#140: Shaun White: The Most Unholy Snowboarder Ever

"My parents never really told me I couldn't do anything." - Shaun White This particular episode comes from a fun event -- my first live podcast at the iconic Troubadour in L. A. It sold out through my newsletter http://fourhourworkweek.com/friday in 30 minutes, so thanks to all of you who came. If you haven't signed up for the email newsletter, you should check it out. It's free. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com/friday http://fourhourworkweek.com/friday. There were quite a few amazing guests at the event, and we're going to divide them up into a few episodes. Shaun White (@ShaunWhite https://twitter.com/shaunwhite) is our first -- a professional snowboarder and skateboarder. Among his formidable feats of strength: He's a 2x Olympic Gold medalist. He holds the X Games record for gold medals at 15, as well as the highest overall medal count at 24. Shaun has earned the number two spot on BusinessWeek's list of the 100 most powerful and marketable athletes. And -- ACH-TUNG! -- for those near L. A. or willing to travel, Shaun is hosting an incredible event called Air + Style http://airandstyle.com. Think of it as X Games meets Coachella, where you can listen to world-famous bands and then see jumps off of a 16-story ramp (no joke), among other excitement. Check it out at airandstyle.com http://airandstyle.com. For 20% off general or VIP admission, you can use code "TimFerriss."I get no cut, and I've already bought four tickets for myself and friends. The code is only good until midnight PT on February 19th (Friday). Enjoy! This podcast is brought to you by 99Designs http://99designs.com/tim, the world's largest marketplace of graphic designers. I have used them for years to create some amazing designs. When your business needs a logo, website design, business card, or anything you can imagine, check out 99Designs. I used them to rapid prototype the cover http://99designs.com/tim for The 4-Hour Body, and I've also had them help with display advertising and illustrations. If you want a more personalized approach, I recommend their 1-on-1 service http://99designs.com/tim. You get original designs from designers around the world. The best part? You provide your feedback, and then you end up with a product that you're happy with or your money back. Click this link http://www.99designs.com/tim and get a free $99 upgrade. Give it a test run. This podcast is also brought to you by Wealthfront https://wealthfront.com/tim. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive (in a good way) set-it-and-forget-it investing service, led by technologists from places like Apple. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years and now has more than $2.5B under management. Why? Because you can get services previously limited to the ultra-wealthy and only pay pennies on the dollar for them, and it's all through smarter software instead of retail locations and bloated sales teams. Check out wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim, take their risk assessment quiz, which only takes 2-5 minutes, and they'll show you—for free–exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. If you want to just take their advice and do it yourself, you can. Well worth a few minutes to explore: wealthfront.com/tim http://wealthfront.com/tim. Show notes and links for this episode can be found at www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/podcast.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Tim Ferriss?

  At this altitude, I can run flat out for a half mile before my hands start shaking.

• 0:06Speaker 01

  Can I ask you a personal question? No, it is an inappropriate time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  I'm a cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton.

• 0:24Tim Ferriss?

  This episode is brought to you by 99designs. When your business needs a logo, website, business card, thumbnail, or any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I use them myself. I've used them for many years. I use them to create book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. I've also used them for banner ads, illustrations, and much more. With 99designs, you get a variety of original designs from designers around the world, give your feedback, and then pick your favorite. Your happiness is guaranteed. So check out some of my competitions and designs and some of your competitions and designs from fellow Tim Ferriss Show listeners at 99designs.com/tim. And right now, you can get a free $99 upgrade on your first design.

• 1:08Tim Ferriss?

  So check it out, 99designs.com/tim. This episode is brought to you by Wealthfront, and this is a very unique sponsor. Wealthfront is a massively disruptive, in a good way, set-it-and-forget-it investing service led by technologists from places like Apple and world-famous investors. It has exploded in popularity in the last two years, and they now have more than $2.5 billion under management. In fact, some of my very good friends, investors in Silicon Valley, have millions of their own money in Wealthfront. So the question is, why? Why is it so popular? Why is it unique? Because you can get services previously reserved for the ultra-wealthy but only pay pennies on the dollar for them. And this is because they use smarter software instead of retail locations, bloated sales teams, etc. And I'll come back to that in a second.

• 1:53Tim Ferriss?

  I suggest you check out wealthfront.com/tim. Take the risk assessment quiz, which only takes two to five minutes, and they'll show you for free exactly the portfolio they'd put you in. And if you just want to take their advice, run with it, do it yourself, you can do that. Or, as I would, you can set it and free- Forget it, and here's why. The value of Wealthfront is in the automation of habits and strategies that investors should be using on a regular basis, but normally aren't. Great investing is a marathon, not a sprint, and little things that you may or may not be familiar with, like automatic tax loss harvesting, rebalancing your portfolio across more than 10 asset classes, and dividend reinvestment add up to very large amounts of money over longer periods of time. Wealthfront, as I mentioned, since it's using software instead of retail locations, et

• 2:38Tim Ferriss?

  cetera, can offer all of this at low costs that were previously completely impossible. Right off the bat, you never pay commissions or account fees. For everything, they charge 0.25% per year on assets above the first $15,000, which is managed for free if you use my link, wealthfront.com/tim. That is less than $5 a month to invest a $30,000 account, for instance. Now, normally, when I have a sponsor on this show, it's because I use them and recommend them. In this case, it's a little different. I don't use Wealthfront yet because I'm not allowed to. Here's the deal. They wanted to sponsor this podcast, but because of SEC regulations, companies that invest your money are not allowed to use client testimonials. So I couldn't be a user and have them on the podcast.

• 3:21Tim Ferriss?

  But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me, in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account, but just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free, there's no downside that I can think of. Hello, ladies and germs. This is Tim Ferriss, and welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is always my job to deconstruct world-class performers, to tease out the habits, routines, favorite books, toothpaste, whatever it might be, that you can apply and try in your own

• 4:06Tim Ferriss?

  lives. This particular episode comes from a fun event, my first live podcast, which was at the iconic Troubadour in LA. I had a blast. I was nervous, but you guys sold it out in 30 minutes. Through the email newsletter, so thank you, thank you, thank you. And if you haven't signed up for the email newsletter, you should check that out. It's free. Just go to fourhourworkweek.com/friday, all spelled out, and you can have a taste. There were quite a few amazing guests at the event, and we're going to divide them up into a few different episodes. The first is a professional snowboarder and skateboarder. You know who this is. Two-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White, spelled like Shaun of the Dead, S-H-A-U-N, at Shaun White on Twitter and so on.

• 4:49Tim Ferriss?

  He holds the X Games record for gold medals at 15, as well as the highest overall medal count at 24. I believe he is also the only person to win gold at both the winter and summer X Games. Shaun has earned the number two spot on Business Week's list of the 100 most powerful and marketable athletes, and he has created an incredible business and life for himself. He's made a lot of smart decisions where many athletes, particularly those who peak at a young age or become famous at a young age, make mistakes. And, Akdong, for those near LA who are willing to travel, Shaun is hosting an incredible event called Air and Style this weekend. Think of it as X Games meets Coachella, where you can listen to world-famous bands and musicians

• 5:32Tim Ferriss?

  like Incubus, Grammatic, one of my favorites. Then he jumps off of a 16-story ramp. That's not a joke. 16-story, among other excitement. So check it out at airandstyle.com, all spelled out. For 20% off, whether that's general or VIP admission, you can use code TIMFERRIS, spelled properly with two Rs and two S's. I don't get any cut, and I've bought it myself at full retail. Four tickets for myself and friends. The code is only good until midnight Pacific on February 19th. That is Friday, February 19th. So jump on it. Once again, that's airandstyle.com. And without further ado, please enjoy my conversation with Shaun White.

• 6:14Tim Ferriss?

  I thought we could start at the beginning. A lot of people are not familiar with the conditions with which you came into this world. The very beginning, the birth.

• 6:21Speaker 02

  The very beginning.

• 6:22Tim Ferriss?

  Shaun.

• 6:23Speaker 02

  Let me take you back. No, it was actually a little bit of a sad story, you know, or just a bit of a struggle in the beginning, you know. I was born with a heart defect. It was called tetralogy of Fallot, so I don't know too technically what happened, but some of the valves in my heart were leaking and I had to go in and have multiple open heart surgeries in order to correct this. I was known as what's called a blue baby. Actually, my skin was turning blue because I wasn't getting enough oxygen. And so, you know, my mom sent me in there, multiple operations. They said, "You're gonna have a sluggish heart. He won't be very active. You know, you should be ready for these things." And then, you know, sure enough, I was like, "I wanna do that, you know?

• 7:07Speaker 02

  I wanna go jump off things and, you know, run around." And I only had a couple incidents where, you know, I like passed out on a soccer field once, or, you know, I did something where I overexerted myself and, you know, I just, I wasn't ready for that. But, um, I don't know, my parents never really told me I couldn't do anything, which was, I think, the reason why I was never fearful, you know? So I always, I went out and I would, I would do sports, I would, you know, do whatever. The only thing I was told I couldn't do was scuba dive.

• 7:37Tim Ferriss?

  Scuba dive?

• 7:38Speaker 02

  Scuba dive. I don't know why, it was like anomaly of something about like the air bubble getting, I don't know.

• 7:43Tim Ferriss?

  Okay, got it. That was per doctor's orders.

• 7:46Speaker 02

  As a little kid, you're not really encountering a lot of scuba. It's like, "Ah, that's whatever." Now, as an adult, it's a real pain. You're floating on the surface and everyone's down there petting sharks.

• 8:02Tim Ferriss?

  Riding, right, surfing sharks.

• 8:05Speaker 02

  It's a heartache.

• 8:06Tim Ferriss?

  When did you first meet Tony Hawk?

• 8:08Speaker 02

  Man, Tony Hawk. I was, man, I was probably like...

• 8:15Speaker 02

  Five years old or something like that, he would come to the local skate park. I was just lucky enough to grow up in Del Mar was the area and he skated at the local YMCA in Encinitas and so I would go there and he would just be there. So I got to kinda like say hi and watch him do his thing and you know, it's one of the best ramps in town. He grew up skating Del Mar. I never, I was in of the age group that got to skate the cement park that they have. But there's a very famous skate park in Del Mar and so I ran into him all the time and I was a little fearful to talk to him. I mean, it was Tony Hawk, so I never really like said much to him. I just wanted to impress him enough with my skating that he would come talk to me one day.

• 8:59Speaker 02

  And so, yeah, he finally came to me and I was just like, yes.

• 9:02Tim Ferriss?

  Do you, do you remember what move or attempt that a move got him to finally break the ice and come over?

• 9:09Speaker 02

  Um, I can't recall. It was, it was probably doing a McTwist, which is a trick invented by a skateboarder named Mike McGill and it's, it's like a front flip while spinning a 540. So 540 is degrees of rotation, you know, if you take a full circle is a 360, so keep adding up.

• 9:31Tim Ferriss?

  That was five, at age five?

• 9:33Speaker 02

  Yeah, uh, no, no, no, that was later. I had to.

• 9:36Tim Ferriss?

  I'm just like, man, I already felt badly about myself, but.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  The stitches were healing and I was ready to go. My mom's like, get out there.

• 9:44Tim Ferriss?

  Just a fetus with a helmet on.

• 9:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, showed a lot of promise. No, but I, so I started to learn and, and he owned a company, Birdhouse Skateboards and so was my dream, not only that, once he then talked to me, in my mind, he was then gonna ask me to ride for a skateboard company. I had it all worked out. So, you know, he finally came up to me and we, we became friends and he invited me to come do some demos with him because he was doing these, you know, hey, we're gonna show up and we're gonna, we're gonna skate and, you know, sell skateboards for Birdhouse and things like that. And I was kinda like the token little kid on the ramp, but I was learning at the time better and better tricks, so I slowly became, you know, a really, really good rider. Or skater.

• 10:28Tim Ferriss?

  Is it fair to? Say, and you might have even used this word already, but that he was a mentor to you? I mean, you've known him for a very long time, or is that not the right, is that not the right label?

• 10:39Speaker 02

  You know, he really, he was and he wasn't. I mean, that's, that's the funny thing, is he never really kinda like sat me down and gave me certain advice. It wasn't like, hey, you should, uh...

• 10:49Tim Ferriss?

  Wasn't Yoda imparting?

• 10:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, you should, you should make your own, uh, video game, or you should do this. I mean, it, it never really, uh, was him telling me what to do or advice or anything. He was just actually the only guy going through everything that I was just about to go through. I mean, his video game came out, he just landed his 900 at the, at the X Games, and he was, he was world famous, and people would approach him. And I was just sitting in standby, a witness to all this, like, well, how did he talk to his fans? And like, oh, he's still a normal guy, he's like, he's eating the dirty ice out of the limousine minibar. Like, you know what I mean? Like, he's like, I don't care, like, whatever. Like, he was just the same guy. I was like, oh, that's cool. And he was in like, I was eating ice, I was a kid, I was like, alright, that's good.

• 11:36Speaker 02

  So, you know, as a kid, I was just like, looking up to him, and he was doing, but he was great. He was a family man at the time, and so that's something that really kinda allowed us to become friends, at least in my eyes, cause he was, he was this like untouchable figure. And then he asked me to come to a demo once, or, or to go on the, actually it was the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skate Park Tour, which I was just like baffled to, I was just amazed he actually asked me to go on this. And I remember getting to his house, he had this big house, and the gate opened up, and my mom's like, just go in. I'm like, okay, and I like wander in there, and, uh, you know, he had a couple of nice cars, and it's like back when, like, having a TV screen and your car was just the craziest thing ever.

• 12:20Speaker 02

  And he had a Playstation in the glove box, in the glove box, you know, kid, I was just like, this is just incredible. And all I remember is I go to grab the remote, the, the controller, and it was just sticky. And I was like, what the, there's like jelly on it, it was like, and then there's like, and I'm looking, I'm like, wow, this is like, there's chips buried in the seats, and I was like, oh man, there's like a car seat. I was like, oh, this is a dad, he's a dad.

• 12:45Tim Ferriss?

  I was wondering where that was going.

• 12:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, no.

• 12:48Tim Ferriss?

  Another Tim Ferriss Show exclusive.

• 12:49Speaker 02

  It was sticky, and, no, so...

• 12:54Speaker 02

  You twisted group of people.

• 12:57Tim Ferriss?

  I'm a terrible influence, too.

• 12:59Speaker 02

  No, it just brought him down to reality. I was like, oh, he's a dad. He's got to deal with kids and these things. And it allowed us to become friends. I took him as a person rather than as this untouchable guy. So that's how he really influenced me growing up. He never really steered me in any direction. He was just someone to be observed at that time, at that young age.

• 13:19Tim Ferriss?

  He is, I haven't spent a ton of time with Tony, but we were in Ethiopia for a brief period of time for charity work. And he was just the most down-to-earth guy. And similar to David Blaine, the illusionist, he cannot stop doing magic. I mean, if he goes on a plane ride, he's walked through the lobby, like, he can just, like, he cannot stop performing magic for people.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  Really?

• 13:40Tim Ferriss?

  At, like, any dinner party, it's great, but he just cannot stop. And Tony would walk around, this is rural Ethiopia, and he would carry his skateboard everywhere.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Oh, I thought you said Tony was doing magic.

• 13:51Tim Ferriss?

  No.

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Tony is holding out on me.

• 13:55Tim Ferriss?

  You're like, wow, the skill set never ends. No, no.

• 13:57Speaker 02

  Illusions.

• 13:58Tim Ferriss?

  I clearly need, I need more.

• 14:00Speaker 02

  I'm like, I can't see Tony doing a piece of magic in his whole life.

• 14:05Tim Ferriss?

  No.

• 14:06Speaker 02

  Okay, I'm sorry.

• 14:06Tim Ferriss?

  All due respect to Tony, I'm not sure that's his game.

• 14:09Speaker 02

  David Blaine's doing magic.

• 14:10Tim Ferriss?

  David Blaine.

• 14:13Tim Ferriss?

  And David Blaine had the skateboard, no, David Blaine had the skateboard.

• 14:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, Tony had a skateboard everywhere.

• 14:16Tim Ferriss?

  Tony had a skateboard. And this is the middle of nowhere in northern Tigray, Ethiopia. And he's carrying it any time he found a patch of anything approaching asphalt or ridable. He would get out of the car and he'd want to introduce kids to being on a skateboard for the first time. It was just the coolest thing.

• 14:35Speaker 02

  Cool, cool.

• 14:35Tim Ferriss?

  And he did this like 15, 20 times, but very down-to-earth guy. I mean, for all of the fame and all the attention.

• 14:42Speaker 02

  Took you like three hours to get back to the hotel.

• 14:44Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, three hours.

• 14:45Speaker 02

  The car kept stopping.

• 14:46Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 14:50Speaker 02

  He's doing it again. He's got to skate the...

• 14:53Tim Ferriss?

  I know. It's gravel, guys. This could take a while.

• 14:59Tim Ferriss?

  What did your parents do?

• 15:00Speaker 02

  Uh, my mom, my mom was a waitress and she worked at the Hilton Hotel at Torrey Pines. It's now the Sher... No, it was the Sheraton. It's now the Hilton. And my dad worked for the city of San Clemente in the water department. I don't really know what that means. I just, I'm pretty convinced he was the guy that like had the roadmap out and was like actually sleeping behind it. You know what I'm saying? Like, he was like fixing main brakes and all sorts of things that were going on. But we always, whenever I ask my mom, she's like, "He's sleeping. He's, he's sleeping on the job." That was kind of, it's like, "Oh, mom, it's, it's pretty harsh, but okay."

• 15:41Tim Ferriss?

  And do you have siblings?

• 15:43Speaker 02

  Uh, I have an older brother and an older sister. I have actually two older sisters and, and an older brother. So I'm the youngest. But the, but the two, so there's my sister Carrie, who's one year older than me. And then my brother Jesse, who's a half-brother, who's seven years older. And then, you know, I have a sister named Jessica, who I don't, I don't see as much. So she's kind of the one that's like, that's why in the beginning I was like, "Oh, I've got a brother and a sister." So she's a half-sister and she's great, but we don't, we don't see much of her, yeah.

• 16:16Tim Ferriss?

  When, when you started to get attention at such a young age, and I'm just, I'm looking at these notes. Tell me if these are accurate, because I know there's a lot of inaccuracy on the internet.

• 16:25Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 16:26Tim Ferriss?

  So Burton sponsored since seven or had a relationship with Burton since seven?

• 16:31Speaker 02

  Yeah, seven years old.

• 16:32Tim Ferriss?

  And then, of course, that continued then. After that, did your parents do anything or say anything in particular to keep you grounded or from just going off the rails, right? Because a lot of people who get attention that young end up kind of flying off the rails.

• 16:48Speaker 02

  Um, I don't know. It was a strange circumstance because like, you know, I was sponsored by Burton, but it wasn't the biggest, I mean, it was a really amazing thing, but it was the circumstance of just like the right place and the right time. Burton Snowbirds was actually coming out with, um... A whole line of kids' products and they needed kids to ride their boards. So they're like, "Oh, we got a local kid here and he'll ride your stuff." And then a local kid there. And so I was kinda like part of the development team. We were testing products, doing all these things for them. But I remember the encouragement was they're like, "We'll give you this free snowboard. You keep riding, we'll give you another one." And so it didn't really like, I mean, as a kid, like, it's all the motivation you need. You're like, "Oh, I'm getting to this next snowboard."

• 17:30Speaker 02

  But, uh, you know, I lived in San Diego area. There's not much snow. I mean, if you were a... Yeah, I mean, like, I was...

• 17:38Tim Ferriss?

  I'm no geographer, but... That does make sense to me.

• 17:42Speaker 02

  So what I'm getting at is like, you know, I had my whole life on the mountain. And then I'd come home and I'm like walking to school like everyone else. I was like doing homework and walking the dog, like doing normal things. So I never really got to kinda like have my head, you know, blown up. Because I never lived in the mountains where like, I guess, kids that knew you were sponsored would think that was very cool and that was very whatever. It was until I got older that I got a really big head.

• 18:10Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, you know. I'm not sure if you mean literally or metaphorically. I mean, this is hard to compete with. I hope I'm not...

• 18:15Speaker 02

  I just had a lot of hair.

• 18:18Tim Ferriss?

  I have a lot of forehead.

• 18:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:20Tim Ferriss?

  It's, uh, I tried to deglaze it for you guys. I hope I'm not blinding anyone.

• 18:24Speaker 02

  But they were cool. Like, I mean, your question was about me, you know, letting it go to my head, I guess. You know, my parents are really great at making sure, you know, I just had a normal childhood in that sense. Like, you know, I was doing the snowboard stuff, which was cool and all, but they're like, "You gotta do your homework, you gotta do..." You know, they were encouraging with the snowboarding, but they kept me in line when I came home, so...

• 18:46Tim Ferriss?

  Looking at your career, it strikes me, and there's a great profile for people who haven't seen it, Fast Company did a while back, but that you've made some very smart decisions that have allowed you to have a lot of longevity and to avoid a lot of the pitfalls that I think athletes, but just general people in the public eye fall prey to. Can you talk about how creative control and those types of approvals came to be?

• 19:14Speaker 02

  Um, no, it's a great question. I mean... I feel very fortunate that I was able to grow with, you know, my success within the sport. You know, it started here, the free snowboard, and then it became, hey, we'll give you a travel budget to get around to your competitions. And then I actually started getting paid to snowboard. And I went pro in these things. And, um, sorry, I got a little lost. What were we talking?

• 19:36Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, no. I do this all the time.

• 19:39Speaker 02

  You just had, I just lost it.

• 19:40Tim Ferriss?

  The getting lost part.

• 19:41Speaker 02

  I've had a little long day today.

• 19:41Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, no, the, just how the, uh, when did you realize that you needed to make this decision by creative controls?

• 19:48Speaker 02

  Oh, the approvals, yeah. No, I'm sorry. So, I totally got lost there. Um, excuse me. Uh, no, well, so what happened was, you know, I was growing with the success and, and so sponsors were coming to me and asking, hey, we want to do this ad. We want to put you in this, this commercial spot or these things. And I'll never forget the day this kid came up to me and asked me to autograph this poster for him. And I'm looking at the poster and I'm like, I look horrible in this photo. It's just terrible, like the worst photo ever. And you're, you're, I was young. I was like, super sensitive about how, you know, you're insecure about how you look.

• 20:22Tim Ferriss?

  I'm still pretty sensitive and insecure about it.

• 20:24Speaker 02

  It's like the only redhead around. I was like, oh, this just won't work. And so, all I, all I remember is I, I, I signed this poster for this kid and I'm thinking, now he's gonna put it on his wall. All his friends are gonna see it. This is just awful. And, um, and so, but, but the product in the shot was amazing. I mean, this, they used to snatch it off the page and drink it. It was just, looked so good. And I'm like, this isn't fair. Like, you know, I, I, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna change this. I wanna be able to approve these things. And I asked my agent at the time about it and I, my parents, I was like, what's up with this? And he's like, oh, you want the right, you wanna look through all these and actually approve the, I'm like, yeah, I wanna be a part of that. I wanna know

• 21:05Speaker 02

  what's going on with my name on it. And that, that was like my slow intro to having more control of, you know, the imagery and my likeness and, and all of those things that come out, um, that I'm endorsing, I guess, so.

• 21:18Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah. I remember somebody told me a while back, they're like, it takes 10 or 20 years to build a reputation and just one bad decision with that type of thing to completely torpedo it. What are some of the, uh, who are some of the business mentors that you've had or career mentors, uh, or role models for that matter?

• 21:38Speaker 02

  I was really fortunate when I was younger to come across an agent named Mark Irvin at IMG. And he was a really great guy. I mean, we worked together for probably eight years or more. But he was really someone that I looked to and he's like, you know, we could do these things and we can, you know, work with these companies and we won't even do the deal until we have the approvals and, and kinda like, we put ourselves out there to where, you know, we wouldn't even get the deals unless, unless we knew they wanted to like, work with me, not tell me how to, you know, do what I do. But he was a great mentor in that space. And it was funny, cause my mom, I mean, when he tells the story, it's pretty good,

• 22:22Speaker 02

  cause my mom asked him to represent me and he said, "No," cause he was really busy, had all these other big clients. And, and then he, I think he went back and like, checked me out online. He's like, "Oh, this kid's might be on to something." And he came back to meet me and he said he didn't want to meet with me and my mom. He just wanted to meet with me. And he's like, "I'll never forget it. I realized how young you were because you sat down and ordered a milk."

• 22:47Speaker 02

  I remember the last time, I was like, "Oh, just take a milk."

• 22:52Tim Ferriss?

  On the rocks.

• 22:52Speaker 02

  Just a hot day in San Diego. I was like, "Give me that milk."

• 22:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, so, you know, he was a great guy and he, he taught me a lot of important lessons and things along the way. And, and I don't know, I feel like I always had a bit of excitement about it. I always wanted to know more. And my mom is definitely someone that's influenced me, you know, probably way more than anybody you can imagine. I mean, she was the one that was driving. Obviously, my father as well, but my mom was, at the time, she was my mom, she was my business manager, she was kinda my agent, she was, you know, making sandwiches, she was doing everything. And so, you know, I really, so thankful that she was there at that, that pivotal, you know, that important time in my life.

• 23:40Tim Ferriss?

  What has been, and we don't have to name names necessarily unless you're comfortable with it, but what have been some of the hardest opportunities to say no to, that you're glad you said no to?

• 23:51Speaker 02

  Oh, man. Bobbleheads.

• 23:54Tim Ferriss?

  Bobbleheads.

• 23:56Speaker 02

  Bobbleheads. Can you imagine? It was just like...

• 24:01Speaker 02

  That was a real one I turned down. I was like, I don't know, this could be cool.

• 24:07Speaker 02

  But then I saw someone else's bobblehead and I was like, damn. The one that got away, you know?

• 24:14Speaker 02

  I don't know, like, it was a, I'll probably, I'll probably end up doing this in a year, which we'll all look back at this and laugh, but.

• 24:21Tim Ferriss?

  Well, you could have different versions of the bobblehead now.

• 24:23Speaker 02

  I was like 16 and like, we should do the Sean White fragrance. I was just like, what? Like, is it winter fresh? What are we gonna, like, what is this gonna be? And it just didn't, and I was blown away at the amount of money they were willing to offer me. And I was just like, man, like, pad sweat, what are we gonna call this? Like, I don't know what to do. And so I remember, um, I remember turning it down. And that was a crazy time, because I was like, well, I don't think I'd ever, could have ever in my wildest dreams imagined turning down this amount of money. You know, um, yeah, I mean, as a kid growing up and like my family and I, like, to make ends meet, we would camp out in this van at the mountains. We, my mom and dad bought a van and then they took it down to Tijuana to get it reupholstered,

• 25:08Speaker 02

  because it had like crazy amounts of fleas. It was used as like a lookout, uh, uh, car for the police. I don't, these, I can't even, I can't even make this up. This is real. So they took it down to Tijuana, had it reupholstered and like flea bombed it. And then like, this was our home. We would go up to the mountains and like, and now I'm also just turning down this massive amount of money to not do a fragrance. But, you know, those were important things. And I feel like at the time, you know, as many things I said no to, there was a, a nice list of things that I was currently involved with. And, um, and I was like, you know what, for every one of these, there's probably, there's probably a couple more down the line that are the real deals that you want to wait for.

• 25:50Speaker 02

  And, and, you know, if it was meant to be, it would have been, you know, it would have made sense, but it just doesn't make sense.

• 25:55Tim Ferriss?

  Were there any particular reasons you said no to that, or? Any particular thinking as to why that didn't make sense for you at the time?

• 26:04Speaker 02

  Yeah, I just was like, I can't picture it on the shelf. I can't picture me standing in front of a crowd like yourself trying to like, oh, look, it's great. I mean, I can, the dog loves it and the people like, what am I, how am I gonna promote this? And how, it doesn't really, you know, I didn't even use deodorant at the time. I was just like, let alone a fragrance, you know? It's like, what's B.O. Like, what? Oh, excuse me. That might have been you. I'm blaming you.

• 26:31Tim Ferriss?

  Might be me, heavy breathing.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  But yeah, so it just didn't make sense. And I had to really ask myself, is this something I can pull off? Is this something that's gonna, you know, kill my cred? And think about, I mean, the world of snowboarding was a very core group. And at that time especially, it was like a very touchy scenario to be in, to be doing big endorsements with, you know, corporate America, so.

• 26:54Tim Ferriss?

  If you were looking back at, say, Torino, and when it seems like you're just suddenly thrust in front of the largest audience and had the greatest awareness compared to you previously, what advice would you give yourself? What advice now would you give that Sean White?

• 27:20Speaker 02

  Oh, man, um, that's a tough one. I would say it's a tough one because I'm a firm believer in the fact of all those mistakes that I made at that point got me to this place. And I wouldn't really have learned my lessons and things. I would have told myself to just kinda like enjoy it more, you know? It was a really, to be honest, it was one of the hardest times in my life. I mean, I just won the Olympics. It was an amazing, like, we did it, you know? And my family and, you know, and the community that we lived in, you know? I had a, someone yelled Bob Burnquist earlier. Over here, here we go. You know, there's a skateboarder, Bob Bernquist, and I had crashed into him during a demonstration.

• 28:03Speaker 02

  I fractured my skull, I broke my hand, I broke my foot. I had to go to school, you know, immediately after this like crazy accident. And the teacher saw me and like cried at the sight of me. And I'm like looking around and like, I'm like, why does everybody look so nice? This is crazy, everyone's dressed up, it was picture day.

• 28:25Speaker 02

  And I was like, okay, like I had these huge black eyes from the, from the head trauma and all these things and um...

• 28:33Tim Ferriss?

  So, wait a second, this is like school photo day?

• 28:36Speaker 02

  It was the picture day.

• 28:37Tim Ferriss?

  So, did you, do you wanna like junior high like? One of these, like with a massive black eyes?

• 28:42Speaker 02

  Oh yeah, I had the photos, I had to do the full on like the side turn and like...

• 28:48Speaker 02

  But I just had these, and I'm in a dirty t-shirt and yeah.

• 28:52Tim Ferriss?

  Just looked like a victim of a mugging?

• 28:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Sorry, I got a little lost on where I was going with that, was the original?

• 29:00Tim Ferriss?

  Oh no, I was talking about advice to...

• 29:03Speaker 02

  Oh, advice to myself when I was younger.

• 29:08Tim Ferriss?

  I can relate where that was going, I'm happy to ride it.

• 29:09Speaker 02

  I still don't know where I was going with that.

• 29:14Speaker 02

  Okay, I got it, yeah. No, we were, we were talking about like the community that I grew up in and, and they didn't really understand what I did. They're like, okay, he go, yeah, that's cool, he goes up to the mountains and like, you know, they asked my parents like, so you, so you smoke weed?

• 29:31Speaker 02

  You know, my mom, like, what are you talking about? Well, you snowboard, you go smoke some weed, right? And like, you know, people in the community just didn't really understand and so... There's a big difference between holding up a X Games medal and a, and a gold medal from the Olympics. I mean, everybody understands that and can recognize that accomplishment, so... And not only kinda like took the people that said I was gonna be nothing and that I was, you know, never gonna make it in the sport and the teachers that didn't support me and all this, it really... It meant that we had succeeded and so, I don't know, it's kind of, what do you do next? You know, I'm nineteen, I just like, we did it, and now what? I'm like, I guess, do we try to do it again, I guess? Like, what, you know, where do you get that same fight? You know, you'd won the fight and it's like, what's next?

• 30:15Speaker 02

  And so I had a really hard come down from that. I didn't know what to do with myself. Then I had an undefeated season when I won that, that year in two thousand and six. And so I was like, I got second place at the event. Um, the following season, I was like, well, this year's already not as great as the last one. And, you know, I was really hard on myself. And so that was a time where I would look back and tell myself to just obviously, you know, let things happen and, and refresh. Now that I'm older and I've competed at the Olympics, I, I know what that, that come down feels like. I'm prepared. Um, you know, like, like this last Olympics, I was like, win or lose, I'm gonna go play some music with my friends. Like, that's what I really wanna do. Um, but at that time, it was really tough and I was dealing with the new success and,

• 30:58Speaker 02

  and fame from the Olympics and, um, endorsements and money and, and what to do. And at the, I was nineteen, I mean, like normally you move out of, of home. When you're eighteen, you go to college, you go to, I was still at home with my mom, like, okay, cool, like, now what? Like, I didn't, I was like, I guess I could buy a house, that'd be cool, like, let's move out, well, eh, the plot thickens, cause the house we were in, I actually owned. Um,

• 31:25Tim Ferriss?

  She's like, go to your room, you're like, no, you go to your room.

• 31:29Speaker 02

  I, I purchased the house as an investment, you know, and, and when you're eighteen, you can't actually even, uh, I'm sorry, before you're eighteen, you can't actually even own anything. You can't like write things off in your taxes, you just get slammed. And so, uh, uh, my, my parents, like, it looked shady in the beginning, but they took the money, they bought the house, and then they put it back into my name under a trust and things, it's complicated. But anyways, so, as I got older, I was like, you know what, I love you guys, you did this, such a great thing by supporting me my whole life, I just won the Olympics, like, you just stay in this house and live here. I'm gonna go get a new place. And that was a whole new, you know, like, just growing, just growing up at that time is tough. And then to add all those extra things on top of it was even more overwhelming.

• 32:13Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, you mentioned enjoying it. I remember hearing an anecdote from Neil Gaiman, who's one of my favorite writers, and he became very well known from Sandman. I don't know if anyone here has, has seen the comic book of the graphic novel, Sandman. Amazing, and so just sort of reinvented the genre, the graphic novel. And he was doing this long signing one point, at like the first peak in his fame. And Stephen King was like, enjoy it. And he's like, yeah, I didn't. He's like, I just didn't enjoy it. I was too overwhelmed by all these new factors.

• 32:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:42Tim Ferriss?

  So you seem, you seem like you've done a very good job of educating yourself from many different sources. And I, in the course of trying to prepare for this, heard that you are a fan of the Andre Agassi autobiography?

• 32:59Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 32:59Tim Ferriss?

  That is an incredible, incredible book, open. I recommend it to everyone.

• 33:04Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 33:04Tim Ferriss?

  Why, why are you such a fan of that book?

• 33:07Speaker 02

  It was incredible. I mean, well, I was a fan of Andre Agassi, just in any ways. I had read an interview that he didn't stretch before competitions. I never stretch before competitions. Like, I just loved, I just thought the guy was so cool. And he had like the white Lamborghini with the headband, and just like...

• 33:23Tim Ferriss?

  Cut-off shorts.

• 33:24Speaker 02

  It was just awesome, yeah. And I just remember seeing that as a kid and going, this guy's, he's got, he's got something right here. And I was like, he's doing it right. You know, and I just, I just thought he was so great. And I remember after the Olympics, we got a phone call from Steffi Graf. And my, my team manager for the company was like, gee, I just got off the phone with Steffi Graf. Like, Andre's a huge fan, he wants you to come out and, you know, have a, have a hangout during his birthday and go snowboarding. And so, we became friends after that, it was really great. And so, he sent me the book when it came out. And I was like, oh, this is great. I read the book. And man, I really enjoyed the book. It was so amazing to hear his story and his kind of like struggle of, of not enjoying

• 34:08Speaker 02

  the sport and, and then finally finding his love for it. And, and I don't know, it was just an interesting way he, he told the story. And I compared so many things of that to my life and, and... And I think the part that I enjoyed the most is that, once he realized that his life wasn't tennis, and that it was his family, and it was his foundation, he actually played better. He stopped, he got that little bit of like, "I don't care. I'm gonna play my heart out. I'm gonna go home to people that love me and people that, you know, care about me." And that was something that I've always felt my whole life, is that like, I snowboard, for sure. I love it, I do it, but that's not my life. I mean, my life is many

• 34:50Speaker 02

  things. It's one great, amazing facet of my life, but that was something that I was like, "Wow, you know, I really relate to that." Because when I come home, I have a whole different, you know, world of friends, and things that I'm interested in, and music, and art, and, you know, all these things. And so, I really enjoyed that part of it, and how open and honest he was, obviously the book opened, how honest he was about everything, and, you know, the ups and downs, and, yeah, it was really cool.

• 35:17Tim Ferriss?

  I've never had so many people come up to me, I was reading the paperback, and want to talk to me about the book I was reading.

• 35:22Speaker 02

  Okay.

• 35:23Tim Ferriss?

  Just like airplanes, restaurants.

• 35:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:26Tim Ferriss?

  And you mentioned, in a sense, him not letting tennis be his entire identity, and then playing better. I remember this master negotiator said to me once, he goes, "He who cares less wins." And, but there's a really fine line, right? Because you have to be driven, you have to take it seriously, but if you have all your chips kind of in one area, and you have an off day, then it like destroys your self-worth. What have you done when you've lost some of that enthusiasm?

• 35:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:55Tim Ferriss?

  But you're still in, say, competition mode. How have you resurrected that, or addressed it?

• 36:00Speaker 02

  Referencing the book, he had an amazing quote, which I'm gonna probably butcher right now, but he said, "The feeling of winning doesn't feel as strong or last as long as the feeling of losing." And I nailed it.

• 36:16Speaker 02

  That one was for you, Andre. The pressure was on.

• 36:22Speaker 02

  No, but it's very true. It's very true. Like, you can win something and be like, "That was great! One next!" But like, when you lose something, it's just like this... It just weighs on you, and everything isn't as shiny and bright. Everything is just kind of weighed down by this, and you won't let it go, you know? And it's amazing. And so, in my mind, I always kind of twisted things in my favor. I always kind of like, made it to be what I wanted it to be. So if I would show up at a competition and win, I'd go, "Okay, great. I'm exactly where I need to be. This is what I'm doing." And if I didn't win, I would just turn it in my favor, like, "Well, now you know exactly where you need to be." "You've seen what the best are doing, and you need to now one-up that." And, you know, if you look at something and kind of try to see that other side of it, you know, I would get motivated from that.

• 37:07Speaker 02

  You know, I would use it in my favor to go compete and go get better and do all those things. So, um, you know, that's what kind of got me through it, I guess. But I just had this will to always, you know, win, to be the best. I mean, and a lot of it stemmed from the fact that I was told even... The heart condition and all these things, that I wasn't really gonna amount to much. So it was like, it wasn't so much of a "I wanna do this." It's like, "I have to do this." There was an amazing situation where I was in Japan at this competition called the Toyota Big Air. And I was like a wild card entry. So I was paying my travel to get there, with my mom flew out with me. And, you know, we're paying for the hotel, we're paying for the food, all these things.

• 37:52Speaker 02

  All the other riders were invited, so when they got there, they got paid some, you know, per diem money to show up. And then, uh, there's a big prize purse of $50,000. Everyone went out that night and partied like crazy. And, uh, I was a kid, so I was at home, you know, at the hotel with my mom. They show up hungover to the event, and they're like, "You know, the jump's just lame." It's not... There's just nobody. So, "It was lame, and it's not cool, and, you know, we don't wanna compete today. We're just gonna do a demo, and we're all gonna split the money." And like, I'm doing the quick math, and I'm like, "Man, this doesn't even cover our flights out." And so, I was like, "I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna split the money." And they like hazed me, and they're like, "Oh, you're all about the money, and blah, blah, blah."

• 38:32Speaker 02

  And I just sat there like, "I'm riding really well today. I'm not doing it." And, you know, they had like a big picture of all the riders' faces, and they're drawing dollar signs in my eyes.

• 38:44Speaker 02

  I was 15, man. Like, that was intimidating. It was like my hero was like making jabs at me and, man, I won.

• 38:52Tim Ferriss?

  Good for you.

• 38:53Speaker 02

  I won.

• 38:54Tim Ferriss?

  Good for you.

• 38:55Speaker 02

  Yeah. It was, uh, it was $50,000 in a car. I was 15. I was like, "Oh, my God."

• 39:04Speaker 02

  What do we do?" It was in yen, too.

• 39:06Tim Ferriss?

  Was the steer it?

• 39:09Speaker 02

  There's a photo, the best photo in the world because I have it all laid out on the bed because I thought it was so cool. I was like, "Look at all this fake money."

• 39:17Tim Ferriss?

  Scrooge McDucking.

• 39:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, and my mom, and the best photo ever because I have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

• 39:24Speaker 02

  It's like, I was like, "I did a good job." And I like eat my sandwich. But that's, you know, one of those things where, I don't know, that was just one demonstration of like me being confident in my ride and knowing what I was there for and I wanted to win. I mean, people wanted to know like, "Why didn't you get, you know, pulled into drinking and drugs and these things?" And I didn't have time for it, man. I wanted to win. I wanted to be the best and nothing could really get in my way.

• 39:54Tim Ferriss?

  What do you think the sources of that strength in face of that type of peer pressure? I mean, that's unusual for a 15-year-old, especially when you're being faced by your idols or suddenly, you know, throwing darts at you.

• 40:08Tim Ferriss?

  Did that come from your parents or is it just something internally that you've always had? Or is there a different answer?

• 40:14Speaker 02

  I think it was both, you know? I'd put in the work. I'd put in the time. I felt like I was the best rider and these guys had their travel paid to get there. They were all doing, you know what I mean?

• 40:25Tim Ferriss?

  You were hungry.

• 40:25Speaker 02

  I just felt like, you know what? This is my day and I'm not gonna let them ruin it. And I'd worked toward this goal.

• 40:33Speaker 02

  And, you know, I usually set goals. Every single season I set a goal. It's either like something very serious and it's usually two goals. It's something very serious and something funny, something stupid.

• 40:44Tim Ferriss?

  Like what? What would be an example of each?

• 40:47Speaker 02

  You're gonna, it's ridiculous. One of them was to win the Olympics and then one of them was to see how many cars I could win.

• 40:56Tim Ferriss?

  How many cars?

• 40:57Speaker 02

  How many cars, because at the time, the automotive industry, they were just like handing out cars. So, I was like, okay, I got my car in Japan, that's great. And I, so I was on a roll and, and I think by the end of the, end of the run, I had like nine cars. And they weren't, they, some of them, they weren't, there was like a Suzuki sidekick and like a, and like this Volvo and a Jeep and a, you know, these random cars. But that was like one of my goals, like how many cars can I win, you know? I ended up like donating them at the end, because I, you know, I had to pay taxes on them and all these things. I was just like, alright, like, somebody could just have the Suzuki.

• 41:36Tim Ferriss?

  Here's a Suzuki, sorry the steering wheel's on the wrong side.

• 41:38Speaker 02

  Yeah, just take it, there you go.

• 41:41Tim Ferriss?

  Do you, do you still do goal setting like that?

• 41:44Speaker 02

  I do, um, yeah, they're always random, man.

• 41:50Speaker 02

  The Vancouver Olympics, um, I can't believe I'm telling you this. I had, my goals were to, again, win the Olympics and then the other goal was to, um, wear these pants. And the pants that I had made were these American flag pants.

• 42:08Speaker 02

  Just follow me.

• 42:11Speaker 02

  I saw this photo of Axl Rose wearing something similar. They were probably a little more snug and shorter. And I was like, I can't pull that, but I'm, I can, I can make some pants like that. And, yeah, it was just like this stupid goal, like, man, if I won, like, maybe, I don't know, like, I could get on the cover of Rolling Stone or something like that. I, I had been on the cover when I first won, um, the Olympics and had this like ridiculous nickname that I've been given, Tomato and all these things. I was like, that's so not cool, like, I gotta, if I win again, what if they put me on the cover? And what if I'm in American flag pants, like, doing some Axl Rose type something? And so that was my goal.

• 42:50Speaker 02

  I had the pants like made and then tailored up at the Vancouver Games and I, and I, I won so I could wear the pants.

• 43:00Tim Ferriss?

  Did you wear them while you were competing or was that just a celebratory?

• 43:03Speaker 02

  No, it was just, it was just celebratory pants for after.

• 43:08Speaker 02

  These are all true stories. And then I got on the cover of Rolling Stone, wearing those pants.

• 43:14Tim Ferriss?

  That's amazing.

• 43:18Speaker 02

  You visualize the dream and the goal, and then you make it happen. But that's what's fun, is it takes a lot of the pressure off of it. Winning the Olympics is a very big goal. It's a very stressful goal to have, you know? So it's nice to have something else to offset it. Like, oh, man, like, obviously, if I won all these cars, that meant I was gonna win the Olympics, because I was winning all the events, you know? If I get to wear the pants, that means I won the Olympics. It's like, it kind of downplays the whole, you know, magnitude of it. So that's kind of why I do it.

• 43:50Tim Ferriss?

  Did you come up with that yourself?

• 43:51Speaker 02

  Plus, they were cool pants.

• 43:54Tim Ferriss?

  Did you come up with that yourself? Or did you borrow that from someone else who did?

• 43:57Speaker 02

  No, I just kind of like, everything was so serious at the time. And I don't know, that was just kind of my way of dealing with it.

• 44:05Tim Ferriss?

  When you're getting ready to compete, and I was just watching some of your video today, and it struck me how relaxed you seemed, I mean, seemed. And just even in the landings in particular, I was paying attention. And what are you saying to yourself, if anything, when you're up there, kind of at the gate, about to be released for your run? What is your internal dialogue?

• 44:33Speaker 02

  I don't think there's anything that could be repeated at such polite company.

• 44:38Tim Ferriss?

  Oh, these people aren't polite, trust me.

• 44:40Speaker 02

  No, I don't know.

• 44:41Tim Ferriss?

  They're my listeners, they're not polite.

• 44:42Speaker 02

  I usually, I'm not really thinking about anything. And that's the beauty of music. They play some music at the top, you start singing along, and then I go down my run. And I'm usually just kind of like humming along to the song. And the goal is to like, you're completely focused, and then there's that bit of like, not caring. And that allows you to then just do the tricks. Like, you've practiced, you know what to do. You're your own worst enemy at that point. Because if you overthink it... You know, you're gonna, you know, like, a couple of questions ago, I was like, where am I going with this? And then I forgot what the question was. Like, you know, you can't let yourself, you know, get in the way of what you're trying to do. And so I always describe it like I'm thinking of, you know, each wall. So I'm doing my flips and thinking about the next trick.

• 45:23Speaker 02

  So that's a way to kind of like avoid over-analyzing this landing or something like that. The tough part is, it's the last hit, because there's no more hits after that. So there's a really funny video of me at some competition. It's really cold out. And you can see my first hit, I do my big trick, and there's this big puff of breath. Because it's so cold out, you can see my breath. And then the next trick comes, I'm doing my thing, puff of breath, all the way down on that last hit, there's no breath. I was holding my breath, trying to make sure I land that trick, you know. It's always that, you know, that flow you get, that kind of like one hit to the next. And I really can't pinpoint one specific moment out.

• 46:04Speaker 02

  And usually at the top, I'm just kind of like, I don't know, I'm usually either, I probably just say a little prayer and kind of, I think, I say, who cares? I do, I go, who cares? Like, what's the, in the end of the day, like, who cares? Like, what's the, you know, what's the big deal? I'm here, I'm gonna try my best, and who cares? Like, I'm gonna go home, and my family's there, and like the Andre Agassi reference. I mean, who cares? I'm gonna, I'm gonna go on from this, you know? Even though I'm so, my whole world's wrapped up in this, like, who cares?

• 46:41Tim Ferriss?

  It's very stoic in the most positive way. It reminds me also, I was interviewing Triple H, the professional wrestler, Paul Levesque, and he's friends with Floyd Mayweather. Before one of Floyd's championship fights, Floyd invited him into the locker room where he's doing his warm-up stuff. And he goes, well, I don't want to interfere or bother you while you're getting in your head and getting ready to fight. And he goes, you're not bothering me? He's like, if I'm not ready, I'm not ready. He's like, if I'm ready, I'm ready. It's like, there's nothing I'm gonna do in the next 10 minutes that's gonna make a difference.

• 47:14Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 47:17Tim Ferriss?

  Are there any other books that have, that you particularly love or have given to other people?

• 47:24Speaker 02

  The book I've given the most?

• 47:28Speaker 02

  It's called Fifty Shades of Chicken. Are you serious? It's a cookbook on chicken. It's delicious and it's got this, this like...

• 47:39Speaker 02

  I love chicken, I love this, but, and it's got this chicken all tied up on the front, like... Just begging to be, yeah.

• 47:50Speaker 02

  Besides that, um...

• 47:55Speaker 02

  The outliers. Malcolm Gladwell. And I can't, I can't quote the whole book, cause I kind of, I, I'm sorry Malcolm, but I read half of it.

• 48:06Speaker 02

  Just, I, my attention span wanders and, but I, I kind of stopped just because I, I really, I was reading it and, and I really enjoyed the book and I, I, you know, I, I actually just left it on the plane is why I stopped. I should've just bought another one, but, um, and then Harry Potter came out. You gotta do what you gotta do.

• 48:27Speaker 02

  Chicken book came out. No, so I was reading the book and I was amazed about the, the story about the hockey players and, and this kind of anomaly in the, in the system and I started applying that to my own life. And I was like, wow, well, people would think I was at a disadvantage growing up in Southern California. I was like, well, I don't find that as a disadvantage at all. It was probably sunny, you know, and nice out in the majority of the year, uh, or the winter season, you know? Our winters aren't like, you know, somewhere in Colorado or Vermont. So the amount of days I could actually go ride would probably, I don't know, double or triple the amount of someone growing up somewhere else.

• 49:02Speaker 02

  And then at the same moment, the person that was building the parks at, uh, Bear Mountain and Summit, Snow Summit Resort, um, you know, it was like this small mountain. So they're like, oh yeah, do what you want. You snowboarders, go do what you want. And this guy was building these amazing jumps, this amazing half pipe. He now builds all of the courses for the world's best events. That's where he got his start. Wow. At these mountains. You know, they weren't gonna let him go to Aspen and like tear up the, you know, the groomer or trail or whatever, so, um, you know, that happened. And then another thing I, I compared to my life is that, um... The half-pipe that they had had a T-bar, had like a tow rope at it. So I was thinking, wow, the amount of days now that I'm riding because it's sunny and the

• 49:47Speaker 02

  amount of runs I'm getting because I don't have to unstrap and hike back up, I would just do my trick, get back on the chair and go back up. I was like, wow, I'm packing in like, you know, months of, of training in these small windows compared to someone else that lives in, in Vermont or something where it's like below, well, well below freezing and they're hiking the pipe, they're tired. It's, you know, when you're cold, it's like, it's frightening to go, okay, I'm gonna try this flip. Like, no, you're not. Like, it's super intimidating. I like, it's cold, you wanna go home and get warm. Like, I was in these conditions where the snow was soft. I got some guy building the best terrain around and, uh, yeah. So there's a lot of fun things that came into play, especially

• 50:30Speaker 02

  Burton Snowboards just happened to come out with the snowboard line. So, a lot of fun things, um, you know, that I was able to apply to my life from that book.

• 50:39Tim Ferriss?

  How is your physical training, since we're talking about training and practicing, how has your physical training changed or evolved?

• 50:48Speaker 02

  Um, I'm actually doing it now.

• 50:52Tim Ferriss?

  You have, you have.

• 50:53Speaker 02

  I'm serious.

• 50:54Tim Ferriss?

  Physical training.

• 50:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, it's, it's strange. I've, I've, I, I consider what I do as sport. I consider myself an athlete, but I never really treated myself as one. Um, especially when you're 16, you know, you just bounce back. Like, or you're, you're younger, you try these tricks, you don't have to work out. I, I, I'm like, we're taking the chair lift, we're going downhill. I'm not like, you know, going up against someone that's twice my size and I gotta deal with that. It's, it's definitely like an individual sport and it, it relies on the element of being creative. You know, I can come up with a brand new trick that no one's done before and be the best in the world, where it doesn't matter how hard I hit the gym, I still have to be inspired and then have the, you know, the guts to

• 51:37Speaker 02

  go do this trick and perform it and, and, you know, master it. But, uh, recently I watched a documentary, um, called Seven Days in Hell.

• 51:47Speaker 02

  And I was like, oh, this is funny. This is really great. But below that was the actual doc- it's a mockumentary with Andy Sandberg and and one of the guys from, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones. I don't, sorry. Yeah, great actor. And so, really funny film. Right below it was the actual documentary, Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe. And it's like, oh, I gotta watch this. And I'm watching. And John was, I'm sorry, Bjorn, you know, had his trainer wake him up. Somebody was hitting balls with him. And the other guy's stretching him. And I was like, he's got his whole team. This is amazing. Like, why don't I have that? Why don't I do that? And like, this is, this is probably like a couple of months ago. And so I was like, I got on the phone. I was like, okay, I need a trainer.

• 52:30Speaker 02

  And I need this, this girl to travel with me and help me stretch and

• 52:36Tim Ferriss?

  Swan yeah.

• 52:37Speaker 02

  You know, get my back fixed from the plane. And it sounds so ridiculous to me now that I don't, I didn't do it before. You know, my eyes were just opened by Seven Days in Hell, which is pretty funny. But yeah, so I was like, what I did before is I would just show up in a city and I'd just roll the dice. And be like, hey, do you know anyone that's good at physical therapy or massage? And you get the one that's like, they're just not, they're not doing anything. You know, you're like, oh, that was great. Thank you, you know? Or you get somebody that's like, this is Shaun White. Like, I gotta impress this guy. In one session, he's just like

• 53:15Tim Ferriss?

  All elbows, all elbows.

• 53:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, all elbows. I can barely walk after the thing. So I was like hesitant to even get training. And I was like, well, you know, my back's so locked up. It's really helping like me stick my landings.

• 53:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was crazy. And so I just recently decided, you know, wow, why don't I take this into my own hands? And obviously I'm getting older. And yeah, it was something I really wanted to do. And it's made it so much easier. Surprise, but yeah, it's something, I don't know, I just, I didn't really think about it and yeah, I'm 29, I was like, oh, I should probably get the gym.

• 53:51Tim Ferriss?

  What, is there any particular type of training or piece of that training now that you feel has helped you the most?

• 53:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, and when I say I didn't train, I mean, there were moments where I was like, okay, like, I'm gonna make sure for this month, I really like hit the spin bike, or I'll do this, or there was various trainers where I would meet up with them and then, you know, we'd hit it for maybe a couple of weeks and then I'd fizzle out, because I would go on trips and things and the only really time I did go to the gym was after injuries. I hurt my knee and it freaked me out, I was like, wow, I gotta hit the gym, I gotta really protect my knees and my things that are gonna keep me in the sport. But the training that I find now that really helps was, uh, it's balance and core and, uh, and visi- visi- uh, I can't even say it, to visualize my runs and things, you know, to picture

• 54:41Speaker 02

  myself, I'm very visual, like, I know what I'm gonna see when I hit the jump, I know what the, the landing's gonna look like, I know what, you know, who's gonna be waiting at the bottom of the, of the run to, you know, high five me, you know, good job, like, all these things, I visualize everything, down to the pants I'm gonna wear, like, literally, it gets pretty involved and so, you know, I, I feel like the training, when you're thinking about, you know, those positive outcomes and you're thinking about what you wanna do, what you wanna achieve, while training is a very powerful thing and then, um, yeah, just, just, just simple, simple things that I should have probably been doing for a long time now, so.

• 55:17Tim Ferriss?

  When you're coming up on a, an important competition.

• 55:20Speaker 02

  I had a water here.

• 55:21Tim Ferriss?

  And, uh, not at the gate, but in the hours preceding that, what is your, what do your rituals look like or routines?

• 55:30Speaker 02

  I don't know, I mean, my mom's super, very superstitious and, um, and so like, I wasn't in the beginning and now it's slowly rubbed off on me, because I would come home, or I'd come back to the hotel after the event, my whole room was packed up, my whole bag was packed up, it's like, these maids are really going for that extra.

• 55:50Tim Ferriss?

  The extra tip.

• 55:51Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're going the extra mile here, like, what's going on, and so she was like, oh, if I sneak in your room and pack up your bags, it means you're gonna be safe and you're gonna win the event. It's just like, alright lady, like, lady, you're scaring us, you know, and so, I remember, uh- You know, I won and then I won the next one and I'm like, there I am packing my bag. I don't want to break tradition. But nowadays, like the things I do is I tend to eat a steak before I compete.

• 56:21Speaker 02

  The night before, some skateboarder told me he does it. I tried it. I won. Now I have to eat a steak.

• 56:27Tim Ferriss?

  Now you're locked in the sticks.

• 56:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. Which is pretty crazy because I didn't eat a steak before Sochi.

• 56:33Tim Ferriss?

  Really?

• 56:34Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 56:34Tim Ferriss?

  Wait, you, oh, you did not eat a steak that day?

• 56:36Speaker 02

  I did not eat a steak.

• 56:37Tim Ferriss?

  You meant that's when you picked up the superstition, kind of like your training.

• 56:40Speaker 02

  No, well, it adds to the superstish, but um. But yeah, so there's like a bunch of things like that.

• 56:46Tim Ferriss?

  Did that mess you up? Before Sochi, not having the steak?

• 56:48Speaker 02

  Totally. There were like five of those things that I'm talking about that all took place before the event. It's not because I didn't want steak. I didn't all of a sudden be like, you know what? Go on vegan. Like, no, I was just like, you know, they didn't even know if they were going to run the competition, you know? Leading up to the event, we had three days of practice and the halfpipe was unrideable for three days. And so the meeting that night was to decide if they were even going to do the event the next day. Which is a very tough scenario as a competitor because you're like, alright. Tomorrow we're gonna maybe do this. You know, you get all psyched up and it's like this big maybe. And so the meeting went till 2am. And my coach at the time is the one that cooks the steaks and he's just like, we're in Russia.

• 57:33Speaker 02

  You want me to find you a steak right now? I'm like, I'm not one to break tradition, but you want to do it tonight of all nights, you know? And so anyways, that, that story aside, but um. Yeah, there's, there's things where I get, I get a song that's played and I have to hear that same song if I win. Uh, it depends. I, uh, for 2006, it was ACDC's Back in Black. Uh, one was Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin. You know, one was a Black Keys song.

• 58:02Speaker 02

  What was the song? I think Howlin' for You.

• 58:07Speaker 02

  Yeah, so there are strange things. I was 16, I went to my first concert ever. It was the Oz Fest. Yeah, I went with my parents. I was like, "Oh, this is incredible."

• 58:17Tim Ferriss?

  Also my first concert.

• 58:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, and I bought this T-shirt that said, "The Prince of Fucking Darkness." And it was Ozzy in flames. I was like, "This is great." And I started wearing it under my jersey every competition. And I was winning. Ozzy was like, you know, helping me out. And so, you know, just random things like that. So there's like select T-shirts and songs and things over time that, you know, I kinda...

• 58:43Tim Ferriss?

  So you mentioned, I, this could not, I couldn't have planned this. You bring up the Ozzy Osbourne, what was it? "Prince of Fucking Darkness"?

• 58:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 58:52Tim Ferriss?

  Okay, so did you design a jacket called "The Most Unholy Jacket Ever"?

• 58:56Speaker 02

  Yes, I did.

• 58:58Tim Ferriss?

  Can you, can you explain that?

• 59:04Speaker 02

  Well, it was amazing, like, at the time, I was really young and I was slowly, you know, gaining this popularity. And so Burton Snowboards came to me and they're like, "We want to do a pro model snowboard boot." And I was like, "Wow, okay, cool." Like, I have no idea what to do. So I asked my older brother, Jesse. And he was always very artistic. And he, you know, we came up with this like really cool quilted print. And it sold out. It was amazing hit. We came out with another one. And that grew into, you know, boots and a board and helmets. And then it became a whole clothing line at Burton Snowboards called "The White Collection." And basically, you know, that had free rein to do whatever I wanted.

• 59:47Speaker 02

  He's like, "Whoa, it'd be hilarious if the tagline was super long." You know, we had the tags for the jackets at the store that was just like this long, like a foot long. Like, I was like, "Oh, yeah, 'The Most Unholy Jacket Ever,' that'd be great." You know, so that was pretty much why we named it that, was that we could have these really long, big, obnoxious tags on the jacket.

• 1:00:06Tim Ferriss?

  Were there any other, any other names or particular favorites?

• 1:00:09Speaker 02

  Oh, man, I can't recall. There were some good ones. But it was fun. We would always do these strange things. I mean, I was always about the little details. So there was a pass pocket that you have in your jacket that you flip up and get scanned to go on the chairlift. And there's always this lame photo. Of Jake Burton. He's not lame, just the photo was lame. No offense. Uh, but I remember thinking like, God, they print this out, they make it. Why don't we do something really funny in there? So we, we turned it into this, like, my brother figured out how to take one piece of paper and fold it into like a little comic book. And we would like display these bizarre, you know, like, pieces of art and sayings and things and hairy armpits and just weird stuff.

• 1:00:51Speaker 02

  So, um, yeah, it was all about those little details, but people appreciated it. You know, when you bought the jacket, you were always discovering like fun things. And, um, you know, in, in the unholy jacket, we had this like one pocket that you would flip up and it would say the most unholy jacket ever. And on the other side, it was like people dancing in flames and things. It was just fun, you know? I really enjoyed doing it and that was my introduction into designing.

• 1:01:15Speaker 02

  You know, I, I, I just like getting the right of approval for my ads and things. There's a natural kind of progression and story to all of these things that I'm, I'm involved with now. You know, I didn't wake up like, I need my own clothing line. Like, no, it was, my brother was amazingly talented artist. We had this great opportunity and we enjoyed doing it. We would make the drawings on napkins. The samples would get made in China. We'd bring them back, make adjustments and then you see somebody wearing your jacket and it's incredible. It's this fulfillment of like, wow, he stood in front of this huge wall of clothing and picked my jacket. Like, that's so cool. You know, that, that, that connection there.

• 1:01:50Tim Ferriss?

  You, you have, I mean, this is part of the reason why I wanted to invite Sean and everyone who's, who's been here so far is that you have, you're, you're good at several, many different things. And I'm always curious about how things transfer. So for instance, music.

• 1:02:09Tim Ferriss?

  Could you tell us a little bit about the music? But, and then, uh, I'd like to hear if anything that you had learned through competing in sports or practicing sports translated to music.

• 1:02:24Speaker 02

  Music was a strange one, just because no one else in my family is musical in the slightest. You know, especially my sister.

• 1:02:33Speaker 02

  Cannot carry a tune to save herself. But, um, yeah, I don't know. It was just one of those things where I turned it into a competition, to be honest. I won a guitar at a snowboard contest and I was like, wow, well, what if I could just be at a party somewhere and play one song? And one song turned into like, okay, I'm now training to be a guitar player. And at that age, my world revolved around like, I'm gonna be the best at this. Like, I don't care, I'm gonna be the best at this.

• 1:03:01Speaker 02

  And, uh, you know, one other thing I do besides set goals for myself is I just like, pick these battles that just do not exist. There was like the sweetest kid at the skate park. He, he skated for Birdhouse and I just, I was like, I have to destroy this guy, like.

• 1:03:19Tim Ferriss?

  How old were you when he decided he needed to destroy?

• 1:03:22Speaker 02

  Oh, right when I knew he was on Birdhouse, I was like, he's gotta go. He's coming down. Like, I just built this in my mind and like, he was the sweetest, nicest kid ever. He was like tall, blonde kid. And I was just like, hell bent on destroying him. In my mind, I didn't want to hurt him or anything.

• 1:03:38Tim Ferriss?

  Just dethrode him?

• 1:03:39Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, like, he had my spot and I wanted it. I wanted to be hanging with Tony and doing the demos and stuff. And so, at the same time, I was learning guitar. There were two other kids in the neighborhood that were learning guitar and I was like, they gotta go. They gotta go. And so, I would sit on the plane and I would like, stretch my fingers, cause I couldn't reach all the frets. I was like, one day, these things are gonna, it's gonna pay off. And so, I'd stretch my hands out and, um, cause it's difficult to reach all the frets. And then, I was on the plane and I would take my guitar pick and I would, I couldn't upstroke at the time, and so, I would, I would play the side of my pant seam.

• 1:04:18Tim Ferriss?

  Your neighbor must have loved you.

• 1:04:19Speaker 02

  I'm serious. I, I would sit there and listen to music and I would strum, I would strum the side of my pant leg to the beat of the song and to the, to the rhythm of the music and, uh, you know, to get my wrist, you know, acquainted with that motion and, uh... That was serious, kids.

• 1:04:35Tim Ferriss?

  I hope we have video, that's gonna be a hell of an animated gif.

• 1:04:36Speaker 02

  So, yeah, so I remember like, the one day I show up and the one kid had been playing guitar. It was very unfair, I mean, he'd been playing for ten years or more, and I'm like, he's gotta go, you know? And so, the one day, I got my fulfilling moment where it was like a Metallica song, and he couldn't play the one riff, and I could, and it was just...

• 1:04:53Tim Ferriss?

  Do you remember the song?

• 1:04:54Speaker 02

  It was so sweet. Um, it was "Master of Puppets",

• 1:04:58Tim Ferriss?

  Ohhh.

• 1:04:59Speaker 02

  Pretty sure, yeah.

• 1:05:00Tim Ferriss?

  First metal album ever, huh?

• 1:05:01Speaker 02

  And, uh, yeah, so I picked these battles, and it's, it's...

• 1:05:04Tim Ferriss?

  "Master of Puppets" that's a hard song.

• 1:05:05Speaker 02

  It's very hard, yeah, I was, you know, I was just going for whatever, and at the time, you know, any kid that picks up a guitar, I guess my friends were all listening to Metallica, and it's very guitar riff-driven, so it was nice, I was always picking out the leads and things, and I didn't know any chords or why it made sense, I just learned from guitar tablature off the internet, you know, the numbers that represented the frets and which string, and I would just sit there for hours, like, okay, number two, all the way down to fret five, and I would like, hours and hours, stretching the fingers, and just getting ready. Uh, but yeah, it was fun, and then, and then, deep down, like, anybody that picks up a guitar is like, man, what would it be like to play on stage and to do this, and from

• 1:05:46Speaker 02

  that young age, I was like, very self-aware of that, like, I didn't want anybody to take a photo of me with a guitar, I didn't want to play for anybody, or let anybody in that world, because I wanted to just show up all of a sudden and be really incredible at it. So, that was kinda like how I do things, I'd rather like, go and train in private than show up and, oh yeah, whatever. Um, I do that with a lot of strange things, so that was kinda my way of like, you know, practicing, keeping it fun, and, and it, it's nice, you make these like, I don't know, it really got me to be good at guitar, I like, I had this competition, and I had these things going, and it, and it really helped me, um...

• 1:06:27Tim Ferriss?

  Is the performing different from competing in snowboarding? Obviously physically it's different, but is it emotionally, psychologically different for you?

• 1:06:35Speaker 02

  It's, it's, yeah, it's way different. I mean, the feeling is the same because it's like that instant gratification of like, do you need a big air? Do you hear the crowd?

• 1:06:43Tim Ferriss?

  You've played to some large crowds. I mean, this is, these are like high school graduations. I mean, these are big operations.

• 1:06:49Speaker 02

  We had some pretty amazing opportunities. I play lead guitar in a band called Bad Things. It's composed mostly friends of mine from the neighborhood I grew up in and some amazingly talented guys I met in LA. And, you know, we started making our own songs and we got offered some gigs and things. And there was one moment where we got invited to go to Lollapalooza. I was like, man, this is, this will be heavy. Uh, just wait. It was for the kids' stage. So I was like, I was like, you know what? It'll be more soap punk rock and we just go like play that kids' stage. And like, because I, I don't think I should be on the main stage. I'm, just because I'm in the group does not mean that we should be giving these scenarios.

• 1:07:33Speaker 02

  And so we show up and we, you know, we did our thing. We had a really great show for the kids. And, and then the most amazing thing happened. Um, it was like out of a movie. So the main act on the Grove stage at Lollapalooza decided they weren't going to play. They put a big sign out that said, "Our art will not be displayed here." And their fans completely demolished their gear and all this, all this, you know, craziness ensued. Um, and they, and they looked around, they're like, "We need a band to play the main stage." And I was like, "We're a band?" You know, like literally like, "We're a band." And then it was crazy. They're like, "You, come with us."

• 1:08:16Speaker 02

  And so there we were. I was like, "Oh my God, this is our moment." Like, "We gotta do this." And they're like, "Okay, you ready for this set?" And so, and so we played one of the most incredible sets we've ever had. You know, we, we rose to the occasion. We had this amazing set. Um, and, and just like anyone that picks up a guitar and dreams of being on stage, you dream of that, that moment you're walking off stage and everyone is cheering for one more song. And the best moment of that is I look at my buddies, I was just like, "Do we even have another song?" "We don't have another one." He's like, "Play the first one again," you know, "until we come back out there."

• 1:08:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, it was incredible. It was an incredible moment in time. And, um, yeah, so that got us a lot of credibility in that space, that we actually owned the moment and we played for people, they enjoyed it, and that got us a lot of credibility. So then we got offered to tour with Jared Leto's band, 30 Seconds to Mars, and, um, there we are in Romania for 10,000 people, you know? It was incredible, incredible, you know, to open up for them. And then we did a run through the US with a band called Phantogram. But yeah, it was, it was just great, you know, to be playing on stage, doing something different, and, um, and that excitement, and, and all I'll say is that you're out on stage with your friends.

• 1:09:39Speaker 02

  It's not all on my shoulders, you know? I can kind of like, you know, miss the pedal or something can happen and go wrong, and it's not the end of the world in that sense. The show goes on, you have, you have time to like make up for it.

• 1:09:53Speaker 02

  You know, obviously, I'm a perfectionist, so nothing can go wrong. I have to have it perfect. But it's just great to be out there with everyone, you know, really combined effort. It's not all, all up to me. If I play a perfect show, you know, the drummer probably didn't hear the mix in his set and it was a terrible show. So everyone has to come together to have an amazing performance. So that's, that's something different.

• 1:10:14Tim Ferriss?

  And you have some very exciting stuff coming up soon, and that is yet another sort of branch of Shaun White Enterprises. Can you explain for people what's coming up?

• 1:10:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, it's really incredible. Uh, it's an event that's called Aaron's Style. It's coming up here in Los Angeles, February 20th and 21st at the LA Coliseum Expo Park.

• 1:10:40Speaker 02

  It's a sports and music festival that started about 20 years ago in Austria. I was a competitor at the event, I then became the host of the event, and then some interesting circumstances led me to being the new owner of the event. And my dream was to take that passion from music and touring festivals, and obviously my knowledge and experience and love of snowboarding, and combine those two. So, down at the Coliseum, we built a 16-story Big Air Jump.

• 1:11:10Tim Ferriss?

  What is an air jump?

• 1:11:12Speaker 02

  A Big Air Jump is just like one big jump.

• 1:11:14Tim Ferriss?

  16 stories?

• 1:11:15Speaker 02

  16-story tall, yeah, it's massive. 16 stories.

• 1:11:18Tim Ferriss?

  Is it like a ski jump, one of these?

• 1:11:20Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's just like one big hit, and so basically, the world's best are coming to compete on it, and then you mix that with an amazing music lineup. We have J. Cole, Incubus, Heim, we have Action Bronson, even Cascade will be there, which is very exciting. And, yeah, ASAP Ferg, Rudimental, really amazing bands, All Time Low. And so the idea is that you have this mashup. I mean, obviously, my world of sports is so close to music that like, it's just nice to see everybody come together and experience these things. And it really represents the culture behind the sport. So we have art, and fashion, technology, all of these things that you would find at a festival.

• 1:12:04Speaker 02

  But the amazing part is that it's a tour, so this actually takes place in Beijing in December. We just had a stop in Austria in Innsbruck, so this is the final stop of the tour. So all of these snowboarders have been competing this whole entire time, and we crown the winner at this last event in Los Angeles, and we make this really cool championship ring. So, yeah, everybody's trying to win it.

• 1:12:26Tim Ferriss?

  I feel like I've never been in person to the X Games, I've never been to Coachella, this is my chance to just kind of do both at once.

• 1:12:32Speaker 02

  Exactly, that was the goal, you know? And it's cool, I mean, it's like, one of those things of like, why didn't this happen before, you know, combining the two? I mean, if you're watching a tennis match, wouldn't it be cool if halfway through, like, you know?

• 1:12:46Tim Ferriss?

  Ozzy Osbourne, bites a bat's head off and starts ripping it up.

• 1:12:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, all these chicks came out and rocked the show. I mean, it was really cool and it was an opportunity for me to do something brand new. And, um, you know, after the last Olympics, um, I didn't win and I was sitting there and normally you're kind of flooded with these, these offers of, hey, you could get some easy money by doing a deal with so and so or doing this and that. And, you know, I was getting offers, but it definitely wasn't like what you get when you win. And, uh, and it was, you know, in hindsight, it was, it was the perfect opportunity for me to sit down and go, what would I like to do? You know, and actually put my own money into it and, and build this thing that's, that's been my dream. And it's, it's really something to be seen. We did it last year. It was a total blowout. We had Kendrick Lamar play and, and, you know, it's really, my vision came together.

• 1:13:34Speaker 02

  It became real when my mom showed up. She was just like, what did you do? Like this thing's massive. It's 16 stories and, um.

• 1:13:43Tim Ferriss?

  Yeah, how do you get tickets?

• 1:13:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, uh, you can go to AaronStyle.com or you can go to FrontGateTickets.com. Um, and it's great. It's $75 to get you in the gate. And then, uh, what's really cool is kids under 10 get in for free. And the whole idea behind that was, you know, you can, you can come to the event, watch the professionals do their thing. And there's a whole learn to ride area for whoever wants to ride. But, you know, hopefully kids will try it out, fall in love with it, then go up to the mountains and it kind of refreshes the sport with the youth and, and all that. So, and that's how I got my start. I was introduced to it. So I can only hope that, you know, somebody comes to the event and becomes the next so and so because, you know, they got their start trying out somebody. But yeah, uh, hope you guys can make it if you're around.

• 1:14:26Tim Ferriss?

  Check it out, guys. So, uh, want to be, I know you have a bunch of commitments coming up too. So I'll ask just a couple more questions and then we'll, we'll wrap up. I'm sure we could talk for hours and hours and hours. We'll do a round two sometime, but, uh, when you think of the word successful, who's the first person that comes to mind?

• 1:14:45Speaker 02

  Successful? Um, I can only pick one person.

• 1:14:51Tim Ferriss?

  No, you can make multiple.

• 1:14:52Speaker 02

  Multiple persons.

• 1:14:55Speaker 02

  Donald.

• 1:14:59Speaker 02

  Duck.

• 1:15:02Speaker 02

  I was like, what's that man gonna say?

• 1:15:06Speaker 02

  Man, I don't really know. I guess top of my mind right now would be Andre Agassi. You know, he's got the kind of success that, you know, besides the money and the fame and the things, I mean, he's got a family. He's got people that care about him. If he was in a troublesome scenario, he could call somebody that would come help him out with that. You know, I mean, I measure it in that.

• 1:15:28Tim Ferriss?

  Who do you rely on to tell you when you're wrong or give you tough, tough love? That type of advice?

• 1:15:37Speaker 02

  Um, my brother, definitely.

• 1:15:39Tim Ferriss?

  Jesse?

• 1:15:40Speaker 02

  Jesse, my brother Jesse. Um, I wanted, we put out an album with the band and I wanted to thank him in the credits because he was, because he told me I couldn't do it. He's like, what are you gonna be, Kevin Bacon? What are you gonna, you know, and I was like, well, I'll show you, you know, and it was really helpful. It drove me to actually complete the album and things, but he'll give me the straight on everything. He'll, he'll come in and tell me what he really thinks.

• 1:16:06Tim Ferriss?

  How does he deliver that?

• 1:16:08Speaker 02

  It depends, you know, he's either like, he'll just make fun of me until I like, you know, or he'll, or he'll be very sincere about something and wanna give his input. But he, he was the one, um, always doing the new tricks. He introduced me to the sport. Um, you know, I was always wanting to do what my older brother was doing. So he's, he's the guy that's always been that one I go to.

• 1:16:31Tim Ferriss?

  So you mentioned new tricks. Uh, people always talk about coming up with good ideas in the shower. I've never had that experience. Maybe I just don't take enough showers, but when do you tend to come up with new tricks?

• 1:16:43Speaker 02

  Um, it really depends. Usually it's by mistake. You go in, you're like, okay, I'm gonna do the two flips and then I'm gonna come out and this is exactly where I'm gonna be. Wrong, completely wrong. And then you end up doing something new and then you can go, wow, well, that actually worked out, you know, I'm gonna actually build upon that. Now you got a brand new trick that no one's ever done before. Um, or I, I don't really dream about it or something like that. I had a friend call me once and told me about a trick that was a possibility and I completely disagreed, but it got me thinking about another scenario. You know what I mean? It always comes from something different, but that's, that's usually how it happens for me is by mistake or I'm just in the right mood and I wanna try something.

• 1:17:25Tim Ferriss?

  Is there any historical figure that you would have enjoyed meeting?

• 1:17:30Speaker 02

  Man, this is tough.

• 1:17:31Tim Ferriss?

  We can also come back to that or just hit pause on that one.

• 1:17:38Tim Ferriss?

  So if you could have, let's see, I'll go with the billboard again. So if you have a billboard and you put anything on it that is not an advertisement for anything, that's coming up immediately soon, what would you put on it?

• 1:17:53Speaker 02

  Sitting here trying to promote an event and I can't even put it on the billboard. Uh, no, I don't know, but put on the billboard, man, probably my dog.

• 1:18:03Tim Ferriss?

  Your dog?

• 1:18:04Speaker 02

  I'm like that guy that's like, "My dog's the best looking dog ever."

• 1:18:09Speaker 02

  You should check his Instagram account, it's really...

• 1:18:11Tim Ferriss?

  Does he have an Instagram?

• 1:18:12Speaker 02

  It's gaining popularity, uh, yeah.

• 1:18:15Tim Ferriss?

  Wait, what is your dog's Instagram?

• 1:18:16Speaker 02

  Mayor B. M-A-Y-O-R-B. It's pretty hilarious. My sister runs it. You're in for a treat if you check it out.

• 1:18:26Tim Ferriss?

  Got it. So this would be, the billboard would be for your dog's career?

• 1:18:29Speaker 02

  Yes, yeah, because he's, he's, yeah, he's got it going.

• 1:18:36Tim Ferriss?

  Is there any ask aside from checking out the, obviously the event?

• 1:18:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:18:42Tim Ferriss?

  Suggestions for people who are here listening to this, just something to take with them to ponder or to do?

• 1:18:50Speaker 02

  I don't know, I really kind of, I based, if, you know, this is just some advice from me, I guess, and it's, it's served me very well over the years, but, um, it's the simple lessons that you can look out for. I mean, like, when I wanted to learn a new trick that was really difficult, or I wanted to like, in the beginning of my career, like, I couldn't ride what's called switch. So the natural way I ride is left foot forward, it's called regular. And if I was right foot forward, it's, it's called goofy, but, so I'm regular. And when I put my right foot forward, that means I'm riding switch. It's my unnatural way of riding. It's like, if you're gonna hit a baseball and then you had to kind of go the opposite way that you would normally do it. And I couldn't do it, it was super hard.

• 1:19:33Speaker 02

  I made myself do it all day, every day, until it just became easy. It was a simple thing of like, man, this is, I'm just gonna do it until it becomes so easy that it's not hard anymore. And that really paid off for me in the long run. It's kinda like, if you can get past that boredom of like, wow, I'm not good at this, this is hard, I mean, I don't know if anybody's broken a hand before, but you'd be amazed how quickly you can learn how to use chopsticks with that other hand. I mean, it's by really just forcing yourself to do something that you're not good at until you're really good at it. I mean, that's a simple lesson. Um, you know, the simple thing of, you know, learning what not to do. People wanna know how I learned tricks. I'm like, man, I try them, and I try them, and I try them, until it becomes something

• 1:20:17Speaker 02

  that's so easy for me, when the world's watching, I can do it. You know, it's the simple, simple things I take. And then, uh, I guess just keeping your eyes open for, for what's next. I mean, a guitar fell into my lap. I was just, you know, I was, I was just aware enough to be like, wow, I should try to play this, I should try to become, you know, great at this. I, I, I pick all sorts of fun hobbies for myself, and, and definitely set goals, cause, set a fun one, though, too, so.

• 1:20:44Tim Ferriss?

  Can't be all serious all the time, you wear yourself out.

• 1:20:46Speaker 02

  All the time.

• 1:20:47Tim Ferriss?

  Where you get the big stuff done.

• 1:20:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:20:49Tim Ferriss?

  Shaun, where can people find you on social?

• 1:20:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 1:20:53Tim Ferriss?

  And so on, to find out more about what you're up to? And, and you can also mention where people can get the tickets for the event.

• 1:20:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, you can go to AaronStyle.com, and you can get tickets for the event. If you can't, uh, make it to the event, it's gonna be streaming live on Go90, it's Verizon's new app, uh, which is really cool, you can download it. And then you can not only check out the event coming up, but the past events, to see what the riders are doing, and where their rankings are at. Um, I'm Shaun White on Instagram.

• 1:21:19Tim Ferriss?

  Yes.

• 1:21:20Speaker 02

  Check it out.

• 1:21:20Tim Ferriss?

  Spelling for everybody.

• 1:21:22Speaker 02

  Uh, S-H-A-U-N-W-H-I-T-E. I have a same on Facebook, and, uh, I'm Shaun White Snap, if you wanna get down with the Snapchat. Um, what else? Yeah, check it out. I mean, it's, it's an amazing event, and I'm really proud of it, and it's something that, you know, really speaks to me, the sport, and, and what I'm all about, so, yeah, I hope you enjoy it.

• 1:21:46Tim Ferriss?

  Awesome. Well, Shaun White, everybody. Thank you so much for the time.

• 1:21:57Tim Ferriss?

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• 1:22:42Tim Ferriss?

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• 1:23:24Tim Ferriss?

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• 1:24:07Tim Ferriss?

  But I've been so impressed by Wealthfront that I've invested a significant amount of my own money, at least for me, in the team and the company itself. So I am an investor and hope to soon use it as a client. Now, back to the recommendation. As a Tim Ferriss Show listener, you'll get $15,000 managed for free if you decide to open an account. But just start with seeing the portfolio that they would suggest for you. Take two minutes, fill out their questionnaire at wealthfront.com/tim. It's fast, it's free, there's no downside that I can think of. This episode is brought to you by 99designs. When your business needs a logo, website, business card, thumbnail, or any other design, I recommend checking out 99designs. I use them myself, I've used them for many years. I use them to create book cover prototypes for The Four Hour Body, which went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller.

• 1:24:52Tim Ferriss?

  I've also used them for banner ads, illustrations, and much more. With 99designs, you get a variety of original designs from designers around the world. Give your feedback and then pick your favorite. Your happiness is guaranteed. So check out some of my competitions and designs and some of your competitions and designs from fellow Tim Ferriss Show listeners at 99designs.com/tim. And right now, you can get a free $99 upgrade on your first design. So check it out, 99designs.com/tim.

• 1:25:29Speaker 03

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• 1:25:34Speaker 02

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• 1:25:38Speaker 03

  Where you'll find an award-winning blog, tons of audio and video interview stories with people like Warren Buffett and Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, the books, plus much, much more. Follow Tim on Twitter, it's twitter.com/TFerriss.

• 1:25:51Speaker 02

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• 1:25:53Speaker 03

  Or on Facebook at facebook.com/TimFerriss. Until next time, thanks for listening.