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Podcast Episode Notes: The Ed Mylett Show - The Secrets to Greatness with Troy Aikman
Overview In this electrifying episode, Ed Mylett sits down with three-time Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman. They discuss Troy's journey from a college athlete to an NFL legend and successful entrepreneur, exploring essential qualities of leadership, overcoming adversity, and the secrets to sustained greatness.
Key Themes and Takeaways
Troy Aikman's Background
- Football Journey: Transitioned from UCLA to the Dallas Cowboys; won three Super Bowls.
- Post-Football Career: Became a prominent sports analyst for Fox Sports and Monday Night Football and launched his own beer brand, 8 Beer.
Essential Qualities of Leadership
- Work Ethic: Great leaders put in the necessary work and are never outworked by teammates.
- Commitment to Team: Franchise quarterbacks must show their dedication to their teammates to build trust and cohesion.
- Coaching Dynamics: Effective coaching requires a balance of respect and the ability to challenge players to improve.
Overcoming Adversity
- Rookie Year Challenges: Experienced a tough start with a record of 0-11; relied on a supportive quarterback coach, Jerry Rome, to maintain confidence.
- Handling Criticism: Acknowledged that criticism is part of the public life; important to assess feedback objectively and make adjustments.
The Essence of Success
- True Meaning of Success: Success is not just about achievements but also about personal growth and fulfillment.
- Sustaining Motivation: Continuous drive for improvement even after major victories, fueled by the satisfaction of the journey.
Daily Routines and Self-Care
- Health and Fitness: Discussed rigorous workout routines, including weightlifting, cardio, cold plunges, and meditation.
- Meditation and Mental Clarity: Emphasized the importance of meditation for mental health and achieving stillness in life.
Insights into Broadcasting
- Transition to Broadcasting: Began calling games during retirement; preparation for broadcasting is as intense as for football.
- Handling Live Situations: Shared the intense experience of covering the DeMar Hamlin cardiac arrest incident live, highlighting the shift from sports to serious reporting.
Personal Growth and Reflection
- Finding Contentment: Aikman reflects on evolving from a mindset of relentless pursuit to finding balance and contentment in life.
- Legacy as a Father: Prioritizes being a great father over sports accolades; seeks to be remembered for family relationships rather than just professional achievements.
Notable Quotes
- "The greatest reward for my sacrifices was being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame."
- "If my girls at the end of my life say, 'My dad was a great father,' then nothing else matters."
Conclusion This episode is a masterclass in leadership, resilience, and the pursuit of greatness, as Troy Aikman shares insights from his storied career and personal life. Listeners can take away valuable lessons about work ethic, overcoming adversity, and the importance of relationships in defining success.
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*For more insights and motivational content, make sure to follow Troy Aikman on social media and check out Ed Mylett's book, "The Power of One More."*
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:04This is the Ed Milet Show. Welcome back to the show, everybody. Today's special. It's not every day you sit across from a three-time Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP. Let's just be real. One of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. One of the greatest athletes of all time. And by the way, ironically, I think actually one of the most underrated athletes of all time. It's a fact. But actually, as impressive as his football career was, I like the fact that the dream didn't stop there and he was able to post-football create an incredible brand an incredible career an incredible life post-football so i just want to pick the brain of the great troy aikman troy good to have you yeah great to be on great to meet you yeah i've been looking forward to this you too by the way he's also an entrepreneur we ought to just talk about that first yeah he's a he's in the beer business now yeah tell me about that a little bit it's been a it's been an interesting year and a half or so actually we started uh two years before we launched we've now been in stores for a year and a half, strictly in Texas.
1:05But I worked for a distributorship in college. I like beer. I don't drink a lot. You don't look like you drink any. Yeah, no. But yeah, I met my partners and we started kicking it around and seeing if it's something that I might want to do. And, you know, I work out. I'm mindful of what I put in my body, all those things. And I said, well, if we can do something that complements my lifestyle, then I'm all for it. And so we spent two years coming up with the recipe. And what's unique about 8, which is the name of the beer, is that we're 100 % organic grains. We have no adjuncts and no fillers. So we're the only widely available beer that can say that.
1:45Every other widely available beer adds corn, rice, syrup, or sugar. So there's a lot of junk that's thrown in there. Ours has none of that. And yet we're still at 90 calories and just 2.6 carbs. That was my next question. Yeah. Those two things. So it's been really good. And, you know, I feel like we're a lifestyle brand, quite honestly, because the people who I've always been inspired by are the people who never settle and the people who do the work and all those things. And I feel like I'm one of those people, you know, and that's why I'm usually drawn to that. And so that's really who this beer was made for.
2:21Now, anyone who wants to drink it that wants a better for you beer will certainly accept. By the way, you're in the right demo in this audience. They can drink beer and be healthy, and it's actually unique. They can get it anywhere? Where can you get it? In Texas. Yeah, it's distributed across the entire state. Eventually, we hope that we'll move outside of Texas and be in other states. Let's get it online so we can buy it online. Yeah. I don't know what the restrictions are on that. I've been asked about that a lot. Shipping it. But it's done really well. So we just kicked off our second year, and a lot of good stuff is happening.
2:54Congratulations. Yeah, thank you. Like I said, you've had this incredible life. I'm going to ask you hard stuff today, stuff that I don't think you get asked all the time. I had a chance a few weeks ago I was with Brady for a few days at an event, and I've been blessed that I get to have been around some guys that played your position at a pretty high level. Woody John Elway has been a friend of mine for a long time. What's a through line for the great leaders in anything, but especially we'll just take quarterbacks now. What's the through line? And don't be humble today. Between like a Troy Aikman, because you're different personalities, very different.
3:25Troy Aikman, a John Elway, a Tom Brady. What is the through line that made you all great leaders? I know there's differences, but what's a through line? Yeah, I think we are all different. We all lead in a different way, which is true of any field, of course. But I think that probably what the through line is for all great quarterbacks, great leaders at that position or in general is that they put in the work and they're not outworked. And I think that that, first of all, you've got to play well. But you have to also be the guy who your teammates understand is there putting in the work and doing what's necessary in order to be the best that you can be.
4:11And I think that those guys that you mentioned, I'd like to think that I'm one of them as well, that your teammates never questioned your commitment, your dedication, and your persistence to being the best that you could be. Why does it matter? Like in business as an entrepreneur, I'll tell entrepreneurs, one of the reasons you've got to outwork everybody is when you're leading a team, an ironic thing, and maybe this isn't true in football, but I think it is, you actually create safety for everybody around you, stability when you're the hardest working person in the room and the leader. I think that's one of those invisible things.
4:42You actually have created a sense of stability just by your mere presence in your work ethic that doesn't exist if you're a little bit hit and miss in an environment. Do you see that? Yeah, and I think that in football, maybe this is true in all sports, but I know that what I can relate to is the dynamics of a locker room and within an organization. And what generally happens is for the quarterback, the franchise quarterback is always viewed as the guy who didn't really have to fight necessarily for his pay. He's been treated well. You know, that, okay, well, the organization, and maybe even more so now, even though we've seen situations where some quarterbacks have had to hold out and hopefully get what they feel is their, you know, corrected pay.
5:32But I think in general, when you have a franchise quarterback, it's like, oh, okay, well, his contract's up, so we pay him, and then we move on, and then these other guys are holding out, and then they've got to fight a little harder. The quarterback usually has great relationships with not only the coaches, but also the owner himself and all that. So I think that with that, the quarterback has to, in his way, make the other players, his teammates, understand that he's with them, that he's one of them, and that he's doing the work just like they are. And it's not always easy to do. And there have been those quarterbacks, those guys, those franchise quarterbacks that have struggled in that area.
6:13And it's not easy, and not to get off tangent, but I think that becomes a challenge right now with what we're seeing in college with the NIL, is that now you've got 18-year-olds instead of 24-year-olds that are having to navigate those waters of getting paid more than the rest of the players within the locker room. And how do you do that? It's not easy. That's interesting because I've had a chance. I had Peyton Manning. I've interviewed Peyton. I interviewed John Montana and then you. and when people make their list, this is what is interesting to me. I don't know if you take this personally or not, but when people go, okay, my top five quarterbacks of all time, you're usually going to hear Joe's name.
6:50You're going to hear Brady's name. And then they'll interchange Marino, Peyton Manning, whoever. They get their list. Rodgers, I guess, is on that list somehow now. But Mahomes already. I want to know where Otto Graham is. That guy won like 10 championships back in LA. Yeah. But what is it in your case? I mean, it's clear you should be in that. And by the way, I'm sure on many lists you are. I don't mean to say. Well, no, that's not. Well, no, I'm not. I'm not. And quite honestly, Ed, it does. It doesn't affect me at all. I mean, it really doesn't. I mean, I played the game hoping that one day I would be thought of amongst the greats of all time.
7:28And I feel like that happened by the simple fact that I'm in the Hall of Fame. But when you're talking about, okay, name the top five, I wouldn't probably be in there. Maybe I would be if they mentioned the top ten. But I understand that my career really was about winning championships, which ultimately is what everyone's career should be about. That's what they pay us for. But I think that the world that we're in, especially with fantasy football, and then for those fans or people who are making those lists, that if they didn't see me play, they look at stats and they say, okay, well, shoot, I mean, Troy, my numbers are pretty modest relative to many others.
8:08And there's reasons for that. You know, Emmitt, of course, there's a reason why he's the all-time leading rusher. But we didn't throw the ball as often, but when we threw it, we threw it as well as anybody. Sure. And that's why Michael Irvin's in the Hall of Fame as well. So, no. It doesn't bother you. It does not bother me. In fact, during my Hall of Fame speech, what I mentioned was that I feel like everyone talks about how team comes first. You never hear a player say that, oh, no, I'm all about me. They'll say, hey, I just want to win. But there's very few, as you know, who really only want to win.
8:45They want to win as long as they're also putting up their big numbers. For me, I felt like I did sacrifice individually. Individually, I felt like I could throw the ball as well as anybody, but I feel like I did sacrifice individually for what was best for the team. And so the greatest reward for that was that I then received the greatest honor an individual can ever receive, and that is to be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So that's what meant so much to me. And the rest of it, I'm proud of my career, overly proud of it. But if someone had told me, you know, I always wanted to be a professional athlete.
9:25If somebody had told me that I was going to go on and win three world championships and have the teammates and the career that I was able to have, I would have taken it, you know, all day long. And so I'm proud of it. And where that ranks or where everyone else thinks I, it just, you know, I've never really dwelled on that. Because you know a lot of guys, other guys do. I mean, look at Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame speech. He's considered the GOAT and he's still like nailing dudes, you know, right and there's nothing wrong with that I just there's an ego that comes with being great at anything that I think is a healthy ego But you did you're also known as like one of the most accurate throwers of the football of all time, right?
10:03One of the most cerebral guys like stuff that quarterbacks do I asked normal zone one time, you know The quarterback guru, and he's like probably the most accurate guy I've seen throw the football was actually Troy Aikman But it was all the other things. It's actually getting into protections that you're supposed to get into I remember when Peyton really couldn't throw anymore. Yeah yet they ended up doing a lot better with him than they did with Brock because of his ability just pre-snap to get them into the right formations and blocking. Obviously, you know a lot more about that than I do. But I want to ask you also about your career.
10:34I'm just fascinated by the people that are the best. Like, people don't realize this because they watch it on TV, but every guy that's out there in the NFL was not only the best player, more than likely on their high school team, but they became elite in college. You were a UCLA guy. Did you come from Nebraska before that? Oklahoma. Oklahoma. So you didn't get it at Oklahoma. You end up red-shirting at UCLA and ends up winning three Super Bowls and a Super Bowl MVP. But I look at guys that are just different, and I think, what's the commonality? Because even me as an entrepreneur, I'm different than Elon Musk.
11:05I'm not anywhere near as wealthy as Elon Musk. But Phil Knight, Elon Musk, and Mark Cuban, three very different dudes. What's the through line, right? And I look at Jimmy Johnson. I look at Bill Belichick, Bill Walsh, and let's just say Andy Reid right now. They're very different for human beings. You know all of them or knew all of them or met them. What is common amongst them that made them great leaders? That's a tough one. Well, that's a great question. I mean, it really is because I actually was just having this conversation with somebody that, for the most part, for the most part, I would say, if you tell me someone's a player's coach, I will tell you then they probably haven't won at the highest level in general.
11:55Okay. In general. All right? Okay. But I think Andy Reid would be regarded as a player's coach, and he's been one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game. But I do think that players in general, they want to be coached by people that they know are going to make them better. And that's the bottom line. I mean, that's the key. And so do they know something that I don't and they can put me in a position to where I can achieve the things that I want to achieve, both individually and then as well for us as a team? This is true in business. True in life. True in everything. Right. I mean, it really is.
12:31And so there's obviously a lot of parallels between sports and business and other things. But, you know, you take Bill Belichick, for instance. I've talked to a number of people, you know, clearly regarded as, you know, what may be the greatest coach of all time. He's on certainly a short list. But, you know, he's not a whole lot different in a lot of ways from the guy that we see. But when you talk to people who have played for the Patriots, I said, how is he so effective? And they say, we know that if we do what he asks us to do, there's a really good probability that we're going to win the game.
13:09We're going to win. Right. Did you feel the way about Jimmy? Yeah. Yeah. And Jimmy was tough. I mean, Jimmy was really tough. He demanded a lot, attention to detail. No detail was too small. And we worked hard. You know, so we had really talented players. That was his – Jimmy's greatest strength probably was his evaluating of talent. I mean, he was sensational at that. So we had really talented players that worked exceptionally hard, and then Jimmy didn't let anything slide. And so that's a pretty good formula. I watched something – I don't know if it was last year or the year before. I happened to be watching – we have some mutual friends that are involved at Fox Sports for Football.
13:51and I watched the day that they told Jimmy Johnson that he had made the Hall of Fame and then they threw to you. Yeah. And I watched your reaction and I thought, I don't know that these guys necessarily got along that well when a dude's beating the drum when you're playing and, you know, threatening you if you don't, I'm going to play Walsh or whatever. Yeah. What's going on in your career, right? Yeah. But you sincerely seemed emotional about it on his behalf and I wonder if that's just because when you're forged in a battle, whether you're building a company or a family or a football team, that when you get to the other side of that, although it may be messy in the middle, that at the end there's this tremendous admiration that you've done something great together.
14:32Is that what that was or what was it? Because you were pretty emotional. Yeah, and I didn't know that he was going to be told that he was going into the Hall of Fame. We were going to halftime, and my producer said to me, hey, the studio wants you to watch a little bit of this halftime show. They're going to be doing something. And I just thought, okay, they're going to be doing something, and then sometime in the second half I'm going to be asked to maybe talk on it. And so I'm just watching what's going on, and then when I see David Baker walk out, who was running the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then I knew that Jimmy was going in, and I knew that there was a chance, but I had no idea that he was going to be told that night.
15:12I thought he was going to be months before he was going to ever find out. Okay. And so why I was emotional, Ed, was you're right. I've known Jimmy since I was about 14 years old. He was recruiting me out of high school when he was at Oklahoma State. And I didn't go to Oklahoma State, of course. And then he went to Miami, recruited me there, and I didn't go there. And then I go to Dallas, and he takes over for Tom Landry. So now he's coaching me. And then he drafted Steve Walsh. And you're right. It got off to a really tough start. But he and I have gotten really close. And so he's never gone into the Ring of Honor at Cowboy Stadium where they have all the names.
15:51And, you know, we all feel those of us that played for him feel that if any of us are in the Ring of Honor, he certainly should be in the Ring of Honor. But that's a decision for Jerry Jones to make. And so I never was certain he would get into the Pro Football Hall of Fame because he hadn't coached long enough was the reason. Not that he didn't deserve to be in. And I just didn't think that, well, he wanted to go on and do his boat and be in South Florida and all that. And so I just didn't know that because he'd been a finalist for a number of years. And so knowing how much that meant to him and had not yet been recognized for what he had done for those teams with the Cowboys, to see him go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, that night was really special.
16:35I mean, that's why I was so emotional. I was so happy for him. And then to take it a step further is he asked me to be his presenter. So I presented him then, which is the greatest honor. I mean, the greatest athletic honor I've ever received is, as I mentioned, going into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The greatest honor I've ever received in general was Jimmy Johnson asking me to be his presenter. because when you go into the Hall of Fame, you can ask anybody you want to be your presenter. And so when he asked me, I just thought, man, that's a pretty special thing. Oh, wonderful, man. Congratulations.
17:19Speaking of emotions, dealing with failure, it's part of being an athlete. And I think back to just watching a lot of football. Your rookie year was not gorgeous. So most people that listen to my show may not even be football fans, but I'm interested to hear, why don't you describe it a little bit, tell them what happened your rookie year, which was not, you weren't winning a Super Bowl that year. No. And how you dealt with a lot of the rejection and failure, criticism that came with it, and probably even to this day you get criticism, people saying things about you that aren't real favorable.
17:50How do you deal with that? My rookie year was, I guess when I first got criticized or had to deal with that was at Oklahoma. I was trying to run an offense that just didn't fit my skills, and so it was a real challenge. OU, of course, is a hotbed for football, and we were pretty good at the time, and I was probably holding this back just because we were trying to run this wishbone offense, and it just wasn't for me. So that was the first time I really had to deal with it. I broke my leg, and then I went to UCLA and ended up going to Dallas as the number one overall pick. But I went to the worst team in football.
18:29And then my rookie year, new head coach, college coach, bringing in a lot of different players every week. We really did not have much of a fighting chance. I was 0-11 as a starter. Crazy. And it was tough. I took a beating. We weren't very good up front. 0-11, everyone. 0-11. And so there were games where we should have lost based on how I played. And then there were other games where I thought I played pretty well, you know, and we'd have a lead with 30 seconds left in the game and somehow we'd lose it, you know. And I just remember thinking, man, what does it take to win a game in this league?
19:07I mean, this is brutal. A game, right. But I never lost confidence. And I think the reason was I had a quarterback coach by the name of Jerry Rome, and he had played in the NFL. And he just, he refused to let me get down on myself. and there were days when it was hard. It was hard to be positive. It was hard to be upbeat. It was hard to believe that good things were going to happen, but he was always there being my champion, and he was in my corner. And so fortunately, my very first game, my second season, we won. And so I got that monkey off my back, and then over time we slowly got better and better, and then, of course, we won the Super Bowl in my fourth year and had great success.
19:52But, yeah, I just think that – Does criticism hurt you even now? Well, nobody likes it. It's easy. I hear people say, hey, I don't pay any attention to criticism. I have a hard time believing that anyone just can totally brush it off. But if you get criticized enough, and now that I'm still in the public eye with the broadcasting and all that, that you just learn that it's just part of it. Someone once told me that, hey, it comes with the dinner. And criticism just comes with the dinner. And I'll read Twitter from time to time. And if you've called a game and you read Twitter, buckle up. But some of it's pretty funny.
20:40And I laugh at most of it. But what I like, the reason I do it is because you know, You know deep down if there's truth to those criticisms. You know? Yeah. And so I try to evaluate myself objectively. And I don't dismiss that. I mean, I listen and then think, yeah, you know what? They're right. Me too. They're right. That wasn't good enough. I do the same. I kind of dig some of it. Yeah. Some of it's ridiculous. Yeah. But some of it, I'm like, you know what? I've heard this enough times. There's some validity to this. That's right. I do need to make that adjustment. Yeah. And it's a bit of a wake up and all that's good.
21:12So I don't mind it. I mean, I honestly don't mind it. Even with the criticism, if you know deep down, like you've done your best and whatever it is, and then you just accept it and move on. And now, as you know, I mean, the critics, now everyone has a platform. So you get all the – everyone gets criticized now. Yeah, we definitely don't lack feedback in this day and age. There's plenty of feedback. I want to ask you about winning. I've always wanted to ask somebody who's won a lot this. I'll just be honest with you. The things that have happened in my life where I've kind of won in business or whatever, It was amazing.
21:47There were elements of it that were better than what I thought it was going to be. But there were also elements of it that surprised me. And I'm curious, you win this, as much as you can go back and really be there, you win this first Super Bowl. Maybe you're still on the field. You're in the locker room. It's the next day. Was it what you thought it would be? Like, did you feel what you thought you would feel? Because there's these new studies that actually say that you get more dopamine in the pursuit of something. that actually when you hit it, there's like a dopamine crash in your brain and it's like, is that all there is?
22:16There's a little bit of a letdown. Did you have that happen to you? What did it really feel like? Well, I'll take you back a little bit earlier than that. When I was about 14 years old, I couldn't wait to get my driver's license. I mean, I thought that anyone who could drive, how could they ever have a bad day in their life? I mean, I just thought, how could you ever be upset about anything? I mean, you can drive. Well, you turn 16, you get your driver's license, and you learn to drive and all that, and you've got a car. And then you realize that, hey, you still have bad days. And that always stuck with me.
22:54So I've always known that achievement isn't going to – it's not going to fulfill you anymore. I mean, you're proud, and you're working towards that. You reach these goals, but it's not going to make you any happier. That comes from a totally different place. Now, I will tell you, I was in my 50s before I really figured that part of it out. Really? But when I won my first Super Bowl, at least I knew that was in my back pocket, and that's what I was drafted to do. So that's where the satisfaction came. And, like, for the rest of my career, they can't say I can't win the big one. Was it satisfaction or relief?
23:43Great question. I would say, in all honesty, it was more relief. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was never one of these athletes who people would say, how come you don't smile more? How come you don't look like you're really enjoying playing? I didn't smile or enjoy it until it was over, until we won, you know, until we won the game. I mean, that's when you were really able to enjoy the effort. But during it, no. I mean, it was a grind, you know. But, yeah, I think in all honesty it was more relief. That's been my emotion too. It's interesting you say that. Like it wasn't what I thought it would be, although there's other benefits that come with it that you don't dream of or imagine as well.
24:27But it's almost like, okay, a little bit of relief. Yeah. But the other thing that's unique about you, brother, is that you repeat. And I know it's a team sport. But we're going to get into broadcasting in a minute. Then you repeated. I mean, most of you know this, but if you don't, I mean, Troy has had this prolific career at Fox. Now he's at Monday Night Football at ABC. He's the number one sports broadcaster in football now. He's also become number one of that. So he's a guy that has to leave college to go to UCLA because the offense didn't work for him. Ends up becoming the number one pick in the draft.
24:55Ends up being one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. and then after that duplicates it with a career that's been dominant. And by the way, he could be a professional bodybuilder if he wanted to be right now too. So the guy finds this way to the top position. But a lot of people don't deal very well with rejection or failure. But a lot, a lot, and you know this, whether it's been business people you've met in your life or people that are in a good relationship or an athlete. Like we were talking about the UFC guys that I work with or the boxers. Guys work really hard to win a championship.
25:24and then something happens to them after they win a championship, that hunger, the drive, whatever it is, most people deal very poorly with winning is the truth. It seems like that has not happened to you. No, it hasn't. And I think in general most people, well, my approach, whether it's in football or whether it was in broadcasting or it's in my personal life, is that most people aren't willing to do the work. I mean, that's what I believe. And I don't know where it came from for me. I don't know if it was the way I was raised by my father. But that, to me, is what has driven me throughout my life and everything that I've done.
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26:10Now, the Super Bowl, as far as that goes, I can't imagine winning a Super Bowl and then not being more hungry than you were. And the reason I say that is because it is such a great experience. that how could you not want to go and do that again and again. But you played with the guys you didn't. You played with the guys. I've been with – and I've seen those teams and we all see – because it is. It's a bit of human nature. Jimmy was great in our repeat, Jimmy Johnson. He treated us harder. I mean, he worked us harder the second year. And there was a reason for that. Jimmy was a psychology major and he felt that, hey, now is when people get complacent.
26:50I'm not going to allow it. And so he worked us even that much harder. But, you know, Ed, I'm asked a lot about why I work out so much, why I do all this. And the reason really is simple, that I feel like my success as a player was because I just refused to be outworked. And so I was going to do whatever was required. And when I got into broadcasting, I'm not the greatest speaker in the world. and uh but i just said i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna give myself at least a fighting chance and i'm gonna i'm gonna put more time into this and so i i work hard at trying to be as prepared as i possibly can be to go into a broadcast and then with the working out now in my personal life it's been about discipline uh and commitment and if i let myself go i feel like it i feel like then I become a bit of a fraud in what I believe is the foundation of who I am and why I've been able to have some degree of success.
27:52And so I think it's, you know, when you talk about a through line, when you've been asking me those questions, that's the through line for me. It's discipline, it's consistency, and it's commitment. Yeah, you're the product. Everyone, you know, this is an audio show, but we're on YouTube as well. But, I mean, Troy's in better shape right now than when he played. I mean, I'm not exaggerating this. I'm not blowing smoke at him. Troy is, when you're a fit dude, pretty fit, you notice it in guys, especially if they're over 45 or 50 years old. Troy is in magnificent, like shredded shape. What are some of your routines to do this?
28:22So do you have, you strike me as a dude now that I've met you. I bet you burn pretty hot. You're an intense dude. I bet you have a good time. Yeah. No, that's true. You burn hot. You're an intense dude. So am I. And I admire that about you. I think you are the product that you claim to be. And those are the people I like to be around the most. It's like they live what they say as much as they can. We all have these weaknesses in our life. So what are some of your routines? Fitness-wise, I know meditation's a big deal for you. What does a day look like for you? Is it regimented or is every day different?
28:55It's pretty regimented. I'd like for it to be a little bit different, but I know it works for me, and I just kind of stick with that. I've always worked out with weights, and I follow some people on Instagram. I follow yourself on all the motivational stuff. But I listened to Mark Hyman. I've become somewhat of a disciple of his. But it was always – when I retired, a lot of players will just be burned out on working out. Right. And then others go hardcore. I just kept doing it. And so I continued to lift four days a week. I was doing cardio. My cardio was running four to six miles every day. And in a year, if I took five days off from cardio in a year, I'd say that's probably a high number.
29:44My gosh, really? And so then I started having some hip issues about three years ago. And I had to stop running. And now I do the indoor bike. So I do. And then with COVID hit, I knew that people were going to go one of two ways. And most people were going to really get in worse shape. And I just, again, said to myself, I'm not going to be one of those people. In fact, I ratcheted it up even more to where then I had always been a good eater. I rarely would eat poor meals or have cheat meals. But then I just got really, really disciplined. I don't like the word strict. I just got more and more disciplined in that.
30:27And now my routine, Ed, has gotten crazy. I mean, people that know me, I carry this jug around with the water. I drink it out. Here's mine. Hey, we got the same one. Same exact jug, brother. Come on now. I love it. Here we go. I love it. Yeah, no, I was drinking up to three gallons a day. You're peeing all the time. All the time. And then I read that you hit a certain number. It doesn't matter anymore. And so I said, well, that's a relief. So I backed off. But I do that. I meditate. I've been meditating for about 10 years. It changed my life. And then I got the cold plunge, I do the sauna, I do that every evening before I go to bed.
31:05And just about a month ago I got red light therapy. Got the red light stuff going. But I mean if I read about it, then I wanna incorporate it. And I've made, I've always been a good sleeper, but now I just will not relent on my sleep. I just make it an absolute priority. And it is, it's the best I've ever felt in my life.
31:31By the way, I mean, all of those are my jam. I have the red light therapy bed. It's a great. I got a Theralite bed. I just started the red light about two weeks ago. Brother, it's awesome. By the way, one thing you can do, too, that there's a setting on there for sleep. You have a Theralite bed? Do you know which bed you have? I've got a panel. You have a panel? Okay. Because the thing I have actually can actually program it for sleep, too, so my sleep's actually gotten deeper. Just for the record, I was talking to Alex Guerrero a few weeks ago, Tom's trainer, and We were talking about cold plunge, cold therapy, sauna stuff.
32:00And I'm going to play with this. I'm just giving it to you. I can't validate this medically. But he did say that he does think some intermittent break from it, that there is an adaptation your body goes through. And so he recommended to me a little bit of a break, and then your body recalibrates, and the cold plunge and the cold therapy works a little bit better. So I do that, too. I do know. Well, the first thing I do in the morning is take a cold shower. And I haven't had a hot shower, period. I haven't had a hot shower in probably four months since I started. Okay, so you are even crazier than me.
32:30You're crazy crazy. Okay. Yeah, I haven't had a hot shower. But between the cold plunge and the cold showers, it totally has changed my nervous system. Me too. I mean, in a really positive way. I would get anxious about things. I had some social anxiety. Really? And I don't want to say I don't have any of it anymore, but I don't think I have any of it anymore. I mean, I just don't feel it. You know, I just don't. And I tell people, I said, it's the greatest thing in the world. And I've got two daughters that are in college. And I would mention to them I meditate back when they were in middle school and high school.
33:10And they've gotten used to this whole thing. I mean, they kind of laugh about it. But, you know, I don't push it on them, but I try to expose them to it. And, you know, they'll pick it up at their leisure when the time's right. But they work out, and that's always just – that's been part of what they've grown up with. So I like that. I like that they've picked up on the lifestyle of working out. Do you meditate in the morning, Troy? When do you meditate, usually? I meditate first thing in the morning. You do, too. Yeah, after I shower. One of the things – I don't know if you do this at all, too, but by the way, I love that you have such a regimented routine.
33:44My confidence, I think, now that I look back on it, I think my confidence comes from the fact that I know I'm not going to get outworked. Yeah. And I know that I'm under pressure. I have reflexively good habits that serve me when pressure is cranked up. I sense that with you too. One of the things for me, meditation was very difficult because I am wired pretty tight. And I'm always going. My mind's always thinking. And so meditation was this great gift for me. But one of the things that I've been doing lately with my meditation, I'm just curious if you do it since we're talking about it. I love focusing on my breathing when I meditate.
34:18I actually, you know, you're supposed to empty your mind. But one of the things I do lately is I've been really intentional about feeling and sensing my breath. Like breath work is like the next frontier. So I've done the cold plunge. I've done the sauna stuff. I've done the training. I do a lot of the water, a gallon, gallon and a half a day. I'm in meditation mode. What's the next thing, the red light therapy? The next thing for me has been like breathing work, breath work. Have you done any of that? So my meditation, sometimes I feel like I'm not advancing like others in that space because I only focus on my breath.
34:56You do. Okay. And I know there's a lot of different ways to meditate, but I only focus solely on my breath and then I bring it back. And I hear people say all the time, and I'm like you. I mean, I thought, man, this is going to be tough. Um, but the way that it's, I've been to a few retreats. I've been to a couple of retreats, silent retreats. Um, you ever follow Sadhguru? Do you know who that is? No. Okay. But the, you talk about the breath work, uh, Wim Hof. Yes. Uh, you know, I mean, I've had people who are doing his techniques and I, he's another that I follow and he definitely is into the cold.
35:30Sure is. Um, and, and some people that are like-minded like us, they, they tell me that they're doing some of his techniques in the morning first thing and how life changing that has been. Yeah. Now, I will tell you that the reason I started meditating 10 years ago is because I just felt, Ed, that, gosh, if anyone should be happy in this world, if anyone has achieved everything that they had hoped to achieve, my dream, my whole life was to be a professional athlete. And I was able to do that. And I was able to have this great lifestyle from it. I was broadcasting and, you know, and I called a game at the Super Bowl.
36:13It was the helmet catch, David Tyree, when he beat Tom Brady and the Patriots when they were undefeated at the time. And I remember after that game, Ron Jaworski came up to me and said, man, that was an unbelievable game. How about that? And I said, yeah, it was great. Jaws. And he says, oh, yeah. And I said, yeah. He goes, what's wrong? And I said, you know, Jaws, I didn't really I didn't do anything. I just talked about it, you know, and when I played in those games and we won, I mean, heck, I'd be the most excited guy in the room. He walked, he kind of had this quizzical look, you know, and walked away.
36:48And I've never even had this conversation with Ron. But I remember thinking to myself, man, if this is as good as it gets, I just called what may be the greatest game ever played. And yet I feel totally empty. And so I started thinking, man, what, if anyone should be happy, it should be me. And what's missing, you know? And I started looking up stuff, reading about stuff, and meditation was kind of – and that's why I say it's really changed my life. And it's allowed me, and more so in the last couple of years because of some personal things that really made me take a real hard look at myself and figure some things out.
37:26And meditation has had a huge role in that because for the longest time when I started meditating, I did it, but I didn't really – But the light never came on as to what are the benefits of this. I kept doing it. But then about probably three years ago, I read a book called The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Great book. Yeah. And I tried to read it probably two years prior to that, and I couldn't get through it. I was just like, this is too much. And then I read it three years ago, and whatever it was that was in that book, all of a sudden, it just all became crystal clear. Wow. And it changed, it's changed my life.
38:05And so all this stuff, the water and the cold plunge and all that, all that's great. And it's, but, uh, really the, the reason I feel as good as I do is because of what meditation has, has meant in my life. Thank you for saying that. Yeah. Just to meet you in the middle, same with me. I've always, and I can't even be honest, if I'm really being honest, cause I do that on our show, I don't know that I'm on the other side of what you just described completely yet. I still, I still go, if anyone should be happy and real blissful in their life on a regular basis, it really ought to be me. And, um, I'm not enough.
38:45Now I will say what you said, my faith and my meditation practices have enhanced it tremendously, but I still feel like in my case, there's several levels beyond it where I could be more present in the moment and just enjoy that moment. bit more. That's what meditation has given me is a little bit more of, okay, I'm in this moment right now and there isn't another one. The last one I just had doesn't really exist. It's a figure of imagination and the one coming after this doesn't exist either. But for me too, if I'm being really honest, I still, now part of that I think is both of our wiring that that's why we dealt with winning well because we're - Well, that's why I was going to ask you.
39:25What meditation has given me is stillness. You know, when people ask me, what does it do for you? I mean, the word that comes to mind is it gives me stillness in my life because I was like you that, you know, I just always wanted, I just had to go, go, go, go. And trying to meditate and sit still for that. I just, you know, I just felt like, God, there's things I need to do. And I, but now I can just meditate and just totally take in the moment. But the, the, you're probably like me in this regard then too, that, you know, I was hard on myself, you know, that it's crazy that you expect perfection you know i i would expect myself to be perfect it didn't matter if it was playing football didn't matter if it was giving some speech and whatever it was i just and and it was crazy because i there was no reason why i should be perfect you know that wasn't even my field or whatever it was that i was so upset with myself about you know but i was hard on myself and so i've had to i've had to kind of work through all of that you know i've done a lot of personal work and i can see it yeah and it's and that so there's there's a lot going on there and you know i i'm i'm thrilled that i found it in my 50s i wish i'd discovered it in my 30s but uh but but i'm really grateful that that life hasn't passed me by without getting to this point yeah i have a funny feeling brother that you're going to talk a lot more about this over time and you may end up dabbling over in my side of things i could see you really reaching a lot of people with this as a more and more you dig deeper and understand more about you and what you're doing Already today, I guarantee you, we've done 35, 40 minutes so far.
40:55I can promise you the last eight minutes is the part that people are going to be talking about. I think for me, also, I've pursued things so aggressively all the time in my life. A little thing meditation has done for me, and even just me reflecting and getting a little bit older, is I've started to allow certain things just to come to me. That I don't have to go get everything. I don't have to go do everything. Like I've surrendered a little bit of control and my addiction to outcome all the time and just let a little of it come my way. And I found it does. And it's the things that make us successful in one area may produce external results, but can produce internal turmoil.
41:35And there's just this nuance in our life. Like if I let go of all of my wanting to control things, all of my perfectionism, all of my drive and all of my being hard on myself, I probably wouldn't have done some of the things I did. but it's the dosage level wouldn't you agree totally agree it's the totally agree yeah i mean i i did a podcast with a former teammate of mine a few years ago and he he says talked about how tough i was as a as a leader and demanding of my teammates and and it made me cringe because i don't feel, I don't feel like I'm that person today, at least not as intense, not I'm still intense, but not as intense.
42:17And I told him, I said, you know, I think I would have been a, I think I would have been a different teammate if we were playing today, you know, and I, and I really, I cringe when I hear you say that. And he was like, what are you talking about? That's why we were able to do what we were able to do. And so I've had this conversation with others, not on a podcast but I've had it with others and they say yeah but that allowed you to do what you did so I totally understand what you're saying. I wonder I bet you do too. I wonder could I produce the same results with a little bit more? Totally. I watched a speech of me from like 20 years ago with a company that I had and gosh I cringed too.
42:54I'm like what a jerk. I thought I was being super intense but like there's just a line there. I'll tell you what happened to me and then we'll move on, but just to share, because I feel like this is important for everybody to hear from both of us, because they look at whatever we've both done in our lives and go, that's what I want to be. Some of it you do, and some of it you don't. I was at a friend's house not that long ago. He was with his kids. This is not a financially successful dude, but man, he's a rich man. He's got a rich life, rich relationships. And I was there like an hour and a half, and there was such laughter in their home.
43:25I'm talking about like belly laughing joy. You ever been in a home like that? And I'm like, and I could tell it wasn't just for me being there. It was like, this family has joy and bliss. I got my car to leave. I've never said this on my show before, but since we're opening up. And I went, oh my gosh, like, we don't do that in my house enough. We don't do that. This thing about me that's so wound up and tight and loving and serious and intense, all that, my kids know that I love them. I have an amazing relationship. but like real letting go laughter and bliss and joy. I didn't learn that from my dad.
44:01Yeah. I didn't, a lot of times we model the same dad. Really? Tell me about that. Cause I think sometimes you model, you may not model their life or their thoughts, but you do, you can model their emotions. And so just, there wasn't a lot of joy and laughter and bliss. And I didn't even realize the absence of it until I saw it in someone else's home and i went now that i'm not willing to cost myself for my children anymore yeah do you see that too and how do you think we have the same dad 100 how are our dads the same do you think well my dad was was was really tough uh demanded a lot uh you know he treated me like i was a grown man from the time i was six years old and you know and in some ways that's good and i do think that in a lot of ways that is why i was able to go on and achieve a lot of the things that I achieved, but boy, you give up a lot.
44:54You give up a lot of childhood. Your face just changed. Yeah, you give up a lot when you're treated like that at a young age. And so that was the way our house was as well. I don't recall any laughter in our house. And everybody kind of walked around on eggshells. And so I'm not that way as a father. But with that said, I'm better now. But there were times then when you were around that, it made you uncomfortable. You just weren't used to experiencing that. You'd hear this laughter and stuff going on, and you're like, what's going on? This isn't where I'm most – I'm not protected in this. So I think I definitely could be better.
45:37Like what you're saying is like, hey, my kids, they know I adore them, and we've had a great life and all that. But as far as this just exuberant laughter and, you know, yeah, that's not been. Yeah. It's not been. It's something worth evaluating, huh? Totally. Like, I mean, I love him. We have a blissful family. We've enjoyed amazing experiences. But, man, maybe part of my disposition could have made it richer. Yeah. Could have made it more blissful. Yeah. Did your dad pass away? No, he's, my mom passed away about three months ago. I'm sorry. My father, he's 84. His mom lived to be 100. He's in great shape.
46:13He's going to go. Yeah, he's tough as nails, you know. Do you think you were proving something to him as you were achieving? I think I always wanted to prove to him I was as tough as he was. I think that was what it was. Tough. Yeah. I think you had to be tough to survive in our house. And I think he was pound for pound the toughest person I've ever known. I get the feeling that, you don't have to comment on it, but I'm just going to tell you I get the feeling. I get the feeling that you love your dad a lot and that it was really tough and that you even protect him with what you don't go to. How tough it was.
46:43That's the sense that I get because I'm watching your face. Yeah. I'm seeing your face. Yeah. Anyway, you're an amazing son. I'm sure he's unbelievably proud of you. This is getting good here, dude. I don't know if you knew we were going to do this today. I don't know if you knew we were going to do this.
46:57All right, I want to shift gears a little bit. We don't have that much more time, but I want to ask you about this. One of the things I admire most about you that is so rare in life is that when one dream ends for most people, whether they achieve it or not, they're going to start a business and then it didn't work. or they're going to be a professional athlete and it didn't happen or they're going to have this amazing relationship and then there's a divorce or it ends. I really admire people who have a second act. Whether they achieve the first dream or not, they come back and they're like, man, I made my second dream happen in my life.
47:28And you've done that. Like I said it earlier, you had this prolific career. I mean, really, one of the great careers in the history of the sport you played. And then you get into this broadcasting thing and you're becoming an iconic brand doing that. You and Buck are the best. And it's not even really argued, I don't think, by anybody else. I think Collinsworth and these other guys do a great job. But the brand, there's a reason why you paid the way you're paid to do it. When you got into that, were you intentional at becoming great at that as well? And like, I'm going to do this for the next 20 years of my life?
48:02Is it the same type of preparation psycho Troy Aikman that you were doing before? yeah so when when i was retiring first of all the way i got into broadcasting was i was still playing uh i had i ended up playing two more years but it was 1998 uh the radio uh play-by-play guy for the dallas cowboys uh he's only done radio and they had nfl europe back then yeah and i asked him i said why don't you ever go over to nfl europe and and call games and he said well i'd like to but you know they just haven't given me an opportunity and I said well they've been asked Fox has been asking me to go over there for years I said why don't why don't we go you can do play by play I'll do color but um you know I had no interest in television but but uh you know I'll get a couple weeks in Europe and call a couple games and then you'll get to go do that you know and so he said yeah so I told Fox that I would do it but I wanted Brad to be my play-by-play guy and And so that's how it started.
49:01I had, like I said, I had zero interest in broadcasting. But when I called the game with him, I just had a great time calling it. You know, I mean, because I always wondered, how can guys talk for three hours? You know, I'm just not that big of a talker, you know. But then you do the work, you prepare, and you talk to players and coaches, and you realize you have all kinds of things to talk about. You know, you don't have enough time to talk about all the things that you wanted to. So I really enjoyed it. And at the end of that game, I got a call from a guy named Ed Gorn, who was with Fox Sports, and he's become one of my closest friends.
49:30And he said, hey, when you retire from football, if you want to broadcast, we'll have a job for you. And I thought, oh. So that was the first time I started even thinking that I might do this. And then when I did retire from football, Matt Millen had been the number two guy, and he left to go become the GM of the Detroit Lions. And he had been behind John Madden for years there. And so I think he was a little worn out from all that. But anyway, I retired, and they put me in the number two booth. and then after one year John Madden decided to go to Monday Night Football and work for ABC and the next thing I knew they were pairing me with Joe Buck and Chris Collinsworth so we were in a three man booth for a while but Ed I really thought I would do it for a couple years and then figure out what I really wanted to do with my life and then I'd go do that and I always thought that I'd be in the front office for a team I could see that I had definite thoughts when I was a player and most quarterbacks do as to how you build the team, what you need and the type of guys you want so that's what I thought that I was going to do but then I got divorced and my girls were really young and it just was not something I could do I was a single father and broadcasting was the greatest job for that because I was only gone on the weekend yeah during football season I was home all week could drive them to school pick them up go to all their school functions and then in the offseason I was totally theirs and so my youngest just finished her sophomore year of college so it wasn't until two years ago that if I really wanted to pursue that then I could have so broadcasting was not in my long-term plans but then it it happened because of my personal life but yeah my preparation is every bit as intense as it was as a player it's just a little bit different of course it's not physical it's just more more mental and but I put in a lot of time and I feel like I, however you broadcast is really totally up to you.
51:24And if it's accepted by the audience is when they listen to you. But I just always have believed that you can't fake it. So for me to be totally prepared and feel comfortable being ready to call the game, I've got to put in so much time just so I have a comfort level, you know. Others may be able to do it with less work and maybe they're smarter than I am and they just work a little bit better than I do? I don't know. Is this articulate version of you? Like, I'm being serious, too. You said you're an unbelievable communicator. Is that a muscle that's grown since you've been doing it? Or if I were to go back and watch that first broadcast?
52:02Oh, it's grown. Yeah, it's grown. Okay. And the other part of this is that, you know, there wasn't social media when I started. I said a lot of dumb, I still do. But I'd say dumb things. And it's like, you know, that perfectionist again is like saying, in your head you're an idiot I mean what are you gosh yeah how could you say such a dumb thing and and but you didn't read about it you know as soon as you finish yeah it wasn't yeah exactly it wasn't on you know Instagram and you know so I was fortunate in that sense you know the people that get into this business now really any anyone you get into the you know you're a rookie quarterback all over again and just the the platform that everybody has to weigh in on your performance is much different.
52:46I mean, these athletes are much more heavily scrutinized than I ever was when I came in. Yeah. I think the thing, I'm just thinking, I'm listening to you. I've got a couple more things I want to ask you. I wish we could go three hours, honestly. But I think the thing I'm most impressed with you is you appear to me to be getting better as a human the older you get. And that's impressive because you came from a pretty high place in the first place, you know, but physically, spiritually, mentally, your ability to think and articulate your thoughts is all at a higher level than it was even 15 and 20 years ago.
53:16That's impressive. Or even three years ago. Super impressive. Now, talk about preparation. There's one thing you can't prepare for. I wanted to ask you this since it happened. You were calling the DeMar Hamlin game. You can't prepare for that. What in the world? Everybody knows what I'm talking about, but the Buffalo Bills guy that ended up going to cardiac arrest. They thought he probably had died on the field that night. He's actually coming back and playing this year, which is unbelievable to me. But what's that like? number one that situation then two you are now on live television in front of millions of people and you have no preparation for something like this so all this preparation troy aikman stuff that's out the window what was that experience like well unlike anything that i've ever experienced i mean it went from a sportscast to a newscast uh and and it looked pretty dire yeah you know uh when it happened uh i've seen head injury everybody has on television uh and that's initially what it looked like was that demar had gotten hit and he started to get up and then he wobbled a little and then he goes down um but it didn't take but a few seconds or less than a minute to really understand the gravity of the situation with the people that were out and what we had privilege of seeing with our cameras that the public was not seeing was the amount of attention and the cpr that was being administered uh in order to keep him alive uh and they it was feverish.
54:38It was going on quite some time. I didn't think he was going to make it, quite honestly. Now that broadcast or the way that we at least covered it, I actually did very little. Joe Buck did the heavy lifting that night and I told him this. I'll tell all your viewers. I've seen Joe do some amazing things as a broadcaster in some big moments, in big games, the biggest of games, where he's been just perfect. And I thought this was his finest hour. I mean, I thought he was amazing. There was no real direction for him because nobody knew what we were doing. Nobody knew really the situation. We weren't getting much information.
55:27We didn't know how long we were going to be on the air there with ESPN and ABC. Or were we going to throw it to someone else? You didn't even know if the game was going to continue for a while. Didn't know. Yeah, none of that. So it turned into an amazing story because Joe and I were in New York for what they call the upfronts for ESPN, and DeMar Hamlin came out on stage with us. We'd never met him. And it was fantastic. I get a little emotional about it just because, you know, shoot, that night, we didn't even know if he was going to live. But for him, when I've seen him prior to even meeting him, his platform that he's been given and what he's done with that is really, really remarkable.
56:12I mean, there's some good work being done through that young man and how he's kind of taken this, the mantle, and just making the most of the opportunity that he has to reach so many people. Yeah. So are you today. Thank you. So are you today. Thank you. Let me ask you one more thing. First off, I've got to tell you, I really enjoyed today. Yeah, me too. A lot. Thank you. I think we're going to be friends for a long time. I admire you and I like you. I love seeing somebody just get better and better as a person. And I see that in you. Has all of this, please answer this as honestly as you can, because we all know what the easy answer is.
56:48is like all this worth it this meticulous routine you've got all the discipline all the sacrifices all the weight room stuff all the film prep that you did all the media you've had to do then the transition to going into broadcasting and now you're an entrepreneur which by the way go get your eight beer if you're in texas until we can get it to you everywhere else um is is it worth it would it have been okay for you now at your 56 if i said hey troy life didn't you didn't win any super bowls you didn't play in the nfl you're not in the hall of fame uh you know you're not a tv icon guy now but you've had a pretty good life you did all right man you got out of here you didn't hurt anybody yeah everything turned out okay but man you got you didn't have to do all this stuff you've had to do right would you be okay with that life and is the one you chose worth it.
57:40Yeah. The life I've chosen is definitely worth it. You know, I mean, I have, I have no regrets. There's nothing I look back on and think, ah, man, I wish I'd have, wish I'd have done that a little bit differently. I mean, I know that I've given up a lot, but there's a balance. I mean, you've got to, you've got to strike a balance for me in terms of what, what motivated me to achieve. I've always felt like there's another mountain to climb. And the people who find contentment, I used to think contentment was a four-letter word. But now I really admire those that are content as long as it's put in the right context, right?
58:30I think it's authentic. My sister, who's very successful, she's the CEO of the largest hospital in Oklahoma. She has contentment, and I admire that. I now am finding contentment. But before, I could never have been in that space. So I feel like I've been a really good father, which has been the only thing that's mattered to me. is being, you know, if my girls at the end of my life say, hey, my dad was a great father, if they tell people, then nothing else matters. I mean, you say, hey, you're not really thought of as being a top five all-time quarterback. I don't care. But, you know, I think I could maybe make that top five all-time dad list.
59:21And so that's what motivates me. That's what matters to me. All the other stuff, because our story is going to be told by those who know us best. it's not going to be the people who the fans that were thrilled that we won Super Bowls you know what I'm saying but yeah I feel like it's definitely been worth it and I'm thrilled with where I'm at I mean life just keeps getting better I think it's because you're getting better didn't know that when we booked you for the show that we would talk about these things today and I'm really grateful that we did. Yeah, I want you to know if there's anything I can ever do for you, I'm here to help you in any way that I can.
1:00:04You're a stud. Oh, appreciate it. Thank you. Yeah, my audience is going to share the heck out of this thing here today, brother. This was outstanding. One of the best conversations I've ever had on or off camera. Wow. I enjoyed it. It means a lot. I enjoyed it very, very much. Hey, guys, make sure you follow Troy. He's on social media at Troy Aikman or as my producer Sasha said today, Troy Aikman. He's coming on the show today, and she's super excited about it. So follow Troy on Instagram. You can get Drink8Beer on Instagram also. And you can also grab a copy of The Power of One More, which is the greatest book written in 2023 by this guy, Ed Milet.
1:00:45God bless you all, everybody. Max out your life. This is The Ed Milet Show.
From the publisher
Learn how to become a VISIONARY LEADER and CULTIVATE SUCCESS in this electrifying episode with one of the ALL-TIME GREATS…
Troy Aikman’s journey from UCLA to the Dallas Cowboys, where he became a 3-time Super Bowl champion and a member of the Hall of Fame, is an inspiring testament to his unparalleled work ethic. But his impact extends far beyond the football field. As a Fox Sports and Monday Night Football analyst, as well as a successful entrepreneur with his own beer brand, Troy brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table.
During our conversation, Troy shares invaluable insights on leadership, teamwork, and personal growth that can propel you to victory in the most important games of your life. Get ready for a thrilling discussion where we cover:
The essential qualities that make coaches truly great and the trait players seek in their mentors.
Overcoming criticism and adversity to rise to greatness.
Unveiling the true essence of success and what it feels like to achieve your biggest triumphs.
Sustaining the hunger for greatness even after achieving monumental victories.
Unlocking the secrets of Troy's daily routines and rituals that keep him at the top of his game.
Exploring the power of cold plunges, red light therapy, meditation, and breath work.
Creating a harmonious home life and fostering meaningful family experiences.
AND you’ll get exclusive insights into a pivotal moment in Troy’s broadcasting career, when he was faced with a life-or-death situation on the field. This gripping story will leave you in awe of his resilience and the depth of his perspective.
Get ready for a high-impact episode that will elevate your understanding of leadership, excellence, and the pursuit of greatness.
