[00:00:00] Here we are at another year’s end. And maybe you’re joining me some other part of the year. That’s perfectly okay. If you haven’t been on the channel before, hit subscribe because content like this, things about running the podcast all evolve here on this channel. But today we want to reflect at the end of this year and think about what did we achieve. And this is a compilation of every single podcast guest I’ve had this year on the Smart Athlete Podcast answering this singular question of “How do you celebrate your wins?”
[00:00:32] I, myself included, am not really great at this. This is a question posed to me by my friend Amanda. She’s a high-achieving entrepreneur friend of mine, and she suggests many of us, these type-A personalities who have high goals and want to achieve things, don’t spend enough time celebrating them once we’ve got there, we want to move on.
[00:00:54] What’s the next thing? What’s the next thing, you know, we climb that mountain. Let’s go do that one. So I want you to join me in celebrating all of the guests that answered this question this year. We started it off in January with probably the best person I thought could ever answer this question. Ironman legend, Mark Allen, you can check him out here on YouTube his Mondays with Mark Allen’s segment. And then we have a multitude of people from pro athletes, amateur athletes, high achieving career people.
[00:01:26] They’re all smart athletes of some kind or another. So whether you have already achieved your goal or you’re setting goals and want to know what to do at the end of them once you get there, these are the perfect people to listen to, to figure out what should I do? Should I be doing anything? So stick with me for this year end round up of all my podcast guests from the Smart Athlete Podcast. Again, subscribe and hopefully, you’ll find some wisdom in all my guests from this year.
[00:02:07] I think the first thing that comes to mind is to celebrate the win. Like actually to celebrate it, which means, I think. People don’t often enough take the time to actually be super excited about accomplishing something great and big and acknowledging all the stuff that went into it. So there’s a reflection element to the win that is important. I’m a big fan of looking at if you really consider it a win and most things can be considered a win depending on how you look at it.
[00:02:46] And if it wasn’t a win, you could say. What was it about this that was a win, right? And so the reflection element of looking at what went into creating the win, was it the mindset? Was it the strategy? Was it pushing through difficult moments, you know, those types of things and then looking at what of those elements could be beneficial to bring forward? Into your future adventures or whatever the things that you’re doing, you know, can be useful.
[00:03:20] I mean. I would say typically for years it’s okay. Well, there’s I always kept, you know, cold PBR is in a watering hole at the bottom, the base of the climb of the Grand Teton. And I would come off the Grand and you know, when we got about a mile away from the trailhead, we would have very cold PBRs in, in a very cold river, and we would get to those PBRs, we […] and we’d celebrate and we’d say, “Yeah, this was, that was, that was the win.”
[00:03:52] And so we would toast to that initially. And it was kind of like a, you know, it’s a tradition of, of just camaraderie and sharing in, in the success of something, you know, not overdoing it with going out and partying too hard after you’re done with a particular thing is probably a good idea. And I think as we’re older, we realize the benefits of having a little more constraint that that sort of thing.
[00:04:19] But, you know, confidence begets but begets confidence. And even if you have a failure experience, you can reframe that and you can learn from those those those particular those particular moments. And, you know, my book, the All In Adventure Stories is really there are 17 different stories and each of them is a story about this particular adventure experiences a large majority of have something that went wrong or some significant challenge.
[00:04:50] And at least in some parts of the story, there’s some difficulty that was overcome. But each of them has their celebrations. That was, you know that in their own way. There’s lots of different examples of celebration. I’ll give you one little story of a celebration, which I think is kind of a funny story. Abalone diving. I think it’s a third chapter. There’s an abalone diving. I used to abalone diving globally, diving on the California coast.
[00:05:23] And this particular story is about a near-death experience I had abalone diving, very tumultuous conditions, and a whole series of different things came into this abalone diving to the point where I barely survived. And so afterwards we’re like, okay, well, we’ve got to try to make the most of this experience and try to reflect on what is the win? What’s the celebration of this perceiving foreseeably this failure?
[00:06:00] But the win was we were still alive. And so we went from our campground to the coast, picked up a six pack of beer, picked up a six pack of humpback ale. Appropriately went to the coast. We’re down looking at the coast and sure enough, we crack this beer. We’re looking at it. We’re celebrating being alive and right down the coast. The first time I’d ever seen it is a giant humpback whale and it’s swimming down the coast.
[00:06:29] And my buddy Paul and I were just, like, dumbfounded. We’re like, sitting there celebrating. And he turned to me and he’s like, you know what? We should have bought the Saint Pauli Girls.
[00:06:43] I have been focusing a lot of my energy at work, working with our team here and identifying and celebrating our wins. So I am probably a negative person in general, so I really overfocus on those wins. So after every long run, you look at your watch and your first reaction is like, “Oh, I ran a little bit slower than I really wanted to.”
[00:07:04] So I do. I did it this past weekend like I ran 20 miles last six miles. I was spent, but I spent some time. When I sat down on the couch, I go home and like, man, I just banged out the third weekend in a row of higher mileage than the previous weekend. So I try to pause for those things. And I also, you know, we get caught up in a lot of things, right? It’s family, running, social life, whatever it may be, work, obviously.
[00:07:30] So I also try to be really intentional about that. I get into work really early most days, partly because I like to sit in the quiet with no one around, get out some emails, but then I just do prepare and think about the previous day and what I accomplished and then start planning for that day or that next week. So I think it takes discipline and intentionality, but it’s super important.
[00:07:53] Well, the most recent one was hard because it feels it felt like it was like not, not the one. Yeah. So I’m not ready to celebrate yet. Maybe ask me in two weeks. Gosh, I guess from a literal standpoint, I mean, my sport requires a lot of support. And so a lot of it is literally celebrating with the people that helped me get here and the ones that will help me throughout the day.
[00:08:17] But. I don’t know. I think sometimes I feel like sometimes I celebrate the wins by remembering the lows, you know, like, wow, I, the winds are few and far between at this point. And so sometimes I like to kind of reflect and be like, “Wow, this was two or three or four years in the making.” So yeah, kind of taking some reflection time to think about where I came from to get there and then just some good old-fashioned celebrating too, and, and hanging out with people and just like feeling how good it feels because it passes quickly too.
[00:08:48] First of all, I think. Every single little one, every single wins, I’ll say. I celebrated inside of me because when I lose, I cry a lot, you know, and I’m easy going. Even then when I lose. Like you don’t have to win to actually win it, right? I mean, to be first and winning can be like I had a great race and that’s all I wanted. And I won at the time. And I’m super happy, right?
[00:09:20] But when you go under what you train and you don’t achieve what you were actually hoping to. That’s the hardest lose sometimes. And that’s when you actually have to really know. That’s a win, too, because that’s like, how do you want to get off from that? So when I win, I just I honestly I just smile and I can’t wait for the next challenge. Because that’s that’s like. That’s one. That means I gained something.
[00:09:56] And in the same time, I ask myself, Could I have done more? I don’t go celebrating a vacation or like a beer or whatever, you know, it’s like I’m going to go for next day run to actually celebrate my legs to see how they feel after the race and if I’m ready for the next one. Or the work. Like I, I made a huge project and it went better than I thought. I’m not going to be like, “Yes, it was me just because of me,” because I thought, that’s like, I’m putting the whole team in there. The whole team celebrating with them, even though 90% of it I’ve done it was something I prefer to get everyone involved.
[00:10:42] That was even this much part of it. To feel to make them feel the same way. And that’s the same thing either race or work or school with AJ or everything. I just like to put involve everyone that has been part of it. And that’s my biggest celebration to feel them good about too.
[00:11:04] How do I celebrate my wins? Large pizza. No just kidding. Well, sometimes. How do I celebrate — Yeah, I know, but how do I celebrate, honestly, is, you know, a win isn’t necessarily first place anymore? It’s okay. Did I overcome a rough patch? Did I do something previously that I didn’t think I could do before? And actually, what I like to do is just kind of sit and reflect on it and just think like, you know what? I did that and, you know, and just kind of sit in that positive emotion because it’s like I’m not always going to have that win.
[00:11:51] So we do need to kind of be in the moment and appreciate it and kind of have that sense of gratitude. So I kind of take some time. You know, obviously I’ll have the post-race meal or whatever that is, but I let myself be happy with what I just did. Like, I try not to think too far ahead because I know a lot of athletes are guilty of that. But it’s just stay present and be grateful for what you just did. How’s that for Esoteric?
[00:12:26] I actually I use a planner called The Passion Planner. I have it right here on my desk. I’ve used it for like ten years now, and I write down like the wins that happen every single week from the small things to the big things. And that gives me like the bigger picture because I think sometimes we get like so tied into like the narrow focus of like day by day. And so it’s really fun to flip back through and be like, “Oh yeah, I forgot that that awesome thing happened.”
[00:12:55] And then I get like a little, like excitement from that again. And another way I like to celebrate stuff is I have a small bottle of champagne that has been in the back of my fridge awaiting the day that I pay off all my credit card debt, which will happen next month. So I don’t know how the champagne is going to taste. It may be a little gross because it’s been in there for a few years, but it’s going to taste so dang sweet because I worked very hard to get there. So a little bit of both.
[00:13:24] I think celebrating my wins usually with the people that helped you get there, right, Whether that is someone that you help support getting to finish unbounced and like feel that feeling, whether it’s me realizing after three years winning Belgian Waffle Ride this year, like the first people I called after winning Belgian Waffle were the people that helped me get there. Because very few pathways are singular or alone. You might do most of training alone, but you have the coach, you have the sponsor that believe in you. You have the family that just constantly supported you maybe before, right?
[00:14:00] So those first calls were to them just saying thank you because there isn’t most sport you lose so much. It’s not. At least cycling, for example, is not a soccer or a football game. It’s not 50-50. Whether you win or lose, it is majority of the time you lose. Alex House said that really well recently. And it’s so I think the way I celebrate is trying to give the feeling that helped me get there, because that’s that is the biggest win, right? It’s the huge human nature. How do we be happy together? And it feels better when you have it with people. And even if that’s sometimes through FaceTime and not in person, it’s I think trying to share that feeling is the way that I celebrate.
[00:14:46] Well, yeah, whether it’s an athletic win or a business win, you know. It — that’s a great question. And, you know, I usually like to celebrate a win with the team that helped me get there. You can never, ever forget that whatever you’re doing, it’s a team sport.
[00:15:10] Even if it’s an individual sport that you’re in, there’s a team behind that individual, you know, supporting them, getting them there, whether it’s your family, your coaches, the mechanic, the […] you know, you have to bring that team together to celebrate. And in business it’s the same. You’ve got people behind the scenes, the sales guy gets the win, but it’s the people behind the scenes that are making it all happen.
[00:15:39] Without those people, there’s no way you’d get that win. So trying to get together, you know, and it’s tough for, of course, in COVID times to get that team together. But even if it’s a group call and you make time to thank people and give them kudos in front of their peers, that’s what matters.
[00:15:59] You know, I didn’t want to say this, but it’s honest. So I ran — you’re going to laugh. I ran a 50k ultra trail run with my sister two weeks ago. Yes. And it was the most surreal feeling ever when we got done because we really thought we might not finish. And we actually finished running and we felt awesome. And we were just so proud of ourselves because it hadn’t been easy to train for it and everything else. And I celebrated by drinking beer. How did they celebrate?
[00:16:32] Lots of people do.
[00:16:34] They had beer at the finish line, and I was like, Absolutely. I’ve been pretty disciplined with my training and nutrition and everything. I’m going to have a couple of beers, but I would say like beyond that and a little more serious, I — this isn’t much it’s not like, oh, I went and took myself on a trip or bought myself anything or what have you. It’s much more intangible.
[00:16:54] But I just kind of like when I’m going to sleep or when I’m driving and I just have time to think. I just really play it back in my head and let myself really bask in it. I mean, in high school, when I set when I broke 5 minutes for the first time in the mile, which is a pretty big deal for a high school girl, I think.
[00:17:16] That’s a pretty big deal for a high school boy. So much, so much bigger deal for women. But yeah, for anybody, I think.
[00:17:25] Yeah. And I distinctly remember laying on my back in the middle of my bedroom later after taking a shower and whatever, and just thinking about that race and just basking in it. And when I set the American record at the 2004 Olympic trials, I remember like, you know, I’d go to the grocery store and I’d stand in line at the grocery store. And I just think these people in these line don’t know. I set the record and it’s all I could think about.
[00:17:53] And I just let myself do that because I think you should you should give yourself credit. And obviously at some point you’ve got to come down off your cloud and move on to the next thing. But I think it’s really important to be proud of yourself and let yourself enjoy something that you accomplished, especially if it was really hard to get there.
[00:18:11] I think the biggest piece honestly is acknowledging and allowing ourselves to celebrate. Right? And like, frickin little things along the way. We think by starving ourselves sometimes of fulfillment and acknowledgment and victory, we think by starving ourselves, we’ll get hungry enough that we’ll want it even more.
[00:18:35] But, you know, if you’ve seen the the film Pumping Iron, the documentary with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno and all that, I think it was Lou or somebody Lou Ferrigno was talking about how, you know, the problem is you’re at the top of the mountain, Arnold. You’re at the top of the mountain. And so, you know, you’re not hungry. And he goes, Yeah, but I’m at the top of the mountain. And when I want the food, it’s there.
[00:19:01] When he wants the food, it’s there, right? So I think taking things in and having a system of celebration, honestly, where on a daily or weekly basis, especially for those of you who are in us, who are hard on ourselves, having an actual set scheduled system where it’s systematized that you are going back and acknowledging victories, I think it’s great on a daily basis, but if you’re not doing it all on a weekly basis or you just keep a running tally of what like today, that wasn’t a huge deal.
[00:19:33] But I simple things, dude. Like you paid for somebodies latte behind you in line. And then you don’t even acknowledge yourself for that. And because it goes unacknowledged, it’s not reinforced. And so it’s hard to develop a pattern of that type of generosity as an example. So what is acknowledged and what is rewarded perpetuates itself and like, attracts like, and you get more and more of it.
[00:20:00] When we’re beating up on ourselves all the time, all we get is more reasons to beat up on ourselves because we’re not doing enough. And that is not a healthy space to be in, especially if you want sustainability, maybe for short-term stuff. Know the game that you’re playing. Celebrate yourself, your victories and acknowledge yourself and put it in a system.
[00:20:23] I have –It’s funny, like me personally, since part of it was a personal question — I have a planning session every Sunday, and one of the things that’s in big, bold letters is celebrate your wins and celebrate your victories. And it’s in big, bold. It’s like highlighted how many times do I almost. The only way it could be more obvious is if I had it in a flashing neon light.
[00:20:48] And yet. It’s so easy to overlook because we’re just thinking about the next thing and what do I need to do next and what am I trying to do here. And we don’t sit back and build that positive momentum for ourselves. So that would be my encouragement to people is just systematize your celebration.
[00:21:06] Probably not very well, truthfully, probably not very well. I have extremely massive goals and I hope I’m not misinterpreting. I really like the Andrew Huberman podcast. I spent I listen to it quite a bit and —
[00:21:30] I was just talking with my physical therapist about that yesterday.
[00:21:35] So and I watched the ones about dopamine quite a bit. And I kind of naturally like don’t get I don’t like get overly celebratory just because there’s more to do. And so, I mean, I think I put a lot of work into just being happy with life every day and not looking for like this one thing that’s going to make me like, satisfied with life, like because I don’t really want to live like that. Like I want to be happy every day and I want to grow every day.
[00:22:14] So how do I celebrate? I think I celebrate by just, you know, being happy for the people around me. It’s probably how I probably celebrate. I try. I try to be happy for those around me, and then that kind of makes me feel good. And it’s great. You know, we hit a big milestone with the company. Pretty excited because, you know, that’s pretty cool to see the team achieve that stuff.
[00:22:45] That’s in a nutshell. I probably don’t do it well. And the reason is, is because I don’t want to lose my drive for what I want to accomplish in life. And even when I accomplish all the big, huge, lofty goals I have, I will feel great about it because I will look around and see how happy everyone else is around me. And that’s like, okay, good job. Like way to go. You know, that’s kind of it.
[00:23:12] It really depends. I went through a phase where every time I want to race, I have celiac disease and I love sugar and sweets, so I’d buy myself a giant cake. But —
[00:23:24] We’re talking not gluten-free cake.
[00:23:27] No, I’m talking about a real gluten-free cake.
[00:23:29] Okay. Like a really nice.
[00:23:31] Yeah, if I eat gluten —
[00:23:32] I thought you’re —
[00:23:35] If I eat gluten, I, like, react really poorly.
[00:23:37] Okay. I was like, I thought you were like, just, like, go off the rails and go, “Oh, no, forget about it.”
[00:23:44] No, I wish, though, like the, my point, gluten-free cakes are like to get a whole nice one. It’s expensive. I spent like 50 bucks on a cake. But now I think I celebrate with just, like, time off, like a week after where I just, like, don’t work and don’t train, you know, like that reset week, you know, that is just I like. So if I’m like thinking about dropping. I’m like, that week after week, I’ll feel so terrible if I drop, you know? So that’s a huge way I celebrate.
[00:24:25] Yeah, that’s a great question to me. Wow. Right. Right now, it’s kind of like reflecting on them. And I’m not necessarily an author, but I’ve been trying to write about each experience and each memory. I figure, like, of a certain person or place that impacted me and I’ll reach back out to them and like jump on a call and just like celebrate the kind of small moment that led to the bigger goal. So kind of looking back at all the steps helps me feel like this was this was a “we” win and not an “I” win.
[00:25:05] I think you have to give yourself time to let them sink in a little bit because sometimes they might not feel like a win right away or it might not be like, “Oh, I won the race” type of win, right? Like I’ve won by like writing an aggressive email before. I was like, Yes, I stood up for myself. That felt great. But I do think it’s important to let them sink in and to realize that you’ve done a good job.
[00:25:30] Because I don’t think wins are always this like, really clear-cut thing of like you’re the first across the finish line. Hopefully, people have wins in their every day. I used to have to keep an accomplishment journal so that I like could check at the end of my day, be like, “okay, what did I accomplish today? I need a positive.” If you’ve been depressed, you know what I’m talking about.
[00:25:55] But I do think that that’s important to recognize that, like wins and accomplishments aren’t these big things. Sometimes they’re I put on hard pants today, like I put on jeans or, you know, that kind of thing. But you know me, I’ll also be like, I get a mocha today because I went for my long run in the rain. So I think it’s like, you know, it can look different for different points in time and different styles of win. But I do think just like give yourself a moment to like, enjoy it and then kind of do whatever you got to do next.
[00:26:26] First of all, define a win.
[00:26:30] Right. And that’s entirely up to you to define.
[00:26:34] So at this phase of my life, my biggest win is when we have our three kids and their three spouses together. So we’re you know, we go to a concert and we’re all together and they have smiles on their faces. That is this kid’s biggest single win period right now. So. I mean, the celebration is a part of the win. So it’s like, here’s the win and we’re celebrating as part of that win.
[00:27:05] I think a big part of celebrating wins is recognizing the wins. It’s so easy to fall back on complaining about everything and griping and whining and being disappointed and thinking, oh, I could do better, especially in the context of mental toughness. Like I could do better. OK, probably, yeah, you probably could. And we have tools to help you do that. But. Did you realize what you just accomplished?
[00:27:30] And I think that’s the role of coaches in many cases is to broaden out that perspective. And because we get so micro focus. So, you know, I’m looking at this dot and this workout that I just finished, and doggone it, I didn’t hit those 113 splits on my 400 and I’m pissed and the coach is able to say, “No, you didn’t” and there’s something going on. Maybe it was this, this, this or this, but you hit 114 consistently and you had eight of the ten under 113.
[00:28:01] And did you know that six weeks ago you couldn’t break 118? There’s win. I got the win. So I think the coach the answer for the coach, and that is to broaden out this perspective from this microanalysis to the macro and for the individual, it’s clearly define what is a win. And in my tuning into those or I’m just one around wine and all the time.
[00:28:29] Oh, yeah, I’m really bad at this. That. That’s the journey I’m on right now. Another part of living sport, because the problem is in sport, there’s always a new Everest. There’s always something else like, Yeah, we’ve great, we’ve done this. I’ll be so happy when we do this. But then you do that. But there’s always another challenge, right? And and it’s such a it’s a high performance culture. And that the tendency for us all is just to search for problems to solve.
[00:29:05] And one of the things I’ve tried to build into my life is less external validation, less other people telling you a great job, other people saying, “well, you’ve got a cool job,” this, that and the other. More internal validation where this was my goal, I achieved it. And experiencing that joy internally. It’s it is not something that comes naturally to me, but it is something that I am actively working on.
[00:29:40] And I think that the first part of it for me was recognizing that internal versus external validation. And so that would be my advice to anybody now is that it doesn’t matter. What that external source is. They will never be able to provide you with enough where you actually believe it. You have to have your own checks of what success and failure look like.
[00:30:10] And let that guide you versus letting the outside world, because then you’re like a flag blown in the wind. You can be much more sort of value-oriented, much more. Much more guided by your own internal experience. If you’re responsible for it, then than if you’re just trying to make everyone happy and get a pat on the back and it’s not so. That’s it for me.
[00:30:38] Yesterday, I had a colonoscopy. And I got good news. So I celebrated by having dinner with some family and friends. And I celebrated by giving a gift to a stranger.
[00:30:57] So I guess the follow up is, is that a good question to ask people?
[00:31:01] Yeah, I think it’s a perfectly fine question. We should celebrate our wins, and at the same time, we should learn from our failures. Look, here’s. Here’s the problem, Jesse, is we think of success and failure as two separate things. I want you to think of it as one thing. It’s two sides to the same coin.
[00:31:20] So when you have a success or you have a win. What that outcome is telling you is keep doing that the way you’re doing. That’s working for you. Okay. So as a runner, if you run a PR, let that win, let that PR say your training regimen is working for you. Like your own point. Go forward. At the same time, if you experience a loss or a failure, all that is saying is, is that’s not working.
[00:31:50] We need to make a shift. But they’re both useful information. So knowing to stay on the path I’m on, that’s useful information to know that I need to change paths. That’s useful information. So it’s not that one’s good and one’s bad. The problem is, is we see our failures or our losses as bad things. If you see it as this is a lesson you haven’t learned yet, right?
[00:32:14] And if you keep staying on that path, you’re going to have more failure. Right? So, yes, you celebrate your win, but you also understand that the win is telling you that you’re on the right path. Stay forward with that. Right? And you should acknowledge these little things.
[00:32:33] I mean, one of the things that I’m really trying to appreciate is just the simple joys of life. You know, I mean, to have to sit at a table with people that you love like that should be a big deal. Like, let that be a big deal. You know, to, you know, maybe you get an email from someone who’s listening to this conversation and they say, “Hey, Jesse, you know, your conversation with Stan was really helpful for me.” That’s great.
[00:32:58] I mean, that’s the reason why I’m giving you an hour of my time, is if one or two people, it really helped them get out of the ditch or pursue another path, then it’s worth an hour of my time, even if I never meet the person. And I know that. And I’m willing to do that. And obviously you are, too.
[00:33:18] Oftentimes it’s with a ginormous burger or pizza. And really, just like for me, it’s showing my body gratitude. You know, every season in high school and college, I would have an injury and, you know, never knowing that, like, if I would ever be able to run or if I would be able to do big races.
[00:33:45] And last year, finishing the Squamish 50:50, like just like being so grateful for how far my body has come and that it was able to do something so tremendously hard. And I survived and I wasn’t injured. And yeah, just, just being so grateful for where I am right now.
[00:34:09] Like if it’s more of a personal thing, I got through a tough workout that I really don’t want to do. For me, it’s just kind of an internal thing. I just feel I just give myself a little pat on the back. I feel good about it the rest of the day. If maybe it’s something a little bit more professional, personal, maybe, you know, me and my family go out to dinner, celebrate something that way.
[00:34:32] Sometimes it’s, you know, if I’m working hard trying to do something, I just take a little time off. I just kind of chill out from the day to day. Just grind, grind, grind. Trying to just continue to do whatever I’m trying to do. If I’ve accomplished something or gotten something done, I’ll just chill out, take a little time to relax, reflect on it, enjoy it, just enjoy that, the feeling of that accomplishment.
[00:34:52] So, I mean, like I said, I’m pretty simple, kind of laid back. I don’t get too sanctimonious about things. But yeah, those are probably the things that I would how I would probably celebrate those wins beyond just jumping up and down with my arms in the air and in the back room where nobody could see me.
[00:35:12] Taking a moment with just a moment to reflect on all it took to get there and just living in that moment for a bit longer. And I do that by just constantly journaling and reflecting my thoughts on. Yeah, on the small things, the small feats.
[00:35:40] I call my friends and family. I jump up and down with excitement. I recently just passed the polygraph for firefighting, and that was something I was thinking about for eight months, about how scary it would be. Polygraph is not something that anyone does normally. You see it in Ocean’s 11, but you don’t want to go ever. No one ever wants to go do a polygraph.
[00:36:04] And I found out that I passed and I literally jumped out of my seat with excitement and danced around my house for like 20 minutes. So, yeah, I think for me, celebrating my wins and celebrating with others that there’s no point in winning if you’re doing it on your own.
[00:36:21] Pre or post-pandemic. It’s a great question. How do I celebrate my wins? Well, I think I probably. I think I probably and I don’t know if this is healthy, but with an intense amount of sort of meta-reflection on celebration of wins in the moment. Like I probably feel pride, I probably feel excitement. I probably seek I know I’m a recognition driven person. I seek the recognition of people I care about, even people I don’t know that well.
[00:36:53] But at the very same time, I’m also consistently peddling that philosophic dialog about like, did I just do anything like that? I didn’t win anything. Was that actually why am I? Pride is such an interesting emotion in particular for me to grapple with insofar as some of those philosophic convictions.
[00:37:14] So any celebration. Yeah, I like to share it with people I care about. I really crave the admiration of others in many ways and try to be honest with myself about that being a real driver for me and trying to use that in a healthy way and also try to mix that with a degree of humility about what I can actually reasonably take control of and. Hopefully, learn my entire profession, whether it’s through Endeavorun, whether it’s through my work in executive coaching and leadership development and training and some of the other stuff that I just do is really focused on trying to cultivate continuous curiosity and being open to how my own paradigms will hopefully shift and continue to shift over time.
[00:37:54] And just that being the constant. So I try to step up my wins by tempering down my sort of limbic reactions of pride and swelling and needing adulation with appreciation and thoughtfulness and learning and also lately nonalcoholic beer. I have really enjoyed a good athletic brewing and a cold shower. I’ve been trying to do the cold, cold water immersion thing to stuff up a little bit to doing that.
[00:38:25] So yeah, I think. I think that’s because. Or junk food, Oreos, fruit, snacks, all the sort of things that I hate myself for enjoying so much. I have a very, very sweet tooth. So I think those things. But yeah, trying to celebrate it with others is great. And lately when there are wins that I’m get excited about, I, you know, it’s really just picking my daughter up and kissing her on the nose and holding her, even if she doesn’t understand why. That to me is like that’s the win share, I suppose. Cool question. Thank you for that. That’s a really cool question.
[00:39:05] Besides going outside?
[00:39:06] Yeah. I mean, I can look at that as an individual or as a corporation. I think for me individually, I’m just excited about growth. So it’s never really a win. It’s just like an incremental step in and something new, something better, something more efficient. And so maybe that’s unfortunate because I’m never fully satisfied, but that’s really how I celebrate it. It’s like I have advanced. I know I’m clearly better than I was yesterday.
[00:39:36] I think for the company, it’s actually quite similar, you know, as we’ve aggregated more and more data and applied our data in different ways, both now the app going forward and the nature score data, historically, we’re finding all these new applications that are super exciting. We’re looking at urban heat islands as they relate to nature. We have a university studying crime rates as they relate to nature, and we also will be able to parse out individual health outcomes.
[00:40:00] So that’s all exciting. And I think for me, being curious and then seeing all these opportunities to apply all these new really amazing technologies to novel fields is just great. I mean, it’s super exciting.
[00:40:16] I’ve said this for a while now. This immediately comes to mind when you ask that question. The way you know you’re properly aligned in life is when you celebrate doing the thing by doing more of the thing. And so, you know, I did this whole this whole Bulgers climb, and I. I climbed all these mountains, 100 mountains in 50 days, pushing, you know, every single day.
[00:40:41] That’s an average of two mountains a day. Took it took a few rest days to let my body catch up. And then the thing I did to celebrate is I climbed one of the mountains. I climbed again with a friend who was finishing up the Bulgers list himself. And it was awesome, right? It’s like I genuinely love being in the places and doing the things that I do to to be able to be in those places.
[00:41:07] So it’s not like I need to reward myself with something else. It’s like just being out there doing it. And being present with it is the reward.
[00:41:19] The activity is the celebration.
[00:41:21] Exactly.
[00:41:24] I think a good thing for me, like recently, is. As I evolving as a runner kind of changing gears a little bit and putting myself, my family first in front of a lot of things. I think for me it’s celebrating with them and having them become a part of it and whatever that looks like. Maybe it’s grabbing dinner with my wife or just hanging out with the family.
[00:41:53] I appreciate them. I just, you know, I had a — I’ll give you an example. I had a paper published in a journal recently, and when it was accepted, I was and it’s not the first paper I’ve ever had accepted, but I’m no less excited today than I was when I first had a paper accepted. And so wins don’t come along.
[00:42:16] They are hard to come by. I have to work very hard to have a win, and so I appreciate every win that comes my way. I savor it and I appreciate the work that went into it. And when you talk about wins, wins, build confidence. And so wins can be big or they can be small.
[00:42:35] And one of the things I talked about, my athletes, you know, going back to the whole mental toughness thing is I have them keep track of daily wins and wins don’t have to be big. You know, if wins can be small, it could be know I didn’t want to go do this workout today because I was tired, but I went and did it and I actually ended up having a good workout.
[00:42:53] But write that down. That’s a win and savor that moment so that at the end of the week you can look at your list of wins and say, “Wow, look, all these great things I did, I want to walk this week. I’m having a good week.” My confidence is good because of that. And it doesn’t always have to be sports related. It could be anything I it could be family related. You know, it could be when I when I work with kids, I’m like, do you help your siblings with your homework or whatever? I try and give people some ideas of where those wins can come from because people are so focused on sport, they think all my wins have to come from sport.
[00:43:27] And I’m like, but life is bigger than sport. And so I think that wins are important and they have to be recognized. And if you’re somebody that can’t appreciate your wins, write them down so that you can see them and go back and look at them and see how much you’ve accomplished when you may have thought that you haven’t.
[00:43:46] It’s not with one thing, I don’t think, but it’s with a high degree of intentionality. And I’ll give you an example. We hit a certain revenue mark in our business this year and it was a goal of ours and when it was hit. We took the team out for a meal and we celebrated and it was done in a very intentional way.
[00:44:15] Same thing when I had I had a fitness goal. We were competing in the High Rox games. So it’s an athletic goal, I guess you could say, and won the US championships, went to world championships after that US championship win. We very intentionally set a moment to celebrate. It wasn’t that you just went right back to it. And I think I do that on a daily basis as well with date night with my spouse and gratitude journaling after my morning routines to be able to, “hey, what wins did I have and which ones can I be like super intentional about just being grateful for.”
[00:45:00] Well, when I finished writing my book, that was a huge win because it was two years of writing of just like, “Oh my gosh, just I’ve never dedicated myself to a project like that before.” I joined a community, I had wanted to join for a gardening group where you can learn all about gardening and the teacher helps you become a master gardener, or at least a better gardener. He’s a master. I’m trying to get to his level someday.
[00:45:22] And that was the big gift. And I held that. That was an important thing to hold in my mind because I was like, “Oh my God, this is never-ending.” Like. And so and, you know, it’s an investment in myself, and it’ll be a couple hundred bucks for the year to be in the group. And so I thought, well, that would be a worthy investment. So I would say at this point, like experiences or things that would add value to my life.
[00:45:45] My next one I’d like to do for another project I’m doing is painting. I want to try painting. I’m probably terrible at it, but I always see people paint. I’m like, Wow, that’s such a cool talent. I would love to try that sometime. So that’ll probably be the next one that I use for a project that I’m working on. So I would say experiences.
[00:46:03] Before I used to kind of jump from one to the other and what next? What next? And it’s exciting to get a win because it kind of keeps that ball rolling. So, I mean. I think it’s just like reflecting on it and seeing how far you’ve come. Right now, my win is my win of the day is bending my knee 110 degrees. And so just knowing that if you give that little bit every day, it’s going to add up. So I think it’s just mindfulness, just really taking that moment to appreciate where you’re at rather than continuing to think, okay, what’s ahead? So.
[00:46:49] How do I celebrate my wins? Like just acknowledging them. I try. Let me think as it comes to, I’m thinking of like my coaching clients and the people that I get to work with on a pretty almost daily basis. Definitely weekly, some most of the time. Daily basis and how helping people see their wins is such a wonderful way of celebrating them. A lot of times we skip over things because we don’t think they’re a big deal or we minimize them or so just the acknowledgment is huge. Next level, I like to send cards to people and they’ve done something great. I’m a good postal service supporter. Yeah. And just yeah, acknowledgment, I think is a really important, important piece to celebrate your win. PD has something to say about it to you.
[00:47:44] I think there’s a couple of ways I can answer that. I think in the workplace. I think making sure, for me, the win is about the team as well. And, you know, I might have had a bigger role than others, a smaller role than others, but making sure that the, you know, and as I’ve moved through my career, this is being done for me as well that the doors are open for my team that either reports into me or the new people coming out of college, making sure that the credit is given where it’s due and the win is for the team.
[00:48:33] I don’t know if I’m articulating that exactly how I want to, but it is for me, it’s really important to make sure that I’m not celebrating a win alone in a room because it would never just be me. There would be a lot of people around. So. And personally, I think I tend to shy, shy away from that. So I might do something with my office supplies. But I think for me being able to own the success and not be shy about it. That’s me personally to yeah. To and to take motivation from it. So.
[00:49:28] I think one of the things is that I don’t often celebrate my wins enough as a coach, like I’m invested in my riders doing well, but at the same time I recognize they had to make it happen. So I’m always a little bit detached from […] success. I think maybe the most concrete example of celebrating my wins is the season Alexey went to the world tour. I bought myself a new desk, which is still a desk I use, and that was kind of a recognition of I don’t I may never, never coach another athlete that rides at the world tour.
[00:50:05] And I also had a couple other athletes that are really good seasons that year. And so it is part like I may never have a season like this again as a coach. So, you know, occasionally I’ll pause and do that, but sometimes also like a cyclist. You’re like, “Yeah!” And then you move on to the next thing because there’s another race, there’s another thing happening. And so yeah, I would say probably don’t celebrate those enough in the moment. I’m like, Oh, that was exciting. And the next day it’s, it’s on to the next thing.
[00:50:40] I guess in my coaching hat I would say, yeah, you need to pause at least at the end of a season and like look back on all the things that happened. And yeah, sometimes we measure ourselves too much day to day as opposed to taking a big picture look at it. But yeah, the desk is sometimes something that I’m thinking about and I’m like, you know, that’s why I keep working. And it is good to have some reminders that sometimes it goes well.
[00:51:06] The best way to celebrate a win is to reflect back on it. Not just once, not just twice, but a little bit. Year after year after year after year. Just reflect back on it. And as you think about it, you will begin to understand many layers of what it was that happened to you out there in that course, many layers of what you did in preparation that enabled you to win it, and many lessons that would be what you would be unaware of had you not reflected back on it.
[00:51:39] And if you don’t reflect back on those wins. He may as well have lost because you missed the true gold of what could affect your life out there. You know, the last year that I raced, as you’ve been hearing me say, it was in 1995. That’s so far back that I can’t even do the math figure out how many years ago it was. However. I’m still reflecting back on some of the races that I went that I won and some of the races that I didn’t win.
[00:52:10] And something will hit me one day like, “Wow, that was the lesson on that part of the course” that, that I didn’t know before that got me through it that I can now use in this moment, in this other situation that’s challenging to me. And so that is the priceless prize is are those reflections and the lessons learned.
[00:52:36] You need to do it, right? Because the obstacles are fast and furious. Right? The down days, the hardships, the challenges. Too many to count. And life is short and you have to celebrate the wins, even if they’re little wins, because that’s what it’s all about. And for me, how do I celebrate wins? That’s really depends on the definition of what you call win.
[00:53:03] You know, when I can go to a place like Newark and see our Shay Cooper do his magic, and I know that the film has catalyzed some of that visibility for him, that’s a win, right? When you see a CEO’s mind sort of expand around certain notions, that’s a win, right? We have big wins and little wins. Know one of our films catalyzed bipartisan legislation. That’s a huge win, right?
[00:53:37] Another one of our films, we partnered with the Obama administration and the film ultimately raised. This was a film about undocumented students that built a robot and kicked the shit out of MIT. Right? Just a great, great David and Goliath story. And that film ultimately raised more than $100 Million with the White House in public and private partnerships with companies that were pledging to donate monies for STEM initiatives for underserved students —
[00:54:10] And for the listener. That was underwater dreams. Yes?
[00:54:12] Yeah. Yeah, that was underwater dreams. That’s a huge win when you can motivate third parties to kind of like, let’s dig in, let’s all try and move this wheel together in a way where there’s more access, more opportunity. And, you know, I didn’t come from money, but I’m white. And that necessarily means I come from privilege. Right?
[00:54:41] And I have been given opportunities that I know had my skin color been different, simply, you know, my mother used to say, “Mary, you’re always there when the bus comes.” And I never really used to know. I’m like, okay, she thinks I’m like, super lucky, like, you know, and, and, you know, in the context, especially after A Most Beautiful Thing, it became crystal clear to me that the bus would stop, right? And I get on whatever the opportunity was.
[00:55:09] But that if my skin color had been different, if I had been born in a different zip code, that bus would not have stopped. That bus would have gone right on by. And I think as I think about my own responsibility and how much more I can do and how much more I should do, right? To extend that umbrella of privilege. And what does that mean and why are so many people not included under that umbrella of privilege?
[00:55:36] Because, you know, we’re it’s just luck that we are born in the circumstances that we are. And as my friend Raphael used to say, you know, your location should not determine your destination. And out of the mouths of, well, he was 17 when he said that to me in our film. 1098 Raphael Gordon and how true it is.
[00:56:02] Oh, how do I celebrate my wins just in general? That’s a good question. I think. Oh, gosh. I guess, in a lot of different ways. But I think just recognizing them and like the sounds kind of whatever it might sound to people, but like taking a moment to write them down. So they’re actually on paper. So it’s like, “Oh yeah, I did have that win”.
[00:56:28] Because then it’s nice to go look back a year or two years if you’re feeling down or whatever it is, or you just need some inspiration. I’m like, “Oh, I can be my own source of that by seeing what I’ve done.” Like, I was just looking back on it. I’m not a huge notebook journaler or but I have sometimes in the past.
[00:56:43] So I looked back two years ago, I saw that I, I wanted to live in Colorado and have this current job, and I was sort of like planting those seeds. And I wanted to do a hundred. I had like or do a 50. I did my first 50 this year, but I wrote these things down, right? I want to have my own business. I want to do this thing. I want to work for whatever.
[00:57:01] And so it’s cool to like, write those on paper, put them out there, and then you look at it years down the road and you go, Oh, wow, I did those things. So it’s almost like writing about the winds before they happen and what they will be, and then really taking a moment to like, check them off and celebrate the fact that you’ve achieved those. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s the biggest piece I have, but just like acknowledging them in the first place and then relishing in them and kind of taking that time to be like, Oh yeah, I did that thing and that was pretty cool.
[00:57:30] Oh, I get some good food. I mean, I feel like I just eat good food throughout the training anyways. Like I get pizza like every week, like, you know, but I think that just like what I think about when I finish, like a big win, I’m like, ooh, I want like a good pizza or something like that.
[00:57:46] So I definitely, definitely do that. And then I just kind of just like sit with the feeling a little bit, just try to be like, okay, wow. Like I need to recognize some of those wins because they don’t happen all the time. You know, you probably know there’s a lot of failures and a lot of setbacks that go into every win. And then sometimes we just get these wins and we’re like, “Oh, that’s normal and move on to the next one.”
[00:58:08] So instead I just try to like, use that feeling a little bit like just try to like sit with it a little bit. Even if I don’t celebrate outwardly, at least inwardly, kind of be like, okay, I’m proud of myself. That was a good moment. Let’s continue.
[00:58:23] How do I celebrate my wins? The first thing I do is I smile and I try to pause and appreciate the win for what it is and not allowing myself to get too high about it because there’s going to be a low at some point. So you got to mitigate just a little bit.
[00:58:41] So I smile and try and laugh and appreciate the win for what it is. Then following that, it’s usually either bourbon or a beer. To celebrate the win. So if that’s on a patio, on a 60 degree day in January in Denver, so be it. That’s —
[00:59:02] We’re not in Denver. So don’t don’t go there.
[00:59:04] We’re not in Denver. All the time. We live in South Park. Don’t come here. Yeah, that’s. That’s how I celebrate my wins. I try not to get too high or too low. My most recent win was leaving my corporate job to go to work for myself, and that was a huge, huge win for me and could not have done it without the love and support of my wife and son.
[00:59:25] So that felt like a massive win and I was able to kind of pause and appreciate the win for what it was. And then I had a nice glass of bourbon and called it today, and the next day was Tuesday. So carry on.
[00:59:43] So for me. Wins have taken on a different perspective over the years. And I’d like to think it’s not just because I’ve become older. I’ll call it more mature. But I think I’ve learned along the way that and I’ve shared this with other athletes, we’re talking about the mental component and coaching other people and helping them with the mental aspect of training versus just the physical component.
[01:00:15] And in particularly in those folks that have gone through injuries or other setbacks if your focus is just on the win. Where your focus is on getting back to where you were, let’s say, from a comeback or recovery standpoint. And that period or that process may be in a comeback is defined by your doctor, by your PT whatever it is, as nine months or 12 months.
[01:00:46] And if the win in the event the goal is defined as. This much training, six months training, 12 months of training. You know, these intervals, this these benchmarks, these tests along the way, whatever it is, and it’s to get to the win. When you finish, you might just get a T-shirt. But if you’re present and you’re open during the process, during the journey, if you will, and you’re mindful of what’s happening during that process, you’ve got so much more to gain.
[01:01:25] If you’re mindful and you’re aware and you’re present through your comeback, you’ve got so much more to gain when you get there than just being where you were before. You’ve got growth, you’ve got new knowledge, you’ve got expansion. So it may not be the answer to you looking for, but I celebrate. I celebrate the win by being aware during the journey and trying to pull as much out of that journey as I can so that when I get to the win, I get more. I’ve got a bunch of t-shirts in the drawer, but I’ve got a lot better memories and experiences than I do t-shirts.
[01:02:07] I love celebrating my wins. It depends on like, what, when we’re talking about. So what I do with my athletes, I call them elevated moments. So I will do those on coaching calls with my athletes. Me personally, as an athlete. If I raise a PR, there’s definitely a margarita happening after the race. Literally still in my clothes after the Boston Marathon IPR a little over a minute, which I will take. We were at a Mexican restaurant downtown Boston with the margarita in hand. So that’s like tried and true. I think that’s so much fun.
[01:02:47] And then it’s also acknowledging the hard work. I think that’s important to not taking it for granted and then celebrating with friends and other runners who I run with and just making it fun. We get to do that. We get to celebrate our elevated moments in training. I will do that with athletes over the course of a week. Let’s celebrate something that you’re really proud of. And then also when we’re going into taper, let’s celebrate something and taper. And then also on race day, it’s a lot of fun.
[01:03:20] I celebrate them in a variety of ways. I — oh, gosh, I love this question. I guess I usually celebrate them like with friends and family celebrating those wins. And I’m not someone that likes attention, but I do think that it’s important to recognize when you have accomplished something or like, oh my gosh, yes, this was a goal. I deserve to like treat myself, however that may be.
[01:03:55] And so taking that time, taking that time for me, whatever that may be, again, like maybe that’s treat myself to a fancy dinner or whatever that may be. I think it’s important that way to celebrate, to celebrate wins and give yourself a pat on the back. But I don’t think I have a go-to even in I’m a runner and I have only like won one race. I got first place in this trail race I did a few years ago and it was awesome.
[01:04:25] And to celebrate that one. I just like told everyone I knew about it because, like, I was just so proud of myself that, like, you guys, I won this race. I like put it on Instagram or whatever, and I think it’s okay to like, just shout out loud about yourself every once in a while because you deserve it.
[01:04:43] I know you didn’t mean to stump me, but you’ve stumped me a bit.
[01:04:47] That’s good. And the reason I’m asking this is because I don’t think people do it enough.
[01:04:52] So. No, we don’t. We don’t at all. I like. Oh, my God. I don’t really sometimes, I mean, how do I celebrate my wins? I don’t really know. I ran. So like, for instance, a couple of weeks ago, I ran a 50 miler and I ran pretty fast around eight and a half hours, and I was super happy with that.
[01:05:07] But as I celebrate it, not really. I just rested and now I’m back at I’m back to training again. I don’t really celebrate my wins. That’s an interesting thing. I’m off to think about that. I’m going to have to figure out a way for me to celebrate my wins more. Yeah.
[01:05:21] Oh, how I celebrate my wins. You know, I came into my mind is my husband doesn’t come with me to all my races. He will come to a few races. And what he does do for supporting is he comes in from what he’s doing. He sits down and I go over that whole race with them. He wants to see my swag. He wants to see like, [..] all he wants to hear about the race and a lot of ways I get to recount it as well.
[01:05:49] Now, after the race, I want to make sure — I love Grapefruit Rattler, so there’s a celebration in there somewhere. And also another thing is I do a heathen week after a major race. And what that means is I don’t — I’m not concerned about training. I’m not concerned about how I eat. In fact, get away or don’t do not be in between me and the refrigerator or a bag of chips. That’s a dangerous spot.
[01:06:14] But I just let myself be and I let myself celebrate like, you know, soak it all in. And when I’m ready to come back, not when my training schedule says so. And my coach is really good with that. He’s — it’s what I am ready to come back. Then I’ll come back and I’m allowing myself that downtime.
[01:06:35] That’s a pretty solid. And in a way, you kind of answered my season one question. If you could only choose one recovery food for the rest of your life, what would you choose? Most people chose some kind of, I’ll say, junk food, but just like comfort foods. It’s like you put in all that hard work and then you want something. You want some kind of treat. After all the work and dedication and all that kind of stuff.
[01:06:57] Bacon. Bacon. There’s got to be bacon.
[01:06:59] All I can think of is an adventure. You don’t really have wins. You know, an adventure is an adventure. And that I’m not — not to say that I’m not competitive — but I don’t think that anything that I do really has a winning or losing element. It’s everything is just an adventure. So it’s to be honest, I think this is going to sound cheesy, but going on the adventure is the celebration and getting to the end game.
[01:07:36] Maybe some champagne is nice when you get to the finish line somewhere. But yeah, it’s just I would say that the process in general is like, I don’t hold back on treating myself. I’m doing stuff. So yeah, the whole thing is just a celebration of being able to do stuff.
[01:07:55] What I try and do every day and what I’ve learned in the last two years is I work to build every day and live it how I want to live it. So that includes waking up early. And reading. It includes doing something hard, challenging for my body, usually a workout, usually a Jiu Jitsu training that also includes going to the beach as much as I can.
[01:08:18] So usually that’s probably like four days a week and so that I think allows me to celebrate every day. Like that’s how I define it and that’s how I do it every day. Those are things where I’m like, “Man, if I do those things, it’s amazing.” And so I also do definitely set targets, at least for projects I’m working on, let’s say for work, or if I’m training for Jiu Jitsu tournament or if I just want to up my game.
[01:08:43] And I think what I’ve — so my point is what I’ve started to do is more place the celebration within each day and not so much set a target and then celebrate if I hit it. You know, I think the celebration has come more just from the creation of life and or of particular day and the particular life I want to live.
[01:09:05] And honestly, like if I reach a milestone at work or if I, I set a target to put out a certain number of videos during a certain month. “Hey, I’m focusing on video creation this month.” I need to create 100 videos. I don’t know what it is. I’d probably reward myself with one of those three things. I’d spend an extra hour at the beach. I would go train an extra hour jiu jujitsu, like I have just gotten very particular and specific on what I value and what I need in my week and my day to just feel my best. And I’ve really tried to strip it down and simplify it so there’s not a ton of extra crazy, wild things that I do only when I reach a particular outcome or goal.