And life, everything else is easy. And it really is because one, you have the mindset of, you know, you look at this guy, Gadis soft. I just talked about breaking him over my knee. Uh, he’s a monster.

[20:38] Jake Herbert: You look at him and 90 percent of the people are going to go. I wouldn’t even step on the mat with that guy. Well, I stepped on the mat with him and I beat him. You know, and if I can take down that monster, I can do anything, you know, and again, it doesn’t have to be physical. It’s just that mentality and wrestling that I can do anything I put my mind to.

[20:53] Jake Herbert: I made an Olympic team. I won two national titles. I graduated from Northwestern with a 3 3. It’s just a matter of setting my priorities. And saying, what do you want to do? And then going out and doing it. So that’s a big thing is when people say, Oh, I can’t do that in life. Oh, I can’t do it in life. You know, they weren’t a wrestler.

[21:07] Jake Herbert: They were a basketball player. They’re on a team sport. They did something else because no wrestler, once they really put their mind to it, you know, you can do anything. So it’s just that, and then learning how to learn, I probably have failed. Probably over 90 percent of the shots I’ve taken in my entire life.

[21:22] Jake Herbert: I’ve not finished, especially if you count the ones in the practice room and everything. So you take that into account and failing is learning. So there’s no way if you continue to go after something, you can’t fail. You really can’t fail. Cause failure is like defined, you know, as not reaching a goal that you set.

[21:39] Jake Herbert: Well, if I set the goal, that means I control if I fail or not. And you don’t really fail until you stop trying or you quit. So if you want to be a rockstar and you say, Oh, I want to be a rockstar. And then all of a sudden at 27, you give up on it. You fail because you quit. But if you, if you go your whole life, wanted to be a lock, so you might not reach the level of rockstar NIST that you wanted to reach, but you can spend your whole life doing that.

[21:59] Jake Herbert: And there you are at 90 years old. And you’re like, I spent my entire life doing what I love chasing my music, chasing my passion, chasing my career. And I, and I have no regrets because I put everything into it that I have.

[22:09] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear from Ruben Gonzalez.

[22:12] Ruben Gonzalez: I’m an unlikely Olympian because I’m not a great athlete.

[22:15] Ruben Gonzalez: I’m not super fast, super strong. I’m just like your neighbor. And so I didn’t believe it was possible. And I just talked about it for a couple of years. My dad got me to read biographies. He said, uh, you will study the lives of great people. You’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t work in life. And I kept seeing perseverance over and over.

[22:31] Ruben Gonzalez: And so I thought, Hey, um, you know, it sounds like these people are a bunch of hardheads and my mom always called me a hardhead. So I thought maybe I got a little bit of what it takes. And so I made a decision at 12 years old, Ruben doesn’t quit anything anymore. Cause I realized not quitting perseverance is not Guarantee, but at least you still got a shot.

[22:47] Ruben Gonzalez: You’re still in the game. But if you quit, it’s all over. By high school, my nickname was Bulldog because other kids started noticing that I was tenacious. And when I was 21, 21, I’m watching the Olympics. I see Scott Hamilton win the gold medal in figure skating. He’s about a 10 pounds soaking wet. My image of an Olympian was uh, like Arnold Schwarzenegger plus more muscles than that, right?

[23:09] Ruben Gonzalez: And huge. And that, see Scott Hamilton, he just shattered my paradigm. I thought, wow, he gave me hope. I thought, if that little guy can win, I can at least play. I’m be in the next ones no matter what. I just got to find a sport at 21. And I picked the luge because I thought I need to find a sport that fits me, right?

[23:28] Ruben Gonzalez: My superpower was perseverance. I was a bulldog. So I thought, I need a sport. It’s so tough. Sports got so many broken bones in it. There’ll be lots of quitters, only I won’t quit. That’s where it’ll stand out. And I went to Lake Placid, took up the luge, crammed 10 years of luge training into just two years.

[23:44] Ruben Gonzalez: I got hurt a lot. Broke a bunch of bones, but I just kept coming back. And then the last two years started competing internationally to try to be one of the top 50 men that would get to compete in the Olympics. And I became the first person to ever compete in four winter Olympics in four different decades.

[23:59] Ruben Gonzalez: First one’s at 88 Calgary, 92 Albertville, took a seven year break. Uh, then my coach talked me back into it, started training and I made the Salt Lake City Olympics. I was 39 then, and then, uh, took another six year break and I started training again. Made the Vancouver Olympics, I was 47, by then everybody thought I was a coach or coach’s dad or something.

[24:21] Ruben Gonzalez: And after another really long break now, it’s been over 10 years, I got the itch again. And I’ve got a new sled and it’s fast and it goes where it’s supposed to go. I didn’t even know my old sled was squirrely, I thought it was me. And I’m mentally stronger, I’m older and wiser, things that, I’m more coachable now.

[24:40] Ruben Gonzalez: When coach says something, I don’t take it as a suggestion, I take it. Action right away. And that set the, the, the improvement curve, you know, through the roof. And even though this next coming Olympics, the 2026 games in Milan, Milan, Cortina, only 25 men are going to get to go. I need to be better than ever.

[25:00] Ruben Gonzalez: And coach says, look, it’s a long shot, but you got a shot because you’re improving and they’re not. Okay. So you need enough runs where you can catch these guys. And so that’s all I needed to hear. If he says I got a shot, that’s all I need to hear. And so we’re going for it. Yeah. And trying to make number five in five decades and become the oldest winter Olympian in history.

[25:19] Ruben Gonzalez: A hundred year old record would be broken from that.

[25:22] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear some practical wisdom, some actionable advice from these Olympians. This is when I said, Hey, tell us something we can do some kind of actionable advice from this. So we’ve got some great, great things for you so you can take action on what you learned here today.

[25:36] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Here we go. Let’s hear from Bonnie St. John.

[25:39] Bonnie St. John: And so I would say if there’s something that you’re passionate about, like you want to write a book or you want to start a podcast or you want to paint a picture or something that that maybe you’re not doing in your work now, but you would like to be, find an hour a week to do it.

[25:53] Bonnie St. John: Just add it into your schedule. So it may not be the whole thing that you get to do. When I was going to write my first book, I would spend a couple of hours a week on a Saturday morning working on my book and I had a job and I had a baby and I had a lot of, of, uh, responsibilities, but, but I could do that.

[26:10] Bonnie St. John: And I would feel like I’m a writer because I’m doing a little bit and you get that feeling of inspiration. When I was a skier, I was working a waitressing tables at one point in Colorado. And I wasn’t just. Slinging hash and eggs at truckers. I was on my way to the Olympics, you know It’s so just having a little bit of your passion in your life You can feel like you’re on your way and you can get inspired by that and then it starts to build Should I say snowball to use a ski analogy?

[26:39] Bonnie St. John: Yeah So if you could just find an hour or two a week to do something you’re passionate about Don’t feel like, Oh, well, that’s stupid. That’s not going to make any difference. Let it inspire you.

[26:49] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now let’s hear from Jake Herbert.

[26:51] Jake Herbert: Keep doing what you’re doing. I love where I’m at. I love what I’m doing. My one thing I would change would be my diet.

[26:57] Jake Herbert: The next thing I would do was, would be to look at your wrestling practices. You know, back when I was 20, I just believe get in and wrestle, get in and wrestle. Well, You know, look at the positions breakdown. Why just, just working hard for the purpose of working hard, uh, isn’t always the best, but if you’re working smart and hard, now that’s better.

[27:15] Jake Herbert: So break down why you run a practice the way you are, what it’s doing. Ask yourself, what did I get better at today in practice? Did I specifically focus on something because you can’t get better at six or seven things. So you want to hyper focus every day, get really good at one thing, really good at one thing, and it takes time.

[27:32] Jake Herbert: And then over time, when you have that one thing, now it’s really good, move on to another thing, move on to another thing. And that’s when you become a master of all.

[27:38] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And now let’s hear from Shannon Miller.

[27:41] Shannon Miller: You have to have a little bit of stubbornness, and not in a negative way, but in a way that, hey, Nobody’s going to tell me I can’t do something.

[27:51] Shannon Miller: And you know what? If you tell me I can’t do something, then guess what? I am even more challenged. I see that as a challenge. I’m going to prove you wrong. I’m not going to tell you that you’re wrong about it. I’m just going to go work as hard as I can and I’m going to prove you by my actions that you’re wrong.

[28:08] Shannon Miller: I’m too small. I’m, you know, not From the right gym. I’m not whatever it is that people would say during my career, I would always think to myself, I’ll change your thinking, and I would go to the gym and work even harder. So you think you have to have a little bit of that stubborn streak that when you hear, no, that’s just the beginning of the conversation.

[28:30] Shannon Miller: I mean, this is, this helps you in sales. I mean, this helps you every day in, in your family and in your work. I mean, people tell us no all the time, and we just feel like we’re All right, that’s the beginning of a conversation. Let me share with you why it will work.

[28:45] Jim Harshaw Jr.: You heard from some absolutely incredible legends, some people who I’ve been blessed to get to talk to and some of them get to know and become friends with.

[28:54] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Now you got to take action on this. Like, what are you going to do? There should be at least one takeaway that you have from this episode. You can take action on one thing that you can do, start doing or stop doing or do differently. And if you need the action plan from this, I encourage you to go grab the action plan from this episode and all my episodes, just go to jimharshawjr. com/action. Take action today. Good luck.

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