Embrace the Grind: Finding Joy, Growth, and Victory in the Journey

In this empowering episode of Beyond the Cleats, hosts Mina and Ailaina tackle the art of enjoying the journey—whether in sports, professional life, or personal growth. Through raw and relatable stories, they explore the importance of celebrating small wins, embracing challenges, and cultivating a resilient mindset.

From the power of affirmations and mantras to overcoming setbacks and finding balance, Mina and Ailaina provide actionable strategies to help listeners stay motivated on even the toughest days. They share heartfelt anecdotes, including Mina’s inspiring journey of resilience after dropping out of school, to emphasize how private victories pave the way for public success.

This episode is packed with valuable insights on self-reflection, growth, and staying present while striving for future goals. Tune in to discover how to make the most of your journey, no matter where you are on your path.

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Transcript

0:00
you vers you next thing you know your
0:01
mom's picking you up at 11:30 at night
0:03
if I'm doing my best no one can come at
0:05
me be objective and be your biggest
0:07
critic but you have to be your biggest
0:09
Advocate there's days where I can give
0:10
literally 5% I call it my big five so
0:13
how do you celebrate the small
0:19
victory this morning we're going to talk
0:21
about enjoying the journey it kind of
0:23
goes into the Olympics it's kind of
0:24
perfect cuz here we are yeah it's
0:26
perfect teams are winning gold medals
0:27
people individuals are winning gold
0:29
medals and
0:31
they don't just win gold medals
0:32
overnight it's the entire process with
0:34
their athletic career or their personal
0:36
careers or everything that leads leads
0:37
into each other um so I think that's
0:39
kind of like what we're going to um talk
0:41
about today and so my question for you
0:44
is how do you enjoy the journey of
0:47
sports and not just honing in on the the
0:50
little things but it
0:52
all-encompassing um in your sport trainy
0:54
like what techniques and things like
0:56
that do you use to to enjoy the process
1:00
younger I was a right-handed batter and
1:02
then I switched to being left-handed go
1:05
and so I really had to do a lot of I was
1:08
forced to do so so much tea work but
1:10
then you kind of see the results of that
1:12
I'm like okay well if I can do all these
1:14
little things and get that result that
1:18
can probably transfer in other aspects
1:21
of my game or of my life definitely
1:24
definitely yeah and then I mean it makes
1:27
the winning process that much
1:30
better I would say 100% you put the work
1:33
in right yeah so I think that's what it
1:35
kind of comes down to embracing the
1:36
journey is like knowing the things that
1:38
you've done along the way to get to
1:41
where you are so for example I saw a
1:43
podcast that was talking about like a
1:44
hike and so you don't just get to the
1:46
top and be like oh that was a easy
1:48
Breeze unless you're like on an easy
1:49
hike or whatever but most of the times
1:50
like hikes are like you got to find
1:52
those Cliffy like you know Rocky like
1:55
hard winds and maybe even there's snow
1:58
or something like that all those parts
1:59
during the hike that make that that hike
2:01
hard to get to the top and be like okay
2:03
I can ra you know ravish take in all of
2:07
this View and like the people around me
2:10
and like celebrate at the top because I
2:11
went through that hard journey of
2:13
getting from point A to point B yeah
2:15
it's like uh I love this concept of
2:18
there you have private victories and you
2:20
have public victories yeah and the
2:23
private victories those little wins that
2:26
are going to get you to that big public
2:28
victory
2:30
is so much more gratifying like you know
2:34
it from like like a professional
2:37
standpoint like oh like you're doing all
2:40
these little ons you're staying staying
2:41
late in the office you're working on X Y
2:44
and Z and you're making those little
2:46
that little little bit of progress and
2:48
then all of a sudden you know people see
2:50
you with like the CEO position or the
2:54
fancy car or the nice watch those are
2:57
the public victories but it's the
3:00
private the private victories that got
3:02
you there and that's what people don't
3:03
see and that's what makes it 100% more
3:06
gratifying I agree 100% so how do
3:09
you celebrate those small victories in
3:11
your life because I know you have them
3:14
it's not just Sports it's professional
3:15
as well it's in every aspect of your
3:18
life uh I would
3:22
say for me it's a constant reminder that
3:24
I'm having those those private wins okay
3:28
and for me it's the consistency with it
3:31
and being like okay we're when you're
3:33
checking off like those checklists of
3:36
like okay now we're here and now we're
3:38
here so you have those that big goal and
3:42
when you're checking off kind of those
3:44
those little goals to get to those big
3:45
goals that's where for me it's like okay
3:49
yeah we're we're getting somewhere um I
3:52
do this little like uh like I call it my
3:56
big five like the five things I'm going
3:59
to do do today I do it
4:03
um for like my Pro for certain projects
4:06
I have my big five for like each of the
4:08
projects that I'm going to do do today
4:10
or like if I'm at um like the research
4:14
lab I have like my big five I'm going to
4:15
do when I get into the office and for me
4:19
if I can check off check off those big
4:21
five it's like okay I've made progress
4:23
for it's my goal it's a way of I think
4:25
writing stuff out and being able to kind
4:27
of track it is it's kind of a way of
4:32
tricking your brain to saying okay yeah
4:33
I'm doing something I'm accomplishing
4:35
something versus just mentally checking
4:38
it off there there's something to be
4:40
said about just right in the check mark
4:42
yeah yeah yeah absolutely I totally
4:44
agree uh for me it even goes to as
4:46
smallest making my bed in the morning
4:48
that's the biggest small one for me 100%
4:50
every single morning I make my bed and
4:51
every single morning I feel good when I
4:53
do make my bed and that's like the
4:54
difference cuz if I don't make my bed
4:56
then I'm like oh why didn't I make my
4:57
bed why did I this that whatever just
4:59
makes me feel good the small winds just
5:01
like for some reason give me a little
5:03
bit of dopamine that I need to do my
5:05
next thing in the day which is I guess
5:07
what we're kind of talking about like
5:08
finding small things to keep you what
5:10
keeps you going throughout your day
5:12
throughout your journey throughout your
5:15
life to get those rewards yeah it's just
5:17
checking off checking off the boxes
5:21
so as we kind of like talk about the
5:24
process and and enjoying the
5:28
journey is there specific way that you
5:32
can like find joys in the hard moments
5:36
you know there's really hard days where
5:37
you don't want to go to practice you
5:38
don't want to go to the gym you don't
5:39
want to do those things like how do you
5:41
still find the motivation to get up and
5:43
do those things because I know you do I
5:45
know I do so uh for me it's find a set
5:51
of affirmations a set of mantras and
5:55
just repeat it to yourself over and over
5:57
again all right I I'll pull up my
5:59
mantras cuz I'll read them every morning
6:01
but when I'm on a run or something
6:03
sometimes I'll like yell at them like
6:04
one is I show up that is my most
6:07
powerful habit or another one that I
6:10
I'll usually yell on runs is like I'm
6:13
the hardest worker in the room no one
6:15
outworks me or my bare minimum is your
6:19
extra I exude excellence in all that I
6:22
do so it's those things where it's
6:25
hard
6:27
where if you just have
6:30
you don't even need like a whole bunch
6:32
like three affirmations that you tell
6:35
yourself in the hard times like no one
6:37
outw works me like like David go have
6:39
you ever heard of David goggin's like
6:41
you don't know me son that's a that's a
6:44
mantra that's a that's an affirmation of
6:46
like I'm in the suck this is terrible
6:50
yeah but you know I'm the best you're
6:53
not can out work me right yeah it's that
6:55
mindset it's staying mindful of
7:00
the fact that you can do hard things I
7:02
think and then also staying present in
7:06
those those feelings right it's okay to
7:08
feel like it hurts it sucks it's painful
7:11
like you're going to feel it every time
7:12
I go and run every single day it it
7:14
sucks I'm not going to lie like I feel
7:17
like sometimes I'll I'll go for run and
7:19
suck a little bit less but it still it
7:21
still sucks my lungs still burn every
7:23
time I still sweat like I'm taking a
7:25
shower like I take I go for a long run
7:27
so like that's what it's going to be
7:28
every single time you know I mean same
7:30
thing with the gym some days is a little
7:32
bit easier than the others but like on
7:33
those really really hard days you just
7:34
like Sit Down You're like all you got
7:36
this like it's your mind is so powerful
7:39
and I think taking control of your mind
7:42
and allowing yourself to just be in the
7:45
moments of suck and embracing
7:48
it allows you to go so much further yeah
7:51
and if you're not one of those I feel
7:53
like kind of raah raw like pickme up
7:56
type people get technical with it like
7:59
from a from an athletic standpoint like
8:01
I was on the rower the other day and I
8:03
hadn't been on the rower in I think
8:05
years and I just started to really get
8:09
technical with it and and kind of Chunk
8:11
it up the same
8:14
way like when like I was doing a like a
8:18
a a
8:19
spreadsheet um at the lab and it's a lot
8:22
of just copy paste numbers it's very
8:25
monotonous work but I told myself all
8:27
right I'm going to give myself 90
8:28
minutes and we're going crank this out
8:30
yeah
8:32
and again I I guess a little bit
8:34
something like I like I'm going to stay
8:36
present I'm y I'm always present in
8:39
everything that I do trick my brain and
8:43
like lock in it it's just making those
8:45
little challenges for myself and I think
8:47
having that gratitude in each of this
8:49
moments knowing that you're you're able
8:51
to go through this hard
8:53
thing because of something else that
8:56
you've been awarded right like you know
8:58
good health or or like the ability to
9:00
move your body a certain way stuff like
9:02
that or gifts or even like if you're an
9:04
athlete like your your ability to have
9:06
an gift to play a sport right yeah the
9:09
Gratitude goes a long way and that's
9:11
part of mindset it's also cultivating a
9:13
positive mindset if you go in every day
9:15
and you're like all right I'm going to
9:16
do the best I can can do today that
9:19
should be the absolute like highest
9:21
thing that you can say to yourself I'm
9:22
going to do the best I can today who
9:24
cares about anyone else right if I'm
9:26
doing my best no one can come at me yeah
9:28
work to the best of your ability give
9:31
100% of yourself and 100% of yourself
9:35
means even if like you you're maybe
9:39
working on 30% of Your Capacity do 100%
9:42
of that 30% absolutely so you're not
9:44
going be able to give 100% every day
9:46
you're not superh Heroes there's days
9:48
where I can give literally 5% I'm GNA
9:52
give my best 5% out there yeah oh 100%
9:55
And it's all based off of your own it's
9:58
you vers you we we talked about this all
10:00
yeah it's not you versus your teammate
10:02
it's not you versus your coach it's not
10:04
you vers anyone else it's you versus you
10:06
if you do a little bit better today than
10:07
you did yesterday it's a win and I'll
10:09
say this through and through to all my
10:10
athletes I don't compare you to each
10:12
other I compare you to you you are doing
10:15
so much better than you did in preseason
10:17
you were doing so much better than you
10:18
did yesterday you are having your own
10:20
growth maybe someone else is having
10:22
their own growth as well and while
10:23
you're growing they're growing and
10:25
there's different levels of it but you
10:27
have to focus on you and keep a positive
10:28
mindset for yourself
10:30
because if you don't there's what else
10:31
you're going to you're just going to
10:32
fall through with all these thoughts and
10:35
negativities and like why you shouldn't
10:36
do certain things you know you'll always
10:39
find doubts it's the easiest thing to
10:41
find yeah but on the other end you can
10:43
always find positive mindsets positive
10:45
theor 100% you have to be your biggest
10:48
be objective and be your biggest critic
10:50
but you have to be your biggest Advocate
10:52
as well biggest supporter absolutely
10:54
like I could support anyone through and
10:56
through but if you don't support
10:56
yourself then I'm not going to get
10:58
through to you yeah 100% I definitely
11:00
think that that's a big tool to have in
11:02
your toolbox a positive mindset and that
11:05
kind of goes into play with a lot of
11:06
things that we it's hard to get there
11:08
it's like we can there's there's so much
11:11
the motivational industry and the
11:14
self-help industry is a multi-billion
11:16
dollar industry like it is an industry
11:18
it's it's out there as well yo 100% look
11:21
it up it's like one of the fastest gr
11:23
ways to I don't know influence people
11:28
like oh I the it it really is and it
11:32
shows that people want it people need it
11:34
people want to help themselves just
11:37
sometimes they don't know how or they
11:40
don't know how to methodically kind of
11:42
go about it CU or you're just a try
11:45
right yeah you don't know what to try
11:47
yeah it's like what do I that's why we
11:49
give a 500 different thing well works
11:50
for me doesn't work for me no one worksa
11:53
doesn't work for no who's here last
11:54
episode so if you haven't checked that
11:56
out go back and look at that episode
11:57
because it's pretty good uh
11:59
um but you know what I mean like there's
12:02
different tools yeah and that's like we
12:05
can you can only we can only speak on
12:07
what works best for us like for me it's
12:10
affirmations and mantras for someone
12:13
else it might just uh I think I had one
12:16
teammate who their thing was telling
12:19
them telling themselves like they sucked
12:22
now it was a very weird and I don't
12:24
recommend it this mindset but it's what
12:27
got them in their J likes yeah uh I I
12:31
again I personally don't recommend it
12:33
but it's just whatever is going to get
12:34
your butt off the couch and get you
12:36
going and I'll tell you right now it's
12:38
going to be in some sort of intrinsic
12:41
motivation like I don't want to stay
12:43
here anymore yeah it definitely comes
12:45
from
12:46
within along those lines um I think
12:50
another kind of topic that goes along
12:52
the lines of what we're speaking about
12:54
is learning
12:56
to embrace setbacks and challenges so
12:59
seeing your obstacles
13:02
as something to grow upon right so I
13:06
don't know if you have a story about
13:07
sometime when you had an obstacle and
13:10
and were able to see that obstacle and
13:12
overcome that and then also see the
13:14
light from the obstacle I don't know
13:16
maybe a story or something that they
13:17
could share I
13:19
do I want to see how I want to phrase it
13:25
um probably the the biggest setback I
13:29
had was when I had dropped out of school
13:35
so that's coming from someone who was
13:38
very I was very academically motivated
13:41
very athletically
13:43
motivated
13:45
and it was one of those things where you
13:47
just are overreaching way too much both
13:50
physically and mentally and I just I had
13:53
to drop out of school it was yeah it was
13:55
a very um tough time it was a very dark
14:00
time
14:02
um and when you're in those tough dark
14:05
dark moments where you're like well I'm
14:08
like like I was athletically at my best
14:11
I was academically like you I didn't
14:14
snooze on my academics like I was very
14:16
focused very motivated and then you see
14:19
just all the little little pieces
14:21
crumble and you're like oh next thing
14:23
you know your mom's picking you up at
14:25
11:30 at night from New Hampshire and
14:27
driving back to Connecticut and you're
14:29
like oh [ __ ]
14:30
like and it comes from figuring out okay
14:35
what went wrong how can that be better
14:39
like what was the and for me it was just
14:41
I was just overworked you know from high
14:44
school then going into college then
14:46
transferring it was it was just go go go
14:51
so when I went back to
14:54
school I had to kind of take a step and
14:58
know that the doesn't Define me people
15:01
go at their own
15:03
pace and and that's the big thing you
15:05
can't let your struggles like Define you
15:09
and knowing that it was okay to take a
15:12
step back it was okay to take a break
15:15
yeah and then again the problem solver
15:18
that I am I'm like okay so when we go
15:20
back into this when we jump back into
15:22
academics because I knew I wanted to
15:24
finish
15:25
school how can we be better and the
15:29
maybe it is an affirmation maybe it it's
15:32
uh something that I always say it's like
15:33
all right we need to find the balance
15:36
and I'll literally just go like this
15:37
like let's find the balance of like if
15:41
I'm going hard this week okay we got to
15:44
make sure we're getting sleep we got to
15:46
make sure you know Tak care of yourself
15:48
taking care of myself and if we go hard
15:50
that week then let's go a little bit
15:52
light again everything is like a balance
15:54
so in finding that light I think you you
15:58
find the solution
15:59
it's you know like selfworth like
16:03
knowing that
16:05
you're yeah I'm trying not to ramble
16:10
here well it's in those those moments of
16:12
probably like resilience and
16:14
perseverence right so you didn't just
16:17
sit back and like you had that set back
16:19
dropping out of school it would have
16:20
been easy to just be like I don't I
16:22
don't finish M do something else
16:24
whatever that was my time I failed but
16:27
with failure comes growth and I think
16:29
when you have that mindset of it's okay
16:32
like as long as I keep going and doing
16:34
my best the next day or the next day and
16:35
the next day 100% those little wins mhm
16:39
then you'll find that you've got your
16:40
degree and you're working your one of
16:42
your dream jobs doing something you love
16:45
crazy with people that support you and
16:46
want to be around you and want to teach
16:48
you and want to help you grow as well
16:51
which I I know I'm saying all these
16:53
things because I've heard mea talk about
16:54
her career and F she stuff like that
16:57
that's why I can say those things
16:58
because went from that to the to this
17:00
where she lives now make me blush over
17:02
here like I know makes me a little like
17:04
I emotional about it too like seeing you
17:07
from those moments too was like outside
17:09
perspective you've seen the whole whole
17:11
journey which I'm super grateful for not
17:14
not that you saw it but they've you know
17:16
stuck by me with it yeah absolutely I
17:18
believed in you I think there's so many
17:20
people that believe in you and that's
17:21
one of the things that really helped you
17:22
as well was having that to for people to
17:23
believe yeah and again yourself wrong
17:27
well and again that's the like said
17:29
those are the public wins like being at
17:31
like one of the top it's I I'll say I'll
17:33
be a little not humble like it's it's a
17:36
very good prestigious Institute and I'm
17:38
grateful to be there um and doing a lot
17:40
of other different things like this
17:42
podcast and other other projects those
17:45
are the those are the public
17:47
victories and but the private victories
17:49
they don't get to see all the they don't
17:51
get yeah you don't get to see all the
17:52
private victories and that's um that's
17:54
what makes all the difference absolutely
17:56
for sure I agree 100% great story oh got
17:59
me a little emotional there here we go I
18:03
was really trying not to tear up I'm
18:04
like no we're not do that no I was like
18:07
do I share do I share it I'm like no you
18:09
guys deserve to vulnerability is is
18:12
power so where did you learn that
18:16
waa no
18:19
way growth growth we love it we love to
18:22
see it Mina Mina's come a long way so
18:25
have I honestly I feel like young like I
18:28
don't know when we meet like young 20 no
18:30
even well yeah I was young 20s I think I
18:32
we n it was n yeah it was young it was
18:35
before we were 17s this was like before
18:37
before 21 I think or no it definitely
18:40
was well before 21 absolutely yeah we've
18:43
grown a lot yeah oh my gosh babies and
18:47
babies so BR talking about our goals
18:50
look at us now oh my gosh I think one of
18:53
the first things we ever said to me was
18:55
like she was talking about like you're
18:59
your career should be something you're
19:00
passionate about and your investment
19:02
should make you money and it's something
19:03
that I've I've lived by for like so long
19:06
now so that if that just gives you a
19:08
nugget of wisdom here we are my gosh I
19:10
was 19 when I said I think you're like
19:13
my mom said this to me one time now I'm
19:15
going to share with you and then we move
19:16
forward with it and it was great and I
19:18
loved it thank you to your mom she
19:20
killed
19:21
it the negs of wisdom over here see
19:24
actually I helped a lot with this
19:26
podcast too so she did I know we're
19:28
gonna bring her on one of these times
19:30
she she mentioned it to me the other day
19:33
I'm like we'll get you on we'll get a
19:35
Mother's Day podcast oh our moms we were
19:37
so talking about that that definitely
19:39
needs to happen inm for
19:41
sure um so I think the last thing that
19:43
we'll wrap this up with is just
19:44
celebrating your your progress and your
19:46
growth which is what we just kind of
19:48
talked about which is perfect um the
19:51
importance of like reflection and seeing
19:53
things through and
19:55
then
19:57
embracing the journey
19:59
in order to see where you've gone you
20:01
know see where you've come from to see
20:03
where you're going to get mhm and they
20:05
keep doing that over and over CU it's
20:06
not going to stop at the top of one
20:08
mountain you're going to have to H to
20:10
the next one you know what 100% And and
20:11
that's life like people think you know
20:16
I'll I'll use the entrepreneurial space
20:18
for example like when everyone's like I
20:20
want to make cuz it it's out there and
20:24
it's hits me in the face constantly of
20:27
like I want to go and you know make a
20:30
millions of dollars and then I'm going
20:31
to retire yeah you want to make millions
20:34
of dollars homeboy you ain't retiring
20:37
like that's a lifestyle that is like if
20:40
you want to get to that level and not
20:42
everyone and not everyone wants to be at
20:44
that you don't want to be at that level
20:47
life shouldn't be about just work but I
20:49
but if you want to get to that level
20:51
you're not just like making your
20:53
millions and retiring like life is not
20:55
that simple yeah going have a company to
20:58
run and some yeah please it the
21:03
more with more success comes more
21:06
responsibility absolutely
21:08
and that's how you grow that's kind what
21:10
we're talking about as you keep moving
21:13
through there's always going to be a
21:14
next obstacles or was going to be the
21:15
next turtle and how do you overcome that
21:18
and how do you make it a little bit
21:19
easier for the next time you go through
21:20
something that's challenging so I I
21:23
think for myself personally things that
21:25
I used to think were challenging when I
21:26
was 18 or 16 or 15 or vice versa maybe
21:30
even last year are not as challenging as
21:32
they they felt in that moment and it's
21:35
good to look back I think it's very very
21:38
important to look back and reflect on it
21:41
yeah absolutely and see okay that's
21:43
that's where I was that's and this is
21:45
where I am now it's good to reflect but
21:48
don't stay there still still look ahead
21:51
while staying present that that's the
21:52
that's the game there respect what's
21:55
happened be excited for the future
21:59
but enjoy the journey enjoy the journey
22:01
the present yep that's exactly what it
22:04
is well it's been a great chob thank you
22:07
so much for today and you know being
22:09
vulnerable and showing us a little bit
22:11
of your journey um I know that can be
22:13
hard and we we support that and we know
22:16
how Brave you are and we are excited for
22:18
what you do in the future I I appreciate
22:20
that atena yeah uh let us know if you
22:23
have any uh stories of things that
22:25
you've overcome how maybe how how you
22:29
overcome some challenges and obstacles
22:31
in your life and if you have any topics
22:34
that you want us to come up with in the
22:36
future because we're chit chatter so
22:38
here we are um but thanks again um this
22:41
is f podcast and signing off