Why Destination Disappoints but Journey Fulfills | Allyson Felix EP 484

0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes, and welcome to The Daily Motivation Show.

0:13you're in a great example to show people and for people to hear and listen this that even if you reach the top of the world in something you can still fall susceptible to criticism and voices how hard is it to keep a positive thought process for yourself even when you're at the top how hard was it for you? I think in the moments that you think are going to be everything and at the ultimate top and the goal that you always had doesn't necessarily feel like what you thought, at least in my experience. I remember my third Olympics, I finally win the 200 meters. Those first two Olympics, you know, silver medals, I get to that third Olympics and I'm like, okay, I've done it.

0:59Like I finally put it together. I get that gold medal. And I remember feeling, I think the emotion I felt more than anything was relief. It was like, okay, that weight is off of my shoulders. Like, I finally did the thing that I hadn't done yet. Obviously, like, I'm happy, I'm joyful and all of that, but I had built it up to be so much. I thought my life was gonna just be, like, completely different. I remember coming home from London, and pretty much, like, everything is the same. After two months of press and the tour, people celebrating you, people move on. You move on to the next thing, And you're with yourself.

1:35And I think that, you know, it took time to unpack, but that was the moment where I really understood, like, it's about so much more than the track stuff. Like, there's got to be more to it than that. And so I think in the moments where you have everything, you know, it's that there's more purpose there, you know, that there's a bigger reason for it. That's so interesting you say this. I'm going to relate in a much lower level than you because I didn't win an Olympic gold medal. When I was at the national championships in the decathlon, I was telling you this earlier, the last race on the second day of the decathlon, I said 1 ,500, I was exhausted.

2:11Exhausted, I did not want to run, and I was not a distance guy. I was like, put me at 100, and that's about as much as I want to go. My coach said, you can't let these guys beat you, these certain guys, and you can't let these guys beat you by this much, this many seconds. So you kind of got to, like, know where you're going to be, and I got to see, can I ever break my PR? Like, I need to get this time. And I remember crossing and it was pretty tight. And she goes, I don't know. Like, it's tight. Because I was in ninth place. Okay. Going into the final event. And the top eight is the All-Americans.

2:41And so I'm just sitting there for about 15 minutes as they're calculating all the numbers before they get the podium up and they start calling everything. And I knew that if my name was not called first, because it went from eighth to first, I wasn't going to make it. Yeah. And thankfully, my name was called right away. So I was like, oh, this weight, this relief. Yeah. Because it was like training for so long to try to create this goal to happen. But here was the funny thing. I was happy, but late that night at dinner, I started to get like this, I don't know if it was an expectation hangover.

3:13I don't know if I was supposed to feel something different. But I almost kind of got a little mad and angry. And I had a little bit of an attitude energetically because I think I was supposed to feel something else. Yeah. And I didn't feel it. Yeah. This was a dream I had my entire life. For some reason, I thought, like, all my relationships would be better with my parents when they were there and they were struggling. And I thought things were just going to be fine. And it wasn't. Yeah. I've been there. And to me, the crazy thing is, like, when it was the disappointment, I felt that. You know, that I felt.

3:45Like, that was a devastating feeling. But when it was the success, it didn't feel as I thought it should feel. I think every person is different, but I think oftentimes people who have success feel that way, you know, and you have to unpack what that is for you. For me, it's like, it's the journey also. You know, it's this process, like that's where the magic happens, like along the way. And I was able to kind of look back and say like, oh, wow, like I've had this amazing road to get to this process. And that's where I became like the person that I wanted to be. Like that was the beautiful part of it.

4:20Like this is just the end result. But I think there's something about embracing those ups and downs. And for me, the silver medals along the way that, you know, that's a huge part of it.

4:37Thank 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.

5:31Again, have an amazing day, and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.