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Hey everyone, it's Jay Shetty and I'm
so excited to share that I'll be coming

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to Australia this November
with Wanderlust.

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I'm bringing my live transformative
experience to the stage for a powerful

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three-day tour focused on the four
decisions that shape your entire life,

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how you see yourself,

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how you choose to make money,
how you choose to love and how you serve

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the world. If this resonates with you,
I'd love to see you there.

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Grab your tickets and I'll
see you in Australia.

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Honestly, my feed earlier this year
was full of your interviews. I was like,

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who's this sharp, smart, eloquent,

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incredible athlete. And then we saw each
other at the Dior show in LA and hand

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on my heart, I've never done
this to anyone else in the world.

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I came right to you and I was like,

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Aileen, I'm a fan. I want you
on the show. And thankfully,

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you wanted to come on too.
I'm, first of all,

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so flattered to hear
you say that. Secondly,

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the feeling is absolutely mutual.
I think what you do is so incredible.

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And you bring this very enlightened,
but also highly, like,

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like high touch, like very applicable
to real life kind of approach to so many

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people. And I genuinely believe you've
made so many people's lives better.

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Hey, it's Jay. I don't know
what your day's been like,

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but I was just thinking
about you for a minute.

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And I hope you're being a little patient
with yourself because you deserve it.

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And yeah, I'll talk to you soon.

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.

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.

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Ailingu, welcome to On Purpose.
Thank you for having me, Jay.

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I'm so happy to be here.
I wanted to start by asking you,

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today you're doing everything. I mean,
you've graduated from one of the best

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schools in the world. You are one of the
highest regarded athletes in the world

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in your field, fashion, business.
We know all of this from your resume.

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What's something you wish people knew
about you that you couldn't read on

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your resume? I think for a long time,
there was this sense of wanting to justify

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my academics as independent

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And so initially it was in the sporting
community, I would be the biggest nerd.

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I was always helping people with homework.

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I was kind of known as this academic
person. And then over time,

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as I became more well-known, I think
the general assumption or presumption

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that maybe we hold socially as a society
is that athletes maybe go to school,

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but they don't really go to school.

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Because at my core, I think of myself more
as an intellectual person who chose to do

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sports and to apply that kind of cerebral
take in like an athletic context.

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It could have been something
else versus an athlete who...

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thinks they are smart, right? Like that, I
think that's like an important distinction

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to make. And so I think one thing for me
was getting into Stanford when I was 16

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and doing that before
the Olympics so that I had my,

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what would have been my senior
year and then a gap year.

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So those two years to be like full time,
that was my first time being pro. Yeah.

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as in like full-time
as an athlete. Before that,

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I was Mondays through Friday
in school, just totally normal.

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I was the first person in our high
school's history to graduate early to kind

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of make that transition,

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situation work, but it was not because
it was an Olympic accommodation.

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It was because I had done the credits
and found a way to graduate early.

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And that was really special as well.
So I think what's misunderstood is maybe

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that how much to the extent that I
value education and seeing that as like

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the fundamental layer and building
on top of that. As a young girl,

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were you always athletically and
academically inclined at the same time?

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Were they two paths that always existed?

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Like literally everything, very obscure
things if you think about it and like have

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no interaction with one another,
right? Like I did archery. I did...

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like horseback riding.
I did rock climbing.

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And at one point I tried swimming
and tennis, but then I, you know,

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longer term, I did soccer and basketball
and cross country. I did ballet.

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I did piano. I did singing
lessons, like everything.

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My mom would say that I was athletic.
There were a couple of sports that I

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thought were pretty impactful
running being one of them.

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And I hold that to this day. And then
obviously skiing when I started on my ski

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team at seven or eight
years old. But again,

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I would say that I
was much more known as like

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the nerd in my class than the athlete in
my class. And what would you nerd out on?

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What were the things that you were
fascinated by or drawn towards?

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In elementary and middle school,
I went through a K-28 all-girls school.

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And so every year we would have the school
slash math Olympiad kind of thing.

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And so I won that in our grade
every year in our science.

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I did that both years that it
was available and won that in our school.

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So I think it was math and science
were definitely my big things.

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And then interestingly,

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philosophy. And so over
time, it's been like,

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I would say I have an analytical lens
to everything. And I take more of like a

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philosophicals,
like overview on top of that. Yeah.

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When I watch you do
an interview, I'm like,

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this is a philosopher speaking with
an academic, with a scholar. I'm like,

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take me to church, Eileen. I'm like, I
want to come to this motivational lecture

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by Eileen Gu. Like, that's how I
feel watching you. I'm like, God,

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I'm inspired. This is incredible.
And I mean it, I mean, I'm being,

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I'm being silly, but I'm also being
extremely genuine when I say that.

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Like, it's,

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Everything that you share is poignant
and powerful. I want to get into that.

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But before we do, can you take me back to
a childhood memory that you have that you

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feel defines who you are today?

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Firstly, thank you so
much for saying that.

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I'm deeply flattered and humbled. And I
do want to say that nothing that I said

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during the Olympics was calculated. I
had no idea what any of the questions were

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going to be. So if it
had been something else,

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I would have answered something else.
It's more to my heart.

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And I think a big part of that was having
an academic foundation to be able to think

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to begin with. And so there's that.
So I've never done PR training.

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I don't really know what that is. I
don't really know what that would entail.

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I just sit and think,

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with that. Absolutely.
This is going to sound really crazy.

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I started journaling very early.

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I was probably around four and I think I
was given a journal maybe as like a gift

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or something.
I don't remember particularly,

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but I remember very distinctly. It was one
of those journals that had like a little

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lock on it. And I really liked it because
it was my first thing that I felt like

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was really mine and contextualizing
privacy and like having this thing where

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it's like my brain outside of my brain and
it's like only mine and I can protect it

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with this little like
lock and key mechanism.

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So I thought that was really special.
And in the first page of the journal,

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I wrote along these lines.

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Dear Journal, my name is Eileen.
I'm four years old.

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I'm writing this now so that when you
are reading this, when it is published,

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like you will believe that I
actually was four and wrote this.

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Which...

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Wow. I think about now and there's
just like, let's unpack this, right? A,

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the hubris that I had as a four-year-old
to think that I would do something

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substantive and then B,
to like write a book about it and C,

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that there would be anyone in the world
that would possibly care to consume

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this like writing of a four-year-old,
right? Like what was the assumption?

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I had not started like free skiing.
I had no idea what free skiing was.

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I had no idea what I
was going to do in life.

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I didn't even know what I was going
to be journaling about. But in my head,

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I was like, one day I'm going to

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important enough that people are going
to care to read it and that this is going

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to be meaningful and impactful enough
to be worth writing about. Obviously,

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you know, it wasn't in that But like that
was kind of like the implication, right?

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Which is kind of interesting to think
about as a four-year-old. So yeah,

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I don't really know where that confidence
came from. I have no idea, but yeah.

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And one day you will have to publish that.
I'm working on it now.

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You will get to read it.
You are? Oh, that's incredible.

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You'll have to come back
on to talk about the book. We can.

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This episode of On Purpose
is presented by Ultra Running.

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off. That's altrarunning.com forward
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That's incredible, though. I love hearing
about how people start so young and those

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habits start so young. Have you journaled
pretty much every day since that time

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or did you...

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falling in and out of love with it.
Yeah, definitely not every day. And also,

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I would say my journaling habit
is actually less like, Dear Diary,

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this is what I did today. I would describe
it more as like an anthology of essays.

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So like, what is one thematic
principle that like keeps recurring,

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maybe like today or this week,
or like within a month, right?

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And I just keep returning. So like,
a recurring theme I have is like

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on womanhood. So it's like, my continual

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how do I balance like
my masculine feminine sides?

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How do I inhabit my power without,

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feeling shameful about it and also
without feeling performative about it.

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And that has been so complex because
I was the only girl on my ski team.

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But also I mentioned I went to an
all-girls school. So Monday to Friday,

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I would be only around girls
and then weekends, I would be only

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and gender dynamics, and also the power
that holds when you're the only one.

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So if you're the only girl in a ski team,
you feel like you're carrying all

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of womanhood on your shoulders because
you're the only one who's representing.

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And so if you're good, then you're
dispelling all of these myths.

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But if you're bad, then you're
corroborating them. And so suddenly,

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like I'm the N of one sample that is

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like upholding all of these stereotypes.
So I was like super aware of that when I

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was seven or eight. And so over time,
you know, with introducing fashion,

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with all of these other kind
of like elements into my life,

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I've grown a lot, but I would say I'm
still working on it. That's fascinating.

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I love that you have a space
that is beyond the public eye,

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that's private to you with that lock
and key that allows you to have these

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exchanges with yourself around your
philosophy on life and how you approach

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it. Even what you were just saying now in
knowing how your masculine feminine fits,

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what have been your latest reflections on
your masculinity and femininity and where

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they fit into your life and where
you see them being expressed?

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So I started working with Dior.
Congratulations.

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We love Jonathan Anderson.
Thank you. He's amazing. And you know,

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I think he plays with it so interestingly
because if you think about like a Dior

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face, it's very, it's like fresh,
it's young, but, The outfit is...

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is not reductive in that sense, right?
It's not something that's one dimensional

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of like, here is a caricature
of like a teenage girl,

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and we're going to like
slap it on a grown woman.

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It doesn't feel like that at all.
There's kind of this like,

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modern strength slash like,
the silhouetting is a lot more inclusive.

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And there's almost like a tomboyish style
within like a very flowy feminine fabric

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or print. And so that kind of like
comparison between cut and style,

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to bring that out?
How do you work with, you know,

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shapes and lighting and expression and
different hair and makeup and a different

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look to kind of like embody a very
multi-dimensional sense of femininity?

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It's not like femininity is the color
pink and we all smile and we all wear

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this haircut and we all,
you know, do X, Y, Z.

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And that's what being a woman is.
It's like understanding it in all its

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multi-dimensional nuance. So that was like
something that I did maybe two days ago

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and I was thinking about recently.
And you're an old year today. Of course.

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We love it. Yeah. On brand.

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seven or eight, you said. Yes. What does
training for being a free skier look like

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at seven to eight? Talk to me about
the regime, the discipline, the diet.

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What are you having to do at that age to
build this phenomenal skill set you have

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today? Jay, I think you're giving
me a little too much credit.

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What do you mean? I mean, it was a
ski team that occurred on weekends,

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North Star at Tahoe. I think there
was maybe like a couple weekday options

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for people who were local. But since I

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Thank you. in school normally.
And then on Friday after school,

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my mom would pick me up, drive
the four hours to get to Tahoe,

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during which I would, you know,
when I was younger, sleep.

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And then as I got older,
you know, do homework, eat.

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prep, do whatever I need to do.
Saturday morning, I would wake up,

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And this is actually
an important distinction.

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A lot of people think
my mom is a tiger mom.

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She's totally not.
Her number one thing was always sleep.

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So I was always the last
person to get to ski team.

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Like I was always the last person because
we would get there so late after school

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and I'd be the only one
driving from San Francisco.

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And so she would let me sleep
until I woke up naturally. You know,

215
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usually I would not wake up before eight.

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And I would go skiing maybe from like 9,
9.30 until the ski team would end at 2.30.

217
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And then my mom and I would probably
ski another hour just to take advantage.

218
00:13:34,093 --> 00:13:39,101
You know, we're already in Tahoe. But when
I was training, it was so much fun.

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It was so fun. And I think that was the
most important factor and still is to

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this day. I mentioned I
was the only girl on my ski team,

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feels like when you're terrified, right?
And that is not a gender divided thing.

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And you know how elated you feel when
you're asking your body to do something

223
00:14:02,133 --> 00:14:06,643
it's never done before. And like that kind
of very like human and very saturated kind

224
00:14:06,726 --> 00:14:10,749
of like emotion just makes you bond
with the people that you're experiencing

225
00:14:10,832 --> 00:14:14,964
with that much more. And so of course,
there'd be little challenges. You know,

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00:14:15,047 --> 00:14:19,232
I remember my coach would be like, whoever
can slide this reel the longest gets

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00:14:19,316 --> 00:14:20,149
a dollar or

228
00:14:23,650 --> 00:14:26,760
healthy sportsmanship and really
healthy competition. And, you know,

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this was pre-puberty.
So I was definitely one of the best,

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if not the best on the team. And there
were several others. And, you know,

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we would be jostling for that position.
And like maybe one day someone learns

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00:14:36,656 --> 00:14:40,206
a new trick. And I remember so
distinctly my first time sliding a rail.

233
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So there's like boxes in the train
park and then rails are like the,

234
00:14:44,107 --> 00:14:47,427
you know, like a handrail.
And so this one, I remember so vividly,

235
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it was my entire team
lined up next to the rail.

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00:14:49,986 --> 00:14:53,771
And I was the first person on our team
to slide the rail. And I remember I,

237
00:14:53,854 --> 00:14:57,587
you know, everyone's lined up, they're
watching, you know, I was keyed up.

238
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I do it. And it's just like
this chorus of, you know,

239
00:15:00,404 --> 00:15:03,673
seven and eight year old boys like,
wow. And of course, you know,

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by the end of the day, every
single person slowed the rail.

241
00:15:06,799 --> 00:15:09,120
But that was just
the sense of like pure joy.

242
00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:14,364
with people that you form lifelong bonds
with and who I'm still very close with

243
00:15:14,448 --> 00:15:18,212
to this day. Even though the others didn't
go on to become professional skiers,

244
00:15:18,295 --> 00:15:21,524
we still just will always share
that bond and that's really special.

245
00:15:21,607 --> 00:15:24,933
That's incredible. You speak about
your mom so beautifully. Of course,

246
00:15:25,017 --> 00:15:27,515
I met her at the Dior Show.
She's with us here today.

247
00:15:27,598 --> 00:15:29,448
Talk to me about how much you learned

248
00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:34,360
from your mom and your grandma
that was beyond just this incredible...

249
00:15:34,870 --> 00:15:38,549
dedication she had to you,
this ability to want you to sleep,

250
00:15:38,633 --> 00:15:43,669
but then driving you four hours, like that
level of devotion to you and wanting you

251
00:15:43,753 --> 00:15:48,542
to have this full, rich life. What were
the lessons that we may not see through

252
00:15:48,626 --> 00:15:52,737
that, that you've experienced
and feel from your mother and grandma?

253
00:15:52,820 --> 00:15:56,685
If I were to distill it, I would
say my grandma was the dreamer.

254
00:15:56,768 --> 00:16:01,743
She is the most dauntless, just go-getter
optimist that I've ever met in my entire

255
00:16:01,826 --> 00:16:03,430
life. When she was my age,

256
00:16:04,870 --> 00:16:09,449
engineer at one of the largest copper
mines in China at 21, which is crazy.

257
00:16:09,533 --> 00:16:14,485
I'm 22 now. And that was in her generation
in China as a woman. So it's like, oh,

258
00:16:14,568 --> 00:16:18,340
I talk about, you know, being
a woman, a male dominated sport.

259
00:16:18,423 --> 00:16:23,127
She was in the mines, overseeing men
in the mines at 21. Like that's obscene.

260
00:16:23,210 --> 00:16:28,370
Like I can't even imagine. Right. And not
once has she ever had a victim mentality.

261
00:16:28,780 --> 00:16:30,989
Not once has she ever thought,
oh, it was so difficult. Oh,

262
00:16:31,073 --> 00:16:33,373
I was the only woman.
She was like, of course.

263
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:37,929
You think they could keep up? Of course,
I was the only one who could do it.

264
00:16:38,012 --> 00:16:41,594
Why would they be able to do that?
And she had older brothers,

265
00:16:41,677 --> 00:16:45,022
and she would always say how
she was keeping them in line.

266
00:16:45,106 --> 00:16:47,919
So there was never a sense
of oppression for her,

267
00:16:48,002 --> 00:16:52,234
even if objectively the circumstances
she grew up in were very difficult.

268
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She lost her mother at a very young age.
And so losing that kind of female force

269
00:16:57,046 --> 00:17:01,420
in her life, I just can't even imagine.
And yet she just went on to become

270
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Fierce woman and For that, I will always,
always admire her. That's beautiful.

271
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She definitely passed that on to my mom.

272
00:17:10,180 --> 00:17:12,600
My mom, I would say, is the...

273
00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:16,769
efficiency queen. So she gets
things done. In modern speak,

274
00:17:16,853 --> 00:17:20,001
in like Silicon Valley
speak, she's an operator.

275
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She is the one who will ask, okay, how?
And so she will not do unnecessary

276
00:17:25,067 --> 00:17:28,552
suffering. She will not
work for the sake of working.

277
00:17:28,636 --> 00:17:33,804
She will do the shortest path and the most
efficient to do something with high

278
00:17:33,887 --> 00:17:37,860
quality and uncompromising
results and attention to detail.

279
00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:45,225
who's going to stay up
late all night to do it.

280
00:17:45,308 --> 00:17:48,014
She's not the one who's
going to suffer unnecessarily.

281
00:17:48,098 --> 00:17:52,251
And so between the two of them, I think
my grandma will like set the stage and set

282
00:17:52,334 --> 00:17:55,712
the direction. And my mom gave me
kind of the toolkit, if you will,

283
00:17:55,795 --> 00:17:58,037
to then go on and achieve it.
So in that way,

284
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:01,911
I would feel like the two of them
almost like co-parented slash like formed

285
00:18:01,994 --> 00:18:05,424
the basis for like these two really
complementary parts of me. Yeah,

286
00:18:05,507 --> 00:18:07,852
you've got the vision
and the tools. Yes. Yeah,

287
00:18:07,935 --> 00:18:12,120
the dreams and the practices. Exactly.
Yeah, that's pretty spectacular. Yes. It's

288
00:18:12,880 --> 00:18:14,747
And when I'm hearing about
your grandma, I'm like,

289
00:18:14,830 --> 00:18:18,449
Wow, the fact that she was doing
that at 21 in her generation in China

290
00:18:18,533 --> 00:18:22,416
is unbelievable. I know a lot of people
look at you today and they're like,

291
00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:26,278
I failed at life. I'm really behind.
Aileen Gu has achieved everything in

292
00:18:26,361 --> 00:18:27,194
the world.

293
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:37,764
Jay, Eileen, I feel behind.
I feel stuck. I'm 22 years old. I'm 25.

294
00:18:37,848 --> 00:18:41,317
I haven't achieved anything yet.
I don't know who I am.

295
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:45,340
What would you say to them?
Oh, my gosh. I feel the same way.

296
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:49,020
Absolutely. And I think
the reason for that is...

297
00:18:49,420 --> 00:18:52,432
A, hedonic treadmill theory,
generally speaking, right?

298
00:18:52,515 --> 00:18:56,680
And so the idea being you acclimate
so quickly to your circumstances that,

299
00:18:57,010 --> 00:18:59,234
it's no longer objective.
It's not like, oh,

300
00:18:59,318 --> 00:19:03,063
I reach a certain benchmark and I
will be happy. It's the faster you run,

301
00:19:03,146 --> 00:19:06,870
the faster it moves and you just
keep going and going and going. And so

302
00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:11,039
relatively, you can feel exactly
the same as anybody in your peer group,

303
00:19:11,122 --> 00:19:14,706
irrespective of these kind of like
objective goals and achievements.

304
00:19:14,789 --> 00:19:17,833
And so I would say, I think
this is a hallmark of our age.

305
00:19:17,917 --> 00:19:21,662
Like I think being in your early
twenties, mid twenties, late twenties,

306
00:19:21,745 --> 00:19:26,210
this is like a point in your life where
it's really important to feel that way.

307
00:19:26,293 --> 00:19:29,444
And I almost think of that as
like activation energy. I mean,

308
00:19:29,527 --> 00:19:31,847
generally in chemistry,
it's like you can't,

309
00:19:31,930 --> 00:19:34,333
perform a reaction
without like a catalyst.

310
00:19:34,416 --> 00:19:39,133
Like you need some kind of energy either
within the system or externally introduced

311
00:19:39,216 --> 00:19:43,816
to create it. And so that dynamism and
maybe we kind of create that and like feel

312
00:19:43,900 --> 00:19:48,500
it's like discomfort. But the fact of the
matter is it's energy that doesn't know

313
00:19:48,584 --> 00:19:51,070
where to go.
And so that's a neutral thing.

314
00:19:51,340 --> 00:19:54,470
It's more about redirecting it instead
of like sitting with this golf ball

315
00:19:54,553 --> 00:19:58,074
or butterfly or whatever you want to kind
of think about it as like bouncing inside

316
00:19:58,157 --> 00:19:59,937
of you feeling really uncomfortable.

317
00:20:00,020 --> 00:20:03,418
It's more about doing the self-work
to know where that energy goes.

318
00:20:03,501 --> 00:20:07,315
But the fact that you have it as a
hallmark of being young is so beautiful.

319
00:20:07,398 --> 00:20:11,680
Yeah, it's almost like you're saying that
we fight that limerence and we almost want

320
00:20:11,763 --> 00:20:15,889
it to go away rather than what I'm hearing
you say is actually if you channel it,

321
00:20:15,972 --> 00:20:18,071
if you redirect it, if you put it forward,

322
00:20:18,154 --> 00:20:22,124
then actually that's going to propel you.
That's going to make the difference.

323
00:20:22,207 --> 00:20:26,520
I think so. But knowing what direction to
take is so much harder than people think.

324
00:20:30,020 --> 00:20:34,014
I think hard work, super important,
but overpraised. Direction, underrated.

325
00:20:34,097 --> 00:20:37,384
And so we think about this as like,
who's working the hardest?

326
00:20:37,468 --> 00:20:40,211
Who's doing the most?
But if you're punching a wall,

327
00:20:40,295 --> 00:20:43,256
who's punching the wall the hardest?
That's not helpful.

328
00:20:43,339 --> 00:20:47,115
Like who's getting to the destination?
If you can walk around a column,

329
00:20:47,199 --> 00:20:51,301
maybe it's easier than punching the wall.
So it's not necessarily about doing

330
00:20:51,385 --> 00:20:53,965
the most. What's more
important is the direction.

331
00:20:54,049 --> 00:20:56,060
And so I think having that activation

332
00:21:00,020 --> 00:21:02,347
is taking the time
to figure out the direction.

333
00:21:02,430 --> 00:21:04,962
And that's worth the time
that it takes to explore.

334
00:21:05,045 --> 00:21:08,757
And I'm saying this as if I'm some
kind of like sage entity. I'm like, oh,

335
00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:12,602
I've been through it. I crash out about
this like every night, every night.

336
00:21:12,686 --> 00:21:15,833
I'm like, oh my God, what am I
going to do? Like I'm so behind.

337
00:21:15,916 --> 00:21:18,192
I feel like I'm not
living up to my potential.

338
00:21:18,275 --> 00:21:22,499
I have so many ideas and so many things to
do and I'm not materializing any of them.

339
00:21:22,583 --> 00:21:25,884
I feel like I'm losing time
by the day and like totally paralyzed.

340
00:21:25,967 --> 00:21:29,300
And I think that's just like
a really relatable feeling. A lot of

341
00:21:30,020 --> 00:21:34,228
you know my entire class with me um and i
think that's a pretty shared sentiment

342
00:21:34,311 --> 00:21:38,680
for everybody yeah you're so right it is
a generational thing and it's an age thing

343
00:21:38,763 --> 00:21:42,918
where you're in that space where it's
almost like up until 22 most of your life

344
00:21:43,001 --> 00:21:47,155
is mapped out for you you know you go
from seventh grade to eighth grade you go

345
00:21:47,238 --> 00:21:51,446
to college right you get a degree and then
all of a sudden now you actually have

346
00:21:51,530 --> 00:21:55,660
to make choices that don't have a timeline
i think you're so right about that

347
00:22:00,020 --> 00:22:03,678
redefined for you. The metrics
of success are there. You have a rubric.

348
00:22:03,762 --> 00:22:06,314
You want to get to 100.
Getting an A plus is good,

349
00:22:06,397 --> 00:22:09,634
and everybody wants to get there.
Life is so much more complex.

350
00:22:09,717 --> 00:22:14,008
And you don't know what your success is.
And success looks so different for so many

351
00:22:14,091 --> 00:22:18,277
different people. And there are a lot of
people who are really wealthy and really

352
00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:22,282
unhappy. And there are a lot of people
who in that position would feel super

353
00:22:22,365 --> 00:22:26,024
unsuccessful. And there are others
who would feel extremely successful.

354
00:22:26,107 --> 00:22:29,480
And so it is so personal.
And so doing the self-work to discover

355
00:22:30,020 --> 00:22:32,427
is, is a totally new thing
once you leave school.

356
00:22:32,510 --> 00:22:37,353
You spawned. the grading system
is already decided when you're at school.

357
00:22:37,437 --> 00:22:41,655
And as soon as you leave, there is no
grading system because now it's all up

358
00:22:41,739 --> 00:22:45,958
to you. Who's your athletic sponsor
when you're competing? Anta. Anta. Okay,

359
00:22:46,041 --> 00:22:50,397
yeah, because I was just thinking what
you just said, hard work, overpraised,

360
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,624
Direction. Direction underrated.
That's world class. I love that.

361
00:22:54,707 --> 00:22:58,591
That's an ad right there.
That's brilliant. And it's so true.

362
00:22:58,674 --> 00:23:02,948
It's so true because we get momentum
from direction, not hard work.

363
00:23:03,032 --> 00:23:07,761
Momentum comes because you know
the direction you're moving in and then it

364
00:23:07,844 --> 00:23:13,094
snowballs. Exactly. Yes. You can push a
rock up a hill as hard as you want and you

365
00:23:13,177 --> 00:23:16,475
won't gather momentum
because the direction's wrong.

366
00:23:16,559 --> 00:23:18,900
But maybe you can imagine him happy.

367
00:23:19,100 --> 00:23:23,240
Yes. Sisyphus reference. There you go.
Yeah. Talk to me about how

368
00:23:23,690 --> 00:23:28,187
you look for direction at your age with
the success you've had with the multiple

369
00:23:28,270 --> 00:23:32,652
opportunities. Now you're in a position
where opportunities are flying towards

370
00:23:32,735 --> 00:23:36,087
you. You can go anywhere,
do anything, be on any red carpet,

371
00:23:36,170 --> 00:23:40,667
interviewed anywhere. How do you choose?
How do you find your direction when you

372
00:23:40,750 --> 00:23:43,670
have unlimited opportunities,
unlimited ideas, and,

373
00:23:44,090 --> 00:23:47,840
But at the same time, you're this
thoughtful, pensive, introspective human.

374
00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,180
A lot of people don't know this,
but I'm very introverted.

375
00:23:51,263 --> 00:23:55,300
And so the older I've gotten, the more
I've realized that it's actually really

376
00:23:55,383 --> 00:23:59,525
important for me to have a little bit
of personal space and time because there's

377
00:23:59,609 --> 00:24:01,955
kind of two categories here.
One is my career,

378
00:24:02,038 --> 00:24:05,335
which is already somewhat developed.
And so when I'm doing that,

379
00:24:05,419 --> 00:24:09,666
a lot of it is outward facing, which means
I've already kind of like done the work

380
00:24:09,750 --> 00:24:13,099
to get here. And now it's like I
am creating something out of it.

381
00:24:13,183 --> 00:24:16,880
Whereas the other thing is me being
a 22 year old and I need to build.

382
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:20,380
I cannot stagnate in the

383
00:24:20,900 --> 00:24:25,254
energy kind of like dissipation phase
because otherwise I feel like I'm just

384
00:24:25,337 --> 00:24:29,516
going to freeze at the age that I
became successful and that's just going

385
00:24:29,599 --> 00:24:34,304
to stagnate forever. Whereas I also need
to realize that I'm this like independent

386
00:24:34,387 --> 00:24:36,080
entity who is 22, which means

387
00:24:36,260 --> 00:24:39,631
I need to take the time to learn.
I need to take the time to fail.

388
00:24:39,714 --> 00:24:43,399
And I need to have these experiences
that maybe you can't really justify

389
00:24:43,483 --> 00:24:46,121
with opportunity cost.
But it's important to travel.

390
00:24:46,204 --> 00:24:49,837
It's important to try a new hobby.
It's important to make a new friend.

391
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:53,971
It's important to say yes to something
that you didn't think you would have fun

392
00:24:54,055 --> 00:24:58,263
doing. I really do try to value that. So
as far as knowing what's important within

393
00:24:58,346 --> 00:25:00,440
work, that's very easy for me to decide.

394
00:25:06,260 --> 00:25:10,461
values. What's great about my brand is
that it's actually just my values and what

395
00:25:10,545 --> 00:25:14,164
I like to do and who I am. So there's
no kind of like asymmetry there.

396
00:25:14,248 --> 00:25:16,439
But it's like I care
about women in sports.

397
00:25:16,522 --> 00:25:20,860
I care about encouraging young people to
do balanced sports and academics as well.

398
00:25:21,290 --> 00:25:23,530
I care about uplifting free skiing.

399
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,120
Globally. And I care
about cultural exchange.

400
00:25:26,203 --> 00:25:29,609
So like those are generally things
that thematically will speak to me.

401
00:25:29,692 --> 00:25:32,799
I also think that I care a lot
about masculine feminine balance.

402
00:25:32,882 --> 00:25:35,142
I care about artistry.
I care about creativity.

403
00:25:35,225 --> 00:25:37,634
So that's kind of where
the fashion side comes in.

404
00:25:37,718 --> 00:25:40,168
And I'm going to be
a little bit more about that.

405
00:25:40,490 --> 00:25:42,896
Generally, that's how
I will choose events.

406
00:25:42,979 --> 00:25:46,833
Those values guide me and I feel
they have not really led me astray.

407
00:25:46,916 --> 00:25:50,770
Within the personal side, it's so
nebulous. That's why I don't know.

408
00:25:50,853 --> 00:25:55,286
When you're asking me, what advice would
I give? Pretty much all I can say is,

409
00:25:55,369 --> 00:25:58,701
yeah, I'm also in the cloud.
I have no idea what I'm doing.

410
00:25:58,785 --> 00:26:01,712
My only thing is if you
flip a coin a hundred times,

411
00:26:01,795 --> 00:26:04,954
it'll land on heads more than
if you flip it five times,

412
00:26:05,037 --> 00:26:07,990
just by virtue of how many
times you flip the coin.

413
00:26:10,490 --> 00:26:15,183
as many things as possible and hopefully
trust the model on its training data.

414
00:26:15,267 --> 00:26:19,899
Not to be super Silicon Valley on this,
but every experience you have is just

415
00:26:19,982 --> 00:26:24,798
informing you. It's like training your gut
feeling. I really do believe in that.

416
00:26:24,881 --> 00:26:28,590
I love how your life is really mirrors a

417
00:26:28,790 --> 00:26:34,236
belief that I have, which is that life
is more about collecting and connecting

418
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:37,490
things than it is about
doing or being anything.

419
00:26:37,940 --> 00:26:40,415
I love that. And I feel
like when I hear you speak,

420
00:26:40,498 --> 00:26:42,672
you're collecting things
from Silicon Valley,

421
00:26:42,755 --> 00:26:46,033
you're collecting things from fashion,
you've collected experiences

422
00:26:46,116 --> 00:26:48,540
from academia, you've
collected things from sport,

423
00:26:48,624 --> 00:26:52,302
and then you've just connected all
of these things. And that's who you are,

424
00:26:52,386 --> 00:26:55,864
is you're a collection and connection
of all these ideas, philosophies,

425
00:26:55,947 --> 00:26:59,726
beliefs, interests, values, as opposed
to like, oh, I'm an athlete, or I'm a,

426
00:26:59,809 --> 00:27:03,889
you know, whatever this box is. I just, I
love that your generation has you to look

427
00:27:03,972 --> 00:27:06,380
up to to go, oh, that's
what I have to do. I can

428
00:27:07,940 --> 00:27:11,775
at the same time and I don't have
to choose and I don't have to have

429
00:27:11,858 --> 00:27:16,097
the tension of fighting between them.
You talk about your thoughts creating

430
00:27:16,180 --> 00:27:20,937
your reality. When I first saw one of your
clips that really resonated with me and I

431
00:27:21,020 --> 00:27:24,971
was like, who is this person at 22
talking about the power of thought?

432
00:27:25,054 --> 00:27:29,062
Talk to me about how that became
a practice and developing that mindset

433
00:27:29,145 --> 00:27:32,660
became powerful for you at such
a young age and how it's been

434
00:27:33,020 --> 00:27:36,620
what has allowed you to unlock
everything that's come your way.

435
00:27:36,950 --> 00:27:40,378
Wow, you're really good. The way you
talked about the pattern recognition

436
00:27:40,461 --> 00:27:44,274
is like really sitting with me. I feel
like I'm going to marinate on that further

437
00:27:44,358 --> 00:27:48,219
in my own time. And you're going to have
to do that and then tell me what you come

438
00:27:48,302 --> 00:27:52,115
up with. Yeah, we'll chat. Well, I will
preface this by saying I'm an only child.

439
00:27:52,199 --> 00:27:55,849
And I actually think that was pretty
important because it meant that I...

440
00:27:56,270 --> 00:28:00,287
My mom was an immigrant, and so she talks
about this all the time where she didn't

441
00:28:00,370 --> 00:28:03,287
go to high school in the U.S.
So when I came home, you know,

442
00:28:03,370 --> 00:28:07,387
being bullied in high school, she didn't
really know what to do because she didn't

443
00:28:07,470 --> 00:28:10,170
really have this like American
high school experience.

444
00:28:10,790 --> 00:28:14,762
situation. And that's totally new.
She didn't go to undergrad in the US.

445
00:28:14,846 --> 00:28:18,706
And so when I was taking the SAT,
she didn't really know what to do in

446
00:28:18,789 --> 00:28:23,099
that situation. And what's really amazing
about my mom and I's relationship is

447
00:28:23,183 --> 00:28:26,704
that we're so honest with each
other and we're so collaborative.

448
00:28:26,788 --> 00:28:29,210
And when one of us
doesn't know, we're not.

449
00:28:29,390 --> 00:28:33,470
we don't pretend that we do.
And there's this kind of like humble and

450
00:28:33,890 --> 00:28:37,651
almost like student mentality where
it's like, I don't know, but I'll learn.

451
00:28:37,735 --> 00:28:40,770
And so I think I picked that up
where I was like, okay, I'm,

452
00:28:41,180 --> 00:28:44,205
not everyone has all the answers.
And I think as a young person,

453
00:28:44,288 --> 00:28:47,945
the sooner you learn that, the better.
Where nobody really knows what they're

454
00:28:48,028 --> 00:28:51,684
doing. And the sooner you take your fate
and agency of learning into your own

455
00:28:51,767 --> 00:28:54,452
hands, the better. And it's
not about becoming an expert.

456
00:28:54,536 --> 00:28:56,978
It's about knowing that you
have the power to learn.

457
00:28:57,061 --> 00:29:00,475
And that is your greatest superpower.
There's a reason why kids learning

458
00:29:00,558 --> 00:29:04,360
languages at a young age is so different
from adults learning the same language.

459
00:29:04,443 --> 00:29:08,043
Kids just learn so well. And so
because I came to the understanding that

460
00:29:11,180 --> 00:29:15,163
with kind of like high agency over time.
And that's where I was like, wait,

461
00:29:15,246 --> 00:29:19,500
I can just not like self parent. But I
did read like parenting manuals. You did?

462
00:29:19,583 --> 00:29:23,620
At what age? Like 12, 13. For yourself?
Yeah. Just to see what was going on.

463
00:29:23,703 --> 00:29:27,523
Like I was just curious. Because
my mom had mentioned because obviously,

464
00:29:27,607 --> 00:29:31,101
I'm her only child. So she was like,
Oh, I raised you by the book.

465
00:29:31,185 --> 00:29:33,541
Like when you were born,
I read all the like,

466
00:29:33,624 --> 00:29:38,149
nutrition and like feeding everything. And
I did everything to a T and you turned out

467
00:29:38,232 --> 00:29:41,097
pretty well, like health wise,
right? And she also has

468
00:29:41,180 --> 00:29:44,574
another saying where she said up
until 13, it's me as like the parent.

469
00:29:44,658 --> 00:29:47,853
Contributing genetics is like
the big thing. But then beyond that,

470
00:29:47,937 --> 00:29:50,735
just like, you know, health,
safety, general, like values,

471
00:29:50,818 --> 00:29:53,170
all of that until you're 13.
But after you're 13,

472
00:29:53,253 --> 00:29:56,498
so much of it is like the people
who you surround yourself with and

473
00:29:56,582 --> 00:30:01,440
your self-learning. And so for me,
I was like, wow, you know, I'm 12 13 so I

474
00:30:01,560 --> 00:30:04,233
should probably get on that,
you know? So I was like,

475
00:30:04,317 --> 00:30:08,395
maybe I'll also read the parenting manual.
She said it was pretty good. So like,

476
00:30:08,478 --> 00:30:11,932
I'll just take a look. They were
like an easy read. What did you do?

477
00:30:12,015 --> 00:30:15,781
What did you learn? Tell us. Tell us
how to parent ourselves. It was like,

478
00:30:15,864 --> 00:30:19,110
here's how to like parent your preteen,
like when they're being,

479
00:30:19,193 --> 00:30:23,375
you know, combative and like when to leave
them to have space and when to initiate

480
00:30:23,459 --> 00:30:26,548
a conversation, when to let
them fail, these kinds of things,

481
00:30:26,632 --> 00:30:28,140
how to have the puberty talk.

482
00:30:31,560 --> 00:30:35,744
great about that is my mom and I's
communication style that evolved because I

483
00:30:35,827 --> 00:30:39,901
could sit down and be like, hey,
I think we should discuss this thing about

484
00:30:39,984 --> 00:30:40,817
my upbringing.

485
00:30:42,450 --> 00:30:45,419
That's amazing. It's kind
of like a formalized setting.

486
00:30:45,502 --> 00:30:49,081
And for that reason, it's just
been like the most amazing teamwork

487
00:30:49,165 --> 00:30:53,188
and collaboration. And I admire her.
I idolize her. She's totally my hero.

488
00:30:53,271 --> 00:30:57,461
In a lot of ways, we are both the same
person and different sides of the same

489
00:30:57,544 --> 00:30:59,930
coin. We are inextricably
connected. And...

490
00:31:00,390 --> 00:31:04,576
were both really invested in me.
And there's something so special about

491
00:31:04,660 --> 00:31:09,087
that just like unbreakable trust to have.
And I totally understand that not

492
00:31:09,170 --> 00:31:12,093
everybody has that relationship
with their family.

493
00:31:12,177 --> 00:31:15,401
And I think my truly my greatest
blessing is that I do.

494
00:31:15,484 --> 00:31:20,092
I love hearing that because I think
there's such a power in allowing a 13 year

495
00:31:20,175 --> 00:31:22,738
old to have the opportunity
to even do that.

496
00:31:22,821 --> 00:31:26,790
So it's one thing that you even
opened yourself up to that. Second

497
00:31:30,390 --> 00:31:34,490
I think she was just like, what?
She immigrated from China? She's like,

498
00:31:34,574 --> 00:31:39,086
this is not something we've ever done.
But it's cool because it also makes you

499
00:31:39,170 --> 00:31:43,506
realize your parent is a person.
And as a kid, you don't really think that.

500
00:31:43,589 --> 00:31:46,830
You're like, oh, this is mom.
The entity is mom. But...

501
00:31:47,130 --> 00:31:51,718
No. she's a person and she's a woman
and she has friends and she has feelings

502
00:31:51,802 --> 00:31:55,368
and she's, stressed because it's
her first time raising a kid.

503
00:31:55,451 --> 00:32:00,102
And so the sooner you realize that she's
a person with her own thoughts and needs

504
00:32:00,186 --> 00:32:04,603
and imperfections and flaws, and also
points that are so admirable and worthy

505
00:32:04,686 --> 00:32:07,058
of what doesn't mean to live with purpose.

506
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507
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508
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509
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514
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515
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516
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517
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533
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What are your thoughts now, ZEPP?

534
00:33:49,410 --> 00:33:51,974
before you start skiing,
before you're competing?

535
00:33:52,057 --> 00:33:55,730
What are the thoughts that you
program into your mind? Contest mode.

536
00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,892
Oh my gosh. I'm extremely psychological.
I want to know everything.

537
00:34:00,975 --> 00:34:06,928
I have a saying where I say, I train like
I've never won and I compete like I've

538
00:34:07,012 --> 00:34:12,520
never lost. Say that again. That is so
good. I train like I've never won.

539
00:34:12,810 --> 00:34:17,010
and I compete like I've never lost.
And that's important because I'm

540
00:34:17,250 --> 00:34:21,276
A, I find it's difficult to win, but it's
way harder to stay there. And for me,

541
00:34:21,359 --> 00:34:25,489
you know, now through two Olympic cycles,
and also so much happens between age 18

542
00:34:25,573 --> 00:34:28,923
and 22, like staying in peak form
during that period of your life,

543
00:34:29,006 --> 00:34:32,980
specifically as a woman is very, very
difficult. From my last Olympics to now,

544
00:34:33,063 --> 00:34:37,245
I went through all of college. Like I was
a high school grad and now I'm a college

545
00:34:37,329 --> 00:34:41,490
grad and that's just two different people.
So that's one. The second thing is...

546
00:34:41,940 --> 00:34:43,440
It's. Keeps you hungry.

547
00:34:43,830 --> 00:34:48,330
And that's what allows you to perform
over time. The third thing is...

548
00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:54,747
In order to be a winner,
you have to have this insatiable,

549
00:34:54,830 --> 00:34:58,440
almost obsessive, religious, all-in...

550
00:34:58,650 --> 00:35:03,850
mentality when you compete, but because
it is so intense, you cannot sustain it.

551
00:35:04,230 --> 00:35:07,081
Always, because that's what
creates really dangerous egos.

552
00:35:07,165 --> 00:35:10,269
It's what creates the hubris
and overconfidence and complacency

553
00:35:10,352 --> 00:35:14,266
that undermines good training, because
you have to be very critical of your own

554
00:35:14,350 --> 00:35:17,252
training. For me, I see only
my mistakes when I'm training.

555
00:35:17,335 --> 00:35:20,490
I can never do anything right.
Every single thing, I'm like, oh,

556
00:35:20,574 --> 00:35:24,589
I'm two degrees off on that. Oh, I was a
second early. Oh, look at my upper body.

557
00:35:24,672 --> 00:35:26,190
I was three degrees. Whatever.

558
00:35:26,910 --> 00:35:29,174
that's all I think.
But when I'm competing,

559
00:35:29,257 --> 00:35:31,550
you need to make the switch. And I'm like,

560
00:35:31,650 --> 00:35:34,151
I am the best person who
has ever stepped foot here.

561
00:35:34,234 --> 00:35:37,480
Nobody's even going to touch me.
Everyone's competing for a second.

562
00:35:37,563 --> 00:35:41,008
Doesn't matter. That's it. But what's
so important is to separate that.

563
00:35:41,092 --> 00:35:43,741
I would say it's like 95%
the former and 5% the latter.

564
00:35:43,825 --> 00:35:47,568
And creating that really conscious
distinction is what protects me from going

565
00:35:47,651 --> 00:35:50,847
absolutely insane. I'm also not
that competitive in my daily life.

566
00:35:50,931 --> 00:35:54,475
I'm like a normal amount of competitive,
right? But you can imagine like,

567
00:35:54,558 --> 00:35:58,450
oh, you're so competitive when you ski.
Are you not insufferable with lawn games

568
00:35:58,534 --> 00:35:59,367
or whatever?

569
00:36:01,650 --> 00:36:06,209
super annoying to be around and I'm not.
It's only when I compete, I'm like,

570
00:36:06,293 --> 00:36:07,270
okay, alter ego.

571
00:36:08,310 --> 00:36:10,850
Go time. How did you discover?

572
00:36:10,950 --> 00:36:11,737
That.

573
00:36:11,820 --> 00:36:16,397
balance. What you just spoke about feels
like something an athlete figures out

574
00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:21,057
after 25 years of competing where they
realize they've carried this aggressive

575
00:36:21,141 --> 00:36:25,419
competitive mentality and critical
mentality far too much into every area

576
00:36:25,502 --> 00:36:27,928
of their life where their family feels it,

577
00:36:28,012 --> 00:36:31,573
their partner feels if they're
married or dating or whatever.

578
00:36:31,656 --> 00:36:34,560
Whereas you've realized
this early in your career,

579
00:36:34,644 --> 00:36:39,161
how did you discover that you need
to train like you've never won and compete

580
00:36:39,244 --> 00:36:40,260
like you've never

581
00:36:41,820 --> 00:36:43,790
Discover that. Well, for one...

582
00:36:44,340 --> 00:36:48,828
my mom just works. The way she instilled
work ethic in me is just unparalleled.

583
00:36:48,911 --> 00:36:53,515
So I will never be afraid to work harder
than other people if I know my direction

584
00:36:53,598 --> 00:36:56,871
is correct. And so much
of the direction is then cerebral.

585
00:36:56,954 --> 00:37:01,500
Maybe because I've gone to school, I have
a different perspective on psychology,

586
00:37:01,583 --> 00:37:05,460
or I'm seeing the physics of a trick
in a different way. So I think

587
00:37:05,700 --> 00:37:09,291
A, the underpinning is very academic.
And I think that's definitely

588
00:37:09,375 --> 00:37:12,034
a differentiating factor
for me. I agree. Yeah. B,

589
00:37:12,117 --> 00:37:16,312
I think then applying the work ethic
layer on top of that totally supercharges

590
00:37:16,395 --> 00:37:19,219
the whole thing.
That's like the direction, you know,

591
00:37:19,302 --> 00:37:21,880
momentum thing we were
talking about. And then,

592
00:37:22,110 --> 00:37:26,555
C, I think I just am so introspective.
I just, man, I just sit and think.

593
00:37:26,638 --> 00:37:31,020
I just think about my brain all the time.
And I think about who I am and

594
00:37:31,104 --> 00:37:35,486
the direction I'm moving in. I'm
self-assessing and I'm error correcting

595
00:37:35,570 --> 00:37:39,394
and I'm criticizing all the time.
I am my own greatest project.

596
00:37:39,477 --> 00:37:44,294
There is no project in my life that I
will ever build that is as time-consuming

597
00:37:44,377 --> 00:37:45,990
as living in my body every

598
00:37:52,110 --> 00:37:57,550
creating that obsessive mentality around
it. The only way other people can beat

599
00:37:57,810 --> 00:38:02,113
you is if they are really good
at doing themselves. And so for me,

600
00:38:02,196 --> 00:38:04,864
I just have to be the very
best version of myself.

601
00:38:04,947 --> 00:38:09,045
So I picked all of the best qualities
or things that I think make me unique,

602
00:38:09,128 --> 00:38:13,530
and then just put them together in this
like unique pattern matching type style.

603
00:38:13,860 --> 00:38:18,500
i believe you and at the same time i
feel you hold yourself gracefully too

604
00:38:18,900 --> 00:38:21,933
Like, talk to me about that.
Is it you are hypercritical,

605
00:38:22,016 --> 00:38:24,666
you are error correcting,
you are fixing yourself,

606
00:38:24,749 --> 00:38:27,920
but I don't feel like it sounds
like you beat yourself up.

607
00:38:28,470 --> 00:38:32,050
you know what I mean? And talk
to me about that because I think that

608
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:35,844
athletes but even all of us like
non-athletes i think we don't know

609
00:38:35,927 --> 00:38:39,980
the balance i think a lot of people
who are listening and watching right now

610
00:38:40,064 --> 00:38:44,498
struggle between trying to push themselves
to be better and then pushing themselves

611
00:38:44,581 --> 00:38:48,798
so hard they break yeah talk to me about
how you hold those two things together

612
00:38:48,881 --> 00:38:49,627
in order to

613
00:38:49,710 --> 00:38:53,681
incrementally improve and become better
every day and at the same time not burn

614
00:38:53,765 --> 00:38:56,690
yourself out or beat yourself up.
You are not your craft.

615
00:38:57,210 --> 00:39:01,038
And I think that distinction is so
important because I can beat my craft

616
00:39:01,121 --> 00:39:05,220
to death and I will never die. And so
the point that I'm trying to make there

617
00:39:05,303 --> 00:39:09,348
is like real resilience is being able
to take constructive criticism without

618
00:39:09,432 --> 00:39:11,738
the emotions.
And so it's the sense of like,

619
00:39:11,822 --> 00:39:15,649
how quickly can I actually implement
usable material instead of spending

620
00:39:15,732 --> 00:39:18,908
that energy to metabolize
something that made my ego bruise?

621
00:39:18,992 --> 00:39:23,308
You'll laugh at this. I have a practice
that I do with my friends called the CCC.

622
00:39:23,391 --> 00:39:25,890
It's called the Constructive
Criticism Circle.

623
00:39:27,210 --> 00:39:30,443
greatest act of love that you can give
anybody is to give them constructive

624
00:39:30,527 --> 00:39:33,760
criticism if you love them and you
know them well enough to give meaningful

625
00:39:33,843 --> 00:39:36,293
advice. Because anybody
in the world can be like,

626
00:39:36,720 --> 00:39:40,734
Jay, I love your jacket.
You're so smart. You're so interesting.

627
00:39:40,817 --> 00:39:44,255
That's not that difficult,
right? Anybody can say that.

628
00:39:44,339 --> 00:39:49,313
What's more difficult is for me to know
you well enough to know what your goals

629
00:39:49,396 --> 00:39:54,243
are, what your shortcomings are, and
to then help guide you and kind of match

630
00:39:54,326 --> 00:39:59,364
those points in a way that you yourself
didn't even see or know or are not ready

631
00:39:59,448 --> 00:40:03,544
to hear. Like that is so much more
meaningful and so much more powerful.

632
00:40:03,627 --> 00:40:07,161
It is like the deepest act
of service I could possibly imagine.

633
00:40:07,244 --> 00:40:11,640
And so you can imagine this was probably
like not the most popular idea when I

634
00:40:11,723 --> 00:40:14,166
was like, hey, guys,
it's like Friday night.

635
00:40:14,249 --> 00:40:18,472
Let's all sit in a circle and criticize
each other. And they're like, what?

636
00:40:18,556 --> 00:40:22,721
This sounds like a terrible idea.
And I was like, no, no. Like, obviously,

637
00:40:22,804 --> 00:40:27,570
the goal is not to insult another person.
It's just like, hey, I know your goal is.

638
00:40:27,790 --> 00:40:31,367
music. You're really passionate about
this. You're really interested in it. But

639
00:40:31,450 --> 00:40:33,968
you keep saying you're going
to like put stuff out on TikTok,

640
00:40:34,051 --> 00:40:37,051
you're going to do like,
whatever to like reach people. But,

641
00:40:37,150 --> 00:40:40,076
you're not very consistent with it.
And you're not holding yourself to

642
00:40:40,159 --> 00:40:43,300
that standard. And I, I know that you
could, you know, something like that.

643
00:40:43,383 --> 00:40:46,351
Or, hey, the other week, when you
said this thing to this other person,

644
00:40:46,435 --> 00:40:49,661
it wasn't even to me, I think the other
person kind of like bristled a little

645
00:40:49,745 --> 00:40:52,584
and you maybe you could have had
a nicer tone of voice. You're like,

646
00:40:52,668 --> 00:40:56,066
I didn't even know. There's so many things
big and small that you genuinely don't

647
00:40:56,149 --> 00:40:59,677
even know. And that just cuts the work. It
cuts the work if people can just tell you

648
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:02,256
and you can be like, wow, okay,
I'm just going to change it.

649
00:41:02,339 --> 00:41:06,539
And it's not about you. It's not like, oh,
my ego is gonna be hurt. When I'm talking

650
00:41:07,150 --> 00:41:12,282
trick. I'm not like, "Oh no, my double
quirk is bad. I'm stupid." I'm like,

651
00:41:12,365 --> 00:41:14,590
"Oh no, my double quirk is bad."

652
00:41:14,830 --> 00:41:17,905
It's really bad. Like, that's it.
That's the end of the sentence.

653
00:41:17,988 --> 00:41:20,431
There's no more extrapolation.
There's no more like,

654
00:41:20,515 --> 00:41:23,152
and this is what it says
about me as a human. It's like,

655
00:41:23,236 --> 00:41:25,679
I'm rushing the trick.
This is what I'm doing wrong.

656
00:41:25,762 --> 00:41:28,497
I'm not committing at this point.
I'm not truly believing.

657
00:41:28,580 --> 00:41:31,780
Maybe like it's not penetrating
my subconscious layer. Whatever.

658
00:41:32,080 --> 00:41:36,112
That is not who I am. And so again, this
is another thing that I see in like really

659
00:41:36,195 --> 00:41:40,178
successful people or athletes where it's
like really hard to distinguish those two

660
00:41:40,261 --> 00:41:43,004
things. So it's like if your
career is going really well,

661
00:41:43,087 --> 00:41:46,375
you feel like you're really great.
If your career is not going well,

662
00:41:46,459 --> 00:41:49,846
you feel like a failure. And for me,
those are pretty separate things.

663
00:41:49,929 --> 00:41:53,515
Like I am me and my career is me.
And also that means when people say, oh,

664
00:41:53,599 --> 00:41:57,333
Eileen, you're so good at skiing. I
don't translate that to like, oh, Eileen,

665
00:41:57,416 --> 00:42:00,566
you are so good. And so I don't
really feel like I am all that.

666
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,635
even if I think that my skiing
is all that. I love that answer.

667
00:42:03,718 --> 00:42:05,718
And what's going to blow your mind is...

668
00:42:06,250 --> 00:42:08,440
I didn't have a cool name like CCC for it,

669
00:42:08,524 --> 00:42:12,176
but I made my friends do exactly
the same thing a few years back. No,

670
00:42:12,259 --> 00:42:16,590
you didn't. Here was my version. So what
I said to them was, we've got to say...

671
00:42:16,900 --> 00:42:19,345
to everyone in the room. This is my
closest group of friends. Of course,

672
00:42:19,429 --> 00:42:21,277
you can only do it with your posters.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

673
00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,497
So it's my closest group of friends
from London that I grew up with. I said...

674
00:42:24,580 --> 00:42:27,690
We have to say... to each other's face,

675
00:42:27,820 --> 00:42:30,103
the thing we all say
behind each other's back.

676
00:42:30,186 --> 00:42:34,372
So if me and you were together and we're
talking about our other friend and we'd be

677
00:42:34,455 --> 00:42:36,738
like, oh, he's really
ambitious, but you know,

678
00:42:36,821 --> 00:42:40,955
we know he's not putting in enough work.
We actually have to say that to him right

679
00:42:41,038 --> 00:42:44,658
now. And so that was what I made me
and my friends do on a Friday night.

680
00:42:44,742 --> 00:42:47,847
And it was unbelievable.
And I could see who was scared by it,

681
00:42:47,931 --> 00:42:50,213
who was nervous about it,
who really owned it,

682
00:42:50,296 --> 00:42:53,916
who opened up and had the humility
and put their ego aside on both ends,

683
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,240
because you also have to have
vulnerability to tell someone the

684
00:42:57,820 --> 00:43:00,500
And you've got to be humble
enough to take it yourself.

685
00:43:00,583 --> 00:43:04,469
And then you start seeing the exchange
make sense when everyone has permission.

686
00:43:04,553 --> 00:43:08,036
So when you started to say that,
I was like, I need to steal your name.

687
00:43:08,120 --> 00:43:11,252
It's better. But I didn't have
that for it. That's unbelievable.

688
00:43:11,335 --> 00:43:14,920
But I just felt it. I was like,
we actually can't go to the next level in

689
00:43:15,003 --> 00:43:18,437
our relationship if we don't do this.
Right. We all think we're close.

690
00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:22,105
We all pretend like we're close.
But this is the test of actual intimacy,

691
00:43:22,188 --> 00:43:25,973
vulnerability, and friendship after 20
years that I've been friends with some

692
00:43:26,057 --> 00:43:26,890
of these guys.

693
00:43:27,820 --> 00:43:31,274
I'm totally aligned. That is incredible.
I mean, you came up with it.

694
00:43:31,357 --> 00:43:35,221
But I've just never like, that's insane.
I'm like, wow. But I agree with you.

695
00:43:35,304 --> 00:43:38,656
It's the only way of showing real
care and depth in a relationship.

696
00:43:38,739 --> 00:43:42,757
I love the way you framed it, too, because
also then there's like a group aspect

697
00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:46,755
to it. I think it's harder if it's like
one person, like put them on the spot.

698
00:43:46,839 --> 00:43:49,370
And then there's like kind
of responsibility there.

699
00:43:49,453 --> 00:43:52,856
This is just like truly fostering
like group connections and growth.

700
00:43:52,939 --> 00:43:56,220
That's so special. It's a much
more sensitive way of doing that.

701
00:43:57,820 --> 00:44:01,499
is better named. It's smart.
I wanted to ask you, you've said before,

702
00:44:01,582 --> 00:44:04,989
evidence over affirmation.
Explain that to me. I'm very realist.

703
00:44:05,072 --> 00:44:09,133
And I think I definitely get that from
my mom. But it was the sense of like,

704
00:44:09,216 --> 00:44:12,350
you want to shoot for the moon?
Okay, how do you get there?

705
00:44:12,433 --> 00:44:16,112
Who's going to build the rocket ship?
How are you going to design it?

706
00:44:16,195 --> 00:44:19,874
Who's going to power it? Like,
how are you going to get there? Right?

707
00:44:19,958 --> 00:44:23,120
And so the sense of like,
I can't convince myself that I'm

708
00:44:27,820 --> 00:44:31,755
Even if it's just conceptually, because
what's important is like technically every

709
00:44:31,839 --> 00:44:35,382
time I learn a new trick, I'm doing
something that I've never done before.

710
00:44:35,465 --> 00:44:39,008
So there is that kind of like final leap.
But most of the work, the basis,

711
00:44:39,092 --> 00:44:41,851
the bulk of it needs to be
ready so that you have that 5%.

712
00:44:41,934 --> 00:44:44,791
It's a lot of people talk about
like you make your own luck.

713
00:44:44,875 --> 00:44:46,997
And I think it's
in the same vein where like.

714
00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:48,500
You can only...

715
00:44:48,730 --> 00:44:53,357
succeed insofar as you are prepared and
you're kind of setting your own ceiling

716
00:44:53,440 --> 00:44:56,934
there with the base that you
have accumulated. And so, yeah,

717
00:44:57,018 --> 00:45:01,287
I would say I ask 5%, the last 5%,
but I feel good in the 95. And skiing,

718
00:45:01,370 --> 00:45:06,057
because it's just so visceral and literal
where it's like the difference between

719
00:45:06,140 --> 00:45:10,350
success and failure is like quite
literally broken bones and like top of

720
00:45:10,433 --> 00:45:13,391
the podium, right?
And so it is so clearly defined.

721
00:45:13,474 --> 00:45:17,290
And the difference in that is
sometimes just this sense of like,

722
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,439
subconscious buy-in?
Do I feel like I had the reps?

723
00:45:20,522 --> 00:45:24,062
Do I genuinely believe to my core?
And so the top layer, I think,

724
00:45:24,145 --> 00:45:27,796
is the conscious thing. Anybody
can convince themselves like, okay,

725
00:45:27,879 --> 00:45:31,976
I'm going to jump. That's easy. But
the subconscious thing of buying in all

726
00:45:32,059 --> 00:45:34,372
the way down to actually
commit the action,

727
00:45:34,456 --> 00:45:38,608
that is the true test of trust. And you
can only build trust over repetition

728
00:45:38,691 --> 00:45:41,116
and over practice
and true preparation. Yeah,

729
00:45:41,199 --> 00:45:43,540
you're saying that you can almost feel it.

730
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,789
Yeah. Whether you've actually bought into
it rather than just repeating something

731
00:45:51,873 --> 00:45:55,309
that may make you feel better
in the moment before you go out there.

732
00:45:55,392 --> 00:45:59,740
But everything about your body knows it's
false and is rejecting that idea. Exactly.

733
00:45:59,950 --> 00:46:04,405
And because it's so unnatural already,
and because it all happens so fast,

734
00:46:04,488 --> 00:46:07,348
like in skiing,
the takeoff is like 0.1 seconds,

735
00:46:07,432 --> 00:46:12,193
but the angle of your body and the torque
and the timing determines everything.

736
00:46:12,276 --> 00:46:16,669
And so if your timing is slightly off
because you're nervous and you rush

737
00:46:16,753 --> 00:46:17,586
a trick, then

738
00:46:17,860 --> 00:46:21,584
You can do the same thing, but you just
rush it a little because literally just

739
00:46:21,667 --> 00:46:24,524
because you're nervous and it's
game over. And so, of course,

740
00:46:24,607 --> 00:46:27,656
you're going to be nervous,
but it's like controlling the degree.

741
00:46:27,740 --> 00:46:30,211
And so that's what I'm
talking about with the buy in.

742
00:46:30,294 --> 00:46:34,018
It literally happens so quickly that it's
too fast for you to make the decision

743
00:46:34,101 --> 00:46:35,657
consciously at the end of the day.

744
00:46:35,740 --> 00:46:36,690
The results will...

745
00:46:36,910 --> 00:46:40,864
tell you what you really believe.
This episode is brought to you by Mazda.

746
00:46:40,947 --> 00:46:44,330
Some of life's best moments
happen because nothing went wrong.

747
00:46:44,830 --> 00:46:47,597
The drive home,
the conversation that continues,

748
00:46:47,681 --> 00:46:51,695
the plans that stay exactly as planned.
That's the feeling of safety.

749
00:46:51,778 --> 00:46:56,327
Every Mazda is designed with proactive
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750
00:46:56,411 --> 00:46:59,593
aware, more connected and more
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751
00:46:59,677 --> 00:47:04,285
So you can feel confident on the road.
That's why Mazda has been named Consumer

752
00:47:04,368 --> 00:47:06,150
Reports' safest new car brand.

753
00:47:14,830 --> 00:47:19,631
visit www.iihs.org to learn more a lot
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754
00:47:19,714 --> 00:47:23,904
mazda usa.com to learn more consumer
reports does not endorse products

755
00:47:23,988 --> 00:47:28,849
or services talk to me a bit more about
the technicalities of free skiing because

756
00:47:28,933 --> 00:47:33,611
i feel i've been fortunate enough to sit
down with novak and talk about tennis

757
00:47:33,695 --> 00:47:38,312
and talk to lewis hamilton and charles
leclerc about f1 and hearing about how

758
00:47:38,395 --> 00:47:43,135
much drivers lose weight and like how
much their weight impacts the movement of

759
00:47:43,218 --> 00:47:44,052
the car and

760
00:47:44,830 --> 00:47:48,210
Thank you. I've never interviewed
someone who's a free skier before.

761
00:47:48,293 --> 00:47:51,569
Talk to me about that. Because as you
started talking about the angle and

762
00:47:51,653 --> 00:47:54,791
the mechanics, I'm starting to think,
wow, the room for error is tiny.

763
00:47:54,874 --> 00:47:57,368
And like you just said,
if you go too early or too late,

764
00:47:57,452 --> 00:48:00,590
talk to me a bit more about that,
of something as a complete novice to

765
00:48:00,673 --> 00:48:04,455
this world, I would be unaware of, so that
we can really appreciate what's happening

766
00:48:04,539 --> 00:48:07,723
out there. Because I think we watch
you, and I've watched tapes of you,

767
00:48:07,806 --> 00:48:11,656
and I'm like, how does she just do that?
That's incredible. But you almost...

768
00:48:12,070 --> 00:48:14,550
undervalued because we're uneducated the

769
00:48:14,770 --> 00:48:19,337
physics behind it and the amount
of analytics behind pulling something like

770
00:48:19,420 --> 00:48:22,210
that off. Totally.
A couple of things. One of

771
00:48:22,930 --> 00:48:26,586
The biggest saying you will hear
in free skiing is patient on the takeoff.

772
00:48:26,669 --> 00:48:30,679
And it's like the most frustrating thing
to hear because it's so obvious and it's

773
00:48:30,762 --> 00:48:34,418
like a just do it sort of thing.
But the reason why it's so frustrating is

774
00:48:34,501 --> 00:48:37,349
that because it's not conscious
and it happens so quickly,

775
00:48:37,432 --> 00:48:41,088
a lot of it is like you're at the top
and you're like, I'm going to do it.

776
00:48:41,171 --> 00:48:44,928
I'm going to do it. And at the very
last thing, it's like, oh, no, I bailed.

777
00:48:45,012 --> 00:48:48,617
I didn't do it. And there's this almost
sense of betrayal that happens in

778
00:48:48,700 --> 00:48:51,530
that moment because you're like,
I swear, why is my body

779
00:48:52,930 --> 00:48:56,862
so much of it is identifying the kinds
of fear that you have. For me,

780
00:48:56,945 --> 00:49:00,936
I can like logic my way into things
because I can understand like what

781
00:49:01,019 --> 00:49:03,554
different kinds of fear
feel like in my body.

782
00:49:03,638 --> 00:49:07,861
And so discerning that often is the
difference between injury and success.

783
00:49:07,944 --> 00:49:12,400
As far as mechanics go, this is kind
of interesting because if you think about

784
00:49:12,483 --> 00:49:16,008
gymnastics, the body type is very
different than my body type.

785
00:49:16,091 --> 00:49:19,990
And so if you think about like
the physics of rotation, when you're

786
00:49:22,930 --> 00:49:26,717
longer and higher and your limbs
are a lot more dispersed,

787
00:49:26,801 --> 00:49:31,656
it means that the timing is even more
precise and it's even harder to kind

788
00:49:31,739 --> 00:49:36,661
of grasp. It's just like there's so
much of you in the air. On top of that,

789
00:49:36,745 --> 00:49:41,867
it's an outdoor sport. So like wind
impacts you more and like weather and like

790
00:49:41,950 --> 00:49:45,003
just all of these little
things. And so for me,

791
00:49:45,087 --> 00:49:48,290
I felt like because I'm
so much taller than most

792
00:49:52,930 --> 00:49:57,094
that were initially working against me.
But then, if you think about physics,

793
00:49:57,177 --> 00:49:59,990
and you think about a whip,
the longer the whip is,

794
00:50:00,410 --> 00:50:02,766
the more force is generated
at the very tip.

795
00:50:02,850 --> 00:50:05,317
So if I can get the timing
right, technically,

796
00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:08,256
I can generate more force.
It's just harder to do it.

797
00:50:08,339 --> 00:50:12,914
So I just have to be so precise. And I was
very aware about that from the beginning.

798
00:50:12,997 --> 00:50:17,072
And how are you keeping time? Is it
something you're counting in your mind?

799
00:50:17,156 --> 00:50:19,789
Is it a feeling in your body?
Like, where's time?

800
00:50:19,873 --> 00:50:23,782
Because you can't see anything.
I visualize a lot. And when I visualize,

801
00:50:23,865 --> 00:50:26,970
I visualize in four angles
or like dimensions. I will do

802
00:50:27,200 --> 00:50:32,183
follow cam, I will do deck angle,
I will do my POV, and then top angle.

803
00:50:32,266 --> 00:50:37,760
Then I will do fast motion and slow
motion. And get this, I will do all black

804
00:50:37,970 --> 00:50:41,227
proprioception. So it's like I will
visualize what the G forces feel on

805
00:50:41,310 --> 00:50:43,626
my body pulling apart
at certain points in the air.

806
00:50:43,709 --> 00:50:45,884
And that will help with
my timing and grounding.

807
00:50:45,967 --> 00:50:49,459
Because the first time you do a trick,
you can't say anything just visually.

808
00:50:49,542 --> 00:50:53,363
Right. So you really have to trust. That's
another thing you have to trust when you

809
00:50:53,446 --> 00:50:56,562
can't say anything. You're totally blind.
You have to trust in this.

810
00:50:56,645 --> 00:51:00,043
Your body's going to do something,
but it hasn't even done it before also.

811
00:51:00,126 --> 00:51:04,041
So like, how can you trust that? Right. So
there's something kind of counterintuitive

812
00:51:04,124 --> 00:51:04,958
about that. And

813
00:51:07,970 --> 00:51:12,394
So I do so much visualization. I just I
just think and that visualization is based

814
00:51:12,477 --> 00:51:16,352
on you watching footage of yourself
watching footage of myself know what

815
00:51:16,435 --> 00:51:20,529
the different angles and cams look like
those four that you experience. Yes.

816
00:51:20,613 --> 00:51:25,010
And what's interesting also is sometimes
I'm the first woman to ever do a trick.

817
00:51:25,160 --> 00:51:29,061
And so that adds complexity also,
because then I'm watching videos of men.

818
00:51:29,144 --> 00:51:32,883
And of course, there's going to be
differences in those mechanics, too.

819
00:51:32,967 --> 00:51:37,220
And so I have to be noticing what points
I can kind of take and what I have to.

820
00:51:37,490 --> 00:51:41,571
innovate almost on my own, just given
my own, you know, phenotypes there.

821
00:51:41,655 --> 00:51:46,364
So there's kind of like intricacy there. I
would say also we do have like foam pits,

822
00:51:46,447 --> 00:51:48,760
we have airbags. So like that helps a lot.

823
00:51:48,843 --> 00:51:52,924
But really doing something on snow
for the first time, there's something,

824
00:51:53,008 --> 00:51:56,804
I mean, yeah, like when is the last
time you felt like genuine fear?

825
00:51:56,887 --> 00:52:00,740
And I think a lot of people would
struggle to think of the last time.

826
00:52:00,824 --> 00:52:03,130
But in skiing, it's like, Every day.

827
00:52:03,710 --> 00:52:06,395
literally every day.
I'm so glad I asked that question.

828
00:52:06,478 --> 00:52:08,559
And thank you for taking
us into your mind.

829
00:52:08,642 --> 00:52:12,786
I want to take you back to the moment you
won your gold medal at the Milan Olympics.

830
00:52:12,870 --> 00:52:16,712
And that was such an incredible moment.
Walk me through the euphoria you felt.

831
00:52:16,795 --> 00:52:20,335
You're just talking about the fear
you feel, the trust you have to have,

832
00:52:20,419 --> 00:52:23,690
the looking at it from four angles,
the surrender in that moment.

833
00:52:24,050 --> 00:52:27,646
Talk to me about how that felt. I think
it's really important to contextualize

834
00:52:27,729 --> 00:52:29,129
that moment, actually. So...

835
00:52:29,270 --> 00:52:31,956
In free skiing, there are
three disciplines, half pipe,

836
00:52:32,039 --> 00:52:35,430
slopestyle and big air. I'm the only
woman who competes in all three.

837
00:52:35,514 --> 00:52:39,290
What's particular about that is no
other woman who competes in free skiing.

838
00:52:39,440 --> 00:52:42,382
half pipe at this Olympics
competed in any other event.

839
00:52:42,465 --> 00:52:44,747
So it's like one event
versus three events.

840
00:52:44,830 --> 00:52:47,937
And if each event is a week long,
you're skiing every day,

841
00:52:48,020 --> 00:52:50,357
the accumulated fatigue,
the just emotional,

842
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:54,840
you're literally having like the highest
highs and the lowest lows of your life.

843
00:52:54,980 --> 00:52:58,160
Every day for two weeks.
And then sometimes it's at night.

844
00:52:58,243 --> 00:53:00,804
Sometimes it's in the morning.
You're in Italy.

845
00:53:00,887 --> 00:53:05,361
Like everything is kind of just different
and foreign and you're managing so much

846
00:53:05,444 --> 00:53:09,130
load. The last part is the Olympics
actually scheduled my trainings

847
00:53:09,213 --> 00:53:12,420
overlapping because they
thought that it wasn't possible.

848
00:53:12,770 --> 00:53:16,370
essentially to do all three events.
And so I tried to petition it.

849
00:53:16,730 --> 00:53:20,586
Obviously, it didn't work. So since I
made finals and actually ended up meddling

850
00:53:20,669 --> 00:53:24,623
in big air, which is the event before, I
actually missed out on a training in half

851
00:53:24,706 --> 00:53:27,134
pipe. And there's only three.
And then very lastly,

852
00:53:27,217 --> 00:53:29,891
it supposedly never snows
in this valley. But of course,

853
00:53:29,974 --> 00:53:32,501
if you want it to snow,
schedule the Olympics, right?

854
00:53:32,584 --> 00:53:36,440
So it was scheduled for night originally.
And so you can imagine your adrenaline

855
00:53:36,523 --> 00:53:39,788
super high all day. You're like,
okay, this is like the culmination.

856
00:53:39,871 --> 00:53:42,299
I'm gathering all of my strength,
all of my energy.

857
00:53:42,382 --> 00:53:45,782
I've competed five times already,
qualities and finals for big time.

858
00:53:46,100 --> 00:53:48,100
the other two events and the qualifiers.

859
00:53:48,230 --> 00:53:51,609
last minute, like an hour before
training starts for the contest, they say,

860
00:53:51,692 --> 00:53:54,567
okay, we're canceling it.
Like it's moving to another day.

861
00:53:54,650 --> 00:53:56,930
And what's even crazier is they said,

862
00:53:57,290 --> 00:54:00,374
if we can't do it, we're just
going to take qualifier results.

863
00:54:00,457 --> 00:54:02,621
And I had fallen in qualifiers.
I got fifth.

864
00:54:02,704 --> 00:54:05,737
I was qualifying in fifth place.
I've never done that before.

865
00:54:05,820 --> 00:54:08,087
I almost always qualify
in the top one or two.

866
00:54:08,170 --> 00:54:12,173
And so I was just losing my mind because
I was already so tired that I was like,

867
00:54:12,256 --> 00:54:16,157
just make finals, just make finals,
land something and make finals. And I did,

868
00:54:16,241 --> 00:54:20,193
but I was in fifth. And so I was just,
you can imagine, crashing out all night.

869
00:54:20,276 --> 00:54:23,053
And then the next morning,
thank goodness it went ahead.

870
00:54:23,137 --> 00:54:26,610
So I'm going into this contest very
frazzled. I am not in peak form.

871
00:54:27,290 --> 00:54:31,545
really holding on by a thread. And
this has never happened before in other

872
00:54:31,628 --> 00:54:32,461
contests, but

873
00:54:32,690 --> 00:54:36,914
For some reason at the Olympics, I fell
on my first run in every single contest.

874
00:54:36,997 --> 00:54:41,006
I don't know what the reason was.
I genuinely have this theory that I needed

875
00:54:41,089 --> 00:54:44,936
to wake up. And there's something so
otherworldly and surreal about being

876
00:54:45,020 --> 00:54:48,950
at the Olympics that I needed something
so harsh that my body to be like,

877
00:54:49,310 --> 00:54:52,704
You're actually here, like wake up,
lock in to be like, OK,

878
00:54:52,788 --> 00:54:57,361
I'm here and like jolt me into reality.
I have no idea what that situation was.

879
00:54:57,444 --> 00:55:01,251
That's what I've kind of decided
was the case. So needless to say,

880
00:55:01,334 --> 00:55:04,900
I fall on my first run.
And now I'm in last.

881
00:55:05,420 --> 00:55:08,589
And this is supposed to be
like my, you know, best event.

882
00:55:08,673 --> 00:55:11,640
I haven't lost a final
in this event in seven years.

883
00:55:11,780 --> 00:55:14,526
So there's four events. There's
men's and women's ski and snowboard.

884
00:55:14,610 --> 00:55:17,037
So four events total.
The favorites for the other three,

885
00:55:17,120 --> 00:55:20,944
None of them won. And so, of course,
I'm going into the last event. I'm like,

886
00:55:21,027 --> 00:55:24,800
OK, great. This is not boding well for me.
And so it was just so much doubt.

887
00:55:24,884 --> 00:55:28,606
And just even if I was so prepared,
I've never felt dealt like that before.

888
00:55:28,689 --> 00:55:32,140
And I just remember at the top
being like, please, please, like just

889
00:55:32,660 --> 00:55:36,202
Get the feeling, get the feeling. Because
I talked about like having that switch

890
00:55:36,285 --> 00:55:39,193
and I just wasn't getting it.
I was like, I don't know where I am,

891
00:55:39,276 --> 00:55:42,547
like where she is, like the competitor.
Like, I don't know where she went.

892
00:55:42,630 --> 00:55:45,402
Like it's maybe I'm too tired.
Maybe like something's going on.

893
00:55:45,485 --> 00:55:47,939
I'm like burnt out from five
other events. I don't know.

894
00:55:48,023 --> 00:55:50,205
I like couldn't find her.
And before my first run,

895
00:55:50,289 --> 00:55:52,089
I actually knew I was going to fall.

896
00:55:52,250 --> 00:55:55,925
I knew I was not going to land it
because I was just not in my competitive

897
00:55:56,009 --> 00:55:59,277
headspace. And I remember going
up to the front. I was like, okay,

898
00:55:59,361 --> 00:56:02,934
there it is. There's a moment.
Hold on to it. Hold on to it. I found it.

899
00:56:03,018 --> 00:56:07,049
I found it. I get to the front and they're
like, commercial break, eight minutes.

900
00:56:07,132 --> 00:56:09,537
Oh my God. And I'm just
like, are you kidding me?

901
00:56:09,621 --> 00:56:12,737
So there's video of me fake
punching a wall. I'm running alone,

902
00:56:12,821 --> 00:56:16,648
staring at a corner, just doing absurd
things to try and just get myself into

903
00:56:16,731 --> 00:56:20,490
this headspace. And it's very narrow
and it's fleeting and I was there and

904
00:56:22,250 --> 00:56:25,764
And then it just clicks and I'm like,
hold it for 30 seconds. And I do.

905
00:56:25,848 --> 00:56:29,261
And as soon as I land, I'm like,
okay, I won. You knew it. I knew it.

906
00:56:29,344 --> 00:56:33,314
And then I went back up and did a better
run and then got the two highest scores

907
00:56:33,397 --> 00:56:37,165
of the contest and ended up winning.
But what was really important, I think,

908
00:56:37,248 --> 00:56:41,150
about that contest is it was not about
my skill. It was totally me versus me.

909
00:56:41,420 --> 00:56:46,928
It was like I could have just not landed
a run and it would have been me betraying

910
00:56:47,011 --> 00:56:52,178
myself. And so much of it came down
to trust and willfulness of just like how

911
00:56:52,261 --> 00:56:57,564
consciously can you enter flow state,
which is totally counterintuitive and you

912
00:56:57,647 --> 00:57:02,247
just can't do that. And so this is
like the next best thing. And yeah.

913
00:57:02,330 --> 00:57:05,889
All I can say was extremely difficult.
And when I fell to the ground and started

914
00:57:05,972 --> 00:57:08,067
crying, it was because
I was totally spent.

915
00:57:08,150 --> 00:57:10,868
It was just like nothing
I've ever done before. Yeah,

916
00:57:10,951 --> 00:57:13,299
it was really difficult.
That is unbelievable.

917
00:57:13,383 --> 00:57:17,105
Thank you for walking us through
play-by-play because you just don't get

918
00:57:17,188 --> 00:57:20,382
that insight. I mean, there
needs to be a documentary on this.

919
00:57:20,465 --> 00:57:24,346
I hope you're working on it. You need
to be able to see that just that kind

920
00:57:24,429 --> 00:57:28,574
of stop, start, stop, start, stop, start
that what it does to an athlete's mind,

921
00:57:28,657 --> 00:57:32,644
even when you're so clear, even when
you're so focused and driven and trained

922
00:57:32,727 --> 00:57:34,630
and prepared, there's so much to it.

923
00:57:34,880 --> 00:57:38,560
Moments later from winning,
your whole day changes. Yes.

924
00:57:39,050 --> 00:57:42,300
you get some big news.
I remember watching that press conference.

925
00:57:43,490 --> 00:57:47,830
we see you breaking into tears,
Talk to me about that moment and...

926
00:57:48,140 --> 00:57:53,012
experiencing both that incredible high
after so much sacrifice training prep all

927
00:57:53,095 --> 00:57:57,740
the ups and downs you just walk through
and then experiencing such a low in

928
00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:01,898
pretty much in the next same day. This is
like my first time really speaking about

929
00:58:01,981 --> 00:58:05,647
this publicly since. And it's just been
so hard for me to metabolize after all

930
00:58:05,730 --> 00:58:09,684
this time, because like you said, it's the
highest high and the lowest low separated

931
00:58:09,767 --> 00:58:13,817
by a matter of minutes. My grandma had
been sick for a long time and we knew that

932
00:58:13,910 --> 00:58:17,705
Um, there was a chance that it was our
last time saying goodbye to her when I

933
00:58:17,789 --> 00:58:21,735
left for the Olympics. And so I said all
the things that I wanted to say to her.

934
00:58:21,818 --> 00:58:23,430
I told her I'd be brave for her.

935
00:58:23,750 --> 00:58:26,048
And made her a bunch
of promises, essentially.

936
00:58:26,131 --> 00:58:28,429
But my mom and I had
actually spoken about it.

937
00:58:28,512 --> 00:58:31,897
And we'd agreed that if something
had happened to my grandma during

938
00:58:31,981 --> 00:58:35,987
the Olympics, I didn't want to know during
the contest because it has happened.

939
00:58:36,070 --> 00:58:36,950
And I'm not sure.

940
00:58:37,340 --> 00:58:42,027
mourning prematurely and just like ruining
this experience that I've trained for four

941
00:58:42,110 --> 00:58:46,600
years, like it's not going to help. I
just cannot believe that my mom knew that,

942
00:58:47,030 --> 00:58:48,030
the whole time.

943
00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:50,960
during my other events. And, and,

944
00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:52,620
did not

945
00:58:53,060 --> 00:58:57,733
break a sweat or a tear or anything.
And she was so strong the entire time.

946
00:58:57,817 --> 00:59:02,173
That is unbelievable to me.
Like it's her mother. That is just absurd.

947
00:59:02,256 --> 00:59:05,281
Like I genuinely cannot
wrap my head around that.

948
00:59:05,364 --> 00:59:10,038
I actually get her emails. And so I
checked my phone right after I had won.

949
00:59:10,121 --> 00:59:14,985
We hadn't done the podium ceremony yet.
And so I saw an email from the funeral

950
00:59:15,068 --> 00:59:17,870
home and I just knew. And it was just...

951
00:59:18,050 --> 00:59:21,299
like my ground was like cracking out
from underneath me. And it's like,

952
00:59:21,383 --> 00:59:25,196
you think your reality is what it is until
something just comes along and makes you

953
00:59:25,279 --> 00:59:27,637
feel like you were living
in like a little fishbowl.

954
00:59:27,720 --> 00:59:30,969
I thought the Olympics was the most
important single event that I could

955
00:59:31,053 --> 00:59:34,490
possibly imagine. I couldn't think
of something that would be more gripping

956
00:59:34,573 --> 00:59:37,166
and compelling than that.
And all of a sudden I was like,

957
00:59:37,249 --> 00:59:40,592
this doesn't matter. And all of a sudden
the thing that I held to be like

958
00:59:40,676 --> 00:59:44,526
the epitome of all of life just like
fell away underneath me. And so that was

959
00:59:48,050 --> 00:59:52,320
I had to do the press conference.
I couldn't skip this press conference.

960
00:59:52,403 --> 00:59:54,980
And so I took a moment
to mourn with my mom,

961
00:59:55,064 --> 00:59:58,510
and then we just went to this
press conference. And so...

962
00:59:59,000 --> 00:59:59,917
I actually think

963
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:03,178
But those viral interviews where
I have the gold bow in my hair,

964
01:00:03,261 --> 01:00:06,694
because I had that in my pocket
as a lucky thing. And I was like, oh,

965
01:00:06,778 --> 01:00:10,873
in case I win, I'm going to put it in my
hair to represent femininity on the world

966
01:00:10,956 --> 01:00:12,740
stage in this male-dominated sport.

967
01:00:13,710 --> 01:00:16,442
All of those gold bow interviews,
I actually knew already.

968
01:00:16,526 --> 01:00:20,229
And so when I'm smiling and talking
about neuroplasticity and when I'm smiling

969
01:00:20,312 --> 01:00:23,142
and talking about like, oh,
I'm going to continue competing,

970
01:00:23,225 --> 01:00:24,775
like this is what I love to do.

971
01:00:25,950 --> 01:00:28,941
That was all so compartmentalized.
And then at the very end,

972
01:00:29,025 --> 01:00:31,606
I wanted to like honor her
and say, hey, by the way,

973
01:00:31,689 --> 01:00:34,732
one of the most important people
in my life just passed away.

974
01:00:34,815 --> 01:00:38,729
I promised her I'd be super brave. I
wanted to uphold the promises that I made

975
01:00:38,812 --> 01:00:42,725
to her. And it's like, this is my moment
of closure. I broke down during that.

976
01:00:42,809 --> 01:00:47,273
But like, I had to just turn something
off in my brain to get through that press

977
01:00:47,357 --> 01:00:51,410
conference. And then you can imagine
afterwards, it was just devastating.

978
01:00:52,530 --> 01:00:56,411
And then it was just horrible. Like
there were people online who were like,

979
01:00:56,495 --> 01:01:00,799
why is she at, you know, this event when
she's like skipping her grandma's funeral,

980
01:01:00,882 --> 01:01:03,336
like horrible, horrible
things where I was like,

981
01:01:03,419 --> 01:01:05,979
I will take just about
any kind of hate, but like,

982
01:01:06,062 --> 01:01:10,155
you are not going to put my grandmother's
name in your mouth in this situation.

983
01:01:10,238 --> 01:01:11,190
Like that is just,

984
01:01:11,520 --> 01:01:15,309
like a line I will not cross. So I did
keyboard warrior a little bit on that.

985
01:01:15,393 --> 01:01:18,679
But yeah, I planned my grandma's
funeral. I found the choir for it.

986
01:01:18,762 --> 01:01:22,551
I selected the Bible verses for it.
I picked the flowers. I did the ceremony.

987
01:01:22,635 --> 01:01:25,468
I did all the invites.
It's my mom's mom. It's my grandma.

988
01:01:25,552 --> 01:01:28,720
It was really difficult, but I
could not ask my mom to do that.

989
01:01:28,950 --> 01:01:33,947
And so I think my act of service to my
family and like to the honor to like honor

990
01:01:34,030 --> 01:01:36,957
my grandma was in service
of that. And so, yeah,

991
01:01:37,041 --> 01:01:41,870
I had to do a bunch of things after
the Olympics for like a week or two. But.

992
01:01:42,240 --> 01:01:44,557
Immediately after when we
went back to the funeral, I'm

993
01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:49,269
I had planned everything and we'd
metabolized it. And that was just so,

994
01:01:49,352 --> 01:01:53,600
so challenging for the days after
the Olympics. I would say that

995
01:01:54,270 --> 01:01:58,297
you showing both those sides of yourself
when you're answering the questions about

996
01:01:58,380 --> 01:02:00,140
neuroplasticity in your mindset.

997
01:02:00,510 --> 01:02:05,015
are you as your superhuman self, and then
you being honest about the loss of one

998
01:02:05,098 --> 01:02:07,450
of the most important women in your life,

999
01:02:07,560 --> 01:02:11,410
was the most human thing you could have
done. And to me, seeing those both...

1000
01:02:11,670 --> 01:02:13,030
on center stage,

1001
01:02:13,650 --> 01:02:18,430
as a gold Olympic winner. To me, there's
nothing more powerful that could...

1002
01:02:18,900 --> 01:02:22,520
set a better standard for young athletes
and young people all over the world.

1003
01:02:22,603 --> 01:02:25,370
I mean, to be superhuman
and human in the same breath.

1004
01:02:25,920 --> 01:02:29,572
That's my grandma. Just channeling her.
Going to end on a final five.

1005
01:02:29,655 --> 01:02:32,969
These questions I've been answered
in one sentence maximum. Hit me.

1006
01:02:33,052 --> 01:02:35,080
So Aileen Gu, these are your final five.

1007
01:02:35,760 --> 01:02:39,451
Question number one, what is the best
advice you've ever heard or received?

1008
01:02:39,534 --> 01:02:42,169
It will never be embarrassing
to try. Second question,

1009
01:02:42,252 --> 01:02:45,020
what is the worst advice
you've ever heard or received?

1010
01:02:45,360 --> 01:02:48,581
Waking up at four in the morning
makes you more productive.

1011
01:02:48,664 --> 01:02:52,837
That's a good one. Question number three,
your advice for young women today?

1012
01:02:52,920 --> 01:02:54,320
Define your own category.

1013
01:02:54,870 --> 01:03:00,291
meaning for women, there's a lot of boxes
that feel more rigid as far as career,

1014
01:03:00,374 --> 01:03:03,387
what being a mother means,
what being a girl,

1015
01:03:03,471 --> 01:03:07,530
just like it can feel very rigid.
And so I think it's like,

1016
01:03:07,890 --> 01:03:11,179
Define your own categories.
You can be N of 1. Question four.

1017
01:03:11,262 --> 01:03:15,545
When you have a crash out or a bad day,
what does Aileen Gu do? Cry. Oh my God,

1018
01:03:15,629 --> 01:03:18,033
I cry. I cry so much.
And I think it's great.

1019
01:03:18,116 --> 01:03:22,344
I think it's the most efficient way
that you can release emotion and return to

1020
01:03:22,428 --> 01:03:26,601
a logical state. The sooner you can get
the irrational out, the better. Also,

1021
01:03:26,684 --> 01:03:29,890
I run a lot. So both of those,
sometimes at the same time.

1022
01:03:30,150 --> 01:03:33,036
Running and crying? Wow, all right.
When it's really bad. Yeah.

1023
01:03:33,120 --> 01:03:36,854
Fifth and final question. We ask this to
every guest who's ever been on the show.

1024
01:03:36,938 --> 01:03:40,327
If you could create one law that
everyone in the world had to follow,

1025
01:03:40,410 --> 01:03:42,660
What would it be?
Maybe some kind of, like...

1026
01:03:42,990 --> 01:03:46,130
independent study program early like

1027
01:03:46,500 --> 01:03:50,787
at age seven or eight, you have to pick
a project and stick with it for a year.

1028
01:03:50,870 --> 01:03:55,267
And it's not in a career. It's not like
every seven-year-old needs an internship,

1029
01:03:55,351 --> 01:03:59,471
but some kind of self-guided, high-agency
exploration that values curiosity.

1030
01:03:59,555 --> 01:04:03,233
Alingu, I know you're extremely busy.
I'm so grateful for your time,

1031
01:04:03,316 --> 01:04:07,382
your presence, your energy. I hope
this is the start of a great friendship.

1032
01:04:07,465 --> 01:04:10,092
And I wish you all the best.
I'm rooting for you.

1033
01:04:10,175 --> 01:04:12,720
I'm in your corner
and here whenever you need.

1034
01:04:16,500 --> 01:04:19,972
I'm so grateful for our conversation
today. I feel like I learned.

1035
01:04:20,055 --> 01:04:24,066
With Zip, you can get the feeling you
need and the flights to Fiji you want.

1036
01:04:24,149 --> 01:04:26,597
You can get what you need want.
It pays to Zip.

1037
01:04:26,681 --> 01:04:30,691
T&C's credit approval criteria apply.
Credit provided by Zip Money Payments,

1038
01:04:30,775 --> 01:04:34,516
Pty Limited, Australian Credit License
441878. So much. I'm so excited.

1039
01:04:34,599 --> 01:04:36,700
I feel invigorated. Amazing. Thank you.