Episode 32: The Trophy Is the Last Thing You Earn

The world celebrates championships, but nobody celebrates the years it took to get there. In this episode, Stephanie and Michael discuss what recent sports champions can teach us about resilience, consistency, goal-setting, and staying committed long after motivation fades. Because success isn't built on game day—it's built in the unseen days before it.

Mixed & Edited by Next Day Podcast

info@nextdaypodcast.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Welcome to the Become Unshaken Podcast, where we journey through the hard together. We're so glad you're here. Welcome to the Become Unshaken Podcast. My name is Stephanie Rodriguez.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

And I am Michael Rodriguez.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

And today we are talking about championships. It's been all over our house lately, all the amazing accomplishments of sports teams that we've been watching. And so we thought, let's do a different episode today. Let's talk about championship teams and everything we can learn about them because every year we watch championship teams lift trophies. We see the confetti, the interviews, the celebrations, and oftentimes we're waiting for it to be our team. And this year it actually was. And some years it's not, but there's still so much to gain. We don't actually see the early mornings, the setbacks, the losses, the injuries, the criticism, and the seasons that didn't end the way they hoped or the way we hoped. Recently, sports fans have been celebrating championship victories. And like I said, our house is no exception. And it got us thinking about how similar life really is. Whether you're trying to build a business, raise a family, strengthen your marriage, grow your faith, advance your career, or simply become a better version of yourself, the championship moments, they're rare. Most of life is practice, preparation, showing up when no one is watching. So today we're talking about what championship teams can teach us about resilience, about goal setting, and the unshaken mindset because the trophy is the last thing you earn.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Right?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Okay, so let's dive in. I love this topic. We definitely want to talk about some of the amazing victories that we've seen as of late, but I I do have a question for you, Michael. Let's let's start with a question about, you know, just in terms of watching a team finally win it all. And we just did that with the Hurricanes.

SPEAKER_01 1:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

They won the Stanley Cup, amazing achievement. What stands out to you more? The championship itself or everything that came before it?

SPEAKER_01 2:06

I think when, you know, and first I'll speak as a fan, right? Obviously, I have no credit to be, to be taken for what one of our teams accomplishes, right, on the on the field or on the ice or anywhere else. So as a fan, you know, we take the the losses of our teams rather significantly, but the reality is that, you know, we probably don't take it as as hard as those who are actually participating, right? Someone on the outside of our life who sees one of our losses, no matter how devastating or difficult, you know, if you're not in it, there's a limit, right, to how you're going to respond and emotionally feel. And, you know, depending on the team and depending on the drought, those emotions probably are are higher or lower. I'm a Cubs fan, Chicago, everything. And so we had a 108-year drought uh that was ended in 2016. And so I will say, you know, growing up in Chicago and seeing all those Bulls championships, man, that that Cubs championship really meant more than than it probably should have. Yeah. And so, you know, you take all those things into account. But I think when you watch it, and especially when when you feel as though your team is competitive and capable, or we feel like we ourselves are competitive or capable, but you just don't get over the hump. You just don't get that championship, right? And we talked about it when I discuss coaching. You know, unless we win a championship, I tell my kiddos, you will lose. And that is a reality. And so, you know, what what matters more or what sticks more? I think it is the sweetness of a championship, the sweetness of victory when you have been along for the ride of the many losses. And I think I think you can't really appreciate a championship, whether it's uh, you know, a team that you root for or something that you yourself, you know, are a part of. You can't appreciate a championship if you haven't had a ton of losses. And so I I do believe that that that the more you've fought and the more you've overcome and the more effort and energy you put into something, it only makes that victory that much sweeter. Sure. And so I I think you know, the tricky part, and I think we're gonna talk about it here shortly, the tricky part is how do you continue to get up after each loss, right? And how do you how do you continue to fall, rise, repeat, like we said? How do you continue to persevere? And how do you continue to really maintain your hope and your discipline and everything that goes into fighting another day?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

Yeah. Because even the the most amazing athletes and victors, they don't they don't win every year, right? They they experience more loss than than than they do wins. And I think you're 100% right, but they don't give up. And that's the difference, right? So that's what makes a champion, someone that's willing to stick to the goal and stick to the outcome that they're seeking, despite what that journey is like, because they know that at the end of the day, they're going to lose. And they just have to find ways to gain from that, to learn from that and get better. And I think the best athletes out there, they they show us that. And the and the, we'll just say in general, people show us that. Right. We, we show ourselves that every single day. So, but sticking with this idea of championship winning teams, we would obviously say that they all have in common this idea that they don't quit after a losing season. Why do you think then that some people, some people do? Some people just they experience a loss, they experience a setback, and then they abandon their goal even after one setback. Why do you think that is when we as a society, as a community, rally around these teams and keep cheering them on, but we don't cheer ourselves on?

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Wow, yeah, there's a lot of places that my mind goes and all of that. You know, first and foremost, you know, we talk about the classic conditioning of the mind. And, you know, you really need to make a conscious decision one way or another when it comes to difficulty. And and you you make a choice. It is a choice, right? There's nobody saying, hey, you should quit. And no one's saying, hey, man, keep on going. It really comes down to, and listen, I I know that there are people in our lives that will do both, right? Uh they will cheer you on any way they can, and there are people who, for a million reasons, will try and hold you back or put you down and all of those things, right? But in general, and and even if that's any of those are your reality, the fact is it's still our choice as to whether or not we will get up and we will try again. And, you know, with all the research that we did and have done, you do condition your mind to respond to difficulty in a certain way. And it is either I will continue to get up and keep pushing, or I will lay down and quit. So, one, I think, you know, at times we are kind of victims of the decisions that we have made in the past, but you know that we're also firm believers in tomorrow's a new day, and you can choose differently. And so, you know, I think I think first and foremost, it comes down to whether or not when you lose, are you willing to at least tell yourself, hey, I am willing to try again? Or you just absolutely say, Nope, I'm terrible, I quit, and this isn't worth it, and I'm done, right? You've got to have some desire within yourself to choose to get up. Yeah. And so I think what we see and a lot of times what we laud as fans and as you know, people who analyze behavior, whether it's you know, through reading a book or watching The Last Dance, right? With with the Bulls, the 98 Bulls.

SPEAKER_00 8:23

I love that show.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Listen, side note, it's it's one of the best documentaries you're ever gonna watch. I don't care if you like sports or not, it is phenomenal. You know, each of these athletes, for the most part, have overcome much, right? And even the absolute best don't win every time, need to overcome, you know, their own personal demons or you know, their antagonists on other teams or the media or their family or their friends, whatever it is, themselves. Those who fight give themselves the opportunity to become champions. Yeah. Those who do not, those who don't even play the game, or those who at the first moment of difficulty turn around, tucktail and and say no, have no chance. And, you know, we talk about it a lot in that when we do not fight for ourselves, when when we set a goal but then don't do the work necessary to get there and then quit the first time something gets hard, you actually steal your own hope. Because you have no hope of getting there if you're gonna quit.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

Yeah. And it's all about mindset in in the sense, in the sense that it's it's all how you look at something and everyone's gonna look at it differently. I one example popped in my head as you were talking. There was a press conference recently where a basketball player was being interviewed by someone, you know, in the in the press circle, and they were they were suggesting that the season was a failure because they because they lost, because they they didn't win. And the frustration on his face that he was overcome with just frustration, anger, disappointment in the question, because the question revealed more about the interviewer than it did about anything else, which is their mindset and what they were seeking was validation that failure was the outcome achieved here in this situation, in this scenario. And he wanted nothing to do with it because for him, it wasn't about failing. It wasn't, it wasn't an outright failure. Yeah, they lost. They didn't win the championship, but I'm sure there was more gained than anyone wanted to accept or realize in that moment. And he knew that. And then everyone else in the room didn't. And that's the difference, I think, between a championship or an unshaken mindset and and just kind of getting through life and dealing with circumstances and looking at and looking at the bad. You taught me this, and and I would love our listeners to learn this too, is this beautiful concept of the reframe, right? So are you gonna are you gonna look at a setback or an obstacle as it is, is as what it is right in front of you? Are you gonna find your opportunity in a reframe to say, what can I learn? What can I be grateful for? What can I gain? What can I take forward? There's always a reframe. You just have to find it.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, listen, we say life is hard, it's gonna deal you bad hand after bad hand after bad hand. And believe me, I understand that that life is hard. It isn't fair, that there are things without, you know, outside of our circumstances or outside of our own, you know, power and control that absolutely put us into terrible positions, whether it be, you know, professional, financial, personal, relational, with family, with, you know, a million places, uh, coworkers, anything and everywhere, you know, can come at us. It is very easy to say, well, not fair, this isn't right, I quit. I'm tired, I'm a human being, this is un, you know, and most people would look at a lot of situations and go, yeah, man, I get it. I get it. But there's another choice that we can make, but there's another way to reframe, to look at this and say, all right, this wasn't fair. What am I gonna learn out of this so that I can prevent this from happening in the future, so that I can teach others to avoid the same mistake. How can I somehow, some way, take some glimmer of learning or, you know, self-improvement or protection for others, right? I mean, sometimes things that I've gone through in my life, I mean, I've now actually made it part of my mission. Let me tell you about all the difficulty I've had. And guess what? Here's some things that you can do differently. Here's ways that you can look at it. It makes me more empathetic and more sympathetic. And, you know, I'm I'm seeking to teach from my failures, from my losses, from the things that maybe I have done to put myself in a situation that that wasn't good or that have been done to me by no blame or fault of my own. And yet I have made the choice that I will take all of the yuck that this world has to offer and man, try and point people to hope and joy, regardless of that. And so, you know, it does just come down to that mindset, that that decision to say, I'm gonna get up, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna grow, I'm gonna improve, I won't make the same mistake again.

SPEAKER_00 13:52

And if you do, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

And and if you try not to. That's right. And tomorrow is another day, right? I mean, listen, we you know, I still struggle with patience and the act of patience and the patience required in life. I want things to be done now. And I teach this stuff, and it's so easy for me to teach and to explain, and all of a sudden something unexpected comes in, and now I've got something that I was unprepared for, and now I have to wait X amount of days, months, years, it doesn't matter, and I'm looking for a way to just push on through and figure it out. But guess what? Can't. So learn. And tomorrow's a new day. And okay, my immediate response, not so great. Let me come back in a couple hours with a better mindset, with a better attitude, with a better viewpoint, and continue to grow.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

So one thing that I've I've learned over the years and I've taken away from setbacks and from losses is this idea of setting my goal not so much on the outcome. That's important. I I don't I don't discredit that. But I think the process is as important. So I'll explain that. To me, it's it's not just about saying, here's what I want, here's what I want to achieve. And and again, we're talking about championship teams. That's great. But, you know, I didn't grow up playing sports as much as you did. I didn't grow up celebrating sports as much as you did, but I did, I did celebrate the goals that I had for myself professionally, academically, relationally, right? And just wanting to stay connected with with friendships and and people that I have found that to be important in my life. I will say the process is as critical as the outcome for me and what I've learned, in that I can say whatever I want to achieve and I can focus on that as being the thing that I want, but I'm never gonna achieve that thing. I'm never gonna achieve that goal unless something changes in my everyday life, unless something changes in the process and the way that I kind of go about my day, set my my own hourly, daily expectations of myself. For example, I want to run a marathon one day. I'm not gonna get there overnight, changing nothing. I have to decide what am I gonna do every day? Now I'm not I'm not shooting for a marathon. That's just an example.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Okay, I was gonna say that's a hypothetical. I'm sorry. Uh I will cheer you on.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

That's a hypothetical. Well, we'll we'll just say running. I mean, I I really did want to get even just right, that was recent. I wanted to, I said so long in my life that I'm not, I'm not a runner. Well, I wanted to change that. I didn't want to be someone that said, I'm not a runner. I wanted to just be able to run as far as I want, as long as I want, and and not feel, you know, like this inability to do so, right? I focus so much on strength training and not as much on on my my strength and cardio and and my ability to have a strong, healthy heart, right? And and that's important. So I set that that goal that I wanted to be able to run for at least 25, 30 minutes and feel strong at the end of that run and feel really good and motivated. Well, I'm not gonna get that overnight having not run before. So for me, it was about getting up, putting my shoes out, putting my clothes out, having the time set aside to go to the gym and start running and start with five minutes, start with six minutes. Just start with a daily commitment. That process matters way more than the outcome because the outcome's much farther away than being able to say, I had a small win today. I achieved my goal in that journey today and tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Those small wins add up to the final outcome. But without those small wins, that goal seems really far away and much less likely to achieve. And I think the same thing can be true for championship teams, right? So this idea, even watching my own son when soccer championships, you know, time and time and time again, their entire team is committed, their entire team shows up, they have good uh relationships on and off the field. They're committed together to do this together and be on the journey together. They don't just show up without practicing and hope for the best, right? He's been on teams before where they've done that. And guess what? They failed, right? And that's true. Apply that to anything in life. But the process matters and should be celebrated as much as that final outcome. And I think that's the difference with championship teams. They're committed to one another, they're committed for the long haul. They're not just committed to today's practice and nothing else, they're committed to every practice and their own personal health and well-being to show up as their best self. And guess what? They're gonna win at the end of the day. And if they don't, they're still gonna celebrate the journey that they took together.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yep. And, you know, so stepping out of even just the the sports analogy for a second, right? You know, not not as individuals, there are very few opportunities to win any type of championship. To be said, hey, guess what? You're the best blank wherever wherever you are and whatever you're doing. But what you described there was first and foremost, discipline, right? You're you're living today in a disciplined way, in a way with which you are building towards a future goal. So, right, you're not gonna run a marathon if you only run two miles one day before the marathon and say, hey, I'm ready. You know, you're not gonna be prepared for, you know, the next work project if you've done nothing except for one day, and all of a sudden now it's it's time to be on stage and perform and and you know, teach an entire organization some kind of learning. Disciplined decisions are what develops that classic conditioning that we talk about. It develops the habits that build towards a future. And when you're building towards your future and getting closer to the future you want and making decisions today that bring you closer, that's when you become more hopeful. Because when we make short-term decisions that do not support the future goal, the future trophy that we have our minds set on, we are actually then getting farther away from our goal. Why? Because another day passed and we didn't do anything to get closer. So now the only thing that happened was we lost time to get to the end goal. So first you're talking about discipline, which again, we've said it before, it's gotten a bad rap. You know, discipline, you know, is different from, you know, oh, you're a kid and you've misbehaved at home. Now you're gonna get disciplined, or you're at work and you've made a mistake or at school and you've done something wrong, and now there's gonna be disciplinary action, right? No, we are actually building hope by sacrificing something short-term, some short-term living for a future that we seek and would bring us joy. And so, so we make sacrifices today. One million percent, if you are going to transform, right? If it you're not a champion every day, you're not a winner every day, you're not the best every day, if you're fortunate enough to be the best at something great, someone else is out there working to be better than you, right? And so it requires one, the discipline, two that grind before glory. You have got to work and you gotta work hard and you got to work consistently. And no matter what, when we talk about the patience, right? As we wait for the season to be over, we wait for, you know, the quarter to be over, as we wait for this particular, you know, role in our profession to be over, to get a next promotion or opportunity. You've got to remain patient in the weight, but you gotta grow in it. So now you're talking about growing in the weight, you're talking about living for tomorrow, right? Choosing tomorrow over today, and that grind before your glory. You gotta work. And that comes at work, it comes in sports, it comes at home. If you're a spouse, if you're a parent, you can't be spouse of the year or parent of the year and not be around, not be present. Not ask questions, not dive in, not do your best, not grind. We gotta grind everywhere for the glory. And it doesn't come overnight. And if you are fortunate enough to have that glory come overnight, you know, on these sports teams, you're a rookie who played no role on that team. That team's been working for 12 years towards this goal, and you just gotta ring. Cool. Your role in that wasn't very large, typically. So we've got to get out of the mindset of, man, I want it to be quick, I want it to be easy, I want it to be fast. We've got to get back into the, you know, and I talk about it in the keynote a little bit. If we don't work hard to earn something, we don't get a lot of fulfillment out of it. When things come easy and you just win, you're like, eh, yeah, I won, but who cares?

SPEAKER_00 22:54

It feels so much better when it's hard. That's why, you know, the it's the end of the workout that feels the best, not the beginning, right? It it always feels better. It always feels just, I don't even know, even more validating when it was, when it was hard, when it wasn't expected either, right? When you did it, you did it regardless of what the outcome was going to be. You did it because you were committed. And I think that's that's another unique difference, is I think champions do and winners do understand the difference between motivation and commitment, right? So you can be motivated and excited to hold a championship trophy or to achieve your goal, no matter what it is. Again, out of out of even just the sports analogies here for a second, you can be absolutely motivated, but still not committed. And that because commitment's a decision, right? So this idea of committing truly to the process, to the to the outcome, to whatever, even especially if it's part of a team and a collective, right? A group dynamic even at work. If you're not committed, that means you you are probably just seeking easy. And easy doesn't win.

SPEAKER_01 24:04

That's right. And and you know, motivation is emotional. So I I can be, oh, I can be motivated temporarily to change a behavior, but I'm not going to if if I'm not gonna get pretty close to immediate gratification, yeah, if you know, you're like, hey, I'm gonna run this marathon, and I love you so much, and I would love it if you ran it with me, Michael. And I'd say, Man, I love you, babe. Yeah, let's do that. And by the fourth mile, I'm probably gonna be like, you know what, not committed.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

I feel like this might be my next goal.

SPEAKER_01 24:39

Love me.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

I feel like this is coming.

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Okay, best, best of luck. Uh anyone listening, I am not a runner and oof, I I despise it, but I digress. Commitment again just comes down to that discipline. Commitment comes down to you making a decision and saying, it does not matter what comes in front of me here. I will continue to go because I'm committed to an outcome. I'm committed to giving my absolute best. And many times, listen, you know, for every champion, there is, there are many losers, and and they all put in a lot of the same effort. Here's the difference. The difference at times is simply the the makeup of the team, the makeup of the family, the makeup of the group, the the resources that we are blessed to have as individuals or in our professions or whatever else, right? You're you're sitting here and competing with a huge organization and you're both seeking to, you know, create something that helps people. Well, the big organization with all the money, they got more resources, it's gonna be a lot easier, right? Those are realities of life. But what we are saying, and when it comes to champions, is you will not win a championship if you do not live and work and you know think in a disciplined manner, if you do not grow while you are forced to wait and get to this end goal, and if you're not willing to work tirelessly, again, not in some hustle culture way, not in some negative way that steals you from your purpose and hurts your health. Yeah, right. But but putting in honest work and honest effort and giving what you can, I think too often we sell ourselves short. I think too often we've bought into the lie of ease and comfort. And I think as a result, we almost inadvertently can you know condition ourselves in the opposite way, or we we all of a sudden kind of just start to tell ourselves a different narrative of eh, I don't really want it, or it's not that important, or it's not worth this, and I don't want to do that, and it should be easy, and I deserve this. And so and and I'm sorry, but culture and marketers and the television and social media would feed all of those misconceptions, all of those, in my opinion, lies. We do believe that we were made to work and that working hard brings fulfillment. We know that life makes you wait, and as a result, you can be passive while you wait, or you can be active and you can grow while you're forced to wait. And then we make disciplined decisions, even when it's not easy. We make hard choices to get to an end goal that we have for ourselves, and that is worth it to us to make sacrifices in the moment, right? And then the classical conditioning of fall, rise, repeat, of perseverance. Listen, oh, life is tough. You got you gotta choose. Do you want to get up and fight again, or do you want to quit? I mean, that's it, right? And so these are all choices, and and here's the thing. I don't know what your trophy is. I don't know what goals you've set for yourself. But those don't matter. They're yours. You want them. We're saying this is what it takes, and we see it in championship teams. It's the easiest thing to see, right? And you see them lose year after year. Again, the Cubs lost 108 years in a row. All right. The the Carolina Hurricanes, we've loved the hurricanes. They have been so good for so long and have lost in the Eastern Conference Finals, like four of the last six seasons. They get over the hump, dominated. Listen, that trophy, you know. Your first question, what do we what do we celebrate more? The trophy or the journey?

SPEAKER_00 28:45

It's the journey.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

The journey is what makes that trophy feel so spectacular. So, you know, one of my trophies that I'm gonna be waiting for is when each of our kids turns 32 years old and they got that first kiddo, and they go, Wow, yeah, you guys really poured into us and did a great job.

SPEAKER_00 29:08

Do you think that's what they'll say?

SPEAKER_01 29:10

Well, we got I'm hoping for one at least.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

But but but that's what I'm talking about. It's gonna be years, it's gonna be decades before some of these things happen. And you know what else? Sometimes we have victories that we won't even see.

SPEAKER_00 29:23

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

We will pass away and be long gone, and some legacy that we've left, our family, this world will hit. And you know what?

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Sweet.

SPEAKER_00 29:32

Yeah. And it was game after game that the Knicks just kept coming back, right? After being down, what, double digits? Double digits. Never gave up. Again, it's the journey. And and I love that. Yes, absolutely, the championship and the trophy, if it's so sweet and feels so good. But I was so happy for a team that never gave up. And then when you when you go to, you know, fast forward to the the ceremony at the end, right? And you you see whether it's the Canes or whether you whether it's the Knicks or any any of your teams that, you know, that win championships in in your local towns, when you hear the words then that are chosen, they often start with thank you, right? I just want to say thank you to the people that supported me, to my teammates, to my coach, you know, to all their loved ones, their friends, their tribe, right? The people that were right by their side. That's the other, I think, differentiator with championship teams. And not to say that others don't experience the same. Of course we all do, but it's just so noticeable in that moment that you humbly often look around you because it can't be done on your own. We we talk so much about the choices that we all make and that we have to make. So I we can't underscore that enough. But it is it is possible, mostly because of your choices and the support of those choices by those around you, which is why your tribe matters significantly.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Well, and you know, you talk about the the speeches at the end, right? These championship speeches.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Have we ever heard a champion speech where someone goes, first of all, I want to thank nobody?

SPEAKER_00 31:11

Oh no, Snoop, Snoop Dogg. I don't know it wasn't for a championship, but and but but I love that clip.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

What else do they do? That they also don't say, and you know, this was so easy. And, you know, I really didn't have to work too hard to get here. Yeah. And everything just always went my way. Yeah. And I'm so grateful that everyone just gave me everything I wanted and that the other team didn't even show up and just gave me the championship, right? No, they literally hang on the hours and the days and the months and the years of sacrifice and grind, right? You you hear these champions on these professional stages, and what do they go back to? They go back to being eight, nine, ten years old, working with their dad out in the in the parking lot, running, doing laps, running routes, shooting buckets, lifting weights, all of the work, decades. Yeah, right. And and that would be the other thing that I that I would ask you, uh anyone listening, right? Time. We are forced to wait, right? And and victories and wins and championships are rare. So when you get them, first of all, enjoy them. Oh, those babies are sweet. So enjoy them, right? Whether you're a fan, but really I'm talking about the championships that you win in your life, right? You you become a parent for the first time. That's a championship. You won, you know, you get to raise this kiddo and do all those things, right? But we have got to stop expecting things to go quickly or easily or comfortably. I I talk about it in the keynote, right? So it's it's rather fresh. I worked as a sandwich artist in Subway that I owned for seven years. Seven years, very few people knew I owned it. Humble pie all day. All I was was the guy that puts tomatoes on the sandwich. Yeah, struggling, struggling, facing bankruptcy. Seven years. Sometimes we gotta wait seven years for a win. Sometimes you gotta wait twenty years for a win. Forty? There's no end. The question is always this day-to-day, how do we respond? Are we re-anchored into that purpose and we know what we're aiming for, why we're doing what we're doing, and then using it to push forward step after step, day after day, to achieve our trophy, to get that glory. And why? Because whether you get it in five years or five months or five decades, the championship that you hold up at the end is so sweet. Don't steal that from yourself. Don't steal the result, the hope, and the joy by quitting. Keep going.

SPEAKER_00 34:09

Yeah. Trust the process. I think that's the lesson that championship teams remind us of, right? The trophy, it isn't the reward for one great day. It's the reward for thousands of ordinary days. Days when nobody was cheering, days when things weren't working, days when quitting would have been easier. But the reality is most of us are not lifting trophies up this week. We're raising kids, we're building careers, we're healing relationships or working towards goals that they still feel really far away. But the principle is exactly the same. So the person who stays committed through the ordinary days is usually the person who gets to experience the extraordinary ones. So wherever you are today, keep showing up. Keep believing because the trophy is the last thing that you earn. We're so thankful that you joined us today. We have been wanting to do this episode for quite some time, having watched all of our teams win, lose, all the things, and and they're they're experiencing the lessons that we talk about day in and day out. So so thank you for joining us. Please do visit us on social, on our website, and buy that book. If you haven't bought your copy, lots of amazing stories and lessons still to come. Thanks for being with us today, and we hope you have a great week.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Everybody take care.

SPEAKER_00 35:22

We're so glad you joined us today. If you found inspiration through today's episode, share it with a friend and make sure to follow so you don't miss what's ahead. Until next time, choose joy, regardless, and whatever comes your way. See you next week.