Episode #12 - Quotes and Ideas with Jesse and Mathias

In this episode Mathias and Jesse discuss some of their favorite ideas and quotes that have helped them in various ways throughout their career – on and off the court. We discuss how these ideas help us deal with failure, practice gratitude, connect with others, and approach fear.

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Transcript

Mathias 0:00

Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep

Jesse 0:02

What do I, do I still want this? Why don't I want this? Why do I want this?

Mathias 0:07

in the grand scheme of things, I would barely even consider that a problem

0:13

Hello and welcome to the Pit the Pro podcast. Jesse, Matthias, and Aaron Elson. This podcast is meant to guide young athletes on their journey to high performance. Join us as we share our first hand experiences in an effort to help you reach your own valuable goals.

Jesse 0:29

Well, welcome back to the Pit to Pro podcast. This is episode number 12. Um, today we're going to be talking about some of our favorite quotes. Uh, it's just Matias and I today. Oogs, farming, hauling wheat, I don't know, baling hay. Um, but Matias and I are going to be talking about our favorite quotes, how they have, uh, helped us throughout our career and some things that we, uh, Kind of live our life by, uh, do you got anything to add to that?

Mathias 0:56

these are some things that some of them are more recent for me. Others have been with me for a longer time. Um, but yeah, we'll go through them. We'll explain how they've impacted us and then chat about them a little bit and then hopefully, uh, we'll Maybe they'll have the same impact on you guys. Awesome.

Jesse 1:15

Well, I'll start. I'll give you my first one. My first one is, I found, I don't know who, but someone posted this on Instagram on their story and I just thought it was really cool. And it said, one of the great gifts of sport is learning how to fail publicly. And I thought that was really cool, especially in a volleyball context, because I've never Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think volleyball is the only sport where any mistake directly is a direct point for the other team. Like all those, like tennis and ping pong, you get a re serve, so it's not every mistake. Soccer, you lose the ball. It's not an automatic goal. Basketball, you lose the ball. Hockey, like, I'm pretty sure. Volleyball is the only sport, I think. Maybe there's, maybe there's some exceptions. For sure. The

Mathias 2:08

racquet sports are similar, but yeah, I guess if you got two serves.

Jesse 2:14

I don't know about There's no reviews in volleyball. That's true. So anyways, I was doing some research. If you win a five set game, you need at least 115 points, which means the other team is failing 115 times. Failing to score the point or fail or making a mistake. I thought that was crazy. 115 times you're failing in one game and it's all public. So learning how to fail publicly, especially in the volleyball context, I thought it was really important and how to balance, you have to bounce back 115 times in two hours.

Mathias 2:55

Yeah. Yeah. It is pretty tough. And we've talked about this before, especially with, um, Like the momentum of the game, when things start poorly, being able to turn it around is one of the most difficult tasks you can possibly undertake. but as you're saying, like, it's just like part of the process of becoming a high level athlete, I guess, in any sport really, but especially in volleyball. It's just like the acceptance of failure, I guess. And it's tough when it is public.

Jesse 3:28

But I guess it's kind of comforting that you have 115 minimum tries. Like if you make three mistakes, three out of 115 is such a small number. You have so much time to recuperate and to change and like try and ground yourself, but that's besides the point. But the point is learning how to fail, especially learning how to fail publicly is I think a huge. Thing that nobody really talks about. And I don't know if you can really teach that. It's just kind of something that you learn to do.

Mathias 4:06

Yeah, I will say though, just in general about this episode, I find that quotes are like, an awesome ideal, or an awesome, like, whatever, goal to shoot for, yeah, an awesome end point, that's what we're trying to get to, but then the process of actually getting to that ideal is generally quite, has to be like, introspective. And do a lot of work on yourself and figure out how you can get yourself there, because it's not the same for everyone. Um, but yeah, learning to fail publicly, because that's great for sport, obviously, because we need to stay dialed throughout an entire match, no matter what has happened in the past or will happen in the future. But even for life, like as an athlete, you are in more of a spotlight than most people. And so, I think that Yeah, once, once your career is over and you're moving on to something else, all those skills of failure and reconnecting and getting back on the horse is like

Jesse 5:09

super valuable. Well, I think too, I remember I might've said this on the pod before, but Ben Jo once told me or us as a team that the way you approach your serve. Tells the world a lot about you, how you serve, what serve you have, how you compose yourself tells the world a lot about who you are as a person, because the only skill where it's the only individual skill in volleyball. So I think that, and how you respond to failure are the two things that tell the world who you are. You can think communicates to the world, what you stand for and what you value. And And what's important to you, I guess.

Mathias 5:53

And that's when your true character, I think is revealed is when things aren't when things aren't going well, because yeah, anyone has a good game, they can just ride that momentum to the end, but it takes pretty strong mental game to pull yourself out of those tough games. And I don't really have a

Jesse 6:13

trick for that. I think I'll meet you. I think just like understanding there's. Always going to be another, until that final, final whistle, there's always going to be another opportunity to perform and to battle. And I think we've talked about it before, like that point match mentality where every point is its own game, you compete, you respond, you learn from it, and then you go back. Like you're not going to carry, the idea is you're not going to carry all the frustration from one match to the next match a week later. So why would you carry the frustration from one point to the next point if every point is its own game? Game. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, I think I have. Yeah, I really like that quote. All righty my turn

Mathias 6:57

Yeah, go for it All right My quote is the man who loves walking will walk much further than the man who loves the destination that is from Lao Tzu who is a Chinese philosopher and writer. Where did you come across that one? I don't know dude. I have no idea And I didn't know who it was by originally um, I don't know I've just kind of heard that one around a little bit and I like it because It kind of exemplifies trusting the process or investing in the process being present and in the moment, um, enjoying the work and not just the result. And I think as an athlete, we practice maybe, what would you say, five times as much as we play? At least. Yeah. I mean, right. Yeah. And then we lose. If you're an awesome team, maybe like 30 percent of the time, 40 percent of the time could be much higher also. So if you're only attached to that result, to getting wins. And that's what you play for, which I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting that and aiming for that, but I think that there's just much more joy to be derived from, um, kind of finding joy in the mundane, like the, the lifts. And the reps and even the stuff that goes a little bit unnoticed like time with teammates and free food and Free travel like we get so many cool advantages on the path to where we're trying to get And just soaking those in, I think is just a

Jesse 9:05

great way to live. Yeah. Well, even like, even that relates to Michael too, like the, the path, the walking path is the five set game. Like if you love the grind, you love the failing, you love. The competition, as opposed to just focusing on, yeah, we're going to win that fifth, so we're going to get that 15th point, but if you love each point and you love each emotion that comes with each point and the ups and downs of those games, like those are the best games when they're up and down and you're struggling, you can't pass a free ball, but then you serve really well. And then they go on a run. Like, that's just so exciting.

Mathias 9:43

Yeah, dude, and they kind of, they almost, they almost suck to be a part of, like, it'd be just so much easier mentally if you just showed up and rolled a team, but those aren't the ones you remember,

Jesse 9:56

right? No, and you don't remember the wins, you remember the game. Yeah. Like, it's one point to win, the win is one point, really. Like, yeah, I guess National Championship, the feeling lasts a little longer, but the other wins, The feeling of the wind doesn't last. It's the feeling of the battle. Like I remember some, like, remember those, Oh, you weren't playing. You were concussed those two, five set matches against Mount Royal in my last year, those were crazy games, like two and a half hours, like each back to back nights. Like those were crazy games. Like that was fun. That journey, that walk was incredible. I don't like the wind is a wind, like it's awesome, but those games and. The ups and downs. And I got a nosebleed and I was cramping and like all this stuff. I was like, that was so fun. You know, like, yeah. And also,

Mathias 10:43

sorry. No, no, no. You go. What also the, the quote says that the man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination. Right. So even if you do have these goals of where you want to get to in your career, for example, um, your expectations will likely be exceeded. If you can just enjoy that, that process of getting better and of training and of all the mundane things that you have to do, if you can find a way to enjoy that, likely you'll surpass the goals that you would have set for yourself if that was your only goal. Intention. Yeah.

Jesse 11:26

Yeah, that's a really good point. I like that quote. I, I read it when you put it on the, on the Google Doc, and I was like, I wonder where he is gonna go with this. But that was awesome, Cool. How long have you been using that one? Dude,

Mathias 11:39

I didn't even know. I, I can't remember at all where I found that one, or, but not too long. Maybe a year.

Jesse 11:51

All right. My turn. Yeah, go for it. So this one I literally just read like four days ago, but I loved it. So I haven't applied it to my life yet. But I think it's really cool. So it's, it's in a book called Ego is the Enemy, uh, by Ryan Holiday. I think, Tease, have you read his book or books by the author?

Mathias 12:11

Um, I don't think I've actually read any of his books, but he's got a really good podcast, um, The Daily Stoic, and I see his clips on Instagram all the time. So.

Jesse 12:21

Oh, well shout out. Uh, anyways, ego is the enemy and it's all about how basically the idea is learning how to fight and master our greatest opponent, which is ourselves. And this quote is, if you start believing in your greatness, It is the death of your creativity. And I don't know why I resonated with this so much, but I read it like four times and I wrote it down on my phone. And I was like, that is so cool. Like one, I think it speaks to the importance of being humble. And two, I think like creativity is such an important part of, of high performance athletes, like you can't do the same thing over and over again. You're going to get stopped. People are going to figure out how to stop you. And like being creative in the way you score points, being creative in the way that you, uh, game plan, being creative in the way that you recover, like talking with Nick, with the recovery home run, like as soon as you settle for, yeah, I'm good. I'm great. I'm the best people are going to pass you.

Mathias 13:47

Yeah, I like it. And I think that creativity can even be like creating new skills. Like not, it's not so innovative, but I think that, like you were saying, when you do start to get comfortable with the skills you have, and you lose that edge of wanting to get better. That's, yeah, that's the downfall of a lot of athletes, I would say. And. I don't think anyone really ever just arrives at this level where they're just set and they never have to continue to be creative and to get better. I think that it's endless. And that's where it goes back to the quote about walking is that it is endless. Like that you're never going to arrive at a destination where you're comfortable with everything. You feel like you've made it.

Jesse 14:46

I guess too. Like if you feel like you have hit a wall, like maybe it's like, you gotta do some thinking, like maybe it's no longer. important to you, or maybe it's no longer something that you want to put hours and hours and hours into.

Mathias 15:05

Yeah. It is interesting because the, the gains get smaller, the higher level you

Jesse 15:10

go. Yeah. The work gets, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a good point. The work is much harder, but the outcome is much, much smaller.

Mathias 15:21

Uh, me? Yeah, go for it. I gotta pick one here. Alright, we'll go with this one. Um, Fear is a mile wide and an inch deep. What? And, The, The visual that goes along with this is if you, Imagine that fear is a river, That you have to cross. Oh. That, And, When you look at it from the shore, it looks like it's a mile wide, which it could be, but you can't tell how deep it is, which is actually the factor that causes, that is the scary factor, right? And oftentimes fear is a mile wide and an inch deep. So once you take that first step and you commit to to running at your fear, um, doing the thing despite being scared, then you, you step in and you realize that it's only an inch deep and then you can cross it easily. Does that make sense?

Jesse 16:29

Yeah, it makes perfect sense. What kind of fears have you, like, where has this quote helped you? Like, what kind of fears have you battled or confronted? I think

Mathias 16:37

it's just more, like, not, not a ton of, of volleyball stuff, to be honest, but more like life things where whatever, even you have a presentation. coming up and you're getting nervous about it and it seems like a huge deal and then whenever you get up there you start talking you're like oh okay well this is actually like way better than i thought it was going to be i feel like that's a typical kind of uh feeling Is that this is, this was easier than I thought it was going to be. That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Um, those kinds of things. I feel like I have to end up saying that to myself afterwards. And that's kind of what this quote is kind of show trying to show you preemptively is like, things might look really, really scary from the side before you start, but once you dive in, usually you can figure it out and it'll be all right.

Jesse 17:36

Well, it kind of goes in, it kind of relates to my next quote too. True. That is from the captain class the book. We read that together in one of our leadership circles a couple years ago and it says Negativity works a hundred percent of the time and I thought that was really cool because Well, I think like you always hear these stories of like, teammates being just like a cancer to the team. Like one person can ruin the season for 12, 13 other people. And like, it works so it's so strong, the power of negativity, whereas the power of positivity, I guess. You would think would be the opposite, but it's not like, I think trying to be positive and create a positive atmosphere is much, much, much harder than, than negativity and being negative is so easy. You know, like it's so easy. I was taught, like, I won't name names, but I was talking to a coach this summer and he was saying that his setter ruined his season, like he was, he hated it, he hated his season because his setter was so negative, so blamey, so like, it's never my fault. It's always someone else's fault. It's always something else. And. And it worked, his negativity worked and they didn't do very well. And everyone was bickering and fighting and there was different circles. And, and yeah, like, and had he been positive, that's not to say that the team would have done well, because it's way harder for all 12 people to be positive and to all work together. But just understanding the power that negativity holds, I think is really important to being a good teammate. And to being a part of a successful team, because even if it's like two days, two days of practice, and you're really negative and like, that can have a huge impact. On the outcome of the season. Yeah,

Mathias 20:01

I agree. And I think partly it's the same thing like internally within yourself. When you start to ruminate on things, like how many times in your life have you ruminated on something positive, you know what I mean? I think it's kind of impossible to like, have those positive thoughts just like, running through your mind like crazy, that doesn't really happen. Um, the negative just takes over, it's more of a natural process for us to just have our minds lose control on the negative. And I always thought that it would be kind of crazy if you could teach yourself how to ruminate on the positive, like, you know, when you're like really overthinking something and it's like really stressing you out and feel all this negative. Imagine if you could have that on, on a positive thought, it'd be crazy.

Jesse 21:01

You'd be so happy. Yeah. Well, that's kind of what you're talking about. This is one of our first couple episodes when you were saying Being grateful for the pressure like when you're serving in France Like taking a moment and soaking it all in and being like I'm getting paid to serve this ball in France in front of thousands of people and like really soaking that in and trying to ruminate On that feeling. I think that's a, that's a real world, a real volleyball example. I think where you've used that. Yeah. I think it's still not, it's still not the same ruminating. I know what you mean. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't even know assuming like you can't sleep because something's going wrong. Like it's,

Mathias 21:47

yeah, I don't, I don't know if it's yeah, realistic to actually ruin it on something positive, but I think you can, you can gain enough control of your mind to direct it in a more positive direction. Um, like I said this before as well, but before the national final, was it two years ago now, a year ago when we were playing? I realized this, I think before, before that national final that I was ruminating on all these negative thoughts, like, what if we lose? What if I play bad? What if I miss every set? What if all this happens? And I was, I've said this before, but like, that's, that's, I think that's how people get stuck in that mindset of playing not to lose, because they know exactly what they're trying not to do. Because they've thought about it for so long. But yeah, then think about what you want to do. Oh, I want to win the national championships today. That's an insane opportunity. So I'm gonna go play for that instead of playing.

Jesse 22:50

And then that, that's the, playing running away. That's the path, like your quote about the walking man, enjoying the, the walk or enjoying the journey or whatever. I don't remember what it is now, but that's the thing. I'm gonna enjoy this opportunity to compete in battle for a national championship. Yeah, and that's what I

Mathias 23:06

like. Pressure is a privilege. They say that before, like all these quotes about whatever, staying present, pressure. Um, I had a coach in club that would say that every time you touch the ball, you can view it as an opportunity or a threat. Um, I think maybe I've shared that before, but

Jesse 23:27

I don't think I've heard that before.

Mathias 23:29

I think my, the best example is as is as a serving sub, because it's like so black and white, whether you did a good job or not, if you made your serve, it was a good job. Good serve, sub, if you miss your serve, it wasn't and coming off the bench, like it's so difficult that you're probably like 50, 50 odds of either one of those happening. And so Brody Holford, VNL. Yeah, that guy's been serving

Jesse 23:51

bombs.

Mathias 23:51

Yeah, true, true, true. Well, yeah, that's, that's exactly it. Like you, you have the opportunity to be an absolute dog coming off the bench. Um, it just depends how, how you're going to view it. Um, you get subbed in and if you view that situation as a threat, you might be tentative, again, playing not to lose, um, and your odds of, of failing are, are higher in that situation. But if you view it as an opportunity, I could do something great for my team here, um, then I think it's again, a more positive mindset and you're playing towards something rather than away. Yeah. That's awesome. All right.

Jesse 24:31

was that yours? Yeah, I kind of jumped on the fear one and did the negativity one. Yeah.

Mathias 24:40

which one do I want to do here? This is not even a quote. This is just, it's just a basic, basic question, but I think that it's really, uh, useful to think about. And it is, what do I want? And you can add why also, if you want. I think that it's pretty easy to just start living and. You have maybe a general idea of where you're going, but you don't know why, or I don't know why in the past sometimes. And I think figuring that out just can give you some super clear direction. Um, it shows you that you have choice in, in your volleyball career, in your life. You can do whatever you want, um, as long as you know what you want.

Jesse 25:39

I think like a really easy and practical way to do that. I remember a couple of summers ago with the national team, we had a coach saying the best way not to cruise through life is set like specific, um, dates, basically, like commitments, like I'm going to show up or whatever, let's say, like for me, I'd ended up doing this. I committed to three years of professional volleyball. And then I'm going to reassess if I want to do another three, if I want to do another five, if I want to stop there, whatever, it doesn't give me the opportunity to just coast through life and coast through my days, because I made a commitment to myself that I'm going to be the best possible professional volleyball player I can for the next three years. And if I love it, if I hate it, if I whatever, but I can't coast because I want to be, I want to be a professional volleyball for three years. And then when that three mark, three year mark hits, I'm like, okay, what did I learn? What do I, do I still want this? Why don't I want this? Why do I want this? So like, I think making commitment, it doesn't have to be three years. It could be a year. It could be a month, but like making specific commitments will help you discover what you want and why you want it. Because I think you're right. Like hosting through life and like just going about it is really detrimental for a lot of different reasons.

Mathias 27:12

Even getting clear on why you do what you do. Is it good? Mm hmm. Um, and there, there's another quote that's kind of along these lines and it's don't sacrifice the thing you want for the thing that's supposed to get you what you want. Does that make sense? Don't sacrifice the thing you want for the thing that is supposed to get you what you want.

Jesse 27:47

Oh, that's okay. You, you go, but then I, okay. Yeah, Google.

Mathias 27:50

It's like people can often just straight line their way to what they want, but they sometimes. Get distracted by doing this other thing before they can do what they want. You know what I mean? Like if people, if all people want is whatever, peace and happiness. Um, and then they're like, okay, well, I'm going to get a really sick job. It's going to be really hard, but I'm going to make a ton of money and then I'll be able to buy my family a super nice house. So we'll all be safe. And then I'll work for the next 40 years and then I'll retire and I'll have so much money that I can just completely relax. It's like you're doing all that stuff just so you can have a peaceful mind and a loving family. Whereas you can just have that. We're off the bat. You don't have to sacrifice that for all these years before you can get it again. Does that make sense?

Jesse 28:58

Yeah, that makes sense. I, when you said it, I had a different thought. can you say the quote again?

Mathias 29:06

Don't sacrifice the thing you want for the thing that's supposed to get you what you want.

Jesse 29:13

Right. I guess I, I heard that, like, don't sacrifice what you want for the thing that's supposed to get you where you want to go. That's how I heard that. Like, you're sacrificing the journey for the end goal because, You're too eager to whatever. That's how I think it's

Mathias 29:30

just I think it just brings it down like even to more baseline than like Things you want like what how do you want the experience of your life to go? Mm hmm, and then just creating a life that's as close to that right from the beginning instead of saying Oh, I'm gonna do this for this many years then that for that many years then I'll have this and once I have that then I will have the life I want. I think it's Right, like why can't you have the life you want right now? Yeah, just finding a direct path to, yeah, the feeling of the life you want. Does that make sense?

Jesse 30:13

I think so, yeah. Yeah, like you can have goals, but that doesn't mean that they should, that you should just be miserable until you reach those goals. You should enjoy the walk. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. The man who walks. What was his name? Lao. Lao.

Mathias 30:32

Thanks, Lao. Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu. Lao. The man who loves walking will walk much further than the man who loves the destination.

Jesse 30:43

Yeah, that's the exact same quote. It's perfect.

Mathias 30:45

Yeah, pretty much. I could have just said that one over and over again probably today. That's funny. Dude, have you read the Tao of Pooh? Uh, no. But you've

Jesse 30:55

recommended that to me. I got it right here. Everyone should read this book, The Tao of Pooh, it's, it's the, it's Taoism, but it's explained or demonstrated through Winnie the Pooh, so it's super simple, it's like, let's see here, 150 pages, it's tiny, but I, it's all about basically that, enjoying the journey and like taking things at face value and, and not overcomplicating things and, and, I don't know, it's hard to explain, but it's really good, everyone should read it.

Mathias 31:40

Yeah, another one for us?

Jesse 31:43

Yeah, I got one. I don't even know if Okay, so this is a quote from Ben. And he said it to our team. Ben Jo, he said it to our team. Uh, like when he was frustrated with us, I don't remember if it was after a loss, if it was during a practice, or whatever, I don't know when it was, and I don't know if he got this from somebody else, or if it just came to him, but it just like came out of his mouth, and I was like, that is a crazy quote, and I looked around, because I thought everyone else would be like, whoa, and no one reacted, but he said, when life throws a curveball at you, Learn to hit a curveball. And I was like, oh my gosh! Like, it's, in my mind, it was just like, don't make excuses, like, figure out how to achieve the goal. The goal is to hit the ball. If it's a curveball, hit the curveball. Like, I, I think there's times to, to be sad and to sulk, like for instance, like injury, like that's a huge curve ball, but learn to hit it, learn to rehab, learn, be creative in your rehab, learn to, to still find ways to connect with your team, learn to be, still be healthy, have healthy habits and get back on that, on that path, back on that journey and you love the path. Like, I don't, maybe this is a quote, a famous quote from somebody else. Yeah. But I just thought that was really cool. Like curve balls happen all the time. Like there's like four or five probably in a day, some really, really small, some really, really big, some happen that will put you up for weeks or years or months, learn to hit it, learn to, to be successful at what life has given you, what that event has, has approached you with.

Mathias 33:38

I like it. I think it's kind of just an acceptance. And then again, like an actionable or action. Focused mindset, whatever pitch, so to speak, is coming at you. There's nothing you can do to change that, that's out of your control. Um, but then what can you do about it? Again, is kind of the, the idea.

Jesse 34:00

yeah. You're really good at that. You're always asking yourself, what can I do?

Mathias 34:05

Yeah, cause I think that, that's just life. I think, there's so much stuff happens to people all the time. And, no one's exempt from that. And, I think sometimes we think we should be. And, I think that's a little bit arrogant. Um, just accepting that you're a human just like the rest of everyone and, um, when stuff comes your way, when curveballs are thrown at you, I think it's such a waste of time complaining about it. Or even, even, I think there's a role for emotion, but I just think that acceptance is so much more peaceful.

Jesse 34:54

Yeah, that's a good point. We went last summer, I think. Yeah, last time we were traveling down to, uh, Mexico or something and we had like four connecting flights and we was like leaving at six or whatever. Terrible flight plan, And, uh, our coach came up and said, there's no complaining on this trip, like, We're not complaining. That's one of, that's the only team rule we have is no complaining. And I thought that was such a good rule. It's like, accept it. We're going to be in the airport. We're going to be in airplanes. We're going to be on buses. We're going to, it's going to be hot. It's going to be sticky. We're not going to have very much food. Like, so what? Accept it. We're not complaining. We're going to play volleyball. Like it's awesome.

Mathias 35:33

Yeah. There's another, another quote that just came to me. It's like, if everyone threw their problems in a pile, I guarantee that you would grab yours. And run back to where you came from. I don't, I don't know if I said that exactly right, but the idea is basically like If you took everything that you're dealing with, all the problems in your life, you presented them to the world and compared them to other people's, you'd likely just take them back and deal with them. Um, because of how much just insane stuff goes on around the world that we're so disconnected from and so fortunate not to be a part of.

Jesse 36:16

Yeah.

Mathias 36:16

I think, even right now, with my concussion stuff, I'm not able to play volleyball, which is All I've ever wanted to do. So you could say that like my whole life is, is crumbling or whatever, but I'm just, I'm, I still have so much gratitude for like everything that I still do have. Um, then in the grand scheme of things, I would barely even consider that a problem because of just how much like life threatening danger there is to some people, or the fact that I still have my family and my friends. around me, um, good relationships with all of them, all that stuff. There's just so much to be grateful for, even when you're, whatever, trying to, trying to hit your curveballs. Sometimes I wouldn't even consider them curveballs in the grand, grand scheme of things.

Jesse 37:15

Nice job, T. It's very mature.

Mathias 37:20

Thank you.

Jesse 37:21

I think I speak for all our listeners when we all say we aspire to be like you. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see. We'll

Mathias 37:29

see if I

Jesse 37:32

hit the curveball, knock it over the park. Yeah, I don't know. That's funny. Well, thanks. Yeah, dude, that's really, really incredible, actually. It's really special. Especially because negativity works 100 percent of the time. And you could for sure be in a really, really bad place right now if you let negativity be. Um, take over.

Mathias 37:59

One thing that I, I kind of live my life by is that you always have choice, which I think is pretty, pretty liberating. Yeah. And also it gives you a sense of control. I think you always have choice on how you respond.

Jesse 38:18

For sure. So that was like a big thing, like in all my education classes too, like giving the students autonomy over their. If you give the same project to every student, half of them are going to hate it. But if you say here, pick from these three or four projects, then they're all doing something that they love. And there's a way greater success rate, a way greater engagement, uh, level. I mean, it's the same thing. You always have a choice or you should always be given a choice. And if you're not given a choice, then you have to make a choice for yourself. Or give yourself the choice. Yeah. Or give yourself the choice to choose the choice. Something like that. Alrighty, um, my turn? Yeah, I'm kind of, I mean, I got lots of quotes. Like, I don't, where do you keep your quotes? I got like screenshots of quotes. I got pictures of quotes. Sometimes I got quotes in my journal. I got quotes in my notes, my reminders. Anyway, what I don't know, there's

Mathias 39:23

like an endless amount of quotes. so I, I don't really like writing them down. I think if they're good, I'll remember them. Or if I, if I think about it enough to actually apply it to my life, then I'll remember it. And I think, like we said, that's the important part. The code is the ideal that we're aiming for, but it's the action that you take. In search of that ideal that is the actual important part. So there's an idea from Tim Ferriss. You know who that is? Uh, no, Tim Ferriss is, an author, uh, podcaster, owns a bunch of businesses, whatever, just a pretty cool guy, and his, uh, his thing is, the good stuff sticks, which is, you read something, you hear something, you watch something, the good stuff will stick, you'll remember it, which I've kind of, when I, uh, I started reading a lot, maybe in my first year, and I would take just detailed notes. You were

Jesse 40:27

crushing books.

Mathias 40:28

Yeah, and I took like detailed notes on every single book because I wanted to remember it all, right? I wanted to just have this insane knowledge base. But, even after reading it and after taking notes, You still forget it all, and the notes are just there to go back to, to relearn it. Um, and I just thought that was kind of like an inefficient way of, of trying to learn. And I, after that I just started going for volume. Like, the more I read, the more good stuff there will be, the more it will stick. And I think it's the same with, with quotes. Sometimes I see a quote, and I'm like, that, that's great. And then I'll just forget it. Whereas if I see a quote that is inspiring enough to make a, to change my actions, then I'll remember it. Cause I know why I changed my actions. It's because of this quote, you know what I mean?

Jesse 41:22

Yeah, that's cool. I think the good stuff sticks too. Like when you said that, that, that, uh, that made me think of people, like the good people stick to, like, you can put a lot of effort into trying to, um, To keep relationships going and to, to keep communication, but I think the good people, the good relationships in your life, they stick no matter what, like, for instance, like me and Brody, like we hung out every single day for four or five years at Trinity and then last year when he was in Poland, I was in Germany, whatever, we talked every texted here and there, but when we came back, it was like we hadn't missed a beat. Same jokes, same conversations, same love for each other, and like, the good people, the good things stick, you know, like it's, I think, that, yeah, I don't know, well, that doesn't really relate, but.

Mathias 42:17

No, I like it, dude. It's much easier to just, uh, like go with the flow of what's working.

Jesse 42:25

Use the

Mathias 42:26

knowledge that you remember invest in the friendships that are important and easy and good and good Than just like hold on for dear life to things that you might be forgetting or people that don't want to be in your life kind of thing

Jesse 42:46

Dude I just had a thought.

Mathias 42:48

Mm hmm.

Jesse 42:50

What do you think of The quote that's like, uh, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I don't know if I really understood that. Yeah dude, I don't

Mathias 43:01

know what that means at all.

Jesse 43:03

Like maybe in a war context maybe, but like I don't, I don't get it. I would feel like I want to be as far away from my enemies as possible.

Mathias 43:14

I'm not sure. I don't think I've had too many, like, legit enemies. Well, no, me neither.

Jesse 43:20

Me neither. But, but, I don't understand the idea of wanting to keep them close. Like, that seems like a miserable way to live.

Mathias 43:26

Well, I did read this the other day. And it

Jesse 43:29

stuck? It stuck?

Mathias 43:30

It stuck, man. It stuck. And, uh, It's like, not the same thing, but kind of along the same lines. And it's that ambivalent relationships, which are like, what does that mean? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like when, when this person is like, it's like a frenemy. So sometimes positive, sometimes negative. What?

Jesse 43:58

What a viable podcast We're talking about frenemies. Yeah. Well, well, you brought it up. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Mathias 44:08

But it was basically it was saying that like those those are the worst kind of people for in Relationship because they're inconsistent like sometimes they might have your back and they might be cheering for you And then in other contexts, they'll be an enemy. They'll be playing against you Not have your best interest in mind and it's much easier to just deal with people that you know are always against you Um, than ones that are inconsistent back and forth. And if you do end up, like, making amends with your enemy, then they can be some of the most positive, uh, people in your life, because they knew what it was like to be on their side, and now they're on yours. So obviously something massive changed within them. So then they can explain that to other people, vouching for you. Um, and.

Jesse 45:04

Well, dude, I got like, so I just spoke about how Brody and I have been best friends for like four or five years and like, we weren't enemies or anything, but on my, his first year, my second year, my second year was my back surgery year, so I was bedridden for most of the year and we were roommates and I didn't go to practice and I was starting my first year that I got injured my second year, so I wasn't in the gym and he was starting to start his first year. And we were roommates and he would come home and tell me what practice he would tell me about all the struggles he was having. He would like be having fun with the team. And I just started to create this like resentment towards him. I was fine. Tell me, me telling this story, like we've talked about it and I apologize for the way I acted, but like, we weren't enemies, but I, I was so. Like I didn't treat him very well and I feel still to this day terribly about it those first couple months because I don't know. I just held his resentment because he was living the life that I wanted to live and I remember one day I'm like Brody. I really really really respect you I really appreciate you and I have not been treating you very well like and he's like Jesse I appreciate you saying that like I appreciate you being open and ever since then we've been brothers like it's So they're not that we're enemies or were enemies but I think it's the same idea, like when you, when you create a connection with someone that you don't always see eye to eye with, they, they create, they're the best relationships, for both parties.

Mathias 46:37

And it's even like, There's a lot of times where you play against someone for a bunch of years and you just dislike them so much. And then whatever you make team Alberta or you make the junior national team or something, and then you're on the same team and you love them. And I think that's, that's somewhat similar, in a similar realm, is that like, the, the change from the negative relationship to the positive relationship is like one of the most powerful that you could probably have, because you know what it's like to be on their side and then you realize what, what that person's actually like.

Jesse 47:14

Yeah, that's a good point. I have a little bit of trouble with that, because, I read this, I was in a political science class once, and I hated political science, I hated politics, and I hated science, so I did my, my research project on like, Plato or something, and his, his, uh, Opinion on sport and one of the things he said was the way people act in the arena of Sport is how is is their true self or something? So I think it'd be really nice and in person, but if they're not a good person on the court. That's well, Plato or Aristotle or whoever it was. I don't remember is saying that, that's their true self. So I have a little bit of problem with that because I think like sport is sport. I want people to enjoy playing against me, and enjoy talking to me after the game, and enjoy playing with me, and enjoy, Traveling with me and enjoy those things. I don't want people to remember be like, um I don't want people to have to wait to play with me to appreciate me. Yeah,

Mathias 48:35

that's that's good. Good perspective

Jesse 48:37

I always hated when people are like, oh, yeah, he's a good guy off the court I'm like, well, so what? My relationship with him is on the court.

Mathias 48:47

I know what you mean. And I agree. I think that maybe people's true personalities revealed on the court, but I don't know. I don't know. I don't really know what I think about that. Worth a thought, I guess. Um, maybe last one?

Jesse 49:08

Yeah, I got, I got lots of quotes on my phone, but those were the ones that I wanted to share, I think.

Mathias 49:14

okay. I don't know which one to choose here. I think I'll choose this one. Um, again, I have no idea where I got this from and I don't even know if it's a quote, but it's an idea. And the idea is you can act as your ideal character. So The choices we make and the actions we undertake are basically us. Maybe you could add in like the thoughts in there, maybe what we say also. But again, all of those things I think are choices. And if you have. An ideal of the person you want to be by doing what that person would do, saying what that person would say. then you are that person. Does that make sense?

Jesse 50:08

I, um, kinda. I think I get the idea. Are you saying you are the person that you're emulating, or you are the person that you want to be? Or are you basically just saying that actions speak louder than everything?

Mathias 50:23

I'm saying that we all have this idea of self. Like, I do this, I do that, I don't do this, I don't do that. But I think that's just, again, a combination of what you do and what you say. at least what you project to the outside world is your actions and your, and your words. And um, you can control those things. So, if you want to be more disciplined, you don't think you're a very disciplined person, then just start. Say, what would a disciplined person do in this situation? And then do that. And then by default, you are a disciplined person. I just liked the idea of, it's almost like you're just pretending to be someone else. But then you end up being that person because you're pretending to be someone else. Like the fake it till you make it kind of deal? Kind of fake it till you make it, but you're not faking it because you're doing it. You know? That's the idea. That's a

Jesse 51:27

good point actually, that's a really interesting point.

Mathias 51:30

And okay, here's You're not faking it. Here's a good one, here's a good one. Go, go, go, go! You can't, uh, you can't fake courage. You can't fake courage. Courage is trying.

Jesse 51:41

That's pretty cool, though. You can't, you can't fake courage because you're doing it.

Mathias 51:43

Exactly. Even if you're scared out of your absolute mind, if you do it, that is courage. You don't have to feel courageous to do something courageous. If you do it, then that's courage.

Jesse 52:01

Awesome. Crazy. I think that's a good quote to end on. Just do it.

Mathias 52:13

Just do it.

Jesse 52:15

I really like the fake it till you make it, you're not faking it because you're doing it. I remember like when I was, when I was, uh, trying to play libero that one year. One of the coaches was like, you just got to fake it, like you don't feel like libero, you don't feel like you fit in. Fake until you make it. Yeah. I was faking it, but I wasn't faking it because I was doing it. I was doing the things. I was doing the libero things.

Mathias 52:39

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Jesse 52:42

Interesting.

Mathias 52:43

That's really cool. Alrighty. Well, this has been episode number 12 of the Pit to Pro podcast. Today we shared a bunch of our favorite quotes and got into the weeds about some random things, but hopefully there was some value there for the listeners at home. And, uh, thanks everyone for listening. Signing off.

53:10

Thanks everyone for listening to the Pit to Pro podcast. Give us a follow on Instagram and submit your questions to the link in our bio. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you think will like it and subscribe to our show on Spotify and Apple podcasts.