The Lonely Price of Olympic Gold | Lindsey Vonn

Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Very excited about our guest. We have the inspirational Lindsey Vonn in the house. I'm so excited you're here. I was telling you before, it's always great having the greatest of all time in their field and you're the greatest downhill skier of all time and it's exciting to have you here. We have some mutual friends, which I'll share more afterwards, but I'm excited to learn about your mindset because it's always fascinating to me the way people think who get to the top. And as a former professional football player and usa handball player i was never at your level i never made the olympics but i was able to still professional so but but i was able to train i was able to train hard and i was able to get to a certain level but not to the level you're at which is inspiring so i'm curious i'm always curious about the most influential person in your life growing up because i think that has a big influence in our life so who was the most influential person and what was the greatest lesson they taught you well i mean the person that really inspired me was peekaboo street because she was like the only person that we had really in skiing at that time that was like you know really in the spotlight yeah and i met her at an autograph signing in minnesota you were 10 right nine and so like as soon as i met her i was like that's what i want to be really yeah because i mean i skied for fun before that and i mean i trained and all this stuff and i loved ski racing but i never really had a concrete goal until i saw her and then you know it was suddenly unattainable goal um and then you know i ended up being on the olympic team with her in 2002 um and she said the only thing that she didn't say much to me because i mean i kind of followed her like her shadow and she was probably pretty annoyed because i was you know 16 um but she said you know i asked her when she was inspecting i said what are you looking at and she said i'm trying to find the fall line i said well where is the fall line she's like you have to figure that out yourself it's like an instinctual thing um and so i always thought about that and um it stuck with me but yeah you mean when you're inspecting the course like you always look at the course and you find your line right and you know i was like i'm just like what are you you know i just want to pick her brain because she you know she was my idol i'm like what are you what are you doing she wouldn't really teach you that though she was kind of really want to teach me that but i like you know try to force it out of her but it was a good piece of information nonetheless when was the first time you beat her i actually don't think i did because oh no i might i might have beaten her in some of the world cups that year but um she retired after the 2002 olympics so i didn't really get a chance to race against her very much she went out on top at least top of her game i guess yeah definitely above me right yeah and she was like this girl's coming for me so i might as well get out get out while i can yeah i mean she had it had similar to me she had a lot of injuries and she was just kind of the same thing like beaten beaten up so right what do you think made um you such an instinctual dominant athlete what where did the mindset come from like needing to or the desire to win all the time at the highest level you know i'm a really competitive person and i'm always kind of like i'm like a perpetual one-upper yeah so you know it's like if i and you know i think one of the things that most people said about me is when i started to succeed they said well you know now she's got this she's gonna you know relax and it's not gonna happen again and that's the exact opposite way that I think you know I'm like if I get this and I need to get this and if I get this I need to get that and then just kind of like I always try to get better and better um because that's the fun of a challenge you know and I think as time went on too that I started to hit these you know marks of you know records and and that then excited me and then you know it's just like finding constant motivation in becoming better Right. Did you ever doubt yourself? There's only one time I doubted myself. I was, I think I was right after the Olympics. Which one? 2002. I was still young, you know. So I was 17, 18. And I just, you know, I kind of got demoted from the ski team. I was on like the Europa Cup team, which is one level below. And I was kind of crawling my way back. And yeah, I just, I kept crashing and I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. And then I just decided to double down on what I was doing. I hired a trainer with money I didn't have. I asked for an advance on my contract. And I spent the whole summer with a new trainer in Monaco. And I got my first podium the next winter. So when you doubted yourself, how did you get out of it, though? Was it just, let me find people to help me get out of it? I need, like, a reset, you know? Like, because you get stuck in a rut. And it's like, what I'm doing is not working. So if I need to get to the next level, like, what is there that I can change? You can't change everything, obviously, because then you can't figure out what was wrong. but I needed to find something that I could drastically improve on to get better. And fitness is one thing that I had obviously worked hard at, but not hard enough. Really? And so I made that change and it worked. Now, when you had all these, you had like what? I don't know, so many crashes and injuries, right? For so many years. A lot, yeah. A couple. I mean, you tore your knees like 50 times. I mean, everything is crazy. You got plates in your arm and your back. I mean, it's nuts. How do you have confidence after a crash and come back and say, well, I'm going to go back and do this course or the next course. Better, faster, stronger. Short-term memory. Really? Yeah. I mean, it's part of the job, right? The concussions, I guess, help because you forget. You're like, oh, wait, I don't even remember that. Shoot. Yeah, you know, it's like crashing is part of the job description. So if you're not ready to do that, then, you know, you should probably not do that. But for me, you know, I always use it as a learning tool. You know, what did I do wrong? What can I do better? you know i always analyze my crashes a lot of people can't watch their crashes because they're like you know they don't want to watch your crashes especially when you're screaming i was like what's my style point oh my gosh and every time my coaches i would i would crash they would stop videoing because they're like oh shoot you know they stop videoing like you have to keep videoing i want to see the whole thing um and so yeah i mean i just would analyze my crashes what i do wrong and and um you know i think for me you have to push the limits in order to find your limit and i always like wanted to be right up on the limit and then obviously you go past it sometimes which you crash and you know but if you're not pushing yourself that hard and you're never crashing you're never going to find your limit that's how i think but some of these crashes they would take what three to six months to recover right yeah yeah so so how do you get to do you feel like you could have done it without crashing what do you feel like you'd need to cry I mean, not for me. That's just kind of how I raced was always 110%. So I think that's the reason why I was able to be as successful as I was and downhill for as long as I was. But that's also the reason why I crashed a lot. So it's kind of a double-edged sword. But I don't know. I wouldn't change it because I think every injury taught me something. I think I became a stronger person, maybe not physically, but mentally I definitely got a lot stronger. And I think when you go through, you know, those kinds of setbacks, you also have a different perspective, you know, and appreciate what you have so much more. So every time, you know, I crashed or I had injuries, I became more hungry to come back because I realized how much I miss it and how much I love it. And, you know, just I wouldn't change it. Yeah. Can you walk me through when you're going down right before you're about to go off? What's it called? Starting gate. The starting gate. Yeah. Right before you're about to go off, what does that five minutes before look like in your mind? I mean, hopefully it's really pretty empty. Really? Yeah. I mean, because up until that point, you do all the preparation, right? You know, I've analyzed the course. I've visualized it a thousand times in my head. I've done all the physical preparation I can do. I've warmed up in the morning. I've warmed up right before I'm in the starting gate. And at that moment, that's when you kind of automatize everything. Like everything should be automatic. You should be in the starting gate calm and ready to go. Because if you're thinking about certain things that you could have done. You're screwed. Because you have to be so in the moment. When you're racing at 80 miles an hour, you have to be only thinking about what's right here. If you're thinking about this and that and the other thing, then that's a dangerous recipe. Do you know what your fastest speed was ever? The fastest I've ever been clocked at was 84. Oh, my gosh. But I don't know. That's so terrifying, right? The men have gone 100. That's nuts. Yeah, it's fun. You crash on that, you're... It's awesome. How do you survive that? I don't know. Good question. We have, like, back protectors. I mean, they have airbags now. No way. You didn't have that when you were 17, did you? No, I wish I did. Airbags? Yeah, airbags. And your back protector, and, like, if you are inverted in any way, it'll... Shut up. Yeah, it's great. That's amazing technology. Yeah, I know. It's awesome. I really needed that, like... 20 years. Yeah. Now, you said you were nine when you met your hero, your idol, right? If your nine-year-old self was standing in front of you right now, what would you say in terms of advice to her? I wouldn't say anything. Because, you know, like you can't correct the things you've done in the past. And I think that, you know, again, everything that you experience teaches you something, whether it's good or bad. And so I wouldn't be here if I had done things differently. So I wouldn't go back and say, you know, do something differently. I would maybe just say enjoy the ride. That's about it. Do you feel like you enjoyed it? Yeah, I did. I mean, I definitely think sometimes I took myself a little too seriously. But that's also part of it. When you want to be the best, you have to give up a lot of things. And you can't always enjoy everything as much as everybody else. But I think it was well worth it. For me, one of the hardest transitions of my life has been from when I was done playing football into what's next in my life. Yeah. And you've been transitioning for the last few years now. Has it been hard for you, or do you feel like you've set your brand up so well that it's been easy to kind of move past the sport in a sense? I mean, I tried as hard as I could to set myself up, you know, and I had plenty of work and plenty of things to do. But, you know, as you know, it's one day to the next. Your life is completely different no matter how prepared you are. And it definitely took me until probably, yeah, a few months ago. Really? Yeah. COVID was the best thing for me because I actually had time to slow down. Because what I do, I always overwork. So if there's something going on in my life, no matter what it was, I had skiing. I could always really focus on skiing and kind of push the other stuff out. And so work is just a great way to bandaid everything as well. And so with COVID, I had to slow down, had to like think about things, like think about retirement, which was horrible. When did you officially retire? February 2019. Okay. The year before COVID. So almost two and a half years. Yeah. So it took me, I mean, the year after, you know, before COVID, it was, yeah, it was really hard. And then COVID was like, okay, slow down, think about things, process things. and now I'm finally at like a really good place where I'm not, you know, working to, you know, forget that I used to ski race. Really? Yeah. It's weird, huh? Kind of weird, right? It's really weird. Now, when your last race was, was that in February then? Yeah. Your last race? Uh-huh. When was the last like big medal that you won? Because didn't you have like- My last race. That was it. Didn't you have a big crash like five days before or something? Or- Like two days before. Two days before. You had a big crash. Yeah. Now, Brad Slater asked me, asked you this question. Because it was a big crash. this was 2019 huh yeah how did you decide to be like okay i'm gonna come back after demolishing your body uh i mean there's really no other option you know it's like not race go big or go home i you know that's i didn't want to go home yeah i mean i don't know i've always been the person that if if i can walk like if i can be out there i will be out there you know unless you have to, like, the doctor physically stops me, you know. Or you can't walk. Right. Like, I'm going to be out there. I mean, I was pretty close to, like, you know, not being able to walk at that point because I had torn my LCL, so I was racing with no LCL. I had braces on both knees. Shut up. No, it was definitely, I felt like I was being held together by duct tape. Okay. And so, like, my last race was literally, I was like, well, this is it. This is all I got. so I'm just going to lay everything on the table and see what happens. And it was hard because I didn't want to crash in my last race. There's no do-overs. You knew this was going to be your last race. Oh, yeah. You're like, I'm done after this. My body is falling apart. Literally. And so, you know, it was like, there's no do-overs. Is this your last chance? And, yeah, I just literally threw down and gave it everything I had and, you know, third place. It's crushing it. So how did you get your mind right, though? Like, I know in your body, you're like, okay, I'm just going to puff it up and just make it happen. But how did you get your mind right? Well, I actually talked to my coach that I grew up with in Minnesota the night before my race. And he's like, what is 60 seconds in your whole life? Wow. Like, what is 60 seconds? I'm like, wow, it's a really good perspective. I'm like, it's nothing. It's like, exactly. It's nothing. So who cares? Just go. I'm like, all right. Yeah. I mean, that was my mindset anyways, but it just kind of like put everything in perspective in that moment. And he made a great point. 96 years old. And he made a great point. Wow. Yeah. That's a great point. Isn't it crazy that, I mean, how many Olympics did you do? Three? Four. Four Olympics. Yeah. That's nuts. Just Miss Sochi. That sucked. Only four times the Olympics. Isn't it crazy that so many athletes, I'm sure you know as well, train decades for 60 seconds 10 seconds 30 seconds It nuts And especially you know qualifying too You have a cold you a track and field athlete your competition is 60 seconds 45 seconds and you're a little bit off and you're done. Yeah, it's crazy. A decade, a few decades of your life. Yeah. Over. Over. Luckily, you never had to deal with that because you won a bunch of medals, but how do you think people could deal with that mindset, that mentality of I gave my whole life to something, whether it's a relationship, a career, a project, whatever, business and it doesn't work out. How do we bounce back from that? I mean, it's hard. I think everyone has their own process. I always felt like if I worked hard enough, things would turn around. Like whenever I had a really bad moment, I said, you know, the good guy is not going to finish last. You know, I'm going to come back. I just have to double down, you know, reinvest everything in myself and come back. You know, sometimes you just need a little bit of a reset. Sometimes, you know, you need to take a break and come back to it. Sometimes, you know, it's more of just a mind over matter. There's just a lot of different ways to get from point A to point B. But I think the biggest thing is just believing in yourself, which can be very difficult to do, obviously, especially if you have like multiple setbacks in a row. But that's why I always journal. You know, I did a lot of journaling from like a general day to day to when I was racing and training. I would write everything down, especially when things are going well, because everyone thinks when things are going well, like this is great. It's so easy. and they forget about what they're doing. And then all of a sudden one day things aren't going well. Like, how do I get back? You know, so it's good to keep, like I always kept notes of everything, like what runs felt good, what skis felt good, what foods felt good. And then I always had a reference point to go back to. Was that daily or was that just most days? No, daily. Every day. I have like, I have stacks of books, yeah. When did you start? Probably 2005. So you were what, like 21 or 23 or something? Yeah. Okay. Okay, so for 13, 14 years. 14 years you were journaling consistently. And I also, on and off I journaled my workouts because that got a little bit excessive. There's only so much journaling one can do, but I occasionally did do my workouts as well. Was it more like, here's what I did, here's the feeling I had, here's what worked, what didn't work? Yeah, like every run I would write down, I tried a different line, it didn't work, I felt good. This boot felt good. This setup felt good. This felt bad. I tried to do this line. It didn't work. As much detail as I can give myself, I felt like the better because it's only helping me. Where do you think you would have been if you never journaled? I think I would have lost my way a couple times because looking back definitely gave me confidence and thinking about, you know, remembering, you know, like how it felt to have a good run and what I was doing in that moment. You know, my own words helped me visualize that, which then translated into me finding my way again. So, you know, I don't know. I feel like. So you would read back your journals. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. You talked about believing yourself. How did you learn to believe in yourself consistently with all the setbacks, though? How do you stay in belief when it's like, okay, crash, failure, didn't make the Olympics here. whatever, I'm going through personal struggles in my life, whatever it might be, how do you stay in belief with yourself? I kind of always went back to, especially when I had multiple injuries, I always went back to why am I doing this? You know, I'm doing it because I love it. I'm passionate about it. And, you know, even if I have setbacks, I still am happy every time in the starting gate. So it's kind of like always going back to the root of why I'm there. Yes, I love winning and that's always what I wanted to do. There's no response about that. Yeah. But, you know, at the end of the day, when I'm putting myself through everything that I did, you know, all the rehabs and everything, I always remembered I loved it and I wanted to go fast again. Whether I won or lost, I wanted to go fast again. So kind of keeping things in perspective, which again is like, you know, one of the reasons why I think being injured, you know, not so many times, but, you know, having injuries is just a good way to have a different perspective on things. Yeah, and reflect and see, do I still love this or not? Do I want to keep going? And it sounded like you did so many times. How important was mental health for you throughout your entire career? Because it wasn't really talked about until the last five years, mental health and the importance of self-care and taking care of your mindset. How important was that for you? Did you ever feel like you lost it at times or overwhelmed or stressed or depressed at certain points? Yeah, definitely. I mean, I definitely struggled with depression for a long time, and I was vocal about it not until 2012 maybe. And at that time, no one was talking about it. I hadn't told my parents. I didn't tell anybody. And then I just was like, this is something I really need to do. And it definitely helped me kind of process everything and feel more comfortable about it. But I mean, being on the road is really hard. You're always in a hotel room. I'm always on myself. And a lot of times people just see the athletes on the podium and happy and like in the media. But, you know, when the cameras go off, you go back to an empty hotel room and it can be really, really hard. Again, especially because you're doing it for so long, you know, and at the end of my career, thankfully I got my dog Lucy. So she was like my companion and always was with me and definitely helped a lot. But it's like the loneliness really gets to you. It is lonely. If you're training that hard for something, I mean, your team is there and I'm sure your family are there, but at certain points, you're just alone in your thoughts. It's isolating. It's very isolating. Yeah. There's not many people that can probably relate to you. Not really. You have a couple peers. There's a couple other athletes that you can talk to and kind of understand your coach maybe, but. Then also, you know, if you want to talk to somebody about it, they're not really going to have any sympathy for you. Right. Because you're doing well. Because you're making money. Why are you complaining about something? So, you know, success doesn't equal happiness. I mean, everyone says that. Like, money doesn't equal happiness. success is an equal happiness. You have to find that, you know, on your own. But yeah, it's just because you're successful doesn't mean you're happy. And there are definitely a lot of times where I was not happy. Really? Yeah. Do you feel like you're happy now? Yeah, I'm actually the happiest I've ever been. I love that. You do have a great energy about you right now. Not that I knew you before, but you have a great energy right about you right now. What brings you the most joy in your life? I think just waking up every day and being excited about, you know, something new, new challenges new experiences many new people i think you know i was so focused on skiing that i had you know blinders on and i didn't see you know a lot that was around me and i mean you have to do that if you want to you know be successful but um i just i get so excited every day because i'm like what am i going to do today you know am i going to wake surfing am i going to mountain biking you know all these things that a i haven't been able to do because of my sport and like b i just have never experienced so i just i'm excited it's a very exciting time i'm very very happy so it sounds like it only took you two years to kind of transition from the sport to feeling at peace about moving past it now right yeah kind of letting it go that's pretty quick though most athletes hold on to a sense of loneliness or depression or the the glory days i mean don't get me wrong i miss it yeah and it's it's easier in the summer because no one's racing you know Don't ask me again in February when the Olympics are going. Oh, man. Yeah. And this past winter was the World Championships in Cortina, which is literally one of my favorite places. And I was commentating for NBC. Oh, how was that? Watching and commentating? I commented for the, yeah, I could only do a couple races. And I preferred to only do, I preferred the men because, you know. Oh, right. You're not like, I can beat these girls right now. Yeah, exactly. I don't put myself in that position. um but you know it it's like i process it as a death you know like a death you know like it's gone it's never coming back because the second you think oh well maybe i could do a comeback it'll really mess with your mind how important has rituals been in your life do you do a lot of rituals beyond journaling to when you said this is like a death have you ever like put your skis in a coffin and buried it to like allow you to process or something like that yeah i actually did the opposite i always had like my olympic medals in my sock drawer i never had them out like i never i mean i had like a nice trophy case for my other other you know trophies but i never you probably had a whole room for all your trophies i mean so many of them i had a nice display case in colorado but now i moved to utah so i don't have there literally everything is in storage but you got your but i have my olympic medals so my olympic medals i for the first time like got my gold medal framed. Wow. And I got all my world championship medals framed. That's cool. And it was like, this is a big moment. Of course. And it kind of was like, this is what I did. You know what I mean? It's not what you're doing. Right. Ooh. Because it was kind of like, it's put away now. You know what I mean? Yeah, right? There's a lot to celebrate, but my heart hurts. Right? Gosh. So it was like, it was an interesting moment to do that. It seems weird and, you know, slightly vain, but I just felt like it was like, this is what I did. And it's done now. and I can look back and be happy about what I did, but it's not what I do. And it's not who I am, certainly. Who are you? I'm just a nice girl from Minnesota. You're from the Twin Cities, right? You're a small town near there? Yeah, south of Minneapolis. I played football in Marshall, Minnesota for a season. Oh, no way. And I played in the Metrodome like four or five times. Metrodome. Yeah, it was the old school. Crazy. The AstroTurf. So I collapsed. Oh, man, I still have like Turf Tove from the AstroTurf, the Metrodome. Yeah. It was a good time. I was in Minnesota for three months. I came from my freshman year to play football at Southwest Minnesota State. And I left after the winter. I was just like, underground tunnels to get a classroom. I was like, this is nuts. Remember the first day I went to training camp in football in the summer. It must've been in August. I remember stepping on the field and literally, I've never seen this in my life. The field moved with me every step. Millions of mosquitoes moving with me to the next step. I was like, what am I doing? For weeks, I'm just swatting mosquitoes. Minnesota, it's, mosquito is a state bird. It's crazy. Yeah, it's gross. It's probably not as bad in the Twin Cities, but like in the farmland, it was nuts. Yeah. I mean, actually, when I grew up racing, it would be so cold sometimes, they wouldn't let us take off our jacket and pants. We would have to race with everything that we had on. It was like, my dad would have like the car sitting like ready, warmed up. It would literally go straight through the finish and into the car. I'm curious about mental health now. Because you talked about when you were lonely and kind of had some depression during the traveling time. What is it like now that you've hung up the awards, that you've gone through different challenges in your personal life, and I'm sure you're having career stuff up and down? What are you doing to stay mentally strong post-career? I mean, similar things. I started working with a new psychologist, which was really good. He kind of focused on more like athletes and had worked with other athletes that have retired, which was, I think, really helpful. What's his name? Dr. Armando. Dr. Armando. Yeah, he's awesome. And again, we're with a lot of athletes. And he kind of also had a different technique of like processing things, which is really good. What was the technique? It's called brain spotting. Okay. But it's also, it's kind of hard to explain. But basically you sit there and you really focus on the thing that really makes you emotional, whatever that is, like retirement or, you know, whatever. and your brain has to actually like process it to be able to like unload it. Otherwise, it's just going to sit there because he has a theory that, you know, you're like your body keeps score. Absolutely. So any trauma. It's a great book called The Body Keeps the Score. Oh, really? It's amazing. Yeah. Maybe he took it from there. I don't know. It's called The Body Keeps the Score. Okay. But it's true. Physical, emotional trauma. It's like stored in the body until you process and heal it. But he did say that I don't store my trauma from my crashes, which I don't know. I don't. You don't physically or emotionally? Both. I mean, physically I do obviously. Right, right. But you don't keep it emotionally. No, I don't know. How'd you do that? I don't know. Short-term memory. Short-term memory. Concussions. Well, I always watch my video. I always like, I processed it. I was like, this is what I did. This is what I need to do better. And I just moved on. The more you'd like, you, you don't address it, the more it becomes a problem. Absolutely. So yeah. So he was like one of the best things that, that happened to me. Brain spotting. Yeah. So you think about the, the moment of sadness or pain or frustration or yeah like the emotional trauma or whatever whatever it is that you know is really causing you yeah you know anxiety or emotional like you know uh frustration or sadness yeah so you think about it how long do you think about it for what's the process then um it could be a couple hours you know it's it's um he usually comes to my house for a few days like we have good you know sessions and kind of work when we have time when we can and it's really different but it's really great and and yeah he's he's awesome you should look him up I'm gonna check him out yeah so what happens at the end of the the 30 to 60 minutes when you're thinking about are you supposed to put your attention on the feeling on the event everything like visualizing what happened how you feel and like the more you think about it it's weird I start with something that's emotional and it's very triggering. And then by the end, it becomes less triggering and less triggering. And then by the end, it's like, okay. You let it go. It's when we resist something where it continues to kind of fester and be suppressed inside of us. But the more we actually pay attention to it and go through different scenarios and process it, then we can let it go. It's not as scary anymore. So brain spotting what another strategy you used to help Surrounding myself with people that really support me and for me who I am like my sister and my family and really good friends I have a very small group of friends. I travel all the time. I have a crazy lifestyle. But I have a couple of friends that I grew up with in Minnesota since I was seven years old and we're solid. and um it's just you know spending time with those quality people um allowing yourself to be you and not having you know any fear of judgment i think that really helps you know i don't know be yourself and then be around other people is easier did you feel the fear of judgment when you were competing ever not really um i think what when i was competing i had the most confidence Right. You know, like I felt like on any given day, if I was healthy, I could win. It was a different, totally different than what I am in like real life. Really? Yeah. Kind of like the exact opposite. In competing mode, you were super confident. Yeah. You're talking about, but then you walk off. I kind of like harness all of my confidence that I ever had and I put it right in the scheme. Okay. But you're saying you weren't as confident in your normal life outside of competing? No, not really. Yeah. What did that look like? I'm like more shy. Like I'm not really, I'm like, I feel like I'm more right now, this is like media mode. Yeah, yeah. You know, and which is still me, but I'm just, I don't know. It's different when I'm at home or like I'm at a dinner or I'm at a, you know, a function. I'm not the person that's like overly, you know, talking to people. You know, I'm like, I hang back and wait for someone to come to me. Interesting. I don't know. Well, the next time I'm on an event with you, I'll make sure to come up to you. I'll give you a hug. I'm not into me. I swear. I'm not like trying to be my, like, you know, some people think that I'm just, you know, they don't want to come say hi and I just I'm not trying to be you know negative I just you know shy in my corner do you feel like you're you've been able to translate that confidence into your life now or do you feel like there are more times it took me a while really but yeah I feel like finally I've kind of spread out the confidence so it's not you know solely in one place but it's like you know sprinkled everywhere what do you do on a daily basis to build confidence um honestly I think working out is one of the best things that's the greatest yeah I I thought for a while you know i don't want to work out i'm retired really i i want to you know enjoy it because i've been working out my entire life and i stopped working out like wow i really feel like you know like i i felt miserable and then i got back into it and the more i did it the better i felt and so now it's like i prioritize working out because it makes me feel so much better and i like working out first thing in the morning because then it sets my day up for success and And I feel confident and, you know, better and clear-minded. And it's just, it's awesome. It's the greatest feeling ever. Yeah. And when you can look yourself in the mirror, completely naked, stripped down, and be like, at least I'm proud of the process. Maybe I'm not proud of the result right now, but I'm proud of, like, showing up for myself today. That feels good. Well, I feel like no matter how you look, as long as you, like, you're putting your best effort forward. Like, when I work out, you know, six days a week, you know, and, like, the scale says something other than what I feel like I put in. And like, I mean, sometimes it still bothers me, but, you know, I feel like that's not a testament to, you know, the effort that I felt like I gave and also like how that made me feel from a confidence perspective. And so you always got to keep that in mind. It's really more about, I don't know, I feel like it's more about mental. Absolutely. Mental confidence. Yeah. And physical confidence. What would you say are the non-negotiables? You've been living this life for a while now at a top level. 20 plus years you've been competing and now transitioning what would you say are the non negotiables three to five things that have helped you become successful and that will help you to continue to be successful if you had three to five habits or things that you must do non negotiable in your life to support your success what would those be i mean work ethic as general but at the same time you know if you want to succeed at anything that you're doing in life you know you you have to be willing to put in the work yeah you know um and make those sacrifice I honestly feel that the most successful people aren't the most talented. They're not the smartest. They're the people that are willing to go the extra mile that the other people are not. What else? I think rituals are habits that help you get to the place where you can work hard. So whether it's working out or, again, journaling or going on a walk or meeting your friend once a week or whatever it is. finding habits, healthy habits like that, that put you in a mental place that allows you to then work harder and, again, then be more successful. And then surround yourself by people that believe in the same things that you do. So that will help facilitate your success and not bring you down. I think it is oftentimes really hard to actually find people that want you to succeed, I think. Why is that, you think? That's just human nature, I think. Or jealous or... Yeah, I mean, and honestly, I haven't experienced that a lot. But sometimes it like creeps up on you. And you're like, wow, you really didn't want me to succeed. Really? Yeah. So it's just kind of... Like people you've hired on your team or friends or peers. No, my internal team, we're tight. You know, they've been with me since I was 16. Wow. I'm a very loyal person. Like we're a very tight-knit group and I like to keep it that way. But yeah, there's external people. yeah coming in that you know pretend to be one thing and they're not and so it's good to make sure you keep keep yourself surrounded by by people that want to see you succeed and will help you get there and you know if you have to make your sacrifice that they're going to pick up the slack for you right you know because you you can't do everything alone you know that's the other thing right what were your coaches and your team like when you were competing do you have do you think you could have been as successful on your own no without the team you need a team you absolutely need a team and so it goes with everything that you're doing whether it's in business or sports or whatever, you know, you can't do everything by yourself. So surround yourself by people that will help you. And, you know, my coaches were amazing. I had the best ski technician in the world, Heinz. He literally was just as invested in my success as I was. I mean, if I, when I won, he would cry, you know. That's beautiful. It was great. And, you know. Did you cry too? I cried because he was crying. It was like a thing. I'm like, Heinz, why are you crying? You're making me cry um and you know he would he was so nervous when i crashed and you know like it just feels really good to know that someone's that invested in what you're doing and they're putting just as much effort into what they're doing to make you succeed as you are yeah it's just like me working in the gym you know he's in the ski room tuning my skis for hours on end and a lot of people don't know that about ski racing it's your equipment is a is a huge part of your success so if i didn't have him, if I didn't have my coaches, I didn't have my physical therapist, Lindsay Winninger, who helped me get back from all my injuries. You know, if I didn't have like all those people, I couldn't do what I did. Right. So. Team is everything. What's the greatest lesson your coach taught you? It was my coach from Minnesota, the 96 year old. He said, well, I think it was like 10 or 11. He said, I'm fast the way I am. So don't change it. So a lot of people at that time in my career try to change my technique. And even my dad was like, you know, this isn't, she's not going to succeed if she stays like this. And he's like, no, this is her natural talent. Stay with what you, what you, what you have. Don't try to be someone else. You know, you're fast the way you are. And so I kind of, you know, morph that into life as well. You know, it's like you are who you are and that's what makes you special. So stick with it. That's beautiful. That's a good lesson. Right. It's a beautiful lesson. And how, how do you deal now? And how did you deal with negative thoughts did they fester for a while did you have a technique that allowed you to get out of it into more positivity what did you do i mean i think journaling helped you know um honestly skiing was the best outlet for me it's therapy huh yeah and which was why it was so hard to retire you know which is why then you know covid sitting there with your thoughts not ideal but ended up being great um yeah i mean i think social media was at times really difficult you know because other people would say negative things about me and that would kind of creep in and i wouldn't necessarily always believe it but it's still kind of it's like there you know it's like a little mosquito and it's like annoying people actually think that about me you know and it kind of adds a little bit of of doubt in there and um it's not always the easiest to get rid of those negative thoughts but um i try to focus on again like what makes me happy why am i doing this I'm not doing it for other people. I'm doing it for myself. And, you know, everyone's going to judge you. Everyone's going to say, there's always going to be people that say bad things about you. But, you know, when the lights are off and you go to bed, you know, it's just you. And are you happy with yourself? And I think that's the ultimate question. And if you can be happy with that, then you're good. Who cares when you lost things? Amen to that. There's a great speech by Matthew McConaughey where he talks about his hero is 10 years away from him. He's always chasing his hero when he won the Oscar, I think it was. He said, I'm always chasing my hero who's 10 years away from me. We talked about your 10-year-old self. You've had a couple years of transition now. I'm curious, in 10 years from now, where do you see yourself being? And what advice do you wish your 10-year-away self would give you right now? I have no idea what it will be in 10 years. I don't know where it will be in 10 days. I know, it's crazy. And I really like not knowing it. You know, I used to really try to, I'm a planner and I like organizing and like knowing what's going to happen and like planning as far out as I can. You're always scheduled. You got a vans, you got training. Yeah. It's always a schedule. And I kind of really like not having as like, you know, as tight of a schedule as I used to have. And so I don't know. I have no idea. I mean, hopefully I'll have kids and, you know, 10 years is a long time, you know, I'm 36 and that's, you know, I don't know. But I know that I have a lot more to do and that's really exciting. What do you think advice you would want to hear from your 46-year-old self? I think the same as when you ask me what would I tell my 10-year-old or 16-year-old self. I wouldn't say anything because I have to have those experiences and I'm excited for them. Good or bad, I think it's just a part of the journey. And so far it's been great. So I feel like... Just keep it one day at a time. Keep it one day at a time. Keep it simple. And when do you feel the most loved when you're doing what? Hanging out with my dogs. Yeah. They love me no matter what. That's the best feeling ever. Isn't it incredible? That's why I have three. I'm the crazy dog lady. Oh my God. It's not crazy. Well, I have one cat. So I'm the crazy cat dude. Oh, that's where I drop the line. Because I travel so much. I travel so much. And cut. She's a good cat. She's just relaxed. She's like a little dog. She like lays next to me. She just like purrs on me. I think I'm scarred from my mom's cats. They're traumatizing. Crazy cats. No, you need a chill cat. You need a cat that's like a dog. They're like place fetch. Yeah. No, no, no. No. Yeah. So my dogs are the best. Like nothing like, well, you know, having a Ben and Jerry's. Oh. My three dogs. Watching Law and Order. Pizza. Ideal. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That's when I feel the best. What is something about yourself that you're most proud of that most people don't know about? I don't know. I feel like everyone knows everything about me. Sometimes way too much. That I'm most proud of. I don't know. I'm most proud of my family. Just like, you know, I think I'm really lucky to have siblings that are, you know, as great as they are. And, you know, I'm really proud of, you know, where everyone's, how far everyone's gone. And I guess that has nothing to do with me. But at the same time, I don't know, I feel like we're all units. So I'm proud of them. Beautiful, yeah. What about your biggest fear right now? I mean, I had a lot more of them a couple months ago, but I feel like... What were they a couple months ago? Well, you know, I hadn't really processed, like, you know, retirement. So I guess now I'm, I don't know, I'm just kind of happy not knowing what's going to happen. You know, where I was a little bit nervous, you know, what was going to happen before. Like, you know, where's my career going? You know, what's life? What's going to, you know, just because, you know, as much as I have things planned, nothing's really planned. Right. Right. So I don't know. And your fears now? I don't know. I kind of, I guess it's similar to skiing. Like, I don't really, I try not to think about any, like, I don't, I never had fear when I was skiing. and I think I'm finally in a place where I'm like very present in the moment. That's beautiful. I'm not thinking about, you know, what could go wrong. I'm thinking about what opportunities are there. That's beautiful. And what is the question you wish more people would ask you, but they don't ask you? How are you doing? How are you doing? Yeah, I'm great. Thank you. How are you? People don't ask you that enough? Like in a general way. Like, you know, it's like, how are you feeling? Like, I don't know. People, it's like, there's greetings. We're like, hey, what's up? You know, how's it going? but it's like actually how are you feeling like are you happy you know what i mean like i have a few people that say that and those are my friends not many people ask you how you're feeling no again next time i'm at an event and you're by yourself i know what to do i know what to ask you i'm coming up to you i'm gonna ask you how you're feeling i'm pretty simple yeah yeah those are i think those are really important things who is the person in your family that has taught you the biggest lesson i'm sure they've all taught you something but what's a lesson i mean everyone's taught me something. I think, you know, my grandfather and my dad taught me, you know, about toughness and, you know, what it really means to, you know, sacrifice and work hard. And I think those are incredible traits that, you know, not a lot of people have. And like, I have a really good understanding of what it means to sacrifice because they had such a great example for me. But I mean I think my sister Karin really kind of has been she just helped me be like a person And that also A human being Yeah I like that been great Not the athlete and not the competitor or the personality Right. And that's the one thing I love about my family, which is why I talk about them so much is because I'm always me. So it doesn't matter what I do. I'm always going to be me and they always treat me like that. And it's just kind of nice to always have that to go back to. What was that like coming from such a small, I guess, Midwest town, I guess, Northwest town, but I think of Minnesota as a Midwest. Midwest, yeah, yeah. I'm from Ohio, so I think of it as all. Ohio. Exactly. Oh, yeah. We had little bunny hills that I'd ski sometimes when I was a kid. What was it like transitioning from small town, you know, Midwest values into the spotlight and into the scene and into everything that comes with that? How did you stay grounded? did um i think there are moments where i kind of like you know especially when i was like 18 19 where i didn't really 20 and you kind of got into the hype a little bit you did get into it a little bit and then you know my family was like this isn't you chill out yeah like what are you doing just because you went to two olympics doesn't mean anything special um and so again like you know family kind of always has been the equalizer and i always go back to wisconsin and see my relatives and it's like and we just had like a big celebration for my grandma's 90th birthday and you know like everything's the same we're in the garage celebrating you know playing cornhole wake surfing exactly right definitely cornhole yeah s'mores that's amazing the best yeah so it's just you know that's normal for me and so i don't ever get i don't know i don't that's you don't let hollywood take over yeah that's something else yeah it's beautiful sounds like a good life this is a question I ask people towards the end of the interviews it's called the three truths so this sounds really intimidating I'm scared so it's a hypothetical question so I'd like you to imagine I've had you imagine your childhood your older self I'd like you to imagine that many years away from now it's your last day on earth and you get to live and accomplish and do everything you want to do all the ups and downs and the beauty of life you get to live as older you want to be, but then eventually it's got to be your last day. Hypothetically. Okay. So this is your last day. Last day. You've accomplished everything. Yeah. But for whatever reason, all of the words that you've said, all the content, this interview, your books, anything you create goes away, goes to the next place. So no one has access to your information anymore. Okay. So you're a blank slate. Blank slate. Okay. No one's got your message to the world. Okay. If you could leave three lessons behind, and this is all we would have to remember you by, three lessons i call it really intense you know it's called the school of greatness it's not school average oh yeah three lessons you leave behind i call it three truths yeah based on what's in your heart right now what would be those three truths um i don't know always stay true to yourself like um um never give up on your dreams which is cheesy but very true um and i don't know third one I don't know. I feel like maybe you can't make anyone else happy. You can only make yourself happy. That's so true. You can't make anyone else happy. Did you have to learn that the hard way? Yes, I did. Really? Yep, many times. I cannot make anyone else happy no matter what I do or how hard I try. So I can only make myself happy. And I can make someone else happier, but I can't make someone happy. I think I saw Will Smith share a quote about this recently. he was like happiness i think he was talking about his wife happiness is her responsibility yeah i can contribute correct to the happiness i've seen that one but it's not my responsibility to make someone happy exactly it's my responsibility to make me happy theirs to make them yeah which seems like really kind of narcissistic in a way but it's true because if you're if you don't know who you are and like you don't know what makes you happy like how are you supposed to make someone else happy it's like you have to focus on yourself and if everyone focuses on making themselves happy like we'll be a lot better i feel like up until recently i have been in the pattern my entire life of wanting to please and make others happy especially like in intimate relationships and close dynamics and it hasn't been until up until recently when i've started to really not abandon myself in those settings make sure i stand up for what i want say what i need to say and not just give in and do something to make someone else happy. Yeah. Because I've done that my entire life up until recently. And I tell you what, it's exhausting trying to live that way. It's very exhausting. It's exhausting, right, Lindsay? Very exhausting. What made you realize that that's one of your truths? When did you realize like, okay, this is... I mean, trial and error. Yeah. Do you feel like you were that way in multiple? You get a lot of less in the hard way. Do you feel like you were like that with family or intimate relationships and business? With a lot of things. Really? I think, you know, personal stuff, but also like, you know, with media stuff, I had to learn to say no. Like I can't please everybody. I can't do everything that everybody wants me to do. I can't sign. I can't physically sign every autograph, even though it kills me when I see little kids. And I'm like, I literally physically have to go to the start right now. I can't. I literally have to raise. I literally cannot sign your autograph. That's tough. And that's really hard. But that's the reality. and I can't live my life upset that I didn't do something or I didn't make somebody happy or one person doesn't like me. You can't live your life that way. Sometimes it really ate at me. But now it's like I can only do what I can do. I can't do more than that and I can't make other people happy again, to the point. How have you learned how to disappoint people and be okay with it? Because I feel like I'm going to need to learn how to just be comfortable. If I'm not disappointed in myself, like if I can, again, turn the lights off, go to sleep on myself and say, I did the best I could today, then that's what it is. What if you disappoint millions of people? How do you feel? I mean, it sucks. Right. But that's, either you made a mistake and you've got to live with it and just own it. Or, you know, people just don't like you. Right. But if, you know, if that's, if it's like something that you really believe in, then that's what it is. Yeah. You know, I mean, you can't change who you are. You can't change what you think or, you know what I mean? It's like some people, no matter how polarizing, have opinions. And, you know, as long as that's what you believe and you're true to it, then that's, you know, who am I to judge someone else's opinion? That's the thing. I never judge anyone else. Like, no matter what it is, whatever you believe, that's you. I'm not going to criticize that. What would you say has been the biggest emotional challenge for you to overcome in your life? um you talked about kind of depression and mental health is it people pleasing is it staying true to yourself emotionally is it trusting yourself what's what's been the biggest emotional challenge i think people pleasing really yeah you've been like you've been like me yeah like working on myself yeah because i'm i'm very i'm selfish when it comes to skiing because you have to be focused on yourself in order to make gains and to be in that position But, you know, I was very selfless when it came to, you know, other people around me and like wanting them to be happy. And that takes a lot of energy. And it's like very, it's very draining. Exhausting. Exhausting. So why do you think people live in that way, in that space? Like, why do you think me and you have done that and others tend to do that? I think that's a question for Dr. Mondo. There we go. I think I'm going to call him after this. What is the answer to this question? You know, I don't know. I've always been like that, you know. I'm the oldest of five. I always try to take care of my siblings. I, you know, change all their diapers. Like, you know, I just, I help when I can. I, you know, try to make everybody happy. And I don't know. That's so tough. Something you got to ask Dr. Manga. I'll ask him. I'm a psychologist because that's a deep question I don't have the answer for. I will ask him. I've got one final question for you and a statement. Before I share the statement and ask the question, I want people to follow you because I love your content around social media. So check out LindseyVaughn with two N's around social media. You got LindseyVaughn.com as well, right? I think so. Or what's your website? I don't really use a .com anymore. Your website? Yeah. It's there. Gotcha. But social media is your main thing. Is it Instagram or Twitter or Facebook? Which one do you use most? Probably Instagram the most. But yeah, all those platforms. I'm not really on TikTok. We've got to get you on there. I feel like I'm too old. I don't know. I'm 38 and I'm on TikTok. Oh, come on. The generation is getting older, you know? Yeah. Remember when Facebook was just for college kids? There's so many platforms. It's nuts. It's really overwhelming. But you've got a great team, don't you? I do it all myself. Oh, you've got to build your team. Everything I do. Just like you had in sports. That's not me. That's not authentic. This is me. Everything that's on there, that's all me. Of course, but you're going to have teams support you. I don't trust anybody. So why don't they mess it up? Everything on the slopes is all you, but you had a team to support you with the tune of skis and doing this and making your schedules good yeah but would i have my team come in here and do an interview for me no so you got you there so you can still you can still post your content take the content you want to do and make sure they support you in other ways actually an extra step it's actually an extra step okay it's easier for me to post it than to send it to somebody i get it you know i mean i get it it's like also it's like what's the point i say what i want to say it's very authentic yeah It's very authentic. Very inspiring. It's just me. If you want to follow me, great. If not, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there. There's millions of people. It's great. And you've got a book coming out next year, early next year, which I'm excited to share out as well. So be on the lookout for that. People can pre-order it hopefully soon. I don't know if they can pre-order it now. I don't think they can now. In a few months, I think they'll be able to. But pretty soon, yeah. It's called Rise. It's called Rise. It's going to be inspiring about all these lessons and more. Yes. I really should have talked to you before I wrote the book. But I'm assuming you're sharing a lot of these. insights and more philosophies and stories and lessons, right? Yeah, it's kind of like all of the things that I've experienced in my life and what it taught me and how it overcame it and more of the mental side of it. That's cool. It's meant to be inspiring because we all face obstacles and we all have to overcome certain things. My life as a rollercoaster, written down in a book. Beautiful, exciting. So when that comes out, make sure guys pre-order that. My statement, Lindsay, is I want to acknowledge you for a moment for the incredible life you've had up until now, for the ups and downs, and for being so mentally and emotionally off to continue to show up for your dreams, even when you had so many injuries. I've been surgeries and injuries myself, and I know how hard it is sometimes to come back after the first time, but then after 30 times, for you to keep showing up for your dreams and for your heart is so beautiful and inspiring. And also for you to know when it's time to transition. I think it's inspiring as well, even if you didn't maybe want to, but showing up authentically where you're at now, healing in the process of the transition, being a positive force for your fans, your followers, and your family, which is most important. It's really inspiring to meet you, to connect with you, and to hear about these stories and kind of know more about your life. So I acknowledge you for all this that you've created and accomplished. And I'm excited to see what you create moving forward. And when I'm at an event that you're at, I know exactly what I'm going to do. Come right up. I'm nice. I'm going to ask you, how are you feeling? How are you feeling? Thank you. Yes, that'd be great. Yes. So I'm very excited. My final question, what is your definition of greatness? My definition of greatness is like overcoming all obstacles. I mean, I think the greatness isn't just, you know, a perfect run on a perfect day. You know, it's when you're at your absolute limit and you're scratching and clawing to get to the finish and you make it and you push yourself past where you think you could ever go. Because Tom Brady, his best performance isn't winning this or that Super Bowl. There's certain moments where he felt like he overcame a lot and those are really great moments. And again, to each his own. So not everyone has the same experience and everyone's greatness is different. but yeah beautiful were you in greatness code also yes i was so many greatness that's right because i remember so many greatness well i remember that that story from that of tom brady talking about that i was like oh i think you were in that too yeah it's great yeah i always watch stuff like that because i think it's so cool yeah it's really cool to see and hear and you know again everyone has their own experiences and it's interesting to learn from that yeah yeah i think it's all very inspirational love it lindsey von thank you for being here appreciate it i hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.