How a Mindset for Mastery Will Lead to Positive Change in Your World

0:01

Before getting into this episode of the "I" in Win podcast, wanted to quickly remind everyone that we have a new website, www.theiinwin.com, where you can find past episodes, leave a review or interact directly with me. You can also follow me on Twitter @LukeMertens. Thanks for listening to episode 14 of the "I" in Win podcast

Ryan: 0:20

So our brains are wired for negativity, it's courageous, and it is what every champion does to find the positives and find out what you can do to be better moving forward.

Luke: 0:44

Okay, welcome to the show today. We have a 10 year NFL veteran, super bowl, 50 championship with the Denver Broncos. He's now the Notre Dame football analyst. Co-host of masters of the midway weekly sports radio show and altitude sports radio in Denver. Welcome Ryan Harris.

Ryan: 1:01

What's up, Luke, how are you doing?

Luke: 1:03

Well, we got connected through a previous guest Dan Santucci my understanding is you guys play next to each other on your line. And he swore me to secrecy. So don't let him know I'm telling you this, but he said he was kind of the glue of that side of the line. So I want to kind of get your thoughts on who really held together that side of the line.

Ryan: 1:23

Well, I mean, glue is white sappy and slow. So yeah, he certainly was the glue on that on the left side of the line. So, uh, you know, Dan Santucci and I, uh, you know, we go way back and. We're an example of a locker room. That's had tough conversations, you know? Um, and we also were roommates and, you know, so I slept with a guy, uh, with three different beds, you know, going to clarify, but uh, we were roommates in that hotel and, you know, he wanted to go to bed at eight 30, where night before games. I was, Hey, I wanted to watch some of my locked up abroad, you know, and, watch a little bit of football and things like that. And then. Hanging out, relax because the night before the games, man, you know, you just really got to clear your mind and create space for you to be creative and productive. And, uh, Dan Santucciwould be in the bed about eight 30. So, you know, just another example of how to work with people who are different than you and a valuable experience.

Luke: 2:19

Well, you're really a Renaissance man, a pro athlete, radio host football color analyst, best-selling author motivational speaker and lifelong learner. But two degrees from. So, if you had to pick and understand, I'm an English teacher, so I'm not going to let you straddle the fence right now. If you had to pick which one of these things you enjoy the most.

Ryan: 2:41

Creating impact, you know, I mean, all of those things create impact. Yeah. For me, you know, everybody's different, right? Uh, I have friends who are auto mechanics and that's all they want to do is, is, you know, fix cars and build things. I have friends who are engineers. I have friends who are writers. I have friends who are on TV personalities. Um, but, and for me, I love the ecosystem I've built, you know, Playing football was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me in my life. You know, I'm from St. Paul, Minnesota, and I got to play football and London, England, you know, and win a super bowl and travel the country and live in five different states. So that's a fantastic impact it had on. And winning the Superbowl. Let's, you know, I want people to know that their moment can come with the work and sacrifice and broadcasting, you know, 65% of Americans do not have a black friend. 90% of Americans do not have a Muslim friend. Well, five days a week from 10 to two, I get to be your black Muslim friend talking sports. So, my ecosystem creates impact whether that's the speaking or the broadcast. And that's where I, I find joy. I find joy in communicating to others, what to actually notice about a play or about a situation, and create bridges because I've seen other parts of this country and I've, and I understand when I have. Who comes from a different place that that's their environment they've come from, not the environment they're going to live in. So I love my ecosystem because it gives me the opportunity to create impact across colors, across religions, across sports. And we need more of that and I can be one of those people. So

Luke: 4:20

So let's talk specifically about leadership because at its core, that's really what this podcast is about. And one thing I loved on your website, as you really stress that together, people can change the world. And I fully agree with you. I, I believe in people. So, where does your positive outlook?

Ryan: 4:39

Well, it's a choice, right? Your mindset's a choice. How you see a situation as a choice. My first, you know, my first week at practice at Notre Dame, I got knocked out of my class. And, you know, everybody's going, Ooh. And I had a choice to make, right. I could choose to just be upset. Oh man. You know, I don't belong here. I don't want to be here or I could choose to find something new. What can I do? I can, I can go back to one of my favorite books, the book of five rings. I can read it some more. And that night it said, strike your enemy with complete and utter results. I wasn't doing that. So the next day I went and I struck my opponent with utter resolve and sure enough, I also struck my future and broke through a barrier. You know, leadership is about taking risks because you have the knowledge and capabilities. And the biggest thing I'll tell you about leaders. Never lead by example, it loses context. Lead with an example. The year we had won super bowl, 50, we, I had a teammate on the offensive line that was not doing well. And we weren't gonna go to the playoffs, let alone, when the super. If you continue to play that way, coaches screamed at them, try to embarrass them, try to uplift him. Right. Players screamed at them on the field. How many of us do our best work when we're being criticized as a person, right. Versus our effort. And so none of those things worked unsurprisingly. And I went up to him one day and I said, you know, when I was your age, I made two to three mistakes. But then I started, feverously taking notes. I took notes on everything. I could hear everything. I could remember every little change and I would start changes in the game plans week to week. And I went from making two to three mistakes, a game to two to three mistakes a year. And sure enough, the very next day, my teammate had a note pad and four pens next to him and he was taking notes and we went on to win the playoffs and win the. So, I mean, that's something where, so often you hear lead by example, that's total crap. That's lazy leadership. You have to lead with an example. You have to show that, look, it wasn't, you didn't just get born and English teacher, right? You weren't born in English teacher, you failed along the way. What did you do? What did you do when you failed? We don't talk about failure. We talk about failure less than we talk about. Yeah, failure is the most common thread and every success story. So lead with an example of when you failed, like the person you are leading is failing, or when you needed to grow in the way that the person you are leading needs to grow.

Luke: 7:01

And let's talk a little bit more about that failure piece, because I would argue that we're not allowing kids to fail. And I know you're a father and I am too. And sometimes the love for our kids. We just want to just constantly walk around with pillows beneath their feet. Right. And we're so afraid to let them fail, but we both know from our experiences that that's really how you become successful. So how do we balance the demands of winning and being competitive and wanting to protect our kids and professionally be successful with the fact that we have to fail sometimes.

Ryan: 7:35

Well first, you don't even focus on winning. Yeah. One thing I tell my friends all the time, you know, when we go out to dinner or something, they'll say, oh man, you didn't have to do that. Hey, we don't keep score. We played a win. Right? I mean, that's what I tell people, because when you dedicate yourself to a process, Forget the outcome. I failed eight times to win the Superbowl. I'm so glad I didn't give up because on the ninth try, we did right. And failures are our greatest teacher. I just did it with my kids. Uh, you know, this morning actually going to school, they forgot their masks. Hey, I've got adult mass and I know the school has somebody, you know what? You got to remember your mass. That's not my responsibility, you know, because I know. And you do too Luke. And really every parent. There are going to be times when you're not with your kid. And if they don't know how to fail, if they're not capable of failing and then succeeding, they'll never succeed in life. They'll always come back to you and that's not what we want. You want your kid to be an individual. You want your child to be competent and capable. But so often we just focus on the competent piece and it's everybody else's job to make sure someone else's capable. I mean, consider if a coach did that, right, Hey, we're not going to run any plays where you can get beat. We're only going to run plays where you're going to be successful. That's not real. That's not how you succeed. Right. And that's why a lot of people have a false sense of success because sometimes failing is the greatest success. You know, if I fail at trying to win a Superbowl, I was still in the NFL. That's all right, right. I'm doing okay if I fail at making $10 million, but I make $2 million. Right. Um, so, so failure is, is absolutely necessary. And what parents don't know when they take that failure from their kid. As sooner or later your kid is going to go against somebody like me. Who's dedicated to the craft who doesn't care about failing, who invites failure, who wants to fail because that's how I learn. And because I know I'm more resilient than failure can ever test me. Right. And when your kid who's never failed, it goes against someone like me. They, they don't know what to do and it can be even more distressed. I've seen more kids crying with tears in their eyes, quitting football, because their parents wanted it for them greater than they did. And it's not just football. Right. It's soccer. It's sports of all kinds. It's techniques of all kinds. Because at a certain point, your kid's going to get to somebody who loves this for what it is, who loves engineering for the creativity and the problem solving who loves football for the opportunity. It gives them to exercise their physical talents as well as mental capabilities and preparation. And if you're just creating success after success, when somebody defeats your child, when your child faces adversity, They're not going to have any type of structure to go forward. They'll only have a structure that allows them to crumble because they've never been there.

Luke: 10:32

And this was not part of the original script, but I want to go there since we're talking about failure, because it definitely relates to the conversation. I have found from my experience as a head coach, that part of why maybe we would come a little short of a state championship or whatever the goal was for the team is kids are so afraid to just put themselves out there. And they're afraid to put themselves out there and maybe it's just not good enough. And I've, I've watched a lot of your videos on YouTube and you're a great speaker and you speak to that point. So what's the approach when we do put ourselves out there and it's just not good enough. How do we as leaders, help kids understand that process?

Ryan: 11:13

Well, when your good is not good enough speak the words I can write. When I, uh, I got drafted by the Broncos in 2007, and I got fired in 2011, because I was arrogant and unwilling to do things that a coach wanted me to do. And I've never been more embarrassed in my life. Right. How do I, how do I go to the grocery store? I said to myself, without being a Denver Bronco, how do I, am I able to still live in Denver? Well, of course. Right. But when we fail, oftentimes the thoughts we have are not real, but when your good is not good enough, find out what you can. The year we won the super balls with a Peyton Manning. We were in OTA. It's just kind of the spring practices. And I was having a hard time breathing, right. I'm a nine year NFL veteran and we're running plays got blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Hey, Omaha will go. Omaha. And being tired is not an excuse when you're playing with, with great athletes, right. Being tired as a choice. So what can I do? I can reach out to my guy. Who's an MMA trainer. I can ask him. I can tell him, Hey, we got to train this off season. This break that I have before the season, you got to give me tools that I can use to be. Well, because I said, what can I do? I can go talk to my MMA coach and I can train with him. He taught me the breathing technique of breathing in for five swallowing, your breath, breathing out For eight and it immediately catches your breath. He also taught me that getting through that, getting to your second wind is good. Cause sometimes in a gang. Man. I just can't, you know who, I'm just, it's just not there yet. I'm already out of breath. It's the first drive of the first quarter. Well, good. That means I'm nearest. I'm closer to my second wind where I won't be thinking about my breasts. So these are all things that when you're, good's not good enough, what can you. When you fail to get the job you want, or you fail to have the outcome you desire, what can you do? Can you make yourself a more, uh, more, um, uh, capable candidate, right? Can you make yourself more appealing to the places you want to go? Can you put yourself in a new experience that gives you new knowledge? I mean, that's how you win, you know, teams in the NFL have to get better every. People are no different. It's not just kids that don't want to fail. A lot of adults don't want to fail either if we're being honest, Luke. And that's the thing. When, when we're talking to kids, oftentimes parents will say, well, you can just go ahead and do it. Well, that's leading by example, what Luke you tell me, when was the time where you didn't want to reach out and it affected you and what did you do?

Luke: 13:36

Yeah, man, I'll be honest with you. I'm uh, I'm afraid of failure. Um, I'm not, I guess I shouldn't, I'm not afraid. I'm not afraid to admit that, you know what I mean? Looking at it. Objectively I am. And.

Ryan: 13:47

now you've told, have you told your code players this right? Have you told the fellow teammate since you're afraid to fail, what do you do? What's your plan? How have you overcome.

Luke: 13:57

Well, I think that's where I'm always trying to grow as a person. And if it's reading books, talking to people like you, I mean, I need to learn that. And there was times that maybe I didn't behave as I should have as a leader. And we're losing a game that I didn't think we should lose. And it kind of took like a 24 hour rule to kick in. Robert, just tell my. I was wrong. That's not the way I should have handled the situation, but I'm going to grow from it. And here's how we all can grow from that experience. But I think it just part of being man enough to just say I was afraid I was wrong. Like, you use that word vulnerable in your book. Like that's important. You gotta be vulnerable.

Ryan: 14:34

And how powerful for other young men and women to hear you and adults say, Hey, I was wrong there. You know, what kind of a future parent partner teammate did you make by showing that example of saying, Hey, we failed and I hate to fail and I acted wrong. I act here's what I would have liked to. Had I seen, had I had the composure I have now I would have done this over this and you know what? It may not have made a difference, but we would have felt better. We would've felt like we'd given a trial and that's the kind of impact that we all have the ability to make. And here's the truth about. It's embarrassing. It doesn't feel good. It makes you shake to your bones. Sometimes it's all you can focus on sometimes. So in failure, since our brain is wired to continually find failure, what are three things you did? That's something I do to myself. Right. You know, the other day I was at a store and as soon as we got in there, my kids, you know, my son, he's two, he, he took a big old deuce. Right. And we were, I, I failed to pack the extra diaper, but you know what I did. I said, you know what? I have wet wipes. Thank God. Right. I can go and throw this. I can go and throw this diaper. That's dirty in the. And I can speed up this store visit so we can get what we need, get out and get into the safety of some diapers. Right? So our brains are wired for negativity, it's courageous, and it is what every champion does to find the positives and find out what you can do to be better moving forward.

Luke: 16:12

Yeah. And speaking on leadership, I know there's a quote that you really enjoy. And I it's something that I like to live by as well. And that's from MLK of everyone can lead because everyone can serve. So why do you believe in servant leadership?

Ryan: 16:28

It's the only way to create value on teams and think about this. You know, if Peyton Manning doesn't give the offensive line of snap. He can't throw a touchdown pass. We're all the heroes in our own story. Yet we need heroes in our story for us to be successful. So you have to know right now, no matter where you are, no matter how old you are, your success depends on other people. So since it depends on other people, what do people like? People love others who create value. Right. And I'm Muslim. And one of the things we say, uh, one of the, one of the Islamic manners that you have is want for your brother and sister, what you want for yourself. So if you and I are on a team, Luke, and I want to be successful. That means I want to, I need to want you to be successful first. I want you to have the success that I want and the way you create servant leadership is saying, how can I help? You know, what can I do? Or maybe you just give somebody a hug and say, Hey, I believe in you. Gosh, have you ever been in a down moment, somebody walks up to you and says, I believe in you. You're going to be. Right. One of the times I, when I was with the Pittsburgh Steelers, we had a young player who made a mistake in a game and got veterans, right. Guys who played six, seven years were like, what are you doing? Come on. You gotta be better than that. And his eyes, she's like, Yeah. no, I will. I will. Hey man, this is the beginning of a long career for you. You've learned in this game, we're gonna win this game. This is just the beginning. Believe in your skills, shake it off, go out there and have. Guess what we won the game and he's still playing in the NFL today. I saw him just two weeks ago and we had a big old hug and he had tears in his eyes. You must serve to win. That's the only way you win is by serving. And we all know leaders who are in it for themselves. It limits our want to, right. We know when a coach wants to go somewhere else. We know when a teammate wants to go somewhere else. We know when a friend wants to do something. Right. Or is this using you and your resources? That's not servant leadership. And that's why often those people do not win championships. They may win. They may have a lot of accolades, but did they win the big one? Did they find that actually service lead service and leadership creates success?

Luke: 18:50

let's transition to your book now. Mindset for mastery. You talk about your childhood. And when you first started to play football and you described yourself as overweight and you were picked on and you, you, you tell that great story of the interception and then you just, you went and did it, right. You went and hit that kid. And all of a sudden it was like, boom, light bulb went off and you didn't talk a ton about your coaches at that moment. Other than I believe, unfortunately, you said that even the coaches laughed at you at some point. What, what does that kid, and I'm a home off you just in general. What is that kid who's being picked on? That doesn't have a really good feel about themselves. Need to hear from coaches at that moment.

Ryan: 19:31

Go go do it, you know, and also create conflict. I mean, if I'm a coach and I'm seeing a player get picked on, I'm going to that player and I'm saying, listen in life and in sport, you are going to have to stick up for your. And losers only fight to win. You might have to get in a fight that you lose, but I guarantee you something. If someone's picking on you and you swing at their face, they're going to respect you and it's going to change things. And if it doesn't swing again, that kind of encouragement that kind of, Hey, go do it. I'm with you. Hey, they're wrong. But it's not me to tell them they're wrong because I'm not going to be here all. You have to find the lifesaving skill of standing up for yourself. You have a great opportunity right now. I believe in you. And so often we don't get told, you know, to go for it and with kids as well, I've never been in a fight before. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. A lot of people have never been in a fight before. That's why they don't fight. That's why they don't fight for their relationship. That's why they don't fight for the job they want. That's why I don't fight for their spot at the time. And that's why they'll always be pushed out by people with less knowledge and less ability because those people are just willing to step up and say, I'm here. I want it. You know, one of my favorite things I do when I speak to you is that I hold up a hundred dollar bill at the end of the, at the end of the speech who wants this $100 bill. Oh, me, me, me, everybody who wants this $100 bill. I repeated it until someone comes up and grabs it. And it's a powerful moment. So I say, hold on, Steve. Did you have the same opportunity as everybody else? Yes. And typically they have to like get over a chair, right. Or, or get over an obstacle or get over self doubt to get there. Right. And then I say to the group outside, why didn't any of you who had the same opportunity at this a hundred dollars? What didn't make, what prevented you from getting up? And they'll give their examples and reasons as to now be very careful because these are what excuses. Right. I didn't believe you'd actually gave it to me. I didn't think I could get there in time. Well, that costs you a hundred dollars. Now this is no different than when somebody offers you a job or offers you a starting role, or when you see the person that you want to be with for the rest of your life, get your ass up and go make an effort. And often that's the only difference in success.

Luke: 21:52

So you kind of touched upon my next question, but I want to go there anyway, and that is ordinary versus extraordinary. And you talk about the fact that it's all mindset, and I really believe that is a job of a teacher and a coach. Your job is to take this person and get him or her to achieve levels that they. They didn't know was even possible. And my question is how do you guide young people to that proper mindset of believe in themselves? And you can be extraordinary.

Ryan: 22:22

Well, I mean, it starts as early as you can. You know, I have a book I read to my kids of it's called. I know, I knew you could do. And it goes through this whole thing, you know, w w when you were down, be careful what you say to yourself, because you'll be back up, you know? So I start with that and, you know, one of the things that I say all the time to my kids and to kids, you know, all ages, and this am afraid to do this. I understand you. That's good. It's good to recognize you are afraid. That's not all. You might be afraid, but are you ready? Yes. Are you excited? Yes. I mean, I had to do this the night before the super bowl. Right. I said to myself, I am terrified that my greatest achievement is going to be my greatest failure if I lose this game. But you know what? I am excited. I am ready. I am prepared. I can go out and knock the crap out of somebody tomorrow. I can put on my pads and have fun with the game that I love. I will be a. Right. Even if you don't believe in it, those words I am, I can, I will build your construct to dig for your diamonds. So for me, it's all about encouraging that moment, giving people the language and letting kids know, letting others that you're working with. No fear is not enough. We all have. What else are you? What can you do with your fear? And that's when you start to, because so often we just get stuck. I'm afraid, I'm nervous, I'm anxious. Great. What else are you that really gets people moving? What and how questions and those moments get people moving. And it never hurts to say, I believe in you. I mean, when have you heard that in your life, Luke and been like, you know what? I don't like that person. They believe in me. I don't like that person. Right. It's simple words that make a huge difference. And when we're really. That's what's happened in each of our lives. Somebody has given us a few words at the right moment that drastically changed the outlook and outcome of our.

Luke: 24:17

Yeah. And I think, especially for me now that I have a high school age daughter, I have a middle school son and they're very involved in sports. It is so interesting to see the other side of things. And now I understand. Well, my athletes were going home and thinking and the power of just telling an athlete, Hey, great practice today. Like I cannot believe how much that means to my kids when their coaches say that. I mean, they get in the car and they are just so amped. And they'll say, you know, coach Smith said, I played great today and it makes me reflect as a, as a coach and a teacher. I wish I did more of that. And I clearly need to do more of that because to your point, just the, I believe in you goes up, goes a long way. It goes a really long way. And I'm sticking with this theme of your book. There's a quote I took out of there that everything that has value in life requires you to go beyond. What do you mean by beyond?

Ryan: 25:17

You have to go beyond your fear. You have to go, you are going to live beyond your failure. As everyone listening right now has already gone beyond their failure. Since you are going to go beyond what does that look like? Right. When I get knocked down, I'll tell you right now, I'm getting up. I don't care. I don't care the consequences. I don't care what anybody thinks about me getting up. I don't care if they think I'm silly for getting up, I am going to get up. Whatever failure comes from me will not be my final failure. Right. I can go beyond every failure. I can go beyond my self doubt that I carried with me in every single game of my 10 year NFL career. Once you, once you realize you can go beyond the feelings that wants you to stop, the whole world opens up. Right. You may be single and unhappy right now. You CA you are going to live beyond that, create that beyond, right? Maybe that's just getting a pet who knows what Ted is. Right. And it doesn't have to be drastic things sometimes even just changing your thought process. A kid comes home from a bad practice, and you're a parent. And they're saying to you, you know, Hey, I don't like this. I can't believe this. I want to give up. What were the three things you did. I don't know. There's nothing I did. Well, well, did you show up? Yeah. Well, at the Pittsburgh Steelers, they say every morning, the first rule and getting better showing up. So guess what you're going to do tomorrow? Show up. That's right. And just by showing up, you will get better. Right. What else did you do? Well, I mean, these are the things that you start to learn when you go beyond that initial feeling that beyond that initial reaction. Successful weight. And that's not just in sports, that's in conversations, right. We're having a lot of conversations in society that are making a lot of people uncomfortable. What's beyond that. Uncomfort, what can you ask beyond that? Uncomfort, because that uncomfort is not going to stop change. It never had. The unwillingness not going to stop change. It never has. So everything that's worth anything in life requires you to go beyond, beyond your feelings, beyond your experience, beyond what you know, to create your success.

Luke: 27:27

One of my favorite chapters of your book is chapter five, master your time. And I believe. That, by the way, I should say this. I love the queen no time for losers and you know, am I investing my time or losing my time? Like that is just, that's just awesome. And really, regardless of the profession, everyone needs to think that way. But anyway, I believe that our greatest assets. In life. I believe what we all need to invest in is people. And based on what I've read about you and listened to your talks and talking to you right now, I know you believe in people. So why is it so important that we invest in people?

Ryan: 28:09

To bring you to the success you need and people make our world, right. We talked earlier about, you need other people for your success and when you don't have the right people in your life, you're wasting an opportunity for your success. And that's unacceptable, right? That's that's on you. Oftentimes, if we don't get somewhere, we want to blame other people. No, no, no. You choose who you spend your time with. And that's one thing I try and stress so much. You know, w in my NFL career, after I, after I left the Broncos, 98% of the people I talked to on a weekly basis, didn't speak to me. Didn't send me a text. Didn't send me a call. These are people who needed tickets before wanting to do dinners before. But when I went to the Houston Texans, still in the NFL, they wanted nothing to do with me. Wow. So when I came back to the Denver Broncos, guess who didn't get my time, those 98% of the people you're going to lose friends on the road to success. Your willingness to go beyond failure will scare the crap out of a lot of people? and they will try and cut you down. They will try and distract you. That's your choice, whether or not that you allow that to happen. And Luke, you brought up when I talked about me and that song by queen, we are the champions. I must have heard it a hundred times before we won the super bowl. But after we won the Superbowl, the line, no time for losers for we are the champions just stuck out. Not everyone is worth your time. Just because you know, somebody or they know you doesn't mean they're worth your time, be wise about who you choose to spend your time with, because it does matter. I had somebody when we went to the super bowl who I hadn't talked to in four years, text me and say, Hey, Ryan, congrats on going to the super bowl. Do you mind coming by my kid's kindergarten class to get them psyched up for the Superbowl this week? No, that's not my job. That's a distraction. I'm not responsible for young kids being excited about the Superbowl. Now, if you'd like me to visit your kid's school after the season, we can talk about that. That's not my job right now. Thank you. You know, I mean, that's seriously because how many of us would like to be interrupted? I even told family not to come in until Saturday. Sundays are my, you know, Friday nights or my Wednesdays in the NFL. I don't show up to where you're at Luke on a Wednesday night. Like, yo, take me for some deep dish pizza. Let's go, right? Like, no, you got class on Thursday. Well, I got class on Saturday and Sunday when you're in the NFL. So, you know, make sure that you master your time by one, choosing who you spend your time with to understanding that you are not going to be friends with everyone you are friends with. Now in three, know that the path of success is lonely. You are going to be a little. Astronauts are alone in space all the time, but it's amazing how there still astronauts. So choose who you spend your time with and choose what you want to do. And also, I just want to get one quick skill that I use all the time. It's the Irish goodbye. You're in a place where you don't want to be. You don't have to say goodbye to everybody. You'll see Luke, if we ever go to an event, you'll see me do that all the time. Hey, I'll go to something and I'll say hi to people. And when it's time for me to go, because I need sleep or because I need to rest because I want to be a parent, guess what? I'm gone. I don't have to explain to you how I'm leaving, because if you need me to explain, you must not want what's best for me. In which case you're not a real friend, real friends, and those you love, and those who love you want what's best for you. Use the Irish goodbye whenever you're uncomfortable, or whenever you need to leave to do your best.

Luke: 31:40

I need to get better at the Irish goodbye, just in general. That's the, uh, yeah, I come from Italian lineage and goodbyes with Italians are longer than the actual stay in and it's all out of love, but,

Ryan: 31:52

Minnesotans to Minnesotans are like that. They call it the Minnesota. Good-bye it's at least four goodbyes.

Luke: 31:58

Yeah, but I know speaking of time, I know you got, you got to get going. I appreciate your generosity right now. I just have to finish with some really quick fun questions. I know you're a Notre Dame guy and you're probably slanted, but should a one last Notre Dame football team be considered for the college playoff.

Ryan: 32:14

Of course, and they will do, because there'll be multiple two loss, big 10 teams. I think you're going to see a two loss Alabama team. Um, this is going to be an interesting next few weeks. It's always better to have a loss early in the season versus late in college.

Luke: 32:29

And you played at Notre Dame. I know you love the university. There are a lot of great rivalries with Notre Dame. If you have to pick one, what is that one rivalry game that you just loved playing it?

Ryan: 32:40

USC. Can't stand them. The maroon helmets are ugly. I hate to let her you, because that's how you start saying USC, you know? Um, but it's funny because Luke in the NFL, oftentimes the closest guys in a locker room are Notre Dame and USC guys because of that mutual respect because of that shared experience. So it's such a unique thing, uh, to have that much anger and angst in the, in college. And then, you know, when I went to the Houston Texans, Brian Cushing from USC was one of the first players come up. Hey, Ryan. So happy to have you welcome to the Texans. I'm like, man, All right. I guess we can be friends, you know, so you never know what enemies are going to be friends, and you never know what friends are going to become in these,

Luke: 33:18

And throughout your career, you played at such an elite level. Who would you say is the greatest player you played with or against that? Just stick out into your mind and, and what made that individual just so great?

Ryan: 33:32

Uh, Peyton Manning, a DeMarcus where we're the greatest teammates I ever had played with, you know, and they went beyond their ski. To make sure everyone else came with them. You know, one example, we were going against the Pittsburgh Steelers And James Harrison, a big muscly guy, just the guy you don't even want to see in your life. Right. Uh, let alone go against for 70 snaps and, you know, DeMarcus where a future hall of Famer, he comes to me, he says, Hey man, you're going against Harrison this week. Right. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. And he goes, well, he's going to put that rip move in. I'm like, yeah, I've seen it. I'm feeling he goes, when he does that, pinch your elbow to your side, he won't be able to go on. Right. Wow. All right. I played him a couple of times. Never thought of that. Sure enough. We get to the game and he throws in that rip and I grabbed it. He goes, oh, no, he says that. Right. So once he audible realizes that, that just, you know, total lack of ability to do anything, I knew I had. Right now there was a battle throughout the game, but that's an example of a great player who didn't need to talk to me about that situation going beyond his success to give me something that can make us successful as a team, and they'll learn it and paint man, and did that every plate for the offense, right. Changing us to play, to, to put us in the right spot. Um, so that's why both of those guys. The greatest players I played with because their greatness was beyond their skill. And that's really a special, special asset to have on any team.

Luke: 34:57

And in closing, you want to give some of your contact info, your website, you have a lot of good information out there, including your book. If you want to put that out there for our.

Ryan: 35:06

Yeah, it took me out at Ryan here. 60 eight.com uh, at Ryan Harris underscore 68 on instant. Uh, at Salaam's underscore from underscore 68 on, Twitter. And, um, you know, I'm also on LinkedIn, but I'm all, I'm a resource for you. If I, my book at Amazon mindset for mastery, and I'm here for anybody who needs, uh, so we need anything that I can offer. I'm a resource. I want us to win because we went to.

Luke: 35:33

Well, again, I really appreciate your time. I know you're very busy, man. We said earlier Renaissance, man. So it was awesome to get to talk to you, to be honest with you. I'd love to have you back on because there's so much more, I want to dive deeper in, but I knew that we're under some time restraints. Hopefully we have that open door invitation for you to come back in and we could have, uh, maybe a little more in-depth conversation about people and the importance of believing in each other.

Ryan: 35:57

I love it. I'm I'm always available. Appreciate it. Look, Thank you So.

Luke: 36:01

Thanks again to Ryan Harris. Love his positive energy! No excuses, no explanations, just good old fashioned hard work and correct mindset to achieve. His book Mindset for Mastery as a number one bestseller and linked in the show notes, and you can check out some of his motivational speeches posted on his website www.ryanharris68.com. I wholeheartedly agree with Ryan. We all have the right to be extraordinary and together we can change the world. So go be a positive change in your world today because the more eyes we impact in this world, the more everyone wins. That's the 'I" in Win!.