Athletic Fortitude Show
Athletes all over the world endure countless mental physical and psychological adversities over the course of their careers. We are here to bring you the solutions to those adversities with some of the top professional athletes, coaches, and sport and performance psychologists around the world!
Athletic Fortitude Show
NFL's Erick Hallett: What Separates Elite Athletes From Everyone Else
Erick Hallett shares his journey of discipline and self-discovery as he navigates life as an NFL safety, revealing how he's learning to trust his instincts and find joy in the process rather than fixating solely on outcomes.
• Creating structure in the offseason through simple tools like a billboard in his bedroom listing priorities
• Breaking down success into daily actions rather than distant goals
• Realizing that targets keep moving and contentment must come from the process
• Overcoming hesitation on the field by trusting his instincts and preparation
• Building confidence through a three-step process of preparation, reflection and verbalization
• Creating different versions of yourself for different aspects of life without losing authenticity
• Reconnecting with the childlike joy of playing football while handling professional pressures
• Finding your unique skill that separates you from others
• Falling in love with the strategic aspects of football rather than just the physical elements
How are you tracking your success this offseason so far?
Speaker 2:Honestly, I feel like that's been a little bit of an adjustment, just because I feel like in the past I've just been able to do things and they just kind of come to you. You know, absolutely. But I feel like being an adult, I feel like now I'm fully immersed in the adult life, like I just bought this house this past year, like I'm I don't say I'm completely on my own, cause I'm still in Houston, so my parents are 25 minutes away. But I feel like I have to, like now I have to write things down, like I have a freaking billboard in my room with just a list of stuff that I need to do and stuff that I need to accomplish, and I feel like that's keeping me more on track. And I obviously see myself sliding sometimes when I go the week and I'm like dang, I've had this up here since Monday and it still isn't crossed off, type thing. But I feel like that's something that I can do to help me track my success.
Speaker 1:How are you holding yourself accountable to that list? Are you checking it every day? Are you checking it as the days go by or just like as you get something done, go and check?
Speaker 2:it off. Well, it's on, it's on the room, it's in my room, like right next to my bed. So I see it when I wake up, I see it before I go to sleep, I see it anytime I go use the bathroom. So like I'm looking at it at least four or five times a day how do you break down priorities between, like, sports and life?
Speaker 2:um, I always try to do so. I try to like structure it to where I'm okay when it's. When it comes to my sports, I'm trying to do something today that's going to get me better for the season, life-wise. I'm trying to do something today that's going to get me better for 10 years down the line, and I kind of break it down into sections like that, just so I'm not overwhelmed with the amount of stuff that I could potentially do, cause I feel like there's a lot of stuff out there that could benefit you.
Speaker 1:What is the number one thing that you're currently working on, both from an athletic standpoint and a life standpoint, that day to day it's like. This is my non-negotiable, this is my priorities, and this is ultimately what I'm going to measure my success in my day by.
Speaker 2:Honestly, I feel like they kind of coexist for me.
Speaker 2:But for me it's discipline, and I thought I kind of feel like that weaves in with consistency, because I feel like a lot of the time, especially during the off season, more than anything, I feel like during the season you're really structured okay, monday is this day, tuesday is this day, all the way to sunday when it's game day.
Speaker 2:Versus the off season it's like I don't really have to do anything, type thing. And then I found myself, especially early in this off season I know I was doing a lot last off season where I would go, I would go Monday through Friday and work hard and do what I need to do, and then I take Friday I mean Saturday and Sunday off, and not that that's entirely detrimental to your progress. But I'm also looking at myself and like what am I taking these two days off for? Like I'm not pushing myself crazy. Like I'm I'm getting two hour workouts and I'm going to a seminar, maybe on a Wednesday or Thursday, and then I might, I might talk to my financial advisor on on Monday and Wednesday or something like that. Like I'm doing, I'm doing things throughout the week, but what am I taking these two days off for just to go to the bar and go hang out with friends and do things that I know won't help me, type thing.
Speaker 1:How has this process changed for you over the years, as you've become a couple-year NFL veteran? Now, what has caused change and what has that change been?
Speaker 2:I would say what's caused change is probably the result more than anything. I think that's the one thing that kind of blares at you and is like okay, you're doing it right or you're not doing it right, you need to change something. And I feel like I'm still figuring that out. I don't think I ever or I'll say ever, but I don't think I have reached where I want to be. And I think also the scary part that I'm kind of realizing is maybe I'll never reach where I want to be, and not necessarily as far as uh, like I'll never achieve what I want to achieve. But I'm also realizing, like I've always dreamt about being in the position I'm in now, and now that I'm in it, I just want to be somewhere else. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:absolutely. It's that that paradox is called the hedonic treadmill we get one thing, and then that's not enough, and then we need something else and we get that other thing, and then that's not enough. So, completely understand. And how are you navigating that space of avoiding it's that balance right? How are you avoiding the, or I should say, balancing that ambition with gratitude?
Speaker 2:I think that goes back to my consistency piece. Doing that, I feel like, keeps me not only keeps me grounded, but then it's what's the word for it? I don't want to say I'm grateful for what I have, but I'm content, like I'm content knowing today I did what I needed to do to better me for tomorrow, and tomorrow I'm going to do what I need to do to better me for the next day, and not trying to grab too much at once.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about what you just said in terms of the realization of you may never get what you want. What is it that you want that you may never get?
Speaker 2:I feel like that sounds so bad. I was really hesitant to say that because I'm like this probably sounds horrible to people, but I don't think it's that I won't get what I ever want, but I think it's kind of like I said, I feel like the target's always moving and and um, I think, something that I've I've discussed recently with some of my friends, like buddy, I don't think I don't know if you remember buddy from pit no, it's probably after your time Um, but just being entirely detached from the result and I know we kind of spoke about results earlier and I think we spoke about this a couple of years ago actually Um, but just falling in love with the mundane things of life, I just sat there and folded clothes for probably half an hour and I kind of got a little bit of satisfaction out of that, even though it's nothing big. But I'm doing something to make my house a little bit better, to make myself a little bit more organized, to make my day flow a little bit easier for me.
Speaker 1:There's something I said in my writing for my newsletter this week that I don't know how I came up with it, but I'm going to give myself a little pat on the back.
Speaker 1:It's the rewards of success are not trophies or titles, but the quiet pride of knowing you became equal to your ambitions, and I can't get that out of my mind. Because outcomes do matter, and outcomes are a good measuring stick of whether or not our process is working. But it's not going to be the titles or some of the things that are outside of our control, but it's going to be the measure. Knowing that we gave our heart and soul of work and discipline to our ambitions. In that marriage is really you. You know what success will look like and that's going to lead to better outcomes. But, like we're talking about, the goal post will always move and at some point there's always gonna be someone better. There's always gonna be something you don't achieve, and so it's the collective actions that I put in to what I love and what I do every single day that's ultimately going to be the measure of my own success.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I definitely. I hit it on the head.
Speaker 1:What? What was the biggest transition for you going from Pitt to the NFL? You know you, you've obviously been a couple of different places. Now Some things have not worked in your favor. Like you said, what's been the biggest transition? Um?
Speaker 2:shoot, like you said, what's been the biggest transition Shoot? I would say just adulthood, but I feel like that's kind of cliche. That's a great question.
Speaker 1:Maybe a better way to word it would be what advice would you give to senior year Eric Hallett at Pitt?
Speaker 2:I would say the hardest transition is it's not everything's not slated for you. And not that everything needs to be on a schedule, because I feel like now if I went back to college and had the schedule that we had in college, I'd absolutely hate it. But I also know now you need some structure, because it's easy to fall into the abyss, like it's easy to. It's easy to especially like a day like today where I don't have much to do, like I went and worked out and I have, I have dinner later with my family, but like outside of that I don't have a lot that I have planned for today specifically. And I know like previously I'd have just been like like okay, well, let me just sleep in until 11 o'clock and then kind of mope around, make myself breakfast at 2 pm and sit there and watch tv all day.
Speaker 2:But I feel like kind of picking myself up and back to my list and just making things for myself to do to keep me productive, to keep me engaged, to keep me moving, to keep me engaged, to keep me moving forward. That kind of keeps me going. And then probably some advice that I'd give to myself is probably just keep the main thing. The main thing, even though that kind of sounds like billboard-ish, but it's always relevant. I feel like we can get distracted by so many different things, especially in today's world where everything's literally at our fingertips. Yeah, just keep the main thing, the main thing. This is your goal. Are you doing something to get towards it, or are you not? And you're only getting better or you're getting worse.
Speaker 1:There's no staying the same. Who do you lean on to hold you accountable to some of these? Obviously, you have your billboard and these different things, but who do you confide in to help you create priorities, to create lists, to create some of your, your ambition goals?
Speaker 2:One thing I do think Pitt helped me with a lot is is getting a good core group of friends, and we don't necessarily talk every day, but I think we talk frequent enough to make it impactful and we have very meaningful conversations.
Speaker 1:and I can definitely call those probably three or four guys my accountability partners as far as making sure I'm doing what I say I'm gonna do how do you deal with the intense pressure that comes with being an nfl player, knowing that your roster roster spot is always up for grabs, knowing that you've been cut before? How do you deal with that intensity?
Speaker 2:um, I mean, I feel like it's always something in the back of your mind, but something I've kind of adapted to is that pressure is a privilege. Like you're privileged to be in this position, um, and although it can be taken away from you, like you're like this is something that everybody this is something that you've not only you dreamt of, but probably millions of people have dreamt of, and you're chosen to be in this position. So not only make the most of it, but have fun while you're at it, like it doesn't last for long.
Speaker 1:I think it's a fantastic perspective, because one thing I frequently ask professional athletes and are in an absolutely rare category and do you ever actually reflect in like yeah, I am different, Like I'm different among my peers who I walk around next to?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I feel like it's hard to. I feel like it's always hard to look at the big picture, especially when you're in the process, like especially now. Looking back, like I, we talk about college all the time amongst my friends and I'm like, damn, this was so cool when we did this, this was so cool when this happened. But when we were in it, I'm like, bro, this sucks, like I don't want to be here. Um, and you were just so consumed with, like, the monotony of of life, almost, um, but just like being fed up, almost you know, um go ahead, and now I was just gonna say like it to to take a step back.
Speaker 1:It's a skill to take a step back, zoom out and look at where you are in your world and sometimes where, where you feel you're in your worst. 10 years ago, this is exactly what you wanted, like. This is exactly what you asked for. It may not exactly look the same, but this is exactly what you asked for. This is exactly what you want. This is where you want to be and, yes, not everything that we want is always going to be the most fun to try and achieve, but that's where you earn it. There's always a cost, there's a trade-off, there's something, and this is what you asked for. So now get after it and go get it.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Now E I'm still fixated on you saying you may not achieve what you want to achieve, or accepting that realization. What's going to be the difference between you getting cut from Detroit, you making practice squad, you making active roster, you becoming a starter? What can you control that's going to get you there?
Speaker 2:Really only my actions, and I think being at Jacksonville really taught me that I don't like. I can only control the product I put out on the field. I can't control everything that happens in the front office. I can't control how they feel about me, how they perceive me. I can only put my best foot forward. As far as what will be the difference, I feel like it's just the work I put in. I feel like I've been more I don't want to say intentional with my work, because I feel like I've always been intentional with the way I work no-transcript movements I know I'm going to be doing. I'm doing the lifts that I know is going to help me with the movements I know I'm going to be doing. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. What caused maybe some of this shift where it was like intentionality in certain workouts and that you didn't have before?
Speaker 2:Because I always felt like I was, I've always felt like I'm a hard worker and I felt like it's very discouraging when you work hard, you work hard, you work hard and then you don't get the result. Um, and then I'm I'm looking around and I'm like, okay, what did I not do? What did I do that worked? What did I do? That's really not working. What do I need to change? What do I need to keep doing this? But I need to kind of hone it in and critique it and kind of chisel it and make it make it really nuanced to me.
Speaker 1:Are you a self-aware athlete Like, do you have high self-awareness when you're evaluating yourself on film and you're evaluating your work ethic and your study habits and things of that nature, or do you rely on someone to kind of point you in those directions?
Speaker 2:No, I do it for the most part for myself.
Speaker 1:So when you're critiquing yourself and you're analyzing yourself as a football player and you're watching yourself on film, what is something that you tangibly see? You're like I need to get better at this.
Speaker 2:Probably the one glaring thing I noticed from last season is just my player recognition, and not that I'm recognizing plays slow, but it feels like I'm recognizing them and then I'm waiting for them to happen.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm waiting for them to confirm what I'm already seeing Makes perfect sense. How do you adjust that then?
Speaker 2:Honestly, just taking out the hesitation. And then I was kind of talking to my pops last week and he was like, yeah, I saw a lot of the time you were hesitating. It was like you don't trust yourself and I was like, dang, that might hit it on the head, cause I feel like going through kind of the situations I've been in and having been cut and and having these talks with coaches, it kind of I don't want to say it lowers your view of yourself. But now you're like, dang, what am I doing? That I'm not, I'm not where I want to be and I feel like that's kind of shaken my trust in myself a little bit.
Speaker 1:What are some of those conversations that that cause you to maybe lose some of the belief in yourself?
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say it's directly the conversation, but I think it goes back to the results, when I feel like I'm doing everything I need to do and I'm not getting where I want to be.
Speaker 1:One thing that's really important that what you said right is, when we reflect on previous experiences, so, like what happened in Jacksonville, right, and then it creates hesitation in the future. That lack of trust, that lack of belief in the things that you're seeing, synonymously goes with fear, the fear of making a mistake, the fear of not doing what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:How are you overcoming that fear? How are you just taking that hesitation away and saying F it, I'm going to go make this play Like play to play. How are you maintaining that, even if you make a mistake?
Speaker 2:I think you hit it on the head, kind of how we talked about before, like I'm in a privileged situation and it doesn't last for long. So, like what am I? What's the hesitancy? I can't wait for myself to be ready, I have to be ready now. So it's kind of just like F it. I got it, like let me go do it. If I miss, I miss, but at least I know I can or can't do it. And if I can't, then what can I do? So I can do it. And if I can, now I know, moving forward, yeah, I can make that play I've made it before type thing.
Speaker 1:How do you create that confidence without maybe tangibly seeing it up to this point? Before you say that effort, I'm going to let it rip. How are you?
Speaker 2:maintaining the confidence to let it rip. I think there not only I think my workouts being more intentional with that, but I think just confidence in myself. Um, I think the more you go through this, you kind of see that everybody who's at the top of their games the, the patrick mahomes of the world, the tj watts, the, the miles garrett even though they're kind of physical anomalies, they just have insane confidence in themselves. Almost people would almost say they're just full of themselves. But I mean, I feel like that's kind of how you have to be when you play this game.
Speaker 1:One of my most controversial opinions E and I'm curious to hear your opinion on it is I'm actually in favor of having an elitist mindset, not that you think you're better than anybody right From a personal level, not better than anybody, but from a capability level. When you're better than anybody right, like from a personal level, not better than anybody, but from a capability level when you're at a certain place. There's levels to this game Absolutely. You have to recognize that and you have to have that confidence where the people you're walking around with it's like no, I'm different, like I'm a different person when it comes to to this space, this game, and I don't think enough people carry that absolutely um for you. I was just saying hey for you, are you there? And if not, maybe why not?
Speaker 2:I think I'm getting there. I think what will confirm me being there is being able to put it like put the product on the field.
Speaker 1:Put it on tape.
Speaker 2:But I think something that I've kind of found to help me get there and for me to feel like I'm on the way there is. I feel like when I first got into the league, especially kind of in college, I feel like I kind of tried to do everything good and I feel like that kind of made everything just be average, if that makes sense absolutely jack of all trades, master of none type thing yeah.
Speaker 2:So I feel like now I'm like okay, well, we have so many guys that are so talented in so many things, but what is like? What am I special at? What can be not only my role, but like what can they be like, oh well, we need this guy because he does it the best type thing. And I feel like when you have that confidence in something that you do, it's like well, I do it better than anybody else, like you might do that better than me, but you can't do this the way I do it, type thing.
Speaker 1:Have you found that for yourself? Cause that is, that is to a T. What I think is a common mistake with athletes is we try and make everything good and we're not an expert or specialist at anything, when in reality all of the greats have something that they're just they're one of one at and they lean into that and sure, you can always improve, like weaknesses here, there, but just mastering that unique skill that you have that nobody else can copy have you found that for yourself?
Speaker 2:In a way. So so, coming out of school, I kind of thought I was just good at everything, honestly just average at everything, but I thought I was serviceable at enough things to be serviceable. But I think now, moving into what year three, I think my kind of calling card is, I'm crazy out of the break, like my first three steps out of my break are, I think, second to none. And then I feel like if I put that with how we previously talked about my play recognition, I'll be leaps and bounds above the next guy when you put those two things together.
Speaker 1:And this episode is brought to you by All Black, everything Performance Energy Drink, the official energy drink of the Athletic Fortitude Podcast, available in Walmart, meijer and select GNC franchise locations. You know, I'll never forget the first day of my senior year, your freshman year, when you freshmen all came up we were doing like it was like basically like 5-10-5 stuff, right, and everybody's going through and I'm talking about guys that are in the league right now Dane, dane jackson for those listening uh, tamar hamlin, jason pinnock, tamari mathis, we're all going through it, right, we're all like, you know, we all look good and then you go through it and it just looked different and we're all like holy smokes. And I remember kenny pickett saying like, just like, walking back after one of the drills, shaking his head and saying this dude's going to be a beast. And to this day, right Of all the athletes I played with, worked with, there wasn't a smoother, quicker athlete in transition to your point than you. So you should reflect on that, you should realize that and double down on it.
Speaker 1:Sure, there's this thing. I there's a three step process, right, that I say that comes with confidence. Number one is the most important, right. It's action preparation, the number one thing that's going to lead to confidence is putting in the actions, putting in the daily efforts, putting in the work ethic, um, everything that you can possibly do to prepare right. Number two right is the reflection on it, because sometimes we do actions but we don't really reflect and realize that we're doing those things or that certain things are special. So, the actions, preparation, then the reflection. Hey, I did reflect, I did spend, you know whatever 20 hours watching film this week.
Speaker 1:I did spend this amount of time in the gym, this amount of time working on this particular skill week. I did spend this amount of time in the gym, this amount of time working on this particular skill. And then it's verbalizing it right, speaking it right. I think everybody's seen the famous clip of Aaron Donald in the Super Bowl speaking to himself right, like, I'm ready for this, I trained for this, I'm going to dominate. It's then verbalizing everything that you've done to prepare yourself for that moment, and people will skip the first two and try and go directly to the third, and you can't do that.
Speaker 2:And so it starts with the preparation, the reflection of the preparation and then the verbalization of it all. I agree, I feel like self-talk is big, and especially I feel like that goes into self-belief as well, kind of your confidence.
Speaker 1:The confidence piece Um, you're really only going to go as far as you believe you can go. I had a sports psych on here and it was. It was really awesome. Her name was Dr Joey Gerner and we were talking about that.
Speaker 1:That negative piece versus like again, I hate using the words positive and negative but the internal dialogue piece, the way we communicate with ourselves.
Speaker 1:If we're constantly putting things in our mind that reduce our capabilities or reduce our perception of our capabilities, then how can we expect to perform above that Versus if we put language that may not necessarily be a lie right we don't want to lie to ourselves but language that's going to put us in a position to succeed?
Speaker 1:That person is always going to have a higher opportunity and higher chance to succeed by speaking certain things that align with what they want and where they want their actions to be, as opposed to saying like, oh, I'm not good enough or hey, this is going to be really hard or this kind of sucks, instead of saying like, no, this is a challenge, this is an opportunity, I can go out, I'm prepared, I'm ready, this is my opportunity to compete.
Speaker 1:There's a drastic difference when you're an athlete too, in the way that you live your life, when you change your language, and then when you're done with athletics one day, I think it may be even more important, because there's zero structure. When you're not an athlete anymore and you go into the real world, you are on your own. There's nobody cheering for you. You have nobody that's excited for you to wake up and go work right. So it's learning that piece as soon as you can. At the end of the day, it's going to help you perform better, it's going to help you be more secure in your identity and it's going to help you be more secure in life and get closer to that fulfillment piece that everybody's looking for.
Speaker 2:Sure, I think that's huge.
Speaker 1:How do you think football has influenced you off the field?
Speaker 2:think football has influenced you off the field Tremendous. Um, not only is my. I feel like growing up, my life is kind of um, at least since I started playing, my life has been very centered around the sport. Um, but I think it's just led into me being more disciplined, more regimented with my life as a whole.
Speaker 2:Having to do that in football, I'm like, okay, well, I have to do this with the way I eat as well. I have to do this with the way I talk to people, like, I have to do this, not necessarily that I'm acting the same way I would inside the building, but it's also, like you know, people say when they go on the field, they put on a mask, absolutely and not necessarily that you're being fake at all. But I feel like there's different yous that you need for different facets of your life. I'm not the same person I'm on the field that I am with my family. I'm not the same person. I am with my family as I am with my girl. It's entirely different. And I feel like football has helped me.
Speaker 1:okay, compartmental, compartmentalize, however you say um, the different, the different sectors of my life I think the the point that you just made there, like put the mask on right is, you know, character ideation right, creating a character that you need to serve different roles, and it it's not fake, it's a part of your personality that comes out when it's needed. The famous example are Deion Sanders right. Neon Deion right. That was a created character for him to handle all the pressures and attention and media that came with being Deion Sanders. He's not that person all the time, but he brings that side out of him when he needs it.
Speaker 1:Beyonce Knowles I forget what hers is. Sasha Fierce is what she calls herself. That's her performance name, because Beyonce has a certain shyness that she can't have when she's performing. So she had to create that character so she could perform at a high level. And it is one of my favorite tricks when you you look at reframing the infant number of ways to reframe as an athlete. If you're someone who lets those butterflies turn into extreme nervousness or let's pressure get to you or you know you name it. That comes with being a competitive athlete being able to create someone when you need it to come out and just unleash that version of yourself in your sport, same thing with outside of your sport.
Speaker 1:I can assure you I do not speak the same way to my daughters that I speak to my friends. It's a different personality and my friends wouldn't want me to talk to them the way I talk to my daughters. But I'm a father when I'm with my daughters and I'm a friend when I'm with my friends. And I'm a different personality, but I'm I'm, I'm a father when I'm with my daughters, right, and I'm a friend when I'm with my friends. And I'm a different personality, but it's me. It's just not different, it's just different.
Speaker 2:I feel like it kind of gives you, like it gives you parameters. Yeah, and I feel like when you have too much, you're almost kind of a shell of yourself. Can I say this, can I kind of do this? But when I give myself those parameters within this identity, I know I can act freely almost because I know, okay, I'm this person and I know who this person I've created to be and I can be free in that.
Speaker 1:How often do you spend time working on your identity, would you say?
Speaker 2:Probably way too much.
Speaker 1:Tell me more.
Speaker 2:I feel like, especially this identity piece, I feel like that's something that I've kind of developed over especially this offseason, but probably over the past two months, as being something to really not only take my game to the next level, but take my life to the next level really not only take my game to the next level, but take my life to the next level, as I'm starting to try to advance my career not only athletically, but diving into financial pieces, talking to my financial advisor about different things I can do, and really diving into money about stuff that I honestly had no clue was there. And then homeownership finding out stuff about that, the good and the bads of it. I felt like it opens my eyes a lot.
Speaker 1:How much do you dig into your core values and things that you care about the most?
Speaker 2:Not as often as I'd like. I definitely wish I did that more and kind of had that as a blueprint to go off of. Why do you think?
Speaker 1:because it's not a normal thing to do and yet it's one of the things that lead us to the highest levels of fulfillment. Right is understanding what our core values are, but yet very few of us actually do it, and it's something I had to learn and it's now something I teach and coach. But why don't you? What makes you maybe put that on the back burner, do you think?
Speaker 2:I feel like a lot of the time, I'm looking for something that's going to tangibly push me forward. Tangibly push me forward and like something. So, like I know we talked when we talked a couple of years ago, we talked about journaling and that's something I've been doing. But I feel like when I speak about my values and the way I feel about things and how I view the world, I don't feel like it's it's leading me to anything necessarily and I know it's still necessary, but I also, like I said, I also feel like I want things to push me forward. Tell me more.
Speaker 1:Why doesn't it? Why doesn't it push you forward?
Speaker 2:That's just a feeling I get.
Speaker 1:What? What, maybe values? Are you talking about that? Don't push you forward. If we could unpack that.
Speaker 2:Um, I ain't trying to get deep.
Speaker 1:Hey man, I've warned you. I warned you before the episode.
Speaker 2:I said hey, you did, you did. No, I'm not opposed at all, um, but this is it's just really something I haven't thought about. I think when I think about values, I think about my family, I think about my friends, I think about my faith, things that I hold at high esteem, but outside of that, I don't think I've thought in depth about what truly matters to me in the grand scheme of things.
Speaker 1:When I do this process now, the important part is understanding that our identity is a house and at the root core structure of our home are our core and key values. And then we build the house, we build different rooms, basement, whatever you name it with. Hey, I am part of my identity as being an athlete, part of my identity is being a son, part of my identity is being a friend, right, and these things fill our different rooms, right. So when we have something that we care about and that is a core function of who we are, like being an athlete, and the pressures that come with that and the fear of failure, the fear of not achieving different things, okay, when one room burns down because we fail, or we instead of you know, we go for a pick, we go for an interception, we jump a route, we miss it, they catch it, go for six, we get bench cut, whatever, and that room burns down, we have all of the other rooms in the core structure to fall back on. And so it's easier to build a room or repaint a room than it is to build a new house.
Speaker 1:And so I always reflect with athletes on those value pieces, right. It's like what do you value most in yourself? Okay, what? The people who impact you? What is it about them that impact you the most?
Speaker 1:And so I think about just different values and characteristic traits that I want to embody and live out, right. So, whether it's being kind and empathetic, whether it's being a resilient, tenacious person and constructing your identity of these things and living those things out, so I always have something to fall back on, no matter what happens, no matter how I fail, no matter if I succeed right, because succeed brings a whole new level of pressures, or success brings a whole new level of pressures I'm always going to have that root, core identity. Hey, I'm ready for this because I've showed this and I've built this and this is who I am, and I think it's a really fundamental piece that's missing, and not even just athletes, but people and anyone who wants to achieve anything is we don't understand the value piece of who we are and the value that we inherently have. That was my tangent.
Speaker 2:E. No, I feel like that's big. Like I said before, I don't think it's something that I've really thought about in depth, but I think I mean now speaking about it. I do see it's a missing component. I shoot, try it out, see how it helps me.
Speaker 1:What are some of your immediate goals right now? I know we've talked a lot about goals and outcomes today. What is Perfect World? You and I connect January of 2020. I guess we'll go end of the Super Bowl. We'll go February 26. What is your measuring post of success?
Speaker 2:I think more than anything, probably athletically, is to be on the 53. I think that's been my goal since I've gotten in the league. I'll continue to be my goal every year, moving forward as long as I'm doing it.
Speaker 1:Do you ever feel yourself kind of falling out of love with the game?
Speaker 2:Yes and no. I don't think I was ever in love with the brutality that everybody loves about football.
Speaker 1:Tell me more, tell me more.
Speaker 2:Just because that's not who I am as a person. And I think that when I tried to become that person, I kind of took away from who I wanted to be as a person. I changed myself into somebody that I wasn't. But I fall in love with the X's and O's again. I fall in love with the mind games, the chess match that we play, and I think, being at this level, I get to see that every Sunday on the field. I get to sit here and witness it firsthand. So I don't I don't ever fall out of love with it. I feel like it's kind of it's made me take a step back and kind of reevaluate myself and and how I'm doing and how I'm feeling about it. But I don't think it's making me fall out of love, out of love with the game at all do you know who mia ham is?
Speaker 1:I do not she is one of the. She probably is the greatest, greatest US women's soccer player ever. I'd have to fact check that with the emergence of US women's soccer recently. But she was like the OG in US women's soccer. The athlete you've become in the hours of practice and the coaches who have pushed you is a little girl who fell in love with the game and never looked back. Play for her.
Speaker 1:I am building a fire and every day I train, I add more fuel. At the right moment I light the match and that just sends chills down my spine because a lot of times we lose that perspective of when we first started playing this game, it was fun and we loved it. I mean we loved it because we were good at it, but it was a game and then to be able to have that reframe like that's who I'm playing for, is that little kid who would have done anything to be in this position and I'm going to continue to train and I'm going to continue to quote her add more fuel and then when I get out there, I'm going to light that match and just let it all explode. And how do you maintain your love for the game while keeping up that intensity?
Speaker 2:I think it's just like she said. I'm playing for the 10-year-old me who just was out there having fun. I think for everybody who plays the game, I think this is always a dream, but you don't ever like I never thought about like actually being here, um, and I feel like being here now I'm just like, okay, I don't. I feel like when you have I mean, let me think about how to put this people think now that you're at a different level, you have to do a whole bunch of different things to try to keep your I don't want to say, keep yourself sane, but keep yourself intact and in love with the game.
Speaker 2:And I think for me, at the end of the day, like I was 10 out there playing, because I was having fun, because I was learning and because I was out there having fun at the end of the day, and I think now, moving into being a professional, like I think I need to go back to that Just have fun at the end of the day, because that's what it is. It's a game, like we're paid a king's ransom to play a child's game at the end of the day, and if I'm not having fun, then what am I doing? Like I'm putting my body through this, this and this, and training for this, this and this, and devoting this much time to something I'm not even enjoying, and what kind of sense would that make?
Speaker 1:I understand it becomes a business. One of my hardest critiques of myself when I look back over my career, was losing that joy and love for the game at times and putting too much silly pressure on myself. And yes, we're intense, we're competitors, there's going to be pressure. You'll never be able to alleviate some of those things, but I never just sat back and enjoyed the moment. And when I walk out of my house now and I see kids playing football in my neighborhood you can just kids who like don't have the relative talent and it's like thinking these kids just absolutely love, like, playing the game and they run around the field, yeah, and it's like they would have killed or they will kill to have opportunities I had and I took them for granted because of you know reasons X, y or Z.
Speaker 1:I sat there and let those things compromise that little kid in me and I hate that. I did that and I can't take it back. However, I do everything I can to help light that joy in others that I work with. What you're doing is not normal and it's something that you've asked for your whole life. Don't let the business, don't let the pressures steal some of that joy away, because one day you'll look back and you'll wish you had it all and you wish that you would have had a different mentality when you were there. Absolutely that's all I got for you, my friend.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:That's all I got for you. If people want to reach out to you, if you have any parting words, if there's anything that you're working on, where can people get at you? Would love to hear what you got going on right now.
Speaker 2:I honestly don't got much going on right now. I'm just hanging out, trying to lay low for real. But I mean, yeah, you can reach me on my IG edothalid underscore. But yeah, just hanging out, be in Houston for a couple more weeks until OTAs start up, then I'll be up in Detroit. But yeah, just hanging out, be in Houston for a couple of for a couple more weeks to OTA start up, then I'll be up in Detroit. I'll become a foodie up there because I'm about to try every restaurant within the next three or four months that I'm up there before we head into camp.
Speaker 1:So yeah, love it, man. I appreciate you Looking forward to continuing to follow your journey. I'm excited for this offseason for you and for the season coming up. Sounds like it's going to be a good one. Listeners, thank you for tuning in. Check us out at athleticfortitudecom. Download the podcast, subscribe Go to our YouTube channel. Subscribe Five stars only, baby, appreciate you E.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your time.