In short
Podcast Notes: The Daily Motivation - Episode 403
Episode Overview Title: Gold-Medal Olympian's Guide to Conquering Your Worst Fear Host: Lewis Howes Guest: Mikaela Shiffrin, Gold Medal Olympian
In this episode, Lewis Howes interviews Mikaela Shiffrin, a world-renowned alpine ski racer. The conversation focuses on overcoming fears and challenges, drawing from Mikaela's experiences in her athletic career and the mental hurdles she faces even as a top competitor.
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Key Themes and Concepts
- Acknowledging Fear
- Mikaela opens up about her fears related to skiing, particularly the risk of injury.
- Key Quote: "I’m still afraid of doing that, but I’m going to do this anyway."
- Importance of admitting fears as a part of personal growth and not letting them hinder performance.
- Expectations and Pressure
- Discussion on the mental pressure of upcoming competitions, especially the Olympics.
- Mikaela expresses concern about managing expectations from herself and others, particularly after a disappointing experience in the previous Olympics.
- She emphasizes the unpredictability of outcomes in sports, stating that despite preparation, results can vary.
- Overcoming Obstacles
- Mikaela reflects on her successes, including winning world championship medals, despite external challenges.
- She illustrates how past experiences have shaped her resilience and perspective going into future competitions.
- Public Perception
- The impact of public opinion on an athlete's mental state is discussed.
- Mikaela shares her thoughts on how she feels judged based on her performance, despite her accolades.
- She stresses the importance of internal validation over external recognition.
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Key Takeaways
- Fear as a Driving Force: Acknowledging fears can lead to better performance rather than serving as a deterrent.
- Managing Expectations: Athletes must balance personal aspirations with public expectations, focusing on self-compassion and resilience.
- Real Talk on Competition: The journey of an athlete involves ups and downs; it’s essential to find strength in both successes and setbacks.
- Self-Validation: Athletes should cultivate a sense of worth that isn’t solely dependent on medals or public accolades.
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Conclusion Mikaela Shiffrin’s insights provide valuable lessons on facing fears and the importance of self-acceptance. The episode encourages listeners to embrace their fears as part of their growth journey, emphasizing that the stories we tell ourselves can significantly influence our paths to success.
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Additional Resources
- Listen to the full episode: [The Daily Motivation Show](http://www.lewishowes.com/mindset2023)
- Sign up for the Greatness Newsletter: [Greatness Newsletter](http://www.greatness.com/newsletter)
- Follow on Apple Podcasts and Spotify for more motivational content.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation Show.
0:14What is your biggest fear moving forward in your career and also in your personal life outside of your career? Right now, I can't really think of a fear I have in my career. The only thing might be injury. That's always there. I do get afraid when I'm skiing. A lot of racers will say they don't have any fear, and I definitely do. I think it's fine Crashing at 60 miles an hour is not fun Even if you've got a helmet on it's not fun And some would argue you can't have fear Because you have to be willing to do that And I'm like well I'm still afraid of doing that But I'm going to do this anyway So I think there's all different ways you can Approach that You don't let the fear hold you back But I definitely have it And I do think it's important to admit When you have fear to yourself Because it's kind of like It's like a relationship and you're like I gotta let you know that I'm feeling this right now and then you still go for it.
1:10Yeah, absolutely. I think I'm probably gonna know a little bit more about what I'm afraid of once we get back into the race season. Those things pop up that I, right now, I don't feel it. I maybe feel a little bit on top of the world. This past season was amazing. I have nothing else that I expect to do but I'm still training. I still feel like I'm doing great with my skiing and I feel like people have figured out that expectations are sort of meaningless because I've exceeded them, I've failed miserably. The only thing I can really think of that would be a fear of mine is how it goes in the upcoming Olympics.
1:48And mostly, if I were to not win any medals again, how would people react again? But I actually asked somebody, kind of an advisor and one of my sponsors. I just was like, this is a real thing. Like, I'm afraid to hype myself up going into this next Olympics or allow anybody else to hype me up because what if it happens again? Beijing was a very, like a standalone event. It was very unique with conditions. There were a lot of things there, like COVID. there were just a lot of things that built up prior to the games and during the games that it was fully against me in a way. But everybody has to deal with something that's against them.
2:31And some people made it anyway, and I didn't. So there's that. But I still feel like the cards could stack up that way again. And I could do my best and it still might not work out. And I'm not afraid to try, but I have a little bit of a, like, what are people going to say then? because now people still say, record schmeckered, you don't have any gold medals. I'm like, I actually do. I have Olympic gold medals and I have many world championship gold medals. So like, you don't know what you're talking about. So you have a fear of in three years. In three years. What happens? What might happen? If I don't win a medal or if I'm not a gold medalist again, what will people say about me?
3:17Yeah, maybe a little bit. How is that serving and supporting you in your life right now? It just kind of exists. It doesn't have any impact on how I feel for this coming season. And this past season helped me a lot because I did win world champs medals. It was sort of like, is it a big event thing? Is it a karma thing? Is it like, what is it about this? And there was a lot of, there was a lot of kind of drama surrounding this past world championships. So it was just like, and she'd do it. Yeah. And you did it. Yeah. And it was like boiled down to how I skied.
4:07Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Daily Motivation. and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description that will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on the School of Greatness. And if you are loving the daily motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts. right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.
4:57Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the daily motivation show.
From the publisher
http://www.lewishowes.com/mindset2023 - Order a copy of my new book The Greatness Mindset today!
In this episode with Gold Medal Olympian, Mikaela Shiffrin, the discussion centers around her expertise as the worlds fastest downhill skier and the fears she conquered to get there. Mikaela offers practical advice and personal experiences on how to overcome obstacles and challenges to achieve one's goals, drawing from her own impressive athletic career, and the fears she still struggles with today.
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