Exploring the Five Star Universe: From Musical Notes to Business Success with David MacEachern

[00:00:00] Mike: Audience, this episode is gonna rock your socks. Laura Wilkinson had one of the best conversations I've had in a long time. Laura Wilkinson, for those of you guys that don't know she had one of the biggest upsets in Olympic history. She started it in eighth place with a broken foot, came from behind to win the 2000 Olympic platform gold medal.

[00:00:23] Mike: She also won the 2004 World Cup and the 2005 World Championships in diving. So she is the first woman in the history of the planet to win all three coveted world titles in platform diving. And along the way, she's won 19 US National title.

[00:00:39] Mike: She's been voted by the American public and the Spirit Award, she was nominated. ESPY Award she's been inducted to the University of Texas Women's Athletics Hall of Honor, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame. The the list goes on, the World Acrobatics Society, gallery of Legends, and the International Swimming Hall of Fame following a nine year retirement check this.

[00:01:02] Mike: And a two level interior cervical disc dichotomy and fusion and A C D F with her four kids at the age of 43, she qualified for the finals of the 2021 US Olympic diving trials. She's now a coach. . She's an author, she's a speaker, and we had an incredible conversation. Andrew and I dive into everything from the mindset of Olympic gold medalist to how it started when she was a child,

[00:01:29] Mike: she talks about principles of what she learned from how to raise herself. , how do you raise an Olympic gold medalist? What is the champion's mindset? What the dos and don'ts of parenting? What does it mean to, you know, pursue a career and a dream that might not? Lots of financial gains.

[00:01:45] Mike: we get into even the finances behind being an Olympic gold medalist. So many great principles are gonna come from this episode, so get ready for the next episode of The Better Than Rich Show featuring Laura Wilkinson.

[00:01:57] Mike: Welcome back to The Better Than Rich Show. I'm here with my host, Andrew Bigs, myself, and we have a special guest today, Laura Wilkinson, and you are in for a treat. , I don't think I was three times at anything. Maybe three time champion, nevertheless, three time world champion.

[00:02:12] Mike: Anything. I'm so excited to have you on the show. Welcome to the Better Than Rich Show.

[00:02:16] Laura: Thank you guys for having me on. I appreciate it.

[00:02:19] Mike: So I, I watched your hype video, the little two minute teaser on your website, and I encourage every listener to go do yourself a favor and watch the teaser. I don't think I've dove into a pool before, but I was ready to try to jump off one of those high platforms and go diving into the deep end, like, wow, what a cool footage I'm sure it was fun just like having the video crew just like follow you around like It was almost like a movie trailer watching that thing. so beautiful. Just really cool journey. I don't know if there's anything around that you wanna speak to, but I just wanna say I'm super excited to hear you.

[00:02:48] Laura: Thank you. it was a lot of fun and I, took a nine year break. Like I actually retired back in 2008. We had a bunch of kids and then I started diving again in 2017. And so we kind of made this as like a little comeback video. And it turned out really cool. It did, it felt like my little like mini rocky story and so I, I just loved making it, but the making of it felt a little awkward, you know, but it turned out really cool.

[00:03:09] Laura: But the, it quite, as what? You're on the back end, so Great editors, amazing sound people. Yeah, it's all.

[00:03:18] Mike: the twirly little flip at the end. I was waiting for her. I was like, I hope they show her dive in. I was like, oh my gosh, you twisted and turned like 17 times before you hit the pool. Like, that was so cool,

[00:03:29] Laura: Editing. No.

[00:03:34] Mike: Oh, that was so awesome. But anyway welcome to the show. We're excited to have you here. I'd love to kick things off, if you wouldn't mind just giving a little context. you know, starting the pool your first dive in your teens take us through the journey of like, Get into the pool, we'll catch into diving in the first place.

[00:03:49] Mike: I mean, obviously three time World Champion is the end. I'm sure we'll get there. But why don't you take us back a little bit. I'd love to hear like how that story and journey started.

[00:03:56] Laura: Yeah, it did not start in the pool. So I actually, like many kids watched the Olympics when I was little. It was back in Mary Lou Rutten's day. Saw her do that perfect 10 vault and stand on top of the Olympic podium. And I was like, I wanna do that. So I got into gymnastics, absolutely love gymnastics, but my passion was far greater than my talent.

[00:04:15] Laura: We'll just put it that way. And so at about 13, I kind of realized I was not gonna be Mary Lou Retten. And the idea of at that time, kind of staying at the same level to go to college just sounded really boring to me. So I still had that Olympic dream and that fire, and I was like, well, if it's not gonna be a gymnastics, there's got to be a sport that I could excel in.

[00:04:33] Laura: So I kept my Olympic dream. I just kept trying to find a different avenue to make it happen. And it took me a couple years. I tried like track and tennis, softball a whole bunch of different things. I didn't find diving until the very end of my freshman year of high school, ran into some ex gymnast friends that had started it.

[00:04:49] Laura: So I. went to the pool with them and I mean, I fell in love the minute I stepped onto the pool deck. It was outside nestled in the woods. The radio was blasting and they were having fun, and it was like gymnastics into the water. So I was like, all right, I feel like I am made for this sport. And it was pretty much just fell right into it and I was like, this is it.

[00:05:07] Laura: I'm gonna, the Olympics in this sport.

[00:05:09] Andrew: Wow. I mean, and just to say, okay, I have Olympic aspirations, right? I think everyone, when they're young has aspirations to become a world class athlete at something, right? For me, it was basketball. Unfortunately, I'm six foot and I'm white, but it's like we all have aspirations, but for you, especially, to discover it, you're a freshman year of high school, I'm guessing you're, 15, you're 14.

[00:05:28] Andrew: Something in that range. But then just to say, okay, I just discovered this but I'm, so committed and I'm so driven that I'm gonna be, become, actually follow through. that's a different level, Laura. So, talk to me, what's the difference between someone who has aspirations, To be great at something and then someone who achieves it. And what is the, Olympic mindset? And not only that, what's an Olympic gold mindset? So talk to to us about that. I'd love to hear it.

[00:05:51] Laura: are, these are good questions. So, toward the end of my gymnastics I think I felt a little bit foolish having such big dreams because I wasn't that great of a gymnast. Mean, you know, level nine, that's, but it wasn't great, so I felt kind of silly having those big dreams, but I.

[00:06:08] Laura: That's kind of what pushed me to try something else. But I kept it very close to the vest after gymnastics. I mean, I think I told all my gymnastics friends, like we all had those dreams, so it wasn't a big deal. But, as I realized I wasn't there and I'm trying these other things, it was very much an internal, like, this is what I wanna do, but I'm not telling people about it.

[00:06:24] Laura: Cause I felt stupid. I was getting older. I'm a teenager, you know, and I realized the gravity of what you say you'll be made fun of, you'll be put down and so when I first started diving, That wasn't something I wanted to tell people, but my coach, Kenny, he just had a way of like pulling stuff out of you.

[00:06:40] Laura: And I felt really embarrassed when he asked me what my goals in the sport were. I mean, cause I was almost a sophomore in high school already. And so he likes to have meetings cuz if you wanna go to college, he's gotta help, connect you to college coaches and things like that. So he was asking me my sophomore year, like what my goals were and I was really embarrassed to tell him that it was winning the Olympics.

[00:06:58] Laura: But I was like, I think I have to tell him cause he wants to know what my real goals are, you know? And so I told him and I'm like, waiting for the backlash. I'm waiting for the laughing, I'm waiting for the, you know, just like, let's think about something else, you know? but he just sat there for a. and he kinda looked thoughtful and he said, okay, well if that's what you wanna do, this is what we need to do. You know, and he starts like listing off these things. I remember just kind of being a little bit shocked that like, he's not laughing. he's not telling me this is crazy. Like he's actually telling me how to do it.

[00:07:29] Laura: Like, okay, that there's a way to do it. And so I think that one person. Not thinking you're crazy and allowing you to actually say, okay, I'm, gonna try and follow through with this. Crazy dream was really empowering because leading up to that, like I was on the dance team my freshman year of high school.

[00:07:45] Laura: Just kinda something to do. In the meantime, I like to dance and stuff and I was going to quit to start diving and she told me I was too old to start a new sport, to which I laughed because I had only started that sport the year before, then I was on the high school diving team, not just our club team, but our high school team.

[00:07:59] Laura: And I was kicked off for being a waste of space. So, like I had been told from coaches, you're supposed to trust and listen to. these really awful things that I could have just taken any of 'em and been like, I'm not good enough. I can't do this and just walk away. But instead, this one person breathing like kind of new life into me changed everything.

[00:08:17] Laura: And so I just chose to really believe what he was telling me since he seemed to think there was a path to get there. And I was just all in at that point. Like it never left, but at that moment, I remember being all in. Like he says, it's possible. He's showing me how to do it, like we're gonna do it,

[00:08:31] Andrew: that's amazing. It just, goes to show, I mean, thinking back to anyone who's spoken into our lives, right? It only takes one conversation. And now as adults thinking about that, right? Like speaking into our kids, speaking into, our nieces and nephews speaking into, maybe just a handful of years younger than us, or even someone who's older than us, but just seeing them fully right?

[00:08:49] Andrew: And saying, Hey, yeah, sounds great. That's your goal. Great.

[00:08:53] Laura: it also with our social media world and culture that we live in, you can get a hundred different people telling you how great you are and how beautiful you are and how wonderful you are. But you get that one person who tells you something negative, that one troll that's on there, and that's the thing you hang onto.

[00:09:09] Laura: You know what I mean? And that's a really tough place and we all do that. And so working on, like, letting that go and actively choosing to believe these people who are telling you positive things instead, it sounds really easy, but that's not an easy thing to do. It's a hard thing to do.

[00:09:23] Andrew: Right. one more thing I'll say on that, and I'll kick it to you, Mike, is like of our better the rich principles that we teach at our retreats is that nothing is impossible, like anything is possible, but we have a dot, dot dot after it. And we say with the, appropriate strategy , you know, and sounds like this coach saw you really truly, respected your dreams and then said, okay, like, here's a plan.

[00:09:42] Andrew: You know? So I just think that's really, really beautiful.

[00:09:45] Mike: my curiosity is this is parenting you like, if you think about mom and dad, because you said you're mom now, and you think about if you have a kid that comes to you and is like, Hey, I'm gonna go to the Olympics. It's like, what did you learn from mom and dad as they were parenting you through that dream and then now you as a mom, like if you had your kids come out to you, what would you do the same?

[00:10:01] Mike: What might you do different? Just like from parenting a kid that has a really ambitious dream of being an Olympic gold medalist and then actually pursuing it.

[00:10:10] Laura: that's a great question. Cause I do have four kids now and some that are getting into sports and different activities. And I've seen a lot of other parents, sports parents that weren't so great too. So I've also seen what not

[00:10:19] Laura: to do I think one of the best things that my parents did for me was they were very hands off.

[00:10:24] Laura: they were very much like, great, go do your thing. they would show up and they'd watch practices, but they never said anything about it. Just like, ok, good job. You did nice. That was great. You know, like they were positive, but they never really said much more than that. And they had taught me growing up like how to commit to something like, you're gonna do this commitment.

[00:10:40] Laura: cause I remember doing softball and I thought softball was really cool. I love softball. I'd always played catch with my dad. I'd always hit with my dad. Like, I thought it was fun. But I was on a really bad team because I started at like 13 and I just got stuck on like the last place team and I was having a really hard time cause I'd never done a team sport and everybody was so bad and we didn't practice and it drove me crazy and I had such a hard time.

[00:11:01] Laura: I just wanted to quit and try something else. And they were like, no, you made a commitment. You're in it for the season, you're gonna see it through and. I think there's a lot of value in learning the difference between commitment, and learning, like when you should move on and things like that.

[00:11:14] Laura: Cause there's also like if you've been in gymnastics or something for eight years, you've been committed, you know, just cause you are maybe are done and this is it in the middle of a season. Like that's a different kind of situation. So teaching them what real commitment is, seeing certain things through, understanding when to move on, when to stick with it.

[00:11:30] Laura: Like those are tough things. But a lot of it was that my parents taught me the big lessons and then let me figure it out. They let me fall down, they let me get back up on my own , cause I get parents coming to me all the time, how do I make my kid passionate? It's like you can't make your kid passionate.

[00:11:43] Laura: Your kid has to develop that from within. And if you're trying to create that for them, it's gonna backfire on. Can't force someone into being passionate about it and working really hard, like that has to be developed within them. And you have to trust the coaches that they're with. If you can't trust those coaches, maybe you're not on the right team.

[00:11:58] Laura: You know, like don't be coaching your kid on top of what they're getting. Like they're getting enough feedback. So it's kind of learning those things. And as my child. Growing up, she's getting really involved in volleyball. She's just made the team and it's really cool to watch. And I'm actually really excited that I know nothing about volleyball and this has been brand new.

[00:12:13] Laura: So don't really have the option to jump in and say anything. Cause she did die for a couple years and she was on the little lessons and it was so hard sometimes not to coach her and not to say something, but I was like, she needs to figure this out. It needs to be her journey, you know? And if she gets to the level where she's asking for my advice, then I'm gonna offer it.

[00:12:30] Laura: You know, and I'll make sure she commits, I'll make sure she's seeing those things through. But I've gotta let her fall. And that's hard as a parent to like, watch your kid fall down. But like, that's how we learn to walk when we're little, right? You can't just pick your kid up every time. Like they gotta figure out how to pick themselves up and try again and try again.

[00:12:46] Laura: Like, that's actually how we're naturally inclined. So we, have to let our kids do.

[00:12:51] Mike: I just wanna honor you, and thank you for the distinction, because in my mind I was like, your parents didn't let you quit, but yet you said tennis and gymnastics and you know, softball and all these things that get to diving. So you had to stop those other things at one point to get to the diving.

[00:13:06] Mike: And if that's not quitting, then what is it called? And the way you described it was, we committed, we follow through till the end of the season, and then it's okay to start something new. and I don't, think that is really explained to a lot of these kids in a lot of cases where it's like, when they sign up, I'm assuming there was something like, Hey, when you sign up for this sport, we're finishing the season.

[00:13:25] Mike: So it doesn't matter if you like it or you don't like it, but we're making the agreement today. I don't remember my parents having that conversation with me when I started playing like soccer or basketball or tennis or anything. It was just like, all right, cool. , I just wanna acknowledge that little thought there that you said.

[00:13:38] Mike: So thank you for

[00:13:39] Mike: that.

[00:13:39] Mike: that was perfect.

[00:13:40] Laura: Yeah. But it could be that, like those sports also have natural seasons where, you sign up for the, spring and then you're done, you know, where gymnastics wasn't I guess maybe it's sort of like that, but really it's like this year round you're in it all the time kinda thing.

[00:13:52] Laura: So I didn't understand that going into these other sports. maybe that's why I had to be taught that, you know, and I picked up on it because I was older, you know what I mean? So it's, we all have different journey, so we learn it in different ways and different times.

[00:14:07] Andrew: Yeah. I like the hands off approach. I was planning on just living vicariously through my sons and just completely controlling every aspect of their sports career. But no, this is good advice. I'm obviously joking, but it is hard. I coached the baseball team and I'm just like, I got super into it and it was really fun.

[00:14:24] Andrew: And it was also really interesting to see like, my own ego get tied up in like seven year olds baseball, right. Or whatever. And it was just like super funny from like a personal experience to just like, watch your ego, show up. So, anyways talk to me about diving in general. Cause an interesting sport because It's so unique, it's so particular. You have to really be pay attention to the details. I'll watch these divers at the Olympics, and I go, that's a tent. you hear the announcers and they're like, Ooh, you know, unfortunately, the way they entered the water or the splash or look good to me.

[00:14:55] Andrew: So from your perspective, just help, us understand intricacies of diving. You know, I'm just kind of curious from what are your thoughts on that and how do you prepare for that? But then also what's the meta lesson that you learn from diving that you can apply to life or to say you're coaching clients?

[00:15:09] Andrew: What would you say to that?

[00:15:10] Laura: Oh, there's so many. these are great questions. it's very highly technical. It's very refined, and it's, so when you see the people at the top level, they do all perform really, really well. And it's easy to start playing the arm quarterback, like, oh, there was a big splash on that.

[00:15:22] Laura: we don't realize like the people that are there are all the best in the world. And so even the ones that, like, everybody has a bad dive every once in a while, you know? it's kinda funny to see people commenting on it at that level that don't totally understand it, but it is very acrobatic.

[00:15:35] Laura: Like a lot of people just call me a swimmer and I'm like, I doggy paddle to the side. That's about like all the legit swimming that I do. But it very much is acrobatic like gymnastics trampoline. So we have a lot of former gymnasts, a lot of trampolines people like that, that are within our sport.

[00:15:49] Laura: And after they finish our sport, a lot of my friends are now going into the circus. They do like circus, they perform on the backup cruise ships. There's now a high diving circuit where they're doing cliff diving off of 20 and 27 meters, you know, that's like up to 90 feet. It's crazy. They dive off of castles and, buildings and into off bridges into these giant bays it's crazy.

[00:16:08] Laura: Cool. is definitely a very unique sport. So that acrobatics skillset plays a big role in that kind of air awareness and stuff. And so it is highly technical cause it's not like gymnastics not to say gymnastics isn't highly technical. There's a lot involved in gymnastics. But landing, and trying to just land, you know, you can kind of make up a little bit if you're short here or there, but diving if you are not.

[00:16:28] Laura: It pays off big. You make a little mistake on the top at the end of 33 feet, like you're gonna have a big impact on the bottom. Like it's gonna make a big difference. So we do a lot of video analysis a lot of comparing, a lot of basic, drills all the time to kind of hammer in those details.

[00:16:42] Laura: And it's hard, like the impacts, especially off of like a platform are really difficult. Like, I can't do 10 meter platform every single day. We did it at most like three days a week. And I did four for a while and I started getting injured. So three days a week was kind of the max that I could handle physically.

[00:16:56] Laura: Cause you're hitting at 35 miles an hour, so it takes a toll on your body. It's like, 15 car accidents a day, you know, per practice. So you gotta be able to recover from that too. So there's a lot of like learning how to train smarter and kind of beat the system in that way too. It's not just about numbers, although numbers are really important.

[00:17:13] Laura: So trying to find that balance. It's a different sport in that way. But I love the challenge of that. And you add another part to that

[00:17:19] Laura: question,

[00:17:20] Mike: The meta lessons. But

[00:17:21] Mike: I just wanna say. That

[00:17:22] Mike: was awesome.

[00:17:23] Andrew: Yeah. is there something particular about diving that you feel, from a mindset perspective? I mean, just to give you an example, I was reading through your bio at one point, you were down, right? And you had to come back and it's like, what does that look like?

[00:17:36] Andrew: okay, I'm down at football, or I'm down at, basketball or these different types of sports. But with diving in particular, it's an individual sport. So when you were down, like how do you come back? And then what's kind of the lesson that you can teach your kids teach, your coaching clients from, that's particular from that.

[00:17:51] Laura: yeah, individual sports are what I know. and it's funny, when I talk to people who are more like team sports people, we have like very different mindsets about things, which is fascinating to me. I, I love the mental angle, but it is very mental. Cause it's all on your shoulders, good or bad, you know, it's all what you decide to do.

[00:18:05] Laura: And really about learning how to stay in the moment with anything and not be distracted by all the things that might happen, by all the things that just happened. But being able to like actively let those go and, find yourself fully invested in the moment, in the task at hand sounds so simple.

[00:18:21] Laura: It is so, so hard to implement. and then do it again and again and again. cause it's, a lot like golf in a way that, like you do this action for, less than two seconds and then you have all this time to wait and think about it in between the next round, you'll do five or six dives per round for like a preliminaries or a final.

[00:18:37] Laura: So there's a lot of thinking time and that can be your, best friend or your worst enemy. So and fear is very big in my sport as well, obviously. The higher you go, the scar art can be, the harder the impact can be. And so overcoming fear is a really big thing, and I've dealt with that a lot in my sport as well.

[00:18:52] Laura: And so that's something we're, I'm constantly teaching people that like as big and as real as fear feels. It's just a feeling it's not real and it only has the power over you that you allow it to. And so, you know, we talk a lot about how to recognize fear for what it is and how to move beyond it. And that is really probably the best feeling in the whole world is overcoming such a. Roadblocking journey, stopping fear. When you find a way to move past that, I mean, that's better than any Olympic gold medal. I've stood on the top of the podium, I've gotten an Olympic gold medal, and I will tell you now that conquering fear feels better than that. Like it is fulfilling in such a different way, and nobody sees that you, nobody gives you that round of applause for that.

[00:19:33] Laura: But that's something inside that feels so amazing.

[00:19:37] Mike: that's that inner competitor, I mean, you versus you. And know, I know we've talked about that before on the show. It's like, for you to have this conversation with yourself, I'm assuming you've done some mind work meditation still in this practice, like to just strengthening the relationship with you.

[00:19:53] Mike: So Laura, can you speak to that just a little bit? Like what are some strategies that you've done over the last, two decades of really being at your peak and going into motherhood? Like what are some of the strategies of best practices of winning that mental game that maybe you could share?

[00:20:08] Mike: Not even winning it, just playing it because winning it means there's a loser more of playing the game.

[00:20:12] Laura: Right.

[00:20:13] Laura: and anytime you conquer yourself, I would say that's pretty darn awesome. Like that is a champion. a champion doesn't just stand on the top of the podium. Like you have to become a champion to even have an opportunity to stand at the top of the podium. That's kind of how it's in my mind.

[00:20:25] Laura: And so conquering yourself and learning how to handle yourself in those situations is really what makes you a champion. You know, Medal or not. And so I. it started for me with my faith and my, trust in God and having to learn that on that journey. Cuz I very much made a mess of my life and had to start trusting him with it in some of the scariest moments.

[00:20:44] Laura: And I feel like he taught me so many things throughout diving that I've now been able to, play into my life and that I'm learning now have all these like science backgrounds of like, visualization and mindfulness and all these things that I'm learning about, that I was doing because I was prayerful and because I was trying to let go of myself and do something for him instead.

[00:21:02] Laura: So it's really cool that I've kind of learned how he taught me all these things because of my journey and seeking him that are now like playing out and I'm teaching other people in a different. . But I love it. I mean, I think being mindful, you know, that practice of just learning to be in the moment is so important.

[00:21:17] Laura: We were just talking about that staying in the moment is the most important thing you can do to allow all that preparation and all that work that you've done to come to fruition. Cause if you're not in the moment, if you're worried about the results, if you're worried about what you just screwed up over here, you're not in the moment and you're not giving this task at hand like your full attention and you're not gonna do it well.

[00:21:35] Laura: Like, it won't be as good if you're not in the moment. So learning how to, fully let go of everything else and be present. And then also like I said, letting go these things always sound so simple, but the act of doing it is not simple. Letting go of a devastating dive like this happened at 2008.

[00:21:52] Laura: I already been to two Olympic games, I'd already won everything. You can win. And here I am at the trials and I was nervous. And so I did a really stupid action on my dive because I wasn't in the moment. I was trying too hard and I did the wrong things and I smacked, and I got threes on a dive. you won a 10, I got threes, and I'm fully embarrassed.

[00:22:10] Laura: My Olympic team opportunity for the third time is in jeopardy, and I'm supposed to be the best one by far out here, and I have three dives left. And so what do I do? Like how do I let that go? How do you let something like that go in that important of a moment?

[00:22:25] Mike: How do you, can you take us through that? Like how do you take yourself through that moment?

[00:22:29] Laura: because I came to the point of like, look, I just screwed up really bad. And yeah, that could be the end. But if I'm worried about that right now, it will be the end of this. Like that's a guarantee. But if I can let it go, if I can walk up to this next dive that I know I can do really well, and think about those one or two things I need to do on this dive and be confident that I am going to do that, that full belief that I'm gonna do it right here, right now.

[00:22:53] Laura: Not because of anything else, but just really honing in on that. That's how you let it go. if I'm worried about what just happened, affecting what I'm about to do, it's going to, and then I'm definitely out. So I have to let it go and just be like, well that sucks, but you know what?

[00:23:07] Laura: I have this dive, this is my best dive, this dive I can do for tens. I know exactly what to do and just being confident that I am going to in fact do this thing, this, these one or two. And not focusing on every little detail, but the one or two things that you really have to like focus on. Like, and for me it was a, something on the takeoff and something on the come out.

[00:23:25] Laura: And I did that and I got straight tens on that dive and I secured my place on the team for the third time and made this amazing comeback. But it's. wasn't a comeback, it was letting something go in order to allow myself to be in that moment. People think, oh you know, in the heat of battle you rise to this occasion, but like, that's a dive.

[00:23:42] Laura: I'd done really well a bunch of times. It's not like I'd never done it to that level before. It just, with all the excitement and all the atmosphere, it looks like you raise your game and your level. But really it was something I could already do. It was just in the heat of the situation, the drama of the situation that I was able to let go.

[00:23:58] Laura: I was able to do the thing I could do really well, which looked like this phenomenal, amazing moment. Which it was an amazing moment. Like, don't let me knock that down. But it really was just something I had done a million times. I just allowed myself to do it in that pressure situation. Does that make sense?

[00:24:14] Mike: I'm fired up man. Lori, you're firing me up over here,

[00:24:19] Andrew: I think we have like probably a couple more diving, you know, Olympic, you know, athletic sort of questions. And then I'd love to also get into like, what does life look like now for you? and what are you up to uh, these days? But I think one thing that comes up for me is, almost managing your ego.

[00:24:33] Andrew: I mean, winning gold medals, right? That means literally there's no one better in the world Than you at this thing, And that's pretty amazing, right? And I mean, I'm curious as you're coming up in the circuit, as you are beginning to compete, as you start to realize, oh my gosh, I'm really good at this.

[00:24:51] Andrew: Maybe I could compete for a gold medal. Then you win one. how do you manage your ego but also have a mentality, right, of like, kind of a champion's mindset and what's the difference between those two things? I mean, a lot of athletes do kind of have massive egos, but what I'm experiencing from you, Laura, is, very down to earth.

[00:25:10] Andrew: So how do you manage those two things?

[00:25:13] Laura: Well, I'm very thankful that I have been thoroughly humbled

[00:25:17] Laura: yeah, I think best things, but one of the hardest things that I experienced, it turned out to be one of the best things for me, is after I won the Olympic Games you know, I had had surgery on my foot. Cause I, I went through, I had a broken foot as kinda this whole deal.

[00:25:29] Laura: I went back and finished school and I'd only been training for a couple months. Again, that next summer before we had at nationals, I was really nervous because the last time people saw me compete, I won the freaking Olympics. You know what I mean? So I, I was putting all this pressure on myself and like, what if I do that?

[00:25:43] Laura: Who am I? Like, do I have all this new pressure? Like I'm trying to, figure this all out in my head. And I went to nationals and I did horrible, like, absolutely horrible. I wasn't prepared. I'd only been in the water for two months. Like it was a disaster. I got fifth place. And it was the best thing that could have happened because I realized after diving terrible, after getting fifth place at nationals, after winning the Olympics, you know, kind of a fall from Grace, all the people in the pool deck were just like, I'm so glad you're back.

[00:26:09] Laura: It's so good to see you diving again. It's awesome that you're here. And it was like, What? it was so shocking to me. Like, I don't know what I expected. And I'm sure there were people that probably said something, you know, awful in the back, but nobody said that to my face, you know? And all I got was this grace from people and people happy that I was there, you know?

[00:26:26] Laura: And I realized that like we wrap up our identities and our performance all the time, whether it's sports or academics or business or, or whatever it is. We wrap our identity in something. And to realize that my identity was separate from a place on the podium in that moment. Was huge.

[00:26:40] Laura: And it reminded me of the times I had seen these legends. Like there was this Russian diver, Dimitri Satton, who was always like my idol. Like he's like the king. We called him King Satton. He was amazing. And I remember watching him do a really bad dive. One time I hit the board or something and it was awful, and he was like, out of the contest or whatnot, I remember like, well, that sucks.

[00:26:58] Laura: Like I can't believe he did that. It didn't make me think he was a bad diver. Like he had a bad moment. You know, he had a rough dive. Like, we've all done that it really started to make me think about all those times I had seen these legends do that and realizing that we're all really just human and yes, you can have a great meet, but like the next one isn't written yet.

[00:27:17] Laura: You have to earn that all over again. And I think that's something like, once you have reached the top, start competing sometimes, like they're trying not to lose the title. You know, when really you don't have the next one promised to you, you have to earn it all over again.

[00:27:29] Laura: And so it's trying to figure out how to turn those gears now that you're in this new place of being more of a leader instead of like the underdog coming from behind. You have to learn how to kind of like let that go. And every meet is still a new opportunity. You're still fighting for it, just like everybody else.

[00:27:43] Laura: and realizing that, and I think for me that was like a great humbling. And I had a similar thing. I mean, I won 2005 World Championships and at the very next World championships, I got ones on a dive and almost didn't even make it to the semi-finals. And I was so, so mad and so embarrassed, but at the same time it was like, well, I can just sit here and p about it, or I can fix what I did wrong and come back and do well, I'm thankful for the times that my ego has been severely bruised so that I could learn those lessons and move forward in humility, which I think is a much better place to give you opportunity to do something great

[00:28:13] Mike: I'm a fan,

[00:28:15] Andrew: Mike, you're teasing over there. I love watching like the side by side. It's been awesome.

[00:28:20] Laura: fun story and, a reason for great humility.

[00:28:23] Mike: the reason why I want to say I'm such a fan is the identity component of what you're saying here is that who you are is not what you are. And you're saying that I have to earn it over and over and again, just cuz I won it once doesn't mean I'm gonna win the next one.

[00:28:35] Mike: And like that doesn't register for every human. What you said that everyone's having this human experience and that I just need to continue, like, to improve or get better, like the next one isn't earned. Or the next one isn't one yet. I still have to earn the next one. Like I just wanted to double click on that and make sure every listener caught that because that was so beautiful I felt like you were just speaking to me for a moment.

[00:28:55] Mike: Like I felt like you were just like speaking into my soul. So I, I really, gosh, Lord. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt your flow, but I just wanna make sure the audience captured, what just happened there.

[00:29:05] Laura: No good. I'm glad this is sinking in. and another thing along those lines and a good reason to keep humility is I did see an athlete who won a gold medal at one of the Olympics I was at, and then he tattooed goat on his arm and went to another Olympic games and did not win. I'm not sure even what he was thinking in that, but to me it was like you kind of took yourself out when you just tried to make that permanent in your mind.

[00:29:29] Laura: And I'm sure he did that to try to put his mind in a certain place, but then he went and kind of failed under the banner of the tattoo that he got. So it was kind of like, what did you just do with that? You know? So I think, he was trying to force himself to think a certain way that maybe he didn't even believe.

[00:29:43] Laura: those things always made me think like, why did he do that? Why shouldn't I do that? You know, what was the ramification of that? You know, like, yeah, he was, the greatest in that one moment. . But when you come back and don't repeat that and you've tattooed it on your arm, like what does that say about you or what you're doing?

[00:29:58] Laura: You know? And I never saw him again after that, that second episode. So I don't know how that played out in his mind. You know, I worry about people like that. So I think we need to be able to take a step back and have that humility because your life will go on after your athletics are over, after whatever you're doing is over.

[00:30:13] Laura: Like there comes a point where you're probably gonna retire from your job when school is over, when all these things that we have put our identity into are taken from us in a way. And so who are then? you need to be okay with that person, and you need to accept that person and be able to know that you have worth and value just because you're you,

[00:30:29] Mike: you just struck a curiosity for me. Because I'm curious on you pursue this dream of getting to the Olympics. You get into the Olympics, but the gold medal doesn't give you a paycheck? To my knowledge. Now, I don't know anything of the financial aspect of winning the Olympic gold.

[00:30:44] Mike: And that's why I'm very curious on this cuz it's not every day you meet Olympic gold medalist. But I'm very interested in this because, you see someone like a Michael Phelps, like when I hear Olympic gold medalist, I think of Michael Phelps, but I see Michael Phelps on endorsements and all these other things.

[00:30:57] Mike: And then people, around me say that's where he makes his money, is like the endorsements after the Olympics. It's not in the pursuit of the Olympics. And I'm like, well, how is he making money during the journey? Or like, is money guaranteed at the end of the journey Or there like promises that are unfulfilled?

[00:31:11] Mike: so I don't know, like we grow up in a society, go to college, get a degree, and then you start making money after college, but your path is like, Go to college, actually. I'm gonna go to the Olympics and go to the Olympics and win with these world titles and all these things. And then it's like, I'm out.

[00:31:23] Mike: But I don't have like a lot of money saved. Like, it's not like I had , investments working for me as I was pursuing these dreams. So again, if you don't want to answer, you don't have to, but I'm genuinely interested on the financial side of pursuing this dream. And like, is there any consideration of that as you're pursuing the dream at all?

[00:31:41] Laura: For sure. And there's like an ongoing joke that like divers dive because we love the sport because you're not gonna get paid for it. Like very few divers find a way to make a living out of it. That's why most of them retire after college or very shortly after that. hard. Cause you may have to work a full-time job and train on the side, which means you're not giving yourself the full opportunity to do physically what you think you can.

[00:32:00] Laura: So it's like smaller sports like ours tend to have a lot harder time finding that longevity. I don't have some bobsled friends too where, I mean, they have to wait as like 70 grand for their equipment alone, like just for the bobsleds and things like that. So it can be very costly for somebody going down the Olympic road and usually not a lot of payback.

[00:32:17] Laura: That's why sponsors are very helpful. Finding a sponsor that can help you get through that journey or a number of sponsors. if you guys see athletes and you follow athletes that you like and they're promoting a product, Support that product. You know, like buy that product with that athlete's link or tag because you are supporting that athlete in their pursuit.

[00:32:35] Laura: They're trying to make a living to accomplish this dream. It is very difficult and there's, in these smaller sports only the top, top people are really finding a way to make a good living at it. And even then, I'm not sure how good you would consider it. you can get a small amount for winning an Olympic medal.

[00:32:48] Laura: I don't know if it's the same, it was the same for a really long time. It was 35,000 when I won, and then I think maybe 21st silver and 15 for bronze. It may even be the same. I don't even think it's changed. Maybe it's gone up a little bit. But that's just for the medal. Like, if you don't have any sponsors, like that's it.

[00:33:03] Laura: That's what you get, which is great, you know, but that's one time every four years ,

[00:33:07] Andrew: not not a long term

[00:33:09] Andrew: strategy. Yeah.

[00:33:10] Laura: so finding sponsors to help you year to year on the journey in between the games is really helpful. Sometimes it's like a athletic apparel is very common, things like that. . And yes, if you win you can tend to pick up more sponsors and more opportunities like Michael Phelps, who obviously is a level above everyone else in the world, he is quite amazing.

[00:33:28] Laura: But that doesn't happen very often. Like we don't have a pro circuit. I know swimming does have a pro circuit track and field has a pro circuit where they can actually earn money at competitions, during the year and stuff. they've tried to do that a few times in diving, but I think there's one, but they don't even have the meets every year and it's like very minimal.

[00:33:43] Laura: So it's tough it's trying to figure out can I find enough sponsors? Do I need to balance this with a part-time job? there's a, home Depot used to have a program where you could work part-time to get like, full-time support from them. So I'm not sure what's still available in those lines, but it's, a tough road.

[00:33:57] Laura: It's a really tough road and it's stressful. Like we have a sponsor only for a year, and you're like, but I got four years left. my journey. So it's a really stressful thing. we had a hard time with that too, me coming back in 2017. My husband was working part-time as a swim coach so he could be with the kids while I was training, you know, as full-time as I could.

[00:34:14] Laura: And so we were trying to find sponsors and like, that was really difficult, me being like this old lady, you know, on the circuit. I hadn't done anything for a number of years, so nobody really wanted to jump on board until I connected with this group ortho, when I had my surgery on my neck, apparently I had a bunch of their equipment inside me and I was using one of their bone growth devices to help heal.

[00:34:33] Laura: And so we connected, I became like a spa, you know, a spokesperson for their, products and their people that work there were amazing. So sometimes you can get really lucky and find those kind of unique situations, but oftentimes it's a grind. like you are fighting to make that dream happen.

[00:34:48] Laura: Not just physically, but like monetarily, financially, you

[00:34:52] Laura: know, it's, it's.

[00:34:54] Mike: And that's why I was so curious I thank you, Laura, for satisfying the curiosity cuz that's how I envisioned it. in my mind that is like, there's no way, there's not some sort of like potential financial consequence or drawback to pursue this dream. And I just wanna acknowledge you and your husband and your family to like create the space where you could pursue your dream regardless and have enough faith to say, Hey, we're gonna pursue this dream.

[00:35:15] Mike: We're gonna be the best. at what I do in the history of mankind. I'm gonna be number one in my categories during these years. name on the record book, and we're gonna take a hit financially while I pursue this. That's sometimes a really tough decision. Like that is a really tough pursuit. And I know we were talking a little bit about the fears and having the faith, did this financial aspect come into that some of that decision making?

[00:35:39] Mike: I'm assuming it did, cuz our better than rich show is life beyond the money. But at the same time, oftentimes people will need to have the money to kind of also feel like there's life beyond the money. So it seems like there's some unspoken there that I would love to try to peel back, if possible, of what were those moments of we're gonna have ramen tonight because we're broke.

[00:35:59] Mike: Or like, I don't know if that existed when there's no sponsors or like doubt or any of that stuff. And then I'll

[00:36:06] Mike: kick it to Andrew.

[00:36:07] Laura: great, great the first half of my career, it's, I always, I don't know, however I hope to describe my career. Cause it was like through two eight, then there was a gap, and then I came back. And so through 2008 I was set up pretty well with, apparel companies and I had sponsorships.

[00:36:21] Laura: So I was getting like, a normal salary will say, and as long as I was qualifying to world teams and things like that, I would keep my salary If I didn't, you know, it would get cut really dramatically, but I was, able to sustain that through that whole period. But when I came back, that was a whole other story.

[00:36:36] Laura: And so we're trying to finance this and my husband. , you know, he had changed jobs and had worked for a nonprofit and then that dissolved. And so he was kind of at home for a while with the kids. Then he was working part-time so that I could train. And so we were trying to figure out how to make it work.

[00:36:49] Laura: And we were also in the middle of adopting our fourth child from Ethiopia, which had a whole other host of issues, financial, mental, emotional, all of them. And so we had to sell our house and we had to downsize to a house about half the size and bringing a kid ho another kid home into that house.

[00:37:04] Laura: And so that was a struggle. Then I'm having like massive mom guilt I'm taking all these opportunities away from my kids and my husband. Because I'm selfishly pursuing this thing, like why are we doing this? You know? But I felt very called to do it. So there was this massive like, internal struggle, but God constantly reminded me and showed me like, this is the path that you're on.

[00:37:24] Laura: This is where I want you, I was like, I dunno why you want me back in the pool. But like he just kept making it very, very obvious. So I was like, I don't get it, but I have to follow the path that I know that's laid out for me. And so it was really hard especially with the mom guilt this time around.

[00:37:37] Laura: I think that was worse. Cause when it's just you, you're like, whatever, I'll eat the ramen. Like, I don't care. I want this thing to happen. I'll find a way to make it happen. When it's your kids, you're like, I don't want them to eat Ramen. Have all I want, have their own room. I don't want them have to share rooms and all these things.

[00:37:51] Laura: And it's a hard boat. But when you really believe in what you're doing and what you're called to do, like, you've gotta follow that path. Otherwise, you'll always ask, what if you'll always have a different kind of guilt that you'll never be able to shake because you just didn't do the thing.

[00:38:03] Laura: And so you'll never know. I've always been of that mind of like, I would rather try and fail miserably than to always ask, what if could I have? Like, that to me would be more torture for the rest of my life than going and failing miserably.

[00:38:16] Mike: You're a gift to my life. Laura, I just, wanna say listener, you are just getting the goods. Bigs. Let me kick it to you. I'm just

[00:38:24] Mike: in awe.

[00:38:25] Andrew: so many little one-liners that you've given that are just like, we're gonna clip out, you're gonna see 'em on YouTube and Instagram and all those things. So cuz there's just some really good, life lessons that you're pulling through.

[00:38:35] Andrew: I really am curious about. Family life. you mentioned you adopted your fourth kid, you downsize. There's a lot going on there. mom guilt is something We actually just had a conversation with Kathy about Kathy, Kristen on the podcast, which obviously Mike and I can't relate to, but our wives can, and I'm just really curious about this concept of mom guilt.

[00:38:55] Andrew: But I have one more Olympic question. Okay. And I'm gonna ask you maybe a little bit more of a, a controversial one. What are your thoughts on Simone Biles and the, controversy surrounding her choices at the last Olympics? Do you have a take there? what would you say, no filter pure Laura, give it to us.

[00:39:15] Andrew: what's your take on this?

[00:39:16] Laura: it's a couple of things. Like I totally understand what she went through, like they called it the twisties, we've always called it getting lost because I've, actually done that just in regular flipping, like was spot in the ceiling instead of the water. So getting lost is terrifying and it takes time sometimes to get through that, to figure out how to fix it.

[00:39:32] Laura: And so it's, terrifying when you're doing a sport like gymnastics where you could literally break your neck and that's like the end of not just your career but your life. I get her decisions. I think they were totally justified. She was in the practice gym trying to get through that and was struggling.

[00:39:44] Laura: So I think they made a smart call for her safety and her wellbeing. I think in the press conferences she used a bunch of buzzwords and didn't handle it as well. But granted, I can't imagine walking through that and having all that pressure that she probably had with what she's done, what she was expected to do, and trying to handle that.

[00:40:00] Laura: She tried to handle it very gracefully, but I think her saying I'm just not happy came off really, really bad. And I think she was just trying to soften it without explaining it fully. so I think that's kind of where a lot of people got really upset and I don't think that's why she made the decision.

[00:40:14] Laura: they say mental health, but it was really for her safety and her protection. And I think if she had just said that there would've been no controversy, I think everybody would've understood that. But I think she was trying to downplay it. Because she's Simone Biles and she's amazing and she wants to continue having people think that way.

[00:40:30] Laura: So

[00:40:31] Laura: I'm not sure if somebody coached her to say that or if it just came out weird. But I think she just didn't present it well and that's where all of the drama came from. But I think she was totally justified in the decision that she did make, I think it was smart. Loved seeing her come back and just do a different dismount on beam and able to do everything on beam and get a bronze medal.

[00:40:46] Laura: Like, I thought that was pretty cool. So yeah, I kind of saw the whole thing, like, I get it I think when everything's on the media around the world, it just blows up what could have just been some normal whatever issue at, a normal meet when it's at the Olympics and you're, prolific athlete.

[00:40:59] Laura: Like you're gonna get all the fallback from that.

[00:41:02] Andrew: I mean, thank you for that nuanced answer because as a casual outsider, I didn't know that there was anything to it other than the mental health side. Right. What was communicated. And so I didn't know what was called the twisties or getting lost and like, seeing the lights as the floor or the water.

[00:41:17] Andrew: I really appreciate that nuanced take from someone who has authority on the matter, right? I would say, cause a lot of people pontificating about their thoughts on that, you can actually speak to it directly. Mike, what questions are coming up for you right now?

[00:41:28] Mike: Well, I would love to go down that path before we, kind of go towards the exits, but I'd love to hear about the family, dynamic that Andrew alluded to. I mean, you said you adopted your fourth child and I wouldn't say interesting, but it's like, you know, not an everyday decision, it probably takes some conversations around it.

[00:41:42] Mike: And I would love to hear about, just the family life, family side of thing, life after the Olympics, right now, I mean, we're in December of 2022 as we were recording this, and you just last year at 43, qualified for the finals of the 2021 US Olympics diving trials. this is like, Fairly new, just like to close, the chapter, is the book really closed?

[00:42:03] Mike: Like are we really closing the book and starting this new chapter, or is it like, what's happening there? Like what's the transition where you at? I'd love to, just kinda get into your mind on some of that stuff.

[00:42:13] Laura: we actually have adopted two of our kids, so two of our four are adopted and two are biological. was an amazing process, but a really, really difficult process. Our daughter from China took like a little over three years, and then our daughter from Ethiopia took almost five years.

[00:42:27] Laura: And, you know, the prime Minister was shutting down adoptions. We were blackmailed from the orphanage director. Like there was a whole host of, issues with that one. And rocked me into my core, like nothing in sports ever has before, you know? Um, So walking through those I think grew me a lot as a human being.

[00:42:43] Laura: And as a mom and I got a lot more bold, I think, to speak out for them and to learn, like, I don't really care what you're gonna say about me. I am standing firm for my child. it's definitely grown me in a lot of different ways. Each of my. brings such a different perspective and a different light to the world in our family.

[00:42:58] Laura: And so I feel like they've grown me each in different ways, which is really cool. And just, getting to watch them and what they gravitate toward and it's just such a cool thing. Just being a parent is such a cool experience. I mean, you guys know that.

[00:43:09] Laura: And nothing quite like that. so trying to balance that with training full-time when I had been mom full-time for, the whole beginning of my motherhood um, to all of a sudden be leaving them to go do this thing like it was really hard because I'm sitting there going, I'm paying to do this.

[00:43:23] Laura: We're not even getting paid. Like, I'm paying to do this and I'm leaving my children. And I were try like, what are we doing? So I constantly wrestled with that, you know, and. And was constantly worried about other people saying stuff about it, but like nobody ever did. It was really funny. I don't know why we worry so much about what other people are gonna say cuz like, whether they say it or not, like it doesn't have to impact us.

[00:43:41] Laura: It's just what we let impact us, you know? And so I spent a lot of my time worrying about them, which obviously took away from what I was trying to do and focusing as well. So it was a very different journey this time around. then having that battle trying to bring her home from Ethiopia.

[00:43:56] Laura: we were having such trouble doing that, that like, I wasn't even in the right head space to be training. Like I was having to, lighten all of my workouts because I couldn't do the hard things cuz my mind was somewhere else because we were being blackmailed by an orphanage director in Ethiopia, Lena, like all this weird stuff going on.

[00:44:11] Laura: We had to go there multiple times to get her. You know, and get unstuck from the courts and things like that. So there was a lot of things going on with that. We finally get her home. She would not go to my husband for a while. Like it took a long time for her to, kinda, she was two and a half, took a while for her to adjust and we had just moved and all these things were happening.

[00:44:27] Laura: And then I finally get back on the water to train and I'm having all these issues with my arm and we found out that I needed a two level cervical fusion in my neck. So I have a titanium plate in my neck now. And so , none of this road was easy. None of this road made sense to me, but this was the road, you know, this is the path.

[00:44:43] Laura: And so that's the one we went down and it's been such a blessing because during that time I was telling Andrew before we started, during that time of surgery, I knew I would be out for a long time. I didn't even know if I could get back in the water cause nobody's ever done that on platform before. And so, you know, it was kinda this hope that I could get back in, but I really didn't know.

[00:44:59] Laura: And so I spent several months I was trying to train mentally for myself just to prepare for a comeback. But what I was learning was I had all of these lessons and all of these things I had learned through my journey that man, I could teach other people. And I made an online course for it.

[00:45:12] Laura: And it was great. I had some people go through it, they loved it, great feedback. But then I was back in the water training, so I kind of shelved it, you know what I mean? And then I got back and I trained, and now that I've spent some time out of the water, I was playing around a little bit this last year in the water, but I kinda had to take a step back again because my kids needed me this summer and my husband took a different job.

[00:45:30] Laura: So, you know, I kind of was like, okay, well kind of fell into doing some mindset coaching cause some athletes needed help and it kind of started growing and now I'm bringing back my course. I'm kind of just. Naturally going into this different direction, but I've been so passionate about it, like it's probably the one thing I've been really passionate about outside of diving.

[00:45:46] Laura: You know, that just really gives me such a joy, like helping these people and teaching these athletes how to move forward and, move past things that are terrifying, like overcoming fear and those great things that you learn or how to prepare for a competition, you know, or how to handle, like coming back from maybe a bad series of things or an injury.

[00:46:02] Laura: Like, that's been a really cool process for me to walk other people through. And so I'm really trying to build that up now and it's kind of just naturally gravitated into this new path for me. And so I'm, just trying to fully embrace that and I get a little more time with my kids and get to be more mom than I have been I feel like in a while.

[00:46:18] Laura: So it's, been good.

[00:46:19] Mike: That's like one of the words that just keep coming up for me as I'm listening to your story is just the courage to press on, the courage to get back in the pool. The courage to adopt two daughters, one from China, one from Ethiopia.

[00:46:30] Mike: for you and your husband to still pursue, like what was going through my mind. I'm like, man, how did you get to the point where maybe the universe was saying, ah, you know, this two and a half year old maybe wasn't meant for you. You know, it's like, that could have been a sign from the universe or from God, but you said, no, this is the, test for us to go get our daughter, and we're not stopping until she's ours.

[00:46:48] Mike: So it's like, just courage. Relentlessness. you have such a beautiful story and I I love listening to it. And your clients they are blessed to have you as their coach. And, before I kick it to Andrew for this chapter of, coaching, these, is it specifically Olympic athletes that you like work with?

[00:47:04] Mike: Is it specific to divers? Like who's your target for that audience to be able to work with you, to hear from you, to take that course, you know, to go through, to get into your mind to learn these principles. who is this for? During this chapter that you're in right now?

[00:47:18] Laura: Well, the beauty of it, we've talked about a lot of the things, you know, it's, they're not super hard concepts, but learning how to implement them and how to actually do them in your life and then repeat them over and over again is really, really difficult. And so I've been coaching anywhere from like 10 year old kids, up to 50 year old women.

[00:47:35] Laura: Like it is been such a cool thing. So I've got junior athletes, I've got college age athletes, I've got Olympic athletes and I've got professional athletes, and then I have master's athletes. So really anybody who's competitive, who has goals, who's having roadblocks or issues they wanna move past, like that's really who I'm helping.

[00:47:50] Laura: It's more about. Their state and their journey than their age or their demographic or what sport. You know, I've got divers and runners and shooters and tennis people like, it's really cool the mix and the dynamic and sometimes I have to learn a little bit more about their sport to understand how to help them better.

[00:48:03] Laura: But that's been a really cool process too. And the course it's an opportunity for you to go through and learn these skills on your own and hopefully be able to develop the things that I teach people, but on your own. Like learn them the way I kind of learn them, you know, by example from other people.

[00:48:18] Laura: There's activities so that you can learn how to actively do that in your life. And as you get better, better at 'em, you can do it faster and faster and start recognizing these things and make the changes in your head on the spot instead of like having to write it down or having to go through these activities.

[00:48:30] Laura: one of the people I coach isn't even technically an athlete. She's more of like a hobbyist, but she is a mom who has these big goals and once more for her life. And so we're walking through that and it's just been really cool how this actually relates to people in so many different ways.

[00:48:43] Laura: So it's been really cool.

[00:48:45] Mike: And do you wanna do speaking as well, some speaking engagements? I saw that on your website. Is

[00:48:49] Mike: that a goal

[00:48:50] Laura: I've been speaking since after the 2000 Olympics and I totally hated it at the beginning. You guys like that was. The most mortifying thing you could ever do. I even took speech classes in college to try to get better at it, and it just made it worse. Like, I just absolutely hated it.

[00:49:03] Laura: But I got on this tour in like 2005 and it was for teenage girls who can see right through you if you're not doing it right. So I had to get really good at it. And so they kind of taught me how to like, walk the stage, how to get comfortable with what you're saying, how to present your talk. And I fell in love with it.

[00:49:19] Laura: And now I really enjoy it and I really enjoy talking to groups. And so um, yeah, I definitely do that a lot on the side and hopefully I can start creating more workshops and things that I can bring to teams and, stuff like that. So it's all kind of, being developed right now. Some of the fun beginning stages, which it's really hard to start over or start something new, especially after you've been really good at something.

[00:49:37] Laura: But there's also like a beauty in it because it's a brand new journey. Nothing's written yet. I don't have anything to compare it to. So it's, my own brand journey.

[00:49:45] Mike: I don't know what the future is. All I know is I want you in it. So whatever, we can do to help. I know this conversation is not gonna end here with this episode, so let me kick it to you, Andrew, and

[00:49:55] Andrew: And if someone's interested in the coaching, we always enter our podcast with three different questions, but since we're kind of on the topic of coaching and speaking, where can people learn more if they want to get involved?

[00:50:04] Laura: Just Laura Wilkinson com. You can sign up, hop on my email list there. If you page, there's some free guides, so let give you a free guide. You can gimme your email and you can stay informs workshop, any

[00:50:18] Andrew: Awesome. So, laura wilkinson.com. We'll also throw that in the show notes so you, the listener can dive in. Pun intended. Okay. With Laura. and learn more. So we always ask three different questions of our guests before we send them on their way. The first question, I know I'm hitting you o out of the blue here, but just, you know, it doesn't have to be a long answer.

[00:50:36] Andrew: What do you think the world needs most right now?

[00:50:38] Laura: Healthy communication, , everybody's just fighting and yelling at each other. And some of the best things I've seen are just when people learn to communicate and to listen to each other. And communication is so huge. I learned that in our marriage. I was a terrible communicator when we first got married and my husband is like, really helped me with that.

[00:50:56] Laura: And now we talk things out right away when we have little tiff or little arguments. And man, it makes such a big difference. So we.

[00:51:03] Andrew: My wife and I too. So that we

[00:51:07] Mike: not us. We're perfect. you guys are messing up. All Right. I'm

[00:51:10] Mike: kidding. Our second question for you, Laura, is what are one to three books that you think people should read?

[00:51:16] Laura: Oh gosh. I read a lot of kids' books right now, so, well, I think one of 'em definitely is my book, life at 10 Meters Lessons from the Olympic Champion, so that is definitely your first read that you need. I had just gotten a few books. They're not sitting in front of me. One of them is Champion Minded, so this guy his name is Alison McCall.

[00:51:34] Laura: I just interviewed him on my podcast and he's great. Mindset guy too. Love it. it seems like such basic ideas, but things that we don't implement in our everyday lives. And it's great for sports, but it's great for everyday life too. And I really wanna read some John Wooten books.

[00:51:47] Laura: So my coach gave me one of his, so I'm gonna start reading some of his now. So I'm excited about,

[00:51:51] Mike: listener, here's the deal. could email me or message me directly. This is outta my budget. The first 10 people that messaged me. I will send you a copy of Laura's book on me, just because I've loved this conversation so much. So listener, hit me up. Micah Braz, buy me on social media just directly to me.

[00:52:07] Mike: not from the Better Than Rich Budget, from Mike Bratz budget. I will buy you the first 10. I'll send you a copy of Laura's book. We yeah.

[00:52:14] Andrew: I think we can do it from the better than rich budget,

[00:52:16] Andrew: Mike. It's All

[00:52:16] Andrew: good. It's all good. So our final question is on that topic of, Better Than Rich, which is, we're curious to hear from our guests, from your perspective, what does it mean to you to be better than Rich

[00:52:28] Laura: It's funny, I've never had a lot of money, so , that's not really been much. But I have thought about those things like, wow, wouldn't life be easier if we had this much money? Or we could do this. But then I think about the things I've seen in the world and the people who have very, very little and how happy some of them are.

[00:52:44] Laura: And then I realized that, you know, happiness, joy doesn't come from money. It comes from inside of us. And so learning to be content and loving the world around us and where we're at it's great to have goals and to aspire to be more, but, learning contentment and to love those around you.

[00:53:00] Laura: do you ask for your money when you're dying on your deathbed? Like, do you ask for your degrees? Do you ask for your medals or your trophies? I don't wanna be buried with my medals. You know, I wanna see my kids and my family and the people that I love. Like, that's what really matters know that, but we lose sight of that really quickly because of our goals and our ambitions to, do all these great things, which are good, but they have their place too, and they shouldn't always be the priority.

[00:53:22] Mike: Wow. Laura, thank you so much for being here. Andrew, thank you so much for your time and listener. Thank you so much for your time and listener. Assuming this episode helped you, which I know it did, it's your turn to help others, please share it with a friend, subscribe on YouTube. Leave us a rating and review on Apple or Spotify.

[00:53:41] Mike: And as always, remember to leave today better than you found it. Till next time, have a great day.