Episode 28 from The Grit Theory.

Today we sit down with the indomitable Ruben Gonzalez who is a 4 time Olympian, a professional speaker, and best selling author of 5 books. Ruben is an unstoppable GRIT TRAIN and todays conversations is both humorous and informative.

Highlights include:
– Broken bones
– Crash your way to the top.
– From hero to zero and back again.
– Speaking to an audience is like talking to one giant person.
– Always take the scariest route.
– Success is a decision.
 
To learn more about Ruben Gonzalez check out his website: https://ruben-gonzalez.com/ 

Did you find value in today’s conversation? SHARE IT! 

Also, check out Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be waymakers HERE.

Do you want to learn more? Check out:

The Book: Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be WayMakers.

The Podcast: “Be Relentless Podcast”

The Fuel: Sisu Stamina, Performance Evolved

Linktree: Here.

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Episode Transcript

00;00;00;01 – 00;00;25;02

Aaron

Ruben Gonzales is a not one, not two, not three, but four time winter Olympian of eight in 88, Calgary 92, Albert four, Albertville, France oh two, Salt Lake City, Utah, and of course, in ten Vancouver, Canada. So that’s pretty incredible. We have a four time Olympian over four decades, which is a is that world record really?

00;00;25;03 – 00;00;29;19

Ruben

Yeah. Yeah. I was the first one to do it. You’re the one who else did it right after me. But I’m the first one.

00;00;29;19 – 00;00;34;05

Aaron

The first one to do that record. Yes. That’s excellent. Well, welcome, Ruben. How are you doing this morning?

00;00;34;05 – 00;00;36;16

Ruben

Doing great. It’s. It’s great to be here.

00;00;36;20 – 00;00;37;11

Ruben

Yeah.

00;00;37;20 – 00;00;57;23

Aaron

Well, it’s kind of a treat. I don’t know that. I’ve sat down with an Olympian on air. We’ve chatted before, but you have become just an inspiration to so many people. I’m just glad to get get this message out. You do also professional speaking and you’re also on track right now trying to get to your fifth.

00;00;57;27 – 00;01;01;10

Ruben

That’s. Yeah, praying for lots of lots of money to.

00;01;01;10 – 00;01;02;14

Ruben

Come in the next few weeks.

00;01;03;05 – 00;01;04;27

Aaron

It’s not it’s not cheap being an Olympian.

00;01;04;27 – 00;01;31;09

Ruben

You get a lot of support. I was just thinking, I’ve never thought about this before, but most sports you train and let’s say 100 meters, right? Every country can send three guys maximum, but they have to beat a certain international speed right time. And then the top three Americans go to Eugene, Oregon. They race and they go, But we have to go all over the world and race like the Formula One, right?

00;01;31;16 – 00;01;39;17

Ruben

Just pick your Formula One. You’re going to different countries. Right? And we’re trying to get our qualification points that way. So. So yeah, we’ll we’re I’m stuck with a very expensive sport.

00;01;39;27 – 00;01;41;28

Ruben

You know.

00;01;41;28 – 00;01;45;17

Jon

So over the last four decades, you have represented Argentina.

00;01;45;22 – 00;01;46;24

Ruben

Argentina. Yes.

00;01;46;28 – 00;01;54;08

Jon

Awesome. And you’re not satisfied with the world record. You said you want to go as Erin touched. Four, five, five, four, five.

00;01;54;13 – 00;02;15;16

Ruben

Yeah, yeah. And have all these silly reasons. Yeah. You know, I always thought that three time Olympian had a nice ring to it. And then for like, it’s kind of like flowers, you know, you got to have that the flower bunch has to have odd number. Yeah. And so five, five, five Olympic rings, five Olympics. It’s a I’m not going for six because I don’t mess it up again.

00;02;17;00 – 00;02;27;01

Aaron

I think we find a competitors or people that have found thresholds that they’ve been able to beat. I guess you kind of are suspicious, like, Hey, I wonder if I could what if is this possible?

00;02;27;01 – 00;02;44;26

Ruben

Yeah, what if? Why not, right? Why not me? Right. I love that question. I get your mind, your subconscious mind thinking about possibilities. Right? And you know, why not me? Why not you? Right, Right. And so now you. You wake up in the middle of the night with some great ideas, and. And there you go. You start making it.

00;02;45;10 – 00;02;57;24

Jon

Yeah. So? So your journey with the Olympics is definitely a huge part of your story, and I don’t think yet we’ve mentioned. So I’m just going to ask, will you explain what sport you’ve competed in and what that looks like?

00;02;57;25 – 00;03;17;03

Ruben

Sure I do. The luge. The luge, if you’ve seen Cool Runnings and I would do that later, if you seen Cool Runnings of Jamaican bobsledders. Yeah, we go down the same track a little bit slower laying on our back. I’ll show you a picture. But this picture has another purpose. But see, that’s a guy laying on a luge.

00;03;17;03 – 00;03;34;06

Ruben

All right, So I’ll go ahead and tell you the story. When I decided I wanted to do the luge, I didn’t even know who the track was. I lived in Houston, Texas. I was 21 years old. I’m not a great athlete. I’m always the last kid picked for P.E., but I got a lot of heart and I don’t quit.

00;03;34;06 – 00;03;51;09

Ruben

Very tenacious, right? So I thought I got to find a sport that has a lot of broken bones, maybe a lot of quitters, and I won’t quit. Right? That’s it. My tenacity is my superpower, Right? Well, with that. Right. And so I headed down to ski jump bobsled and luge. I lived in Houston. Never skied. Forget ski jump.

00;03;51;09 – 00;03;55;15

Ruben

That’s suicide. Yeah. Bobsled. Who are you going to find through other nuts in Houston, right? Got to go to Jamaica.

00;03;57;04 – 00;03;57;18

Ruben

And then.

00;03;57;29 – 00;04;15;03

Ruben

Luge. I do by myself. I’ve never even seen it on TV. I just thought I looked pretty tough. Ah, I called. I wrote Sports Illustrated a letter. I said, Where are you going to learn how to luge? Because I didn’t know the track was. They wrote back and they sent me this picture. All right, There’s a copy of the originals in my office.

00;04;15;06 – 00;04;34;29

Ruben

Right? As soon as I got this picture, it went on the wall. I put I put it in a frame, I put a renfroe from my bed. And the first person I saw in the morning when I woke up was the luge man. Right? That’s I called him and I said, I you know, he reminded me, you got to train, got to eat right hang around winners re good books you know the mental side And at night four I shut off lights.

00;04;34;29 – 00;04;51;01

Ruben

The last person I saw was the luge man. Right. And so you think I dreamt about it night, right? I didn’t even know this. This guy was my hero. He helped me get to the Olympics because he kept, you know, keep the dream in front of you right? So you don’t. Life happens, right? Six months go by, year goes by a year and a half.

00;04;51;11 – 00;04;59;03

Ruben

Oh, yeah. I forgot I was training for the Olympics. I just blew a year and a half and I actually happens, right? You get, you know, you’re caught up with the daily stuff.

00;05;00;07 – 00;05;17;22

Aaron

And Ruben, I should mention, too, that you chose this specifically because your superpower is grit. And you it’s like, okay, so I’m not the strongest, fastest, whatever, but I know how not to quit. And so you leveraged your that that was that was a thing you knew you were good at. So it’s like, okay, let me go with that.

00;05;18;03 – 00;05;23;10

Aaron

So when you picked this sport, it was this is the highest failure rate, right? Or among the highest.

00;05;23;10 – 00;05;24;20

Ruben

It’s Yeah. Way up there, right?

00;05;24;20 – 00;05;26;18

Aaron

Yeah. So, so you’re like, okay, so.

00;05;26;21 – 00;05;27;05

Ruben

This fits.

00;05;27;05 – 00;05;32;21

Aaron

Me the thing. The thing that people most quit is the thing I should go to. Yeah. Because I won’t quit and.

00;05;32;23 – 00;05;50;17

Ruben

Reverse engineered it. Right. So you base your plan on your strengths now? Not now that I know better. This guy’s a he’s a beginner. His head’s way up. That’s an air brake right there. Okay. His feet are way, you know, pointing his feet. Look at a suit. It’s all rigged up. At least a thousand crashes. Right. But he helped me.

00;05;50;17 – 00;06;06;04

Ruben

He helped me get to the Olympics. Right. So that’s what’s in there, too, You know, finding inspiration, you know, run with it. Right. So in the luge, you’re going 80, 90 miles an hour. You’re lying on your back. You’re wearing, you know, basically a spandex suit and a helmet. The helmet, No kneepads.

00;06;06;04 – 00;06;07;24

Aaron

No, no, no body armor.

00;06;07;24 – 00;06;13;18

Ruben

No, no, no body armor, nothing, you know, And the helmet helmet is just for decoration.

00;06;13;18 – 00;06;15;01

Aaron

I just like that in with disgust.

00;06;16;11 – 00;06;17;01

Ruben

What did.

00;06;17;01 – 00;06;30;04

Jon

You hear? His criteria. I need something with a lot of broken bones that a lot of people quit at so that I, despite losing out a lot, can just out like outlast them. I’m not going to quit. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to be indomitable. And therefore the end you have.

00;06;30;08 – 00;06;30;22

Ruben

Yeah they didn’t.

00;06;30;27 – 00;06;33;21

Ruben

Have body armor back in back in the day.

00;06;33;21 – 00;06;35;00

Ruben

And wow.

00;06;35;15 – 00;06;46;18

Ruben

You’re pulling up the skids on some of the curves. No seatbelt, nothing. Right. And people think that all you do is hold on and pray and yeah, you hold on and you pray is very good for your prayer life.

00;06;46;18 – 00;06;48;23

Ruben

Okay. But you also.

00;06;48;23 – 00;07;06;24

Ruben

Steer a lot. You’re making hundreds of tiny corrections a whole. They don’t have the perfect line down the track. It doesn’t take much. It’s very responsive. Okay. If if I’m on a straight and when I just push my shoulder down just a little bit pressing down on the sled, it talks it. Right? You’re talking the sled. There’s only the steel.

00;07;06;24 – 00;07;27;11

Ruben

So the steel runners are about four feet long. There’s only about four inches there touching the ice because it’s arched. You’re laying on a skate. Right. And you’re talking it. So that’s touching in different places. If I touch you with my shoulder, you go from one side of the straightaway to the other. If I pull my handle, which is dries my shoulder down, it’s a medium sphere of apply force.

00;07;27;17 – 00;07;33;24

Ruben

My feet, my legs, which is the only thing they ever talk about on TV interviews. That’s like doing this with a car that’s for emergencies.

00;07;34;15 – 00;07;34;27

Ruben

I mean, really.

00;07;35;05 – 00;07;42;27

Ruben

If you hiccup if you hiccup, that’s enough of motion cause you to slam against the wall crash. You know, we’re going to have a little hiccup.

00;07;42;27 – 00;07;44;01

Aaron

Not so mental hiccup.

00;07;44;01 – 00;07;55;16

Ruben

That that’s. That’ll get you in trouble. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So you’re really trying to be relaxed and. And so you can be smooth, right? You have a fast reaction time. So it’s very mental. Very, very mental.

00;07;55;20 – 00;08;13;14

Jon

Or I love what I’m thinking about right now. It’s like this is not a sport for the risk adverse, right? No, this is a sport for the risk conditioned, right. Someone who’s become conditioned to accept and tolerate the risk. Yeah, because you have to be calm in. I mean, I’m just thinking about what you’re talking about. It’s like you hiccup.

00;08;13;24 – 00;08;34;07

Jon

You have the slight thing. You’re going 90 miles an hour in spandex, right? Like if if you hiccup or get a leg twitch or something, there’s not. What is the when someone crashes at 90 on a leash it because they slide, do they typically survive or is it kind of a bad. Yeah.

00;08;34;07 – 00;08;51;05

Ruben

It’s got to it’s not as bad as it looks. Okay I would rather my kids do luge than football any time right. A lot of feet injuries right. Because that’s what usually hits the walls up front you a lot of ankle brakes and things like that. But you know, you’re not really hitting your head. I only hit my head a couple of times over the years.

00;08;52;08 – 00;09;12;23

Ruben

Kind of like in martial arts. You learn how to fall. You know, you learn what to do and you’ll get ice burns, too, because you get off of the sled and there’s a friction because. Right, right, right. Yeah, that’s right. Right. And a lot of lower back injuries because the start is basically a dead lift through sitting on the sled, you’re deadlifting yourself horizontally.

00;09;12;23 – 00;09;35;10

Ruben

Yeah. So a lot of disc injuries for the older guys. Luckily, I’ve been, you know, spared that. And so but yeah, over the years I’ve broken my foot twice. My knee, my elbow, my hand, my thumb, a couple of ribs. But, you know, you get to the point I reframed it. I before I wrote Sports Illustrated, sent me that letter, I called Lake Placid.

00;09;35;10 – 00;09;49;17

Ruben

I go, I’m an athlete here in Houston on learn how to lose some in the Olympics in four years. Well, you help me. Yeah. And the guy goes, How old are you as a 21? He started laughing. All right, forget it, man. You’re too old. You know, we started when we were eight years old. By now, you have ten years experience.

00;09;49;17 – 00;10;07;01

Ruben

No way. I knew hang ups. Phones are an option, right? I hang up phones all over, so I just. Just try to keep them on the phone, you know, conversation so I could think of something. And I happened to tell him I was born Argentina. I was more Argentina. Came to the States when I was six and, you know, just ended up staying here.

00;10;07;03 – 00;10;25;01

Ruben

Yeah, I just happened to say that. And the guy gets all excited. He goes, Argentina, if you’ll go for Argentina, we’ll help you as a why a minute Go. You’re going to help me at all? Yeah. It is a world sport of luge. Is this close getting kicked out of the Olympics? We’re not global enough, okay? It’s European countries, U.S., Canada, That’s it.

00;10;25;10 – 00;10;44;04

Ruben

And so we’re recruiting. You know, if you’ll go for Argentina, we’ll train you. You’ll travel with us. We’ll even lend you a sled the first year. Eventually got to get your own gear. But we’re going to have to compress ten years of training into just two years. You’re going to get hurt a lot. Okay. Me cramming, I’m thinking, man, I’ve been praying for tennis all my life.

00;10;44;04 – 00;10;47;08

Ruben

That’s really it.

00;10;47;12 – 00;11;02;22

Ruben

But we need to do that because in the last two years, you’re going to be competing in the World Cup circuit against the best in the world to get these walk up points, World Cup ranking and top 50 back then get to go 51, watch it on TV. And so he says, So you go for Argentina because you’d be a whole new continent.

00;11;02;24 – 00;11;04;08

Ruben

Oh, I’m content.

00;11;04;22 – 00;11;07;00

Ruben

Yeah, well, you go ahead.

00;11;07;14 – 00;11;09;09

Ruben

Course over other for anybody, man. I go.

00;11;09;09 – 00;11;11;05

Ruben

For Pakistan. I don’t worry a little bit.

00;11;12;14 – 00;11;27;24

Ruben

So so I went and it was brutal. And he told me, you’re going to break some bones. He’s trying to talk me out of it. And I’m glad he did because it allowed me to put on mental armor. It made me realize it would be tough, right? So I started thinking, okay, well, why don’t I do if I break a bone?

00;11;28;02 – 00;11;46;05

Ruben

He says it’s inevitable. Well, I’ve broken bones before, you know, you put on a cast six weeks later, is healed up and stronger than before. So we really think about it. It’s a temporary inconvenience, right? So that was a broken bone was going to be a temporary inconvenience for me. So it put me in a class with 15 guys.

00;11;46;05 – 00;12;06;24

Ruben

A couple of months after I called them, they were going to have a camp on wheels down the old bobsled track, 55 miles an hour on concrete, wearing tennis, shoe shorts and a t shirt. Okay. And a helmet. They call it the weeding out process in the sport of lead. And the other guys are quitting. I mean, every day is a couple less guys showing up and I couldn’t believe it.

00;12;06;24 – 00;12;28;10

Ruben

By the end of the first year. I’m the only one left out of that group and they were quitting because they got a bruise right? And I just couldn’t understand it. And four years later, when I actually made it, you know, you walk into the opening ceremony, you feel so happy, so proud. But at the same time, I felt sad for a couple of these guys who become my friends.

00;12;28;28 – 00;12;49;04

Ruben

I’m thinking, wow, what do they feel like today? You know, I mean, they watch it on TV, but it hurts so much. You got to change channels or we can’t watch the Olympics, which were lives and their deathbed. They’ll be thinking, what if what if I had quit? Right. And I paid a huge price? Yeah, and but what about number 51?

00;12;49;05 – 00;13;11;03

Ruben

He did everything Coach said broke bones, kept coming back, maxed out his credit cards, traveling all over the world. And he missed it by a 10th of a 10th of a second in the last race. Well, that guy. I feel sick inside. Well, when he’s shaving in the morning, look at himself in there. He can stand straighter than before because he had to dig so deep just to put himself through that, that he found gifts.

00;13;11;06 – 00;13;17;27

Ruben

He, you know, he had. And now he’s a better person for having put himself through that. So either way, we either way you went as.

00;13;17;27 – 00;13;18;23

Jon

Long as you put it all.

00;13;18;23 – 00;13;25;22

Ruben

Out, give it all. Yeah. So there’s no regrets. Ryan, if I had a tattoo, I don’t have any. But if I did it, probably no regrets.

00;13;25;25 – 00;13;29;06

Jon

What do you spell it? Regrets or regrets? So it’s like, misspelled.

00;13;29;06 – 00;13;31;22

Ruben

So you could go with the job?

00;13;33;00 – 00;13;34;07

Jon

No regrets, really? Not even one.

00;13;34;07 – 00;13;37;05

Ruben

Letter, right?

00;13;37;05 – 00;13;46;24

Aaron

So it’s a you’re you’re saying even in the failures of mistakes, broken bones, those are all just part of the the process of of learning what’s really in you.

00;13;46;26 – 00;14;05;25

Ruben

Hey man. Yeah. And when you make a mistake, they train us, right? They call it what they call it, feast or feast and forget. It’s just something that I heard along the way. Some coach said. So if you have a good run at the end of performance, in a performance can be, you know, if you’re listening to this and you’re in sales, for example, right.

00;14;05;25 – 00;14;19;29

Ruben

A performance could be a sales call or it could be a follow up, right? It could be a demonstration, right, Or a speech. It’s something that gets you closer to the goal, right? It could be a golf shot. It could be a tennis shot. It could be a luge run. Right. So at the end of the performance, there’s three options.

00;14;20;03 – 00;14;38;18

Ruben

It was great. It was okay or it needs work. It didn’t suck. It’s not awful. You’re not an idiot. You’re not a loser. No. It just needs work, right? The performance needs work. And so you probably know what you messed up or coach will help you. And so when when you have that bad performance, don’t waste it, right?

00;14;38;19 – 00;14;43;14

Ruben

You don’t waste it. You extract the lesson and then you forget it because you don’t want that sitting in your subconscious.

00;14;43;21 – 00;14;50;11

Jon

In that performance. So what you’re talking about there is embracing the failure for what it can teach, but not for the shame that it can bring. Is that there?

00;14;51;04 – 00;14;52;28

Ruben

I wish I could speak like, you know.

00;14;53;20 – 00;15;14;14

Jon

It’s the benefit of I get to listen in I’m I’m in love right now because the conversation super fun. You’re basically like a self-driven grit train right now. You’re just running with the type of extreme personal ownership growth mindset. I’m going to improve and live this life intentionally, and I don’t care if I get knocked out. I’m coming and coming and coming again that I’m in love with.

00;15;14;17 – 00;15;15;10

Jon

So this is fun.

00;15;15;20 – 00;15;32;22

Ruben

When I started going for the I did Calgary, Albertville and Salt Lake, and then I started speaking professionally. I used to sell copiers in Houston, and this kid right before the Salt Lake City Olympics, this kid asked me to be his show Intel Project in school, and I came back and believe it or not, I’m an introvert. Okay?

00;15;32;23 – 00;15;40;18

Ruben

Right now you’re a liar. No, I’m an introvert. I just get excited when I’m talking personal development or Olympics. It’s like Clark Kent turns into Superman.

00;15;40;24 – 00;15;41;08

Ruben

But I’m.

00;15;41;08 – 00;15;42;06

Ruben

Usually Clark Kent, so you.

00;15;42;06 – 00;15;44;09

Jon

Get both. Right now because you get to Yeah.

00;15;44;25 – 00;15;46;20

Ruben

Yeah, I’m a little excited.

00;15;47;24 – 00;15;48;10

Ruben

So.

00;15;48;20 – 00;16;09;27

Ruben

So I never took a speech class in my life. I mean, be a total waste because I’m an introvert. I mean, I’m a I feel if we’re having dinner, three couples friends right now, we got six people. I turn into the wallflower because that’s my comfort zone. If it’s one on one, like when we had coffee, you know, piece of cake For me, that’s my comfort zone.

00;16;09;28 – 00;16;26;23

Ruben

Yeah, right. So this kid asked me to be his show Intel project in school. I thought, Sure, why not, Right? I picture 20 kids in a classroom right back in, you know, the old days and show and tell. Everybody’s going to show something today. So I’m in there in and out. In 5 minutes. I brought the Olympic torch, which I got here.

00;16;26;23 – 00;16;29;10

Ruben

I was a torch bearer for the for the Salt Lake City Olympics.

00;16;29;10 – 00;16;32;23

Aaron

I got Oh, hold on. Let’s not skim over this. This, this.

00;16;32;24 – 00;16;37;28

Ruben

But we will come back to that. He’s in charge. Yeah. Okay. You really know.

00;16;38;09 – 00;16;41;08

Ruben

I am a solid that changes on my route.

00;16;41;08 – 00;16;41;12

Ruben

But.

00;16;41;29 – 00;16;42;23

Jon

We do want to talk.

00;16;42;23 – 00;16;46;05

Ruben

About it. It’s cool. Yeah. Okay, go ahead. Go for Remind me. Okay.

00;16;46;07 – 00;16;54;08

Ruben

I say that. Yeah, I’m a professional speaker over 20 years, and I’ll say that to the guys in the front row. I say, Look, guys, you’re going to have to reel.

00;16;54;08 – 00;16;55;12

Ruben

Me in because.

00;16;56;15 – 00;16;57;00

Ruben

Otherwise.

00;16;57;04 – 00;16;57;25

Aaron

I’m on fire.

00;16;57;25 – 00;17;10;23

Ruben

Here. No telling, man. Yeah. So I took the torch, I took the helmet, I took my sled. I thought no prisoners. Okay, I will get my gold medal finally, even if it’s just to show and tell me of my mindset, I’m going to kill.

00;17;10;29 – 00;17;12;09

Jon

Yeah. This kid’s going to love it.

00;17;12;09 – 00;17;28;05

Ruben

Fifth graders. Yeah. So I go to the school, the principal takes me to the cafeteria. They moved all the furniture, and that’s called the auditorium. Right? And he says, okay, you’re right. There’s 200 kids sitting on the floor because you got 45 minutes. I don’t. I thought the.

00;17;28;05 – 00;17;29;18

Ruben

Guy that door looked.

00;17;29;18 – 00;17;35;07

Ruben

So inviting. I mean, I was ready to run. And I said a little prayer. I asked, God, what do I do now?

00;17;35;08 – 00;17;36;20

Ruben

Right. That’s my prayer.

00;17;37;10 – 00;17;38;14

Ruben

I forgot to say amen.

00;17;39;18 – 00;17;43;17

Ruben

Wasn’t eloquent, just no run real, baby, Right? What do.

00;17;43;17 – 00;18;01;13

Ruben

I do? And what I felt I needed to do is just tell him your story and give us some pointers to help them reach their dreams. And I did. And afterwards, the teachers, they. They surrounded me. They go, What are we got to do? You know, to up to it? You stick around another hour, we’ll pull the fourth graders out of class.

00;18;01;23 – 00;18;13;04

Ruben

I said, Hey, bring him on. That was actually fun. Second time around was, you know, better. And I realized the dynamic of a bunch of people. It’s like one big fat person. That’s it. They’re not talking back, right?

00;18;14;14 – 00;18;17;02

Ruben

So it’s like a one on one. But I know that.

00;18;17;10 – 00;18;35;20

Ruben

So we have all these mental blocks in our brain that keep holding us back. All these fears of fear, fear, failure, fear of the unknown. All this stuff is holding us back. But nine times out of ten, if you face your fear, you realize it’s just a smokescreen. So. So I did that. And and then I. And then I started losing it.

00;18;35;20 – 00;18;41;04

Ruben

Losing again for for Vancouver. And I have no idea why I told you that story. I had. There was a reason.

00;18;41;05 – 00;18;43;07

Ruben

Shown to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know.

00;18;43;14 – 00;18;44;21

Ruben

It was it shouldn’t tell you order.

00;18;44;29 – 00;19;03;02

Aaron

But it was. You said just just to back up a second. You’re saying that these little things that you do, they get you closer to the goal, right? There’s this Feaster and forget kind of thing. And it is, it is uncomfortable in the moment and even even tempting to run away from it. But it’s absolutely important that you walk forward into it.

00;19;03;02 – 00;19;04;22

Aaron

Otherwise you’ll go no further down the path.

00;19;04;22 – 00;19;11;20

Ruben

Yeah, lean into lean into that fear. Yeah. I mean, if you’re in a ten story building and you’re afraid because you’re on the edge, don’t lean into that one.

00;19;12;06 – 00;19;13;14

Ruben

I mean, be smart, but.

00;19;13;14 – 00;19;29;07

Ruben

But, you know. Yeah, that’s why I mentor so important cultural mentor. Somebody, you know, shows you are always look for somebody who’s done what I want to do, right? Sometimes done it. Not somebody. I wrote ten books about it, but never did it, right. Yeah, somebody’s done it. Someone’s been in that minefield and knows how to cross it.

00;19;29;13 – 00;19;32;06

Ruben

And, and you know, that’s the key.

00;19;32;11 – 00;19;33;26

Jon

A practitioner, not a theorist.

00;19;33;29 – 00;19;34;25

Ruben

There you go. Yeah.

00;19;35;08 – 00;20;00;26

Aaron

We’ve been we’ve talked about like how, how being afraid of the moment can feel so much like a believable reality. Like, it’s like I have to listen to this fear. I have to go for that door. Like you said, that door looked really inviting. But also in the mind, in your mind you’re like, Well, what if I what if I one day wake up and go, Hey, what if I had shown up and done that?

00;20;01;03 – 00;20;18;19

Aaron

And what I love about it is that it was so important to you. I think you’re anxious in some sense because you really wanted to show up for this. Like it was like, you know, somebody could say, Oh, it’s just so much elementary kids, but you’re like, No, I really want to kill it. I want to impress this kid who’s who’s trusted me enough to be like, This is my show and tell.

00;20;18;21 – 00;20;19;16

Aaron

Yeah. Project.

00;20;19;18 – 00;20;36;13

Ruben

Like, I want to beat all those kids. Yeah, they’re some kids can bring a frog and talk about the frog. So, you know, a mason jar, you know, that’s just show and tell. Forgotten. So he, you know, picked it up. It was breakfast table and I thought I want to, you know, know it’s competition.

00;20;36;15 – 00;20;37;24

Jon

I’m going to crush these kids.

00;20;38;03 – 00;20;39;17

Ruben

Crushes kids. I mean that’s.

00;20;39;26 – 00;20;44;07

Ruben

What I love how little competitive I had came in hot.

00;20;44;08 – 00;21;05;04

Jon

Well part of the story you shared between the one of the kids, one I love that you went in prepared for a five minute show and tell. Right? Nine times. That is what you had to do, a 900% increase of time. And then you had a double again for the fourth graders. But at that point, you had engaged the discomfort enough that you were in game mode, right?

00;21;05;13 – 00;21;19;02

Jon

They had gone from, okay, there’s the door to now I’m going to do this. I’m just going to tell my story to. That was fun. I’m going to make it better now because I’m just talking to one giant fat person being the crowd of hundreds of students.

00;21;19;02 – 00;21;21;16

Aaron

I’ve never heard that before. Oh, no. I mean, is that so?

00;21;21;16 – 00;21;21;27

Ruben

Now I’m.

00;21;21;27 – 00;21;33;09

Ruben

Walking, coming out, you know, after the second talker walking back to my car with the principal, the principal’s going nuts, right, man, you got a gift. You’re better people. We pay news for a living as a well. You get paid for show and tell.

00;21;33;25 – 00;21;36;09

Ruben

Because no, man, it’s the speaking profession, not.

00;21;36;09 – 00;21;53;12

Ruben

You know, anything. Apparently, I didn’t. But he was so in my face about. He got me thinking. I always want to have my own business, but I didn’t know how to go about it. And and the next three days I’m thinking, man, that was fun. Whole lot more fun than knocking on doors, trying to sell copier. You know, maybe I can inspire some people.

00;21;53;12 – 00;22;12;21

Ruben

Really go for it in life. I quit my job three days later. Okay, I don’t recommend it, but I thought I Zella copier axilla Ruben to start hitting phones calling all the schools in Houston. And that’s how I started my business first year and a half of schools and because of my sales background it became more and more corporate and it it’s crazy.

00;22;12;21 – 00;22;19;27

Ruben

I mean, I’ve spoken for over 100 Fortune 500 companies in the last 20 years, and I’ll start with show and tell right now. You know, the speaker would.

00;22;20;22 – 00;22;36;20

Jon

You know what I love about that real quick it started with the show Intel for kid you ever met, you thought you’re going to be in a 20 person classroom. This was not a ticket to greatness. This was a small opportunity. You just chose to not to say yes to instead of no to which most people would have written off.

00;22;36;20 – 00;22;55;12

Jon

And I think like when you’re going through things and you’re looking for like the yacht to pick you up in life, but sometimes it’s like these it’s the small, unexpected things that when you just you show up, you you showed up. It sounds like a 110% ready to bludgeon these kids with the torch because you’re going to win.

00;22;55;27 – 00;23;03;29

Jon

You’re going to win the day for this kid who asked you to come and speak. And that changed the trajectory of your life. That one small. Yes. Yeah. And showing up a hundred.

00;23;03;29 – 00;23;18;09

Ruben

Percent in that crazy. Yeah. And I am one time I, I was speaking for this group at the Houstonian clubs, this country club, kind of like a flying horse out here with a you know it’s or Broadmoor.

00;23;18;09 – 00;23;18;25

Aaron

Absolutely.

00;23;18;26 – 00;23;47;25

Ruben

Yeah. Boy. Yeah. Yeah. It’s just like 20,000 bucks just to get in. And. And I was going to speak there. I got Toby. Oh yeah. For free. Right, Well, but you never know who’s in the audience. And I thought, yeah, it’s going to be hundred and 50 people is going to be great, you know, Come on in. I go, There’s six people and I something made me remember that Michael Jordan, he used to say that even if the first game of the season I’m playing all out because there’s some kid out the audience that’s the only time was going to see Michael Jordan and I want him.

00;23;47;25 – 00;24;08;28

Ruben

I won’t be remembered that way, right? Not just as a slacker. And I had that Michael Jordan thought, that is, I’m going to rock. All right. We did the talk. We finished at 1030 at night. One of the guys, one of the six was an AstraZeneca pharmaceutical sales sales rep that night when we got home from because at midnight he called his boss’s boss.

00;24;08;28 – 00;24;21;07

Ruben

He says, Man, I’m ready to run through walls. I mean, I just heard this guy. Long story short, I got two gigs with AstraZeneca because why? Because I wasn’t a fat head at all. I’m too good to speak to six people, you know, Just give it all, you know? No.

00;24;21;08 – 00;24;41;24

Jon

So there’s the counterpoint to the first one. So when you go to show up for 20 kids and there’s like sounds like 500 between your two speeches, right? Like hundreds of kids in like, well, this is way more than I was expecting. Then you go to this place, right? This is an opportunity. This is going to break down walls and there’s going to be like 150 really well connected, networked, affluent people that I could maybe get some things you walking through six.

00;24;42;04 – 00;25;00;12

Jon

And once again, this is where I think there’s something deeper to pull out. You’re like, All right, here we go. It’s game time. My expectation of what the game is going to look like doesn’t matter. It’s only that the game is to be played and you engaged fully. And then there you go. You know, you got the next step, then the next step.

00;25;00;12 – 00;25;15;10

Ruben

And that’s just being a professional. You know, when you come down to it, you just all out, no matter what you’re sick. You got the flu, right? But you have a gig, you got a gig, anybody can be on for an hour. I don’t care how sick you are. Go back, crawl in bed, die. But at least.

00;25;15;11 – 00;25;16;15

Ruben

You can do your job. Right?

00;25;16;27 – 00;25;23;13

Ruben

And because it’s reputation. Yeah, right. You don’t want to blow your reputation. So. So. Yeah, well.

00;25;23;13 – 00;25;33;07

Jon

You shouldn’t want to you. That’s the point of what we’re trying to talk about here is really just have enough self pride to not want to blow your reputation for comfort. Yeah.

00;25;33;07 – 00;25;53;10

Ruben

And if you’re an employee, it applies to you too. Okay, It does, because that’s how you get promoted, you know? That’s how you stand out sometimes. I’ll speaking to a depends on the group but I’ll say something like And you guys want to get promoted, you know that you know, I know most of you guys don’t know, so you guys probably happy where you are, but maybe a few.

00;25;53;10 – 00;26;12;09

Ruben

You guys, you always get through forehands, right? I was okay when? Whenever I want. When I wanted to be promoted from three time Olympian to four time Olympian, first thing I did was call coach. Right. Coach my boss. Okay, a call coach and that’s okay. Number one, can we do it? Is it possible? Yes. Okay. All right. Let’s lay out a game plan.

00;26;12;13 – 00;26;29;16

Ruben

Let’s do it right. I’ll do whatever you say. And and so if you go to your boss, right, and say the same thing, hey, I’d really like to get promoted. Right. So can we put together a game plan, figure out what I need to work on? Maybe we can get together, you know, coffee once a month, you know, just to, you know, just to get some feedback.

00;26;29;16 – 00;26;47;26

Ruben

Right. And had somebody say, Oh, we only get feedback every every six months. Well, you can change the rules. Okay? You tell your boss you want to do it every two weeks. You know that all of a sudden, just by going out there and saying that to them and you got to be willing to do the work. Okay, not to say it, but you got to back it up.

00;26;48;06 – 00;27;05;23

Ruben

But just the fact that you did that, now they’re looking at you right now. They notice you. Now you’re on the short list. You know, you got the attitude, the desire, right? Yeah. And if you actually start, you know, doing the things and learning whatever it needs to reach that next level, you’ll get the promotion you just got to ask to get you know.

00;27;06;19 – 00;27;07;21

Jon

You’ll get you’ll earn.

00;27;07;27 – 00;27;08;16

Ruben

Your earn, right?

00;27;08;17 – 00;27;09;08

Jon

You’ll earn it.

00;27;09;10 – 00;27;17;21

Ruben

You guys got to write a book, man. I mean your ideas and the way you put the work, you know, you guys are you need a you need an editor, right?

00;27;17;21 – 00;27;18;29

Ruben

Okay. Okay.

00;27;19;05 – 00;27;21;05

Ruben

I it’s my challenge to you, okay? You to.

00;27;21;05 – 00;27;21;19

Ruben

Take you.

00;27;21;21 – 00;27;33;18

Ruben

Not the audience. These guys. Okay. I mean, they got there. They’re interviewing all these cool people. They’re extracting all these lessons. That’s a this is a series of books. Okay, A series. All right.

00;27;34;04 – 00;27;34;08

Ruben

You.

00;27;34;11 – 00;27;36;27

Aaron

You’re a dangerous friend In a wonderful way.

00;27;36;27 – 00;27;38;09

Jon

I’m really enjoying this. This is.

00;27;38;09 – 00;27;38;18

Ruben

Good.

00;27;39;18 – 00;27;44;25

Jon

I like it. What’s actually funny? So I sent Aaron a text and he didn’t respond to it. And so it’s fine.

00;27;45;25 – 00;27;46;16

Aaron

We’re doing this now.

00;27;46;20 – 00;27;47;12

Ruben

We’re doing this now.

00;27;48;26 – 00;28;13;14

Jon

Monday morning. We’re going to work through all of our things so that the rent, this guy’s partners, rainbows and soundtracks. No, but I saw on my calendar because what we’ve known each other for five years now. Yeah. So at one point we’re working on some projects together and I made a book, a three year revolving reminder calendar thing in September 1st was the third year and it just said like status check, where are we on our goals?

00;28;13;14 – 00;28;20;16

Jon

And I think our goals, I think the means with which we’re pursuing our goals have changed, but I think we’re.

00;28;21;08 – 00;28;21;19

Ruben

We’re.

00;28;22;18 – 00;28;40;10

Jon

Hard hunting them, right? Like we’re sitting here doing this like it’s changed. But I saw it. I was like, That’s super cool. Three years ago, we made this while sitting at a Panera, and a three years later we’re sitting here. Episode 20 Writing a podcast? Yeah, writing a podcast. And to me, I know I made it sound like we’re going dark there.

00;28;40;10 – 00;28;40;17

Ruben

But.

00;28;40;17 – 00;29;06;02

Jon

To me it was like this really exciting reminder of like, okay, it’s not just showing up every time and being humble enough to just put out as a professional, put in the hard work regardless if it’s six or 100, right? It’s also the matter of doing it consistently like you gave the example when you were fighting for the luge, that there is all these guys and just day after day they were not showing up, but you just kept showing up.

00;29;06;12 – 00;29;27;18

Jon

And then coupled with that, you were fast enough. But even if you weren’t, you wouldn’t have shame because you talked about your deathbed. And when you’re on your deathbed, you would hate to ask the what if I had right? And it’s like I’m so obsessed with the idea. I’m caught between two places. I’m caught between the what if on the worst side, like the failures?

00;29;27;18 – 00;29;42;29

Jon

What if I’d just given more and the ideal, perfect version that I could become if I pursue things doggedly enough? And it’s like if I have to meet both of those people, which 1 a.m. I going to be more like? I certainly want to be the evolved version, you know?

00;29;43;11 – 00;30;06;04

Ruben

You know, when I was in high school, I read this story or this the study they had done, they they interviewed a bunch of octogenarians, 80 year old people. They asked them, What’s your biggest your biggest regrets in life? Number one and two, were not spending enough time with your family. And that was one of them. And the other one was playing it.

00;30;06;04 – 00;30;28;23

Ruben

Playing life, too safe, not taking enough risks. When I read that, I thought, okay, when I’m 80, I’m taken. Whenever I have the choice of just take the riskiest route, the scariest route, right? And that was when I’m 80, I don’t have that one that that that, that regret. Right. And then when when Cheryl and I were dating married over 25 years.

00;30;28;23 – 00;30;46;17

Ruben

But I’m dating one of my mentors was a home schooler. Right. The first time I went to his house, he had an eight year old, a ten year old. These boys were like a cut above. Okay, Look at you. Right in the eyes. Shake your hand. Yes, sir. Yes, ma’am. I mean, that kind of deal. And I asked him, Craig, what’s the deal, man, with your kids?

00;30;46;17 – 00;31;04;06

Ruben

I mean, these are like, like little adults. What’s up with that? He goes, We homeschool. Okay? It’s not about the education. It’s about the values. We control the values around here. And that planted a seed. And we’ve homeschooled both of our kids from day one, and they’re champs, right? And I say we because Cheryl does all the school stuff.

00;31;04;13 – 00;31;34;09

Ruben

I am P.E. and attitude. Okay. Mental toughness. But yeah, so no regrets. Starting in high school, you mentioned consistency. So a quick story about that. It took it wasn’t until two years into learning how to luge that had my first clean run. A clean run means you didn’t even brush against any walls, right? You’re not necessarily fast, but it’s a huge milestone because you got, you know, you thread the needle the whole way down.

00;31;34;09 – 00;31;51;28

Ruben

Yeah, I was so pumped up. And my coach, he’s a four time Olympian. He’s this Austrian guy, four time Olympian, three time world champion. All right, so this guy’s tough as nails. It sounds like it looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I mean, you play Monopoly with him. I mean, seriously, we play Monopoly. He will not treat cards with you.

00;31;51;28 – 00;31;52;28

Ruben

He still wins.

00;31;53;07 – 00;31;53;17

Ruben

I mean.

00;31;54;29 – 00;32;05;04

Ruben

Anyways, so I get to the bottom. And how so excited. I got my clean run. I can’t wait to talk to coach on the walkie talkie because they’re up, you know, And a tough part of the track watching us.

00;32;05;12 – 00;32;09;05

Ruben

You know, Coach, I had a clean room and he says, Good.

00;32;09;21 – 00;32;10;28

Ruben

Now, you know, it’s possible.

00;32;11;17 – 00;32;15;08

Ruben

That’s what it’s all you get and that’s all you know.

00;32;15;08 – 00;32;17;27

Ruben

I went up right when I went back up.

00;32;17;27 – 00;32;18;18

Ruben

I mean, coach.

00;32;18;18 – 00;32;19;20

Ruben

You know, I’m face to face.

00;32;19;20 – 00;32;21;01

Ruben

I had a clean run. Make a.

00;32;21;01 – 00;32;35;12

Ruben

Run. He goes, Yes, it’s possible, but good is not good enough. Okay. Olympics for runs in all counts. It’s like golf, like in blue on the 18th hole. It’s just so good. It’s not good. You must be consistently good.

00;32;35;21 – 00;32;37;17

Ruben

Mm. All right. Fair. Yeah.

00;32;38;00 – 00;32;49;18

Ruben

Don’t think you arrived. My, my, my kids piano teacher. She’s got the sign on the wall to love It Says you don’t practice it. You get it right. You practice till you can’t get it wrong.

00;32;49;27 – 00;32;50;08

Ruben

Hmm.

00;32;51;04 – 00;32;53;09

Ruben

And there’s a lot of practice between those two points.

00;32;53;28 – 00;33;15;03

Jon

I love that idea of really small, small, small tongue. In cheek example of that is my son. And I’ve been doing a lot more archery lately. We play a competition with it, and I’m using a buddy’s bow. I haven’t bought one for myself yet, so it’s not a zero to me. So it shoots up and left. But I won’t let myself go past my center spot until I get all six shots in the bullseye.

00;33;15;11 – 00;33;30;02

Jon

And then I’ll add distance. But it’s the same thing. It’s like, Oh, now I’m getting all in the first two rings. This is a huge improvement, but it’s not good enough, consistently enough for me to add another five yards. That’s over five meters. So it’s it’s that exact thing. It’s the same for my son. He’s like, Oh, Dad, I want to come further back.

00;33;30;03 – 00;33;41;05

Jon

It’s like you’re not hitting the center enough to come further back yet. So once you hit it with every era, you have to earn it. You have to earn the right. The consistency at a high performance earns the right.

00;33;41;05 – 00;33;59;25

Ruben

I love it. That reminds me how we learn how to luge first time like in, let’s say Park City. Park City’s got 16 curves and they put you on a curve. 12. That’s just where everybody starts. You’re going about 20, 25 miles an hour. 20 miles an hour. Crash, crash, crash, crash. Figure it out. You finally as soon as you figure it out.

00;33;59;25 – 00;34;15;03

Ruben

Right, your mind, right. You’ve got to try. You got to train your mind. It’s like riding a bike, you know you’re falling because your mind hasn’t figured it out yet. So you have to stay in the game long enough to learn the skills. Usually it’s the mind. And so finally, figure it out. Coach moves you up a couple of curves going 30.

00;34;15;05 – 00;34;16;26

Ruben

30 miles an hour. Oh, my gosh.

00;34;16;26 – 00;34;20;23

Ruben

Quite flat crash job. You know, you literally crash your way to the top, takes about one.

00;34;20;23 – 00;34;25;08

Ruben

Hundred runs off the top. It’s kind of like you’re kind.

00;34;25;08 – 00;34;27;18

Ruben

Of like the arrows. All right, You got to work your way up.

00;34;28;15 – 00;34;29;07

Jon

I like your example.

00;34;29;07 – 00;34;30;03

Ruben

More crash.

00;34;30;18 – 00;34;31;10

Jon

How do you get to the top?

00;34;31;10 – 00;34;33;12

Ruben

Crash your way to the top. I say.

00;34;33;18 – 00;34;34;26

Jon

Fail faster, fail.

00;34;34;26 – 00;34;47;05

Ruben

Fast. But yeah, fail faster. When I got started speaking, now I just quit my job. Right? Gabriella’s a year and a half old. Sheryl’s a full time mom and here I go. Quit my job.

00;34;47;05 – 00;34;48;25

Ruben

Overnight. No income and.

00;34;48;25 – 00;35;10;02

Ruben

No help insurance. The mom was not happy that day, so. But I knew I could do it. And so February. I’m at the Olympics. March, April, May. I’m living the dream. I’m speaking to schools all over town and I’m actually making decent money. But I forget the summer is going to be dead because it’s, you know, it’s off as so June, July, August, zero bucks.

00;35;10;02 – 00;35;32;04

Ruben

Okay. And by now I’ve already, you know, no, there’s no friends and money. Friends and family money left. Okay. Because they’ve already given me all their money to go to the Olympics by August. We’re on food stamps. Okay? I mean, humble, big time food stamps, three months behind our house payment. That close to losing the house charade. Credit top of the world, the Olympics in February.

00;35;32;04 – 00;35;50;04

Ruben

Humble, big time in August. That’s when I realized, oh, my gosh, until everybody find a coach or mentor. All right, I even take my own advice. You know, I tell some good stories, but I know how to build this business. I had to find a speaker, a successful speaker. Right. And I found one. He’d been in the business for 12 years, lived in a big old house.

00;35;50;04 – 00;36;09;16

Ruben

You know, he had fruit on the trees. Fruit trees is important. And so I went to him and at first he wouldn’t. I had to earn my way. I’m like, I tell you all stuff he made me to do. But but basically he did. And and one thing he said was Reuben, just throw it on the wall, okay?

00;36;09;20 – 00;36;26;15

Ruben

Just throw it on the wall. Someone is going to stick and we can clean up the mess later. Perfectionists never succeed because they try. They wait for things perfect for taking the first step and nothing’s going to be perfect. You just get started now what you got and just throw on the wall. All right? And I’m glad he told me that.

00;36;26;27 – 00;36;29;06

Ruben

And 20 years later, I’m still throwing more.

00;36;29;06 – 00;36;30;27

Ruben

On what I’m not.

00;36;30;27 – 00;36;33;20

Ruben

Really. This is a little mud. This is a little mud.

00;36;34;03 – 00;36;34;13

Ruben

This little.

00;36;34;13 – 00;36;53;26

Ruben

Throw, because there there just might be somebody is listening and is looking for somebody like me, you know, pump up his his his or her sales team and boom. So this is a little more on the wall. Well, it’s an opportunity to expose myself, right, Without getting, you know, arrested.

00;36;53;26 – 00;37;12;24

Jon

Two things I really want to pull from that. One is not original whatsoever, but perfection. There’s a saying that goes around in these types of conversations that perfection is the enemy of action. Right? Because if you’re just pursuing perfection, you’ll never actually get something out. It just has to be the mud on the wall. Good enough, right? Like, oh, it breathes good, Push it out there type of thing.

00;37;13;04 – 00;37;32;28

Jon

And you joked about how you had to earn your way for this guy, right? And I couldn’t help but think that was so wise of him. That was good stewardship of him. That was him managing his resources well, because if you’re in a position that you can help other people, a lot of people are going to come and want your help for free and they never apply it and they waste your time.

00;37;32;28 – 00;37;52;08

Jon

They waste theirs. But if you put barriers of entry in right into those who overcome the barriers of entry, now it’s a good investment of your time and energy. Even if you don’t get anything in return, it’s your accountable for your time. So to yourself, to your family, right, you’re paying it out. So it’s like, I can’t help but admire him just even for that.

00;37;52;08 – 00;38;05;18

Jon

I don’t know anything about him. Just for that one example of, Hey, yeah, I’ll help you if you go through whatever this earn your way is you. Yeah. Because then I know you’re serious enough that I’m not wasting my breath on you. Yeah. And not wasting my own time. Which I could give to my kids or my family or my whatever.

00;38;05;18 – 00;38;27;08

Ruben

Absolutely. I love it. Yeah, It’s like football season. I never play football. I play soccer. But it’s similar. First two weeks, a football coach makes it tough. Okay? He’s make it work. And I’m not like crazy because he wants to. We weed out the wannabes, right? And he wants to figure out whose real team is. And so basically that’s that’s how the coach does.

00;38;27;08 – 00;38;47;16

Ruben

Right. And make it tough. And it’s funny, first thing this guy tells me, Jim, we’re at a coffee shop and the first first thing out his mouth. He’s a big, tall, mean guy to okay, I’m such a hard hit that all my mentors got to be, you know, animals, right? Girls? This guy actually, I mean, I’ve known him for 20 years, but he still intimidates me.

00;38;47;16 – 00;39;06;21

Ruben

He puts out The Sopranos vibe or something anyway. But. But it works. And so he goes, I don’t care if you’re a ten time Olympian unless you write a book, not going to take you seriously because an author’s considered the authority of a subject he wrote the book on. It’s the business card nobody ever throws away. I don’t think this guy was ever a a publishing company.

00;39;06;21 – 00;39;14;23

Ruben

He’s pitching me right now. I can’t write a book. I’m a season English. Okay? I mean, my parents celebrated. I brought a C and anything a bubbly came out.

00;39;16;02 – 00;39;16;17

Ruben

It goes.

00;39;16;17 – 00;39;26;16

Ruben

You got a great story. You write it down. We go to some students, they clean it up for you. That’s just grammar. I thought, Oh my gosh, I didn’t think about that. It goes, yes, it’s called editing. So shut up and sit down. I mean.

00;39;27;13 – 00;39;27;20

Ruben

Right.

00;39;28;06 – 00;39;50;23

Ruben

Right. Let’s see, have I have all these great reasons why I can’t be an author, right? Because I can’t. I can’t buy a B, All right. And and he in one phrase, he says, Now that’s a bunch of B.S., man. Just do this, this and this. What’s your next problem? That’s the beauty of having a mentor. It saves a lot of time and people always say, tell me the same thing.

00;39;50;27 – 00;39;54;19

Ruben

Well, I don’t want to impose. They’re so busy. I don’t want wasted time.

00;39;54;24 – 00;39;56;22

Ruben

Right? I tell them.

00;39;56;29 – 00;40;04;07

Ruben

Look, if your attitude is you’re actually going to do it right, you want are you going to bust your ass, you know, to make it happen? All right.

00;40;04;08 – 00;40;04;15

Ruben

Yeah.

00;40;05;23 – 00;40;25;22

Ruben

Then definitely approach them. Okay. If you just want to be an eternal learner, then leave them alone. All right, But let me explain why you’re not wasting their time if you’re that hungry person. You know, I always hear people say, Oh, yeah, she’s she’s successful, but she’s not happy or he’s successful. He’s empty. And so he’s always doing something else.

00;40;25;24 – 00;40;44;10

Ruben

Mm hmm. That was. Yeah, well, you know what it is? It is a success is not the gold medal. Success is the silver medal. Okay. All right. You still got a little hole in your heart. The gold medal is significance. I mean, you help somebody else succeed, you made a difference. You create a ripple effect. The world is better because of you, right?

00;40;44;17 – 00;40;59;04

Ruben

So if you go out there and do everything they say, you reach a gold dream, then you get your silver. They get their goal and you may even become best friends. Right? And so so it works. It works. And so, yeah, so that’s why mentors are mentors.

00;40;59;15 – 00;41;11;09

Aaron

I heard a story recently of one of the top guys at Tesla. He’s talking about Elon Musk and what drives him and who built the wooden plane, the Spruce Goose.

00;41;11;09 – 00;41;13;12

Ruben

Oh, that’s that’s Howard Hughes.

00;41;13;18 – 00;41;37;08

Aaron

That’s what I was like a Howard Hughes. So like, here’s this guy in his in his own life that was a genius and and people who is highly heralded. But in the at the end though, he did all these great things that were what you said with the Silverman medal was right he was there. But his significance in the long because Musk comes back to this guy and they had this conversation, he says, you know, Hughes was not who I am.

00;41;37;08 – 00;41;59;23

Aaron

I’m no Howard Hughes because Howard Hughes, his his inventions did not have a significant impact on the people. Does anyone driver or ride around in a wooden plane anymore? It’s like that was cool back then for that moment. But ultimately it didn’t impact humanity. And what we do at Tesla impacts, I want to have significant impact well beyond my.

00;41;59;23 – 00;42;00;05

Ruben

Life.

00;42;00;19 – 00;42;04;18

Ruben

And jobs. You know, Steve Jobs, you want to put a dent in the universe. Yeah, that’s pretty big goal.

00;42;04;18 – 00;42;05;16

Ruben

Yeah.

00;42;05;16 – 00;42;07;10

Ruben

And so, yeah, yeah.

00;42;07;17 – 00;42;13;24

Aaron

That that’s the highest level of drive. Yeah. That really it keeps on going.

00;42;13;24 – 00;42;44;14

Jon

You know, it’s a matter of staying the course, being consistently good enough, continuing to shave off the crud and the target will reveal itself. Right. You were in that pursuit, Ruben, and you went and spoke to some kids and it started a 20 year speaking career. Right? You looked for what? Can I just outlast people in And you have 40 years of luge and you’re going for five games in five decades for 50 years, setting another record, right for yourself, because you’re like, if well, if I could do this, What if I could do that?

00;42;44;24 – 00;43;02;05

Jon

Right? So you’re going to give it your all and you’re pursuing that. It’s like in the luge became your first target, right? The thing that you could put on the wall and pursue and keep in front of your face and do. And that’s a beautiful thing. And it draws you forward. And it’s like, that is so gorgeous when you find the target that you can aim of your being at.

00;43;02;26 – 00;43;08;16

Jon

That’s a gorgeous it’s a good thing. And then you know what you could be if you said if you just threw in the towel that what.

00;43;08;16 – 00;43;30;13

Ruben

If it gives you purpose. Yeah. It feels like, you know, it just it’s like life is so unfocused. If you don’t have a dream or a goal, you’re not, you know, you’re all over the place. You just wandering aimlessly right? But when you find something that’s really important to you, right? Your goal, not what your mom and dad want you to do, just what you put in your heart.

00;43;30;17 – 00;43;53;20

Ruben

Mm. Everything focuses and everything makes more sense. And you have more, like I said, a purpose, right? And it feels good inside. And by the way, I don’t know what made me think of this, but I hated the luge. Okay, I’ll kill myself out there the first, you know, even the through three Olympics. And this is because I didn’t listen to coaches too much.

00;43;53;20 – 00;44;21;20

Ruben

Okay? I’m a hard head, which is good, because a hard head, you know, makes you perseverant. But I’m also a hard hit. I don’t like people telling me what to do when I’m highly unemployable. It’s a good thing and I work for myself. And so, you know, authority challenges, this is called that way. And so I would always part of me wouldn’t let go, you know, whenever coaches gave me instruction and and that slowed down my improvement.

00;44;21;20 – 00;44;43;00

Ruben

And when I started training for Vancouver and I was 45 when I started training this different coach, he goes, Hey, Ruben, I can’t believe you still scared, man after all these years. Me Still scared of sliding. And I told him, look, when he asked me, what’s going on your head as you’re sliding, I see those walls going faster and faster.

00;44;43;01 – 00;45;02;07

Ruben

I get tighter and tighter, and by the bottom half of the track, I can’t believe I can’t even drive because I’m so stiff. Amy, loose on the OC the top guys, when you watch a super slo mo video of a German sliding, you can actually see ripples going on his body because everybody’s everything so relaxed. They look like they’re laying on a hammock, reading a paperback.

00;45;02;07 – 00;45;04;12

Ruben

I look like I’m a Bronco buster.

00;45;04;12 – 00;45;04;23

Ruben

Okay. Yeah.

00;45;05;28 – 00;45;23;03

Ruben

That’s how I. So he says, Coach says, Well, illusion, are you about speed as a what? It’s not You know, we’re surrounded by speed, but every track is fast. That’s a given. But it’s not, you know, you could be clocked at the fastest speed, but if you crash the bottom of the track, you lost the race loses about time.

00;45;23;09 – 00;45;43;27

Ruben

Who has the best time? It’s the only sport, winter or summer Olympics. It’s time to the 1/1000 of a second. Everything counts, okay? Even your breathing counts. Believe it or not. Hold your breath. The whole weight down. You’re half a second slower. That’s 100 nights. 500,000 of a second. That’s a lot of time. If you breathe, then you’re faster cause you’re a loser.

00;45;44;00 – 00;46;02;21

Ruben

So he said you need to put on blinders. Don’t look at those walls. Those walls are are. You’re focusing on the wrong thing. Don’t focus on those walls are just scaring you. You need to focus on a spot 30 feet in front of you. Your mindset needs to be what do I need to do in every section of every, every curve?

00;46;02;21 – 00;46;21;10

Ruben

How do I drive it to ensure I have the best time? And if you do that, if you change your focus, the whole experience will change in the field. Go away now. Trust this guy. And that’s one thing. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve trusted and and just let go and just, you know, just followed blindly because I know that they’ve got the goods right.

00;46;22;11 – 00;46;44;04

Ruben

And that night I did about a hundred mine runs, right. Visualization runs with blinders on, not looking at those walls. Next day I go take a run. The fear disappeared. Okay? It didn’t reduce in intensity. It disappeared. Changing the focus changed the whole experience. And what’s everybody focusing on today, you know, the economy, COVID, you know, oh, I can’t do well COVID here for everybody.

00;46;44;05 – 00;47;00;23

Ruben

Okay. And the economy. So don’t don’t watch the news, okay? Don’t don’t read the newspaper. You guys are laughing. I’m not the first one to set this on the news. You know how to get ratings? Two ways. Two ways to get good, good, good, good ratings. All right, Make you mad and make you scared because that gets you talking, right?

00;47;01;02 – 00;47;04;27

Ruben

But neither of those is good for your business, right? And so don’t watch.

00;47;04;27 – 00;47;06;15

Aaron

It is bad for mindset, too, right?

00;47;06;21 – 00;47;22;05

Ruben

And so your mindset is, yeah, what do I need to do next? 15 minutes to move my business forward? Who I need to call follow up, you know? How you doing? All right. Just to strengthen the relationship, whatever. But what I need to do on every session, every curve way to 15 minutes, this is it for.

00;47;22;05 – 00;47;38;24

Aaron

And this is what this is about. Fear. An excuse that other voices starting with your own. You got to deal with your own voices. But even when outside people say, What about this? Or you get a pass here, it really takes you from that. You say 30 feet in front of you is what there is what your coach is telling you.

00;47;38;24 – 00;47;53;01

Aaron

Right? You got to stay down the road mentally. But excuses bring you to the to the moment right in front of you and make you look at the walls. Yeah. As you say, in know, sort of like no, look at the walls. No, I’m not looking. Hammer down there. Stop. Stop trying to distract me.

00;47;53;01 – 00;48;14;29

Ruben

Yeah. Those first 25 years running scared, white knuckled it a white knuckled the handles on a luge sled. They’re just two pieces of rebar that are welded to to this metal bridge. And it’s just rebar. All right, So rebar about that thick. Right. A couple of times in the early years when I got to the bottom, I had built the handle from the fear.

00;48;15;27 – 00;48;20;00

Ruben

Okay, I can’t do that if I’m not scared. That’s like granny picking up a car to save a baby.

00;48;20;10 – 00;48;20;16

Ruben

Know?

00;48;20;25 – 00;48;39;02

Ruben

Yeah, that’s how scared I was. So I hated the luge. I white knuckle live for 25 years, but I realized that the luge is the vehicle. The Olympics is the dream. I got to ride that vehicle if I want it to the dream. I’m not going to do it on ping pong. I’m going to do it with, you know, well, luge is the one that fits me.

00;48;39;05 – 00;48;40;20

Ruben

So you got to ride your vehicle, baby.

00;48;41;01 – 00;48;42;20

Jon

That’s why the.

00;48;42;20 – 00;48;43;08

Aaron

Decision.

00;48;43;14 – 00;48;57;06

Jon

Right? Because if you’re facing something, you’re terrified to for 25 years before you’re like, oh, I’m focused on the wrong thing. And that starts to make it more enjoyable. What? Why? Why what? Why? For you. Why did you keep doing it?

00;48;57;16 – 00;49;15;15

Ruben

Why was it allowed to go the Olympics and the opening ceremonies? People say, you know, whenever there’s a Q&A at the end of a presentation, lots of times, especially if it’s getting close to the Olympics, they’ll say, hey, you’re going to get the medal. That’s not laughing. Right? And I say, Man, at my age, I’ll be happy to make the cover of AARP right.

00;49;15;15 – 00;49;37;08

Ruben

But but no, my for 80% think about this, okay. And it’ll suddenly make sense because the media makes it all about the medals, the medal count. Right. And if you got fourth place, you’re a loser. I mean, that’s basically how you paint it. Right? And think about the NBA or the NFL or or the baseball or, you know, the baseball leagues call MLB.

00;49;37;18 – 00;49;39;08

Ruben

MLB. I never picked.

00;49;40;03 – 00;49;40;08

Ruben

Out.

00;49;40;18 – 00;49;41;13

Ruben

Major League Baseball.

00;49;42;28 – 00;49;43;22

Ruben

So anyway.

00;49;44;28 – 00;49;59;21

Ruben

At the beginning of the season, there’s there’s only a few teams, maybe three or four teams are in it that year. You know, one of these is going to be Super Bowl champion, right? Everybody else either rebuilding or they’re going to be there in this lifetime, maybe in 90 years, like the Cubs had to go so long before they won.

00;49;59;29 – 00;50;24;18

Ruben

Right. And so when you watch the opening ceremonies at any Olympics, 80% of those athletes, they’re not in top echelon. Right? There’s only a few they’re going. So for 80% of the athletes to the Olympics, the opening ceremonies is the gold medal getting to walk in and march into the prize. I’m going to lose once now just telling you about it because it because you know, and it doesn’t wear off.

00;50;24;27 – 00;50;46;19

Ruben

It’s so so it’s and there’s all these pride races going on within the 50. For example, I was always around 45 right out of the 50 the way they and that reflects right Yeah 50 athletes 50 men get to go right in the old days and it was 40. And that’s one reason I start listening to coach before Vancouver because I was all around 45.

00;50;46;22 – 00;51;11;02

Ruben

Vancouver’s going to be top 40. So I was, I was going to have to be doing things that I’d never done before just to reach it. Right. And so and get this December 31st before the Olympics in February, that’s when they say, okay, these are the 40, right. I’m number 42. I didn’t qualify for Vancouver. Right. But it’s not over till it’s over.

00;51;11;09 – 00;51;22;17

Ruben

Right. The Olympics are in February. So I thought, okay, you never know. But I have to place in case somebody gets hurt. He gets in a car crash, broke his leg. Okay, Now I’m 41.

00;51;23;25 – 00;51;24;20

Ruben

Gets appendicitis.

00;51;24;21 – 00;51;25;01

Ruben

Hey, I’m.

00;51;25;01 – 00;51;27;02

Ruben

40, right? I mean, you.

00;51;27;02 – 00;51;28;00

Ruben

Think it’s possible?

00;51;28;02 – 00;51;28;22

Ruben

It’s possible.

00;51;29;00 – 00;51;45;25

Ruben

So what do you do? Well, you got to prepare yourself in case. And so Vancouver is the fastest track in the world. Why they set the when we first went there to learn that, oh, by the way. And by the way, if anybody ever tells you, by the way, that means the next things would be really bad news.

00;51;45;25 – 00;51;51;16

Ruben

By the way, the engineers messed up tracks 20 miles an hour too fast. What are you going to do? You know, you still want to go to the Olympics.

00;51;51;19 – 00;51;54;22

Ruben

Actually figure it out. But. But so?

00;51;54;24 – 00;52;17;24

Ruben

So the second fastest track in the world was the one in Park City, Utah. And so all of January, I was in Park City, you know, just getting some speed training. Right. Just getting my mind focused on speed so that if somebody got hurt and I got bumped up and then I had a gig in a speaking engagement in Milwaukee, speaking to about a couple of hundred salespeople, I had this big sign that said Believe and Achieve, right?

00;52;18;02 – 00;52;25;26

Ruben

And they weren’t getting happy. Ruben And they were getting Ruben is, you know, that fighting for his life for the Olympics. I wasn’t candy coating it at all.

00;52;25;27 – 00;52;29;05

Ruben

A little intense level.

00;52;29;05 – 00;52;30;07

Ruben

They’re getting more for their money.

00;52;30;07 – 00;52;31;15

Ruben

But hey, look at that.

00;52;31;15 – 00;52;37;09

Ruben

Sign. I look at the main manager and says, that’s a bunch of BS.

00;52;37;09 – 00;52;40;10

Ruben

But the guy goes, What I it Look, guys.

00;52;41;07 – 00;53;00;20

Ruben

Don’t tell me what you believe. Just what you do shows me what you believe. You got to believe to achieve. But just to show me. Okay, Yeah. You know what I believe? I believe that I’ll be in the Olympics in three weeks. Right? And you know what? I did my hotel room before I spoke to you guys about four on purpose.

00;53;00;20 – 00;53;22;00

Ruben

Four nonrefundable flights to Vancouver. Nonrefundable. All purpose. Right? Because I want a commitment in there from myself, my wife and our kids, and because I believe I won’t do it. Because if you jump, you know, if you believe something badly enough, we jump in that will appear. And I got a golf club that day. You know this guy’s nuts, right?

00;53;22;00 – 00;53;23;03

Ruben

He must’ve hit his head last time.

00;53;23;12 – 00;53;23;21

Ruben

And you’re.

00;53;23;21 – 00;53;28;19

Ruben

Right. There’s not buying at all. And when that happens is because they don’t believe as much as me. Nothing wrong with my message.

00;53;29;01 – 00;53;29;07

Ruben

Right?

00;53;29;09 – 00;53;55;28

Ruben

And they’re just babies, like games and stuff by accident. But I go back to my hotel after speaking to open up my laptop. There’s a message. Is that you made it. Norway decided not to send their three guys because Norway even though they have 4 million people, they’ve won more Winter Olympic medals than any other country. Okay? They’re number one because they decided because they’re willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it this successive decision.

00;53;56;01 – 00;54;14;13

Ruben

Right. Norway took that decision. And so Norway didn’t send their three guys because even though they were in the top 40, they’re not the no in Norway won’t send you two to go. They take you to win. So you got to be a top 24 Norway to send you. Hmm. So you got bumped up. You’re 30, 39 now.

00;54;14;17 – 00;54;35;16

Ruben

Oh my gosh. You know, at the opening ceremony, don’t care. Norwegian flag, man. They can. They help me more than anybody. If I got a Norwegian flag up, I’m actually on that side. I got my bookcases. I’ve got a Norwegian flag there, and I’ve got one. You know, whenever I do podcast, I don’t have a pocket or I’m a guest or I’m or I’m a guest shooting from home, which I thought I thought were going to do.

00;54;35;19 – 00;54;50;11

Ruben

I’m really glad we came here. Only live ones are so much more fun. But. But I got a picture of Norwegian flag in the back to right because I don’t wanna get a fat head. I always want to remember on a daily basis that I’m a four time Olympian with a little help from Norway.

00;54;50;11 – 00;54;50;23

Ruben

I is that.

00;54;50;23 – 00;54;51;11

Jon

Part of it.

00;54;51;11 – 00;54;52;10

Ruben

Like it?

00;54;52;21 – 00;55;20;14

Jon

It’s so much so you just get something. Some aid can come in when you’re not looking for it because you’re just nose to the grindstone you’re pursuing. I this guy was like, Yeah, you’re working too hard, Just got work smarter, and then someone rebuke too much. Sometimes it’s smarter to work smarter, you have to work harder. And it just it’s kind of funny because it’s like, okay, well, if you’re doing everything that you can, then it’s out of your control.

00;55;20;17 – 00;55;22;22

Jon

Maybe Norway will pull out their three guys and you’ll get it.

00;55;22;23 – 00;55;23;18

Ruben

Well, I would figured that.

00;55;23;18 – 00;55;24;15

Jon

No, of course.

00;55;25;15 – 00;55;43;15

Ruben

Yeah, but you don’t know. And it cuts both ways, right? Yeah. I mean, at the Calgary Olympics, Norbert Huber, who? Italian slider, he was winning everything that year. I mean, Norbert was going to win gold. And you know, the fight the race was for the race was for second place because Norbert had it two weeks before he gets appendicitis, he’s out.

00;55;44;08 – 00;56;02;01

Ruben

He missed the Olympics. He was never up to that level anymore because there’s so many good losers in German, Italy that he never you know, he somebody else took a spot the next time around. He was in the best in the world. But I was saying before pride. So I’m let’s say I’m 80. I had a World Cup race in the old days.

00;56;02;21 – 00;56;20;13

Ruben

I want to beat Pablo Pablo Garcia from Spain. He’s my best buddy in the circuit, but he’s always about five spots in front. If I beat Pablo, I want the gold medal. Right. Pablo is gunning for the Swede having beat me. That Swede Pablo’s, you know, Cloud9, the Swedes going after the Czech. The Czech going for this Italian, Italian going for this.

00;56;20;17 – 00;56;26;15

Ruben

There’s all these pride races, but the only one that anybody cares a TV makes people care about is the one up at the top.

00;56;27;04 – 00;56;31;00

Aaron

You know? So they have different markers. I know what everybody else is putting on them.

00;56;31;10 – 00;56;36;13

Ruben

Yeah. Yeah. We all we’re all racing against it. There’s pride in it. Maybe the best.

00;56;36;27 – 00;56;41;13

Aaron

Yeah. What? How many seconds are we talking about? You know, you want to beat Pablo? What are you going to do to be Pablo?

00;56;41;14 – 00;56;42;03

Ruben

Half a second.

00;56;42;12 – 00;56;43;18

Aaron

Half a second. Yeah.

00;56;44;03 – 00;57;06;20

Ruben

That’s. It’s bigger at the bottom. Actually. At the top. It might be 100th of a second. Yeah, Sometimes there’s a tie. There’s been ties. In fact in Park City. The, the, the men’s for Bob before for Bob for bobsled they tied first in second place tied to the 1,000th of a second 1/100 they do on and we do one 1000 but anyways yeah sometimes there’s.

00;57;07;07 – 00;57;18;19

Jon

What I love about that is the difference between getting great is like a huge leap right? It’s a huge span of performance, but the difference between excellence and perfection, like you’re saying, can be a hundreds of thousandth of a second. Yeah.

00;57;19;11 – 00;57;29;27

Ruben

Yeah. Between me and the top guys, you know, my best run, I’m about second and a half behind the gold, but yeah, yeah, yeah.

00;57;30;15 – 00;57;32;02

Aaron

Yeah, but. But I’m not in your world.

00;57;32;02 – 00;57;57;23

Ruben

The layman doesn’t see it, right? You can be standing right track. I look just like all the other guys, but. But I’m a second half behind them. Yeah, You know, and know. And it’s tough when you get to that point, to them to you know, that’s a better you get the the harder it to get the next I, I go to Calgary when I was 55 just to you know see if my body could handle six GS.

00;57;57;23 – 00;58;17;17

Ruben

You know when I start taking runs I realize how stronger and it was listening to coaches, I was learning faster. The more I listen, the faster I learn. It’s the best way to learn just that, to get better, to improve. So when we decided I win in October, just on a whim now slightly better. And so why you come back in December?

00;58;17;17 – 00;58;38;24

Ruben

It’s going to be a World Cup race. You know, if you if you can qualify that race, you know, you’ll be the oldest ever to compete in an international race in our sport. Cool. You know, Guinness Book of World Records. Right. And there’s another category, though. But so I go and every few years they change rules. And so I was going to have to buy a new sled, a new helmet, right.

00;58;38;24 – 00;59;04;23

Ruben

And so the and the new helmet comes with a visor. And the visor is big. You have to cut it. And and so we put the sled up on on this table and a buddy of mine to drink request from Latvia. He’s he helps the he’s the coach of the of the Canadian team up there. He helped me out He’s a three time Olympian super guy And so we got the sled up on the table and he’s cutting a little bit and I got to lie down and we do it over and over.

00;59;04;25 – 00;59;20;08

Ruben

You know, it fits right. And you want the visor to fit and it goes, okay, I think we got it. Great. Okay. So now I want to do a practice, you know, just like like a start and lay down. And I did right. And I still lay down. He looks at me, goes, That’s not how you hold the handles.

00;59;21;06 – 00;59;22;07

Ruben

I said, What?

00;59;23;21 – 00;59;24;24

Aaron

How many years into the sport.

00;59;24;24 – 00;59;25;25

Ruben

Or 30 years in the.

00;59;25;25 – 00;59;26;07

Ruben

Sport?

00;59;26;10 – 00;59;28;12

Ruben

That’s not how you bounce a basketball.

00;59;29;04 – 00;59;30;29

Ruben

I mean, it’s basically the same thing. Yeah.

00;59;31;11 – 00;59;32;12

Ruben

That’s how you hold back.

00;59;32;12 – 00;59;34;08

Ruben

That’s what. What do.

00;59;34;08 – 00;59;50;24

Ruben

You mean? That’s a whole handles. He goes a hold them. Like what? You always hold on like this, right. I mean we got the you know, like, like that’s a you’re holding like this, right, Like a fist. And whenever I, I will get to the bottom of the track, pick up the walkie talkie. Gunter Different guy. Gunter, The Austrian.

00;59;50;25 – 01;00;07;19

Ruben

Right. Ruben, you must relax. You must relax. I’ve heard that a million times. We never taught me how to relax. Right? Hmm. But he. So it’s. It’s helpless. It’s like telling somebody, believe in yourself. That sounds good, but it’s worth it. You know how you believe in yourself. Hang around winners, read a bunch of good books and let it percolate.

01;00;07;19 – 01;00;09;07

Ruben

Wait a few years. Just believe in yourself.

01;00;09;07 – 01;00;09;16

Ruben

All right.

01;00;11;00 – 01;00;17;02

Ruben

But he so. So I’m too tight. And which is make me slow and grunts. The Latvian.

01;00;17;15 – 01;00;18;28

Ruben

Says that’s.

01;00;18;28 – 01;00;38;08

Ruben

Not how you hold it because when you’re holding like this, your your fist, you make a fist. The tension starts up, your forearm goes to your chest. Now you’re all tight because your hand. Okay, you know what they say with with sprinters, right? Loose hands and loose jaw. You run a lot faster like this then like this. This your slow.

01;00;38;17 – 01;00;39;04

Ruben

Mm.

01;00;39;10 – 01;00;51;27

Ruben

Now says this is how you run. You hold your handles Ruben. You only hold it with these two fingers because they can’t make any strength and that’s enough to hold you in place. Okay. They’ll just hold you in place like a gun. Just think that you’re a you’re a cowboy, all right?

01;00;52;07 – 01;00;55;17

Aaron

Like that. From my perspective, though, that’s your seatbelt.

01;00;55;17 – 01;00;57;29

Ruben

Yeah, I know, I know. Yeah. And you’re like, I.

01;00;57;29 – 01;01;00;11

Aaron

Would take your four weakest fingers and hold your body.

01;01;00;20 – 01;01;01;16

Ruben

Flat like that.

01;01;01;18 – 01;01;06;21

Jon

I was going to ask, what did the next run feel like when you’re just holding on with two after 30 years of trying?

01;01;06;22 – 01;01;08;19

Ruben

Oh, well. So he says, okay.

01;01;08;19 – 01;01;09;15

Ruben

Okay, I do.

01;01;09;15 – 01;01;25;13

Ruben

That. And I was I was so mad when he told me that because I thought, here I’ve been suffering and barely making it to the Olympics, my first three, because I because I could have done this right. Why didn’t they tell me this right instead of just tell me movement? You must relax. Be one with us. Let’s have fun.

01;01;25;15 – 01;01;28;22

Ruben

Click. I saw.

01;01;29;05 – 01;01;44;29

Ruben

So. Okay, Ruben, try it again. So I lay down and of course, muscle memory. I grabbed it like the normal way it was. Ruben. Oh, that’s okay. I got it. I got it. I’ll do it like this. He does not get off the sled. He grabs a grinder, he cuts my handles and a half. So only two fingers will.

01;01;44;29 – 01;01;52;13

Ruben

Sit when I go. What are you doing? It was. I’m making you faster. It’s not a great friend. So?

01;01;52;29 – 01;01;59;09

Ruben

So that made me faster because I was able to relax more. It made me faster. So it’s great.

01;01;59;23 – 01;02;04;08

Jon

So tell me, how did it feel the first time you jumped on it? Grab the short handles in your fingers and.

01;02;04;12 – 01;02;06;10

Ruben

It was actually at practice it a lot. That meant.

01;02;06;11 – 01;02;07;09

Ruben

Okay. Yeah, right.

01;02;07;22 – 01;02;08;11

Ruben

Something new.

01;02;08;11 – 01;02;08;28

Aaron

You’re like, I got.

01;02;09;04 – 01;02;09;27

Ruben

I’m in other.

01;02;09;27 – 01;02;20;05

Ruben

Cases before the race. But you don’t. Right. But you can’t jump. Yeah, well, you, Tiger Woods don’t change his golf club. What is it? Golf swing, right, For the U.S. Open.

01;02;20;05 – 01;02;22;02

Jon

You don’t much of a choice. So he cut your handles off?

01;02;22;10 – 01;02;24;29

Ruben

Yeah, which is good. I mean, that’s a smart way to do it.

01;02;25;03 – 01;02;27;28

Jon

But sometimes you need to come in the nest. Yeah, right. Sometimes it’s.

01;02;27;28 – 01;02;29;08

Ruben

Like. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01;02;29;22 – 01;02;30;13

Jon

Loving Push.

01;02;30;13 – 01;02;30;19

Ruben

Yeah.

01;02;31;01 – 01;02;33;10

Ruben

But it made a difference. That made a difference how it did.

01;02;33;10 – 01;02;34;02

Jon

It was a big one.

01;02;34;21 – 01;02;43;11

Ruben

Yeah, I was able to. Yeah. Yeah. I was to circle to 2/10 faster, which is huge. That’s a lot of time winners. Let me, I will go for one more thing.

01;02;43;14 – 01;02;45;21

Ruben

Right.

01;02;45;21 – 01;03;09;29

Ruben

It’s a it’s amazing how the mind works. Okay. Myself and anybody else in the in the luge circuit, we take a luge run and without looking at the time, we can tell you within a 10th of a second what our time was. Well, in your head and we know what we were. We blew it. And in the old days and also we can tell you, you give me the list, we tell you the finish, because it’s consistent.

01;03;10;02 – 01;03;20;21

Ruben

It’s consistent like clockwork. And everybody’s hopefully at their best, you know, there’ll be a couple of guys that messed up is never going to be somebody. It makes a big jump. It’s because for success, you know, you improvement it.

01;03;20;22 – 01;03;21;27

Aaron

Crawl your way to the top.

01;03;21;27 – 01;03;22;27

Jon

Yeah, yeah. Crash.

01;03;23;11 – 01;03;27;00

Ruben

Right. Graduated to fall a really awful inch.

01;03;27;25 – 01;03;53;13

Jon

That’s good. So you have a very counter intuitive or counter mainstream story in that you started off extremely stubborn, which kept you from quitting. And over time you learn to listen and trust and apply those lessons. And that really helped. And what’s so cool about that is like, I think the reason I say it’s counter is I think the more quote unquote arrived people get, the more successful they become, the more closed off they can.

01;03;53;13 – 01;04;12;23

Jon

It’s a danger you can become to learning and new insights and stuff. And because you take you may or may not take your response at the handles for granted. Right. That you chose to be like, What do you mean I’m holding it on wrong and you like, wanted to see and then you sign your like, this is insane and then you let them cut your handles and then you test it and you’re like, Oh, thank goodness.

01;04;12;23 – 01;04;29;16

Jon

Right. You were willing to try this change after 30 years doing it. You’re willing to go back to zero on something as basic as dribbling and just how you hold on after 30 years when most people would say you’re an expert in this, you were willing to start over. And I think that there’s such value in that, you know.

01;04;29;16 – 01;04;52;13

Ruben

Yeah, yeah. And what keeps what I’ve learned is that what keeps people from opening up right and surrendering to a coach’s advice is control. We want to be in control, Right. And being in control, feel safe, but you’re tense. There’s always this tension because this fight or flight going on in you and you’re not learning, right. When you bring your going, when you’re right, you know.

01;04;52;13 – 01;05;14;04

Ruben

Right. Right. That’s so and so when you release that control and you just let go, it’s scary. Boy is scared to let go. But when you do, it’s like, oh, man. And now it’s easier. And we did a well, a bunch of us went to to Missouri three or four years ago for an a one hour trip. Right.

01;05;14;09 – 01;05;37;17

Ruben

And it was a caravan from Colorado Springs to Missouri. And I was I was never to the front. I was always in the back or in the middle. And I realized that after the first day of driving, I realized I feel so fresh, you know, my own tired because all I’ve been doing is following him. Right. I have to think they’re doing all the thinking.

01;05;37;22 – 01;05;56;11

Ruben

They have to worry where we’re going. Speed limit, etc. And I’m just following. And so if you just follow I’ve got a friend, the coach, right? A coach that has fruit on the trees and a coach that you trust. Right. As a person. Right. There’s that connection. Trust them. But if you got that, I go like, Oh, you’ll be amazed.

01;05;56;18 – 01;05;57;10

Jon

Do you know, it’s really.

01;05;57;16 – 01;05;59;22

Ruben

Got better gas mileage too, because I was drafted.

01;05;59;22 – 01;06;01;27

Ruben

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I.

01;06;02;06 – 01;06;20;08

Jon

I just saw a connection from earlier in the conversation that I think is really cool. So the first point when you went to that speaker who had 12 years experience and he made you earn the talking, right, it’s like to work with him. We were talking about how good it was that he set the barriers to entry for how he stewards and managers his own resources.

01;06;20;08 – 01;06;37;10

Jon

Right. But the same is true. It’s it’s a two way street. You had to test and find part of your criteria for testing someone you would trust to learn from was that they had to be a practitioner, not just a theorist. They had to show it. You know, you keep saying fruit on the trees. Success is evident now, not ten years ago, it’s now.

01;06;37;22 – 01;06;54;27

Jon

And those are some of your things to say, okay, I’m going I’m willing to trust you. I’m willing to learn from you. I’m willing to listen to you. Right. You don’t have some guy who’s been doing luge for one year. Come in. Make your grip. It was another coach who’s this phenomenal coach whom you trust, who’s helping you, Who?

01;06;54;28 – 01;07;01;03

Jon

Because those barriers to entry from your perspective, he has your respect. You humbled yourself and changed the game.

01;07;01;09 – 01;07;38;11

Ruben

Humble myself to the leadership of executive. Yeah. Yeah. Another guy. So that was Jonathan, the guy that helped me out with actually doing this with the handles. Jonathan told me, you know, don’t look at the walls. Jonathan Edwards, descendant of the original Jonathan Edwards. Oh, wow. Yeah. He competed for the US in Lilyhammer. Fourth in the doubles. So he’s got 413 and but there’s this other guy in order to qualify for for Vancouver, one of the races was going to be in Lilyhammer and I’d never race there before so I went about a month or a few weeks before the race to to train right to learn of the track and.

01;07;38;11 – 01;08;06;22

Ruben

And coming out of 13 on an Lilyhammer, it’s like an optical illusion, but it looks like going to hit the wall. I mean, it just looked bad. And I would also and that was enough to put me into a skid. I lose all this time I’ve I’ve corrected before 1408 correct me backtrack you going to have to really back in the early days when we were learning how to luge, even even through the first Olympics, I would say we take the runs and then in the evening videotaping us.

01;08;06;22 – 01;08;29;09

Ruben

Right. And so we watch. Right. And we have to, you know, so we can learn, right? We coaches looking for how to learn, how to how to get to the next level. And it might be a video of a curve, 13 to 14. And I made a mistake, but or maybe I’m going in too late and to 14 I need earlier and but but I made a correction and I got back in the proper line and I was able enter properly.

01;08;29;09 – 01;09;03;10

Ruben

Right. And he would always point out, Ruben, you made correction. You made a correction. That’s good. You have to be always ready to make correction right. Pivot pivots the word these days. Right. There’s changes out there. Whoever adjusts first wins. You want to beat your competition being, you know, you got to be agile. Yeah and so correction so I got a little hammer and and you know I mess it up coming out of 30 and coaches know I know Ruben what’s wrong You know you’re if 13 is good your line out of 13 is really good.

01;09;03;10 – 01;09;11;08

Ruben

What are you guys. Yeah it looks like I’m going to crash. Well, don’t look at that. That’s all he says, right? Because he had no clue how the mind works. He’s just a technician. World champion coach.

01;09;12;05 – 01;09;15;00

Ruben

Yes. I mean, there’s very few coaches that just.

01;09;15;00 – 01;09;15;13

Aaron

Just.

01;09;15;13 – 01;09;33;00

Ruben

Yeah, Yeah, but he’s not complete coach. He’s a better athlete than I kind of like when they they you got a sales team and the the sales manager quits or gets fired and they promote, you know, the best salesman who probably doesn’t know you know whether best salesman.

01;09;33;00 – 01;09;34;14

Aaron

Doesn’t mean they’re an asset or a manager.

01;09;34;14 – 01;09;38;17

Ruben

Even if he’s not a good leader. Yeah, not necessarily. Right. Right. He just got promoted. So.

01;09;39;01 – 01;09;41;12

Jon

God, what a fallacy that’s so pervasive, right?

01;09;41;20 – 01;10;05;00

Ruben

Yes, it is. I mean, it happened to me when I sold copiers and and stunk, But. But. Well, just don’t do it, Ruben, don’t. It’s okay. And then he showed me on the videos. Yeah, my lines were great coming out of 13, but I didn’t help the problem. So I come back home. I was going to have a few days for about a week, week and a half for him to fly back to.

01;10;05;15 – 01;10;28;05

Ruben

And I’ve got a friend in Houston where I lived at the time. He was a top, top boxer for the US Golden Gloves champ, and he almost made the one fight away from making the 1984 L.A. Olympics Welterweight. I mean, but more importantly, he’s he knows nlp hypnosis. He knows, you know, he you know, he can get in my head.

01;10;28;15 – 01;10;44;25

Ruben

These both these guys done is Don Acres as well. I call them up. They dances. What’s going on? Piece of cake. Bring your sled over to my house. We’ll figure that out. So we put the sled in his living room. I’ll lay down and he goes, okay, take a mine run from from the top. And I’m going to ask you the same thing a bunch of different ways.

01;10;45;06 – 01;10;59;11

Ruben

Bear with me, because I don’t know what’s going to elicit the quite the answer from your from mind. So just bear with me. Basically, you asked me, What are you thinking? What’s going on in your head? What were you feeling at that point? Okay, now do some runs from let’s just do from Curve ten. Let’s not waste.

01;10;59;13 – 01;10;59;23

Ruben

Time.

01;11;01;10 – 01;11;18;29

Ruben

He keeps asking me, you know, as I come out of 13, what you know, what are you thinking? And I said, Here it comes, Here comes, here it comes. Are you crazy? You’re being totally reactive, man. I mean, you got to be proactive. Your new mantra is, here I come. You’re going to stick it to the track the other way around.

01;11;18;29 – 01;11;38;03

Ruben

All right, here I come. And so here I come. And I had it everywhere on my bookmarks. I still have bookmarks store for over ten years ago. I still have bookmarks here I come. I put in from my my drive, my, my, my steering wheel everywhere Here I come here I come here I come and I go back to little hammer.

01;11;38;28 – 01;11;58;20

Ruben

Piece of cake here I come on my sled and the cowling. Right right in front. It says, you know, it says, Here I come. Smile. Have fun. That’s my last. There you go. Mindset before I’m a performer, because when you’re performing, you’re not ready for it. You can’t be thinking especially at that speed. You just have to trust that you’re will let you do what you need to do.

01;11;58;27 – 01;12;11;18

Ruben

And the more you do that, the better chance getting in the zone, right? So my switch, because you have to come up with a switch to go from conscious to subconscious that’s it, you know, smile, have fun. You know you’re I go boom, boom.

01;12;12;15 – 01;12;12;26

Ruben

Boom.

01;12;12;26 – 01;12;15;13

Aaron

Wow. From anxiety to excitement. Yeah.

01;12;15;21 – 01;12;16;10

Ruben

And from there I.

01;12;16;10 – 01;12;19;20

Aaron

Come to focus. Yeah, yeah. Here I come.

01;12;20;11 – 01;12;41;20

Jon

So you’ve. I love the switch part of that too. Like mental switches. They’re so helpful. But you keep touching the torch, and I’ve never seen one in person. I’ve only seen, like, the far videos, like, of them. I was hoping maybe because we do have this on video also, you could kind of walk through what you shared with us at the beginning on the different colors and kind of some fun there.

01;12;41;27 – 01;12;42;04

Ruben

Let me.

01;12;42;07 – 01;12;43;19

Jon

And why the heck were you given it?

01;12;44;19 – 01;12;46;23

Ruben

I don’t know, man. There was a guy.

01;12;47;02 – 01;13;09;18

Ruben

But the switch reminded me. Yeah, your attitude and how you have to be. Okay, we’re sitting right here. We’re in, you know, having a blast. But You know, we’re working, right? We’re trying to get a good product out for for the listeners, right? So that’s the mindset. When we cross that threshold, we got kids and family. So it’s going to you got to make a switch mentally.

01;13;10;01 – 01;13;20;08

Ruben

Let yourself know as soon as I walk that now I’m dead, right? You Walk out the bottom. You know, maybe, maybe just your wife’s there now. Husband It’s a different.

01;13;20;20 – 01;13;22;05

Aaron

We’ve had this conversation and that’s.

01;13;22;05 – 01;13;30;19

Ruben

A switch that you do all the time, all day long, especially if you’re home schooling. You know, you got your office at home and you guys homeschool.

01;13;31;12 – 01;13;37;09

Jon

We happened this right now we’re not. Okay, But I know what you’re saying is it’s like I’m professional, I’m husband, I’m father, I’m teacher.

01;13;37;09 – 01;13;38;23

Ruben

I’m not just I’m Reuben.

01;13;38;23 – 01;13;42;23

Jon

It has it has to be intentional. Yeah, it has to be intentional. Switch.

01;13;42;23 – 01;13;45;04

Ruben

Yeah, that’s it. Or it’ll rule you. Yeah. Yeah.

01;13;45;10 – 01;13;47;27

Aaron

And what job am I doing?

01;13;48;03 – 01;14;07;24

Ruben

What’s right And right now What’s up? Yeah, what’s my job right now? What’s my hat? What? Right And I learned this from Edison. Edison used to work in 90 minute chunks. Okay, 90 minutes. One thing. And I’ve been to his all the old place had burned down. I’ve been. I’ve been to museums. I mean, I’m a Edison guy.

01;14;09;04 – 01;14;10;00

Ruben

And so.

01;14;10;06 – 01;14;27;19

Ruben

I. He had a little pond like light, even a quarter mile behind his his laboratory. And he would work on something for 90 minutes, just one thing. And he go out in the pond and that’s where he kind of, you know, where the juices start flowing. Right. He like the fish he bring, you know, he might bring Tesla over and they’d fish or something.

01;14;28;07 – 01;14;48;03

Ruben

And then he go back another 90 minute chunk. And so when I learned that I my kids, I told Grayson, Grayson was like, he’s 16 now. He’s six. At the time. I told him, look, more or less I told them, Look, you give me 90 minutes. Zero interrupts, okay? Because every time that door opens, then it takes me 15 minutes to ramp up again.

01;14;48;03 – 01;15;08;15

Ruben

And we just blew 15 minutes for one second open. Okay, 90 minutes. No interruptions. You got me 430. We can play a game. We play ball outside and whatever you want, you jump. You’re the boss for 30 minutes, and then I get another 90. And if I can get four of those 90 minute chunks in a one day, that’s a really good day because it’s focus on one thing, right?

01;15;08;16 – 01;15;11;28

Ruben

Not on emails. And yeah, Edison, did you check his emails?

01;15;11;29 – 01;15;15;21

Ruben

Amazing that how blown away when I read that.

01;15;17;28 – 01;15;19;20

Ruben

Torch It’s from torch. Yeah.

01;15;20;02 – 01;15;22;26

Jon

Yes. Thank you for that extra story too. I do like that.

01;15;23;28 – 01;15;27;15

Ruben

Right. So.

01;15;27;15 – 01;15;30;22

Aaron

So can you hold this up a little bit because we’re. Yeah.

01;15;30;22 – 01;15;31;09

Ruben

Good there.

01;15;31;12 – 01;15;33;03

Aaron

Yeah, I can see it now completely.

01;15;33;03 – 01;15;59;19

Ruben

Yep. All right, so this is the Olympic torch from the Salt Lake City Olympics. It’s an icicle sea. And this slick part represents the represents the modern Olympics. And this pewter looking part is the ancient Olympics were supposed to hold it. They’re bringing the the was that the spirit of all the athletes whatever. Right. And then up here turn it around it says it it says trust me, light the fire with it.

01;15;59;19 – 01;16;23;23

Ruben

Right. That’s the motto of the of the Salt Lake City Olympics. And so and so they light the flame in Olympia, Greece. And it’s a whole ceremony that they do. And and they float They flew it to and since it was going to be in Salt Lake City, they fly it. They try to fly to the last city in that country that had the Olympics were the flame, was England, was Atlanta.

01;16;24;04 – 01;16;40;25

Ruben

Right. And from there I was 10,500 people were going to get to run at quarter mile each all over the United States. And that’s just a way to get everybody pumped up. Right. And only two athletes are going to get to run with it cause they’re trying to get people from, well, already pumped up, got to pump everybody else up.

01;16;42;04 – 01;17;04;05

Ruben

And so they call me up the are in February, they call me up in December. And they said, actually I must have been a little bit before that. But they said you’ve been selected to carry Olympic torch as that what it was. Yeah, you’re selected. You know, that’s why I’m not even close to being a medalist. I you pick me, right?

01;17;04;18 – 01;17;22;06

Ruben

And this is because your story is so, so, so inspiring. It fits our motto, right? We love your story. That’s why. So I said, when is it coming through Houston? And and she said, December 5th. This is December 5th. I can’t do it. I’ve got a World Cup race and ends, Brooke, Still trying to qualify for the Olympics right now.

01;17;22;14 – 01;17;27;17

Ruben

And I do it, but I’ll be back in January when I go anywhere. Gary, I’ll go to Alaska.

01;17;27;24 – 01;17;31;07

Ruben

Elect Alaska, right? Yeah. Let me see.

01;17;31;07 – 01;17;47;27

Ruben

And there’s a lesson there, right? If you want something, don’t part. Don’t be cool. Just let it out, right? Yeah. Because that if I hadn’t done it like that, I didn’t do on purpose. I just may be me. But she was. Okay, hang on, let me check. She went and checked the game back. She goes Kansas City January 9th.

01;17;47;27 – 01;18;10;29

Ruben

Can you do it then. And I said, Done right. So that door wasn’t closed And two things happened. Big on visualization, luge. We do lots of visualization. And by the way, visualization, it’s not so much about seeing it. If you can capture the feel, what’s it going to feel like that’s even more important. Okay. If you guys I mean, I’ll give you I’ll give a guy example.

01;18;10;29 – 01;18;34;11

Ruben

When you were a little kid and you got the basketball hoop and you’re doing the all okay, there’s 2 seconds. Go. He scores you. That’s visualization, right? You captured the feel of how you’re going to feel when you score that that’s that’s a visualization. Yeah. And it’s so soon as I hung up, I printed up a picture of the of the Kansas City skyline.

01;18;34;22 – 01;18;39;22

Ruben

That’s where it’s going to be. I went to the bathroom. I grab a plunger and I’m running through hell.

01;18;41;19 – 01;18;43;22

Ruben

It’s going be great. All the people going to be great.

01;18;44;07 – 01;19;01;24

Ruben

Okay, got it. I can do this. So programs that visualize everything across the street to my friend Tom’s house and Tom, he’s like, he’s like a cheerleader guy. You got to have it, Tom. All right? You got to find somebody that that encourages you. And no matter how crazy your ideas are, baby, I love you. You can do it.

01;19;01;24 – 01;19;20;00

Ruben

You know, you need you need that guy. And he’s so he and sometimes I’d be more my line I mean series are more my line in Houston he had this big conversion van and he pulled up in front of me and if he’s going somewhere, he rolls down the window, he goes, Ruben.

01;19;20;11 – 01;19;22;11

Ruben

I believe in you. You will be a three time.

01;19;22;11 – 01;19;33;00

Ruben

Olympians back then. You will peels out and there’s smoke everywhere I look. Oh, baby, I know that long ago. 5 minutes to go. More his long do, right? Maybe that’s why I did it. I don’t know.

01;19;34;06 – 01;19;34;16

Ruben

Why I go.

01;19;34;16 – 01;19;46;27

Ruben

Across the time to share the news I got me. I’m carrying the torch and he points to the event because he knew I was broke. And he goes, I’m taking you, buddy. Road trip. He drove me all the way to 12 hours each way. Wouldn’t let me drive, but man.

01;19;46;29 – 01;19;48;05

Ruben

Yeah, I want me to.

01;19;48;20 – 01;19;50;14

Ruben

Mom to get tired. You want to let me drive?

01;19;51;19 – 01;19;52;26

Ruben

Yeah, right.

01;19;52;26 – 01;19;55;25

Ruben

And that’s the torch. I mean, that is pinch myself.

01;19;56;04 – 01;20;13;26

Jon

So here’s a question I’m going to try and over milk what I can get out of this question. Okay, So years, you’re going you’re going for your fifth set, right? Fifth. First time Olympian. So you’ve been doing this for a minute, which is why I bring this up again. If you were to go back to your driving out to do your first run ever.

01;20;14;11 – 01;20;31;23

Jon

Right. And just think about your younger version of yourself, you could go back to 20 year old Ruben and you could only share three pieces of information. Right. That’s where some milk and I’m going to try and get three out of me here. You’re killing me. Okay, Go ahead. Yeah. What would it be? What would your three things be?

01;20;31;23 – 01;20;51;16

Ruben

You’ve got to follow that coach, right? You got to you got to let go. I mean, that’s that’s the latest one that’s made the biggest difference for got to find the coach. Find the right coach one that you trust Lego and our competition. Don’t try to be cool. Don’t quit. Just keep coming back. You know, keep painting that picture in your mind so you’re pumped up, right?

01;20;51;16 – 01;21;12;07

Ruben

So you’re me at the Olympic Training Center. The coaches are always painting the picture of how great it’s going to be, how great he’s going to feel when you’re walking in the opening ceremonies. And that keeps us in the game longer and keeps us excited. And they’re also teaching us. But, you know, you have to have and and they’re reminding us that they believe in us.

01;21;12;20 – 01;21;23;29

Ruben

Right? We have a, you know, a world champion coach telling you he believes in you, man. I mean, I believe in myself. All right. On his beliefs. The mind kicks in to surround yourself with those people.