On Achieving Prolific Peak Performance & Optimizing Your Best Self With The Champions Blueprint

Success isn't an accident – it happens by design. Today on the show I am pleased to host Dr. Jeff Spencer – life coach to Olympic champions and entrepreneurs and architect of a methodology he calls The Champions Blueprint – the good doctor's well researched and proven “crystal ball” process to unlock your internal personal power and unleash — and more importantly sustain — prolific peak performance, not to mention your best self. Break out your Moleskins people, because you are going to want to take copious notes. Class is in session! Whether on the playing field or in the board room, we often marvel at those few who seem able to effortlessly achieve — and again sustain — incredible results. I'm talking about people like Michael Jordan. Michael Phelps. Oprah Winfrey. And Richard Branson. Freaks of nature, right? Once in a lifetime talents that deserve our reverence, but simply cannot be emulated, let alone replicated. We all want this right? And yet it seems so elusive. A struggle that can seem impossible for the average Joe to realize. Why? Well. according to Dr. Spencer, this is because we lack one simple thing — a proper roadmap. In other words, beyond sheer talent there's a distinct, consistent method behind the innate gifts of the heroes we are so quick to worship that leads inextricably to achievement and keeps them on top. A method that indeed can be identified and repeated in everyone's life. A method that can set you up for long-term success in not only the goal you seek, but more importantly the legacy that is your life. Born from the pain he experienced watching his genius artist father die homeless, his work unrecognized, Dr. Spencer began to ask himself: why did this happen, and how can I help others avoid this peril? Informed by his prolific athletic career as a member of the 1972 US Olympic Team in track cycling and buttressed by his copious experience mentoring world class athletes as a 9-time Tour De France team doctor (chiropractor), Jeff came to truly understand and appreciate that no person succeeds without proper mentors and a supportive team. Thus he began to identify patterns of predictable human behavior, and how certain predictable behaviors can indeed be harnessed to achieve previously unimaginable heights of achievement. In turn, this ultimately led him to identify the 7 steps of what would become the foundation of The Champions Blueprint protocol – a curriculum he has used to help many achieve unparalleled, sustained legacy-worthy success. Here are those steps, which we discuss at length in today's episode: * Legacy: Start with the End in Mind * Mindset: View the world through the lens of your Legacy * Base: Get the Team, Equipment, Financing and Tangibles in Place * Climb the Wall: 1. Patience 2. Grind | Reach Break Out Performance * Elevation: Shift your Break out Performance to your Daily Program * Adaptation: Can you deal with the pressure of performing at the top? * Ride the Wave: Leaving a Complete Legacy as an Example for Others I am very proud of this conversation. Surely, one of my favorite interviews to date, and an exchange that becomes quite emotional at times. An episode worthy of more than one listen. Thank you Jeff for showing up and demonstrating the courage to be vulnerable. Wallow in the wisdom people! Finally – enjoying the music cues on the show? Thanks my 18-year old son Tyler Piatt — not only did he produce and edit today's show, he wrote, arranged and performed all the music as well. Thanks Tyler! Enjoy! Rich Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

• 0:00Rich Roll?

  Eating well rarely falls apart because of one big failure. It's the daily question that wears you down. Like, what am I actually going to make tonight? What's in the fridge? And it's exactly why we built the Plant Power Meal Planner. It's a personalized, plant-based meal planning program that matches you with recipes based on your taste, your allergies, your cooking skills, and how much time you actually have. You build, through this program, a balanced, nutrient-dense plan for your entire household in a few minutes. Then it generates a grocery list for you with one click that plugs right into our delivery partners. All the recipes in the program are built by dietitians with culinary training. Plus, you get your own food coach to help you problem-solve along the way.

• 0:44Rich Roll?

  It's kind of an amazing thing. For listeners of the show, all you special people, we're offering an exclusive $20 off an annual subscription right now. To get it, go to meals.richroll.com, take your quick personalization quiz, and enter promo code RICHROLL20 at checkout.

• 1:04Rich Roll?

  Welcome to episode 57 of the Rich Roll Podcast with Dr. Jeff Spencer.

• 1:20Rich Roll?

  The Rich Roll Podcast.

• 1:24Rich Roll?

  Plant Power.

• 1:28Rich Roll?

  Hey, everybody. It's Rich Roll. Welcome to the Rich Roll Podcast. I just had an amazing week. I just got back from Karachi, Pakistan, where I went to speak. I was actually only in the city of Karachi for like 30 hours and was gone for like five days. It required a tremendous amount of travel, but it was really extraordinary to go to the Middle East for the first time and speak in front of a group of people about plant-based nutrition, which is a little bit of a mind bender, but also really awesome. And the crowd was receptive. And it's just amazing to see people coming from such a different place, sort of culturally responding to this message.

• 2:10Rich Roll?

  It makes me feel even more kind of emboldened and passionate about spreading this message wherever we go. The healthcare crisis that we experience in North America is not a nationalistic problem, it's a global problem. As I learned in Pakistan, they have similar issues with heart disease and diabetes and cancer that we have and are seeking for solutions in the same way that we are. So, I was very honored to have the opportunity to travel so far from my home to do it and it was quite extraordinary to be in Pakistan and to kind of see that city and that culture up close and firsthand. So, I wanted to thank YPO Pakistan for having me out. I'm going to be going back to the Middle East in December. I'm going to be going

• 2:55Rich Roll?

  and speaking in Bahrain and in Casablanca in Morocco. So, that's pretty cool. Next week, I'll be in Mexico at Rancho La Puerta. So, I'll be offline on the podcast, but then hopefully I'll have enough backlogged episodes to upload and keep you guys going. Today on the show, we have quite an extraordinary guest, Dr. Jeff Spencer. Jeff is a fascinating guy and this is a very intense interview, very, very intense, maybe one of the most intense conversations I've ever had in a really kind of touching, poignant and beautiful way. Jeff is an athlete and chiropractor by background and trade. He was a member of the 1972 Olympic team in

• 3:38Rich Roll?

  track cycling where he raced the individual sprint as well as the tandem on the velodrome, which he talks a little bit about, which is an event they no longer have, but very, very interesting. And then he kind of parlayed his experience as an athlete competing at the highest level into his education, learning more about what makes the body work, what makes the brain work. He became a chiropractor and toured with the, he toured, he was the team doctor for Lance Armstrong's team in nine Tour de France's. So, the podcast today really isn't so much about that, but more about kind of what he's learned about what makes champions.

• 4:20Rich Roll?

  Great and how he's sort of translated those tools into a program he calls the Champions Blueprint. And basically what it is, is it's a roadmap for achieving prolific performance and not just isolated exceptional performances, but sustained performance over time. So whether you're an athlete, you're an entrepreneur, you're a business person, you're a creative person, he has this sort of systemic approach to achieving and maximizing your potential. And we talk a little bit, we talk a lot actually, about what is entailed with that and kind of what he sees and has identified in people that are excelling at a very high level in

• 5:00Rich Roll?

  their chosen field. Very, very illuminating. Lot of great takeaways from this episode that you can incorporate into your life. And it was an honor to spend 90 minutes deep diving into this guy's psyche, seeing what makes him tick and the tools that he has, that he believes in, that he is making available to us today through this interview. So, thanks Jeff. Before we get into that, a couple notes about the podcast. You want to support the mission, what we're doing here, best way to do that is click on the Amazon banner ad at richroll.com. We also have one up for the UK listeners, an amazon.uk banner. If you're going to buy something on Amazon, click through that first, takes

• 5:44Rich Roll?

  you to Amazon, get whatever you're going to get. It won't cost you anything extra, but Amazon will kick us some affiliate loose change and that helps keep us going over here. Also, if you're interested in the plant-based lifestyle, we have a program called The Ultimate Guide to Plant-Based Nutrition. You can find it on mindbodygreen.com. Three and a half hours of video content, an online community, really proud of it. So check that out. We have some products at richroll.com. Just go to richroll.com, you can check those out. I'm not going to even get into that today for the long time listeners who are grumbling about the long intros. But you can also click the donate button, donate to the mission, to the podcast, but this show will always be free. Thank you to those who have donated, but.

• 6:30Rich Roll?

  You don't have to feel obligated, but it would be good that if you're enjoying the show, just tell a friend. Spread the word. The Plant Power Revolution is underway. Lots of questions about the T-shirts, the Plant Power T-shirts. We're getting the website configured and we should have those up for sale within the next two weeks and I'll keep you posted on that. But stay tuned. We just want to make sure everything's working so we don't have any problems with shipping and all of that. If you want to follow me online, you can find me on Twitter at @RichRoll. I'm also @RichRoll on Instagram. Without further ado, let's just get into today's interview. Let's let Jeff take the

• 7:15Rich Roll?

  spotlight as he deserves in this really sort of at times emotional interview, actually. And like I said, get your notepads out because you're going to want to write a lot of this stuff down. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce Dr. Jeff Spencer.

• 7:47Rich Roll?

  Hey Jeff, thanks for coming down.

• 7:48Speaker 01

  Rich, can't thank you enough for your trust.

• 7:51Rich Roll?

  It's good to have you here.

• 7:53Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 7:54Rich Roll?

  I became buddies with Lewis Howes and did his School of Greatness podcast and then he was on my podcast and he was like, you gotta meet Jeff. He's perfect for you. And I listened to the episode that he did with you and it was great.

• 8:07Speaker 01

  Well, thank you. You know, he's a great guy and shows great leadership. So we're in good company.

• 8:11Rich Roll?

  Yeah, good, good. And so you're no stranger to podcasting?

• 8:15Speaker 01

  Not even.

• 8:16Rich Roll?

  Have you done other podcasts besides Lewis?

• 8:20Speaker 01

  You know, it's such a great venue for being able to engage in conversation and to find out. What you don't know, what you need to know to show leadership and call people to a hard game. So I do as many as I can.

• 8:34Rich Roll?

  Yeah, good. I love it. I mean, it's really just, I don't know, I think there's like 250,000 podcasts out there. I'm sure there's a lot of nonsense and junk, but you know, really, it's, it allows you to basically access an incredible amount of information of people that sit down and talk at length about subject. And we live in this soundbite culture where everything, you watch TV, I mean, you don't learn anything because everything's so quick and in and out and political pundits yelling at each other. And you know, it's like, what is to be gained by that? And I feel, you know, I still, all the time, I come, I meet people who are like, well, how do I get a podcast? And I don't even know how to do that. And you know, it's still, it's such a wild west. And I think people

• 9:16Rich Roll?

  are still figuring it out. But I feel like there's so much potential for learning and knowledge expansion.

• 9:21Speaker 01

  I really agree. It's like, soundbites aren't real.

• 9:24Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  Podcasts are. And there's something about group dynamic and interaction that ferrets out new ways of looking at things that enable us to create new paradigms.

• 9:34Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 9:34Speaker 01

  And that's the value of it. You can't live in isolation. And 90% of what you think life is, isn't. And so why prepare for what it may not be? Let's find where the rubber meets the road. And that comes through interaction.

• 9:45Rich Roll?

  Yeah. I mean, if you sit down with someone and talk to them for an hour, hour and a half, you know, they're going to run out of their.

• 9:50Speaker 01

  Future.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Now, we've gotten to the conversation, finally.

• 9:55Rich Roll?

  Exactly. Yeah. So if we're here for three hours, and we had to, we had to, that's how long it takes to get to the good part, right?

• 10:03Speaker 01

  You know, whatever it takes, eventually, we're going to run out of business cards, so to speak. And we're going to have to face what it really is.

• 10:09Rich Roll?

  So you're, you're a fascinating guy, because I feel like you have, we have plenty of intersecting points in terms of interests. Like, I'm really interested in hearing your, your history as a cyclist and being a member of the 1972 Olympic team, right?

• 10:25Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 10:26Rich Roll?

  That's amazing.

• 10:26Speaker 01

  It is amazing, especially where I came from. Kind of the genesis of this whole thing is that I grew up in a neighborhood where I was kind of the odd kid out. You know, I didn't kind of fit into the older group or the younger group. And

• 10:37Rich Roll?

  Where, where, where?

• 10:38Speaker 01

  This was Pasadena, California.

• 10:40Rich Roll?

  Oh, you're, you're local.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, local guy. And yeah, so it was really interesting. I got asked to go for a ride with these guys that were five or six years older than myself. So I borrowed a bike. It was a 25 mile ride. And I kept up with them and then at the end of the ride, it's like, what do you guys? I don't get it. You guys are tired. What's the problem here? So I think that was sort of an initial.

• 10:58Rich Roll?

  From your very first ride.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, preview that there's something different about this. And then, so they joined a formal club, which I just followed. Then the club had a kind of a racing, internal racing component to it. And I showed great promise. And then I was able to connect with people that showed me how to develop the mindset and the tactical capacity as well as hone my physical capacity to be able to do what was necessary to make a berth on the Olympic team.

• 11:25Rich Roll?

  Wow. So, I mean, so we're talking late 1960s here.

• 11:31Speaker 01

  Yeah, I actually, I actually started in 1962.

• 11:35Rich Roll?

  Uh huh. And riding, I would imagine, like, what are the bikes like?

• 11:39Speaker 01

  Well, they had steel cranks and, you know, lead frames. You know, and, you know.

• 11:46Rich Roll?

  I mean, nobody was doing that in America.

• 11:48Speaker 01

  You know what, Rich, I actually got laughed at by my friends' parents. Oh, you're the guy that wears the tight shorts. Ha, ha, ha.

• 11:54Rich Roll?

  Was there even a place to buy the tight shorts? Like, I mean, it was just.

• 11:59Speaker 01

  There kind of was.

• 12:00Rich Roll?

  I'm just trying to imagine like how out and left feel like being a cyclist in America in the 60s must have been.

• 12:07Speaker 01

  Well, it really was. There was not certainly a cultural awareness, but yet the shaved legs and the tight pants were a topic of, you know, great interest and great ridicule.

• 12:18Rich Roll?

  I don't even think the swimmers were shaving their legs in 1962.

• 12:22Speaker 01

  Not even. I remember the first time I did it, thinking about, you know, the implications of it. And, you know, it didn't really bother me because what I knew at that age is that my sameness wasn't the criteria by which I was going to create a life based on. It was going to be my distinction and I was lucky to connect with something that I was passionate about and had people that cared enough about me to be able to participate in my evolution.

• 12:46Rich Roll?

  How do you, what do you attribute having that kind of awareness to, like, at such a young age?

• 12:52Speaker 01

  I think it's a gift I was given, but also my family. My parents divorced when I was 12. My dad was an artistic genius. He died homeless on the streets of New York City. So I had to be a survivor of sorts and so the antenna went up early. And as a result of that, I think people understood that I came from a different set of circumstances. And there were people that were willing to jump into my life and show mentorship to me, to be able to keep me make the right turn rather than the left turn. So.

• 13:21Rich Roll?

  Right. So your foot was it was it drugs or mental illness or what was going on with your dad?

• 13:26Speaker 01

  It's hard to say. I didn't really know him that well, but to say that oftentimes geniuses have difficulty engaging with the mundane trivialities of life. And certainly alcohol played a role in that, as I kind of recall from that. But, you know, that was a very dark period because of the responsibility that was thrown on to me at that very difficult age. But the silver lining was is that I had mentors. I had mentors in sport, in business, on stage and in life that were champions in their own right. And they shared with me the secrets they used to get to the top of their game that became the founding principles that kind of guided my early life.

• 14:04Rich Roll?

  Right. And we're going to get into all of that, but I'm still stuck on I'm still stuck on you as a kid being a cyclist.

• 14:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, me too. Well, you know, so kind of how it went was is that I was just the one kid that showed up. And I did what people suggested that I do do and.

• 14:20Rich Roll?

  How did it? How did you find your way to the track though, as opposed to becoming a road cyclist or pursuing the Tour de France?

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Well, the Insigne Velodrome, which is where the 1968 Olympic trials were held, was about a half hour from my house and it was a racing venue that also had a training side to it. So when I showed promise on the road, even at that young age, naturally a track bike was soon to follow that I did get and I showed promise there. So I don't know how I hitched the ride to the local track and kind of picked up where I left off on my first road ride where I showed amazing promise at a very inexperienced level. And again, people took an interest. They knew my story and that's how I got started.

• 15:01Rich Roll?

  Yeah, cool. And so how long was it before? So how many years are we talking before you end up at Olympic trials?

• 15:08Speaker 01

  Well, I rode my first competition in 1963. My first national championship was in 1964 in New York as an intermediate. And then there was

• 15:22Rich Roll?

  And when you go to like the national championships, are, I mean, how many people are there at this time? Like, how, were there pockets of intense activity around this sport around the country?

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Yes. Yes, there were. That was in New York, actually. So there was a, that was a real epicenter in a real hub of cycling innovation and community there. So, again, I'd never been really exposed to that, you know, magnitude or politics of sport. So that was a fast jump off, the high dive, right into the middle, like, of that. And I felt really at home with that because it, again, called me to a higher game.

• 15:57Rich Roll?

  Right. And this is also like your, this becomes sort of your surrogate family.

• 16:01Speaker 01

  It did. You know, there's no question about that. And so I did well there and I had my first brush with politics. I mean, I won every event in the national championship, but I got the silver medal because I got disqualified unjustly because the head judges disqualified me. And just ironically, his nephew won the national championship. So I had my first exposure to the politics of sport.

• 16:27Rich Roll?

  Hold on a second. Are you saying there's politics in cycling?

• 16:30Speaker 01

  I mean, I really hate to say that, Rich. I hate to sort of break the illusion.

• 16:34Rich Roll?

  I've never heard that before.

• 16:35Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know. It's shocking. I know that. But, you know, I have to kind of break it to you softly that, in fact, this is true.

• 16:41Rich Roll?

  So this great history of political maneuvering in cycling goes back at least in 1968?

• 16:47Speaker 01

  It was 64 when that, that went down. But, so here's the irony. Is it like in 1972, when I made the Olympic team, I actually won the Olympic trials?

• 17:01Speaker 01

  The guy that disqualified, he came up to me and said, man, am I glad that you made the Olympic team. And I kind of felt like he was really saying to me, you know, you and I both know what happened.

• 17:10Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 17:10Speaker 01

  We both know why you got the silver medal. And I just want to say to you in the best words possible that I'm glad that this has been reconciled and I'm very happy for you.

• 17:19Rich Roll?

  Right. Without explicitly saying, I'm sorry, taking responsibility for it.

• 17:24Speaker 01

  We both gave each other a wink, you know, to say, yes, we both understand.

• 17:28Rich Roll?

  What happened to his nephew?

• 17:30Speaker 01

  I'd never heard from him again after he won the national championship. I can't even remember his name.

• 17:34Rich Roll?

  Ah, interesting.

• 17:35Speaker 01

  Dipped into obscurity.

• 17:36Rich Roll?

  So, so you make the Olympic team in 72. Where were Olympic trials that year?

• 17:42Speaker 01

  That was in San Jose.

• 17:43Rich Roll?

  Uh huh. And you, so you're doing in two events, right? You did tandem, which I want to talk about.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:49Rich Roll?

  What was the, was the other one match sprint?

• 17:50Speaker 01

  Individual sprint, correct.

• 17:51Rich Roll?

  Individual sprint, okay.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 17:53Rich Roll?

  So, so the tandem racing is a trip.

• 17:57Speaker 01

  You know, I started to break.

• 17:59Rich Roll?

  That's kind of been the most dangerous thing.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  You know, I'm starting to break out in the sweat and goosebumps just talking about it. I mean, to kind of give you a visual picture of this, it's like you're traveling, you know, the equivalent of two football fields in like eight seconds. That's how fast you're going. And when you stick that in a bowl that's banked, you know, 24, 35 degrees, the G loads are unbelievable. And you can actually hear the fatiguing of the frame. You can actually hear the metal fatigue and you can almost feel like.

• 18:23Rich Roll?

  Right. Like the whole bike is just going to split.

• 18:25Speaker 01

  It is. It's like screaming, like, you know, you're thinking to yourself, please stay together because sliding on, you know, asphalt or a board track for 200 feet isn't my idea of fun. And you think, because you can almost hear the spokes wanting to pull out from the rim, in the creaks and the groans. I mean, it's almost like the Titanic breaking apart and it's descent to the bottom of the floor. And it's, it's hair raising because you cannot hold anything back, obviously. You've got to find a way to transcend the fear of the potential of what could happen. And when you drove it like I did, you're responsible for the passenger in the back. And so you've got to have immense commitment.

• 19:07Speaker 01

  To an unknown without any reservation. It is terrifying.

• 19:10Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 19:11Speaker 01

  It's terrifying.

• 19:11Rich Roll?

  Did you ever crash?

• 19:12Speaker 01

  Not on the tandem thankfully. We did actually, it was, I was in Munich of all things, we had a back blowout, full speed and what happens, the weight of the bike is so much because it's two people that it wants to throw the back end around in front of you. So as I felt it, you know, back in in front of me, I made an immediate left turn to go to the infield, hoping that there wasn't other, you know, a training line below me in the pole.

• 19:35Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 19:36Speaker 01

  Because it would have been a direct, you know, T-bone event that would have been catastrophic to everyone involved.

• 19:42Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I mean, how often were people wrecking in training rides or in racing doing that?

• 19:48Speaker 01

  You know, the flat tires are the ones you gotta look out for because the bike's got momentum and you got it, you run high pressure on the tires. So that you get the least resistance possible. So there's always that risk.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  The crash, obviously, in sprint cycling can be high because sometimes you have to under your opponent if you're at a disadvantage and the risk is that is that you guys collide and you fall. So again, there's always a fresh reminder based on the scars on the knees of, you know, where you recently been and where you can go.

• 20:16Rich Roll?

  Right. And they ultimately outlawed this, right? Well, how long, how long after that did it become?

• 20:23Speaker 01

  Well, the tandem actually got replaced in the Olympics by other events. So it didn't get outlawed. It just got replaced through a facelift.

• 20:32Rich Roll?

  I see.

• 20:33Speaker 01

  The competitions itself.

• 20:34Rich Roll?

  Right. So you, so you make the Olympic team in the tandem and in the individual sprint.

• 20:40Speaker 01

  Right.

• 20:41Rich Roll?

  And you go off to Munich.

• 20:42Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 20:43Rich Roll?

  And that must have been, I mean, you know, we all know the kind of stories and things that were going on in Munich and I come from a swimming background. So, you know, I know everything about what happened swimming wise. That was Spitz's, you know, his big show.

• 20:58Rich Roll?

  But what was it like to kind of, you know, when you see the movie Munich, I mean, is that, you know, what was it like to actually be there and experience that?

• 21:05Speaker 01

  Well, two things for me is that number one, the only reason I was able to go to the Olympics was because of good mentorship. So I owe everything to my mentors that helped me equipment wise and tactically and developing a body and a mind to be able to perform at that level. And also to the American public through their contributions that enabled the financing of the team to be able to make that happen because they can never could have done it on my own because of my family. So once you get to the Olympics, when we went to Washington DC to put away all our clothing and get new clothing, that was an amazing thing because that's the first time in history that I'd have ever not had to worry about food. I knew for at least a month I was going to be taken care of without ever having to give any consideration to where's food going to come from, where are we going to sleep? So that was just a different experience

• 21:49Speaker 01

  for me. To get to the Olympics, to realize that you're competing at the highest level with the best of the best is obviously a great honor. And to see what other people did and to get a breadth of, again, having the opportunity to experience what your body's capable of at the highest level, it's like an amazing thing that I would hope everybody could experience because I had the opportunity to be able to explore that. And I took myself to my ultimate superhuman, super, you know, physical capacity. And it was an experience that I'll never forget because it gave me an inkling of what we are really capable of under the right circumstances. The event themselves was its own drama. I was 21 at

• 22:34Speaker 01

  the time, so I hadn't really reached my tactical or my physical peak, but I did enough to get through a couple of rounds to tell me that there was something there. And I was very proud of that and knew that there was room to grow. Of course, the black spot of that was after the competition was over, one morning I went out, it was 7:30 AM and I could see my breath. And I noticed that there was a little crowd gathering in the Olympic Village, maybe 200 feet from me. So I walked over and I said, what's up? And one of the persons that I was with took his finger and he pointed up towards the second or third story of one of the apartment buildings, which was the Olympic Village. And I saw

• 23:16Speaker 01

  that there was some man up there with a ski mask over his face. And I realized that this was a terrorist event. And I also...

• 23:30Speaker 01

  Learned that there are two people that laid dead in the apartment building that got shot at 4:30 a.m. that morning that were laying dead inside the apartment building that I was looking at from a distance, a very close distance by the way. And to try to wrap my reins around it was very difficult. But as the sharpshooters appeared on tops of the buildings in their sweatsuits with their military weapons and helicopters started showing up and the rumblings below in the parking lot that was under the Olympic Village, I realized the armored vehicles were starting to show up and that this is for real. And I wasn't prepared for this. I'd seen it on TV, but I wasn't prepared for the reality of what this meant.

• 24:12Rich Roll?

  And what, and so how did the kind of US team respond? I mean, were you immediately told to return to your dorm or how did it impact kind of the rest of your experience being there?

• 24:23Speaker 01

  I felt that later in the day, we weren't given any instruction, but I realized that to be there and my event was over would not add anything to what needed to take place. So we left the Olympic Village with permission and myself and a couple of other teammates and a couple of people, one of the teammates I was on the Olympics with, his mother was from Munich, so that she had a vehicle that was able to arrange safe transportation for us to a safe location while this drama played itself out, which it did. And of course, we watched this very closely with great interest because we knew that we had nine brothers that were being held hostage.

• 25:08Speaker 01

  And when family members are held hostage, pay attention. And the outcome of this was is that we heard that they had been taken to the airport.

• 25:23Speaker 01

  To be taken somewhere by the terrorists and that they were loaded into a helicopter.

• 25:28Rich Roll?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:31Speaker 01

  And it was a very tense time because you've got terrorists trying to figure out how do we get out of this and you've got the people in charge trying to figure out how do we contain this and how do we eliminate it as quickly as possible. So one of the terrorists got nervous. He pulled a pin on a hand grenade and dropped it on the floor of the helicopter.

• 25:53Rich Roll?

  Mm hmm.

• 25:56Speaker 01

  Within one second, the helicopter is blown to bits. Nine family members had lost their lives. The athletes are there to compete. They don't care about politics. The family that celebrates the athletes being there, that mother will never hold that son and feel that heartbeat again. The dad will never walk that kid down the aisle or see him graduate from college. And, you know, that's the carnage that the insanity of a changing world brings to the capacity of sport to be a stage to show the best and the worth of humanity. So

• 26:35Speaker 01

  I got a glimpse of the worst of it. But Rich, there's, there's a silver lining here to some degree is that when I went back to the Olympic Village, wandering around, trying to wrap my brains around the insanity of what had just happened, to realize that in an instant, nine people were gone. A legacy and a history of the sport was being redefined.

• 27:00Speaker 01

  I needed some relief. And so there was an Olympic theater, there was a theater in the Olympic Village. So I said, man, I need, I need a break here, man. I gotta sit down. So I went into the theater and in the theater, it was full of standing room only athletes with their Olympic sweatsuits, all different colors. You see the big, you know, Russian weightlifters, the CC CP with the red hammer and sickle. You see the Kenyans with the green tracksuit with Kenyan yellow. It was like everybody there and.

• 27:33Speaker 01

  Everybody was simultaneously laughing their heads off. And experiencing a moment of intense joy and fellowship that transcended language. And I looked up on the screen and the movie was Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece, Modern Times. It was a silent movie. And I realized that the life experience transcends words and here we are, we were having a moment where everybody was part of the same fraternity, performing at the highest level and speaking the same language without a word being spoken. So it was really a moment of seeing what human nature and humanity is capable of at

• 28:14Speaker 01

  the same time, the insanity on the other side of the spectrum of what's also possible. So.

• 28:21Rich Roll?

  Yeah, it's crazy. It is this really strange surreal mashup of sport and politics and tragedy and celebration. And the Olympics being the one sort of global institution that is supposed to transcend politics, which emphasizes the severe tragedy of events when the intersection of politics derails something like that.

• 28:49Speaker 01

  You know, to me, it's like the athletes invested 100% of every ounce of substance and belief that they had in gaining a berth to the Olympics. And all they wanted to do is to test the merits of themselves against the best of others. And never once an athlete protested anything. It was always the officials, it was always something outside of themselves that brought a sour taste to this immense opportunity. And to me, that's, again, part of the tragedy, as you said, but it's also a silver lining of the potential that athletes have by every word they say and every action they do to call people to a hard game, to transcend those things that keep us stuck and prevent

• 29:34Speaker 01

  us from writing. A history of humanity that has value and merit.

• 29:39Rich Roll?

  I have a very good friend who made the 1980 Olympic team swimming and that of course was the team that did not go due to the boycott and it's, you know, it's a different kind of tragedy with a different color and tenor to it, but to hear him talk about kind of going to the White House to meet Jimmy Carter when they're not going, you know, this sort of this weird, you know, and getting a picture taken with him that says, you know, thank you very much.

• 30:06Speaker 01

  Yeah, thanks.

• 30:07Rich Roll?

  You know, and again, that kind of dark intersection of politics with sport and who knows what might have happened had they gone, you know, maybe it would have been another Munich or maybe it would have gone on without a hitch and it sort of, you know, begs the question of what's going on with Putin and Russia now and we don't have to get into all of that, but, but, you know, it was very beautifully said what you said.

• 30:31Speaker 01

  Well, thank you and again, all of us that are involved in sport, we need to be mindful that everything we say and everything that we do conveys something that people are listening to and observing and they're taking their cues from and how they make decisions and what contribution they make and I feel very strongly that all of us as athletes have an obligation to bring out the best in us, to be able to call, again, people to a higher game that represents the best that humanity has to offer, especially in a world that's rapidly, dramatically changing that needs leadership, courage and hope.

• 31:05Rich Roll?

  Right, and it's the one thing that that remains or should remain absolutely pure. It doesn't always.

• 31:12Speaker 01

  And we can learn from that as well. Yes, as I would know, you're right.

• 31:16Rich Roll?

  So in the, in the wake of this experience, is that the sort of end of your cycling career or do you continue on, are you thinking about becoming a, I mean, now it's very common for, for people to make the transition from track to road, I mean, was that part of your equation then?

• 31:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, there was a time after the Olympics where it's like, because I'm kind of a renaissance mentality, you know, I liked school and I needed to pursue my studies because I liked it, I was, you know, interested in that and I was interested in other things as well and. So after I was done with the Olympics, I competed the next year, full speed ahead. But I but I knew that I was starting to lose my 1% advantage, only because I was interested in other things. And I knew that 1% at that level is the difference between gold medal and why don't you stay home and watch it on television? Don't even bother making the trip. So I did go to the road and I did win actually a 95 mile road race once. It sucked enough, we only get to the finish. Didn't make a lot of friends in the process. But

• 32:17Speaker 01

  yeah, I did okay. But again, I just felt that I had kind of outlived my shelf life in terms of competing at that level. And I knew that I hadn't really given myself a chance because I could have been there for another eight years at least to develop my physical abilities, which I never gave myself a chance. But I didn't try to resist the obvious, you know, change in direction that had happened. So I continued to compete for another couple of years selectively on the road. And I still continued to ride every day and put my intervals in every other day. And I feel right now, I do have glimpses of my former self every once in a while on the bike. And when I have those days, then I apply them appropriately.

• 32:57Rich Roll?

  Yeah. I mean, I think the other thing, too, is to understand that cycling was very different. But this is pre Lance Armstrong and there weren't huge million dollar contracts being thrown around for, you know, the Tour de France. I mean, was anybody watching the Tour de France or paying attention in America to what was going on with that?

• 33:14Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, they kind of were, but they were only getting it through publications, you know, maybe six or 12 months later, when they finally found their way to the United States. So we were sort of living outdated already. And I think there was obviously a European mystique because of the tour, even though nobody had seen it, never been on television. I certainly was part of the culture that was intrigued by that. I can still remember the names today of the people that raced it. But to only say that it was very naive, when I was in the Olympics, the question of, you know, drugs wasn't even an option. It was never considered, it was never discussed, it was never an option. Though certainly when I came up against the silver medalist and the world championship the year before, I mean, it looked like from the waist down, half rhinoceros. And, you

• 33:56Speaker 01

  know, the waist up, you know, Woody Allen. I mean, there was obviously something different that was hard to imagine, even though I wasn't quite sure what that is. But that was a first exposure that there's another level than in, you know, in time, the revelations of what all that was have kind of percolated to the surface.

• 34:14Rich Roll?

  But I think in, you know, the notion that, it disabused me if this is incorrect, but the idea that was sort of placed in my head was that traditionally cycling in Europe, the European cyclists, you know, predating Lance Armstrong, going back historically, it was really kind of a blue collar thing. These were the sons of, you know, chimney sweepers and people like that that didn't have the ability to go to college. And it was very much a working man's kind of profession. There was, there was no huge prize money or anything like that.

• 34:44Speaker 01

  Right.

• 34:44Rich Roll?

  There was this sort of inherent glory of doing something like the Tour de France, but it was very much a blue collar thing.

• 34:50Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. And I would say that was the same thing when I was competing because anybody that's turned a pedal seriously realizes that the difference between those that can do and those that can't and don't, it's what level of pain you want to expose yourself to.

• 35:04Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 35:05Speaker 01

  And so I think we all know that on a bike, you can really push yourself to the limit because of the momentum of the bike, where ultimately it's, it's up to you. And can you move into the pain zone and how long can you keep it there? So if you're a guy that's kind of playing it by percentages, then you're not a good candidate really for the sport. So it has its kind of natural selection through that.

• 35:27Rich Roll?

  Sure. I mean, there's a few people making a good living, but really the vast majority of professional cyclists are barely making enough money to survive and they're doing it for the love.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  It's a tough way to do it, man. Anybody that's raised the bike competitively.

• 35:40Rich Roll?

  That is a hard life.

• 35:42Speaker 01

  It's like 3% of the time you're going to feel good, the other 97% you're really going to suffer.

• 35:46Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 35:46Speaker 01

  You know, it's like, man.

• 35:47Rich Roll?

  And you hear these stories of the guys who go to Belgium, it's freezing, freezing, pouring rain races, and they're not making any money. And it's just like, oh, it sounds horrible.

• 35:56Speaker 01

  It's, it's, it's a tough way to live. So as you said, which I'm actually discovering, a friend of mine gave me a book of the Tour de France history. And as much as I've been sort of in proximity to that, I never really knew much about it. Yet I see that, yeah, these were tough people that found ways of getting stuff done. And it was a rough neighborhood. And you had to step into the challenges and certainly.

• 36:21Speaker 01

  The organization of the event itself was designed to make it impossible. And to make as few people finish.

• 36:29Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 36:29Speaker 01

  To create the best story that could be printed in media.

• 36:33Rich Roll?

  It was created to sell newspapers, right?

• 36:35Speaker 01

  That's exactly right.

• 36:36Rich Roll?

  Wasn't it conceived by a newspaper?

• 36:38Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 36:38Rich Roll?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:39Speaker 01

  It was. And I didn't know that until I read a book. I mean, I didn't know all the details until I read a book here recently that a friend gave to me. But that's, that's it. And, you know, he was disgusted when, you know, 20% of the field finished. He thought he didn't do a good enough job.

• 36:50Rich Roll?

  Didn't make it hard enough.

• 36:51Speaker 01

  He didn't make it hard enough. He was really disappointed, you know?

• 36:53Rich Roll?

  Yeah, the original idea was to make it so hard that like only one guy could actually do it.

• 36:57Speaker 01

  That's exactly right.

• 36:58Rich Roll?

  You know, make this amazing story and we'll sell bazillion papers.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  That's exactly right.

• 37:02Rich Roll?

  So. It's so funny. Yeah, now it's just a tactical, right? And it's like the idea of not finishing, you know? It's, it's, the evolution is amazing. All right, so you, ultimately, you end up going on to college and becoming a professional.

• 37:23Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 37:23Rich Roll?

  And you find yourself in, as a chiropractor. I skipped about a million years there.

• 37:28Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's okay. Well, that's kind of, yeah, yeah. The millionaire gap, million year gap. Well, yeah, when I graduated from school, I actually went to the Olympics between my sophomore and junior year at USC, where I was there on an educational opportunity scholarship, where I was studying, uh, sports science in the physical education department. Cause I was interested in science and I was interested in exercise physiology because it was relevant to my training and my recovery. So it was a natural fit. And then when I graduated, I continued on and I got my master's degree from USC. In motor learning and sports, uh, in biomechanics, et cetera. Everything that had to do with the science of sport. So I took my experience of performing at the top.

• 38:11Speaker 01

  And I matched that with my knowledge of what it takes to create a body that can perform at the highest level.

• 38:19Speaker 01

  In a sustained way over time. And that's as important it is for an athlete as it is for somebody in business, for somebody that's living a life. So now I had two things that qualified me as kind of like an expert. I understood what it's like because I've been there, the highest level, but I also understand how to do it academically. I wasn't competing in the sport. I'd been actually out of the sport for a long time and I was asked to come back for the 1984 L.A. Olympics and help a couple of guys. Won a couple of gold medals. Mark Gorski was one of them. And so I spent just a little bit of time with the 7-Eleven team at that time, providing

• 39:01Speaker 01

  an expertise both in healthcare and in my expertise is you as an individual and how you show up is going to make a difference. So let's kind of merge those two and-

• 39:12Rich Roll?

  Interesting. So for the listener who might not be aware, can you sort of elaborate on the 7? I'm obsessed with the early 7-Eleven team, but just explain a little bit about what that was all about and kind of some of the guys that were on the team.

• 39:26Speaker 01

  Sure. Well, there was an interesting thing for me because Jim Akewicz was the guy that put it together. Jim and I were on the Olympic team together in 72.

• 39:32Rich Roll?

  He was on the team with you then?

• 39:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 39:33Rich Roll?

  And he now runs BMC. He's the BMC director.

• 39:37Speaker 01

  Right. So I'd known Jim forever and so he was a pursuit cyclist where I was a sprint cyclist. But we were together. Roger Young, who was Akewicz's brother-in-law, was the other cyclist on the U.S. team in 72. So there was this kind of incestuous relationship there. And I had kind of moved away from the sport into other areas at the time, but did come back through that to participate and got a glimpse of where the sport was at that time. Not living day-to-day with the athletes, but jumping in at a period of very high intensity where they were putting a final polish on the preparation, you know, for the Olympics. So I got kind of brought in at that level to kind of do a final polish.

• 40:22Rich Roll?

  And was Davis Finney on the team then?

• 40:25Speaker 01

  Davis Finney, again, he was on the roadside, but you know, him and Chris Carmichael and-

• 40:32Speaker 01

  Some of the other guys of that generation were all contemporaries at that time.

• 40:37Rich Roll?

  Right, and this was really the first professional cycling team in America. And this is the beginning of American cycling, truly.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  At that level, it's like, okay, we've done the experiment, we've played around with it, but now we kind of understand the playing field, right? So now we can move up into that capacity. That's correct.

• 40:54Rich Roll?

  Right, and so your role is to sort of dial our bodies up.

• 40:59Speaker 01

  And their minds as well.

• 41:00Rich Roll?

  And their minds, so I want to get into the mental aspect of it. Which is, you referenced earlier that you believe that your ability to kind of make the Olympic team and perform at that level at a young age was informed, in large part, by sort of these extraordinary circumstances growing up, but also your sort of mental acumen, your ability to focus, and these tools that you develop. So, can you sort of explain or elaborate what that is?

• 41:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, I can, and we can also fast forward that to, obviously, my experience at the Tour de France, because as you know, most people do, that I've done nine Tour de Franches. So, again, at that time, there are certain realities that have to take place for you to perform at the highest level. And when we talk about the mental side of it, there's kind of two engagement points. We can either do it through human nature, and we could do it through things that seem right, through more will and more talent, is kind of like the idea. And, you know, I know from personal experience, my dad had plenty of will and plenty of talent, but he didn't go anywhere, even though he was a genius. So it's not about the will and talent, it's about a structure, and it's about creating

• 42:08Speaker 01

  a state of readiness to be able to show up and perform when it counts. That's the name of the game. So, I know how to do that because I've been there, and that's kind of one of my skills. So, the way that I craft the work that I do, and did at that time, and what I do for my private clients and group clients like right now, is really talk about that there are really two operational systems that we can engage opportunity through. It can either be through our human instincts that we're all born with, and it's a default decision maker that leads us to think certain ways, like perfection is a guarantee to win. If you try harder, you're going to get there, if you want it bad enough, it's going to happen. It's all in my genes and of course, none of those are true. It sure sounds good, but the only problem is, is that it's not right. It's about us.

• 42:53Rich Roll?

  Well, how do you implement those anyway? They're not, how useful is that? It's not that.

• 42:57Speaker 01

  No, but, but most people do react based on how they feel. And how you feel is only how you feel. It's got no relevance as to whether it's right or not. But how this plays a role for you and I is that if we respond in a certain way, then you could predict the outcome. No matter what you think, it's going to take you somewhere that can be predicted in the future because of the evidence of what history has told us. So if we kind of look at the Michael Jordans, we look at the Richard Bransons, we look at the Bonos. These are people of massive capacity that are very consistent in their ability to deliver at the highest level. And it's really how they make decisions. It's not, it's not wishful thinking or better mantras. They know something about life and themselves that most don't. Because there's plenty of people that can and do. There's, there's very few people that can and do.

• 43:41Speaker 01

  Most people that can and do don't. And it's how they think.

• 43:44Rich Roll?

  There's a lot of people that maybe can do it once, but not on a repeated basis or make a lifetime out of executing on a, on a very high level.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  That's correct. Which means that they don't have control over the outcome of their future performance. Because they don't know how to create that state of readiness to deliver when it counts. And trying harder doesn't guarantee more success. So again, it's really, it's a crafting of readiness that can be applied in a very specific circumstances that will deliver. That's really what, you know, preparation is ultimately all about.

• 44:15Rich Roll?

  Right. And, and so sort of the evolution of this is what you call your champion championship blueprint.

• 44:20Speaker 01

  Champion's blueprint, that's right.

• 44:21Rich Roll?

  Right. And so this is sort of condensed down into a series of, of steps really at its most elementary.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  Correct. Cause what I, what I, what I did is that I had applied the original principles that I got from my mentors that really worked really well for me. And then I built on that. And I created a structure that I applied and I've been directly involved in over 40 plus World Olympic Tour de France national championships. Not silver medals or not bronze medals, but you know, championship gold medals. So I kind of know this game and it's not a game, it's an application. I know it really well and I've had similar success with people in business. It's like whether it's sport or whether it's business, those are kind of technical skills that anybody can learn in their domain based on their talents. But the way that we engage life, all the people that are successful do it exactly the same way. So I sat down like at a restaurant, almost like a guy would write his hit song on the back of a napkin. And I said, you know, can

• 45:13Speaker 01

  I draw what this really looks like? You know, what are the things that every one of these prolific performers in business, sport, on stage and in life have done? And what does that look like? Can I actually draw this structure? And I sort of drew this thing and it had six different sides to it. Now there are seven. And I said, you know, this is exactly what every one of them shares in common. And there are certain things that have to get done in each of these seven areas. And if you get that done, then you're going to have the capacity to be able to step up and perform any place, any time at the highest level and capitalize on life's opportunity or you're going to be able to avoid life's pitfalls.

• 45:44Rich Roll?

  And what are those seven?

• 45:45Speaker 01

  Well, let me say this first, is that like the Champions Blueprint itself, it's almost like a crystal ball and it's also a roadmap. And it's as predictable as the sun rising and the sun setting because it's proven itself through history to be exactly what it appears to be. So with that being said, what's predictable about it is that if you apply certain things, you're going to get to the top. It's not a matter of if, you're going to get there. And what's also predictable is, is that I can tell you exactly where people succeed and fail. With a little bit of inquiry, answers to a couple of questions, I can actually tell you where and why people fail. And how that relates to us is that if I know where you are, I can tell you what's coming. So you're not going to be taken by surprise. And you know, the thing that every prizefighter fears is the punch that he doesn't see is coming. Because that's the thing that's going to take him

• 46:29Speaker 01

  out. So when we know what's coming and we're ready for it, we're not taken by surprise, we know what to do. And that's the value of the Champions Blueprint. Because what it is, it's like a crystal ball that shows us moment by moment in real time what our future's really going to be. So there's no guesswork. Everything is very calculated in a sense that now we can take control of and we can harness the future. And we can capitalize on opportunity and we can avoid potholes. So there are several different steps that I defined as evidenced by the people that I work with. Number one is legacy. That's where you always start anything. It begins with legacy. People say, well, isn't that the end result of what happens? Well, yes, that's true. But why legacy is important

• 47:10Speaker 01

  to start with is it allows you to decide how you want your race or your life to end.

• 47:15Rich Roll?

  Well, yeah, it drives every top level decision that you're going to make.

• 47:19Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. And so what that does, it keeps us in integrity and it keeps us in value. So everything that comes along, we could decide, does that advance us towards the finish line that we want to achieve, or does it take us someplace else? Because you don't want to be asking at the end of the day, if you made the right decision, you want to be doing an audit consistently so that you don't waste time and effort to create the best legacy possible. So it always begins with legacy, because legacy and its true value is this, is that when you kind of know your legacy is as if, it's as if you're standing at the finish line, and you're looking back from the future to now through a rear view mirror, and you're saying, is that the way I want my life and my legacy and my achievements

• 48:02Speaker 01

  to end? And if it isn't, then I have time to correct it, and I can decide how I'm going to do that. So it always begins with legacy, because it keeps you in integrity, and it's something that every decision can be measured against, so that your outcome can be what you want it to be for the reasons that you want it to be that. The second step is that you've got to have a mindset. And I don't mean a perfect IQ, I don't mean a perfect SAT score. What I mean by mindset is the living, breathing capacity to be able to successfully engage moment by moment, as the stuff of life shows up. It's a living, breathing capacity. It's an application. It's not a thought, it's not a mantra. Those

• 48:44Speaker 01

  all have value, but what does matter is how do we respond to life as the stuff of life surfaces moment by moment?

• 48:50Rich Roll?

  And what are some of the tools that you could teach to get you there? Because it's one thing to say that, but, but the actual practice of that is, that's a lifetime pursuit.

• 48:59Speaker 01

  It is a lifetime pursuit, and there are several different components that are necessary to do that. Number one, we have to understand human nature. You know, human nature is a default decision maker. That's a survival instinct, and when we respond to life through impulse is probably going to be the right thing for survival, but not the right thing to be able to create a long and prosperous career on. We need to look to the people that have had prolific lives of great achievement, and we need to look at how they make decisions. So for example, given an opportunity, human nature would say, well, what is it that I stand to lose here? The champion doesn't do that. The champion says, what do I stand to gain here? Another human nature would be, I have to be perfect to be worthy of great success.

• 49:41Speaker 01

  The champion says, well, it's not about perfection. It's about the one to 2% that matters. The human blueprint, it's in my genes. Nope. The champion says, well, it's in my power. So we have to understand that there's two operating systems that can be applied. One comes naturally. The other is learned and acquired and maintained by its application.

• 49:59Rich Roll?

  I mean, implicit in everything that you just said, though, is really kind of coming to terms with and overcoming fear patterns.

• 50:05Speaker 01

  Ultimately, at the end of the day, it is because the fear of rejection and being left behind, I believe, is our primal fear. And we build a life around not having that happen. But the cost of that is, is that we live a defensive life that's way too cautious. So we exempt ourselves from opportunity and extraordinary potential to create a distinct legacy based upon our unique talents.

• 50:32Rich Roll?

  Right. I mean, I think that for the most part, in a general sense, people who are doing extraordinary things have taken extraordinary risks or, or sort of put themselves out there in a way that, that most people just are not hard, hardwired and ailing to do.

• 50:46Speaker 01

  Well, they're not. That's by, that's what I said. It's like, we have to understand that the hard wiring that seems right is a survival instinct. It's not a productive mechanism to take us towards our bigger future. So that thing that you just said there, it's like the human blueprint, our human nature that we can't escape. That's part of something everybody has is to measure ourselves against everybody else. That the champions don't do that. They, they realize that they're their own greatest asset. And what they do, they cultivate and put all their time, effort, expense, and hope at a better future. And the one thing that represents their uniqueness, which is their uniqueness. And we have to be willing to take a stand on that.

• 51:21Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 51:21Speaker 01

  Because if we can't, then prepare for mediocrity and frustration and impulse.

• 51:25Rich Roll?

  Right. And I think, I think some people are just, they, they just come out of the womb like that. But I think there's a lot of people that put a lot of time and energy and effort and structure into practicing that on a daily basis. Like you look at somebody like Tom Cruise, right? Now, I don't know Tom. Cruise, he's living an extraordinary life and everybody I know that has met him says that he's absolutely extraordinary on a moment to moment basis with everybody that he encounters on a daily basis. And I would have to imagine that he works hard at being that way, that it might not have always been that way for him. And he had a difficult childhood and you know, he has overcome a lot to be this extraordinary human being.

• 52:04Speaker 01

  Which is right. And that speaks to the question and the solution is that you have to have a structure that teaches you what to do. So then it becomes you and you have access to merge your potential with opportunity to create the life that you're describing. And to me, the champion's blueprint answers that because it's not something that I came up with. I looked at it and I thought, can I draw what I see that made the prolific performers that were my mentors? How did they get there? It wasn't will, it wasn't talent. Those are necessary, but it's how they made decisions. And those decisions are things that don't come naturally to us. But when applied, it's like a computer program that now steps in

• 52:48Speaker 01

  front of and occupies the front of the screen to supersede our natural human tendencies and our human nature that you can't shut off.

• 52:56Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 52:57Speaker 01

  That's why people can't get out of their own way because the human nature is controlling the conversation and making the decisions.

• 53:02Rich Roll?

  Yeah. And I think that you're not even consciously aware of the program that you're running.

• 53:07Speaker 01

  You're not because everybody else reinforces it and feeds into it.

• 53:10Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 53:11Speaker 01

  Rather than show a distinction.

• 53:12Rich Roll?

  Right. So reprogramming, putting a new program in, coding a new program.

• 53:17Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. So it overrides the default.

• 53:21Rich Roll?

  The default.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. It overrides the default. So that's step number two. Step number three is called the base. And what I mean by base, I don't mean bass guitar basement. I mean, having an adequate resource reservoir to safely and effectively be able to get to the top and create a full and complete legacy. And what I mean resource, I mean tangible resources like time, equipment, space, team, finances, etc. And there's also an us resource of capacity as an individual. Are we an expansive thinker? Can we embrace? Innovation, can we apply strategy? Can we complete cycles of action? So those are kind of the raw fundamentals that make up the base. The base should be twice as long and twice as thick as people make it to be. Most people think that once they made a commitment, the commitment's enough and the

• 54:06Speaker 01

  universe is going to fill in the gaps and show them what to do and take up the slack. And the universe doesn't do that. We have to build the hard skills based upon the plan. We need an inventory. We need to add 30% to that to know that we can make it, to allow for the things that are going to show up that are unanticipated. You've got to have the resource base. Don't even think about starting the path to the top until you have adequate resources.

• 54:26Rich Roll?

  Right. And no matter what you're trying to do, you might think you're doing it alone, but you're never going to get there alone. You have to have a team.

• 54:34Speaker 01

  No one wins alone. That's why you create your team and that's part of your base resources. It's kind of like making sure you've got the toilet paper, the map, the matches, the toothpaste before you load up the station wagon and start the journey, right? That's really what we're talking about here. So that's step number three.

• 54:51Rich Roll?

  I'm working on my base right now.

• 54:52Speaker 01

  Well, I think we all are. We're all in reinvention, should we say? So with that being said is that having made a commitment, having a base conveys a certain presence of being itself. That's where you can see yourself headed towards an objective that you've set for yourself, whether it's baking a cake or making an Olympic team, it kind of like doesn't matter. But once you've made that commitment and you have the resources, then you're ready to get started. You have maximum energy because you haven't consumed it. You have maximum resources and you have also abundant enthusiasm. That's what you've got working for you. And then that begins step number four, which is called climb the wall. And climb the wall literally is like a vertical climb up Mount Everest.

• 55:35Speaker 01

  And this is where you're developing the capacity to perform at a level that's consistent with your ambition. This is where it's boots on the ground. It's where you're developing the skill and the capacity. To be able to perform at that level. This would be an equivalent to Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours in his book, Outliers, that it takes to create that capacity.

• 55:54Rich Roll?

  Right, so maybe that the sort of incline of that ascent is almost hyperbolic in the sense that it starts off, well, it starts off a little gradual where you have to make a decision that's not that hard. You're sort of flexing your muscles to get used to this counter-programming, right? And learning how to marshal your base for the purpose of pursuing this legacy, this legacy goal, right? And then as you start to, the decisions and the sort of stakes start to increase as you move up this mountain, right? As you're climbing this Everest?

• 56:31Speaker 01

  It's similar, but with a couple of distinctions. It's like you already know your target before you start, because once you've got your base is built around your target.

• 56:40Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 56:41Speaker 01

  Your resources are built around your target. So, once the target's known, and you have the resources, and you've got enthusiasm, you've got resources, then you're ready to begin the journey. So, the people that successfully make that climb to the top, they know a couple of things. They know, number one, that it's a 10,000-hour climb. So, they also know that the top isn't the goal. The goal is to have a breakout performance. So, let's say, for example, it's an athlete that wants and needs to win a regional event to confirm to themselves that they do have the capacity. It doesn't mean they're at the top, but it means that now they have demonstrated the development of the skill that's necessary to be able to perform at that level.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  So, number one, the objective of climbing the wall in that 10,000 hours is to have a breakout performance, which is the convergence of your preparation that enables that to happen. And that's the goal. And there are two other things that people understand, is that the first part of the climb, I call it the honeymoon. Because your mind, because you've committed and have the base, your mind is already at the top. You see yourself at the top, on top of the podium, all this stuff. But you kind of forget that there's 10,000 hours. So if you're thinking about the top and you see yourself there, it's really easy to gobble up too much resource too quick in the honeymoon phase when you're all excited. It's like having a new girlfriend or boyfriend. You know how excited you are? I mean, it's like you're just in heaven. And that's what it's

• 58:09Speaker 01

  like when you first start to pursue a goal or an ambition. It's like you're on cloud nine. But then what happens? You kind of run out of that and all of a sudden, you run out of the honeymoon phase and then you hit this point of reality. It's like, wow, you know, this is a little bit harder than I thought it was gonna be.

• 58:22Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 58:22Speaker 01

  But if you burned up your resources on the honeymoon before you hit reality, and you still got five, six, seven thousand hours in front of you, that's not a good place to be.

• 58:31Rich Roll?

  Right. So I guess what you're saying is a lot of your consulting or coaching would be about preparing people for the long haul. This is not an overnight thing.

• 58:39Speaker 01

  Well, it's not. And it's like, you're gonna start off enthusiastically. So let's all acknowledge that, which you should. And your ambitions are perfect. But it's gonna get tough because you're gonna have a moment where reality hits and you're gonna realize that maybe this is a lot harder than I thought it was gonna be. Because you've still got a lot of the climb to go. I call that the daily grind, where you're going from halfway to the summit, at the top. But if you know that it's coming, like I said, in the Champions Blueprint, it's across the ball because you know it's coming. So you're not thrown for a loop when it shows up. So if you know the reality's coming, you're gonna construe that as I'm one step closer to the breakout. It's not I'm one step farther away. But if you don't know that, you think when it gets difficult that maybe your ambition was wrong. Maybe your plan wasn't right. Maybe you don't have the capacity. So maybe I should give up now

• 59:24Speaker 01

  to conserve at least a little bit of resources. And if that's the case, and that's your human blueprint, making a decision on based on what it appears to be when it's absolutely 100% not.

• 59:33Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 59:34Speaker 01

  It means that you're one step closer. And eventually, things will come together where you do that one last step. And all of a sudden, you get up the next day and it's different. And you know you're different because your capacity's different. Then you have that breakout achievement that you've spent all this time trying to achieve. So it's really important that we understand what's in front of us so that we don't talk ourselves out of it.

• 59:54Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 59:55Speaker 01

  And unless you have a roadmap, then you're at serious risk to talking yourself out of what's possible.

• 1:00:00Rich Roll?

  Right, so the more clear you are on your roadmap and, and, you know, all these other sort of steps that precede it, the less likely you are to sort of act on those innate, natural sort of feelings of self doubt that may crop up when things get hard.

• 1:00:15Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. So that's why every champion has a champion's blueprint, because it shows them the future. It doesn't do the work for them, but it shows them where they're headed, so that they can apply their efforts and their resources towards the right thing and not get ahead of themselves.

• 1:00:33Rich Roll?

  Gotcha.

• 1:00:34Speaker 01

  Because I see this all the time, you know, people, "Oh yeah, this is hard. I guess I misconstrue the universe's message to me, and I guess I can't make decisions, so maybe I should just retreat from life because I've illustrated my inability here, so I better find a place where I'm functioning at." It's like, no, it is a great plan. Yeah, I totally have capacity, and yet you misinterpreted what was there, because you didn't have a roadmap and a crystal ball to know what was coming. Here's the deal, Rich, is that there's four or five days a year that are going to make the quality of your life. It's either going to be a good year, a bad year, based upon what happens with those opportunities and potholes that show up on those four or five days. And the professionals, the people that are ready for it, are looking for it. So when it shows up, they know what to do.

• 1:01:19Speaker 01

  But most people aren't ready for it. And when it shows up, they either forfeit an opportunity because they lock up, or they step by default off the cliff because they don't know what else to do.

• 1:01:28Rich Roll?

  Or they don't even recognize the importance of the opportunity presented.

• 1:01:31Speaker 01

  You're exactly right, because they're not ready for it. So without a crystal ball, then how are you going to know? You're doing to repeat history. So people that don't have a structure, just, you know, prepare yourselves to repeat history. And we all scratch our heads, like, "This person had immense talent, didn't they know any better?" And the reality is, no, they didn't. Because you can't think your way to somewhere that's against your nature, and you can't put more hope and belief that will and talent are going to deliver, because they don't. It's about structure, it's about knowing where you are, it's about good pacing, and it's about... You always have to have a roadmap before you go into the jungle. Most people don't go into the jungle with a map. Once they jump into the jungle and they're lost, then they look for the map to try to figure out where they are now, what do we do? So we always want to look at the map before we go into the jungle.

• 1:02:16Rich Roll?

  Sure, but I think at the, at the same time, you...

• 1:02:20Rich Roll?

  One of the most important things is dedication to hard work, your willingness to see this through. And that's not something that you can instill in somebody. They either have that or not. Right? So I would imagine that you're not going to work with someone unless they already have that. Like you gotta, I mean, there's this idea that, you know, you hear all, oh, it's just too hard. I'd try that, but that just sounds really hard. It's like, well, everything in life that's good or has value or is worthwhile is going to be hard. It's all hard. But the trick is to embrace that, to welcome that and to be willing to undertake what it's going to require in order to achieve that, achieve that hard thing. And that's, that's, that's, that's the gift.

• 1:03:03Speaker 01

  Gosh, you know what I love so much about what you said? It reminds me of a conversation. It's like, I helped a guy win a gold medal in London and he was melting down.

• 1:03:13Rich Roll?

  Who was it? Can you tell me?

• 1:03:15Speaker 01

  Yeah, I can. It was Greg Rutherford. He's a long jumper from UK.

• 1:03:19Rich Roll?

  Wow.

• 1:03:20Speaker 01

  And so I was sitting at home and I saw this email pop up. It said, can you help? So I opened it up. It was from a colleague of mine that was in the Olympic Village. He was working with Greg and had been working with him and he said Greg's starting to melt down with two and a half weeks to go to the Olympic final. And I'm looking at this, I'm saying, two and a half weeks to go and you're calling me? And he's spent a couple of decades to get here. Where's the management of this? Where's the orchestration? So I talked with Greg and I said, look, Greg, you know, if you had to jump tonight, you'd win. He said, how do you know that? I said, well, because I know what you did for training. You told me. But I said, there's a disconnect between you and your belief in self and your physical readiness. We just need to reconnect those two and presto, you win.

• 1:04:04Speaker 01

  So I said, Greg, look, it's not imperfection. And I know that everybody around you now thinks that for you to win, you gotta be perfect. And now everybody's looking at the detail that's gotta go right. And so they're making contingencies for everything that could go wrong. And I know you're thinking that, you know, if I get more therapy after training, I'm going to be more recovered. Great idea. It's not going to work because that kills your body. I know you're thinking that if I mentally rehearse my event, like my sports psychologist said, I'm going to be better to perform and have the advantage. It's not going to work because you're going to be mentally fatigued, like over preparing for a test. I know you think that if you warm up harder, you're going to be more ready. Well, that runs you a risk of losing energy. I know you're thinking, well, if I warm up less hard, I'm going to conserve energy. No, you expose yourself to unnecessary risk of injury. All great ideas, but they're not going to work.

• 1:04:49Speaker 01

  I said, the reality of this is for you to win, you only need to do two things. Don't change your work, don't change your warm up. Because your warm up is your body's signal that it's safe to come out and play. It's a standard by which it evaluates everything because it knows it inside and out. With all these changes that you're trying to make at this micro level, your body is confused. It wants to run back into the cave. It doesn't want to come out and play because it doesn't feel safe. So go back to what you did. Forget all the razzle dazzle. You're leading the world championship. You're favored to win the gold medal. What else do you need to know? And I said, number two, I know you think that your foot's got to hit the board to get the lift to win. Don't think about the board because if you think about the board, your foot's not going to hit it. It's the first four steps to the run up determines where your foot hits.

• 1:05:32Speaker 01

  You do that and you do your warm up, you win. It's that simple. You don't need to know anything else. It's not about complexity, Greg. You're chasing perfection. It's not about perfection. It's about the one to 2% that matters. And if you can manage this, you win.

• 1:05:47Rich Roll?

  Right. I mean, sort of what you're saying is, it sounds like he was having some self doubts and then rethinking and sort of evaluating everything that he had done to get there and started trying new things and playing around with new things and that will instill panic.

• 1:06:02Speaker 01

  Well, it did. But it's like, other people created it because they don't know what it takes to be able to make that happen. Because as you get closer, it's not about focus. It's about gaze and recovery and readiness. And I said, you know, tell me the people that you're happy around and those are going to be your friends until the Olympic finals over. Because if you're happy you're going to perform well, you're ready to win. You don't want to try to control something that's not required to be able to win.

• 1:06:31Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 1:06:32Speaker 01

  So this kind of speaks to the fact that there is like an overall master plan. And if you know how to play the game, then you're not going to set yourself up to talk yourself out of it. Because if you look at it through the eyes of human nature and everybody else, it's going to be based on fear and it's going to be the wrong thing. That's never proven itself to be right. So we have to have a contrarian view of this and that needs to be your operating system. So when you get to that point, climbing the wall in those 10,000 hours where you're acquiring the capacity, you've got to be able to read the tea leaves. And it's like, if you have a crystal ball that tells you what's coming, then you're not going to be taken by surprise. You're going to know what to do when the odd thing shows up because you're going to put the right interpretation on it.

• 1:07:12Rich Roll?

  Right. I mean, what I love about what you're saying is, I say this all the time, that whether it's the Tour de France, or track and field, or whatever sport it is, that the athletes at the highest level are all supremely gifted innately, and they're all training incredibly hard. They're probably all training just as hard as one another, specific to their talents and sort of the way they're wired. So what makes the difference between the guy who's winning the gold medal and the guy who doesn't make the podium? Well, more often than not, it's their mental preparation, or their mental game. And there's a lot of talk about, well, visualization, or you have to have a strong mind, and all this sort of thing, but they're all very vague notions.

• 1:07:52Speaker 01

  That's correct.

• 1:07:53Rich Roll?

  And how do you apply those? So what you're doing is looking at this and saying, let's systematize this. Let's create a system that actually works, that we can apply on a case-by-case basis to every single individual.

• 1:08:05Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. What it is, it's a supreme state of readiness, to be able to show up anyplace, anytime, and apply the skill, because it's part of the fabric of how you respond to life, moment by moment. Because you cannot think your way to some place, and apply something that you don't have, that's not yours. Because your mind and your neurology is too slow to respond in real time. It has to be already there and ready, and that's what confidence is. It's almost as if you won before you've even shown up. It's not a more, it's not a positive mantra. That's not going to do it. It's a

• 1:08:43Speaker 01

  state of complete, comprehensive, body, mind, soul readiness, that knows what to do, when, to be able to deliver when it counts.

• 1:08:53Rich Roll?

  Right. So I think we're on to like, step four now, or five? But before we do that, I have a question.

• 1:08:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, sure.

• 1:08:59Rich Roll?

  When you say, this balance of mind, body, soul, I mean, how does the kind of spiritual aspect of this find its way into the kind of mental and emotional preparation that you're talking about?

• 1:09:11Speaker 01

  Well, ultimately, there has to be a faith and process. Because a lot of this is uncharted until you get there. So you have to have a faith and process.

• 1:09:20Rich Roll?

  Right, it's not a religious dogmatic thing. It's sort of believing in something that you can't see or feel and having faith that it's leading you in the direction and trusting in the people around you that know better than you.

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  Yes, and if the explanations from them to you about the how to get to the why makes sense to you intellectually, then it's really an informed faith where you've already won, but you're just not there yet. You just have to acquire the skill. So that's going to be certainly part of it. Another thing is to realize that there are elements of timing that are outside our control. And sometimes when things go haywire, it's because of better options presenting itself. It's not because your plans are going awry. So you need to be able to step back and entertain, maybe this is a better option to take me to places I couldn't conceive of myself, so maybe I should take a look at this before I make a judgment as to whether it's good or bad.

• 1:10:11Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I think refraining from judgment is also a very powerful tool to use to maintain sort of peace of mind and calmness in moments of stress. We don't have all the information to know whether a certain occurrence that's transpiring is good or bad. You know, we make these snap judgments about them. More often than not, we're proven incorrect in the long run.

• 1:10:31Speaker 01

  Because it's a fear-based decision that we are compulsed to do because our human nature response is geared towards that and we're supremely capable of that, but it doesn't serve us.

• 1:10:42Rich Roll?

  It doesn't serve us at all.

• 1:10:43Speaker 01

  It doesn't. So really, to get to the ultimate bottom line here is that when you show up and it's time to go live, you really have to trust your preparation and you have to trust your readiness. And then you need to fine tune it. I actually have a process by which, for example, an Olympian, I have like a three-week countdown process by which we go through three weeks out to make sure that we put the right polish on it so that they show up being able to apply their preparation over the last couple of decades without screwing it up. Because classically, people blow the last week. You know, they start changing things and screwing around and trying to get the advantage and then it all of a sudden backfires. So again, there's a structure that... That has to be there that history has proven itself to deliver on.

• 1:11:28Speaker 01

  And another thing about the Champions Blueprint is that you're always looking a step in front of you to have an awareness of where you're headed. Once you develop a certain level of capacity, then there's going to be a next step so that you kind of know what's coming there and you're not taken by surprise like once you get to that. And ultimately, with the good coaching and the right perspective of what it really is, then you have an assurance that the capacity to perform when it counts is virtually guaranteed. And again, what I see in part of our culture is that we think more well and talent is going to deliver it. If we want it bad enough, it's going to happen. And neither one of those are true. There are important elements of it, but none of that makes up for a lack of skill and readiness that should already be created. And it should already kind of be loaded into the program.

• 1:12:12Speaker 01

  So you push the button, then it becomes your operational application.

• 1:12:15Rich Roll?

  Right. And I would, and over time, it then becomes, it replaces your

• 1:12:20Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:12:21Rich Roll?

  Your operating system and becomes innate.

• 1:12:23Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 1:12:24Rich Roll?

  And Because I don't think like Oprah and Richard Branson are consciously, you know, thinking about whether

• 1:12:29Speaker 01

  They're not.

• 1:12:30Rich Roll?

  Overcoming their operating system. That is their operating system.

• 1:12:32Speaker 01

  It is. And it's a little bit different than our human nature because human nature is on all the time. You can't shut it off. Where this one that we're talking about here is acquired and it's maintained through its application. So if we stop doing it, then we're going to drift back to that previous us that was unproductive and didn't represent our heart's capacity.

• 1:12:54Rich Roll?

  All right. So what are we, are we on number four or five?

• 1:13:03Speaker 01

  That was four.

• 1:13:04Rich Roll?

  I can't remember.

• 1:13:05Speaker 01

  Yeah. So let's move to step five. Step five is where you've had the breakout. It's where you've performed for the very first time at a level consistent with your ambition. So whether it's baking a cake or whether it's winning a regional event or whatever a target is that you've set for yourself, you've achieved that one time. And then, once we've done that at that time, then we move into step five, which is elevation.

• 1:13:26Rich Roll?

  So it's sort of like an interim stepping stone goal.

• 1:13:28Speaker 01

  That's correct. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we've got to be really clear, to use your words, is that the breakout isn't the top. That's the first time. And if you stop there, then you're a one act wonder. And one act wonders are preventable because we have a preview of what's possible. We just need to make that our new normal. So step five elevation is about really elevating your life. So the breakout performance now becomes your new normal at a higher level. And that's done through really taking stock of what it is that you did to have the breakout. And you continue to apply that. So you have at least a half a dozen breakouts to confirm to you and your team that you've mastered the process technically of performing at that level. And a lot of people make a mistake. When they have the breakout, they think, well,

• 1:14:11Speaker 01

  I'm at the top because their friends and the newspaper articles tell them they are, but they're not. So they start getting a little bit greedy and they start changing team and they start looking for shortcuts and there are no shortcuts. And all of a sudden they stall and be mindful that if it takes you 10,000 hours to perform at that level, all of a sudden you have a stall, then that's a problem because it means that you may forfeit that 10,000 hours and more because you're not capable, not because you're not capable, but it's because you misinterpreted what the breakout really means. Right. So again, it's preventable. And those people that are able to, through duplication, raise their bar to that new level, then they ultimately have mastered the technical process of performing at the level that they have committed to. And that's actually

• 1:14:55Speaker 01

  the beginning of step six. And step six is adaptation. So here's the rub. Is that when you consistently perform at a level that you've aspired to, your empowerment is that you really know technically you can do it. And there's people that are looking at you from the sideline that have the resources and the capacity, they can snap their fingers and through their resources, they can take you exponentially to a place that you could not go to because of the resources. They don't question your technical ability. The question that they have is about you. And it's can you handle the acceleration of responsibility at the top? Because once you get to the top, all the rules that you followed to get there

• 1:15:36Speaker 01

  become obsolete because the acceleration, the responsibility and the compression of the timeline at the top is something like you would never and could not have anticipated. So there is like a window of time, maybe three years, to really grow and learn and perform at that level where you can master your craft. For example, you look at, let's say a football player, usually they get like a two or three year contract, right? And what that is, that's a probationary period that they're getting paid million dollars, millions of dollars for in the hopes that they're going to grow into their talent. Of course, there's no help there to guarantee that. So it's a big gamble and it's a crapshoot on the team's part. And the expectation is that the athlete's going to know what to do to grow into

• 1:16:19Speaker 01

  that. Very few of them ever get beyond that because they don't have the skill to know what to do. So, once you hit the top, and you've repeated your breakout performance where you really have mastered your craft, you have to have a transitional team at the top that can help you learn the responsibility of what has to happen to be able to perform at that level consistently under different circumstances. So let's say for the athlete, now all of a sudden, you've got the big buck contract, now you've got to deal with media, now you've got to deal with a whole new set of friends, now you've got to deal with your family that's mad at you because now you've got a whole new set of friends and they think you're turning your back on you. There's all sorts of dynamics. Oh yeah, you're too good for us now? When are you going to come back and say hi to us little people?

• 1:17:03Rich Roll?

  Right, and who's trained anybody to handle any of that kind of stuff? Somebody who's proficient on the field and gifted in that regard doesn't mean that they have the skillset to navigate all of these sort of social things that creep up.

• 1:17:15Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. So in the Champion Blueprint, we know it's coming because we talked about it. So there are going to be no surprises. So you're already going to have your transition team in place. So it's a seamless transition so that you can capitalize on getting those people that can help you perform at that level and support you to even go beyond that level. Because they trust you. Because they see that Rich can do it. And I didn't know if he could do it because of the scaling here. So if we master that, where we have the competence, then we can perform, let's say in analogy, not all of us, but let's say like you two. They put out a platinum album every September because they've learned and they've mastered their craft. They know what to do. So, this now begins the seventh

• 1:17:56Speaker 01

  and final step in the Champion's Blueprint. It's called Ride the Wave. And Ride the Wave is where you've now taken maybe 20 years to get to the top and perform at this level, maybe less, it all depends, but to only say that now we still have half of our life left. And this is where we can do two things. We can create a massive legacy that honors our talents and honors the people that have helped us get there, that makes an honest contribution to humanity, that calls people to a higher game, plus it leaves behind a case study of how we did it for other people to follow. And it also allows us to mentorship other people. That's part of the deal. That are behind us, that are looking to answer the same questions that we did.

• 1:18:38Speaker 01

  So, Ride the Wave is interesting because that's where we've kind of made it in our own mind. But we've also discovered a couple of things, is that Hollywood lied. It lied about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. That it's hard work, it's going to be more difficult than we thought that it was. No one wins alone, we need a team, and we need a structure. So at that point, we also face another fact, is that it may take us, you know, 20 years to get to the top. And what are the things that we have said that we would get back to during those 20 or 30 years? My health and my relationships. So, most people don't take care of their health over that 20-year period.

• 1:19:16Speaker 01

  They shortcut, they survive while they're draining their physical capacity and their physical reserve. So maybe they're running on fumes. And those people that do that, as soon as they got it figured out, that's when they have the heart attack or the stroke. Because it's too late to pay the debt back. And then the other one is the relationship debt. It's like the promise that people and family and wife, husband, "Trust me, honey, when I get there, it's going to be different. Trust me, we're just about there." So then when they get there, time's up, they haven't been able to do good on the promise. So then there's the relationship detonation. So it's massively disruptive. If you don't have that, then there's always the problem of success intoxication.

• 1:20:00Speaker 01

  Where you think you're better than you really are. So you start doing things that are reckless. Maybe you need validation because you're not feeling so good about yourself. Because you're now being replaced by some other wonderkind. So you turn to drugs, you turn to an affair, you turn to stuff to validate yourself. Or maybe do some risky business adventure to try to get back your form of glory, where you throw everything away. Maybe it's you go out and start jumping out of airplanes without parachutes. And you have some guy that's next to you with a parachute that's going to fly over to you and give you the parachute. You do reckless stuff like that, and you throw your legacy away. And in an instant, by that reckless success intoxication.

• 1:20:39Speaker 01

  So really, what the professionals do is this, is that when they understand that they have mastered the skill, they ride the wave. Meaning, a perfect analogy is a surfer. What he does, he looks at the weather report the day before he goes out. Good waves, good weather? Yes, then I'll go. Bad waves, bad weather? I don't go. If he goes, he waxes the board, puts on the wet suit, he paddles out to that little spot between catching the wave and the waves breaking, where he sits there on the board and he looks for the right wave. He doesn't go after the waves that aren't going to return something of value to him. He doesn't go after them. He's willing to let the other guys catch those waves. Then when the one that comes along that has merit and promise to him, then he does a couple of paddle strokes. If he catches the wave, then he applies his technique to work with the wave and he rides

• 1:21:24Speaker 01

  it as far as it can go, to then pull out before he rides it all the way to the shore that he has to paddle out back through the waves to get back to his spot. And then he repeats that process. So, the analogy here is, is that you don't go after everything. You choose your battles carefully, so you can serve yourself for a long and prosperous career. The idea of putting yourself at the limit 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to be able to create a long and complete legacy, it's a myth. It's never delivered. It's put people in an early grave. It never delivers. So, the responsibility there is to realize that the way that you extend your value and your creation of value for your

• 1:22:07Speaker 01

  legacy, for yourself and for others, is that you choose your battles carefully. You don't go after everything. You go for things that provide value to you, that are consistent with your capacity, that will add to your legacy. So you-

• 1:22:21Rich Roll?

  And that's throughout the process. You're not talking about once you've sort of crested, you know, you're successful and you're at the top. You're talking about all along the way.

• 1:22:30Speaker 01

  Once you get to a point where you can perform at a level that's consistent with your capacity.

• 1:22:34Rich Roll?

  I see.

• 1:22:35Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 1:22:36Rich Roll?

  Okay. And what are some of the things, like the checks and balances that you can implement to prevent the, you know, relationship and sort of health, you know, traumas that can ensue with somebody who's just pursuing, you know, a goal blindly with everything that they have. You know, I've seen that all the time, too. So what can you do early in the process to create systems around that to prevent that kind of damage?

• 1:23:01Speaker 01

  That's such a great. I love you so much, Rich, because, man, it's like you get, you really get this process. That's why you always start with legacy, because legacy is how you want the game to end and how you're going to do it. And it's your accountability partner that you take with you every day, where you value your decisions against how you want your race to end. In addition to that, you need two teams. You need a team that's going to help you technically. It's your performance team. But then you need a personal team. Your personal team is going to be family. It's going to be a peer group of people that understand you and where you're performing,

• 1:23:45Speaker 01

  that share your values. You can have honest conversations that will be responsibly engaged for advice and counsel within the group. And then you also need what I consider perhaps to be the most important person. That's the sage. That's the corner man. He's got to be at least 60 years old, that understands life and has been around the block, that is a sounding board as to the efficacy of the decisions that you're making in process. They can tell you right or wrong for these reasons. And in case you can make the decision, but there needs to be the voice of sobriety within your life, and that person needs to be on call.

• 1:24:29Speaker 01

  So if you find yourself in a situation you're not sure of, you can call and you can get good counsel. So, family calls you to a higher game. You're going to make decisions with them in mind. That's a good check.

• 1:24:41Speaker 01

  You also need a team of peers that you can fellowship with, that share your values, that understand where you're performing, that can also give you a good counsel. Then you need the corner man that's there, one person. This is not the guy to go to if you want to know what ink cartridge to use in your printer. It's not his deal. His deal is what works and what doesn't work in life and why.

• 1:25:01Rich Roll?

  He's the shaman.

• 1:25:02Speaker 01

  He's the shaman. Yeah, he's totally the shaman. Everyone needs like those three plus the legacy statement that will keep you in integrity throughout the process.

• 1:25:15Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 1:25:16Speaker 01

  And then, once you get to the top, here's the trick, is that you pick your next goal and ambition, and then you prepare for it, you perform, and then you pause and recover. Then you pick the next ambition, you prepare, you perform, you pause. So, literally, you're riding a wave. But if you don't pause, then count on a short life.

• 1:25:37Rich Roll?

  Right, the pause and the recovery, that's the hard part.

• 1:25:40Speaker 01

  It is the hard part.

• 1:25:41Rich Roll?

  Those sort of full-court presses is the easy part. If you're clear on your legacy and what you're working towards.

• 1:25:46Speaker 01

  That's correct.

• 1:25:47Rich Roll?

  It's putting the brakes on at the appropriate time that can cost the problem.

• 1:25:52Speaker 01

  And that's exactly why legacy comes number one in the Champions Blueprint. And without that, then we have no restraint, and we have the human nature problem at that level in stage seven, ride the wave. You're going to have to give something up to create longevity, to go after the stuff that really matters. A lot of people can't do that. They don't want to give up anything for anybody because they think somebody else is going to get the advantage, and what they give up is the thing that they need to save themselves and maintain their transcendency. And all that's a lie. It's never proven itself to be the case. It fits into the bucket of the human blueprint, the fear-based instincts that are always operational. Remember, you can't shut the human blueprint off. It's got to be superseded by the Champions mentality that's maintained through application.

• 1:26:36Speaker 01

  You talked about the Branson's and the Oprah's. Right. And as long as that's applied, and you have a culture that enables you to consistently apply that, then that becomes the filter that will always keep you in integrity.

• 1:26:47Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I love it. I mean, I think just on a personal level. You know, I feel like I'm pretty clear on the legacy part of this personally. If I was to write it down and you were to look at it, you might differ or push me harder to be more clear.

• 1:27:03Speaker 01

  I think it would be massive applause, actually.

• 1:27:05Rich Roll?

  And now I'm in this sort of foundation, the base building part of it, which has been an interesting process. And it's required me to really kind of check myself many times because I've sort of gotten to a place where I tell myself I've gotten here on my own, which isn't the truth. And I have this overriding sort of default control freak aspect of it, and I can't get where I want to go by myself. You know, I have to let go and let people in. So I'm in the process of bringing people into my life and sort of loosening the reins and empowering other people around me. And that's been a very challenging, like, that's not my default program, you know? And it's been a learning process for me. It's been great, and I know that it is the way to sort of taking everything I'm doing

• 1:27:48Rich Roll?

  to the next level. But also kind of grappling with my default program, which is very defeatist, it's very negative. I feel like I've done things in life despite it, constantly sort of trying to derail me. But I've never had a system for how to confront that and really, truly transcend it so that I can sort of reboot my system with a new operating program that is giving, that where the default messages are positive and reaffirming as opposed to, you know, telling me I don't know what I'm doing, I'm lousy, I have no merit, I have no value, this is, the other shoe's going to drop tomorrow, today, you know, all these sorts of things that I'm constantly at war with.

• 1:28:30Speaker 01

  Well, to say that, you know, you're not alone. There's seven billion people right now on this planet that are in the same dilemma because, again, the human blueprint instincts, which are represented by everything that you just said, that are trying to talk you out of it and take you out of the game, that's real, and we all share that. Remember, I said you can't shut that off, it's always there. We have to have an antidote to that, which is the application of the things that have proven themselves to enable us to transcend that, to be able to move forward. We need to understand what it is and what it's not. We need to understand how the game is played. And it's like in the Champions Blueprint, I can take Rich, you know, I could ask you a couple of questions and stuff and I could say, okay, Rich, you're right here. I could take this thumbtack as if I'm putting a thumbtack on a map on a wall and I could say, Rich,

• 1:29:14Speaker 01

  you're right here. And if we can name this, then we know what's coming. So we're going to pay attention to those things that are relevant for you right now. Let's not worry about this other stuff because it's irrelevant. So I can, I can take you and I can put a context that's you. And since we know that the human blueprint's always going to be there chattering in the background, we can construct a strategy based upon your personal needs in terms of where you are. And another component that I look at is your age and what decade you're in, because that influences how you look and how you solve problems and how you respond to life. I also look at your personality, A B. I also look, are you a big picture? Are you a microscope guy? And so that composite is the lens by which

• 1:29:56Speaker 01

  you are evaluating and filtering every moment through. And if we kind of understand that and we can name where you are, then we can come up with a strategy that's personalized that is all based on the one to 2% that has to go right to move to the next level. So again, just to kind of give you an idea that, that, that there is a structure to speak to all of the human issues that I face and you face and Tyler faces and everybody else faces day in and day out. And what I do know is this, is that trying harder doesn't solve the problem because it's not a well and talented issue. It's really an issue of can we identify where you are and do we know what's coming? And if we do, then we apply the one to 2%

• 1:30:38Speaker 01

  strategies that have to contain this problem while you apply the specialty to it. So for example, let's say, your goal is to be podcast king, right? There's a technical side to that, correct? There's a technical side to that, that.

• 1:30:54Speaker 01

  When applied, we'll get you there. But what's going to take you out of the game is not that. What will take you and everybody else out of their game is the bigger picture of life and what this sets on day in and day out. So that's what the championship is. Champions Blueprint is all about it. It's really like priming the canvas of life. So that the things that you do that are very specific are able to get tacked down and they're going to stick to move forward. Because to me, it's how we handle and engage life is the thing that's going to take us out. It's not the technical skill.

• 1:31:31Rich Roll?

  Right, right, right.

• 1:31:32Speaker 01

  So again, that's why the Champions Blueprint supports all the other programs that are out there and it doesn't take the place of it. But it provides an environment for the best application of them to find their way into your life is basically what it is.

• 1:31:45Rich Roll?

  And how different is it? I mean, it's the Blueprint, no matter who you are. But how does it get tweaked? Or how has your approach changed when you're working with an athlete versus, say, like a businessman or entrepreneur?

• 1:32:01Speaker 01

  It doesn't change because being a businessman, that's a technical skill. Being an athlete is a technical skill. You know, you want to have a better golf swing, well, get your golf coach, right? Your swing coach. That's a technical skill. You know, the idea of addressing the same problems is like universally the same, whether it's business, whether it's sport, whether it's on stage, or whether it's in life. So those things are kind of irrelevant to me. I mean, I understand enough about them to be able to speak with the vocabulary that is specific to the technical side of it. But ultimately, the how we engage it and how we address it is a universal issue that we all share. I'm as comfortable talking to a billionaire as I am as a gold medalist. It's all the same stuff.

• 1:32:45Rich Roll?

  And who are the people out there, whether they're athletes or entrepreneurs, that you feel are really kind of inhabiting this Champions Blueprint in their lives?

• 1:32:55Speaker 01

  Well, there are many, some of them I may not at liberty to disclose.

• 1:32:59Rich Roll?

  No, I'm not saying your clients, but just when you like you read, you watch TV, you see the news or whatever, like you see people like that guy, like not that you're coaching them, but they just, they understand that they're living their life in accordance with these principles.

• 1:33:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I think if we just look back through history, we could do that as well to say that, you know, I think Michael Jordan's a great example of that. You look at Leonardo da Vinci, he's another great example of that.

• 1:33:21Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 1:33:22Speaker 01

  There have been heads of state that I think also, you know, represent that. I think that if we look to anybody in our domain that has staying power, that has become iconic, you look at it and they're going to have these characteristics because that's how I created it. I sat down one day and I said, okay, so I've helped all these people in all these different disciplines, uh, live lives of passion, purpose, they know why they get up, productivity and prosperity. What is it about them that has enabled them to do this? So I kind of drew the structure. So it is a universal template. The other thing I'll say is that it can also be applied towards a business because businesses have got to have legacies,

• 1:34:05Speaker 01

  they've got to have mindsets, they have to have bases. You can also apply it to a project, you know? So I want to do a great video. Okay, so let's talk about the legacy we want this video to represent, you know, it's got to have a mentality to it. So this can be applied on a macro scale to a life cycle. Once passed through, it can be applied towards a project, it could be applied towards a business. I just got off the phone today with a, one of my clients, he's got a $5 million business, it's going to be 30 next year. The question is, so are you guys ready to handle a $30 million business even though the, the projections of the revenue is there, are you guys ready to handle it as leaders? So what do we need to do to prepare you to be able to sort of lead this charge? So it wasn't the conversation, but it was similar to what I had with Greg that helped Greg win

• 1:34:48Speaker 01

  the gold medal and the broad jump. Same deal.

• 1:34:51Rich Roll?

  I love it, man. I'm ready, I'm ready to sign up.

• 1:34:55Speaker 01

  All right, well, applications are available. But yeah, but another thing too, just to sort of share with you how this works is that you can't just sign up with me. You know, it's like my business card is my phone number.

• 1:35:05Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 1:35:06Speaker 01

  On a piece of a torn off envelope is what it is. It's either through direct referral or it's through an application. Then there's a couple of processes that I go through to just make sure the vetting is there.

• 1:35:17Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine you can, you can really handle working with too many people at any given time without getting spread too thin.

• 1:35:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's correct. And there's some scaling, there are group things that I do, Champion Blueprint Weekend and things like that, for sure.

• 1:35:28Rich Roll?

  And how do you evaluate a potential new client? Like, what are the things you're looking for?

• 1:35:33Speaker 01

  Oh, it's such a great question. Well, number one, I have them fill out a Champion's Blueprint Assessment. It's a 35 question, multiple choice that shows me where their blind spots are. Because what I know is that none of us can outrun our blind spots. You could try.

• 1:35:49Rich Roll?

  That's why they're blind spots.

• 1:35:50Speaker 01

  That's exactly right. You can't outrun them, man. So it also shows me what their strengths are. So I have an idea, you know, what are we dealing with here? And then we have like a one hour conversation on the phone, approximately, it could be 45 minutes or so, where I ask them four questions. I only want to know the answer to four questions. And with that, it tells me kind of where they see themselves being.

• 1:36:15Speaker 01

  What are the things that are going to get in the way of that? And what are the opportunities that they have if we resolve the obstacles and the dangers? And what strengths do they bring to this to ensure that this is going to happen? And if I look at those four questions and I kind of match that with the blind spots and the strengths, and I have a pretty good idea of the playing field and the capacity and the vessel. And it's like, if the capacity is there, then it's a good engagement. If it's not, then it's not a good engagement. And then I'll make the decision based on that. And then we have a follow up call where I discuss with them what my assessment was. And if we go no further, then I'll give them a couple of, here's what you can do now to gain acceleration.

• 1:37:00Speaker 01

  And if we decide to engage and we discuss the terms of the engagement.

• 1:37:04Rich Roll?

  Great.

• 1:37:05Speaker 01

  What I do.

• 1:37:06Rich Roll?

  Great, I love it.

• 1:37:07Speaker 01

  And if I could just say something, if I could.

• 1:37:09Rich Roll?

  Of course.

• 1:37:11Speaker 01

  I can't think enough, you brought the best out in me. I gotta tell you that.

• 1:37:15Rich Roll?

  Good, good.

• 1:37:16Speaker 01

  And when I think about, you know, why am I doing this? I go back to my dad. Genius.

• 1:37:27Speaker 01

  Legitimate genius.

• 1:37:30Speaker 01

  And he had all the talent. And he had all the will.

• 1:37:37Speaker 01

  But yet.

• 1:37:40Speaker 01

  He died homeless on the streets of New York City. I found it 25 years later.

• 1:37:45Speaker 01

  He didn't have to happen. But he was missing one thing. He didn't have a blueprint that told him what to do.

• 1:37:54Speaker 01

  Had he had the blueprint.

• 1:37:57Speaker 01

  He would have become an icon. Rather than a statistic. And for me.

• 1:38:05Speaker 01

  If I have it my way, there will be no statistics. There will only be personal icons because there's 7 billion people on this planet right now that have a unique capacity. There's only one of you, only one of me, only one of Tyler and all the creation. That's not an accident. We all have talents and we have the ability to leave a permanent mark. On humanity. That really counts. And for me, I believe that everybody should have access to that. So that they're one of the people that could. And did. Rather than my dad and my mom that couldn't, couldn't, and didn't. That's why I do this.

• 1:38:46Rich Roll?

  Thank you. Thanks for being here today.

• 1:38:50Rich Roll?

  If people want to

• 1:38:53Rich Roll?

  find out more about you, where should they go online to do that?

• 1:38:58Speaker 01

  The website is www.jeffspencer.com. It's right now getting a facelift. So just stay tuned. And

• 1:39:11Speaker 01

  Another option, it would be mycbapp.com. M Y C B A P P dot com. Mycbapp.com. And that's a chance to fill out an application and send it to me.

• 1:39:25Rich Roll?

  Mm hmm. Great. All right, thanks for coming today.

• 1:39:29Speaker 01

  Thank you, Rich.

• 1:39:29Rich Roll?

  We're gonna get out on the bike?

• 1:39:30Speaker 01

  Let's go.

• 1:39:31Rich Roll?

  Let's do it. All right. We're definitely gonna do that.

• 1:39:35Speaker 01

  All right, man, looking forward to it.

• 1:39:36Rich Roll?

  All right, thanks, man.

• 1:39:37Speaker 01

  You bet.

• 1:39:37Rich Roll?

  Peace.

• 1:39:38Speaker 01

  And love.

• 1:39:39Rich Roll?

  Plants.