Ep 120: 40 Secs to Win & The Power of Psychotic Obsession | Apolo Ohno (Most Decorated US Winter Olympian with 8 Olympic Medals & 21 World Championships)

Apolo Ohno has won 8 Olympic medals & 21 World
Championship medals, which makes him the most decorated US Winter
Olympian in history!


He was the state champion swimmer at age 13 & national speed
skating champion at age 14, but it was short track speed skating
that really caught his eye.


Because to him, they were like Superman!


After 6 months of training, Apolo won the 1997 US Championships.
He was a shoo-in for the 1998 Winter Olympics but then... 


Apolo grew complacent. 


He self-sabotaged & threw away his training, finishing last
in the Olympics trials.


His father was so upset, he sent Apolo to an isolated cabin at
Copalis Beach and said: "You'll stay here for as long as it takes
for you to figure out what you want to do with your life!"


That was traumatic.


Apolo decided he would give this sport a real shot & that's
when everything changed. 


But there was a price to pay for such "psychotic obsession".


He was ruthless to everyone, including himself.


In this STIMY Episode, we talked about how he finds FLOW, sports
psychology, self-sabotage, the importance of recovery, and being
obsessive without being "mindlessly handcuffed to it".


So if you want to live your life to the fullest the way an
Olympic champion does, then this is the episode for you!


Highlights:


3:27 Survival

7:23 Why did this happen?

10:35 Blowing up toilets?!

12:25 Joining the Superman sports

15:33 Sleeping with his skates

16:48 Sacrifice

22:01 Not being handcuffed to failure

24:39 Self-sabotage

30:57 The darker side to obsession

39:31 Finding the FLOW state

42:50 The power of introspection

45:25 The controversial Salt Lake City Olympics win

49:20 Turin Olympics

50:46 Why Apolo turned away from Hollywood

52:30 A lion is most dangerous when it knows it's near its
end

56:11 Psychotic obsession outside of sports

57:31 Not returning to sports + Michael Phelps

58:51 The Great Divorce

1:02:37 What do you say yes to?

1:05:07 Building his personal board of directors

1:08:31 Who are you? Who are you? Who are you?






Show notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/120


 Weekly STIMY Newsletter that deconstructs how you build a
portfolio career to prepare yourself for the future of work:
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