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!

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09;23;30;27 - 09;23;17;00

Ruben

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 and you're not, you know, you're all over the place, you just wandering aimlessly, right?

09;23;16;15 - 09;23;02;07

Ruben

But when you find something that's really important to you, your goal, not what your mom and dad wants you to do, just what you put in your heart. Mm hmm. Everything focuses it. Everything makes more sense. And you have more, like I said, a purpose, right?

09;23;02;07 - 09;23;00;23

Ruben

And it feels good inside.

09;23;00;19 - 09;23;00;10

Ruben

Mm hmm.

09;22;59;03 - 09;22;41;08

Ruben

And by the way, I don't know what made me think of this, but I hated the luge. OK, 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, OK, I'm a hard head, which is good because a hard head, you know, makes you

09;22;41;08 - 09;22;28;09

Ruben

perseverant. But I'm also a hard hit. I don't like people told me what to do. Right? I'm highly unemployable. It's a good thing and I work for myself. And so, you know, authority challenges, let's just call it that way.

09;22;28;00 - 09;22;27;15

Ruben

And so I.

09;22;27;15 - 09;22;08;16

Ruben

Would always part of me wouldn't let go. You know, whenever coaches give me instruction and that slowed down my improvement. And when I started training for Vancouver and I was 45 when I started training this different coach who goes, Hey, Ruben, I can't believe you're still scared, man.

09;22;08;16 - 09;22;05;18

Ruben

After all these years, I mean, I'm still scared of sliding.

09;22;05;06 - 09;22;04;26

Ruben

And I.

09;22;04;26 - 09;21;52;02

Ruben

Told him, Look, he asked me, What's going on your head? As you're sliding, yes, I see those walls going faster and faster, I get tighter and tighter and by the bottom half of the track, I can't believe I can even drive because I'm so stiff.

09;21;51;18 - 09;21;37;16

Ruben

Amy loose on the OK, the top guys. When you watch a super slow mo video of a German sliding, you can actually see ripples going on his body because everybody's everything's so relaxed, they look like they're laying on a hammock reading a paperback.

09;21;37;16 - 09;21;35;11

Ruben

I look like I'm a Bronco buster.

09;21;35;11 - 09;21;34;13

Ruben

Okay, all right.

09;21;33;29 - 09;21;20;06

Ruben

But that's all. And so he says, Coach says, Well, Lucien, I knew 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.

09;21;20;06 - 09;21;09;28

Ruben

But if you crash at the bottom of the track you lost, the race loses about time. Who has the best time? It's the only sport winter or Summer Olympics. It's time for the one 1000 of a second. Everything counts.

09;21;09;26 - 09;20;55;24

Ruben

OK, even your breathing counts. Believe it or not, hold your breath a whole weight down. You're half a second slower. That's 100 knots. 500 thousands of a second. That's a lot of time. If you breathe, then you're faster because you're looser.

09;20;55;21 - 09;20;42;20

Ruben

So, he said. You need to put on blinders. Don't look at those walls, those walls are you're focusing on the wrong thing. Don't focus on those walls. They're just scaring you. You need to focus on a spot 30 feet in front of you.

09;20;42;04 - 09;20;30;17

Ruben

Your mindset needs to be, what do I need to do in every section of every hour, every curve? How do I drive it to ensure I have a best time? And if you do that, if you change your focus, the whole experience will change in the future.

09;20;30;17 - 09;20;18;13

Ruben

Go away. I 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 follow blindly because I know that they've got the goods right.

09;20;18;12 - 09;20;17;29

Ruben

That's that's.

09;20;17;13 - 09;20;02;16

Ruben

And that night I did about 100 mine runs, right visualization runs with blinders on, not looking at those walls. Next day I go, take a run. The fear disappeared. OK? It didn't reduce in intensity disappear. Changing the focus changed the whole experience.

09;20;02;00 - 09;19;50;07

Ruben

And what's everybody focusing on today? You know, the economy COVID, you know? Oh, I can't do what COVID is here for everybody, OK? And the economy. So don't don't watch the news, OK? Don't don't read the newspaper. You guys are laughing.

09;19;50;06 - 09;19;39;02

Ruben

I'm not the first one to said this on the news. You know how to get ratings. two ways two ways to get good heart. Good. Good good ratings. All right. Make you mad and make you scared because they get you target, right?

09;19;38;24 - 09;19;34;18

Ruben

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

09;19;34;18 - 09;19;33;27

Aaron

For mindset.

09;19;33;23 - 09;19;22;26

Ruben

Right? And so your mindset is, yeah, what do I need to do the next 15 minutes to move my business forward, who I need to call follow up? You know how you do doing call right? Just to strengthen the relationship, whatever.

09;19;22;19 - 09;19;18;24

Ruben

But what do I need to do on every session, every curve when you have 15 minutes?

09;19;18;13 - 09;19;04;15

Aaron

Move forward. And this is what this is like. Fear an excuse that other voices starting with your own. You've got to deal with your own voices. But even when outside people say, What about this or you got a pass here, it really takes you from that.

09;19;04;15 - 09;18;53;11

Aaron

You say 30 feet in front of you is what there is, what your coach is telling you, right? You get to stay down the road mentally, but excuses bringing to the like to the moment right in front of you and make you look at the walls.

09;18;52;29 - 09;18;46;22

Aaron

Yeah, as you say, it's sort of like now, look at the walls. No, I'm not looking, though. I'm looking down there. Stop, start trying to distract me.

09;18;46;22 - 09;18;32;26

Ruben

Yeah. So the first 25 years running, scared white knuckled it like a white knuckle, the handles on a luge sled. There is two pieces of rebar that are welded to to this metal bridge like that, and it's just rebar.

09;18;32;25 - 09;18;19;09

Ruben

All right, so rebar is about that thick, right? A couple of times in the early years when I got to the bottom, I had bent the handle from the fear. OK, I can't do that on my skier. That's like granny picking up a car to save a baby, you know?

09;18;19;00 - 09;18;06;11

Ruben

Yeah, that's how scared I was. So I hated the luge, a white knuckle it for 25 years. But I realized that the luge is the vehicle. The Olympics is the dream. I got to ride that vehicle. I won't get to the dream.

09;18;06;06 - 09;17;59;03

Ruben

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. So you got to ride your vehicle, baby.

09;17;57;14 - 09;17;42;18

Jon

Why the German, right, because if you're facing something you're terrified of 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?

09;17;42;08 - 09;17;29;28

Ruben

Why was this a go to 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.

09;17;29;26 - 09;17;16;10

Ruben

That's our laughing right. And I say that at my age, I'll be happy to make the cover of a repeat right? But but no, my four, 80% think about this, OK? And it'll certainly make sense because the media makes it all about the medals, the medal count, right?

09;17;16;03 - 09;17;13;08

Ruben

And if you got fourth place, you're a loser. I mean, that's basically how you paint it.

09;17;13;02 - 09;17;12;03

Ruben

Right? And.

09;17;09;16 - 09;16;58;09

Ruben

Think about the NBA or the NFL or or the the baseball, I don't know, the baseball league's call MLB, MLB. I know. Oh, Major League Baseball.

09;16;56;25 - 09;16;56;00

Ruben

So anyway.

09;16;54;24 - 09;16;40;23

Ruben

At the beginning of the season, 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 is rebuilding or there are going to be there in this lifetime, maybe in 90 years, like the Cubs had to go so long

09;16;40;23 - 09;16;40;02

Ruben

before they won.

09;16;39;24 - 09;16;39;16

Ruben

Right.

09;16;38;25 - 09;16;21;11

Ruben

And so when you watch the opening ceremonies at any Olympics, 80% of those athletes, they're not in the top echelon, right? There's only a few. They're going so from 80% of the athletes to the Olympics. The opening ceremonies is the Gold Medal getting to walk in and March.

09;16;21;11 - 09;16;15;06

Ruben

And it's like, I'm going to lose points now, just telling you about it because it's because, you know, and it doesn't wear off.

09;16;14;19 - 09;16;14;01

Ruben

So.

09;16;13;18 - 09;15;58;09

Ruben

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 like, it's not really 40, right? Yeah, 50 athletes, 50 men get to go right in the old days.

09;15;58;09 - 09;15;48;05

Ruben

Then it was 40. And that's one reason I started listening to a coach before Vancouver because all those around 45 Vancouver is going to be top 40. So I was going to have to be doing things I had never done before.

09;15;48;04 - 09;15;47;13

Ruben

Just to reach it.

09;15;47;03 - 09;15;46;24

Ruben

Right?

09;15;46;14 - 09;15;28;21

Ruben

And so. And get this. December 30, first before the Olympics in February. That's when they say, OK, these are the 40, right? I'm number 42. I didn't qualify for Vancouver. All right. But it's not over till it's over.

09;15;28;15 - 09;15;28;06

Ruben

Right?

09;15;27;24 - 09;15;17;07

Ruben

The Olympics are in February, so I thought, OK. You never know. But I have to place in case somebody gets hurt, he gets in a car crash, broke his leg. OK, now I'm 41.

09;15;17;00 - 09;15;15;24

Ruben

I guess.

09;15;15;22 - 09;15;14;13

Ruben

But as I say, I'm 40.

09;15;14;12 - 09;15;12;25

Ruben

All right. I mean.

09;15;12;25 - 09;15;00;28

Ruben

You think it's possible? It's possible. So what do you do? Well, you got to prepare yourself in case. And so Vancouver is the fastest track in the world. They said when we first went there to learn, that's oh, by the way.

09;15;00;19 - 09;14;56;11

Ruben

And by the way, if anybody ever tells you, by the way, that means the next things will be really bad.

09;14;56;11 - 09;14;55;18

Ruben

News, which.

09;14;53;27 - 09;14;48;05

Ruben

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

09;14;47;27 - 09;14;47;03

Ruben

You figure it out.

09;14;46;25 - 09;14;30;10

Ruben

But but so, 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

09;14;30;10 - 09;14;16;11

Ruben

in a speaking engagement in Milwaukee, speaking to about a couple hundred salespeople, I had this big sign that said Bull believe and achieve right. And they weren't getting happy Rubin, and they were getting Rubin was, you know, the fighting for his life where you went.

09;14;15;10 - 09;14;13;06

Ruben

I want candy coating it at all times.

09;14;12;00 - 09;14;11;19

Ruben

Definitely.

09;14;10;19 - 09;14;09;16

Ruben

They're getting more for their money.

09;14;09;16 - 09;14;07;25

Ruben

But hey, I love that sign.

09;14;07;10 - 09;14;04;06

Ruben

And I look at the main manager as this is a bunch of bees.

09;14;02;12 - 09;14;00;05

Ruben

That the guy goes, What does.

09;14;00;05 - 09;13;46;00

Ruben

It look nice? Don't tell me what you believe. Just what you do shows me what you believe. OK? You got to believe to achieve, but just to show me OK. Yeah. You know what? I believe. I believe it will be in the Olympics in three weeks.

09;13;45;18 - 09;13;22;24

Ruben

Right. And you know what? I did my hotel room before I spoke to you guys about for on purpose for nonrefundable flights to Vancouver. Nonrefundable purpose. 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

09;13;22;24 - 09;13;12;04

Ruben

, we jump in, that will appear. Then I got a golf club that day. You know, like this guy's nuts, right? He must hit his head last time. He's not buying it all. And what happens is because they don't believe as much as me.

09;13;12;03 - 09;12;50;15

Ruben

Not wrong. My message. They're just babies. Let's give them some stuff by accident, but I go back to my hotel. After speaking to open up my laptop, there's a message he said you made it. Norway decided not to send their three guys because Norway, even though they have 4 million people, have one more Winter Olympic medals than any

09;12;50;15 - 09;12;42;10

Ruben

other country. OK? They're the number one because they decided because they're willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes us to the successive decision. Right. Norway took that decision.

09;12;41;29 - 09;12;41;20

Ruben

Mm-Hmm.

09;12;41;18 - 09;12;28;10

Ruben

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 each sent you to win. So you got to be a top 20 from Norway to sent you.

09;12;27;28 - 09;12;14;05

Ruben

Hmm. So you got bumped up your 339 now. Oh my gosh. You know, at the opening ceremonies, all care. Norwegian flag man. They carried the help me more than anybody if I got a Norwegian flag up actually on that side.

09;12;14;00 - 09;12;04;08

Ruben

I got my bookcases. I've got a Norwegian flag there and I've got one. You know, whenever I do a podcast, I don't have a pocket, but I'm a guest programmer. I'm a against shooting from home, which I thought I thought, we're going to do.

09;12;04;03 - 09;11;51;14

Ruben

I'm really glad we came here and the live ones are so much more fun. But but I got a picture of a Norwegian flag in the back too, 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 little help from Norway.

09;11;49;12 - 09;11;48;28

Ruben

It's at that.

09;11;48;28 - 09;11;48;11

Jon

Part of it.

09;11;48;11 - 09;11;47;10

Ruben

Like it.

09;11;47;01 - 09;11;29;18

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. This guy was like, Yeah, you're working too hard, just got work smarter, and then someone reviewed too much.

09;11;29;17 - 09;11;17;01

Jon

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 and it's out of your control. Maybe Norway will pull their three guys and you'll get it.

09;11;17;01 - 09;11;16;25

Jon

But I.

09;11;16;25 - 09;11;16;14

Ruben

Would think.

09;11;16;12 - 09;11;15;04

Jon

That now have no seen.

09;11;14;09 - 09;10;57;06

Ruben

Yeah, but you never know. And it cuts both ways. Right? Yeah, I mean, at the Calgary Olympics, Norbert Huber, 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 nobody had it two weeks before he gets

09;10;57;06 - 09;10;50;12

Ruben

appendicitis, he's out. He missed the Olympics. He was never up to that level anymore because there's so many good losers in Germany and Italy that he never.

09;10;49;28 - 09;10;49;11

Ruben

You know, he.

09;10;49;02 - 09;10;45;09

Ruben

Somebody else took a spot the next time around. He was the best in the world.

09;10;45;08 - 09;10;44;28

Ruben

Oh.

09;10;44;18 - 09;10;30;11

Ruben

But I was saying before pride, so I'm let's say I at the I had a World Cup race in the old days. I want to beat Pablo. Pablo Garcia from Spain is my best buddy in the circuit, but he's always about five spots in front if I can beat Pablo.

09;10;30;11 - 09;10;23;29

Ruben

I won the Gold Medal, right? Pablo's gunning for the Swede, where he can beat you. Meet that sweet Paolo's. You know.

09;10;23;29 - 09;10;23;10

Ruben

Cloud9.

09;10;23;00 - 09;10;13;08

Ruben

The Swedes going after the Czech, the Czech going for this Italian town going for this. There's all these Pride races, but the only one that anybody cares TV makes people care about is the one up at the top.

09;10;12;18 - 09;10;08;23

Aaron

You know, so they have different markers than what everybody else is putting on them.

09;10;08;13 - 09;10;03;10

Ruben

Yeah, yeah. We all we're all racing against it. There's pride in it. Maybe the best?

09;10;02;27 - 09;09;58;10

Aaron

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

09;09;58;09 - 09;09;57;20

Ruben

Half a second.

09;09;57;11 - 09;09;56;06

Aaron

Half a second? Yeah.

09;09;55;20 - 09;09;35;01

Ruben

That's it's bigger at the bottom, actually at the top. It might be 100th of a second. Sometimes there's a tie. There's been ties. In fact, in Park City, the the the men's 44414 bobsled, they tied first and second place, tied to the one thousands of a second one, 100th the Dumont and we do one 1000.

09;09;34;15 - 09;09;33;09

Ruben

But anyways, yeah, sometimes.

09;09;32;19 - 09;09;21;14

Jon

What I love about that is the difference between getting great is like a huge leap, right? It's a huge spans of performance. But the difference between excellence and perfection, like you're saying, can be 100th of thousandth of a second.

09;09;21;10 - 09;09;21;05

Jon

Yeah.

09;09;20;14 - 09;09;09;28

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, you think? Yeah.

09;09;09;10 - 09;09;08;04

Aaron

Yeah, but but I'm not in your.

09;09;08;04 - 09;08;52;07

Ruben

World, 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 still going to have them. Yeah, you know, and and it's tough when you get to that point to them to, you know, that's a better you get, the harder it is to get the next

09;08;50;15 - 09;08;37;21

Ruben

. I I go to Calgary when I was 55 just to, you know, see if my body can handle six GS. And I went and started taking runs that I realized I was stronger and I was listening to coaches.

09;08;37;20 - 09;08;20;12

Ruben

I was learning faster. The more I listened, the faster I learned the best way to learn just that, to get better, to improve. So when we decided I went in October just on a whim. Now it's better and say, Want you come back in December, it's going to be a World Cup race, you know, if you can

09;08;20;12 - 09;08;04;11

Ruben

qualify for that race. You know, you'll be the oldest ever to compete in an international race in our sport. Oh, cool. You know, Guinness Book of World Records, right? And there's no category, though. But so I go, and every few years they change rules.

09;08;04;11 - 09;08;01;08

Ruben

And so I was going to have to buy a new a new helmet. Right?

09;08;01;00 - 09;07;59;22

Ruben

And so the and.

09;07;59;22 - 09;07;45;03

Ruben

The new helmet comes with the visor and the visor is big and have to cut it. And so we put the sled up on this table and a buddy of mine, Gunter Frank wreckages from Latvia, he's he helps the he's the coach of the of the Canadian team up there.

09;07;44;19 - 09;07;35;01

Ruben

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 lay down and we do it over and over.

09;07;35;00 - 09;07;32;15

Ruben

You know, so it fits right and you want the visor to fit.

09;07;31;23 - 09;07;30;23

Ruben

And.

09;07;30;13 - 09;07;24;22

Ruben

OK, I think we got it right. OK, so now I want to do a practice, you know, just like like a start and lay down. And I did.

09;07;24;18 - 09;07;23;19

Ruben

Right and.

09;07;23;19 - 09;07;17;19

Ruben

I still lay down. He looks at me. He goes, That's not how you hold the handles. I said, what?

09;07;16;04 - 09;07;14;26

Aaron

How many years into the sport are you.

09;07;14;26 - 09;07;14;10

Ruben

30 years.

09;07;14;10 - 09;07;13;19

Ruben

Into the sport?

09;07;13;15 - 09;07;11;13

Ruben

That's not how you bounce a basketball.

09;07;10;21 - 09;07;08;26

Ruben

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

09;07;08;14 - 09;07;07;10

Ruben

That's how you hold basketball.

09;07;07;03 - 09;07;05;16

Ruben

So what? What do you.

09;07;05;16 - 09;07;04;05

Ruben

Mean? That's a whole whole handle.

09;07;03;27 - 09;07;02;29

Ruben

He goes, I hold them like.

09;07;02;20 - 09;06;49;29

Ruben

You always hold on like this, right? We got the. Yeah, like, like, that's you holding like this, right? Like a fist. And whenever I would get to the bottom of the track, pick up the walkie talkie. Gunter, different guy.

09;06;49;28 - 09;06;34;18

Ruben

Gunter, the Austrian. Right? Rubin, you must relax. We must relax. I've heard that 1,000,000 times. We never taught me how to relax, right? But he is helpless. It's like telling somebody, Believe in yourself. It sounds good, but it's worth, you know how to believe in yourself hanging around winners.

09;06;34;15 - 09;06;15;03

Ruben

Read a bunch of good books and let it percolate and wait a few years and believe in yourself. All right. But he so, so I'm too tight and which is making me slow. And Qantas, the Latvian, says that's not how you hold it, because when you're holding like this, your your fist, you make a fist.

09;06;14;27 - 09;06;01;16

Ruben

The tension starts up. Your forearm goes to your chest. Now you're all tight because your hand, OK, you know what they say with with sprinters, right? Loose hands and loose jaw. You run a lot faster like this than like this, but this your slow.

09;06;01;06 - 09;05;50;06

Ruben

Mhm. This is 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. Well, just hold you in place like a gun.

09;05;50;05 - 09;05;47;23

Ruben

Just think a you're a you're a cowboy, right?

09;05;47;22 - 09;05;44;13

Aaron

Look like that. From my perspective, though, that's your seatbelt.

09;05;43;20 - 09;05;42;00

Ruben

I know. I know. Yeah, and you're right.

09;05;41;25 - 09;05;39;07

Aaron

I would take your four weakest fingers and hold your body to.

09;05;39;03 - 09;05;38;08

Ruben

Hold that like that.

09;05;38;05 - 09;05;32;24

Jon

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

09;05;32;16 - 09;05;31;12

Ruben

Well, so he says.

09;05;31;11 - 09;05;30;05

Ruben

OK, OK, do that.

09;05;30;04 - 09;05;17;24

Ruben

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?

09;05;17;22 - 09;05;14;09

Ruben

If they're just tell me little bit, you must relax. Be one with the sled. Have fun.

09;05;12;23 - 09;05;11;29

Ruben

But like.

09;05;11;10 - 09;05;00;11

Ruben

So so OK, Ruben, try it again. So I lay down and of course, muscle memory. I grab it like the normal way it goes. Ruben Oh no, that's OK. I got it. I got it. I'll do it like this.

09;05;00;11 - 09;04;54;12

Ruben

It does not get off the sled. He grabs a grinder. He cuts my handles and has only two fingers of that.

09;04;53;10 - 09;04;52;00

Ruben

I go, What are you doing?

09;04;51;20 - 09;04;50;11

Ruben

He goes, I'm making you faster.

09;04;50;01 - 09;04;47;06

Ruben

Up. What a great friend thought.

09;04;46;23 - 09;04;40;12

Ruben

So that made me faster because able to relax more. It made me faster. So it's great.

09;04;40;06 - 09;04;35;24

Jon

Plus, there's still tell me, how did it feel the first time you jumped on it and grabbed the short handles in your fingers?

09;04;35;24 - 09;04;31;13

Ruben

Tomatoes. Actually, I practice it a lot that, OK, something new.

09;04;31;13 - 09;04;30;06

Aaron

You're like, I got I'm in.

09;04;29;18 - 09;04;20;11

Ruben

Minutes before the race, but you don't, right? But you can't jump. You know where you Tiger Woods and change his golf off of what is a golf swing read for the U.S. Open.

09;04;20;11 - 09;04;17;22

Jon

Or you have much of a choice that he cut your handles off?

09;04;17;13 - 09;04;14;24

Ruben

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

09;04;14;20 - 09;04;11;27

Jon

But sometimes you need to come of the nest. Yeah, sometimes.

09;04;11;25 - 09;04;10;16

Ruben

I got huh? Yeah.

09;04;10;01 - 09;04;09;10

Jon

Loving push.

09;04;08;22 - 09;04;06;29

Ruben

But it made a difference that made a difference.

09;04;06;29 - 09;04;05;21

Jon

How did it was a big one?

09;04;05;03 - 09;03;51;10

Ruben

Yeah, I was able to. Yeah, yeah, I was to second to two tenths faster, which is huge. That's a lot of time. And let me I will give you one more thing, right? It's a it's amazing how the mind works, OK?

09;03;50;08 - 09;03;37;16

Ruben

Myself and anybody else in the in the loose circuit. We take a lose run. And without looking at the time, we can tell you within a 10th of a second what our time was. Well, it's in your head and we know what we are, where we blew it.

09;03;36;28 - 09;03;24;20

Ruben

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, it's consistent like clockwork. So everybody's hopefully at their best. You know, there'll be a couple of guys.

09;03;24;20 - 09;03;18;20

Ruben

A messed up is never going to be somebody who makes a big jump. It's because the success, you know, improvement in crawl.

09;03;18;20 - 09;03;17;27

Aaron

Your way to the top.

09;03;17;26 - 09;03;17;14

Jon

Yeah, yeah.

09;03;17;10 - 09;03;15;12

Aaron

Crash and graduate high.

09;03;15;11 - 09;03;13;28

Ruben

Quality, really awful.

09;03;13;06 - 09;02;56;13

Jon

Inch. 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.

09;02;56;00 - 09;02;42;02

Jon

And what's so cool about that is like, I think the reason I say it's counter that I think the more quote unquote arrived people get, the more successful they become, the more closed off they can. It's a danger you can become to learning and new insights and stuff.

09;02;41;20 - 09;02;30;02

Jon

And because you take, you may or may not take your response at the handles for granted, right that you chose to be. What do you mean? I'm holding it on wrong and you, like, wanted to see and then you sign, you're like, This is insane.

09;02;30;02 - 09;02;18;04

Jon

And then you let them cut your handles and then you test it and you're like, Oh, thank goodness, right? You're 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.

09;02;17;29 - 09;02;10;07

Jon

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. Hmm. You know?

09;02;10;06 - 09;01;54;05

Ruben

Yeah, yeah. And what keeps what I've learned is 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.

09;01;54;04 - 09;01;51;15

Ruben

There's always this tension because this fight or flight going on in you.

09;01;51;05 - 09;01;50;05

Ruben

And.

09;01;50;05 - 09;01;34;29

Ruben

You're not learning right when you bring it on, when you're right, you know, right? Right. So it's when you release that control and you just let go. It's scary, boy. It's scary to let go. But when you do, it's like, Oh man, and now it's easier.

09;01;34;17 - 09;01;18;09

Ruben

And we did a well. Bunch of us went to two Missouri three or four years ago for a one hour trip, right? And it was a caravan from Colorado Springs to Missouri. And I was I was never to the front.

09;01;18;05 - 09;01;02;07

Ruben

I was always in the back. Or in the middle. And I realize that I. After the first day of driving, I realized I feel so fresh and tired because all I've been doing is following. I didn't have to think they're doing all the thinking.

09;01;02;00 - 09;00;49;25

Ruben

They have to worry where we're going. Speed limit, et cetera. And I'm just following. And so if you just follow got a front the wheel coach, right, a coach that has fruit on the trees and a coach that you trust, right?