How to Build a Bulletproof Mindset Through Preparation | Ed Mylett

33:04and waters and Gatorade power is just to just to be respectable when I get on the scales and the weight master they would look at me and say oh you're little you're small you should be lower and I just kind of point to the sky I had a burner phone that they gave us and Virg had a burner phone and he would just call me and he's staying in my ear look son you're here for a reason God I didn't bring you this far for nothing. And those types of words, like, would just, like, just cause me to be emboldened. You know, when we first got the draw and I found out what bracket I was in, I got the toughest bracket.

33:43If Yeni Makinrenko, the two-time world champion from Russia, was going to be my second fight if I won my first fight. And everybody's kind of like, you know, everybody on the U.S. team is like, oh, my God, you know, act like it was a death. Like, man, Dre got a tough draw and this and that. And versa, that's the way it's supposed to be. that mentality that he had that those types of words that type of faith and belief has been something that has been ingrained in me instilled in me drilled in me since i've been a kid well that's gold the couple gold things one is just having somebody in your life that you can find and seek out that's feeding you all of these you know these beliefs this confidence you have finding that mentor in your life and then also the part that you shared earlier i just want to make sure we reiterate too about if your dad had it his way in the very beginning you probably wouldn't have even done boxing.

34:26And that's true for me in my career. I think if my family had it their way in the very beginning, I'd have been working at some employee job and paying my bills. And so many of you out there listen to these voices you have in your family. These people who love you, but they don't necessarily have the vision or the wisdom to know exactly where you're supposed to go in your life. Thank God that you got Virgil and your own beliefs in yourself. That was a great conversation. And if you want to hear the full interview, be sure to follow the Ed Milet Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes.

34:53Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back to the program, everybody. I'm so fired up today. I have some man I've admired from a distance for so many years. He is one of the great leaders in American sports. He just is. And he does it with a style that is all his own. And it's one that I've admired from a distance. Some of our mutual friends have confirmed what a good man he is for me. And let me tell you, 140 and 33 while he's been at Clemson as the head football coach there, but he started to get better and better and better. Last three years, only lost three games undefeated in 2018, two national championships.

35:28The list goes on and on. And this is from a guy who was a walk-on at Alabama, by the way, which is even more ironic that you went to Alabama. Now you coach at Clemson. But I am honored to have Davo Sweeney on the program today. Coach, thank you for being here. Thank you, Ed. It's good to be with you, man. What a great treat to be on this podcast or show and opportunity to meet you. Yeah, my pleasure, Coach. So we're going to go all over the place. We're going to talk leadership, recruiting, culture, all these different things. But as I was reading about you, you know, you walked on in college and then you end up – you won a national championship as a player too.

36:09A lot of people don't know that. So you've done a lot of winning in your life. But you get this job, and I heard you say that they rated you a D-plus higher because you were like the interim coach. But is this true? Because I want everyone to get this. A lot of you that are listening to this, you're entrepreneurs, you're leaders. Maybe you're a little bit young in some cases, too. This man was 38 years old when he takes over this program. Is it true that when they hired you, you went literally into a closet, like a physical closet, and were talking to yourself? Is that actually true? That is true.

36:38So what happened is I just came to work on October 13, 2008. I was an assistant in my sixth year here as an assistant. and middle of the season, three and three, we were coming off a tough loss and they decided to make a change at head coach, the head coach position. And, you know, I had no really, I mean, absolutely no idea. We had a 7 a.m. staff meeting that morning and it was actually my day to do the devotion. Kind of rotates around the room and just happened to be my day that day. And it was just business as usual. It was a Monday. We were going to play Georgia Tech that weekend and at our staff meeting, like we always do, went on in our offensive meetings.

37:23I was an offensive coach, and so we're in our planning. And about mid-morning, about 10.30 or so, the operations guy walks in and says, hey, Coach Bowden needs to see the whole staff in the staff room. Well, that never happens. We had already had staff meeting that morning, so it was really kind of odd. So we all got in there, knew something was going on. And he walks in and he basically just said, you know, he was – didn't have a lot of words. He just said, you know, how much he appreciated us. Wow. And, hey, this is something that's going to happen. We're going to make it – they're going to make a change.

37:56And he said, you know, hey, look, I'm good. He said, I just – you know, worry about all you guys. I'm going to visit with you individually in due time. But right now the AD wants to step in and say a few words. So you're sitting there and, you know, you've got a lot going through your mind. I'm a young guy. I've got a young family. you know people going on ad steps in ad was was not a man of many words either uh old school guy from arkansas and he basically just said hey look you know uh this isn't something that i wanted to happen but he did tell coach bowden he was going to make a change at the end of the year regardless of what happened and and coach bowden they revisited later on that morning and said you know what this is going to be a negative seven weeks you know why don't we just make a change here and let's let dabble be the interim and uh coach bowden the head coach he he kind of you know said hey would you consider dabble being the interim and ad said absolutely he said uh you know and so anyway next thing you know he walks in and he says hey um uh here's what's happening you know i know it's a tough business i expect y 'all to just continue to do your job we got a bunch of kids that's counting on us and and uh and he said uh dabble you're now the head coach and I need to see you in my office in five minutes and walked out and so you know he walks out we're in there it was this weird moment kind of slamming pens and notebooks and then all of a sudden it got dead quiet and everybody in the room is looking at me I mean I'm in sweatpants I mean this is Mondays are long days in our world and uh and just you know I didn't even really know what to say But it was just, I mean, I was like having an out-of-body experience, you know.

39:38But I just said, you know what, hey, guys, you know, look, let me go meet with him. We'll get back together in a little bit. I didn't even really know what to say. I went and got to my office and grabbed a notebook and a pen, called my wife on the way to his office, said, hey, you know, we just got let go. They just fired Tommy. Oh, my God. I said, oh, it gets worse. I'm the interim. And I said, I don't know when I'll talk to you, Kath. And so I go around and take a deep breath. I walk in his in his office and I really went in with the mindset of this is going to be a miserable with six games left and an open date.

40:13So seven weeks, this is going to be a miserable seven weeks, you know, and but I'm thinking he's probably going to tell me, hey, do a good job. I'll try to get the next guy to keep you or something, you know, along those lines. But just the opposite happened. There's such great lessons that came out of that. And I still tell people to this day when I go speak. So I walk in this man's office and I sit down. and he looks at me and he said he said dabble let me tell you something i know you're in a tough spot here he goes but here's what i want you to know and he kind of told me how it all kind of came about he goes but here's where we are he said for the next seven weeks i want you to be the head coach i don't want you to be the interim head coach for the next seven weeks i want you to do whatever you think you need to do to fix us he said if you need to fire the whole staff fire the whole staff.

40:59He said, whatever you think you need to do, for the next seven weeks, you have my full support. That was a mistake on his part. Okay. But this is what he tells me. And then he goes, he said, for five and a half years, I've watched you. I've watched how you led your players, how you've handled yourself in the community. I watch you with your family. He said, I see these kids in your office. I've seen how you handle discipline and recruiting. And he said, Dabo, oh, I'm going to be honest with you. I've done this a long time. He said, I personally, he said, I think you're what we need here at Clemson.

41:32He goes, so what I want you to know is when this thing's over, you're going to get an interview for the job. He said, he goes, whether you win them all or lose them all, he said, I'm going to give you an interview for this job. He goes, now I'm going to hire the best coach. I'm going to go all over. I'm going to hire the best coach. He goes, but I'll say it again. I think you're what we need at Clemson. He goes, it sure would help if you could win a few ball games. And then he goes and then he kind of sits back. He says, you got any questions? And I and I'm like, I mean, my my my whole mind. So now my mind is racing.

42:10So I leaned up and I said, so so you're you know, I said, well, I appreciate that. And I said, you're telling me that that like I can be the head coach. And for seven weeks, he said, I'm telling you whatever you think we need to do. you need to do to fix us, you got my full support. And I'm like, and I, and so, so I walked out of this, this office and I'm, I've had a notepad and my mind is racing. Yeah. And I, you know, cause I went in there with one mindset and I came out with a different mindset. And the lesson that I got from that was number one, you never know who's watching. So just be great at whatever you do.

42:49You know, I mean, whatever it is you're doing, just be great at it. So many people, especially in this business, they're chasing things. They want this title or this and that. And the grass is green where you're watering it, right? Just be great where you are. Just be great where your feet are. Bloom where you're planted is what I always say. You don't know who's watching, but I know this. If you're great at what you do, people will notice that. Amen. That was a lesson. And I learned that as a player. Same thing happened to me as a player. I'm a sophomore. I'm a walk-on. I come to a Tuesday practice.

43:24boom they said hey we're gonna give you a shot you know and i didn't even know he was paying attention next thing you know i let her three years i get a scholarship win a national championship but but the second part of that lesson is you got to be prepared for your opportunity you know you got to be prepared for your opportunity you may not there you may not ever get it but but right better be prepared you know anyway so what did you do coach to be prepared like so he so he taps you on the shoulder you're ready did you think you were ready Absolutely. So to answer that, so when I walked out of there, I went in a closet.

43:55I literally, I went in like a half janitor closet, half vet, and I just closed the door and I just sat in there. And for 45 minutes, I just started writing. I just started writing and I was all over the place. You know, I'm thinking recruiting. I'm thinking discipline, how I want to change practice. What would I want to do this week? How am I going to meet with the team? I got to meet with the staff. Is there anybody I need to make a change with? You know, I'm going to run the offense. I'm okay. You know, I had all these things going on and I'm just scribbling a hundred things, you know, for that moment.

44:26Yeah. All right. But as I, and so, so I go through that, but the second part of it is from the time I got into coaching in 1993, I was preparing to be a head coach. All right. I didn't know if I'd ever get a chance to be a head coach, but I was just, I love what I do. I love what I was doing. I love my, I mean, I just trying to be the best at whatever it was. But I started kind of building a book, started putting a head coach book together in 19. I mean, literally right out of the gate. Things I liked, things I didn't like, you know, academic stuff, philosophy of offense, philosophy of defense, philosophy of recruiting, philosophy of special teams.

45:06You know who I would want to hire, you know, what would be my staff expectation, you know, whatever, how I would run practice, you know, And I started putting all this, just building this all over the years. And all through the years, oh, man, I like that. Throw it in the book. Or a lot of times, so I coached eight years at Alabama when I finished playing. I played five, coached eight. And a lot of times we learn more from the bad than we do the good. And that's called experience. You know, when we touch that hot stove and we get that big, you know, we learn, right? Yes. But the wise man learns from other people's experiences.

45:42so so we all learn from our own that's just life but man I just spent a lot of time learning from other people and and I do that with my players to this to this day I send them stuff from all over the country all the time you know whether it's something good or something bad you know to learn from others and so I just started going through things and and I spent the first seven years I spent all seven years of coach Stalin's career at Alabama with him and then all of a sudden I start working for other people, getting exposed to different things. And I start going, oh, well now I know why he did it that way.

46:15And so I started having things reinforced. And then I started growing into my own as far as my beliefs, my philosophy. And I started putting all this together. And what happened to me, this was a great, great turning point for me in 2000. I think it was 2006. They were starting a football program at the University of South Alabama. the Jaguars down in Mobile, and they're a good program. But they were starting football there. And they reached out to me to come interview for the job. And I'm like, you know what? You know what? And to be quite honest with you, and I only told this to my wife, if I had gotten the job, I wouldn't have taken it.

46:56But I told Kath, I said, you know what? Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to prepare for this job like it's the University of Alabama. Like it's the job. And so it forced me to take all those years of stuff, and I put it together and I organized and I went after that job. Like it was the greatest job. I mean, I had Jaguar nation, we're fixing to rule the world, man. I had everything in there. And so, so I had, I was prepared and, and, you know, and I finished like second or third on the job. They didn't offer me the job. Uh, but, but I finished second or third on the job, but I really wouldn't have taken it if they'd offered it, but it was such a great process.

47:33and so all of a sudden two years later I'm the interim head coach at Clemson and so when I'm getting an interview so I'm I'm in the middle of the season I'm in the chaos I'm making changes I got all this stuff going on and but when that season was over you know what I did I walked in I had the president I had the the AD the assistant and I had them all a book and I said hey this is who I am this is what we're going to be this is how we're this is what we're going to do this is what our philosophy is this is this is how we're going to run the program this is the staff I want to hire. This is, you know, our discipline policy.

48:08This is what I believe in. And, you know, bam, here we go. That to me is like a coach. I feel like we just did the whole show. Like, I hope everybody got this and goes all the way back. All this stuff about blooming where you're planted, the grass is greener where you water it. I've actually never heard it said that way before. But this idea that he was blooming where he was planted, being the best and great at what he did, but preparing for the future all the time. It's amazing to me, even entrepreneurs that even will listen to the show, they'll write down little keys, but are you watching how the guest says it, how they phrase it, how they position it, how they tell a story, how I do it, where you work right now?

48:40If you're, if you're, you know, an employee somewhere, are you prepping to be a business owner someday studying what works and what you said to about what doesn't work? Are you keeping that binder that coach kept of keeping these notes and experience allows you to anticipate to, if you don't have experience, I think you're constantly reacting. Yes. And I think what happened was when you got this job, a lot of guys get that opportunity. They didn't prepare like you. Now they're just reacting, recruiting. This problem, the boosters. We just had this loss. Oh, my gosh, our centers hurt. And they're reacting all the time.

49:08This allowed you, I think, would you agree with me, Coach, that preparation allows you to anticipate situations sometimes that you wouldn't get if you weren't prepared. You got a plan. You know, Abraham, one of my favorite quotes from Abraham Lincoln was, Abraham Lincoln said, you give him six hours to chop down a tree, he's going to spend the first four hours sharpening the axe you know i mean it's all about preparation it's just in my world and what we do we only play about three percent of the time we prepare 97 of the time but it's what you're doing when nobody's watching that's what separates people you know you didn't get here i don't know your whole background but i guarantee you didn't get here doing this show you didn't just show up i mean it's what you're doing championships are go on when nobody's watching, they're when the stands are empty.

49:54And it's the same thing with people. Champions are made when what you do when nobody's watching, you know, so it's that 97 % of the time, you know, we all work, we have jobs, but it is all about preparation and having a plan. And so having a vision, being able to articulate that vision, you're going to deal with young people today, number one, they better know that you care. Number two, you better be able to communicate why. All right. And so and you've got to be able to articulate a vision and get people to buy in and get behind that. I don't care if you're running a company or whatever it is, but the other key thing, this is very important because, you know, especially in my world and I deal with a lot of young people and I deal with a lot of young coaches now, you know, and I've been, I've been, I've been a, I've been an 18 to 22 year old and I have a PhD in 18 to 22 year olds because I've spent my entire life with that group my whole life.

50:45And in fact, I was at a convention a couple years ago and I had this young couple young guys I'm I'm going up we were we were in uh Louisville and I'm going up to going back to my hotel room and I'm standing over by the elevator and these couple these young guys came up to me and they were like GAs at uh grad assistants somewhere I don't know if they were at Baylor or where some some school and they came up to me coach me coach me you know just wanted to introduce himself hey nice to meet you guys and And I'm literally standing there at the elevator and they're like, they're like, you know, Coach Sweeney, listen, we just, you know, we just want to, you know, they wanted me to give them like, you know, 30 years of stuff and knowledge in a minute here.

51:25And they want to go, they want to go from GA to head coach. And I just, and they'd listen. I said, well, here's, here's what I would tell you guys. All right. And it's exactly what I just said. I said, be great at whatever you're doing. If you're the GA, be the best GA in the history of GAs. If your job's to go get the coffee, man, you bring the best coffee that anybody's ever. You get that coffee, man. Everybody's going, man, did you get that coffee? This guy's unbelievable. All right, people notice that. I said, I can't tell you how many people I've hired that they don't have some fancy resume.

51:54What they got is they got an unbelievable work ethic and attention to detail. And they're just so focused being great at what they're doing. They don't get distracted. So that's number one. Prepare, but you need to hear me on this. Guys, I'm about to get on this elevator and I'm going to hit 14. Because I'm on the 14th floor. And when the door's open, I'm on the 14th floor. Well, let me tell you this. You got to take the steps. All right? There's no elevator to being a head coach. There's no elevator to being the CEO. There's no elevator to greatness. You got to put the work in and take the steps.

52:27Period. And you know what? Enjoy it. Yeah. Enjoy it. It's not about because I've been to the top. I tell our guys all the time, I've been to the mountaintop. And it's awesome. And we love it. We climb a mountain every year at Clemson. That's kind of our thing. You know, how you climb a mountain, one step at a time. We love that. And we start out base camp, you know, and the top of the mountain is awesome, but that's not what it's all about. That's just a moment. What you will cherish more than anything is the journey that it took to get there. Like, man, what it took to get there, the people you were with, the relationships that you developed along the way, the failures that you had, the mistakes that you made that you learned from, that you grew from.

53:08That's what you cherish more than anything. Everybody looks and they see the grand moments. Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl. That's great. You know what? Tom Brady's going to remember more than anything. Man, those practices. Getting together with the guys, the bus rides, the plane rides, when nobody's watching, the preparation. That's what it takes. I'm getting goosebumps, y 'all. You've got to fall in love with that. You've got to embrace the suck, right? There's a lot of it that just sucks, and you've got to fall in love with that part. if you're going to do anything great in life. It's not going to just happen.

53:43So the preparation and falling in love with the preparation, all the great players that I've been around, that's what separates them. They love the preparation. Everybody loves to play. Yeah. All right? But it's falling in love and embracing the suck along the way. That's what separates us. Oh, my gosh. Very rarely am I in the middle of one of these shows where I'm like, this is freaking great. You know, we're in the first quarter just because it's a, I just want you, I just want to keep going, but I was going to say this to you. I just gave a talk this weekend, a bunch of entrepreneurs, very high entrepreneurs.

54:17And so I'm gonna give you an overall business philosophy. It's going to surprise you. I said, here's what it is. Everybody you encounter wants to feel this from you, that you love them, care about them, believe in them, and you can show them how to get a little bit better. That's it. And they're saying, help me. You said it of young people, but it's true. I think coach of all people, as you said, and then this notion, I just want to review. I'm not going to review everything he says, but he says so many good things. This idea of the love of the preparation, I promise you that's true across the board with the athletes I've worked with too.

54:43But in addition to that, being able to create a vision that you can articulate, that people buy into. You're listening to this man talk. There's a rhythm. It's so easy to listen to him. He wasn't born with that. That's something that he's worked on over time. Before we start the interview with my next guest, just want to remind you all that you can subscribe to the show on YouTube or follow the show on Apple or Spotify. We have all the links in our show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Now on with the show. Welcome back to Max Out with Ed Milet. The gentleman to my left does not need an introduction.

55:16This is Terrell Eldorado Owens. Not my full name. Otherwise known as T.O. to most of you out there. And newly elected NFL Hall of Famer T.O. So congratulations on that. Appreciate it. And welcome to the program. Appreciate it. Max out. Max out. Exactly. We're going to max out the day here today. So let's talk about that for the career for a second. I'm curious because this small-town guy, not a big-time school, now you're in camp with the Niners. You're rookie year, okay? Jerry freaking Rice is there. Yeah, yeah. Probably your hero growing up, right? I never, like I said, my grandmother was so strict I didn't get to do a whole lot.

55:53Didn't watch a lot of TV. That's crazy. The only TV shows that I really got to watch was Wheel of Fortune. I got to watch the Channel 6, Channel 12 News. Really? And I got to watch the Cosby Show. Get out, really, for real. But did you know who Rice was? Yeah, no, not until like my junior year in college. Oh, my gosh, that's bananas. You didn't know who Jerry Rice was until your junior year in college? Junior year in college. I had no idea because I never followed football like that. I never really was a football fan. So you go to camp, though. I know a little bit about the history. So Jerry Rice is there.

56:21Then there's a number one pick in front of you, Stokes out of UCLA. Yeah, he got drafted the year before, 1995. So they got a number one. They invest a third-round pick in you, right? What was that like? Did you have to earn a roster spot? Like, were you the first thing, like, I got to make the spot? Oh, yeah, well, absolutely. Again, not really knowing and being aware of what the draft consists of, what it encompasses. I mean, I thought, okay, you drafted, you're on the team. I mean, I didn't know you had to go through the process of you got to make the team. That's awesome. Again, like I said, that was kind of how clueless I was to really me playing beyond the collegiate level because I never thought that I would play beyond the collegiate level.

57:06We mentioned basketball. I played three years of basketball. I mean, the program wanted me not to play my senior year, understanding that I had an opportunity to play professionally football. But my love was so great for basketball, I was like, no, I'm not going to forego my senior year of playing basketball to concentrate on football when that was never really on my radar. That's crazy. But, yeah, I was drafted, war number 15 in camp. my coaches Larry Kirksey at the time they drafted me on potential based on my physical attributes and what I could probably add to the game they thought that I could learn under Jerry Rice J.J.

57:44Stokes and then I got to be there and saw guys like Nate Singleton these are veteran receivers Chris Thomas and a lot of other free agents that were on the team at the time yeah so I'm looking around I'm like I'm number 15 I don't get an 80 number I don't you don't get an 80 number a legit number until you make the team. I didn't know that. So 15 was was was my number going all the way through preseason and as as as this preseason unfolded you started to see the cuts break down as we get closer to the season. So I saw guys that I felt in my mind were better than I was. Really? They were getting cut.

58:21So I mean it's natural natural instinct okay if you know that you're not your skill said is not where theirs are yeah you're like okay well i'm next you're next yeah that's the same i was a realist about my abilities when i was in high school in college i knew that there were guys that were better than me that's crazy to hear i knew in in college i knew that there were guys that were bigger bad bigger faster and stronger than me even in college but that's what prompted me to get the key not only did i work out um in my spare time when i was in high school those 30 45 minutes. I didn't go home during the summer after my freshman and sophomore year of school.

58:59So I got the key from the strength and conditioning coach. I did the same thing. Got the key to the weight room. Did the same thing. I would go in. That's how I got stronger because I was in there by myself. So I had to lift off by myself. I had to be careful because I was in there by myself. Nobody spotting me. So that's how I got stronger. So these are some of the things that I did unbeknownst to the world out there in terms of how I made it. This is so good because you outworked everybody. It's also the things you do when no one's watching. Like when you played, one of the things everyone would say, oh, his physique, his physique.

59:32Right. Now you know where this comes from. It doesn't happen overnight. That's awesome to hear. I hope everyone's hearing these lessons, business, sports, you name it. And then again, this running theme of you taking advantage of opportunity, right? So during that season, Rice gets hurt. That's my second season. Is that when you had your breakthrough was really the second season? Yeah, kind of sort of. Yeah, I played sparingly my rookie year. I played a lot of special teams. Yes. But you got a couple passes that year, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think I had my, I don't know how many yards I had.

59:59No, I think I had like four touchdowns my rookie year. But again, I started to kind of just familiarize myself with the playbook, Steve Young, just the culture of professional football in itself. And so I go in my second year, again, going into the offseason, I'm preparing myself just to be a vital part of value to the team. And so we go into my second season, first game, we go down to Tampa. Jerry Rice, I think he runs a reverse or something. And Warren Sapp, I think, just beat our defensive end, got him from behind, and he tears his ACL. From that point on, I mean, I get thrown into the fire.

1:00:38Here we go. And so that's where that preparation, you know, And just me familiarizing everything that I had done my rookie year leading up to my second year, I was preparing myself for this moment. I love it. And if I wasn't prepared, then I wouldn't have been able to add value to the team. You see, I didn't say success because there was no level of success at that point. Wow. I was still trying to add value. I was trying to add value to the Jerry Rices, to the Steve Youngs, to the J.J. Stokes. to the organization, to the team itself. Wow. So I hadn't really experienced any success at this point.

1:01:16I was still trying in that mode of proving myself that I could play at the professional level. What a great distinction. So when did the, by the way, I'll tell you one thing, just off the whole thing. I turn on a football game, it's the playoffs, it's you guys against Green Bay. The best catch I've seen in a clutch moment in my entire life is that catch you made in the end zone. That says a lot. What year was that though? 99. Okay, we're gonna feed this in right here. You're going to watch this guy come across. It's the middle, and you get obliterated and hold on to this football, right? That's the kind of stuff about you added value, added value, added value, and then it was like, oh, my God, this guy is special.

1:01:50It's literally like where I caught the ball, it's equivalent to going in between two cars. Unreal. Or going into the eye of a hurricane or a tornado. Because Steve Young, he put that pass where nobody else could catch it but me. How much time was left in the game? I think at that time when I caught it, about eight seconds left. Eight seconds left in the game, right? So I think things like that start happening. So you took advantage of your opportunity. Then there's these special moments, and you start going, wait a minute. Maybe I got something here, right? Maybe I'm special. When did you have the – just so you know, this man had 20 catches in a single football game.

1:02:24So I'm curious, did you know going into that game, like whoever the corner was that way, I'm going to eat this dude up, or was that just the game kind of fell in your direction? Well, for everybody that don't know out there, this is Jerry Rice's last home game. Okay, I didn't know that. So, yeah, this is Jerry Rice's last home game. and we play in the Chicago Bears. We go into this game with the game plan and the mindset of, we're trying to send this guy off into the sunset, you know what I mean? We're trying to send him off into something like this, you know what I mean? So our first 15 plays scripted or 20 plays, if it was, I think it was 15.

1:02:57Okay. I guarantee you 13, 98 % of the pass plays, 13 to 14 of the pass plays or the plays in general were for Jerry. Okay. We're trying to send the greatest receiver of all time out the best way possible. Got you. But not only did we know that, but the world knew that. The Chicago Bears knew that. The defense knew that. So they tried to prevent, and they did a great job of taking him out of the game. Taking him away, which opened up place for you. So what did you just mention? You segue into this by saying me taking advantage of opportunities. So that's what I did. So Jeff Garcia, the quarterback at the time, he had to be smart.

1:03:35going through his progressions, knowing that, okay, I can't imagine what Jeff was like. We're trying to get the greatest receiver of all time. We're trying to get him off. And so he has to be smart about the game plan, not to force anything. So he goes through his progressions, and Jerry being the number one receiver, and you could have said that me and JJ, again, depending on the receiver sets or formations, we're two and three in a progression. So I was just basically running my routes to win, to be open, to be that secondary receiver. If Jeff goes through his one option and Jerry's not there, he goes to two or he goes to three.

1:04:12I was on the receiving end of 20 of those passes. It's interesting. This is like the most telling part of the interview, just so you know. Because the perception of you, I think sometimes is that, and it's completely opposite. I'm going to bring another example up in a minute. I think like the ultimate team player on the field. I just asked you about a record you had for a long time, and you credited Jerry with it. You literally just said that he created opportunities for me, right? It really was. That's what a team person, actually most team guys would not even say that. So that's incredible that I ask you about a record you hold.

1:04:43You basically give credit to Rice for moving coverage his way and opening things up for you. And to your quarterback, by the way, too. I'm curious because now you become the Jerry Rice the rest of your career. One of the things that's unique, you guys, when you get a high level of sports is that, you know, you see the records he's got. But you have to understand something. Every football game this man went into for about a decade or more, the defense on that Monday when they got together was, how do we stop 81? You understand, the whole structure of the defense is how do we take away their best weapon.

1:05:12This was their best weapon. What's that like? I'm curious. All week, you've got to be so good. You're going to face their best corner, or they're going to slant coverage your way. You're going to get double covered most of the time, whatever it is. What's it like knowing a whole team is scheming against you? And how did you end up prevailing week after week after week beating coverage like that? Was it your ability to run the route? Was it your film study? All of it? Like, what was it? It's just my preparation. Understanding what they're going to give me. Understanding my coaching. Them helping me.

1:05:48They were helping me perfect the craft of becoming a receiver. Coming out of Chattanooga, I had no idea. of really I wasn't faced with the level of competition that I was going to be facing in the pro so I had to work on these things you know day in and day out after practice working with my hands working with my feet my physical part that was a given I mean I could run through a guy all day all day but I knew in order for me to progress and get to the level of Jerry Rice yeah then I had to add some tools to my toolbox I probably I had a toolbox but I probably had maybe two or three tools in there Wow you know me so I was I was lacking So I had to add some tools to my repertoire and to my box in order to really perform at the level that I knew that I could once I started to grasp what I could do on the football field.

1:06:35So the separator was that extra preparation, those extra tools. You have average, you have good, and you have great football players. And you see that the margin with good and great is very, very slim. And what separates those guys, when you think about in football, you think about the Jerry's, you think about the Tom Brady's, your Steve Young, all the Hall of Fame caliber or talent guys. In basketball, you think about the Kobe's, you think about the Michael George's, you think about the LeBron's and what they're doing later on in their careers. It's because they realize that there's something that separates them to go from good to great.

1:07:15Coming out of high school, I wasn't that great coming out of high school, but these guys, when you think about Kobe's, the Kevin Garnett's, the LeBron's, they're projected to be great. But it'll be a big disappointment and failure if they don't exceed or live up to those expectations. But you think about what Kobe did. He took the blueprint of what Michael Jordan did. You think about what LeBron has done. Not only you can't just pinpoint and characterize him with one particular player. He possesses so many abilities from all these great players that are paved away from him. He realizes that and he took advantage of the opportunities.

1:07:49So he takes the time to play 15 seasons. And now you feel like you look at this guy play. He can play 15 more because he's invested in himself. He believes in himself. And that's what I had to do, too. I knew that I wasn't good at that at one point. I was average. I started from average. And I worked my way to good. And then once I saw him, I'm like, okay, I'm a pretty decent athlete. What can I do to take me to the next level? I utilize the resources around me from my personal trainer to my coaches. I listen. When I would be on the football field and I would see Steve Young talking to Brent Jones or he would be talking to the quarterback coach, Matt Cavanaugh, or when Bill Walsh may walk on the field or he's talking to Jerry Rice, these are conversations that they had.

1:08:34I was in earshot distance. I would be paying attention. So if there is something that he and Steve and Jerry are trying to get on the same page with, I knew that he's talking to him, but I'm being taught at the same time. So I'm taking all this into account, into consideration, because I may be in that situation one day, and ultimately I was, because I had some big shoes to fill. Honestly, I was afraid to be average. I was afraid to be good. I wanted to be great. I wanted to be better than good. And so that's what enabled me to do the things that I did in the football field. When I saw smaller guys, you know, squirt through defenses, how quick they were, how agile they were, I knew as a big body, in order for me to get to that level, I had to work on these things.

1:09:19Wow. This is awesome. Like, maybe some of my favorite three or four minutes in the history of doing this, because this is like inside the inside of the inside of a Hall of Famer in anything. Same is true for any of you guys in business. You get to that level where you're good, and you want to get to that level where you're being great, It's fighting for these little extra things, those extra mentors, extra conversations, extra preparation, extra tool in your toolbox to communicate or close or product or whatever the heck it is. Like, it's awesome. Curious, this is a football question. Toughest corner you had to go up against in your career?

1:09:47Aeneas Williams. Aeneas wins from the Cardinals. Was he the Cardinals? Yeah. First, he was with the St. Louis Rams. Yeah, Rams and then Cards, right? Because we played. I was in the NFC West, so we played them twice a year for my first three or four years. And so he was a big corner. Okay. I was a big receiver. So, again, I'm sure he did film study, just like I had to do film study. And guys that did film study to try to minimize you, like you said, they game plan. How do you stop this guy? You know, I was just a young buck, 81. How do you stop this young kid? Yeah, how do you stop this young kid?

1:10:19So him being a veteran, I'm sure he studied film on what I did good, what I did decent, what I did poorly. And he probably tried to minimize those things, eliminate those things. what I did great, good at that time. And so it was tough getting off bump and run because going to a small school, I wasn't faced with a lot of that. So everybody probably wanted to get physical with you at the line of scams, but very few guys had the capacity to do it because you were so strong, right? And Williams could. Right, and the thing is, especially for him, he was just my size, so he could, there was some room for error for him to make up.

1:10:53But if it's a smaller guy, if they mess around and they slip, I use my physicality or my quickness to get by, they know it's a wrap. They know it's a wrap. So they didn't come up and impress me as much. But he was the guy that forced me. I'm like, man, I got to get better because I can't only just get by with having some success against these other corners. There are going to be other big corners in the league. They're going to look at him like, okay, he stopped T.O. So let me see how he did it. So I had to prepare myself for any and every situation. I love hearing this. The other thing about you as a player, then we'll move off this, but I want to say one thing is I think people underestimate how tough you were.

1:11:34First off, the best of ability is availability. You were available all the time. You were durable, like LeBron. It's one of the great things about LeBron James. Nutrition. Nutrition. And Brady. Take care of your body, yeah. Brady had the one year with his knee, but this dude plays football, right? Like he's available. It's how you rack up these numbers, right, and help your football team bring value. You were tough, though. And so I'm a Patriot fan, so I just want to talk about this one situation. You know what I'm going to say, right? Super Bowl 39. Super Bowl 39. So this man gets to the Super Bowl, and the truth is a few weeks prior to that, he basically breaks his leg and has a screw in your leg.

1:12:06Is that not your clue in your foot? Yeah, I have two screws in my ankle. I tore a lot of the ligaments in my ankle. Okay. Upon the diagnosis, once I got my MRI the following day, a lot of ligaments torn. I didn't know my leg was broken until I got an X-ray because they MRI'd my whole leg because I went to sleep that night, and my leg was really aching so bad. Not my ankle. I got iced it. But I was throbbing throughout the course of the night up by my knee. And so I told the radiologist, I'm like, yo, my leg was aching throughout the course of the night. He's like, all right, cool. We'll just x-ray the whole leg or whatever and see what's going on.

1:12:42This is one of the most underreported stories, seriously, I think in the history of the NFL. This man played in the Super Bowl. No one thought he was going to play. They weren't sure the game plan for it, but no one thought he was going to play. This man played with a recently broken leg in the Super Bowl. This is something that no one talks about. There's even a slight limp when you would watch him warm up and then he flat early in the game I'm watching the game. I go. Oh God Owens is gonna kill us the only reason I'm not being negative about anybody I want you to talk about playing with that injury playing through some pain because you had to be in some pain or some Discomfort or you weren't at your best, but I'll be honest with you I watched the Super Bowl if they have continued to get you that football in that game There would have been a different result in that football game I remember that last couple drives you had were taken forever.

1:13:20I'm like thank God it's taken from the not getting the ball to T.O. So they literally, if they just kept feeding you the football, they could not cover you. You were like a man on a mission in that football. I'm not saying that because you're sitting here either. It's a standout moment for me in sports. I coach a lot of athletes. I know that you weren't at your best, and you came into the, again, the greatest opportunity of your career was this Super Bowl to shine, and you shine. And had they won the football game, it would have been a legendary story people would tell forever because you played so hurt.

1:13:47That was a great conversation. Be sure to follow the Ed Milet Show on Apple and Spotify. Links are in the show notes. You'll never miss an episode that way. Here's an excerpt I did with our next guest. Welcome back, everybody. My guest today played 12 years in the major leagues. Let me just tell you something. He could flat mash. This dude could hit. I used to watch him going, that's the natural. They should call him the natural. But then the more I got to know his story, turns out it wasn't natural. That he worked really hard to build this incredible swing. Three-time All-Star. And I'm just telling you guys, any of you that know baseball, Well, this dude could flat out hit.

1:14:23But today we're going to talk about, you know, you got someone here that played in the big leagues and the major leagues that long. There's a mental aspect to what they did and how they live and what they do now that got them there. So we're going to talk about peak performance today and overcoming adversity, all kinds of incredible stuff with Sean Casey. Casey, welcome to the show, brother. Thanks for having me on, dude. So fired up to be here, brother. You came all the way in. You flew from Pennsylvania to be here today. So thank you for being here. I know you got a lot of family stuff going right now.

1:14:50Dude, I just wanted to say, too, before we get going, listening to your podcast, dude, who's the guy, who's the voice of, like, welcome to Ed Milot? Who is that guy? The guy that does, like, he introduces your show. He used to do. It's incredible. Yeah, he used to do something for the NFL, and I heard his voice. This was way back in the day. It's so funny. Seven years ago, I told my team, I go, I don't know who that dude is. I want that voice saying my name. That's so great. And what's funny about that thing, too, is that even to this day, he still can't say Milot correctly. It's welcome to the Ed Milot show.

1:15:20He still doesn't even say my name right, but his voice is so good. I'm like, okay, he can just say my – he says my name wrong on my own show. But he says it with such a great voice, I'm like, let's just leave it. Every time he does the takes, I'm like, can you get him to say my let? They're like, no, it's my let. Whatever. You can do it. Anyway. So I want to go back to kind of the beginning with you. So Michael Jordan's got this amazing story that everyone throws around that, you know, he ends up being the greatest of all time, but he didn't even, you know, make his varsity team his sophomore year.

1:15:49There's this great story. and it's a great story but the guy went to north carolina had a bunch of scholarship offers you on the other hand when i say this guy could hit i mean i i other big league baseball players envied your swing and just were you know you're just a remarkable hitter and player but in high school we go back like you didn't really have any juice no one wanted you out of high school you couldn't even get a scholarship you couldn't get someone to look at you i want you all to think about this that are listening, wherever you are in your life right now, you're like, no one knows me, nothing's happening.

1:16:20This dude couldn't even get someone to come scout him. Never mind him offer you money, no one even come look, right? Is that true? No, I mean, you know, it's funny, we were talking about, you know, you're out in California, you've gone, hey, we had nine dudes from our high school get drafted. I'm like, what? I haven't seen nine scouts in my life in Pittsburgh. You know what I mean? It was incredible. So, you know, it's a great story. And, you know, as I look back, and I think we were talking earlier, Like, my dad's in a place right now where he's gone through two open-heart surgeries and all this stuff.

1:16:49So, you know, even more, like, he and I have connected. And we've kind of gone back down memory lane. And, you know, it's funny when I look back at, you know, growing up in Pittsburgh. Like, you know, I was one of the better players, probably 10, 11, 12. You know how that goes. Then you go to the bigger fields, 13, 14. And so I remember being 14 years old. And I wasn't, I didn't play at all freshman year. And I'm like, man, why am I not playing at all? Wait, you didn't play? Like, I played a little bit. I was like, hey, Casey, get in there and pinch hit. And I'm like, what? You know, so, yeah.

1:17:18So, didn't really play much. Played a little bit here and there. And I remember, like, a few games into the year going to my dad and being like, hey, dad, help me out here. You know what I mean? Like, you know how good I am. You saw me hitting bombs when I was 12, just crushing balls, like 220 in the gap. You know what I mean? Like, dominating, you know? And I'm like, you know, and you know that I should be starting as a freshman, you know, freshman baseball. And he's like, and I was like, do you think you could talk to the coach? That would, you know, that'd be just helping me out. You know what I mean?

1:17:46You know, get your dad to kind of snowplow in there and hey. A lot of guys do do that. That's what I mean, exactly. You know, and I think back now as a dad, and I know you do too, Ed, is the conversation you have with your kid. Like, man, am I enabling my kids? You know, I feel like you disable people when you enable them. You know, am I enabling my kids sometimes? Am I making it too easy? And do I say no enough to maybe sometimes for a lesson, right? And like, so when I look back at this conversation, had my dad gone and talked to the coach, we're not even talking. Yeah, isn't that incredible?

1:18:16We're not even talking. So he says no. So my dad says no. He's like, you know what, Sean? I'm not going to talk to the coach. He goes, but he goes, one thing I will say is the kid that's playing ahead of you, I don't think he's better than you, but you're not glaringly better than him. You're not glaringly better than him. He goes, if you want to start playing, then you got to start taking accountability for who you are as a player and for you, who you are as putting in the work. He goes, there's a batting cage that just opened up in the town next to us. He goes, I'll make you a deal. He goes, I'll buy you as many tokens as you want, as long as you hit every day.

1:18:52As soon as you stop hitting, the deal's off. I love you, Dad. Yeah, it was incredible. And I said, you know what? You got to deal, Dad. He goes, you've got to start being accountable for who you are and putting in the work. And, Ed, dude, I started falling in love. I went to the cages. I went to this batting cage. It was Grand Slam USA. Yeah. Yeah, remember Grand Slam? They first came out. And I look back, like, things you're grateful for. I literally, in my gratitude journal recently, was like, I'm so grateful that that guy, Dick Thomas, decided to put a Grand Slam USA in the town next to me in Pittsburgh.

1:19:23Wow. You know, it's incredible when you think back of your life. You know what I mean? So I ended up meeting a guy on Tuesday nights named Frank Porco. Never played, never played, never ever played college baseball, but he was a hitting instructor. I wanted to ask you that. So this guy that helped you didn't even play college baseball? Didn't play college baseball. Just the high school. And he was making some money on the side. But Ed, talk about divine intervention. This guy knew hitting. This guy knew hitting. And all the years I played in the big leagues and all the, you know, hitting coaches I've been around, I still feel like Frank Porco in Bethel Park, you know, Pennsylvania was the best coach.

1:19:55Wow. So I would go to him every Tuesday night. My dad didn't make a lot of money. He was a chemical salesman, making like$33 ,000 a year. So I knew those tokens were a big deal. I didn't take that for granted. I knew those tokens. I knew the deal was a big deal, right? So I would go every Tuesday night, hit with Frank Porker for 30 minutes, 5, 30, 6 o 'clock,$20. It's a lot more now. It's not$20, but$20. And then I would just stay, man. And I became obsessed with the mechanics of a swing, all because I wanted to play JV baseball. all because i want to start my sophomore year really right and it's just when i look back and like you know how you talk about just like the compound pounding the marginal gain is like i could see myself getting like a little bit better every time like oh man my front shoulder's staying a little better i'm i'm really driving off my backside so next year it comes along and my dad was right he's like man this is going to work so sophomore year i start jv right and i'm like wow this is working my dad's right like it's that you know and he was always telling me you want to and And I was like, well, I'm going to college baseball one day.

1:20:54And I was like, all right. Preparation meeting opportunity. Like, be ashamed one day, Sean, if the opportunity came along and you weren't prepared. And I kind of took that stuff to heart. It was just such great lessons. So my sophomore year, hitting every day still. I didn't play any other sports. I did play some football and basketball. But by my sophomore year, I was just playing baseball. But I hit every day. I hit every day after school. Next thing you know, I'm junior year. I'm starting varsity. And then senior year, I'm starting varsity. Now I'm a good hitter, though, Ed. Now I'm like, this works.

1:21:22yeah this uh doing stuff every day like you know that invisible those invisible games he really do work and i was driving balls all over the park so we get to my senior year man and and you know uh kind of another just a great lesson from my dad um he had just started a new company called casey chemical has been waiting to do it he's 50 years old now he's like you know what i'm gonna i'm gonna start it it was a you know it was he was like a middleman for like you know for selling surfactant chemicals, right? Okay. And so I saw how much he grinded. I saw the work ethic that he put in. And I could see now what he was talking about three years earlier.

1:21:58So every month I'd come home from school and he would be, hey, time to send out the network marketing. He's like, we got 5 ,000 letters, Shawnee. Get those lips ready, because you're going to be licking those envelopes and sending them off. And we would send them out. He would say, hey, listen, If we get three or four people to come back, we got a sale. We're going to pay the bills. And that was kind of the thought process, right? So during my senior year, I had no college scholarship offers, not Division I, Division II, Division III, right? Just like they weren't there. And you know, remember back in high school, you'd go to those tryouts where the big league teams would come, and then you'd run the 60, and that's why you're getting drafted.

1:22:35You're like, this is my leg can fly. You know what I mean? They're like, this Casey, does he have a disease we don't know about? Guy looks like he's ice skating in quicksand. You know what I mean? So I'd run the 67.4, 7.5. I'd come back at him after the tryout. I'm like, oh, yeah, when are we going to hit? And they're like, all right, these guys are coming back for day two. They'd go down the list. And I'm like, Casey, I think you left off Sean Casey. He's like, no, you're not on the list. 7.4, 5, we'll see you next time. Go to the Royals tryout next week. I'm like, so, dude, it was, like, so frustrating because I'm like, is this a track tryout or are we going to hit?

1:23:10We're not going to hit like this, right? This is baseball. So my dad, at that point, I was getting not many looks. And my dad said, you know what, Sean? I sat down with him like, I said, Dad, I really want to play college baseball, but no one's coming. And he goes, no one is going to come. He goes, no one's coming, Sean. He says, you want to go play college baseball? You got to start playing offense, not defense, and quit waiting for somebody to come. He's like, how about tomorrow? You come home from school, you come out to my office, Casey Chemical, you sit down with me. We're going to write 30 letters.

1:23:46You're going to write the 30 schools that you want to go to. Division II, Division III, wherever you want. So I come home from school that day, I'm kind of fired up. I got a game plan. I sit down with my dad. He goes, here we go. So bam, I write the first one to Penn State, next one to Clemson. Then I'm writing the College of Worcester, Mary. I'm writing whoever will listen. I just opened my mind. I'm like, I'm going to play in the big leagues one day, but I got to get to a college first. Why did your face change when you started to talk about your dad writing the letter i'm just curious like your face changed a little bit yeah you know what because it fires me up i'm so grateful yeah i'm so grateful you know it just you know i'm 48 now so you're grateful for those you're grateful when you look back when you're 18 years old 17 17 years old and and uh you know you've got a dad that's that's willing to stand next to you when you're when you're grinding yeah you know i mean that when it's you know when it's you know when it's not you know when everyone tells you you're too slow you're this and that you know You've got the guy next to you to say, you can do it.

1:24:41Why not you? I told you the truth, too, right? Like, hey, no one's coming. Hey, bro. No one's coming. And I think that's the reality of it. That was the reality of it. And I was like, when you fight with reality, you only lose 100%. I'm like, they're not? Yeah. He's like, so we sit down and write these 30 letters. It's amazing. I just got to tell you, you're getting me. I don't know why my eyes are watering, but I know that you're not here if you don't write those letters. I know they're going to hear it in a minute, but you're not here if your dad doesn't stand by you. You're not here if you don't play offense.

1:25:11He doesn't tell you, no one's coming, Shawnee. No one's coming. No one's coming. It's just amazing how moments in life can define us, right? That's what I mean. Even with my kids, I'm like, God, I hope I'm saying the right stuff. Me too. You feel that way? Yes, yes. I hope I'm giving the right lessons. I hope I'm not just snow plowing the road for them and making sure everything's smooth. You know what I mean? Yeah. Because the adversity that I had, that's where I got my advantages, right? So you write the letters. So I write the letters. I write 30 letters. Right before I'm done, I get up to go.

1:25:37He goes, hey, hey, hey. sit back down he goes got one more letter he goes university of richmond sent you a flyer i'm like you know now it's like social media these kids are like hey look at my swing check me out look i got millions of followers yeah they're like hey university richmond sent you a flyer last year from the keystone stake if why don't you send them one too so bam last letter university richmond dear university richmond thanks for the flyer yeah all right i really think i can play there you know what i mean boom boom so bam season goes on dude and i'm still hitting every day after school and i'm having a great year we ended up winning in the championship that year at my school upper St.

1:26:11Clair. But with four games to go, brother, it's incredible how this works. First at bat, I remember playing this team called Montour. I get a pitch middle away, bam, rocket left center. I'm like, let's go, a couple ribbies. Next pitch, pitch middle, and bam, right center. So I'm four for four, eight RBIs and four doubles. And you know, bro, you could probably look back at your high school career, college career, and you know the games. Yeah. There's a handful of them where you're like, that was incredible. Yep, yep. That was my greatest high school game ever. Yeah. Hands down, no doubt about it, 100%.

1:26:45So Jerry Malarkey, who's the coach at Upper St. Clair, I'm running out to play first for the seventh inning. We're dominating his team. He's like, hey, Case, he's like, you've had a heck of a game. He goes, how many hits you got? I go, four hits, man. He goes, how many ribbies? I go, I got eight ribbies, Jerry. He goes, yeah, you know what? That's great. You see the guy behind the backstop right there? That's Mark McQueen. just drove six hours from the University of Richmond to come see you play. And I was like, are you serious? He's like, yeah, he wants to talk to you after the game. Oh, my gosh.

1:27:16So after the game, I went over. Preparation meeting opportunity. Preparation meeting opportunity. And I remember thinking to my dad, like, Dad, what's this preparation meeting opportunity stuff? Are you BSing here? Because I don't see any opportunities. Yeah, right. But he's like, and he was always adamant. One's going to come. One's going to show up. You know? And I went over to Marco King, shook his hand. He said, hey, man, he's like, really like your swing. You know, he goes, let me get back to you tomorrow. So he went back to Coach Atkins back in Richmond, called me, offered me a$1 ,000 scholarship.

1:27:45And I think at the time Richmond was like$30 ,000. My dad made$33 ,000. I was like, Dad, what are we going to do? He's like, we'll figure it out. We'll take a second mortgage on the house. We'll get some financial aid. So I went to University of Richmond, brother, on the only offer that I had from those letters that I sent out, playing offense and not defense, right? Oh, my gosh. Yeah, incredible. I go to University of Richmond. Are you all hearing this? Just so you know, the end of the story is this man plays 12 years in the major leagues. He's one of the greatest hitters over a decade in the major leagues.

1:28:15Multiple all-star teams. This dude got no looks. No look. If you feel like you're missing your – like, are you hearing this? He gets$1 ,000. And all due respect to University of Richmond. All due respect. But this is not like Arizona State either, right? It's a mid-major. Yeah, exactly. It's like a big time. Incredible. Go ahead. Incredible. So I go to University of Richmond. Hadn't even seen the school. Show up first day with my buddy Jay Adams. Hey, nice campus. You're taking 45 visits. I'm like, hey, Ed Milet, let's get him. This guy's going to be leading off for us for three years. We've got boom, boom, boom, Pac-10, SEC.

1:28:51I'm like, hey, great campus. And I'm interviewing you now, just so you know. And you're the one who played 12 years in the big league. So it all works out okay. It's how life works out. You're on my show talking about your big league career. Isn't that incredible? It's incredible. It's incredible how life works out. It's so true. So I go to University of Richmond, bro. I end up starting my freshman year. I have a good freshman year. Freshman All-American. Like, you know what I mean? And that little girl. Yeah. You know, but I'm still developing as a player. My sophomore year, I do well. And I go to Cape Codley.

1:29:16And you obviously know that's your ticket. That's it. If you get to the Cape. Yep. You know, and that year, Todd Helton was there. Darren Nurse, that was there. Mike Lowell, some good players, right? Have a really good summer. Hit like 340 with the wood bat. You know, almost, you know, lead league in RBIs. And the only reason I say that is because it's the part of the story. I go back my junior year, and I hit 461, and I led Division I NCAA baseball in batting. 461. Incredible. So I think back to three years earlier, or six years, seven years earlier, I'm asking my dad to go talk to the freshman high school coach because I'm not playing.

1:29:52And he just gives me the lesson of you've got to work harder. You've got to put the time in. You've got to start being accountable for what you do. set new routines what are your habits after school all that stuff and that and then for me then all started to develop like i look back and like seven years later gosh with the with like you talk about the compound pounding that pinata effect of the invisible games all that stuff seven years later in the ncaa division one champion that is freaking incredible and i become a second round pick of the cleveland very short intermission here folks i'm glad you're enjoying the show so far don't forget to follow the show on apple and spotify links are in the show notes.

1:30:28Now on to our next guest. All right, Ed, it's so great to have you here on the Learning Leader Show. Welcome, man. Pleasure to be here. And I told you I'm a fan of your work for a while, so it's great to finally join you. It means a lot to me. The feeling is mutual. Going back to earlier in your life, your athletic career, so we have that in common, right, college sports, and your athletic career, I can tell looking at you, just jacked and instilled in amazing shape, but your career was cut short by an injury. Can you share more about what athletics meant to you and then how you felt when it got cut short based on getting hurt?

1:31:06Yeah, athletics for me was the only place, man, where I felt any confidence. When you're raised with anxiety or, you know, dysfunction in your family, dysfunction could be they didn't love you and didn't tell you they loved you enough. They didn't give you enough water, you know, fighting, divorce, bankruptcy. You know, one version of child neglect is a parent not chasing their dream. It's a form of neglect. It's an insidious one that most people don't appreciate. But a parent not living their full potential installs that software on that child. That's a form of neglect if you're a parent. And so when my career ended, it probably ended something that would have ended anyway.

1:31:44You know, quite frankly, it's a hidden blessing. But at the time, it was devastating because it was my only dream. And it ended. and I was really lost for quite a long time, sort of flailing away, trying to find who I was. Because the mistake I made, this is true for a lot of executives listening to this too, I had linked my identity to what I did. My identity was what I did or what I accomplished or what I had. It's a very dangerous way to live because that stuff changes and sometimes it goes away. And now I learned my identity is who I am as a man, the decisions I make, the way I live my life, the way I treat other people.

1:32:23And I'll never again allow, and I'm, you know, become pretty wealthy guy and got jets and houses and islands and all this stuff, but I'll never allow my identity to be tied to things I do because that's fleeting. And I know many, many people have climbed the corporate ladder. They finally get that position. They finally get that influence. They're like, wow, I thought I'd feel differently. I thought it would be more. I thought it would to be better. And that's because their identity is tied to what they do. And that's a shallow way to live your life. And that's something I had to learn in that moment when my identity disappeared, which was baseball.

1:32:55Now, if you fast forward and see that you've gained immense wealth, like you said, the planes, the cars, the houses, the islands, you got the Richard Branson type stuff going on. But even I noticed, like, I think, as you know, this as a podcast host, you learn a lot in the first few seconds when you meet somebody prior to pressing record and sometimes people flip a switch and kind of go into character once that you hit record you have been the same guy from the second we started and one thing i noticed too is an immense amount of humility which i'm not gonna lie like i i was pleasantly surprised ed because you could have easily not have that based on all of the other stuff that you've accomplished.

1:33:38How do you think about that? I'm curious of humility in the role of not just like fake humility, which we all have seen some. I'm talking genuine, real. Hey man, it's good to get to know you. I've listened to your show. You can tell this is real. And that to me is like a really key cog when I think about your future, it's like, how does it not continue to go like this when you have this humility about you? Thank you. By the way, great question. It's one of the most important things in my life with people I want around me is humility. Well, one, I'm a faith-based person. So I'm not, I don't think that everything that's happened in my life is just me.

1:34:18That does not mean I haven't busted my tail, but I know there's an element of blessing. Quite frankly, there's been a little luck too, right? I've made my own luck, but there's a little bit of luck. The second thing is I know how, you know, fragile it is. It could go away. And so I don't really catch up too much in that stuff. But the big thing is this, the people that I like the most, like I try to surround myself with also have a ton of self-confidence, by the way. I think there's a nuance. I want people that nuance this line and it's not an easy way to live. I mean, it's difficult to find this balance.

1:34:51Tremendous self-confidence with humility. Because we all know really self-confident people that don't have any humility. What happens? They're not curious. They don't grow. They usually finally flame out and make mistakes because they believe their own press clippings, right? Then we also have friends that are really, really humble with no self-confidence. And you're dragging their butt through life all the time, right? Come on, man. We can do this. You're not there. It's not you're not a victim. So I try to have a lot of self-confidence with a degree of humility. And most of the people I surround myself with have that as well.

1:35:23I like curious people. I want to grow. What a ridiculous way to live, to not be curious, to not want to learn. Like, people go, why do you even do your show? It's not a financial win for me, right? I love people. I love learning from people. I'm watching you, your level of preparation. I'm like, all right, I got to up my game a little bit. How does he know about these index cards with my dad? Like, that's not a very public thing. So I'm always trying to grow. I get in an Uber. You can ask my wife. Do you always have limo drivers? No, I take a lot of Ubers. Why? I want to meet real people. Man, and automatically, everyone will tell you, if I have a server in a restaurant, tell me your story.

1:36:00What's your story? I had a guy drive me yesterday really quick. Guy's from Lebanon, right? Driving. He's got a kid at Harvard, a kid at Yale, and a kid at Stanford. He's driving an Uber to put him through school. And I'm like, tell me about your family. How'd they get there? Well, education's important. Tell me about Lebanon. on I didn't want to get out of the car it was like a 20 minute ride I'm like can we I'm I'm like extending the drive you know I wanted to learn more about this man what a fascinating man you get into either ask guys probably making him three two kids in an ivy league and another one at Stanford what a remarkable man I'm like tell me about your wife you must have an amazing wife to have these three kids and he's lighting up about his wife we met when we were 14 I said oh man I met my wife in kindergarten we started dating when I was 14 that's the juice of life is to have humility.

1:36:46It's where you learn and you reach people.