107. My Untold Journey Through Trials with Pursuit of Gold Host Laura Wilkinson

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

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Laura Wilkinson 5/26/22 Laura Wilkinson 5/26/22

64. "Swimming Chose Me" with 12 Time Olympic Medalist Natalie Coughlin

Laura’s guest on today’s episode is record-breaker, trailblazer, and history-maker Natalie Coughlin. Natalie has won twelve Olympic medals and twenty World Championship medals; she was the first US woman to win six medals at a single Olympic Games and the first woman to win back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the same event and consecutive Olympics. And as if that wasn’t enough, Natalie was also the first woman ever to swim the hundred-meter backstroke in less than a minute. Her achievements also include winning eleven out of a possible twelve individual NCAA titles, being NCAA Swimmer of the Year three years in a row, and winning a total of sixteen medals in major international competitions (twenty-five gold, twenty-two silver, and thirteen bronze) spanning the Olympics, the World Championships, the Pan-Pacific Championships, and the Pan-American Games. As impressive as her achievements are, Natalie’s also just a really cool, down-to-earth person who’s so much fun to talk to. During the episode, we jump into how her story began, her fierce competitiveness, and an injury that changed her whole perspective on swimming.

First up, Natalie shares how she got into swimming at a young age and how her natural competitiveness drove her to break onto the swimming scene at just thirteen. She then relates how she suffered a torn labrum in the run-up to qualifying for the 2000 Olympics team, the effect that had on her mindset and perspective, and her choice to avoid surgery and recover through physical rehab. Next, Natalie discusses how she chose which college to attend (eventually ending up at Cal, Berkeley) and the choices she made in her career post-injury, including ditching the two-hundred-meter backstroke and transitioning to sprint events. She talks about qualifying for the 2004 Olympics and the relief when she did, followed by the experience of winning her first gold medal and the positive impact that had on her confidence and ability to stay calm while competing. She also discusses how becoming a gold medalist led to more media attention and street recognition, how the Michael Phelps phenomenon helped shield her from the worst of that, and how she managed to achieve a happy medium of attention for her record-breaking success. Natalie then shares how it felt when other swimmers started nipping at her heels, firing up her competitiveness, and the mindset she gets into when preparing to compete. She then discusses how she prepared for the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, keeping her cool when the media were pushing retirement, and circling back to that early injury and how it helped her keep swimming in perspective. Laura then asks Natalie to share her most memorable and toughest moments in her career, including winning the hundred-back in Beijing and feeling isolated during the 2012 Games. And finally, Natalie shares what she’s been up to since retiring from competition, including writing her cookbook Cook to Thrive and starting the women-owned winery Gaderian Wines in Napa Valley.

Episode Highlights:

How Natalie got started in swimming
Natalie’s competitive spirit
Breaking onto the swimming scene at age thirteen
Dealing with injury while trying to make the 2000 Olympic team
Choosing between colleges
Ditching the 200 backstroke
Qualifying for the 2004 Olympic team
The impact of winning gold at the Olympics
Dealing with media attention
Winning medals and breaking records
The mentality of competition
The road to Beijing 2008 and London 2012
The most memorable vs. the toughest moment of Natalie’s swimming career
What Natalie’s up to now
Natalie’s cookbook, Cook to Thrive

Quotes:

“Like the Water Babies type thing, you know, that every parent really needs to do for the safety of their children. It’s very, very important, whether you want them to be a swimmer or not, you have to get your kids in the water early.”

“When we did soccer at school, like during PE or during recess and lunch, all the kids in my class, they were in soccer, and they were just, they were so much better than me. So I remember going home and practicing with a soccer ball against the wall in the backyard, just so I could get better. And no one was coaching me, I was doing this by myself.”

“I will never forget, like, walking out onto the pool deck in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and they’re like, ‘And in lane one, Natalie Coughlin. Thirteen-year-old Natalie Coughlin.’ And then I choked because it was the first time I was on, like, the major stage.”

“A doctor, you know, finally told me, ‘Hey, you tore your labrum.’ So I had to deal with that, you know, most of ’99 and the lead up until 2000. And so my training really suffered. Emotionally, I really suffered. It was a really, really tough thing. And so I got to the 2000 Olympic trials, and by that time, I was just a shell of like, what I was before.”

“Honestly, the 200 back is one of the most painful events. And by that stage in my career, I was transitioning much more into sprint. And so that was just kind of the proof that I needed of like, ‘Hey, see? I don’t need to do this dumb event.’”

“Olympic gold, kind of, you just enter this other stratosphere of athletics where you will forever be an Olympic gold medalist - no one could ever take that away.”

“Because I had the confidence to do so, I would go pretty easy that first hundred, I would build the fifth twenty-five, and then that last seventy-five meters, I would just hammer it home and just mow people down. It was so fun to swim that way.”

“I remember being in the middle of Manhattan and people stopping me on the streets and, like, being on a train in the middle of nowhere, and people stopping me and being recognized. And, you know, part of that was really cool. But also, you know, I turned twenty-two at that Olympic Games. So it was, it was a lot, you know, like, it was great, but it also was super-overwhelming at the same time.”

“I didn’t want all that pressure on me. It’s that catch-22. You know, if you want all that attention, you have to take all that pressure, and I felt like I had kind of the happy medium of it.”

“And then, all of a sudden, I started crying. And then I started crying because I was crying. I was just like this sobbing, like, snotty mess.”

“2012, I failed to make the Olympic team in the 100 back. And people were like, ‘Oh my God,’ you know, waiting for me to freak out or something. And like, 'It’s just swimming, guys. I already have two gold medals. Like it’s, I’m fine.'”

“One, it’s so misogynistic, and two, none of their business. Like, it is so inappropriate for people to tell women that they need to retire and have babies. Some women don’t want it. Some people have a hard time getting pregnant. There’s like, so many reasons to not.”

“What I’m most proud of is just, kind of, my consistency throughout the years. The ability to, you know, be in medal contention for twelve different events over three Olympic Games. Like that’s something that no one’s done. You know, even you know, Dara and Jenny. They didn’t do it in three Olympics. I’m really proud of that.”

“I knew definitively after the ’16 trials that I was done. Like, I love swimming, and I love training so much, but honestly, I don’t feel the need to compete ever again. Like, that was kind of my mentality. And so, you know, I ended on my own terms, and I was really, really happy about it.”

“I’ve always made sure when my teammates have had disappointing races or whatever, to not hide from them, and not hide from the conversation, just to be there for them. Like, it was a learning experience for me too.”

“I think it’s really telling of us as maybe a culture sometimes. Like, we expect people to have a hissy fit or just have this giant pity party.”

“I eat very healthy, but I don’t deprive myself. So like, I allow myself to have butter, and I eat chicken with the skin on it. And like, I believe in Whole Foods, and I believe in balance.”

“People really wanted to peg me into, like, just clean, just healthy. This, like, boring Spartan, like, oh, this is what athletes eat. And that’s not how I’ve ever eaten. And if I ate that way, I would go crazy. I need to have a glass of wine, I need to have my chocolate and butter and like all those things.”

Links:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

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Natalie’s Links:

Natalie’s Instagram

Gaderian Wines Instagram

Gaderian Wines

Cook to Thrive

Laura Wilkinson 5/12/22 Laura Wilkinson 5/12/22

63. Talking Injuries, Underdogs and Epic Advice with Olympic Gold Medalist Laura Wilkinson

We’re changing things up this week with a slightly different episode from usual, in which our host, Laura Wilkinson, answers some questions gathered from our Instagram followers. The questions cover topics including starting sports at an older age, dealing with injuries and mental blocks, epic advice that Laura’s received, being an underdog versus a favorite, and having purpose.

Episode Highlights:

How Laura got into diving at an older age
Is it ever too late to start diving and compete?
The best advice Laura’s ever received
Being the underdog vs. the favorite
Moving forward from a loss
Laura’s favorite and least favorite dives
How Laura feels watching her kids play sports
Using injury time as an opportunity
Dealing with mental blocks
Setting goals and having purpose

Quotes:

“I wanted to continue learning and pushing boundaries and trying things, and I just kind of realized it was time to move on. But that dream of the Olympics was still in the back of my mind. I just recognized at that point I needed to find a new sport.”

“I’m not sure if it was ever that I recognized my own potential. I just wanted this thing so badly that I was going to pursue it. Whether it was switching sports or, you know, I was just going to pursue it no matter what. I was going to find a sport that I could go to the Olympics, and I was going to find a way to the Olympic Games.”

“If you are interested in diving and competing at any age, give it a whirl. I think, at the very least, you’re going to try something new, you’re going to learn something, and you’re gonna have a blast.”

“Soak it in. You’re at the Olympics, you’re in your dream, you’re getting to do all these things, just live it up. But when it’s your time to dive, when it’s your time to compete, that’s when you just let all that go. And at that point, you’re just at another diving meet against competitors you’ve competed against so many times, doing dives you’ve done a thousand times, you know exactly what you’re doing.”

“When I was kicked off my high school diving team for being a waste of space, yes, obviously, it still gets under my skin today, but I am so glad I was told that because it lit a fire. And sometimes, we need that kind of fire lit under us.”

“We want adversity, we want obstacles because that’s when we rise to the occasion. So I don’t think being labeled an underdog is a bad thing. I think fighting for something, it gives you that fuel—it’s just such a perfect description—that fuel to push forward and to overcome. Because you want this thing, and you’re fighting for it.”

“It’s okay to be sad, it’s okay to be angry, it’s okay to just lose it, and just kind of want to cry or vent or whatever, like, make sure you are allowing yourself to experience that emotion. If you are stuffing it in and trying to avoid the emotion of what happened, it will come out later in a much uglier way.”

“Don’t sit in the grief for, like, forever, you know, but give yourself a few days, a few weeks, whatever the timeline is, a little bit of time to process it. Then begin to create a new game plan and analyze and work on what happened and what is going to come next.”

“My other kids are still kind of figuring out what it is that they’re going to do. One has said she is not an athlete, she is an artist, and I respect that, although she will run sprints with me, and so that’s really cool, maybe one day she’ll go for track. But you know, I love, I love, absolutely love watching them find the thing that lights them up the way that I feel like diving lights me up.”

“Don’t be afraid to get more than one opinion on what your injury is. You know, one doctor doesn’t always have the answers or may not pick up everything, like, it’s okay to get two or three opinions on things to make sure you’re making the right choice.”

“When you have injuries, this is the number one thing I will tell people to do: take care of your injury and then train mentally. Everybody says sports is 90% mental, but no one trains that way. Not one. I can pretty much guarantee you that.”

“When you close your eyes as you start implementing all of your senses, you’re not just seeing it with your eyes, you can actually feel what you’re doing. You’re actually firing muscles, like, from the neurons in your brain, you’re starting to react with the right muscles that are going to be doing all of these skills. You’ll be blown away by what you can do if you do this consistently in that time.”

“A lot of times, the issue is not starting in the pool or in the gym. Sometimes, the issue is starting at home or in your personal life. We have this way of carrying stress and anxiety, and it begins to burden us so badly that it comes out in our sport, looking like mental blocks and things like that, or this ultimate fear that is overwhelming. And it’s actually not coming from your sport.”

“A lot of times, our sport, even if you’re a sprinter, the whole process is a marathon, not a sprint. So have that long-term vision and hang on to that.”

“I’m very, very goal-oriented. And so, even when I’ve done really awesome things, I’ve always wanted more. I’ve always strived for more, like, my whole goal wasn’t… I mean, I wanted to win the Olympics, but I also wanted to find out what I was capable of, how good can I be, how hard of dives can I do and do them really, really well, for like nines and tens.”

“I love training as much as I love competing. Competing is exciting and it’s fun. But the hunt to get there is almost better. Like sometimes, when you get to the meet, you’re like, man, I kind of wish it wasn’t here because I love that process. And that hunt. And that work. There’s just something so fulfilling about that to me.”

“My purpose doesn’t just lie in having goals. And it’s not just in what I’m doing. I know that I have worth and value because God created me, and he told me that. And, you know, for me, diving has always been a beautiful way to feel really connected with God. Because that is a gift I know he gave me, and when I do it with everything that I am, it feels like worship. And it feels beautiful and completely fulfilling to me.”

“I’m still learning how to not just juggle all these things, but how to, you know, shift my priorities to where diving isn’t my number one priority, my family is, and then diving will come after that. And learning that I don’t have to be so intense all the time, but I can actually just fully embrace it and enjoy every step of the way.”

Links:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

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Laura’s Social Media:

Pursuit of Gold Podcast is brought to you by Kaatsu Global.

Laura Wilkinson 3/31/22 Laura Wilkinson 3/31/22

59. Finding a New Path Forward with Master Yoga Instructor Cristi Christensen

Today, Laura catches up with her dear friend, fellow competitive platform diver, and bridesmaid in her wedding, Cristi Christensen. Originally an elite-level gymnast, Cristi went on to train with the US Olympic diving team as a young adult. After an injury cut her Olympic dreams short, Cristi shifted her focus to helping others improve their level of fitness through personal training, Pilates, Core Fusion, and yoga. In addition to a degree in Kinesiology, Cristi has studied extensively for over 10 years with world-renowned teachers including Saul David Raye, Shiva Rea, Seane Corn, Elisabeth Halfpapp, and Fred DeVito.

Cristi begins by sharing what inspired her to get into gymnastics, her journey to becoming an elite gymnast, her transition to diving, and the injuries that ultimately ended her Olympic dreams. She goes on to describe what drove her to yoga, how it changed her, and why she eventually began teaching it. Cristi also details her experience as a global traveling yoga teacher, how the pandemic caused her to pivot yet again, and the outcome of her most recent pivot. The episode draws to a close with an overview of Cristi's work to expand the definition of wellness and well-being, and how her style of yoga brings her back to how she grew up. Cristi’s story of responding to injuries with her determination to bounce back, keep learning and moving forward will captivate and inspire all who listen into this fascinating conversation today.

Episode Highlights:

Cristi’s transition from being an elite gymnast to an elite diver
Diving injuries ended her dream of the Olympics, just as they’d ended her gymnastics career
How Cristi’s pain and anxiety drove her to yoga
How yoga changed her
Cristi begins to teach fitness classes, but she refused to teach yoga
What changed her mind?
How flying by the seat of her pants helped launch her career as a global traveling yoga teacher
How the pandemic forced Cristi to pivot yet again
The outcome of Cristi’s most recent pivot
Cristi’s work to expand the definition of wellness and well-being
How Cristi’s style of yoga, which incorporates dance and music, brings her back to how she grew up

Quotes:

“My mom was like ‘No more. No more. I know it’s your dream but we’re not risking you being paralyzed.’ And there was no pushing… that was the end of my gymnastics career.”

“That’s just so quick though, too. I mean, you go for a summer, doing a sport you’ve never done, and you just decide to move for your last two years of high school. Like, that’s pretty intense. But it sounds like that’s kind of the way you roll.”

“I did shatter my left hand into a million pieces. Basically, I had three metal plates and 22 screws to put it back together.”

“And that’s where joy, like a joy of movement, started coming back. My body was healing, I was connecting to my breath.”

“But now I had a new lens on it, because the practice I was doing was healing me and I wanted to be able to share that with others… I taught tons of different fitness classes and was still doing yoga as my personal practice… yoga really opened me up in a way that I didn’t even know I was closed.”

“Every time you show up and do it, those voices will get smaller.”

“I had some really bizarre instances that just made it so, so clear that the way I was living and the way I was working were no longer in alignment.”

“I got to a point where the fear of if I failed was much smaller than the fear of actually staying and staying small and staying trapped in something.”

“Over the years it evolved… how could something that was so right, now be something that’s actually a detriment to the evolution of my career or the evolution of where in my soul I believe I wanted to go?”

“I just thought I was going to be hanging out in LA for six months, like figuring it out… but as the opportunities came, I was like, ‘Well, I just have to say yes’.”

“I didn’t realize I had all my eggs in one basket; I thought I was diversified.”

“Everything I teach is based off of ‘how can we use this as a map for our own empowerment, our own awakening, so that we can live a life that is full of color and rich in love and passion and freedom, but really be grounded in this very human experience and be able to deal with everything that life brings?’”

“The whole idea was to share women’s stories… I want more women’s voices to be heard. I want more kids growing up to have more access to role models from different backgrounds.”

“I’m not teaching a routine. It’s not like ‘5, 6, 7, 8’. It’s actually getting you to a place that you feel free enough to express and to move and to breathe, and just enjoy the aliveness and the power pulsing through your body - letting it move, letting the emotions move, letting everything just flow. And it’s super powerful and super fun!”

Links:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

Pursuit of Gold Podcast is brought to you by Kaatsu Global.

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Cristi’s Links:

Laura Wilkinson 3/24/22 Laura Wilkinson 3/24/22

58. Define Your Role in the World with DEFINE Founder & CEO Hank Richardson

On today’s episode, Laura’s guest is her dear friend and forever teammate, Hank Richardson. Hank earned a full scholarship for diving to the University of Florida, where he went on to become a ten-time All-American, a US national champion, and a national team member for USA diving. Hank retired from diving when he graduated from college, but some of his old injuries continued to plague him long after he left the pool, the pain becoming so severe that it started to impact his ability to enjoy work. At the urging of a friend, Hank tried a Pilates/yoga/ballet hybrid class and found himself at the beginning of something special: not only did he start managing his pain and experiencing relief, but it led to him teaching classes, opening new studios, and going back to school to get a Master’s in business. His senior project in his MBA program became the foundation on which his health and well-being studio, DEFINE, was created. DEFINE has now expanded throughout Houston, the US, and across the globe, but pain management and physical fitness are only part of Hank’s passion. He is also a well-being and positive psychology expert, and today, he and Laura discuss positive ways to reframe your thinking and how positive psychology can help and impact athletes on their journey to greatness.

First, Hank gives us the lowdown on his remarkable journey, from learning to dive at Camp Longhorn to becoming a champion diver, and giving up diving because of a back injury, before sharing how he transitioned from teaching to fitness instruction to business school. Then he tells the story of surviving month-to-month when launching DEFINE and how he expanded the business into a global franchise, including how he survived COVID by pivoting into online services. Next, Hank talks about his decision to go back to school to get his Master’s degree in applied positive psychology and how it has influenced his worldview and business, with DEFINE shifting into a well-being hub with a mission to enrich its members’ lives. He also has some advice on how to incorporate positive psychology into your everyday life and how it can help athletes develop resiliency and focus on strengths rather than weaknesses, as well as how meditation and mindfulness can work in partnership to improve self-awareness and enable positivity. Laura then asks Hank about his partnership with Education Based Housing, a nonprofit working with cost-burdened households to provide access to quality housing, and Hank discusses his passion for creating circles of well-being within communities and how DEFINE will offer well-being services through this partnership. And finally, Hank offers his thoughts on what has made DEFINE so successful, pointing to its mission to offer a service that truly helps its communities, and gives some advice to current athletes and coaches, emphasizing the importance of focusing on personal strengths and creatively applying them in challenging situations.

Hank’s story of determination, resiliency, and willingness to keep learning and developing will captivate and inspire athletes and non-athletes alike to focus on their strengths, keep a positive outlook, and never give up on their dreams.

Episode Highlights:

How Hank got into diving with lessons at Camp Longhorn
Transitioning from school athlete to college athlete
Hank’s back injury and how diving both caused it and kept it in check
Moving on from diving to teaching sixth graders in the South Bronx
How Hank followed his passion for movement and interest in health into teaching yoga and Pilates
Going back to business school and figuring out his dream of opening his own studio
Launching DEFINE and expanding into a franchise
Dealing with the impact of COVID by pivoting to online
Hank’s Master’s in applied positive psychology and how it transformed DEFINE into a well-being hub
Hank’s advice on incorporating positive psychology in your life
What Hank would change if he could go back in time with the knowledge he has now
The importance of resiliency when a setback occurs
Hank’s opinion on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation
DEFINE’s partnership with Education Based Housing, a nonprofit working with cost-burdened households to provide access to quality housing
What Hank believes has made DEFINE successful
Hank’s advice for current athletes and coaches

Quotes:

“Diving, it truly was a way of utilizing movement as a self-expression. And you know, the many lessons that all of us learned in diving, the overcoming fears, the setting goals and accomplishing them, the concept of resiliency, even during injuries, etc. It’s such a powerful, powerful sport.”

“Being a student athlete, you are literally performing a job in some ways. You are studying for school, you’re going to school, you’re training first thing in the morning, you’re training in the evening, you’re eating, I mean, it’s very regimented. Right. And I know for a fact, it made me a much stronger, better person. But I remember that first year being like, oh my gosh, I don’t know if I can continue doing this.”

“The good thing about the mindset that, really, work being physically hard created is that when we got to the end of the year, I actually really knew I deserved it. I was like, I’ve worked so hard, I deserve to do well at this NCAA championship. And so that worked, but at the same time, by the end of the year, I was a little burnt out physically, mentally, emotionally.”

“It’s called spondylolisthesis. And you know, it’s manageable. A lot of people have to have fusions done. But that’s really how I started getting into the next phase of my life, which was really getting into yoga and Pilates to help to prevent to have to have the fusion.”

“When I started thinking about the classes and the things that I really, really loved, it was centered around psychology, it was centered around education, it was around mindset. And so I applied for this program called Teach for America. And they placed me to teach sixth-graders in the South Bronx, and it was truly a life-transforming experience.”

“I give all the respect in the world to schoolteachers. Any school has its challenges, any grade level has its challenges. And so working with the various teachers that were in our public school setting just gave me the most utmost respect for what school teachers do on a daily basis.”

“I never really thought of myself as being, like, a fitness instructor as my goal in all of this, but I loved working with clients, I loved working with people. And that has been kind of the consistent theme for me throughout. And when you believe in a product or a service so much because of its own transformative benefits that you’ve received, it’s impossible to not want to share that, truly.”

“My professor, within that same timeframe, said something that changed my life. He said, ‘You know what? Don’t take a job just because it’s available.’ He said, ‘Do something that will define your role in this world.’ And I, literally, the light bulb went off, the chills in my body. And I’ll be honest, because it’s a process of overcoming fear in many ways, just like diving, that I was like, I don’t know if I’m going to open up a studio, but if I do, I know I’m going to name it ‘Define.’”

“There are also a lot of negatives, challenges, that can also happen because of the franchise model. And a lot of it is because the mindset of a franchisee is that they own a business, whereas really, they’re just licensing the name and the services of the business.”

“Once COVID hit, it was a survival mindset and a little bit of a free-for-all. And truly, people felt like they had to do whatever they needed to do to make sure that they survived, and we really responded quickly by pivoting. Within just a few days, our entire business shifted online, we started Zoom classes, we had an on-demand platform.”

“The concept is that if we’re just focusing on our weaknesses, well, that’s how we’re going to feel when we’re living our lives. Versus if we can put our energy and focus on our strengths, then it’s going to have that ability for us to find more of a state of flow, more of a state of ease and also be able to be more proficient.”

“It’s not simply about just being focused on the good, right? It’s also coming up with a plan for when things don’t go the way you expected, how to kind of overcome that.”

“What I ultimately realized is that what meditation is doing is it’s training us simply to become more aware. More aware of our internal dialogue, more aware of the stories we tell about other people or ourselves, more aware of truly how we feel being around certain people, or how we feel about, you know, certain activities that we do.”

“I love the analogy for meditation where it’s like, you know, you can go a couple of days without showering and not a lot of people notice, but after a while, you know, people are gonna notice, right? And I feel the same way about my meditation. Like, I can go a couple days, and it’s not a big deal. But if I go for more than three, four, or five days, my attitude’s a little stinky.”

“One of my huge passions is about supporting and providing and helping to create circles of, you know, well-being if you will, and support. I feel like the studio business, it caters to a very specific demographic, and that demographic is people who can afford to come and take those types of services. And there’s so much that could be done and said in our world that could help various people.”

“Walking into the store of DEFINE, it needs to be an experience, and that experience should be, you know, welcoming, it should be truly nurturing in many ways, but at the same time pushing you and challenging you enough to get something out of it. So I think people come to us for that reason.”

“It’s important that we focus on strengths. And as a mentor or as an athlete, it’s important for us to help discover that strength, whether it’s a parent role, or a mentor role, or a coaching role, helping to really look at the strength of the individual.”

“Instead of using some of their weaknesses, which is very common in a challenging situation, we can now train ourselves to look at our strengths and use creative ways of applying that to our lives.”

Links:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

Laura’s Social Media:

Hank’s Links:

Laura Wilkinson 3/10/22 Laura Wilkinson 3/10/22

56. Becoming Turbulence Tough with Record-Breaking Pilot Ryan Campbell

When he was just nineteen, Ryan Campbell flew 24,000 nautical miles on thirty-five stops in fifteen countries in just seventy days and was recognized as the first teenager in history to fly around the world solo by the Guinness Book of World Records. His critically-acclaimed book Born to Fly, which detailed this amazing journey, was nationally celebrated, and Ryan was on top of the world… until tragedy struck. At twenty-one, Ryan barely survived a devastating, life-changing plane crash, suffering broken bones from head to toe that left him in hospital for five months, followed by eighteen months of rehabilitation. Yet, refusing to accept his doctors’ diagnosis of paraplegia, Ryan fought back, using his desire to fly again as fuel for his painful yet triumphant recovery. In this episode, Ryan shares his journey from record-setting victory to backbreaking defeat and how he developed the mindset and toolbox necessary to ride out life’s toughest bumps.

Ryan starts the conversation by sharing how he fell in love with flying and set about making it his career before hitting upon the idea to break a world record. He lets us in on the process of fundraising a quarter of a million dollars at just nineteen while gaining flight experience and gives us insight into the remarkable, record-breaking flight itself, including the incredible sights and how he kept his head under pressure. Ryan then provides an emotional account of the plane crash that nearly killed him and left him diagnosed as paraplegic, stuck in hospital with a long journey of recovery in front of him. He tells us how he drew inspiration and learned perspective from a fellow patient and developed the mindset toolbox, the idea that we all have a mental toolbox we can fill with tools to help us navigate change, challenge, crisis, and adversity. He also explains how his own toolbox helped him not only become tough and lean into his recovery but also to accept and adjust to long-term disability without letting it hold him back. In fact, he was even able to get back in the cockpit and fly again, keeping that intrinsic part of himself that he almost lost. Finally, Ryan tells us about his plans to get married, his move into motivational speaking, and why a pink Cadillac has become an important symbol for his attitude toward life.

Ryan’s resilience, determination, and fighting spirit are sure to inspire as he shares his emotional and uplifting journey from glory to tragedy and back to happiness.

Episode Highlights:

How Ryan fell in love with flying and set about becoming a pilot at fourteen
Ryan’s first solo flight at fifteen
Planning a record-breaking flight
Fundraising $250,000 while building flight experience
Flying over water for the first time by pointing the airplane at the Pacific Ocean
Pushing the limits of man and machine
How Ryan and his crew keep their heads together during the flight by doing things one step at a time
How it felt to land having broken the world record
Working out what to do next
The plane crash that nearly cost Ryan everything
Tackling adversity, starting recovery, and learning perspective
Developing the mindset toolbar
Adjusting to disability
Getting back in the cockpit
What Ryan’s up to now
The Pink Cadillac

Quotes:

“So we’re actually invited to go up and visit a cockpit as three young boys, and I tell you what, that’s pretty incredible. Eyes wide, amazed at the buttons and switches, super-stoked to meet the pilots, I thought they were the coolest people that ever walked the Earth. And that was it, that was the day that six-year-old Ryan discovered his passion, and that would be all things aviation.”

“Fifteen years old, this kid’s flying an airplane on his own, and I was jealous. Like, I was envious, I couldn’t believe this was legal. It just blew my mind.”

“The day that I turned fifteen, I went to the airport, I practiced some takeoffs and landings with my flying instructor. And then he told me to take him back to the hangar, not to shut the airplane down. He got out of that airplane, did up his seatbelts, he took his headset. He said, ‘Don’t forget to lock the door, go and have fun.’”

“I saw something I wanted, I started to kind of research how to do it, I put a plan in place, I worked really, really hard, I gave up on a bunch of stuff to be able to make it happen and ultimately found success in that. And that was a pretty powerful lesson to have when you’re fifteen.”

“I went to Google, and I googled ‘how to fly solo around the world,’ right? Legitimate Google search.”

“At that point, it wasn’t about precision. It was just about progress, doing something.”

“I often tell people, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to rent a car at an airport under the age of twenty-five, it’s very, very hard. Under the age of twenty-one, it’s borderline impossible, right? But trying to rent a million-dollar, single-engine airplane at seventeen, eighteen, nineteen to fly it around the world was an incredibly tough sell.”

“At the end of the day, we had to take 24,000 miles and split it up into not just legs but little tasks. So this wasn’t a 24,000-mile flight around the world. This was thirty-five A-to-B flights that happened to connect the dots around the globe, but then every single flight was broken down into jobs.”

“What really mattered was the impact we had on some many different people.”

“The reality was that my entire life had changed. The very thing that had given me my identity and made me who I was, at that point in time, was now the very thing that had taken it all away.”

“I’d been to the top. And even though I couldn’t see it then, I look at this as my biggest gift: I had now been to the bottom. And the opportunity to compare those two, to ask ourselves a couple of really important questions, where do we truly learn what makes us the very best version of ourselves? They are the powerful questions that I had now the real-life experiences to pull apart and find myself.”

“Adversity is a byproduct of breathing, and turbulence is a part of life. And it comes down, at the end of the day, to how tough and resilient you are and how willing you are to tackle the mountain that’s ahead and get up every single time you’re knocked down. And it comes back to understanding that resilience is a learned and refined skill.”

“Every day in hospital, I could go to the gym, and I could move a muscle, and I could build strength, and I could see progress. That progress is what gave purpose to the pain. Right? That’s what made me get up the next day, get back in the wheelchair, go back to that rehabilitation gym.”

“Every single one of us is born with a toolbox. It’s really big, it has drawers and wheels, we take it with us wherever we go in life. Now, the aim of the game is to fill that toolbox with tools, tools that we can use to navigate change, challenge, crisis, and adversity, right? To make us turbulence tough.”

“I’m now walking independently and shuffling around, kind of, you know, getting where I want on my own two feet. The way that we arrived at that point was by kind of making a pact and understanding that no one was going to give me, you know, a great outcome. I had to work for it.”

“You have to kind of come to terms with aviation from a different set of eyes. That it is safe. It is incredible. It is part of who I am. And you know, to be back up there is what ultimately was the end goal, and we made it happen.”

“We like to say go and do something that, you know, may not be logical, you know, may not be financially sensible, but it makes you smile like a kid. Once you do that, you start to show up better in all areas of your life.”

Links:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

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Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

Ryan’s Social Media:

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Ryan’s LinkedIn

Ryan’s website

Laura Wilkinson 9/15/21 Laura Wilkinson 9/15/21

53. Anything is Possible with Olympic bronze medalist Krysta Palmer

Today’s guest made history in Tokyo this summer, becoming the first woman to medal in springboard diving at the Olympics since Kelly McCormick won Bronze 33 years ago in Seoul, Korea in 1988. Krysta Palmer made her first Olympic team this summer at the age of 29. Watching her smile and giggle at the podium with her Bronze Medal proudly hanging around her neck warmed hearts all over the country. Krysta’s positivity is infectious and her perseverance throughout her journey to get to the Olympic podium is absolutely inspiring. Today she opens up about the injuries that took her out of contention in the sport of trampoline, what it was like to start a brand new sport at the age of 20, and she walks us through her extraordinary adventure in Tokyo, from a close call in the preliminary round to the very moment she realized she had medaled. Krysta offers mindset tips all along the journey, and she shares with us her favorite way to process both the good and the bad so that she can keep coming back stronger.

Krysta begins with her unique journey in sports, and reflects on coming back stronger from her recurring injuries, as well as how she ultimately found diving at the age of 20. She talks about transitioning her skills from trampoline to diving, working with her coach, Jianli You, to change certain habits, and entering the 2016 Olympic Team Trials following her graduation from the University of Nevada. Krysta tells Laura about a training trip to China that served as a turning point in her path to becoming an Olympian, as well as how her own experience as a coach has helped her as an athlete, and what she learned from competing in the 2017 and 2019 World Championships (her first international meet). She explains how her mindset to learn and grow from setbacks has helped her through the pandemic, and shares the moving story of receiving her Olympic ring from Laura. You’ll hear about Krysta’s memorable experience at the Tokyo Olympics, how her faith keeps her grounded, and the surreal and exciting moment she realized she had medaled in Tokyo.

Krysta’s honesty and perseverance throughout today’s conversation are sure to motivate and inspire as she shares her incredible journey, and everything she has overcome to be able to do what she loves to do.

Episode Highlights:

· Krysta’s journey in sports, beginning with gymnastics and trampoline at a young age

· Coming back stronger from her heartbreaking injuries and finding diving at the age of 20

· Transitioning her skills from trampoline to diving, changing certain habits, learning new dives on the fast track

· Entering the 2016 Olympic Team Trials following her graduation from the University of Nevada

· Her training trip to China in 2016, and how it brought her closer to becoming an Olympian

· The difference between platform and springboard diving, and Krysta’s transition from platform to springboard

· Supporting her athletic training after college through coaching, and how this has helped her become a better athlete

· Her experience at the World Championships in 2017 and 2019

· Learning and growing the most from disappointments or poor competitions

· How this mentality helped her make the most of trials and tribulations brought on by the pandemic

· Training through injuries and her family’s support throughout her career

· Krysta’s very special memory of receiving her Olympic ring from Laura

· Her unique experience at the Tokyo Olympics

· The importance of Krysta’s faith

· The surreal and exciting experience of realizing she had medaled in Tokyo

· How Krysta continues to process her accomplishment and what the next season of her life looks like

· Continuing her education and studying toward an MBA

Quotes:

“At the age of five, when I was young, I really really had this lifelong dream of being an Olympian one day.”

“You're always having to use your visual awareness to spot where you are. And make changes based on where you are. So I learned that through trampoline, and that actually really progressed well into my diving career.”

“I've had two big struggles in learning how to make a proper entry. And also learning how to get the rhythm and the timing with the springboard, because also trampoline is very quick - quick twitch muscle work.”

“I competed platform in the 2016 Olympic Trials because we weren't quite there yet with springboard. And my coach had always said, Give it time. Because springboard diving...you need time to develop the skill of it.”

“I came into the team mid-semester, so in January. And I had to learn all my springboard dives for 1-meter/3-meter before Conference in February.”

“I think the biggest thing was just trusting my coach [Jianli You], because I knew that she has the knowledge and the skill to teach me, whatever it is. I'm learning and I have the talent to try it. And it only takes me trying it to learn something new.”

“That was the trip that made me stronger as a diver and as a person.”

“I really gained a whole other level of respect for my coach at that time, because I really saw how respected she is amongst all the Chinese coaches and athletes.”

“For me, it really made me appreciate my sport and my country and our freedom to choose to be able to do sports.”

“I think that was the biggest takeaway for me from the trials is just feeling like I fit in. But I know that there's still more in me and I still need to learn more in order to get to that point.”

“We really did take a step back from platform at that time. Then springboard started to pick up, and I was competing in it at all the Nationals and getting better and better.”

“The springboard is very similar to trampoline, and I can do a lot of the same skills that I would typically do on a trampoline as well.”

“I was coaching our club team. And that's really the majority of where I got money in order to survive and make a living. And so I was starting to see things from a coaching perspective, which actually helped me as an athlete as well.”

“That's been a big learning lesson as I transition from a college athlete to now a professional athlete, is just to really pay attention to everything that surrounds me as an athlete, and what's going to help me achieve my dream.”

“My first ever international competition was the World Championships in 2017.”

“Coming back from that competition, I really had done a lot of processing and journaling, writing things down of what went wrong. What I learned was my mentality going into this event - I really learned that I had put a lot of pressure on myself. And nobody else did that. I was the one that did it to myself.”

“I really needed to learn from that. And not necessarily get dragged down by the failure of it. But stepping into, kind of, that failure and learning from it, and then growing from it, and taking the next step into the next chapter, and facing what happened… These competitions were actually the ones that I've learned and grown the most from.”

“I think my mentality through all my injuries really helped me through the pandemic, because it was really, Be stronger than you were before the injury. And coming into the pandemic, I could see it two different ways - I could see it as a disappointment and as a setback. Or I could see it as an opportunity and an area to grow, and another year of training, which is really beneficial for me because I’m still a new diver.”

“I really chose to look at it that way and took that mentality from the injury standpoint and said, Hey, I'm going to be stronger than I was before the pandemic.”

“For me, it's a performance. I love getting out there and just showing off what I love to do.”

“That was just a beautiful, beautiful moment for me to receive [my Olympic ring] from you. And you're telling the story - I'm still getting chills because it's special for me.”

“For me, what keeps me grounded is reading the Bible and getting my time with God.”

“At that point, [Coach Jianli You] knew that I had medaled. And so I gave her this big hug. And she just held me tight. And she just said, We did it. We did it. And so that's just - that was a beautiful moment.”

“I don't think this is my peak performance as a diver... I know that there's so much more that I still have left in me.”

Show Links

Cheer for Krysta Facebook Page

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Instagram

Twitter @PalmerKrysta

Laura Wilkinson 9/8/21 Laura Wilkinson 9/8/21

52. Unwavering Belief with 2-Time Super Bowl Champ Tory James

With the start of the new football season upon us, the timing is perfect for 2-time Super Bowl champ, Tory James, to join Laura on the podcast. During his 11 season career in the NFL, Tory enjoyed great success with a few different teams, especially the Denver Broncos, and even earned a spot in the 2004 Pro Bowl. Tory’s resilience throughout this extensive career is very much a function of the influence his family had upon him, and, especially, the unwavering belief that he had in himself, and he discusses these factors and so much more here today.

He begins by sharing his early involvement in sports, his shift into football, his mom’s perspective on it, and both those who doubted and believed in his potential. He then goes on to summarize his playing career from high school to college to the NFL, the pivotal injury he suffered and his recovery from it, his ability to use fear to help him, and the source of his impressive longevity in the NFL. He finishes up by sharing the hardest and greatest moments in his career and what he does these days in retirement. Throughout this fascinating conversation, Tory highlights the role that family, gratitude, love of the game, and his unwavering belief played in his success, and his story as told here today will undoubtedly move and inspire all who listen.

Episode Highlights:

· How Tory became involved in sports and football in particular

· Listening to the one coach who believed in him

· His feeling of unwavering belief

· His Mom’s perspective on his playing football

· Tory’s impact on those who doubted him

· His transition for high school to college football

· Getting to the NFL

· The difference between the NFL and college football

· His knee injury and recovery

· Using your fear to help you

· His return from the knee injury

· What makes the NFL so tough

· The source of his longevity in the NFL

· Loving to play

· The important role family plays

· The hardest and greatest moments of his career

· What Tory does in retirement

Quotes:

‘‘It hurts so bad. It hurts still to this day, because I still like basketball over football. But I was always good at football, so I took his advice and I started playing football.”

“So when I'm helping little kids, I tell them, ‘See it in your mind, you do it perfect in your mind over and over again until it becomes you and it becomes natural.’”

“For whatever reason, people put their fears on you, and I just never let it affect me.”

“I think you probably changed their entire outlook on how they saw the world, and I think that's huge.”

“That's, like, the joy when I think about playing football - how it made people feel.”

“The power of just having one person believe in you like that one coach when everybody else is saying ‘No’, it makes a huge difference.”

“It was really hard to mess up in Denver, they just had it down. That's probably one of the most professional teams I've ever played for, and it showed by us winning and everybody loved each other, and everybody helped each other. It was amazing.”

“We're all going to go through stuff, and it's how you handle it that's going to grow you as a person and your character and who you are the rest of your life beyond your sport, too.”

“Fear is feeling excited and ready.”

“Now today, what I do is I'm thankful for everything that happens.”

“Hard work, dedication, drive, and just willing to do what you have to do and just not ever giving up on your goal.”

“I hope everybody else that I'm playing with feels like they're the best because that's the type of players I want to play with.”

“You tell me I can't do it, I'm going to find a way to prove you wrong.”

“You made this choice to enjoy it and to have fun and playing the game the whole time.”

“The reason I'm playing is for family.”

“I learned discipline, hard work, to be honest, from my mom.”

“It turned out to be the best thing that happened to me because I think if I wouldn't have gotten hurt early on, I don't think my body would have held up as long as it did.”

“They always kept me grounded and humble, like, you know, and I kept that with me my whole football career.”

“I wanted to get 10 years and I felt like if I got 10 years and that's like my goal, that's like my gold medal.”

“I love your mental mindset. I love your passion, your gratitude, you're always so thankful for every opportunity, good and bad. I love that you showed us your purpose that's beyond yourself, your unwavering belief in your dreams.”

Show Links

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

Laura’s Social Media:

Life at 10 Meters: Lessons from an Olympic Champion

Laura's Facebook

Laura Wilkinson 7/29/21 Laura Wilkinson 7/29/21

50. Worth the risk with aerial skiing Olympian Emily Cook

Joining Laura on the podcast this week is 3 time Olympian and 6 time National Champion in Aerial Skiing, Emily Cook. Currently the manager of sport and human potential at Skullcandy, Emily also manages programming for the non-profit, Classroom Champions, coaches young athletes at the Utah Olympic Park through the US Ski Team’s Elite Aerial Development Program, and is an ambassador for Right to Play and Kids Play International. Throughout her career, Emily has routinely demonstrated her ability to overcome obstacles and elevate her game to new levels, and she shares her inspirational story with listeners here today.

In today’s episode, Emily discusses her commitment towards her sport, her experiences at the World Cup and the Olympics, and the multiple emotions she went through while training. She also delves into dealing with injuries, making difficult decisions, and compares being a coach to being an athlete. She brings the conversation to a close by sharing details about the important work she does these days. An inspiring model of perseverance, Emily has so very much to share here today that is sure to motivate all who listen.

Episode Highlights:

-Emily’s realization of her love for aerial skiing

-Dealing with injuries as an athlete

-Her experiences at the Olympics

-Emily’s work at The Speedy Foundation

-How she had trust in her coach

-Emily’s commitments in the sports sphere

-Being a coach vs. being an athlete

-Emily’s work outside the sports sphere

Quotes:

“So, I always determined before a training block, whether it was a three-week training block or something, what my negative thought stoppers would be, and, you know, exactly what mindset I wanted to be in on the hill. I use music a lot as well.’’

“And then, every once in a while, like, as humans, we’re just not reliable, we’re not reliable to our own commitments.”

“But regardless of who’s there watching, you know…you’ve accomplished something that you set out to do so many years earlier, and it’s an incredible feeling.’’

“And so, it was a daily choice, it was a choice of showing up and showing up 100% no matter what, no matter what my mood was, no matter what was going on around me.’’

“In the end of the day, knowing exactly what I wanted to accomplish, and then debriefing exactly what I did accomplish, so that I knew what I needed to change the next day in order to perform even better.’’

Links:

Laura’s Social Media:

Laura's Facebook

Connect with Emily:

Emily's Website

Classroom Champions

The Speedy Foundation

Laura Wilkinson 6/8/21 Laura Wilkinson 6/8/21

47. An unstoppable drive with our host Laura Wilkinson on the Jedburgh Podcast

Once again this week, things are a little bit different as today’s episode features Laura being interviewed by former Special Forces Green Beret, Fran Racioppi, on ‘The Jedburgh Podcast’. Touted as ‘a conversation with prominent visionaries, drivers of change, and those dedicated to winning’, this podcast is a natural and timely fit for Laura, as she participates in the Olympic Trials this week and next in her bid to compete in her fourth Olympic Games. Be sure to tune into the Olympic Channel and NBC and join Fran in cheering her on in her attempt, and enjoy this interview here today which outlines precisely just what it takes to reach similar success in your own life.

Laura and Fran begin by looking at what it takes to reach elite levels, and then discuss Laura’s career from her start in high school to present day. Along the way, they explore her perspective on failure and fear, the need to take ownership of your performance, her Sydney Olympics experience, and her Dream Chaser philosophy. They also delve into Laura’s neck surgery and recovery, her preparation for the Tokyo Olympics, and her take on finding balance in life and achieving longevity in sports. The interview concludes with her thoughts on channeling the pressure of the moment, ‘The Pursuit of Gold’, the 3 things she does every day, and the elite performance characteristic that Laura most exemplifies – drive. As Laura heads into the Trials which will determine her immediate Olympic future, today’s sweeping examination of the many components which have brought her to this moment could not be more relevant – listen in and prepare to be inspired.

Episode Highlights:

· What it takes to reach elite levels

· Laura’s high school diving experience and her ‘call to action’

· Her perspective on failure

· Taking ownership of your performance

· Laura’s performance at the Sydney Olympics, the events leading up to it, and the pep talk she gave herself

· Dream Chaser

· Her neck surgery and recovery

· Laura’s thoughts on fear and moving past it

· Preparing to qualify for Tokyo

· Dealing with the ‘uncontrollables’

· Her thought on finding balance in her life

· Achieving longevity in sports

· Channeling the pressure of the moment

· Her ‘Pursuit of Gold’ podcast

· Laura’s next couple months

· The 3 things Laura does every day to be successful

· The elite performance characteristic that Laura most exemplifies

Quotes:

“Faith and determination separate the good from the great.”

“Just because somebody tells you you can't, doesn't mean it's true.”

“Failure is part of success. And the concrete actions that you take from the moment you accept that you failed are what defines you as a leader and as an elite performer.”

“I'm not afraid to look like a fool.”

“When we talk about the development of elite talent, there's a requirement to be humble and show humility.”

“How can I become better? How can I fix that? How can I move forward?”

“It doesn't matter how old you are, doesn't matter what station you have in life, you can really make a difference for somebody just by being there for them.”

“This pressure that you felt became a power.”

“I realized that there were so many people that probably would never have the opportunity that I was in at that moment.”

“The task ahead of you is never greater than the power behind you.”

“I absolutely loved it, because it wasn't about me in that moment...it was about something so much bigger.”

“So it's about the pursuit, it's about the hunt. It's about who you become. And I think that's what I really mean by Dream Chaser.”

“You have to have this done just to be a mom because if you trip down the stairs, if you have a small car accident, like, that could lead to a quadriplegic.”

“A lot of times we're scared of the unknown…fear is a lot of times a liar.”

“To wholly stay in the moment is really the biggest key…and you have to practice that in practice.”

“I think really breaking my foot back then was such a gift because it gave me that opportunity to focus on visualization, to go through so many competition scenarios in my mind with so many different athletes.”

“Adversity makes you stronger.”

“The challenge in front of you sometimes becomes the blessing that you needed.”

“I have learned this last year is that I can just tear my plans up, throw them out the window, because I’ve got to roll with it. And I'm not good at that.”

“I think one of the best things COVID taught me was that I need to have my kids be part of what I'm doing.”

“They saw the sweat, they saw the tears, they saw the frustration, they saw how many times a day I was having to do this stuff and how hard I was working, all just hoping to get back in the pool. So it provided a lot of really good conversations for us.”

“The best people you see doing this are beginners at some point, like, you have to start somewhere.”

“I've had a lot of times where I'm like, you know, God, I'd be okay, if He closed the door, and we're done with this. But He's made it very clear, this is where I need to be, and He's made a way, and then that fire is back, and that fuel is back.”

“I've learned not to be scared of my emotions. I've learned how to use them and how to direct them.”

“And it's not about the pressure, or the expectations, or all these other things, just let that go. And it's just about me enjoying the moment.”

“This is actually my way of finding the resources and giving them to other athletes.”

“Learning those lessons from people and taking that with me, I think makes me not just stronger mentally, but emotionally and spiritually.”

“There's this need for achievement and growth mindset - be better today than you were yesterday, continuous self improvement - that you display that has set you apart from all of your competition.”

“For all the people who maybe think they're too old to do something they love to do, don't let society or culture decide that for you. If you love something, do it.”

Links:

Laura’s Social Media:

The Jedburgh Podcast Website

The Jedburgh Podcast:

The Jedburgh Podcast on iTunes

The Jedburgh Podcast Instagram

The Jedburgh Podcast LinkedIn

Laura Wilkinson 6/2/21 Laura Wilkinson 6/2/21

46. 17 scars that paved the way to Tokyo with taekwando Olympian Victoria Stambaugh

Joining Laura on the podcast today is Olympic Taekwondo athlete, Victoria Stambaugh. The daughter of a professional boxer, Victoria took to Taekwondo at an early age, made the US National Team in her teens, eventually joined the Puerto Rico National Team, and has since qualified to compete for Puerto Rico at the upcoming Tokyo Games. Having suffered a number of injuries and resulting surgeries over her career, Victoria has demonstrated remarkable resilience, and, through her faith in Christ, has persevered to achieve her dream of becoming an Olympian. In today’s conversation, she not only shares her inspirational story, but also turns the tables to pick Laura’s brain for some of her sage advice as well.

As with all guests, Victoria begins by sharing how she found her way to her chosen sport, and then she goes on to relate the story of her career to date. Starting with how she made the US National Team, Victoria proceeds to recount her battles with injuries over the years, how they have affected both her career and her emotional state, her transition to the Puerto Rico National Team, and how qualifying for the Olympics works in her sport. She also delves deeply into the role that her faith has played in her life and career, the impact of handing control over to God, her 17 scars and what they mean to her, and her work with Master Bang in preparing for Tokyo. Victoria concludes the episode by questioning Laura on her Olympic experiences and advice, and the role that her faith has played in her life and career. As you will hear, Victoria and Laura are very much kindred spirits whose personal, professional, and spiritual lives resonate considerably with each other, and also offer valuable lessons for all listeners here today.

Episode Highlights:

· Victoria’s sports history and how she got into Taekwondo

· Making the US National Team

· How Taekwondo athletes are selected for the Olympics

· Her knee injuries and surgeries

· How Victoria’s faith has helped her

· Her story of not qualifying for Rio and focusing on Tokyo

· The times when God spoke directly to her heart

· Transitioning from the US to the Puerto Rican Team

· How Olympic qualifying works for Taekwondo and diving

· Her knee injuries and surgeries while preparing for Tokyo

· Handing control over to God

· Qualifying for Tokyo

· Her 17 scars and what they mean to her

· Master Bang

· Victoria and her fiance’s Taekwondo and Parkour studio

· Laura’s best advice for someone competing at their first Olympics

· What’s different for Laura now

· Laura’s thoughts during the finals for her gold

· How Laura’s faith has helped her throughout her career

· Laura’s biggest goal when competing at the Olympics

· Her upcoming trials

· Laura’s thoughts on not being able to have family at the Tokyo Olympics

Quotes:

“When I saw Jackie Chan, Jet Li, I was like, ‘I want to be these guys’.”

“For the Olympics, only two weight categories can qualify, female and male, per country.”

“Deep down inside, I knew that my knee was never the same.”

“I know God put the right person at the right time that I needed to hear those words, ‘not to quit’ and to ‘come back’.”

“That started the process of three knee surgeries within a period of six months.”

“What I picture is kind of like God just wrapping His arms around me and giving me a hug. And at that moment, I was able to continue on and it was actually just the very next day where I was like, ‘Okay, I'm going to go for Tokyo’.”

“He had to take out the rest of the meniscus…in my mind, I was like, ‘You just took my whole career away from me’.”

“And then, sure enough, God always sends the right message, the right person, at the right time.”

“God has seen your tears and, and He's with you. Don't give up, keep going.”

“I was done emotionally, mentally, you know, physically, spiritually. I was just drained. And that's when I just released total control to Christ and let him handle it.”

“Christ was my confidence…and I qualified for the Olympics.”

“A reminder of everything I've been through and everything God has brought me out of. And what better reminder, really? It's basically tattooed on my body.”

“People get so lost in the aura and the bigness and the pressure of the Olympic Games. But, just, you’ve got to be able to let that go.”

“That's for Him to use this for my good and for His glory.”

“You don't have to have the lead if you have the heart to come from behind.”

“I've had a lot of big dreams that I've fallen very short of, but, in that moment, I was living it. And to me that was one of the greatest things that I got to take away.”

“Now I do want to boast about my weaknesses, because that's the chance for the power of Christ to rest upon me, and for the world to see, you know, exactly what He can do.”

“The biggest thing that I need to do is stay in the moment.”

“Maybe I can just really spend that time dependent with God.”

“You've got to kind of expect the unexpected, and just roll with it.”

Links:

Laura’s Social Media:

Connect with Victoria:

Victoria's Instagram

Victoria's Facebook

Victoria's Website

Laura Wilkinson 4/27/21 Laura Wilkinson 4/27/21

42. Redefining Success with Olympic Hurdler Sarah Wells

This week, Laura welcomes Olympic hurdler, Sarah Wells, to the podcast. Once an athlete who was cut from every high school team she tried out for, Sarah discovered track and field and went on to become an Olympic semi-finalist and Pan Am Games silver medalist in the 400m hurdles, building a reputation for overcoming challenges and achieving the ‘impossible’ along the way. She is also the Founder of the Believe Initiative, where she now uses her story to help youth understand the importance of being resilient and the power of believing in themselves, and to help corporations build more resilient teams.

Sarah begins by recounting how she got her unique start in sports, the support networks which have sustained her throughout, her rapid development in the hurdles, and both working and learning through her injuries. She also shares her discovery of ‘her word’, her Olympics Trials and Games experience, managing her stress fractures, and preparing to qualify for Rio 2016. Sarah concludes the conversation by discussing her Believe Initiative, how to get involved in it, her retirement from sports, and her perspective and guide to redefining success. A gifted speaker with a truly inspiring story, Sarah Wells has learned so much from her journey which is so very pertinent to life both within and beyond the sporting arena, and she shares it all here today.

Episode Highlights:

· Sarah’s start in sports

· Her support networks

· Sarah’s rapid development in hurdles

· Working and learning through her femur injury

· Finding her word ‘Believe’

· Returning from her injury

· Her Olympics Trials and Games experience

· Managing her recurring stress fractures

· Preparing to qualify for Rio 2016

· The Believe Initiative and how to get involved

· Retiring from sport

· Sarah’s perspective and exercise regarding redefining success

Quotes:

“At that point I hadn't defined myself by sport and I also had some really amazing siblings.”

“You go from zero to competing internationally in, like, eight months.”

“When someone else says it, you know, you're instantly a bit more likely to believe it.”

“I would almost, like, live and die by how my leg felt that morning.”

“I just would get so mentally defeated and, like, halfway through an interval I would just start walking.”

“In the most important races in my life, when the gun goes off, I hear nothing. I just lock into completing what I need to do.”

“It hurts so much that I'm scared, tomorrow when I run, it could break in half.”

“It's a hard line to figure out when to push and when to ease off.”

“Success isn't linear, it’s this roller coaster ride of emotions.”

“Rest would have been very productive in that moment.”

“I miss qualifying by half a second.”

“Clearly you don't build self-belief through achievements, you build it through action.”

“It helps people everywhere take a passion they have with a problem they want solve, and they use that passion to solve that problem, and they build self-belief through action.”

“While hard work doesn't always lead to success, being resilient will always lead to another opportunity for it.”

“Far more people are inspired by the time where I didn't make the Olympics over the time where I did.”

“If you're able to continuously embody and act from a place of those powerful character traits that lead to success, well then, even in a moment where things don't work out, you're going to be able to rely on those things and find your next opportunity for success.”

Links:

Laura’s Social Media:

The Believe Leadership Course

Laura's Facebook

Connect with Sarah:

Sarah's Website

Believe Initiative

Redefining Success

Laura Wilkinson 4/6/21 Laura Wilkinson 4/6/21

40. Coming back from injuries stronger than before with our host Laura Wilkinson

One topic that Laura has been receiving a lot of messages about lately is that of dealing with injuries. There seems to be some worry, frustration, and uncertainty expressed by more and more athletes when it comes to feeling productive while they’re sidelined for weeks, months, and even longer during their recovery. Definitely no stranger to the world of injuries, Laura draws upon her own experiences, and those of previous podcast guests, to address all of these concerns and share some valuable advice.

Laura begins by recounting some of the injuries she has sustained during her career and how she and her coach responded to them. Throughout these stories, she highlights the importance of being ‘all in’ on your recovery plan, learning from these injuries and carrying those lessons forward, the power of mind, mindset, and perspective, as well as working through the many resulting emotions. Laura also reviews the stories of some past guests of the podcast whose journeys through injury and illness are both inspiring and enlightening, and she concludes the episode with her advice on ways to deal with injuries, how to use the time while on the sidelines, and just how critical it is to really take the time to assess your injury and recovery before choosing wisely on how to move forward. As you will hear, today’s topic is one with which Laura is greatly familiar, and the knowledge and wisdom she shares here is drawn not only from her own experience but from others in the world of high level sports. This is, truly, an important listen for all athletes, and really, for anyone who may suffer perceived setbacks in achieving their goals in life.

Episode Highlights:

· Some of the injuries that Laura has sustained throughout her career and how she and her coach responded to them

· Believing in what you’re doing when coming back from injury

· Learning from injuries and recovery and carrying those lessons forward

· The importance of our mind, mindset, and perspective

· Working through your emotions

· Inspiration to be drawn from past podcast guests

· Laura’s advice on ways to deal with injuries and what you can do while sidelined

· The power of nutrition, video study, visualization, mindfulness, coaching others, and restructuring goals

· Choosing your response to injuries wisely

Quotes:

“Obviously, hindsight, I wish we would have pressed for X-rays anyway, but my coach and I were just hoping that, you know, it wasn’t a big deal.”

“That first week, I still had all those mix of emotions that you get when you feel like your world is caving in on you.”

“We’re not going to look back and say, ‘What if?” and ‘Could I have?’, we are only going to look forward with a new plan.”

“I have to tell you that believing in what you’re doing - as crazy as it might appear to anyone watching - if you believe in what you are doing, you’ve got to be all in.”

“I would not have stood on that podium if I had not broken my foot.”

“They basically took two of the discs out in my neck and fused the bones together.”

“You can come out the other side even stronger.”

“If your goals have changed and you don’t want to be in your sport anymore, you don’t always have to use the injury as an excuse.”

“Sometimes these injuries turn into something more beautiful.”

“These injuries, they can break you if you let them, or they are something that can turn you into an entirely new athlete with a new purpose.”

“I encourage you to even check out the small injuries.”

“Take your physical therapy seriously.”

“Be smart. Know when to go slow. Know when to push forward.”

“There is so much you can do while you’re sidelined.”

“The mind is powerful. You need to learn how to use it.”

“Don’t underestimate the power of coaching. Even if it’s some younger kids that are around you, it can be really, really beneficial.”

“It all truly comes down to how you chose to look at it…choose wisely, friends.”

Links:

Laura’s Social Media:

The Pursuit of Gold Instagram

Previous episode links:

Robert Paylor, episode 38

Chanelle Price, episode 37

Allysa Seely, episode 29

Dr. Ben Houltberg, episode 27

Abby and Jacob Cooper, episode 23

Chaunte Lowe, episode 18

Apolo Ohno, episode 16

Amy Dixon, episode 14

Brad Snyder, episode 12

Susie Parker-Simmons, episode 7

Laura Wilkinson 3/23/21 Laura Wilkinson 3/23/21

38. Paralyzed to Powerful with Rugby Player Robert Paylor

Laura has been looking forward to today’s interview for a while, and the reason will become very clear, very quickly. On May 6, 2017, Robert Paylor was playing for the number one college rugby team in the country as they competed in the National Championship, a dream come true for any young athlete. Mere moments into that game, Robert broke his neck and was subsequently told that he would never walk or move his hands again. His life was changed forever in that instant, but if you think that’s where Robert’s story ends, you couldn’t be more wrong. That fateful day not only impacted his physical life, but his mindset, his faith, and his outlook on life, and he shares the whole story with us all today.

He begins by describing how he got involved in rugby in the first place, his experience at Cal, and then he shares, in chilling detail, the events of that day in May, 2017, as well as the immediate and long-term decisions and treatments involved in his rehabilitation, which continues to this very day. Along the way he touches upon the need for mental toughness, working through the daily grind toward his vision, the role that neuroplasticity plays in his rehabilitation, and the power of forgiveness. Throughout his story are woven Robert’s feelings of gratitude, the incredible support from family, friends, doctors, teammates, and coaches, and, especially, his discovery of the greatest purpose and commitment of his life. What happened to Robert truly changed his life on so many levels, and by listening in to his heartfelt and moving conversation with Laura today you’ll find out why he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Episode Highlights:

· How Robert got involved with rugby

· His experience at Cal

· The day Robert’s life changed forever

· The advice he received and the decision he made in his darkest hour

· Accessing mental toughness to make treatment decisions

· Robert’s post-surgery experience

· Support of family and friends

· Robert’s rehabilitation at Craig Hospital in Colorado

· False hope and false hopelessness

· Working through the grind toward his ironclad vision

· The first flicker of movement

· Accessing perspective to be more grateful

· The three ways to achieve recovery form spinal cord injury

· The role that neuroplasticity plays in his recovery

· Robert’s rehabilitation since he left the hospital

· The support from Robert’s rugby team and especially Coach Billups

· Graduating from Cal

· The power of asking yourself, “Compared to what?”

· The impact that Robert can have on the lives of others

· Talon’s story

· The biggest commitment that Robert has ever made

· The power of forgiveness

· Counting the days and appreciating the daily grind

Quotes:

“It was a day of legacy.”

“My face slams against my chest, I feel this crunch in my neck, and I immediately can’t feel or move anything below my neck.”

“The reality is, you will never walk again. You will never move your hands.”

“The one thing you have control over is your mindset. Your positivity, your ambition, your willingness to wake up every single day and fight is up to you.”

“I was going to give everything I had to get absolutely everything I can get.”

“I knew I couldn’t live with the regret of not going into this surgery.”

“It was like Death was sitting with me in that hospital room, waiting for me to quit.”

“If I don’t do this, I might die!”

“They look at me and they see potential, not some broken body.”

“The one thing we do know is that we are going to give you everything that modern science and medicine has to offer.”

“I came here to walk out of these hospital doors.”

“Appreciate every victory we have no matter how small they are.”

“There was just so much that I had lost that I had taken for granted in my life.”

“I couldn’t have graduated if it weren’t for this team.”

“Just being a quadriplegic is a job in itself.”

“It was my perspective that really fueled me.”

“Remind me not to complain about anything ever again.”

“I think that’s very unhealthy when we dismiss our challenges.”

“There are so many positives in our lives that we can be focusing on right now.”

“If I could go back and change what happened to me on May 6 of 2017, I wouldn’t and I couldn’t, because…it has given me now the greatest purpose that I have in my life.”

“I forgive him whether he is sorry or not.”

“I’m either going to get out of this wheelchair one day or I’m going to die trying.”

Links:

Laura’s Social Media: