도그 스포츠에서의 실망감: 올림피언 그레그 루가니스와의 마인드셋 #84

when you do something like that, I'm supposed to be a pretty good diver, you know, and pretty good divers don't do stuff like that. You know? So my first sense was, you know, I came off the board, I knew I was going to be close. So I was afraid of hitting my hands. And then I thought I was past the board and I heard this big hollow thud and I go crashing in the water. And I'm like going, what was that? And then I realized, oh my God, that was my head. And I go crashing in the water. And the first feeling I felt was embarrassment because I was supposed to be a pretty good diver, you know, and pretty good divers don't do that kind of thing. And then I got, I got angry with myself. And I think that it was the anger that got, that really pushed me through. Okay. So it was, uh, you know, I had my head sewn up and then, uh, and then my coach came to me, Ron O'Brien. He said, you know, look, you know, you can walk away. You don't have to get back up on the board. I'll support you, you know, a hundred percent. And I turned to him and I said, you know, we've worked too long and hard to get here and I don't want to give up without a fight. So then is it okay. And where did that put you that like zeros? Right. So where did that put you? Like now you're trying to get a spot to get into the next round, correct? Right. Yeah. So I thought, because I did get some zeros, but I got some halves and ones I did complete the dive. Um, so, uh, yeah, so I thought I was totally out of the running and, um, I, I had stacked up a big enough lead that I dropped, you know, I just dropped, I was still, I still had two more dives. So I had to do those dives, complete those dives to, you know, to stay in that, that top to make the finals. Um, but you know, I, you know, I, I had to do those dives. And so, so what are you feeling? Like, you know, you have to do the dives, you're angry at yourself. And so what do you, what, like, how do you recover from that, Greg and get back up on the next, for your next dive? Well, that's, that's the thing, you know, cause, um, you know, I, I've been doing all this, this work, you know, right brain, left brain and, um, performance lives in the right brain. Okay. You know, it's very, uh, you know, creative color music, all of that lives in the right brain, you know, you know, your physical ability, your, you know, performance, you know, just right, right there. Um, and so my coach, he started, you know, joking with me and saying, Oh, hockey players, they get 30 stitches and get on the ice. You know, you got five stitches in your head. That's

nothing, you know, and we were just laughing. And, um, because like, when you do something like that, it just totally destroys your confidence. I mean, I had absolutely no confidence. And that, that was one of the things that, um, that my coach, Ron O'Brien told me, he said, you know, look, I know you don't have any confidence in yourself, but believe in me because I believe in you. Mm-hmm . And so then I had that love and trust and faith in, in that, in that love really. Right. And so, you know, I got up on the board and they announced my dive. Uh, I hit on a reverse two and a half pike. I was doing a reverse one and a half with three and a half twists is my next dive going in the same direction. So they announced the dive. I set the board. And you can't change that and say, I don't want to do a reverse right now. No, I can. Uh, yeah. I don't want to go in that direction. No. Uh, you know, and so I set the board and, and when they announced the dive, I could hear from the audience and audible gasp, you know, like, Oh my God, you know, cause like, and I was scared too. And I felt like my heart was beating outside my chest. So I took a deep breath and then I patted my chest. So two things I did and fear is excitement minus breath. So then I added the breath and then I patted my chest and the people who were around me saw that and started, they, they giggled, you know, they're like, Oh my God, he's, he's, he's scared too. He's afraid. And it made me laugh because I was like, Oh my God, these people are on my side. They want to see me succeed. And I'm scared too. And I had no idea what was going to happen because a dive takes less than three seconds and you have to be on. And so I had no idea. And this is the Olympics and you can't hold back at the Olympics. Have you had you ever hit your head before in any dive in practice? Yeah. Yeah. In, in a competition in Tbilisi, uh, in Georgia, um, uh, it was the Soviet union at that time. I hit my head on the platform and I was out for like 20 minutes. I had a pretty bad concussion. And the thing about that one is I don't remember it. Wow. I remember jumping up, touching my feet. I was doing a reverse dive and I saw the sun and my legs and I thought, what a beautiful day and nothing. Wow. Nothing after that. So I don't remember hitting. I don't remember landing in the water, smacking, you know, but, um, and that was easy to get over because I don't remember it. Hmm. But the reverse two and a half in 88 and soul, I was totally conscious. But Greg, what do you do with the humiliation and the embarrassment

that you're the best diver in the world and you just like poop the bed? Yeah. And it was not pretty. Um, Well, you know, the thing is, um, you know, it was an, it was an isolated incident. And what I didn't, a lot of people said, how did you get over that? I didn't have time to get over that. In order to get over something, you have to process it and processing takes time. I had to do that dive in that competition. I didn't have time to get over it. So it's like, I put that, that incident in a box and put it on the shelf. Gotcha. I'll deal with it later. You know, with that, I, it just like it, it didn't happen. Okay. And did you go back to that during those same Olympics or did you go back to that at a later point? Or did you ever go back to that? At a later point when it was far after the Olympic games? Yeah. So, um, yeah, so I just set that aside. And the other thing too, I mean, I was favored to win at that Olympics. Um, there was a lot going on. I was diagnosed HIV positive six months before I was on AZT, you know, so there was those stressors. My coach, um, Ron O'Brien, his mother went into a coma. She died while we were at the Olympics. And so he wasn't sure if he was going to be staying with us or not. And I couldn't have gotten through that Olympics without him. And so he, his, his mindset was that his, his mother would have wanted him to stay, you know, to be, because nothing for him to do at home. And so, you know, there was so much going on and both Ron and I before the Olympics, you know, we're quite distracted really with a lot of, a lot of things. And so in that incident, you know, that second that I hit my head, it, it, it shifted everything that, you know, nothing's guaranteed. Nothing's for sure. Anything can happen. And it forced us to focus on each moment. You know, it was one dive at a time, moment by moment, getting through. And so I think that's what helped allow us because we've been through this and Susan, it's like what you say, we get good at what we practice, right? And so these are things that I practice through my entire career. For sure. So when you see an Olympic, an Olympic performance, what people are seeing is a finished product, right? Of years and hours, hundreds of thousands of hours of training. And it obviously, it's just an unconscious routine. Like you can't be in that three second period and go, okay, remember to point your toes. Right. And because, because if you start thinking that way, if you're, if you start thinking left brain, analytical, it's done because it's too late. Yeah. No, you can't make the synapses that quickly,

you know, from your left brain to your right brain, right brain, left brain. I just want to recap the things that we talked about. So I wrote some things down and one is at that moment when you're disappointed, when the, whatever happens, acknowledging what you feel and, and, and, you know, where are you feeling in your body? And then, you know, giving it permission to be there because we're humans and we feel anger or disappointment. And a big one is disappointing to the others, our coaches, our family, our, you know, my, my, my spouse at home, who we've invested some of our money in me going to this event. And now look at, I've not done so well. So there's all that. So, so, so acknowledging that, and then, and then looking at the things that are outside of your control that you've attached, allowed to come into, into effect and what meaning that we're giving that, that we, that really, um, putting things in a Lotus and sending them off and then, and then looking for what was the lesson in there. And it might not be obvious right away. I mean, by her writing that letter, we've had this conversation and it's just opened up possibilities to so many more people. Think about, um, I want to just see, make sure. Yeah. I think that's it is, is, um, and if there's anything you wanted to add there, Greg on, yeah. Susan, the one thing that I, the, the one thing that I wanted to add is that, you know, oftentimes, because this has been something that I've struggled with too, you know, I'm, I'm fearful of certain emotions, anger, hate rage. I I'm fearful. So I'll squelch them down. It's okay to feel those. And, and also don't be afraid to cry. Don't be afraid to cry. Don't be afraid to laugh. You know, that it's okay. You know, to acknowledge those feelings, those sensations, those emotions, they, they are what they are and you have to feel them to get beyond them. And have, you know, visualize somebody saying you can quit. Yeah. You can quit. Yeah. But then that, you know, where does that leave you? But you have that power. Right. So it, but you know, I think a lot of times, like you talked about social media and people growing up in this, um, in this world today, that they're afraid to put themselves out there because of the implications of them not being successful. We're, we're all not successful a lot of the times and, and be okay with that. And, and because otherwise you're going to walk away from so many things that could be amazing, um, parts of your life. Yeah. And, and, and the thing is that, you know, it was, I didn't read my press.

Had I read my press at my first Olympics, which I was a silver medal, not gold, but, um, in Montreal, it had, I read the press and I've been obsessed with that. I never would have stepped foot on that platform because I was, uh, you know, it was the two young guys, you know, going after the, the, uh, class Diviassi, you know, Italy, you know, the old man. And, um, and so I didn't read that. My filter at that time, you know, through my diving career was my mom, you know, my mom, I wouldn't read the, my press, but if, if mom read an article and they had nice things to say to me, you said, okay, read, read this article. And so the next time you see this reporter, because I was going to see those sports reporters again, then I could go to them and thank them for the, their kind words. Well, that's beautiful. And you bring up your mom. One of the things that you used to say all the time, there's a couple of things I'd, I remember that learning from your mom, that, um, one was, as your way of grounding yourself, no matter what the outcome, my mother's still going to love me. Yep. No matter what happens, my mother's still going to love me. And that was a way that you put yourself into your right brain so that you could perform at your best. And, um, another thing that's completely unrelated, but I say this over and over, and I've told so many people, this one that came from your mom is, uh, try to leave a place better than when you arrived. Yeah. Yeah. That was another. Make, make, make everywhere you go better because you were there. Yeah. I know whether it's picking, picking up a piece of trash or anything, you know, what was the, yeah. So yeah. Kind words, smile, you know, and you know, I, I can attest to that one, you know, somebody, I was in a really bad, bad mindset and somebody, I was at the market and somebody smiled and it's like, oh my God, that just totally no words were exchanged. She just smiled at me. It was like, oh, and so it just, you don't know how that, you know, opens up somebody else's heart, you know, when they need that, you know, kind of, uh, you know, kind of virtual embrace, you know? Mm-hmm. Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. You're always smiling with your eyes though. I can try. Is there anything else that we're gonna, we're going to include here? I mean, we've covered so many things. I probably am not going to do them justice in the summary of, of, you know, how we can overcome and how important it is to overcome because life has a way of bringing lessons back to you if you ignore them the first time and what a beautiful way to learn them other

than doing a sport that you love and just embrace that as this is meant for me. And it's amazing, even though you might be falling on your face, uh, or hitting your head on a diving board, it's meant for you, right? Like it's, it's, it's. Yeah. I, the, I think the important thing too, Susan is, is to, um, we have to, uh, we have to practice courage all the time, but we also have to acknowledge those courageous acts that, that we do every day. That's so good. Because that's, you know, because we're stepping through things that are uncomfortable all the time. That's a part of life and just through that, but acknowledging it and giving ourselves that little pat on the back, like, yeah, I was, I was really brave today. And that's so important. Regardless, if you are competing in a sport, you're running a business and you get like something disastrous happens, then you're near financial ruin and that, you know what, acknowledge where you were courageous and move on. And so important if you're a parent and you're, you have a child who's completely devastated because of an outcome in sport or at school. And that to, to not discount their feelings and say, let's, let's go get an ice cream to do what your mom did and say, you know, let's acknowledge it. And then when there are great things that they do well, like, I think acknowledging effort is far more important than acknowledging talent or success, acknowledging effort because continuous effort will bring success. But if you, if you're proud, if you say, I'm so proud of you because you got this medal or you achieved this status, you need to be proud because of the effort, because when they don't achieve that status, did I lose the pride that you have in me? Right. Yeah. And, and, and, because Carol Dweck does a wonderful job in explaining that is like, you know, oh, you're brilliant. You're awesome. You know, you know, but to acknowledge exactly what you're saying, acknowledge the effort that it took to get there because otherwise it, it becomes, that's where we're building pressure. You know, if you're, oh, you're, you're, you're a genius, you're a genius, you're, you know, you're all of these things. Then what we're doing is we're putting a limitation on potential success is, you know, but if you're validating the effort and the courage, you're acknowledging that that's just a place of trajectory that you can continue on and that, that your, your limitations are limitless. Absolutely. That's just so perfect. And it just goes back to the man in the arena, that beautiful poem that is acknowledging that you're

the one who had the courage to say, I think I'm ready. And regardless of the outcome, you have the courage to say, I think I'm ready. I'm going to put myself in this situation. And there is no failure after that. Right. There are just, there's, you're winning a lesson or you're winning a class and hopefully you're still finding lessons in that one. Yeah. Yeah. Greg, this has been so awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for doing this so early in the morning for you out there in California. And I miss you. And I miss you too. Oh my God. I know. I can't wait for this pandemic to end and we can be in person having chats. Yeah. Yeah. So, so thank you for doing it. And anybody who's watching this, please leave us a comment. Let me know what gold you were able to glean from this conversation between one of the greatest athletes of all times and one of the greatest people, more importantly, in a, yeah, such an awesome person and yeah, leave it, leave us a comment and let us know. And then check out Greg's meditation and motion program. And because anytime you get to spend with this man is time well spent. Thank you. Thank you, Susan. I miss you so much. I miss you too, buddy. How special is that? Greg Louganis, one of the most amazing humans on the planet right here on the podcast. Look at it. You don't have to be training for some elite outcome with your dog. You could be training your dog just to be an amazing member of your family, but sometimes things don't happen the way they should and disappointment is going to happen. And that's why I felt this interview would be of great value for everybody to listen to it, at least in part. Remember, celebrate courage. Look at where you stepped up today, just by attempting to train your puppy or your dog, celebrate your dog's courage today. Look for what's good. Allow yourself to feel emotions of anger or frustration or disappointment. That's the only way you're going to move on from them. For those of you watching this video who are members of Agility Nation, jump on over to Agility Nation now because the full interview, which is well over an hour long, is there waiting for you. And there is a lot of gems to be gleaned. For those of you who are watching this and you aren't on Agility Nation and you would love to hear more of what Greg had to say. I'm going to make it very accessible to everybody. Agility Nation is a membership that has obviously a lot of information about how to train your dog in agility, but there's a lot more in that membership as well because it's been around for five years.

So when you join, you don't just get access to this month's information. You get access to all 415 videos that are there. So things that like puppy training or fitness, both for the dogs and for the humans. I share some of my own coaches like Courtney Steven, a professional football player who shares some amazing way to improve your footwork for running or my fitness trainer who shares some exercises on mobility or strength training. So much in there. Obviously, there's a lot of dog training. And yes, there's a lot of agility. You can join for a month or you could stay on for as long as you like. Agility Nation is $79 a month. But when you go to register, put in the discount code of GREG20. Yeah, he should have won 20 Olympic medals, right? I'm giving him a couple extra now. GREG20 to receive a discount so that you can watch this video in its entirety. As I mentioned before, please leave me a comment. Let me know if this was a value and if you would like me to interview somebody in the future. See you next time on Shaped by Dog.