The Ultimate Comeback W/ Alex Rodriguez

"I have a Ph. D. in failing, and a Master's in getting back up!" I know a lot of people right now are talking about the opportunity we have during this crisis... so I thought who better to bring on my show than someone who is an absolute legend when it comes to comebacks! This man needs no introduction, at just 18 he was drafted into the MLB to become a 12-time All-Star, winning 3 MVP awards, 10 Silver Slugger awards, and 2 Gold Glove awards. AND with 25 Grand Slams, he is the all-time record holder for the most career Grand Slams! Despite this man being one of the greatest baseball players of all time, he was also one of the most criticized sports figures in history! In this interview, A-Rod tells us how he used his negative experiences, his rejection and his setbacks to make one of the GREATEST comebacks of all time. When you think about LEGENDS, you typically think about their wins, accomplishments, and accolades.... you don’t think about all the times they failed in order to get where they are! Right now, you may feel you are in a time of failure. You may be experiencing a setback that you can't figure out how to overcome. But Alex and I are here to remind you that there is OPPORTUNITY in your struggle and give you ACTIONABLE tips to help develop the mindset and work ethic needed to capitalize on your pain RIGHT NOW. A-Rod gets real honest about his suspension from the MLB and how it evolved him not just as a player but as a man. He even shares what he would do if he were commissioner for a day of the MLB! We cover all things SUCCESS in family, love, and life. I truly feel blessed to share this conversation with you. The opportunity we have right now is an opportunity of a lifetime…. If you can give EVERYTHING to your DREAM, if you keep getting up to bat, and if you keep swinging, I promise that you WILL hit a homerun! This interview is POWERFUL.... words were said in this interview that has never been heard before about what it takes to be GREAT. We talk all things from what drove him growing up, success with family, dealing with criticism, advice for entrepreneurs, rejection, and what it takes to make a real COMEBACK! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

  I hear so many small business owners say the exact same thing. They just never have enough time in the day. Well, I measure time differently. I've compressed, condensed, heck, I've bent time. My first day is 6:00 a.m. to noon. My second day starts at noon and goes till 6:00 P.M. And my third day, 6:00 P.M. to midnight. I now get 21 days a week. Stack that up over a month, over a year, over five years, and my life's completely different than it would have been otherwise. And if you want to win as an entrepreneur, you have to compress your time, too. And you definitely can't afford to waste it. Waiting weeks on a big bank for capital? Your best bet's to work with my friends at Cardiff. They know how to compress time for entrepreneurs. They get your business approved in minutes and funded the very same day. They're America's favorite small business lender, and for good reason.

• 0:45Ed Mylett?

  Over 20 years in business, over $12 billion deployed to small business across America. Stop letting bank delays slow down your momentum. Head to cardiff.co/ed. That's cardiff.co/ed. Cardiff.co. Real growth, fast funding. Cardiff. Borrow better.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  On October 2nd.

• 1:06Speaker 01

  Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me.

• 1:11Speaker 02

  Tom Cruise is. Digger got us into this mess. And Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Revenant.

• 1:18Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stop, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 1:25Speaker 03

  I'm not the first nanny.

• 1:27Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:38Speaker 04

  This is The Ed Miliband Show.

• 1:46Ed Mylett?

  Okay, welcome back to Max Out, everybody. Very excited to bring my good friend here to share him with you all today. I think the timing's perfect because of some of the things going on in the world. He needs no introduction, but I'll give him one.

• 2:00Ed Mylett?

  For me, first, he's the greatest baseball player I've ever laid eyes on. And millions and millions of people would agree with that sentiment, but he's also an incredibly successful entrepreneur, broadcaster. But my favorite part about him is I've gotten to know him as a friend over the last many years is the type of family man he is. And that really is the thing I admire the most about him. And so I couldn't think of a better person to share with all of you during these times than my friend Alex Rodriguez. So Alex, thanks for being here today, brother.

• 2:28Speaker 05

  It's a pleasure to be here. We've been planning this for a while, but I think you're right. This is the perfect time to hopefully shed some good energy to all your great listeners.

• 2:38Ed Mylett?

  I think so, brother. So speaking of that, we won't talk all about just the timing we're in, but we, if you're listening to this at a different time or watching it, we're filming this during the coronavirus pandemic. And obviously that's created a lot of anxiety, fear, worry in people. Someone like you and Jen, millions of people look up to you guys. And I'm just curious, any advice you would have for people to cope and maybe even thrive during this time? Anything you've been doing or that you think other people should be doing?

• 3:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, I do. I think, look, this is a crisis. There's no way around it. And, you know, I feel for so many people that work so hard and do the right thing and mother and father their children. And they're just going through a difficult time and they really do not deserve that. But I'm always been, you know, a guy that tries to make lemonade out of lemons and turn a crisis into a positive. And I think with this given time, you have an opportunity of a lifetime to get yourself in better physical condition, to be able to read more, to be able to listen to podcasts,

• 3:52Speaker 05

  look at YouTube, double down on your set of skills, create content, tell your stories. And I do feel that when we come out of this, if you do the right things now and you plant the right seeds, you will be able to Come out better, more grateful, more frugal. I think we're going to think about consumer spending a little bit differently. And I think that if you take this opportunity, you'll be better when you get to the other side of the lake.

• 4:23Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I've been saying that too. Great advice. It's almost like you could really use this as preparation time, almost like a separator. You know, and when we do get launched back into the world at some point, there is going to be a separation for those that prepared mentally, physically, they grew themselves and those that sort of took the sweatpants Netflix every single day approach. And when we get out of here, there's going to be a separator because we're going to have to get it. You're probably going to have to be better, stronger, more capable than you were before just to get to the same place. Never mind Excel. So I'm with you a million percent on that. Want to talk a little bit about you and what you just said on that. Because when I got to know you, I was fascinated, man, with, I knew you were a successful entrepreneur,

• 5:04Ed Mylett?

  but the genesis of it sort of blew my mind, the way you grew up and then your entrance into entrepreneurship. Just share with them because I think there's a lot of people right now, Alex, that ironically, it might be in their 30s or 40s, but they're sort of where you were when you got into entrepreneurship, meaning you're playing baseball, you know, and they're in this other career, but right now they're going, I need to reevaluate. I can't just have this career, you know, this isn't going to get me to the promised land. So tell them a little bit about that with you.

• 5:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think, and like, like baseball, business is something that's kind of in my blood, is in my DNA. I love it, but I've always been process driven and, and my superpower hasn't been my incredible IQ because God knows I don't have a lot of that. But what I do have is I have, you know, world-class work ethic and I'm a black belt when it comes to resilience and grit and never giving up. I also love team and I love bonding and collaborating.

• 6:03Speaker 05

  And it's interesting, Magic was one of my favorite basketball players and he was great at feeding the ball. And I think that when you feed the basketball versus always shooting, like being a ball hog, I think that, you know, you serve yourself better as well. Because as you serve the world and you, you're so wonderful at this and you give back. I would be nothing at it if it wasn't for the Boys and Girls Club. If it wasn't for my mother who worked two jobs. If it wasn't for people that, you know, took a liking towards me when I was a young kid. I'm a scholarship kid and I realized that I had to do three things as a young man. I had to get good grades. I had to play good baseball.

• 6:46Speaker 05

  And I had to behave in a certain manner to maintain my scholarship. Or those parents would not pick me up and drop me off because they wouldn't want me around their kids. So I was always, you know, two strikes right behind the eight ball and I had to make sure that I, I kept myself ahead of the game. So that's what I love about business is I love it, I like to study it. I'm a lifelong student and I like to teach. And I love, love, love when people on my team, when they make their first million dollars, oh my God, it's like winning the World Series. To see others succeed is, is pretty awesome.

• 7:21Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, the thing about you that shocked me was because I think you're a confident person. You meet you, I think you go, he's a very confident man. The people that I know that are the most successful and happy have this, they eventually arrive to it. I don't know if you had this when you were in your twenties or not, but I didn't know you then, but, but they have this amazing combination. And I could name you lists of people that have been on my show or that are friends of yours and I's, of really high self-confidence combined with humility. And that humility of yours, everybody in Alex's case manifests itself in his preparation. This man doesn't show up to a meeting without a notepad, writing notes. I think that requires humility to want to be a student like you are. I kind of consider you sort of meticulous in that regard.

• 8:06Ed Mylett?

  Was that baseball and business? Talk a little bit about preparation for you. Because everyone right now, they've got an opportunity to be doing that. How important is preparation to your self-confidence and your performance?

• 8:17Speaker 05

  It's been one of the big kind of nuggets of, of my career to be, you know, it's funny, I played 25 years, Ed, 25 years of professional baseball. It's hard to believe. And I never played, I had over fifteen thousand at bats in the major leagues. And I never had one game that I did not do my pregame routine, not one, not one. And on those days that there was games sometimes we played extra innings, fifteen, sixteen innings. And the game ended at two thirty in the morning and we had a day game at one o'clock in the hot summer of Texas or something. And my routine wasn't, you know, thirty minutes, it may be thirty and a half minutes.

• 9:02Speaker 05

  It was condensed, it was concentrated, but I never, never would get, and that's incredible. That's one of the things that I'm most proud of. People say, oh, well, you know, six hundred and ninety-six home runs, RBIs, runs scored. To me, that little data point that I told you is what I'm most proud of because, again, I am process driven. I am obsessed with the process, doing things the right way, working on your fundamentals. And every day, there's a way that you can get your fundamentals a little bit better, you can get a little bit smarter. And today in 2020, there's so much access. I mean, you don't have to go to a library and drive down to downtown to go to the library building. Now you can just Google and YouTube and there's so much information that that's what I get, is I get my highs from.

• 9:46Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, brother. And the other thing that separated you and does to this day in business and can at everybody is most people, their work ethic or preparation level can be bought. So with a certain amount of success, they get a little loose. You know exactly, you played with guys like this, right? We know them in business, little bit of success, they get to a certain income level of its business. And there's, it gets bought for really big time players. I think their preparation and focus level increases the more successful they become. But I'm always fascinated because, I wasn't kidding, for me, you're the greatest baseball player that I've ever seen. And arguably, guys, and he'll just, he'll probably make me edit this out, but he could potentially go down as the greatest player at two positions, which no one else can claim, shortstop and third base.

• 10:30Ed Mylett?

  In the history of the sport, to potentially be the greatest shortstop or third baseman or both is just, it's unbelievable what you achieved. Especially if everybody knew where you came from, which we don't have time to get into today. What moved you more and does today? The fear of failing? Or the desire to succeed and win? Like really what moves you? I'm curious, like even to this day, or is it different from when you were twenty-five years old?

• 11:00Speaker 05

  I think what I'm scared about is going into something, any project, and not being prepared. I remember having nightmares that, you know, I would be playing in New York, a day game. Of course, my boss is George Steinbrenner, but I always had this like fear that I would oversleep and miss the game. And I've always wanted to be, look, if I went to a college, it certainly wouldn't have been Harvard or Yale, right? I'm kind of the middle of the school guy. But again, if you have the heart and you have a passion and you have the will, there is no limits of what we can do in this country.

• 11:44Speaker 05

  There are no limits, and I mean that. And, you know, if you're working nine to five, the guy that's working nine to nine, even though the nine to five may be higher IQ or anything like that, the nine to nine ultimate is going to have an advantage. And you compound that over days, weeks, years, decades. And, you know, the one thing I can tell you about Jennifer and I, we are either gonna, we are gonna win, or we're gonna die.

• 12:11Speaker 05

  But we're not gonna give up. And, you know, I played against people like that, and so have you, Ed. You'd just rather just go to the next person because that person that won't give up, you know, there's a Rocky Balboa and a Rambo-esque that is pretty admirable.

• 12:30Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, I learned that too, brother, from losing my dream. Obviously, I wasn't as talented as you, but you know that I wanted to play in the bigs too. And, you know, I don't know that I gave it everything I had when I was in college or when I first started to play. And I have a dream, and I share this so often with people, it's a nightmare. I'm 50 years old next year, and I've done pretty well in business and in life, but when you don't give everything to a dream, like, I think one of the things you're most proud of is, hey, man, I gave everything I had to that sport, right? I know through being with you and watching Jen, like, you just can't work. I mean, it's just unbelievable worker. And I didn't, everyone, I just want to share this with you as I ask Alex another question too, is I have nightmares at 50 years old. And when I give my talks to sports teams, I tell them, and the nightmares, and I have

• 13:12Ed Mylett?

  it regularly, we all have that nightmare we know we're in but we can't get out of. And mine is I can hear them announcing my name. "Starting in center field, number eight, Eddie Mylett."

• 13:25Ed Mylett?

  And I can't get in the stadium. I'm locked out. I've got my uniform on and I'm telling the security guard, let me in, let me in. They just called my name on the starting center. He goes, you can't get in, man. You can't get in. And it's me at 50 years old, 30 years later, wanting that dream and regretting so deeply that I didn't give everything I had. That it's to this day haunts me. And that's why I went and wanted business. I never again, if I fail, it's going to be going out with everything I've got. I'm never going to have that nightmare of knowing, of wondering the rest of my life, what could have been. I'm never going to have that. And it's something, obviously, in that sport, you have, you don't have to worry about. But I'm curious to ask you, brother. I watch you with the preparation part.

• 14:09Ed Mylett?

  How important have your mentors been? I mean, I see you with Warren Buffett. I see you with these other people. You've had access to some of the best of the best. But talk about that. I think everybody listening needs to find their mentor, even if it's virtual through a podcast or something like that. How about that element for you? How critical has that been?

• 14:26Speaker 05

  It's been vital in paramount in so many ways that because I'm someone that I never sit around saying, I can't do it because I came from a single mother, or I can't do it because I didn't graduate from college, or I can't do it because I was too busy playing baseball. I've always figured out a way. And I love playing chess. And in many ways, it's a microcosm of life. There's chess pieces and you have to be able to play them strategically. I'm a big, big believer in the long game. And if you believe in the long game and not the short game, mentors and allies are going to be a ginormous part of your business trajectory.

• 15:08Speaker 05

  And I think young people do not spend enough time building out their network, watering the plants, calling in. I mean, right now is a perfect time to look in your black book and reach out to 10 to 20 people daily on email, say hello, send good energy, thinking of you, sending positive energy. You're going to be great. If you need any, I've sent out probably 15.

• 15:35Speaker 05

  Emails a week to people that are not, let's just say, in my first team.

• 15:41Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:41Speaker 05

  Their second layers and secondary and tertiary kind of relationships. Is there anything I can do to be helpful? Just offering yourself and I think in times like these is where you have an opportunity as a friend, as a mentor, as a business associate to, uh, to spread a lot of goodwill and also, uh, help someone when they need you most. So mentorship has been a, a, a, a huge part of my life.

• 16:09Ed Mylett?

  And you pay it forward. Everyone, Alex just said something huge. I'm so, I'm so glad we're doing this, bro. Like, obviously, bless this time. If you're feeling helpless, get helpful, as he just said. You can't simultaneously feel helpless when you're being helpful to other people, reaching out, offering assistance. And the other thing everybody through a time like this is, you don't have to believe everything you think. Not every thought you have is true. We all have these thoughts running around in our heads. Take time to be intentional about your thinking. Don't buy everything you're saying to yourself. It's not all true. We all have a BS meter we give ourselves as well. And so, speaking of that, of thinking, I was thinking about you this morning. Baseball, your sport, is in a very interesting time right now.

• 16:54Ed Mylett?

  And obviously, you know, you're at the center of sport, especially now. And, you know, the season may look a little bit different, you know, the, the sport going forward. If I could make you commissioner for a day of the MLB, what would you do?

• 17:12Speaker 05

  Well, I, I think this is an interesting question and I'm so passionate about that. I hope I don't get myself in trouble. But I, I, I do think that, um, baseball has an opportunity of a lifetime.

• 17:26Speaker 05

  And we're obviously not going to play 162 games, which is the the regular season amount of games. Uh, we may play 55 or 60 games and we may do it in a condensed season. Um, you know, I remember growing up that my father, uh, he loved baseball. And he watched baseball and boxing. Those were the two sports. And my father, who passed away a handful of years ago, uh, there was no NBA, there was no NFL, so baseball was king. And that's why I love baseball so much because I just grew up with Phil Rizzuto and Ralph Kiner's Corner and all of that. And I think baseball has an opportunity this year

• 18:08Speaker 05

  to tell the traditionalists, I'm sorry, 2020 is not your year. The minute that we think about doing anything disruptive, they start screaming, not this year. 2020 is going to be a year for piloting, for piloting. And in many ways over the last two decades, baseball's had a little bit of a straight jacket. And the NBA and the NFL have flown by us. And they've, I think, flown by us because good is the enemy of great. We have an opportunity this year that any thought, any disruptive, naughty, radical thought that we've had about baseball, we should let it fly. One example, I mean, is there should be every game played this year, uh, there should have a handful of players from each team might. Give us that access, right?

• 18:53Speaker 05

  Open up the floodgates. 60 of the most valuable assets in our game today, we hide them. They're called 60 batting cages. Tell me what human being, whether you like baseball or not, you're not going to want to see Aaron Judge hit the ball every day at 4:30 before he gets ready for batting practice. And if we can put some technology behind that and actually see how hard and how fast that ball's coming off his bat called velo exit, it's an extraordinary opportunity. And I would watch on my phone every day. The kids are phones and iPads. So if Aaron Judge is in your box every day at four, four thirty, I think you get a massive audience for that.

• 19:36Speaker 05

  And really engage, I would put cameras, the umpires, I would put cameras on the bases, special sound effects. I would just let it fly this year. If you want to, I think you maybe go with twenty-seven, twenty-eight man roster. Make sure that if we do play these double headers, seven games, seven innings, seven innings, that we make sure that these young pitchers.

• 19:57Ed Mylett?

  Is that right, seven inning games?

• 19:59Speaker 05

  I mean, they're thinking about it, right? Because that's a good way to get two games in in one day. So you may want to expand the rosters a little bit. So anything that's disruptive, naughty, just let it fly. And I think what you'll find is that as much as you're being disruptive, you think, is going to be just right. And that's what NFL and that's what the NBA are doing. And I think it will be an awesome, awesome year. And I got to tell you, the reason why you do that is because you, we have to pay it back to the fans. And it's a little bit more complicated. MLB owners and the P A have to come to an agreement. But I would just say to all the lawyers, put your pens down this year.

• 20:39Speaker 05

  As fiduciaries of the game, the shareholders, which are the fans, let them access, like let them into the bedroom, let them into the living room. The batting cages are the biggest assets. We want to see them. Let the fans see the batting cages.

• 20:54Ed Mylett?

  Oh, man, I love those ideas. Also, just in this day and age in social media, allowing some of the players to be brands. Mike Trout shouldn't be able to go anywhere and people not know who he is. When I was a fan, people knew who A-Rod was, they knew Jeter, they knew Rocket Clemens, right? They knew all the stars of the game and the NBA and these other sports have this advantage. So I love that. I love those ideas. And I want to just stay on that topic for a minute because I was going to ask you this about entrepreneurs in general. I happen to think this type of economy is favors the small guy. Most, big economies, when they're booming. Big companies have an advantage. When it's small like this, they're not as nimble. So a lot of you entrepreneurs out there, maybe capital's tight, but you can innovate.

• 21:37Ed Mylett?

  You can, you can be disruptive, to use your terminology, right now as a smaller business person. Would some of that same conceptual advice be stuff you give to entrepreneurs in general? Like in this time, get a little disruptive, get innovative, or what are your thoughts on that?

• 21:53Speaker 05

  Well, there's no question about it. You and I talked last time, there's an opportunity that we're gonna look at together. You, you have to understand that, you know, you, being an entrepreneur is like being a good poker player. You have to be able to play good cards well and bad cards better.

• 22:10Ed Mylett?

  Whoa.

• 22:11Speaker 05

  And, and what I mean by that is, where's the opportunity today? Uh, the stock market has never been lower in the last 10 years. Uh, there's a lot of volatility, there's a lot of fear in the streets. Warren Buffett taught us, um, be greedy when others are fearful, uh, be fearful when others are greedy. So what that means in today's day and age is to be able to calm your mind down and get in your pocket. And there's more opportunities today than there were six months ago, six weeks ago, three weeks ago. And over the next six months, there's gonna be some epic opportunities. And there's always gonna be people that have wealthy and have liquidity, or wealthy and have liquidity.

• 22:52Speaker 05

  So if you're able to bridge the gap and say, okay, I know that Ed loves trophy properties. I know that he likes hotels, I know he likes entertainment. How about if, um, there's a great entertainment company that was trading for, you know, $10 million? And for whatever reason, I can get control of it for about three or four million dollars. I'm gonna call Ed and say, I just found a Delta of $6 million. You can buy this at 40 cents a dollar, would you be interested? Well, two things are gonna happen. Ed is gonna say, yes, thank you, I'm gonna kiss you, I'm gonna buy it. And you make a nice commission. Or B, you're gonna get some very valuable data that he's gonna say, no, I don't wanna buy it, but here's why. And the why is the most important thing, cuz now you're starting to build a relationship with Ed.

• 23:37Speaker 05

  By bringing him something, he respects you because, and thankfully you're bringing him something. But B, you're getting something in return of why not? And then that why not helps you go get what Ed really wants.

• 23:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 23:50Speaker 05

  That's how I would be thinking.

• 23:51Ed Mylett?

  Very, very good. I've talked to a lot of people. I've not heard that said that way, Alex. Really, really good stuff. I think sometimes people, a couple of things, and I want to ask you a family question, but I'm curious, a couple of reasons I think people don't move forward when they're, they have an idea like that is criticism, dealing with criticism. And I've never even asked you this personally, but since I've known who you were, and since we've been friends, you get your share of criticism in your life, right? And anytime you're climbing in life, you're going to get criticism, right? Some of the stuff we do, you and I both in our lives has been pretty self-imposed. Some of the stuff we've done is unfair. How have you dealt, or what advice would you give to people

• 24:34Ed Mylett?

  on dealing with criticism? And some of that could be within their own family. They're trying to do something great. They're trying to become an entrepreneur. You're crazy. It's not for our family, you know? What would you say about that? How do you deal with it? I'm curious.

• 24:47Speaker 05

  You know, this is the subject that I actually have a PhD in. Criticism and getting booed. So I'm like a world expert here. And I have a lot of experience. But you know what? I think the best way for me to communicate and articulate that to you is twofold. One, when I served the longest suspension in Major League Baseball history for PEDUs, I learned a lot of lessons. Now, that could have gone one or two ways. I was fortunate that I took that opportunity to take full accountability for my mistakes

• 25:26Speaker 05

  and then to turn the lens inward and do a lot of work on myself. And what I realized then was that I needed to mend, in a way, physically, mentally, and spiritually, because I had gone so hard with this battle with Major League Baseball. And what I realized was, Alex, pre-suspension and me, post-suspension were two different things. The pre-suspension was, I wanted to be like a gladiator. I felt that being a champion was more money, bigger contracts, home runs, blood, sweat and tears. And I thought that was like the winner.

• 26:11Speaker 05

  What I realized after, that being a champion was, you know,

• 26:17Speaker 05

  Being loving in at home with your family, uh, having others around you be champions. Uh, being the mentor, not the mentee. And what I realized was that the number one key in my life was bringing levity and humor and humility to my life. Is when people criticize you and you beat them to the punch and you have self deprecation. You don't take yourself so seriously. It sounds simple, Ed, but it is a very powerful thing. And I remember, uh, I would say before my suspension, well, Alex, you know, you had a tough game and you struck out three times.

• 26:59Speaker 05

  And I would say, yeah, but you know, my, my fourth time I hit the ball hard, you know? And, uh, you know, after I did my therapy and I realized, you know, I gave myself some time to mature as an adult. I mean, look, I was in the, in the major leagues just a few months after my, my high school prom. And, and, and I, I went on this incredible sprint. Uh, and, and at, at a very late age of 39, I served the suspension. So it was like, I got slapped hitting the head a little bit too late, right? But I made the best of it. And then post suspension, uh, if you came to me and said, Alex, you had a, a really tough game and you were over four. I would say, tough game, that was a brutal game.

• 27:44Speaker 05

  I struck out three times. I don't even know why, you know, coaches putting me in there, but tomorrow's another day and I'm going to come out and do the best I can. And, and it was so liberating to, to have a little fun and have some levity and self deprecation. And what I realized was I would wake up in the morning and uh, what's it called PSD? PTSD? That, that's how it was. And I would wake up and I'm like, oh man, the New York Post, they're going to blast me. And nothing in the paper. And I had a terrible game and I, what I realized is that, you know, our attitude determines altitude. And when we're comfortable in our own skin and we're able to have some levity and, and not take ourselves so seriously.

• 28:29Speaker 05

  People would also give you a break and that's, that's an important factor.

• 28:33Ed Mylett?

  Hundred and fifty shows. That's, I get almost, oh mostly, that's one of my favorite answers I've ever heard on anything ever. That affected me, because the thing is, I see you doing that too, you know? What a beautiful answer. Speaking of that, family, you brought it up. And I just want to say this to you, I haven't told you this privately either, but, you know, obviously, you and I both know a lot of people that are successful, and I admire success, but it doesn't, I don't know, it's, it's, it's par for the course in some case for me. And what I've observed about you and Jen both, it's a blended family that you're building together. I so admire the way you are with your family. Both you and Jen, from what I've observed.

• 29:17Ed Mylett?

  And one of the things, Alex, it's very ironic that I noticed about you, and I want to ask you about what you do to build strong family, because everybody, you have a huge life, Alex, right? Jen has a huge life. Most of the people listening, they're very busy people as well, with children, at school, and soccer games, and their normal life. And it's ironic, brother, I get to share this with you, because I've not told you this privately. I've noticed two men in my life that did something I didn't do well enough as a dad, you're one of them. And ironically, and has nothing to do with the fact that he was a dad, I don't think, the other one was Kobe Bryant. Both of you, the week before Kobe passed away, I was with them at a volleyball tournament. And I happened to watch him walk out of the arena

• 30:00Ed Mylett?

  that we were in, we were at the end, it was an eight to 10 p.m. tournament. There were three matches left in this big arena, and our daughters were playing, it's 10 p.m., so there's only about five dads left to survive the day, Kobe was one of them. And I watched him, for some reason, walk out with Gigi that day, his other daughters. For some reason, I did, from the other end of the arena, I'll never, I don't know why. And I watched how affectionate physically he was with his daughter, hugging her, kissing her. And I took note of it, Alex, like I went, I love Bella, but I don't know that I tell her, or hug her, or kiss her enough, like just be affectionate enough. And I'm not kidding you, bro, when he did that, I thought of you. Because of all the men I've known, I've watched you with both of your children, and you're so loving with them.

• 30:44Ed Mylett?

  And it looks to me like, almost intentionally so. It's not just, I love you, but you're hugging and kissing, and you're wonderful with these babies, man, these beautiful children of yours. Is that something you're sensitive, because the way you grew up? You know, talk about that a minute because I just so admire the way you built your family. And I wanted to just acknowledge you for that because there's nothing to do with baseball or money. Just as a dad, I've observed that.

• 31:09Speaker 05

  Yeah, and I gotta tell you, you know, um, thank you for that and thank you for noticing is the single most important thing in my life is my family and, and, and my faith. And I have a lot of faith in, in, in the good Lord. I have a lot of faith in, in my family. Um, but I gotta tell you that growing up without a father, I think, has inspired me uh, to be a present father and to uh, you know, raise now four great, great, great children that we're so fortunate to have. But you know, when you think about what is the ultimate championship? What does heaven look like for me? It was what we did last night. I, I, I finished my last card at 11:30 at night.

• 31:53Speaker 05

  Uh, I come to my bedroom and I just think it's Jennifer and I have five kids in our bed and Jennifer sits right in the middle and we were watching, what movie was that? Little Women. We were watching Little Women and uh, I was like, oh my gosh. Let me just take a quick shower and I'm just gonna jump in this party. And we sat there and we watched the movie for like the next hour and I was asking all type of, you know, dumb questions because I was trying to catch up. They were halfway through. They were all telling me to be quiet and I'm like, this is what real, real wealth looks like. Uh, this is what real happiness looks like. Uh, in the middle of this, you know, crisis

• 32:32Speaker 05

  to find uh, happiness with love and, and respect from your family, uh, there's, there's nothing like it.

• 32:40Ed Mylett?

  I'm so happy for you, bro. I really am. That's beautiful. I wanted people to hear that about you. So, um, and Jennifer, my observation too, just two people that are so loving with their children together, building such a beautiful family. So, congratulations. Okay, last question. Um, and then anything you want to tell us that you're up to that we need to know about too? But there's a lot of people watching this and they're hearing about the success you have in your family and the insights you've had through your humility and the self-deprecation and dealing with criticism and advice for entrepreneurs and, you know, advice for Major League Baseball. There's a lot there that we've kind of unpacked in a little quick window here. But when I think of you, the other thing I think of after your family life is a comeback.

• 33:25Ed Mylett?

  And in the last four or five years, in every way, shape, sense and form, you've come back. And I know you're still coming back. I know you don't feel like you're all the way there yet. You still have other things you want to accomplish and achieve. Some of them are some huge things. But there's a lot of people right now, because of what's going on, they're gonna need to make a comeback. There's gonna be a point here where they gotta come back as a family, they've gotta come back financially, emotionally, some of them physically. So what's the elements of a comeback? What advice would you give for millions of people who are listening to this? Several hundred thousand that'll watch it, that are saying, "I gotta, I gotta make a comeback." And Alex Rodriguez did a pretty good job of that. What would some of your advice be to them on how to do that?

• 34:09Speaker 05

  I think, you know, confidence is, is a really big thing. And that's why I'm such a, an advocate of, um, working on your set, working on yourself, working on your set of skills, uh, getting more educated. Um, you know, what, what made me a very good baseball player was I had great fundamentals. People thought about the home runs or that, but you mentioned about being a shortstop and a third baseman. Uh, I, I spend hours and hours physically and mentally, uh, always trying to hone my skills. Just like, you know, Bruce Lee honed his skills as, as a karate expert, or Roger Federer, uh, on the tennis court, or Jordan on the basketball court.

• 34:51Speaker 05

  I felt that if you look at the great, great players, great athletes in the history of the game, when you look at the great business people, they all have one thing in common. Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, you know, Barry Sternlicht, whoever these guys are, their fundamentals are off the charts. And while everyone looks at the big home runs and the big championships, the core of it is they're, they're smarter than you, but they usually have better fundamentals than you. And so I always go back to that. That is the core of anyone who's successful. You and I can, you know, someone sees, you know, you bought a house, I bought a nice house. But ultimately, if you take it all away... We have these fundamentals that are really strong and the stronger those fundamentals,

• 35:34Speaker 05

  the better you are. So that's number one. Then is self-awareness. You know, we're not going to be good at everything. Like my superpower is baseball. I understand that very good. I'm fairly good at business. But then you take me outside of that and then I'm going to have to call my counterpart Jennifer, who's really good at a lot of things.

• 35:52Ed Mylett?

  Bro, I've seen you dance. I don't recommend you do a lot of that.

• 35:54Speaker 05

  Exactly. And I've had some late night outfit changes that I don't want to recommend either. But, you know, if I go to technology, I go to two or four kids. I mean, our boy Max, he's a wizard and he can just fix any computer. Like, you know, it's just unbelievable. So I think that's really self-awareness. Again, I go back to humility, not taking yourself so seriously and to take small wins as big wins because small wins add up. I always say, don't think so big. Think about one step, one win. And one advice that I would give, and by the way, I'm not giving anyone advice. I'm just sharing ideas and nuggets

• 36:39Speaker 05

  that have worked for me and what hasn't worked for me. So I'm always very aware of not giving anyone advice because that's not, I'm not in a position to give anyone advice. But I like sharing some of the principles that I've learned over the years. I live and die by my list. I always have like, like a notebook, right? And I have like, my 10 things to do.

• 37:01Ed Mylett?

  Me too.

• 37:04Speaker 05

  By the end of the day, I literally, like, everyone wants to buy their computer. I have to write it down. And when I'm done and I have all my check, check, check, check, man, I feel so good, so good. And if there's one that I missed, then I just roll it over to the next day. And it's been great for me.

• 37:20Ed Mylett?

  I'm identical to you. I want to, it's funny, everyone, I'm going to just unpack two things he said there and then have Alex tell you where to find him now. Everybody, he said two things that are critical. I do the same thing. I have a written down to-do list that I cross them off. Why do I do that? I do that because it's an indication to me that I'm intentionally doing things not everybody's willing to do and I'm tricking my identity and my self-confidence into believing. If I consistently do things other people aren't willing to do, I'm going to get things other people aren't going to get. And self-confidence, everybody, is the process of keeping the promises you make to yourself. And so that list is an indicator, I kept that promise, I kept that promise, I kept that promise, and that transforms self-confidence. The other thing, when you see someone like Jennifer,

• 38:03Ed Mylett?

  Alex, or in a much smaller way, myself, that has had success, they stack small wins. Because those small wins create momentum, and momentum is a magnifier. I guarantee you, there's been a time in your life, or Jen's, or my, we're even sometimes go, how did I get here? You know, you wonder that. And one of the things is, momentum's a magnifier. You've seen that in baseball. Not every year, does the best MLB team win a World Series. It's the hottest pitching staff, or the hottest bats, right? Hockey, it's the hottest goaltender, right? So momentum can magnify average, ordinary people into doing great things. And I know that, at least in my case, I'm just average, but I've got momentum, I've built self-confidence,

• 38:46Ed Mylett?

  I've done so many of the things Alex talked about today, except you speak about it in such a far more in-depth and eloquent way. Brother, this, I knew we would do good today, I knew this would be awesome, but it exceeded my expectations big time.

• 38:58Speaker 05

  I want to tell you one thing, that I think is a point I wanted to share with you, because, you know, when people, you know, think about my career, and what I'm going to tell you is about how to handle what I think is the toughest thing for any entrepreneur, any human being is, how do you handle the word no, or rejection? And when people think about my career, they think about all the big wins, right? The home runs, 2,000 runs scored, 2,000 RBIs, and numbers are fabulous, but they forget to tell you that I'm fifth all-time, fifth all-time in the history of strikeouts. So that means, you know, I have a PhD in failing,

• 39:42Speaker 05

  but I also tell people I have a master's in getting back up. And... That type of failure at that level, at that degree, with an average fanbase of forty or fifty thousand people watching these strikeouts, that means there's only four people in the history of mankind that have struck out more than me. It brings me great pride to say that one of them is my good friend Reggie Jackson. So that's a really good thing. I'll never catch him there. But, but why I say that, Ed, is that you and I get told no more than the average person that'll be watching this because we take more chances.

• 40:24Speaker 05

  And what's interesting is the word no, a rejection can destroy our kids, can destroy the next generation, can destroy someone who may be fragile. To me, the word no is the greatest vitamin energizer that anyone can give me. It doesn't mean a damn thing to me. If someone says no to me, it's like, okay, work that much harder. It reminds me where I come from. It reminds me of being a Boys and Girls alum. So is Jennifer. It reminds me of a single mother who had two jobs. No is like the greatest, you're one step closer to yes to win to a championship. And I just want to remind people out there that nine out of ten entrepreneurs fail in their ideas with entrepreneurship.

• 41:10Speaker 05

  But it's those ones that get up, dust themselves up, get back to bat and say, this time, I'm gonna do it. And if you fail, get back up again. If you fail, get back up again. Trust me, fifth all time in the history of the game. I just keep getting back up.

• 41:24Ed Mylett?

  Wow.

• 41:25Speaker 05

  I encourage everyone to just believe in themselves and go for it.

• 41:28Ed Mylett?

  That's powerful, brother. The fact that, because that's what you see. You see three thousand hits and seven hundred jacks, basically. And you forget to get there, it took fifth all time in case. That's awesome stuff. Jeez, that's good. Not that they don't know where to get you, but if you wanted someone listening to this to go find you if they've been living under a rock somewhere, where should they go find more of you every single day?

• 41:53Speaker 05

  Well, you can go to Page Six every day and you'll find me there.

• 42:02Speaker 05

  Jen didn't think it was that funny. Anyways, I thought it was funny.

• 42:06Speaker 05

  You can find me at A-Rod on Instagram. You can try The Corp is my podcast. Barstool. Ed, I would love to have you one day. You'd be amazing. You have so much to offer and that's it. I'm out and about and I'm usually around my kids somewhere.

• 42:24Ed Mylett?

  Brother, I'm so grateful for today.

• 42:25Speaker 05

  I'm on TikTok now. Jennifer reminds me I'm on TikTok.

• 42:28Ed Mylett?

  Are you dancing on there?

• 42:30Speaker 05

  A-Rod13.

• 42:32Ed Mylett?

  A-Rod13. And if they go, is there, are there dance videos? Cause that's worth literally going this minute. Click off the podcast, guys. Go over there.

• 42:41Speaker 05

  Yes, but watch at your own risk.

• 42:44Ed Mylett?

  That's awesome. Thank you so much, brother. Hey, everybody. Speaking of that, I run the max out two-minute drill every day on Instagram. I want to engage with you. I give giveaways every day. We pick a winner every day. All you gotta do is make a comment or make a comment on people's comments or comment every day. We pick winners. Come see me speak, my book, one-on-one coaching for me, fly on the jet, whatever we do, we pick winners every week and give them cool stuff and I'd love to engage with you more. So God bless you, everybody. Alex, thanks so much, brother.

• 43:13Speaker 05

  You got it, man.

• 43:13Ed Mylett?

  Max out every week. Take care.