#201 - Every Win Counts, with Olympian Doug Lewis

[00:00:00] Number one, accept them. They're going to come. They're going to be 90 seconds. And so that awareness, oh, here it comes. I'm getting flushed. I can't breathe. I don't know what my hands are doing. You know, all that. It will pass. And know that it's the same feeling whether you take it badly or whether you take it good. Whether it's a negative feeling or it's a positive feeling, it's the same feeling. You just have to name it something different. It's excitement.

[00:00:29] It's happiness. It's joy. It means something. Or, oh my God, my life is going to end. I'm going to screw up, right? You have that choice. So the situation's the same. I'm making a speech. That first thought can be, I've practiced. I've done this in the mirror a hundred times. I know what I'm talking about. I love this subject. That's the thought that goes to an action of confidence and emotion and awesomeness.

[00:00:58] Or that same situation. I've got to make a speech, right? And your first thing is, I'm going to stutter. I hate this. I'm not good at this. And that leads to not remembering emotion. You know, it can go. The thing is, you have control of that first thought, right? They're both BS.

[00:01:17] So why don't you pick the one that says, I'm great at this. I've practiced. And that leads to an emotion of confidence. That emotion leads to an action of just nailing it. And the result is awesomeness. So practicing, it's kind of like the little guy on your shoulder, right? You're terrible. You're good. You're terrible. You're good. If you choose the good thought, amazing things happen.

[00:01:45] If you are an irrigation professional, old or new, who designs, installs, or maintains high-end residential, commercial, or municipal properties, and you want to use technology to improve your business, to get a leg up on your competition, even if you're an old school irrigator from the days of hydraulic systems, this show is for you.

[00:02:08] Welcome back to the Sprinkly Nerd Show. Today's guest is Doug Lewis. Doug is a two-time Olympian, World Championship Bronze Medalist, U.S. National Downhill Champion, a broadcaster, coach, and founder of Elite Team, a program built to inspire and educate young athletes. But today's conversation is not really about skiing. It's about belief.

[00:02:34] Doug has spent more than 30 years helping athletes build confidence, push their limits, and find their inner strength. And what I admire most is that he doesn't only inspire athletes at the top. He inspires everyone. Whether your goal is five push-ups or 200, Doug has a way of making you believe there is more inside of you than you thought. So today, I want to explore where that comes from.

[00:03:03] Why do people embrace challenges while others avoid them? How do the stories we tell ourselves shape who we become? And what does it really take to become the best version of yourself? Doug, welcome to the Sprinkly Nerd Show. Thank you for having me. I'm very excited to be on it. And, Andy, you and I have a history. We've known each other since you were probably born. So I'm pretty psyched to be talking to you.

[00:03:31] For sure. For those that are listening, when Doug says, known each other since I was born, he's absolutely correct. Because if I'm not mistaken, my father was your fourth grade teacher. Sure was. Your father and my mother were fourth grade teachers and they taught a co-op class. So there was probably 50 kids and two teachers. And Mr. Humphrey, as I will always call him, your dad, was strict, was fun, was awesome, and very creative.

[00:04:01] And then in return, Mrs. Lewis, Doug's mom, was my fifth and sixth grade teacher. So there you have it, full circle. Crazy. So Doug, before we get into the actual podcast, can you share with the audience what you're nerding out on these days? Could be anything. Right now, I am the biggest ultra running nerd. So when I was an Olympic skier, I hated to run. Did not want to do it. Did not enjoy it.

[00:04:30] I had to do a two-mile test. I think it was 11 minutes for two miles. And once I did that, I would never run again. I just liked to ski and go fast. But after retiring, I needed a new challenge. So I started ultra running. So I've been maybe doing it 15 years. Anyway, I am nerding out what to eat. I have new heroes like Courtney DeWalter and Jim Walmsley. Like, I have heroes again. I get nervous talking about them.

[00:04:58] I'm nerding out so much on nutrition and training that it's a little crazy. That's amazing. Tell us what a ultra marathon, ultra race is, just for those who don't know. Right. So a marathon is 26 miles. An ultra, ultra marathon is anything over 26 miles. So it could be a 50K, which is 30 miles, a 50 miler. I'm into 100 milers. But there's 200 milers. There's 250 milers. That's a little over my head.

[00:05:27] But the 100-mile distance right now takes about 24 to 26 hours for me. And to be in your head for 24 to 26 hours with struggle and pain and joy is just what I love about it right now. It's an interesting thought that I'm having at the moment because that's a really hard thing to do. Right. That's freaking hard. Even you that you're doing it, it's freaking hard. And you could probably say the same thing about ski racing.

[00:05:57] It's very hard. Right. It's scary. And there's dangerous danger. And you could die. And you could hurt yourself. And there's probably something about those two things that make it interesting to you. Maybe. Maybe not. But as I think about that, maybe that ties into like your origin story in the beginning of why is it that you liked ski racing? What was it about it? And how did you go from enjoying ski racing to where you are now?

[00:06:26] Well, lucky enough, my mom was a ski instructor at the Middlebury Snow Bowl in Vermont. And me and my three siblings, we were raised on the hill. That's all I remember about growing up is like we're going to the snow bowl. Mom's busy teaching, so we're just going to ski. So I think for me falling in love with the actual sport of skiing, the speed, the pressure on your legs, the gravity, just everything about it, I fell in love with. And then you couple that with being part of a club. Right.

[00:06:56] So we were with 50 kids and I was one of the youngest ones. And so looking up to my brother and my brother's friends and my sister and having those heroes as an eight year old was just really cool. So you had that love of sport, this group atmosphere, which made it super fun. And then I'm competitive. Like I have to win tying my shoes.

[00:07:19] And so that little combination just grew into me trying to be the best skier on the planet. You know, the best skier I could be, which took me to two Olympics. Wow. And there's a lot of sports you could have selected from as a kid. And I'm sure you played a lot of different sports. I'm just curious, is there something about adrenaline in ski racing that made it fun? You know, you picked ski racing, but you could have picked any other sport to be competitive at. Why skiing?

[00:07:49] Yeah. So the fastest I've ever gone is a little bit over 90 miles an hour skiing. Like I don't even drive that fast. Right. So it is a little bit wild, a little bit crazy, a little bit over the edge. And I don't know. I've heard it described two ways. Either my screws are a little too tight or they're a little too loose.

[00:08:10] Like I don't know where I stand, but speed and seeing just how far I could push it between like a control side of things and catastrophe. So if I could ride that fine line between control and catastrophe, that's where I felt most alive. So I think I'm born that way a little bit. Ah, for sure. I think you have to be if you enjoy it. Well, if you enjoy skiing at all, you have some of it.

[00:08:37] And then if you're doing downhill ski racing, you probably have a lot of it. The way I describe it because people, I ski with a lot of people who want to ski with Olympian and they get very intimidated. I'm like skiing is one of the sports. Like if I'm playing tennis with somebody and someone's really good at tennis and I'm really bad, it's a nightmare for both people.

[00:08:57] But if you're skiing with somebody, like if my upper limit is 90 miles an hour and I go 91 and your limit is 26 miles an hour and you go 27, that feeling in the stomach, that adrenaline is the same. So I can feel and ski the same way with people who are my level. And I love that about skiing and I do it a lot.

[00:09:23] So I'm going to ask you about that in a minute and I'm going to skip a couple of questions that I have here. But I would like to know, you know, you have this gift for helping people, kids, adolescents, young adults, adults. When did you first sort of realize that you had this gift for helping people? I think it's a combination of things, but it first started with my mom. Right. So my mom would volunteer. She was a fourth grade teacher. She she would volunteer.

[00:09:51] And I just remember she would, quote unquote, make us my siblings and I. She would always volunteer with a group of disabled people, whether they were mentally disabled, physically. They just had struggles. And so right away, I was taking them to Ferry and Field days. I was right away with a group of people seeing empathy from my mom.

[00:10:17] Like and and that's where I think came from, from my mom. Right. People deserve our best. People deserve equality. And so I think that's where it started. And then when I got on the U.S. ski team, I was on with Phil and Steve Mayer, these incredible champions. And they were six years older than I was.

[00:10:38] But I remember them taking the time when I was when I was 18 and they were 24 and Olympic champions. They took the time to take me down courses. This is where you want to be, Doug. This is this is you don't want to make a mistake here. They shared with me the secrets and they helped me. So I was lucky enough surrounded first by my mom and then by teammates that you have to have empathy.

[00:11:07] You have to help people because if you do that, everything's better. And so I feel really lucky that those are the kind of heroes that I had growing up and they taught me that. Do you think that coaches today and athletes today still embody that or are athletes today a little bit more like I'm not sharing my secrets with anyone. I'm going to I'm going to look at the course and do my thing. You do your thing. Do you think it's different today? I think the pure athletes are the same.

[00:11:37] What I think has changed is money, social media. Parents have changed that you can get something out of sports. Sport is there to get something out of. Instead of growing up, sports were a way to push your limits. Test yourself. So the outcome, I just think it's changed that way.

[00:12:02] I see too many people thinking I'm getting my kid into sports so they can get a scholarship, make a million dollars. And instead of let's get our kids into sports because they're going to learn how to lose. They're going to learn how to struggle. They're going to learn how to win. They're going to learn how to be on a team. And and to me. So I think that's the biggest change, unfortunately. Mm hmm. Can totally see that. I was when I was hearing you speak about those early mentors.

[00:12:25] I immediately saw this parallel to, let's say, an irrigation contractor, a landscape contracting business where you have a foreman, you have a manager, you have an owner and you have someone new that just joins the company. They could send that new person out on their own or they could bring them in and teach them the ways. Do you see parallels between the early mentors you had in skiing and how that may parallel over into the business world? For sure. For sure.

[00:12:54] I have mentors now. I have run a company called Elite Team. I just started a new mental skills company called Champions Advantage. And I, number one, have to know that I'm good at hustling, good at struggling, good at setting goals, good at, you know, pursuing them. But I'm really struggle on other things. So it's been just like finding coaches. I'm like finding these mentors and half of them don't want to share anything.

[00:13:22] But the other half are like, here, let me take you under my wing. This is how I failed. You don't want to make that mistake. So I'm really amazed at finding those mentors and finding the people in the business world because that's where I'm living now. And they're trying to help me as well. And I try to give back as well. But, yeah, it's super important to share because when you share, whether you're on a team or not, whether you share, everybody wins.

[00:13:52] That's exactly, I feel the same way. Yeah. And I was lucky enough to have a lot of people in my life that shared with me. And now I can see, I can almost see when it's happening that someone is sharing. And I can see when someone is choosing not to share. And you just have those thoughts in your mind like, wow, I wonder what's going through that person's head when they're not willing to share. And you can kind of see these different personality types take shape in the world. It's fascinating.

[00:14:21] I was on the U.S. ski team for eight years. And I had teams that were incredible. Everybody's sharing, why don't you try it this way? Hey, this worked for me. Why don't you tune your skis this way? This, you know. And then I had teams that were just the opposite. And for example, in 1984 and 1985, I was a member of the Olympic team and the world championship team. And in the Olympics, I didn't win a medal. But out of, I think, 12 people, we won five medals.

[00:14:51] And the next year at the world championships, I won my medal. We won four medals. And it was because it was a team where we all had a similar goal and we were willing to share. Fast forward four years after that, 1988, I was on a team that was all about themselves. Like, it was so bad. And so here's an individual sport where it's me in the starting gates, me on the podium. However, without that team, it was nothing.

[00:15:21] So I see that in business all the time. I hear contractors speak about their company as a team. Yeah. Right. So let me ask you, the differences between those two Olympic years, one that felt like a team and one that did not feel like a team. Where do you think that culture came from? Well, I think it came from three places. It came from the coaches, right? So they're leading this team.

[00:15:48] They have their goals need to be that the athletes win. It's not about their resume. It's not about whatever. They're there for the athlete. And then you had the captains, you know, the older people of the team, you know, sharing and including and having the goal be, if my teammate wins, I win. Right.

[00:16:21] Right. You're not afraid of them a little bit intimidated, maybe. But all of a sudden, those younger people, they have a lot to bring, too. They've got new ideas. They're like, you've been doing it this way the whole time. Why don't we do it this way? And the coaches and the captains, those older people, have to listen. So that's where the communication is going up and down, sideways. Yeah. And that's what they're doing.

[00:16:46] How might that parallel to the business world, whether it's corporate business or whether it's contracting business? The things that you are speaking about, I feel like I hear from contracting companies, some that are doing it well. But then I also hear from, you know, the people digging trenches sometimes that their culture is not that great, you know? And so I guess my question is, how can someone running either a company or a crew build the best team that they can?

[00:17:17] Yeah, I do a lot of corporate work now going in and doing team building exercises. And I think it starts with one of the key issues is just being vulnerable, right? I have people doing burpees, right? And there's some people that their belly hits the ground before the burpee even begins, and that's okay, right? Do the best burpee you can, right?

[00:17:43] And if your coworker is struggling on the burpee, that's where you can come in because they're going to be good at something and they're going to share it. But if you're good at that burpee, you can do it. But T-building is all about just being open and being vulnerable and sharing the expertise across. And it's really fun to see openness. As soon as you're open, open to suggestions, open to giving suggestions, and leaving that ego at the door, it really, really helps.

[00:18:13] And that's where I see now in the corporate world, when I talk to these multi-billion dollar businesses, they get it, right? They just get it that it's about the team learning and it's about failing with a smile and being okay with that. Those are the companies that I'm just amazed at. Let's talk about failing for a minute. Do you see people that are okay failing?

[00:18:39] And do you see people that try at all costs never to fail? And why do you think that might be? Well, sports is a good teacher because you fail all the time. Like I've missed the first gate of a slalom. That's like stumbling out of the blocks, right? I've missed the last gate. I've screwed up equipment. If you think of a failure in ski racing, I've done it, right? So just getting used to failing.

[00:19:06] And if you do that in cooperation with failing is an opportunity. Failing is a positive, right? You can be mad. Set your time for five minutes. Set your alarm for a half hour. You can be mad. You can throw your polls in private, you know. But at some point, you got to say, how lucky am I that I just failed? Because now I have something to learn. And so that's super, super important is just is failing is part of it.

[00:19:35] If you never fail, you're never going to get better. So thinking of that and changing that dialogue to how lucky am I that I just made that mistake because I'm going to learn from it and it's never going to happen again. Yeah. I recently heard this expression. I hope I get it right. It's something like no one is afraid to miss the shot. They're afraid to be seen missing the shot.

[00:20:00] And so I'm curious if you've had experience where people are okay failing in private at home, but they're afraid to fail in public, in front of their peers, in front of people they don't know. Is there a difference there? I think so. I think so. Especially, you know, failing in training as an athlete. That's a little different. You're supposed to. But then you make that big fail in a race and all of a sudden it seems to carry a little bit more.

[00:20:29] The other thing I want to talk about is in ski racing, you're training a lot of times underneath the lift. And there was a good year of my life when I was 13, 15, where I knew the girls or my competitors are on the lift and I was underneath the lift. And I would be so afraid of failing and they'd see me that there was a month there where I was so safe.

[00:20:58] And when you ski safe, you ski slow. So it's just funny because there is a difference, at least there was to me, if someone was going to see it or not. Until I got over that and just said, hey, this is who I am. I'm going to fail. If I'm going to fail, I'm going to fail awesome. So let's do it. Are there any tips or suggestions you would have for someone who doesn't like to fail? I mean, really none of us like to fail.

[00:21:24] But how can somebody learn how to get better at failing? How to get better at failing? Well, I guess you just have to, number one, it's part of it, right? Accept it. Maybe talking to people, your coworkers, people above you, especially the people above you, because if they've gotten there, they've made more failures than you have, right?

[00:21:50] So ask your boss, ask your supervisor, ask everybody, what are some of the failures you've had? Tell me about them. And there's nothing better than, you know, failing and telling that story because you usually come out of it a better person. So everyone has these failure stories. And so just be proud of them. Wear them as a badge.

[00:22:10] Do you think that people don't like to fail because they're afraid of not necessarily what somebody might think or what they might say, but because, let's just say, in the business world, they might get a slap on the wrist. They might think that they're going to get in trouble. Do you think it's not? They don't want to fail because it's not a safe place to fail? That's probably it. You know, what's the culture of your business about failing? I mean, you don't want to just, hey, why don't you go out there and fail, right?

[00:22:40] But if you fail pushing your limits, if you fail trying something new, if you fail being innovative, those are positives. And a boss should see it that way. Because if you just play it safe, your business is going to go nowhere. As an athlete, you're going to go nowhere. So I guess it's a fine line. You just don't want to be throwing failures all over the place. But it's super, super important.

[00:23:07] And the second half of it is, what did you just learn, right? You can't just make the same mistake. What did I just learn that I'm going to be a better athlete, businessman, friend from that? So failing is important, which obviously we're just, we're talking about this. It could be the most important. Do you think it would make sense for businesses to talk about it more?

[00:23:34] So let's just say there's a, either there's a meeting in the morning, standup meeting, or there's a meeting at the end of the day. Do you think it would make sense for managers and supervisors and bosses to, instead of saying, how'd your day go today? Should they say, tell me three things you failed at and what you learned? Like, would that be a good way to develop culture? I think that's awesome. Especially if they say, and I'll start. Oh, brilliant. Right?

[00:24:04] I'm trying to think. I've failed a million times at a lead team this camp I run. But, you know, I've missed, hey, we're all traveling to this thing to go hike up with rocks in our backpack. And I forgot to fill up the vans. Or I don't know where the keys are. Like, as a supervisor, as a someone, you've got to own up to it. And if you have that culture of like, yeah, screwed up. I'll never make that mistake again. If you lead that way, I think that would be great. Like, yeah, I missed the alarm.

[00:24:34] I forgot to drink cup. Whatever it is. Just having full accountability for yourself when you made a mistake. Own it. And show everyone else that no one's perfect. You made a mistake. But what'd you learn? Yeah. What'd you learn? That's the key. Turn it around. Yeah. And my wife, Kelly, who's coaching young women, she's just doing this thing. And I'm going to steal it from her. So picture this 20-pound rock, right?

[00:25:01] And put this rock in this knapsack. That's the mistake, right? And then you wear that knapsack around of 20-pound rock or a 50-pound rock, right? You've got to take that knapsack off. You've got to drop the knapsack. Like, you've got to just own up to that mistake. Let it go. And then you can move forward. But, you know, take off the knapsack. 100%. That is a really good point.

[00:25:26] If the culture comes from, in your experience, the coach and the captains, how can a company either develop their managers and supervisors to be better at understanding failure and embracing failure? At the same time, how can someone working at a company who has a bad manager, I'll just use the word bad. Or supervisor. What are their options? That's a tough one.

[00:25:52] I was in that very experience later on in my career, right? We had changed coaches. We had lost our culture. And I was the oldest at 25 years old. It was hilarious. And I didn't know enough. But I just started to lead by example, right? Making sure everybody was on time. Helping out the coaches. Asking the rookies what they needed.

[00:26:19] You know, and trying to do what my great mentors had done for me. And even though I wasn't getting a lot of support, I was out there trying. And that's all you can do is just lead by example, I think. And, you know, maybe just sharing is the biggest thing. I've failed. Just sharing as much of yourself as possible. And hopefully you create this safe space where you can do that and people respond.

[00:26:49] What I really like about that is what you said is, let's say your boss is bad. You can't just blame him. You can actually be the one, right? If the boss is not providing the safe place, then you, why not be the one who does? Yeah. People will respect you for that. And people will line up behind you and lift you up if you lift them up. And we don't, unfortunately, we don't need that person right now. We can do it on our own. And something's going to change.

[00:27:19] Either you're all going to leave. I'd hate to say that. Or this boss is going to see this amazingness happen in front of him. Yeah. Or they won't see it and they'll just leave or they'll be fired. Yeah. They're not going to have a great time. Yeah. One of the things I remember about your elite team camps, and I think you might have had a giant like sign or something. It said something like the struggle makes you stronger. And I've just always remembered that.

[00:27:48] And I would love for you to talk about what that means and what that means to you. Yeah. So every year, and I don't know if you or your kid has the t-shirts, but we put our motto, we have a motto each year. And this is our 35th year. But they all pretty much are the same thing. But I wrote some of them down because I didn't want anything. Do hard things, right? We've all heard that, but do hard things is amazing. The struggle makes you strong was one year.

[00:28:17] Dig deep. Once you say yes to a challenge, you've already won, right? A lot of people, hey, let's go hike up this mountain. Hey, let's go take this course. Let's go do something hard. Your first answer should be yes. Because if you say yes to the challenge, you've already won, right? No matter how it comes out, just trying it.

[00:28:42] Is that like, let me, I would love to go deeper on that for a moment. Is that like saying you've won if you show up at the start of a race? Yeah. Or just signing up for the race. Hey, let's do this 5K. Hey, everyone's first answer in my life and, you know, in the world is no. I can't run 5 miles or 5K. I can't do that. I can't. I can't. No, no, no.

[00:29:08] If you just have a culture or just say yes, whether you do it or not, you've just said yes. Something positive to a challenge. And it may get you out the door one day. It may get you out the door for four months, even though you don't race. Or you may get to that race and you'll do it. And all of a sudden, just by saying yes, four months ago, your life has changed.

[00:29:32] So if you can, before you answer no, when people say, hey, let's go hike that thing or let's go do that thing. Think about saying yes first and it'll change your life. Lead with yes. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess you've already won. And you can always change your mind. It doesn't mean you have to. Yeah. You can always decide not to later. But if your first word is always no, that's your life, right? That's your negative life.

[00:30:01] And we all know people that are like that. Yeah. Do you want to go out to dinner tonight? Well, I don't know. It's either I don't know or it's a no. And we've all met people like that. Yeah. Yeah. So that's in that same vein. How bad do you want it? Right. So it's all about pushing your limits. And that's what elite team is about. And it's such, yes, it's a hard life.

[00:30:26] But it's such an amazingly rewarding life if you just, you know, set that goal, say yes to it and then work. Whether you get that goal, which is 50-50, probably less. Or if you don't, you've already won. Because you did something amazing. Mm-hmm. So you mentioned goal in there a few times. What's your philosophy on having goals, setting goals? Should they be big goals, small goals?

[00:30:55] Where do you land on the goals side of things? Except for like grit and, you know, commitment and confidence being the ultimate, probably most important mental skill. Goals for me is what drives it. I've always had goals. And if you have a goal, you have a purpose. You have energy. It gets you out of bed, right? The thing that's super important for goals to me is the next step.

[00:31:23] And the way you can say is everybody has dreams. I'd like to run a marathon. I'd like to own a $30 million company. These dreams, right? But you have to make them goals. And what turns a dream into a goal is commitment. And commitment is that feeling in your gut, like a physical feeling that you want it so bad, like that you're committed.

[00:31:48] Commitment is the key to goals because otherwise they're just dreams. Hey, yeah, I'd like to run a 5K. But if you commit to it, that makes all the difference. So to me, that's the biggest mental skill out there is setting those goals. And then the next step, the most important step is to commit. And how do you think someone can find what those goals are so they can feel it so deep, like you just mentioned?

[00:32:17] And it's not just a word on a piece of paper that they had to write down because someone said, write down your goals. Right. Because I think there's a difference. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That commitment is the difference. And you see it because the commitment is, let's put it into running terms because that's what I like to do. Like I was back in Vermont last weekend and it was raining when I got up and I had commit, I had had a goal of running up Pico Mountain, this ski area.

[00:32:46] And it was raining at the bottom. I was like, I'm doing it. I'm committed to this. And then it started sleeting. And then it started snowing. Right. Right. So it would be so easy to turn around, like so easy. But I had, I had that commitment, that feeling in my belly that this is what I need to do to make that hundred miler that I'm running in August. That hundred miler in August gets one today when it's snowing and I'm on that hill.

[00:33:16] So, and then you do it once. You make that decision when it's raining to run, you can make it the next time. And then it gets even worse and you've, it just builds and it's a practice. It's just like a muscle. It's just like any skill, doing hard things, committing, doing that thing you committed to is, is, is a skill that you have to practice. And have you worked with, uh, have you worked with people that really had no ability to commit to anything and follow through?

[00:33:47] Yeah. Yeah. But it's usually because they, they put their, they go, I'm going to run a hundred miler, right? When they haven't run a five K let's just bring it to reality. That's great to have that goal, but you got to set these goals that are a little bit realistic and then you start to build. That's where you get the confidence, right? Um, you want to make a hundred thousand dollar bid, right? Right.

[00:34:13] You've got to do that, that I don't know your business, but you got to do a $5,000 sprinkler system first. You got to do a little bit of this and all of a sudden you're starting to gain confidence and then you say yes to this one and it just builds and builds. But it's great to have that a hundred thousand dollar dream goal out there, but then you have to have your, and this is getting into way into goals. You have the dream goals, you have those performance goals. Those are the skill goals.

[00:34:40] What are the skills I need to get to a hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars? And then what are the process goals? Getting up every day, eating a good breakfast, getting there to work on time. Like those are small wins that you have the most control over. And those small wins build confidence. Those small wins are going to help you with your performance goals. Learning financials, learning, sorry, again, I don't know, types and vowels and whatever.

[00:35:10] And those are the skill goals. And you know, it just builds. You just can't say, I want to be a hundred million dollar business. You got to say, I got to get up every day and then I got to learn these skills and that'll give me my best chance of those. And maybe going back to what we were just talking about with failure, you got to fail at some of those little things at the same time in order to learn them and to grow and to get to the next level, the next level, the next level. So, and I don't know how any of these things operate in terms of order of operations, but

[00:35:37] maybe there's goal and then there's failure to goal and then there's learning and then there's hitting goal. But the failure is in that process of hitting that tiny, small goal, got to fail in that process. Yeah. Yeah. And putting a budget together for a job and you screw up and leave a zero out or you don't do something, that failure, guess what? You're never going to make that mistake again. You just, you've just learned something.

[00:36:03] So all along those ways, as you grow, you're going to make these failures and you're just going to learn from them. And are there any, I was going to say big or little, but it'd be probably more interesting to hear about big failures. Like, can you share any big failures that you've had that you can recall? I'll do two. One, one athletic and one business. Okay. So athletic.

[00:36:28] So at the 1984 Olympics, um, the start of the course was at the top of the mountain, very top of the mountain on top of a three-story building. So you actually went up an elevator, put your skis on, on the roof and skied through a tunnel through the building onto the mountain. Dang. Dang. I'm 20 years old. My roommate's going to win the Olympics, which he did. So I was surrounded.

[00:36:58] I wasn't feeling that comfortable. And there I was on the top of the roof, standing in the starting gate. And obviously you want to be so dialed in mentally at the top of a downhill race. You're about to go 90 miles an hour. You want to be focused. You want to be calm. You want to have the energy. You want to have the ability to risk. You want all these mental skills finely tuned.

[00:37:23] And I just remember myself being at the start and I was looking around, uh, instead of focusing down the hill, I was looking at everybody at this top level. And it was like, uh, Ingmar Stenmark. There was all my heroes. And all of a sudden I couldn't concentrate. My heroes are staring at me. Then one story down was all the press. So there was a thousand cameras and microphones and people staring at you.

[00:37:49] And then one floor below that in this building that you skied through was the restaurant. So they're eating schnitzel and fritz and drinking beers. And I'm trying to focus. And I failed. I, I, I was 24th. That's awesome at the Olympics, but it just wasn't my goal. And I just remember I needed to have some mental skills so I could focus and anything, you know, the, the world could be on fire, but you need to focus in that thing. And it was a huge failure.

[00:38:18] A year later, I stood in the starting gate of the world championships was so focused, was so in the zone. I won the bronze medal. So it can happen in a year. So that's my, my, my, my ski failure. My business failure happened two years ago. So I started this new business with a fellow Olympian and we were going to have mental skills training for athletes. So where are the athletes? They're all over the country and they're on their phones.

[00:38:45] So let's build an app so they can go onto their app and learn mental skills. Well, through trial and error and a lot of money, unfortunately, the app failed completely. If kids are on their phones, they're, they're scrolling, right? They're not going to try to do something tough. It was just a huge failure, a huge opportunity, but a huge failure. So failures never end. It's just how you balance back. So what, what was your, uh, on the second failure?

[00:39:16] Now I'm going to ask you, what'd you learn? Well, we couldn't do it on the phone and we couldn't, the two, the two major takeaways is we couldn't do it on the phone. Kids on their phone is just bad all around. Number two, um, the kids, the levels we're doing. So like age, uh, 12 to 17, they don't have enough full commitment. There are a few that outliers. They don't have a full commitment to do that course on their own.

[00:39:44] We needed to go to the person who, um, deals with them the most, has the most respect, whatever. So now we sell our program to coaches and programs because the coaches are the key, right? The coaches, uh, can teach what we've learned. So we have created a curriculum that teams and coaches now, um, teach to their athletes with our support videos and, and energy and WhatsApps and, and all this.

[00:40:12] But we've, we've found that the coaches are the people that we need to, to, to educate and empower to teach this. It was huge. It was huge. And you probably can't say that you knew it, but probably somewhere you could have probably identified that. But at the same time, what you may have learned or what I'm hearing you learned is going direct, let's call it direct to consumer, but it's actually direct to athlete was tough. So instead of direct to athlete, now you're direct to coach and they're the distribution

[00:40:41] channel for your, for your system. Let's call it that's, that's awesome. Yeah. It, it was, it was, it was a big failure. And your failure taught you that, right? How you wouldn't have developed it unless you tried the thing that failed. And luckily we did a, it's like, we only spent a couple of, or thousands of dollars using an app that was already there that we tweaked rather than, you know, raising $2 million and creating an app and having it fail.

[00:41:10] Like we, we stepped into it. We lost and we failed and we learned, but we didn't catastrophically say, we know what we're doing. Let's do it this way. Yeah. It reminds me, you know, I get asked a lot of times about someone who wants to develop a product, you know, may come to me with their idea and whatnot. And, and I think that we can all fall into this trap that, you know, let's say your version of elite team as it is right now, it's not version one of elite team.

[00:41:40] It's, it's version 600 and something, right? Or 2000 and something. And the same thing with most products. I'm just trying to think what I have here. Well, I've got a sole moisture sensor that I'm manufacturing, making. This isn't version one. This is like version seven. And I think that people oftentimes have this idea and then they take whatever capital they have and they go make the first one and then it's made and they go, ah, I need to make

[00:42:09] this change. This isn't quite right. Well, shoot, I don't have any money left. I, I, I blew it all on the first version versus prototyping, making something that can resemble what it needs to be to get that like first sample into someone's hands that you know is not perfect. And the goal isn't for it not to be perfect. The goal is for it to using your words for it to fail. So you can learn something so you can tweak it.

[00:42:36] So when you're ready to make the investment, let's say you're betting on, you're betting on a hundred percent success because you've proven out all the other little things that need to be figured out along the way instead of investing it all in the first one, only to realize you need a hundred more versions of it first. Yeah. And for me, which is tough because as a individual athlete, it's like, I know the best. I know how to do this.

[00:43:04] Like what I think isn't what they needed. Like I thought they needed this. They needed something completely different. So really being open to those surveys and why did it fail? Just give it to me. I don't, don't sugarcoat it. Yeah. I know it's a good idea, but it failed. So let me have it. That's tough. Tough as an athlete, tough as a businessman, tough as a person. But that again, that's where the learning is. And yeah. Yeah. And I mean, why aren't you reordering?

[00:43:34] That's because it sucked. And this is the reason why. And you didn't, uh, you know, crawl into a cave and be depressed and quit everything that you're doing. You got right back up and figured out a new way and took the business in a little bit different direction, which goes to show that the training, probably the mental training that you've developed over the, over the years. And I think I'd like to ask you where, how can someone work on that ability so that when

[00:44:02] something fails, it isn't the end of the world? You know, can you learn to be okay with what just happened or how do you learn to be okay? Um, making a lot of failures, unfortunately. Right. Practice failing. But smart. And, and you, and the failure in something new is the same as very, failing, failing, failing in your business. Right.

[00:44:30] And so just putting yourself out there and, and trying different things is, is how you do it. And, and again, you don't have to, Hey, I want to do something amazing. I'm going to run a hundred miles, run a 5k or run around your block or walk. I have this woman that I, who's a good friend of mine. Her goal is 25 miles a week of walking. It's a lot of times walking, right? Right. But it's out there in the rain.

[00:44:58] It's, it's so all, all these things that you try, all are the same because you're going to learn and you're going to fail and you're going to come out better from it. But if you never try, that's the biggest thing. If you never try, then you're never going to learn those lessons. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And speaking of never trying. Yeah. People that really don't care about it. Right. But if you fail, like it's more important to you.

[00:45:24] And so you've got to fail and you immediately got to, got to say, what did I learn? This is an opportunity. This is a plus right now. And so if I'm going to run a 5k and running in the morning just doesn't work, I can't get my kids up. I can't drink my coffee. I can't get to work on time. Guess what? You're going to have to put the kids to bed at 730 and you're going to have to run at 8 PM. And that's going to mean no TV, no this, no that.

[00:45:52] But if you want it, if you want it that bad, again, that commitment you feel in your belly, it's easy. Yeah, I'm going out. I'm going to run at 8 PM. Yeah. And I've noticed a few times you've mentioned that feeling will stay in your belly or in your chest or in your body. What does that, do you think everyone has felt that before? I mean, I felt that you obviously you're describing it, but is that something that everybody gets to experience? I think so.

[00:46:21] I mean, the big word right now is emotions, right? Emotions, this, you know, emotions are real and they physically affect you. Luckily, and we can get it. There's a whole science to this, but they're only 90 seconds, right? So if you can let that emotion go through you and learn and just realize it's emotion. If you make a mistake, you go red, right? You're just instantly red and you're embarrassed or your tummy's upset. It's just an emotion.

[00:46:50] It means, number one, it meant something to you, which is a good thing, right? If you're embarrassed, that means it means something. And that means you've committed to something. So take that as a plus. The other thing is just let it go. It's going to be, your body's going to return and you're going to get through it. And then you're going to think clearly. But a lot of people, their emotions don't last 90 seconds. They last nine minutes or 90 minutes because they keep bringing them up. And that emotion is just going to keep cycling, cycling.

[00:47:20] So really, the first thing is that embarrassment, that failure, that happiness. It's all emotion. Let it pass. You know it's there and then get right back onto it. I think it's really, really interesting. It reminds me of most people are afraid of public speaking. Yeah. Right. Let's just use this as an example because I think anyone that's listening could resonate with it and the feeling you have before you do that.

[00:47:46] And I would say in many ways, that feeling reminds me of ski racing. And as a kid, and actually this might be one of the best things about ski racing is the emotions of it. And I'm just thinking back to my childhood, especially in the days when there was like, you know, 150 kids racing, right? And you're going to go on number 130 or something. You're like, all right, cool. I got like two hours. I'm gonna go ski around. And it's like, okay, I got like an hour. I got 30 minutes. Shit.

[00:48:16] I got like 10 minutes. I got it. I got to get in line. Now there's like 15 people and then there's 10 and then there's five and then there's three. And then you're on deck and then you're in the starting gate. And that the emotions that go through you, to me, I actually like that feeling as it relates to ski racing. Public speaking, I don't like it as much, but it's very similar.

[00:48:38] And I wanted to know if you had any advice for people on how to handle those feelings. Number one, accept them. They're going to come. They're going to be 90 seconds. And so that awareness, oh, here it comes. I'm getting flushed. I can't breathe. I don't know what my hands are doing. You know, all that. It will pass.

[00:49:01] And know that it's the same feeling whether you take it badly or whether you take it good. Whether it's a negative feeling or it's a positive feeling, it's the same feeling. You just have to name it something different. It's excitement. It's happiness. It's joy. It means something. Or, oh my God, my life is going to end. I'm going to screw up, right? You have that choice. So the situation's the same.

[00:49:30] I'm making a speech, right? That first thought can be, I've practiced. I've done this in the mirror a hundred times. I know what I'm talking about. I love this subject. That's the thought that goes to an action of confidence and emotion and awesomeness. Or that same situation. I've got to make a speech, right? And your first thing is, I'm going to stutter. I hate this. I'm not good at this.

[00:49:57] And that leads to not remembering emotion. You know, it can go. The thing is, you have control of that first thought, right? They're both BS. So why don't you pick the one that says, I'm great at this. I've practiced. And that leads to an emotion of confidence. That emotion leads to an action of just nailing it. And the result is awesomeness. So practicing, it's kind of like the little guy on your shoulder, right? You're terrible. You're good. You're terrible. You're good.

[00:50:26] If you choose the good thought, amazing things happen. It's like leaning into yes, what you were just saying. Choose yes. Choose I can. Not why I can't. Choose the positive thought. For sure, the negative thought's going to lead to negative. That's 100%. At least this side, you're going to go out there and you're going to fall flat, but you're going to fall with a smile on your face and you're going to learn something.

[00:50:53] Yeah, I remember when my kids were little, I think I was sitting with Phoebe and one of her friends. I think it was her friend, Natalie, and they were, let's say there were seven. We were on the trail. I did some ski race. And I think her friend, Natalie, said something like, gosh, I just, I get so nervous, right? And she's having those emotions. And I think I was like, well, Natalie, you know that that feeling, that's your superpower. That is like, not everyone gets that feeling. You get that feeling? Oh, that's your superpower.

[00:51:23] And just changed the conversation, which now listen to you is like in that direction. Well, if it's a superpower, then it must be a good feeling. Oh, okay, great. Yeah. That reminds me of a thing. I coach a lot of kids, athletes, and being self-aware, you know who you are. You're a morning person, you're a night person. What are your strengths, your weaknesses? Knowing yourself gives you amazing information. And we'll talk about strengths and weaknesses.

[00:51:52] So there are weaknesses, and I'm talking ski racing here. Oh, I lean in, I rotate, I skid my turns, I go too straight. And if I ask them their weaknesses, they can name 20. I said, great, that's where we're going to put some energy, and we're going to change those weaknesses. What are your strengths? Silence. And I don't know, I think it's a cultural change, but these kids don't hear their strengths from their coaches. All they hear is, hey, you should have done this. You're not doing this well.

[00:52:21] Instead of strengths, strengths are so important. I love the word superpower, right? Your strengths are your superpower. You bring the energy. You attack the course. Whatever it is, your strong, actual physical strengths, right? Your strengths, you've got to know those because you can lean on them, and they can save you. And those are your superpowers. I love that word superpower. And we all have them, but we never talk about them. Well, and if a coach wasn't taught that way, they may just teach the way that they were taught, right?

[00:52:50] Or if their parent or whoever was giving them guidance did it in a way, they're just going to repeat the way that they were raised, let's say. Is there anything else that we haven't talked about in terms of like mental preparation, strength, struggle, doing hard things that you would like to share that you think could help people become the better versions of themselves if they had a little tip, a little something to practice at home?

[00:53:19] I think it just goes back to setting those little goals. What are you afraid of? Failing, right? So we've talked about failing is actually something positive. It's a great story in the end, right? So get out there and just commit to something and make it small because then you're going to accomplish it and you're going to have confidence. And confidence just builds and builds and builds.

[00:53:43] And your sports life confidence will help you in your business life, which will help in your relationships. It's just all builds. And so just signing up for that 5K, signing up for a class, trying to do something you've always wanted to do. I think that's just it.

[00:54:04] And I'm 62 and I'm still trying new things and I hope I never stop because it keeps me young and it keeps me out active. That's good advice. Finding some little goals. And I'm just thinking, you know, what could be a little goal? Signing up for a 5K, you know, it's a little goal compared to the ultra marathon, but it's still a pretty big thing. I was thinking you could sign up and you could walk and nobody says you have to run, right?

[00:54:30] That's what I try to remind myself when I go to the gym and I don't want to go to the gym, like cycling studio. No one says I have to go hard today. I just have to show up. I can ride however hard I feel like I want to go today. I just have to show up. And before I show up, I have to just put my feet on the floor. So as long as I put my feet on the floor, I don't even have to. I can just put my feet on the floor and sit on the bed if I want to. It doesn't really matter. I just have to put my feet on the floor. You know, those sorts of things.

[00:54:58] I'm just thinking about what the audience might do that could be a goal. And maybe it would just be like, hey, if you get up at 630 every day, what would it look like if you got up at 6? So to say that, Kelly and I go to bed at 8. We don't have kids. So that's a huge disclaimer. We go to bed at 8. We're up at 4. And that's our life. And from 4 to 6, before everything, we're winning, right? We're outside. Whatever it is, we're winning. Just happens to work for us.

[00:55:26] But two goals I'll share with your audience that you should win in a year. Like, I would like to speak another language again. So when I was skiing, I spoke German, German fluently. And I've lost it. And I need to speak a different language. I live in Utah. Probably Spanish is the one I should learn. And I would love to learn Spanish. So that's it. What's the other one? Oh, I just had it. Oh, music. So I grew up playing cello, which you might have at the Green Mountain Fiddlers in Middlebury.

[00:55:55] But I would love to get back into music and play the piano again. Like, these are these things. Yeah, even though I'm scared of them, but I got to do that first thing. I got to sign up for a class and I got to do it. Yeah. Do something new. Right. Take a chance. Yeah. Otherwise, you're going to wake up one day and you're like, I didn't do anything. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:56:21] Or if it's like, you know, put a new controller up that you've never used before. I'm just talking to the irrigation audience here. Use a new product you've never used so that you know how it works. Yeah. Maybe use something you thought you wouldn't like to see if you actually like it. How would you know if you've never done it? And I think that a lot of times, it could be in all industries. Oftentimes, in the irrigation industry, someone may say, this is the best blank widget.

[00:56:51] But then they really don't have a lot of experience with the other ones. And so, I always would like to challenge my audience to go try all the sprinklers. Really see what the differences are. Because oftentimes, one is not necessarily better than another. They just have different use case applications. Like, they may have just been designed for a different type of project.

[00:57:16] And so, unless you've really put your hands on every sprinkler, every valve, every controller. And yes, a lot of you listening have put your hands on every product and can speak to it. But until you have, go test them all out and see how they all work. It's the only way you'll know. And then, what other parts of your business? Like, maybe you can do financials a different way by hiring someone or a different program. Or employment. How do you find employees? Let's do it.

[00:57:43] Just try something different and do the homework. And all of a sudden, you've grown. And if you don't know how, just think about who. Right? Sometimes it's not the what. But it's who. Who do you know? Who can you call? Who can you hire? Who can do it? Who can teach you? It's like, sometimes the who matters. And then you just have to find the who. And usually, in my experience, those experts, they love being asked on how to do it. And they're going to share with you. It's scary.

[00:58:14] Doug, well, thank you so much. Before I ask you if you have any last thoughts for the audience, if someone would like to reach out to you to maybe help them in their contracting business, maybe. I know you do some public speaking. I know that someone could hire you to come to their company, work on team building and all these things. What would be a good way for someone to reach out to you? Eliteteam.com. It's spelled really weird. E-L-I-T-E-A-M.com. So it's Eli Team or Elite AM.

[00:58:44] But it's Elite Team. I thought it was really cool when I started it, but it's a little confusing. So Eliteteam.com. And on there, you can find out about my team building, my physical fitness, my build, my if you if you all have kids that have a sports team and they need those mental skills, I'd love to inspire them as well. But so Eliteteam.com. Thank you. Awesome, man. I know there is a downtime for most of the irrigation industry in the Northeast. There's a lot of downtime.

[00:59:11] And so that might be a good time to, you know, get in touch with Doug and maybe bring him into your company and work on team building, work with your staff, work with your managers, maybe try to implement some of the things that we've been talking about here today. So Doug, yeah, any last words of inspiration, how to do tough things that you want to share? Yeah, you know, I was I was we've talked a lot about goals and setting those goals and really committing them to empathy. I know I started with that, but just really being empathetic and trying to see people

[00:59:41] from their eyes and really understanding them. I don't think we have a lot of that in this world, but I will just end you with again, every year we have a saying at Eliteteam, our motto. And this year, the motto is every win counts. So whether it's making your bed, eating well, getting to work on time, every win counts. And those wins build confidence and confidence is key. Wow. Thank you so much, Doug.

[01:00:11] It's been awesome to chat with you. And I know that our audience will be and is inspired by you. So thank you so much. Thank you for having me.