Speaker 1: This is How Men Think with brooks Like and Gavin
Speaker 1: de grab and I heard radio podcast. Welcome to another
Speaker 1: episode of How Men Think. My name is brooks Like,
Speaker 1: and I am super excited about this show. The previous
Speaker 1: couple of shows that we've had, we've talked about the
Speaker 1: pursuit of excellence and the mastery of one one's craft
Speaker 1: and the lifelong achievement of a person dedicated to a
Speaker 1: certain things. So, um, we're gonna discover more of that
Speaker 1: in today's episode. So the pursuit of excellence, the pursuit
Speaker 1: of excellence, I love that, and honoring and mastering one's craft.
Speaker 1: And we have a real distinguished guest. Somebody that can
Speaker 1: speak to this may be better than anybody else because
Speaker 1: of their history. And I love saying this. I very
Speaker 1: rarely rarely say it, but we have a living legend
Speaker 1: on us. I say it, I only ever say it.
Speaker 1: I very reserved with my words with that. I think
Speaker 1: legend is a term thrown around too often, but in
Speaker 1: this case it's very true. He is the most recognized
Speaker 1: male figure skater star in the world. He's won over
Speaker 1: seventy titles, awards, honors, you name it. He's inducted into
Speaker 1: the United States Olympic Hall of Fame, and he is
Speaker 1: a member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: and he is an Olympic Gold medalist. Welcome to Mr Scott. Hell, Wow,
Speaker 1: that was all so long ago. You know, it's just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's still part of you. It's still so much a
Speaker 1: part of you, and and all of that is still
Speaker 1: I believe that was only the first part of your life.
Speaker 1: That was the athletic part of your life. Your bio
Speaker 1: is school long Scott. I want to tell you it's
Speaker 1: awful because I'm old. No, it's not so much. Your
Speaker 1: athletic accomplishments were so incredible. But what's what's amazing about
Speaker 1: your story? And I followed your story for many many
Speaker 1: years since I've known life existence, God, I followed your story. Um,
Speaker 1: what's more incredible to me is actually your your resilience
Speaker 1: and the things that you've overcome in your personal life,
Speaker 1: the challenges that you've overcome in your life. Um, which
Speaker 1: I'm sure your your resilience that you developed through sport
Speaker 1: has helped you. Yeah, I mean on what you know.
Speaker 1: It's it's like everything in sports is based on failure. Basically,
Speaker 1: because when when you do anything, you know you're you're
Speaker 1: probably not gonna be very good at it. Right. So
Speaker 1: the idea is you're you're living with this like mountain
Speaker 1: of failure, and you slowly start chipping away at it.
Speaker 1: You know, so the same mistakes you made before, you're
Speaker 1: you're really gonna try to eliminate those, you don't make
Speaker 1: them again, right, And it's a learning process, you know.
Speaker 1: Big part of skating is you fall down to get up.
Speaker 1: You know. So I wrote a book called Finish First
Speaker 1: a few years ago, and it's basically, you know, I've
Speaker 1: fallen minimum, we figured six hundred times. Right. So the
Speaker 1: thing is is when you fall down forty one thousand,
Speaker 1: six hundred times, you get up forty one six hundred times.
Speaker 1: So the idea is it's like you once you get up,
Speaker 1: then then the failure takes out a different identity because
Speaker 1: you just you know, you're just gonna get up. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just okay, that didn't work, Gonna get up pretty soon.
Speaker 1: That jump that you fell on a thousand times, like
Speaker 1: you've gotten it to a point where you don't miss
Speaker 1: it anymore. You know, it's like my you know, nationals
Speaker 1: like first Nationals and the Novice Man's as a little
Speaker 1: boys level. It was Janet Lynn's last competition US you know,
Speaker 1: scating competition, and there was standing room only seventeen thousand,
Speaker 1: five hundred people in that building, and they had a
Speaker 1: little boys event as the event proceeding her company, so
Speaker 1: there was it was sold out standing r moment and
Speaker 1: I fell five times and I felt five times in
Speaker 1: the performance, which is a three minute performance, and um, like,
Speaker 1: how do you how do you have time to fall
Speaker 1: down five times in three minutes? It's like, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like that's how big a failure that was. So
Speaker 1: the next year and I came in dead last obviously,
Speaker 1: And next year I came back to Nationals, I only
Speaker 1: felt twice and I still came in nine. But there's
Speaker 1: ten guys there, so I beat one guy. And then
Speaker 1: the next year I go up to juniors and um,
Speaker 1: you know a little bit better just based on experience,
Speaker 1: and I beat two guys. I'm going fire right, So
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's like, you know, the whole idea
Speaker 1: of of of anything is the more you do it,
Speaker 1: and the more you do it with intention, it's like
Speaker 1: it's not just enough to show up. Showing up is great,
Speaker 1: and showing up is a big part of the equation,
Speaker 1: but you gotta show up with the attention that you're
Speaker 1: gonna be humble and hungry in the pursuit and you're
Speaker 1: gonna get better. Right, You're you're gonna find Okay, I
Speaker 1: did that, I keep doing that. I'm gonna figure out
Speaker 1: a way not to do that anymore. It was funny
Speaker 1: when when I talked about, you know, all those years
Speaker 1: I competed on the senior level and I was on television,
Speaker 1: Dick Button would always find something to say that wasn't complimentary.
Speaker 1: That's what I said. He would criticize me harshly, as
Speaker 1: I figured, well, I'm not gonna let him say that again.
Speaker 1: So I'd work on it. And it would be one
Speaker 1: of those things where I'd work on it, and i'd
Speaker 1: work on it, and i'd work on it, and so
Speaker 1: the next year you would criticize something else, and I go, Okay,
Speaker 1: you couldn't say that one thing again, So now I'm
Speaker 1: gonna work on that. So you start chipping away and
Speaker 1: stuff like. Even to this day, I tell my kids
Speaker 1: it's based out of that story. Is like the greatest
Speaker 1: strength is what, and I'll go here we go again.
Speaker 1: A lack of weakness, I go, right. So the greatest
Speaker 1: strength is a lack of weakness. Right, So you chip
Speaker 1: away at all those things that prevent you from being successful,
Speaker 1: and then pretty soon you know you're pretty substantial. Right.
Speaker 1: So I had to fail amountain of times, you know,
Speaker 1: and I had, I just and a lot of it
Speaker 1: was out of preparation. I just wasn't prepared and I
Speaker 1: didn't train in a a that when I stepped on
Speaker 1: the ice, I knew I was ready. I had way
Speaker 1: too many And this is my thought going into the
Speaker 1: eighty four Olympics, was when I stepped on the ice,
Speaker 1: I don't want to would have, could have or should
Speaker 1: have to be in my mind, I want to know
Speaker 1: that I've done every single thing I can to be
Speaker 1: prepared for this moment, and I'm gonna take whatever I get.
Speaker 1: And in a way, you know, it stops you from
Speaker 1: doing this right and it allows you to kind of
Speaker 1: like do that. And you know, if you could approach
Speaker 1: life with an open hand and not a clenched fist,
Speaker 1: you're probably gonna be okay, you know. But a lot
Speaker 1: of that is just preparation. And and and and working
Speaker 1: out your failures. And you know, people go out, Failure
Speaker 1: is is awful, Failure is painful. Failure is embarrassing. I go, Really,
Speaker 1: if you're in professional baseball and you only failed two
Speaker 1: out of three times, you're in the Hall of Fame, right,
Speaker 1: Come on. Failure is information only. Failure is feedback. And
Speaker 1: if if we're gonna look at failure as something to avoid,
Speaker 1: then we missed the point. You know, we want to
Speaker 1: we want to fail. We want to put ourselves in
Speaker 1: positions to fail so we can get stronger. And that's
Speaker 1: the only way we're going to get stronger. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: remember hearing to quote about successful people. It said successful
Speaker 1: people or winners are winners because they fail more often,
Speaker 1: because they lose more often. And what that's saying is
Speaker 1: that successful people they set their sights and their standards
Speaker 1: so high. They chased this lofty, audacious goals that that
Speaker 1: it's going to require them. Those standards are so high
Speaker 1: what they're chasing that they are going to lose. Like
Speaker 1: you said, your first year you finished dead. Last second
Speaker 1: year you finished ninth, third year you finished eight. But
Speaker 1: then you built up to become an Olympic champion in
Speaker 1: Sarevo four. Well, crazy thing is is, you know, the
Speaker 1: first year I committed to nationals, they had a big
Speaker 1: celebration right um, and for the guy who won the
Speaker 1: US men's national championship and invite everybody come. I actually
Speaker 1: skated with him. So he's kind of like, I hear
Speaker 1: a role model and everything else. So I'm sitting there
Speaker 1: with another kid my age, and he goes, look there's
Speaker 1: a big trait through of beers right there. Go grab
Speaker 1: me a beer. And it's like we're fourteen years old.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, grab your own beer. And he goes,
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, I have something to lose, you don't.
Speaker 1: And you know what, I've never forgotten that, and I
Speaker 1: always thought it was that, really if I put myself
Speaker 1: in a position where that's what people think of me,
Speaker 1: and so you know, fast forward, you know, from that moment,
Speaker 1: let's go forward seven years right, seven years later, um,
Speaker 1: seven and a half years later, because now it's October
Speaker 1: of night. Was the first competition I won where I
Speaker 1: would never lose again for four years, and it's like
Speaker 1: I look back on that, it's like, really, I must
Speaker 1: have gotten really luck you a bunch of times because
Speaker 1: it's like impossible, And then it really was. It just
Speaker 1: came down to, you know, building that those muscles not
Speaker 1: only in your body but in your in your heart
Speaker 1: and your mind, that when you step on the ice,
Speaker 1: you're able to deliver the goods consistently while still being
Speaker 1: humble and hungry and and going after just keep looking
Speaker 1: that way, you know, just take that rear view mirror,
Speaker 1: throw it off, you know, through rip it off the
Speaker 1: wind chill and throwing the back of the seat. And
Speaker 1: you still you know, you're going that way. You're not
Speaker 1: going back there, and you're not gonna like, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna protect this. I'm not protecting I'm just going that way,
Speaker 1: you know. And you off here, man, you got fired
Speaker 1: off now. But it's like how many guys win a
Speaker 1: marathon by looking back? You know, you to lose speed,
Speaker 1: just slow down. It's like, no, we're going that way.
Speaker 1: I love that you touched on failure at the beginning
Speaker 1: of this because it allows our audience to hear that,
Speaker 1: to hear that Olympic champion A the most cell it
Speaker 1: a skater and mail figure skating is talks about failure
Speaker 1: in the massive amounts of failure that he experienced. I think,
Speaker 1: I think it's so important. I think Michael Jordan missed
Speaker 1: over nine thousand shots in his career. I think is
Speaker 1: the stat like nine thousand times he shot and missed.
Speaker 1: But like you said, continued forward, he wanted the ball
Speaker 1: to shoot the next one, just the belief in the
Speaker 1: next one. Um. And then I also love what you
Speaker 1: said about how when you stepped on the ice and
Speaker 1: four that it was just like, okay, let's go have
Speaker 1: some fun. Because you had, you had none of the
Speaker 1: shot could have Because you have, it wasn't really fun.
Speaker 1: It's like the Olympics, you know, it's like stressful. I'm
Speaker 1: like duding this, I'm sweating right through my outfit and
Speaker 1: it's like this is this is like this is my
Speaker 1: this is my only chance right now. But again the
Speaker 1: main thought was no, would have snow kudos should have
Speaker 1: Like I did everything I could have prepared for that moment.
Speaker 1: It's still like you still gotta do your job. I
Speaker 1: didn't skate as well as I trained, you know, I
Speaker 1: go lean at that moment. I think I did like
Speaker 1: sixty five or sixty four's clean run throughs going up
Speaker 1: to that moment. You know, every day so I was
Speaker 1: really prepared and I was like locked in muscle memory.
Speaker 1: Everything was great. It's still one event, only one medal,
Speaker 1: and if you don't do it, you gotta wait four years.
Speaker 1: It's not like in swimming or track and field, where
Speaker 1: it's like, oh man, I was a little off today,
Speaker 1: but I got eight more races. It's now one. That's it.
Speaker 1: So that's where in hockey we would talking about it.
Speaker 1: Competition is literally just the expression of our practice, you know,
Speaker 1: the pursuit of excellence. It's the expression of your practice,
Speaker 1: the mastering of your craft. And it's then less about
Speaker 1: it's it takes some of the stress off for me.
Speaker 1: Because that's why losses were so Losses used to be
Speaker 1: in the NHL. Losses used to be like life or death,
Speaker 1: and now it's in information. Now, okay, thanks for this.
Speaker 1: This loss was really helpful because it showed us that
Speaker 1: we can't break out of our defensive zone as effectively
Speaker 1: as we want to. So that information, right, Losses changed
Speaker 1: from going to somebody's heart to being like, okay, this
Speaker 1: is information. Like you said, with a commentator, he would
Speaker 1: pick apart something of you. You're like, okay, i'll make
Speaker 1: that better. Now we can't talk about that. Um. I
Speaker 1: also want to tell you that I watched you skate
Speaker 1: probably thousands of times. My sister, uh, figure skated, My
Speaker 1: mom figure skated, and my mom told me, she said, Brooks,
Speaker 1: if you want to be a hockey player, you're gonna
Speaker 1: learn to skate properly figure skate before you play hockey.
Speaker 1: And so I figure skated, right, So just for everybody listening,
Speaker 1: figure skaters are where hockey players go to learn to skate. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we haven't learned to skate with the predators, right, And
Speaker 1: so many parents put, well, I want my kid to
Speaker 1: play hockey, so I'm to put up with hockey skates.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you really want to learn in
Speaker 1: figure skates because let's get you move and let's get
Speaker 1: you coordinateds get all those little muscles fired up, and
Speaker 1: then when you need to go over to hockey skates,
Speaker 1: it'll be like an afternoon. You know, you transitioned like
Speaker 1: an hour, and you know it still takes some practice
Speaker 1: to do it. But it's like, if you learn our
Speaker 1: figure skates, they're flatter, there's a toe pick where you
Speaker 1: can get yourself moving, and and they're just they're just
Speaker 1: a little bit like the radius, and hockey skates are
Speaker 1: like this year and very little bit of the blade
Speaker 1: and it's harder to balance right, and so you know,
Speaker 1: the parents are like when no, no no, we really want
Speaker 1: to stay with hockey skates. It's like, okay, it's like
Speaker 1: you're gonna be our customer a lot longer. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's that it's like and we we try to you know,
Speaker 1: it's like the NHL and when we use their UM
Speaker 1: League Development Fund to build our ghost Skate program where
Speaker 1: we scholarship, you know, young people under twelve years old
Speaker 1: into our learning skate. At the end of the what
Speaker 1: we buy them skates so that they can you know,
Speaker 1: it's stickier, it's all that. And it's like, well, now
Speaker 1: I have skates, I know, not a skate. I want
Speaker 1: to be, you know, part of this. So we thought
Speaker 1: that was a really good way to go. And then um,
Speaker 1: the manager of the Ford Eye Centers, which are the
Speaker 1: predator ranks, it comes up to me. He goes, can
Speaker 1: you give me five reasons why, Um, we need to
Speaker 1: buy figure skates for our skaters, and I'll give you
Speaker 1: and he goes fives enough, and it was it was
Speaker 1: like this you know, the ice sports or ice sports
Speaker 1: and the rink is a community, and we want to
Speaker 1: all be a part of this. However, we want to
Speaker 1: be a part of it. And you know, again I
Speaker 1: live with an open hand and not a clinched fist.
Speaker 1: You know, I really am a peacemaker and I try
Speaker 1: to allow a good environment for people to work in.
Speaker 1: And and it's like it's that, It's like, no, we
Speaker 1: want to meet people where they are now, where we
Speaker 1: necessarily want to force them into a situation here and
Speaker 1: and some the best hockey professional hockey players started off
Speaker 1: in figure skates. You can see it. I can see
Speaker 1: it instantly when I see an NHL player, because I
Speaker 1: can see the way their hips open up and the
Speaker 1: way they pivot and their edge work there especially every
Speaker 1: any every NHL player is good on their inside edges,
Speaker 1: but the figure skater, the the NHL player that has
Speaker 1: figure skater is good on the exceptional on the outside
Speaker 1: edge word to backward transition. The way they can open
Speaker 1: their hips and pivot is world class. And you just
Speaker 1: see that when I watch figure skaters. It is so graceful,
Speaker 1: the amount of speed and power you guys can generate
Speaker 1: with your edge work. And carry right, carry. We got
Speaker 1: to carry the speed and a lot of people appreciate
Speaker 1: that efferently carry that. It's silent. It's so great when
Speaker 1: you when you see a good skater, whether their speed
Speaker 1: or figure or hockey, and you can't hear the edge,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh man, that's like heaven. It's like it's
Speaker 1: so pure, it's so good. And that's like Billy Kids
Speaker 1: said that about skiing. He goes, he goes, um, how
Speaker 1: do you know they're a good skier? And he goes,
Speaker 1: You close your eyes? What you close your eyes? And
Speaker 1: how do you know if they're good? Scared? You close
Speaker 1: your eyes because as you listen and you can hear
Speaker 1: them carving into the snow, and you know, the quieter
Speaker 1: you can hear, it's like a it's like and it's
Speaker 1: just pure. And you know. There's a skater from Japan.
Speaker 1: She was actually world champion nineteen eight and ninety four
Speaker 1: and her name is Yukasado and her edge quality is spectacular.
Speaker 1: Janet Lynn. When she skater, her edge quality was the
Speaker 1: best in the world. And it just comes down to
Speaker 1: it's just you know, you use less effort because you're
Speaker 1: able to carry the speed you're not constantly grinding and working.
Speaker 1: And we have a coach here at Nashville. It moved
Speaker 1: here from New York and actually a skater with her.
Speaker 1: When she was eight years old, she was a figure
Speaker 1: skater that was an alter to the world team. At
Speaker 1: age five oh fifty, she tried to make the US
Speaker 1: Olympic speed skating team. And now her business is teaching
Speaker 1: hockey skaters how to eskate, and that again that outside
Speaker 1: edge and really loading up and being in the right
Speaker 1: place and having your hips in the right place. She
Speaker 1: is so tough and so on it that a lot
Speaker 1: of the a lot of the kids go she scares me,
Speaker 1: and it's like good, you know, it's good because you're
Speaker 1: in a tough sport. You getting there, and so it's
Speaker 1: really fun to kind of see that. You know that
Speaker 1: you expressed that. And even like Terry Cris who's the
Speaker 1: voice of the Predators, you know in the pre game
Speaker 1: and postgame shows. You know, he said the biggest day
Speaker 1: was when they're in Calgary and a figure skaters, a
Speaker 1: woman showed up to teach about eskate and they're like,
Speaker 1: all right, it shows tell you what I'll race you backwards. Yeah,
Speaker 1: all right, but who's your fastest guy. I'll race some
Speaker 1: backwards and if they beat me, I'll walk out. But
Speaker 1: if they don't, you have to listen to every word
Speaker 1: that I say. And and you know he said, you know,
Speaker 1: she beat him by like blue line of blue line distance. Right,
Speaker 1: it was like that, And then okay, I guess we
Speaker 1: have a lot to learn here, you know. So it's
Speaker 1: like we can all learn from each other, and we
Speaker 1: can grow from each other, and we congest. I mean,
Speaker 1: this world is so broad and so complex and so
Speaker 1: rich in the experience that it's really fun to be
Speaker 1: able to share these ideas and to be able to
Speaker 1: learn from each other. It's a beautiful, beautiful art friend,
Speaker 1: Like it is just I watched so many hours of
Speaker 1: figure skating, um, and I want to pay you a
Speaker 1: compliment because I watched you from the time I was
Speaker 1: a kid. If hockey wasn't on, figure skating was on it,
Speaker 1: that's great, that was fun. My target audience was men,
Speaker 1: and yeah, I love it, Like no, it was because
Speaker 1: you've got all these women in the audience and they're like,
Speaker 1: oh yeah wait, and then these men and they're sitting
Speaker 1: there going so yeah, so can I tell you what um,
Speaker 1: what was really interesting and what I what's been awesome
Speaker 1: to have you on the show is and here your
Speaker 1: version of your career, in your pursuit of excellence, in
Speaker 1: the amount of failure and the amount of resilience that
Speaker 1: you've shown is I remember watching you when I was younger,
Speaker 1: and I remember my mom and dad having conversations about you,
Speaker 1: and and the word grit and resilience continued to come up.
Speaker 1: And they always said, you could never bet against Scott
Speaker 1: Hamilton's you could never bet against him. And so watching you,
Speaker 1: you could see this. It's it's refreshing for me to
Speaker 1: hear you speak about resilience and and failure and how
Speaker 1: you overcame that and continued to pursue excellence, because that's
Speaker 1: what I witnessed, That's what I witnessed in watching you skate,
Speaker 1: and energetically witnessed that, and it was it's for myself.
Speaker 1: When I played hockey, the scariest guys to play against
Speaker 1: weren't the most talented, weren't the guys with the best
Speaker 1: world class skills. They were the guys that I knew
Speaker 1: would never quit. Yeah, those were the scariest. Well, I mean,
Speaker 1: that's that's the head game of sports, right, And you
Speaker 1: know when I was skating, especially towards the end, I
Speaker 1: made sure that they never saw me miss a jump ever,
Speaker 1: and in that they had to go, oh man, now, ah,
Speaker 1: he's never gonna miss, so I can't miss. So instead
Speaker 1: of instead of it going like I'm going this way,
Speaker 1: and they're kind of like now stuck in their own space,
Speaker 1: going all right, I under a lot of pressure. Now
Speaker 1: I can't miss a jomp. I gotta do this right
Speaker 1: because they're never gonna miss. And and it's that game
Speaker 1: that games meanship that comes in and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm here, I'm prepared, and you know, I'm
Speaker 1: never gonna quit and I'm gonna be on it and
Speaker 1: you're just gonna have to worry about yourself. It's like
Speaker 1: it really destroys people. You had an immense presence because
Speaker 1: of that that that was five ft nothing right, thank you,
Speaker 1: that's your presence was giant. Your presence was giant, Scott
Speaker 1: because of that, Like there there was like there's a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount because what that is ultimately, that's a that's
Speaker 1: a massive form of respect if something like people because
Speaker 1: like it transferred through the television screen watching this that
Speaker 1: like kind of the whole group was watching, Like, what's
Speaker 1: Scott gonna do? That's kind of the dude watched the
Speaker 1: trust I sat and watched these petitions. My mom and
Speaker 1: my sister, my dad would watch them like they were
Speaker 1: on in our household all the time. So just from
Speaker 1: one athlete to another, I just admire the way you
Speaker 1: show up and and I think I know you now
Speaker 1: on this podcast. I admire your approach to the sport,
Speaker 1: which obviously has has led to fantastic success in Olympic
Speaker 1: bold metal within it, but then more so I believe
Speaker 1: has led to triumph in your personal life, overcoming multiple
Speaker 1: um I don't even know what the word. I not traumas,
Speaker 1: but like no, it's it's yeah, it's you know, you
Speaker 1: get knocked down, you get up, you know, and it's like,
Speaker 1: you know, I joke that I have a unique hobby
Speaker 1: of collecting life threatening illness, right, So it's that, and
Speaker 1: you know, you you deal with whatever is in front
Speaker 1: of you, and and you you you just make the
Speaker 1: best of every situation and you have to, you know,
Speaker 1: learn and grow and and but at the same time,
Speaker 1: you know, and I want to go back to that
Speaker 1: whole kind of um, humble and hungry thing. Right. It's
Speaker 1: like I've seen way too many athletes get to a
Speaker 1: point where they feel like it's a destination. You know,
Speaker 1: it's like, well I just wont whatever. You know, it's
Speaker 1: like for a lot for a lot of years with
Speaker 1: a lot of the kids at one and I was
Speaker 1: last in the novice level, right, So a lot of
Speaker 1: the kids that won, you know, there were really good skaters,
Speaker 1: they're very talented, but it was almost like that when
Speaker 1: created expectation, which created pressure, which created you know, kind
Speaker 1: of like this protectionism. It's like, well I'm good enough now,
Speaker 1: so I have to kind of stay there. I'm not
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not criticizing them at all. It was
Speaker 1: like there were products in their environment. And for me,
Speaker 1: the whole coming in last thing was the greatest thing
Speaker 1: that could have happened, because you're still you're still looking forward.
Speaker 1: So it's humbling yourself to know that you know, there's
Speaker 1: always there's always better, there's always more, there's always some
Speaker 1: chicken your armor that you need to either polish or
Speaker 1: shore up. And and you know you've got to be hungry,
Speaker 1: and it's just like ambition, and you want to be
Speaker 1: better than you were last year, and better than you were,
Speaker 1: you know in your next year, gonna better than you
Speaker 1: are this year. And it's always kind of like that,
Speaker 1: that moving forward thing. And yeah, of course you're gonna
Speaker 1: be aware of your surroundings, but you know it's you
Speaker 1: can't settle, and you can't, um, you can't put yourself
Speaker 1: in a position where now other skaters are going to
Speaker 1: catch up. And you know it's a nature of the beast.
Speaker 1: Because I got older, Um, you know, I was there
Speaker 1: for a long time. Figure skating is based in opinion
Speaker 1: in many respects that it was purely and you know,
Speaker 1: flavor of the week is really tempting, you know, so
Speaker 1: you've got to stay ahead of people. And when I
Speaker 1: turned pro, there was really nothing for a skater like me,
Speaker 1: so I had to kind of invent it, you know,
Speaker 1: And I was lucky that, you know, the first two
Speaker 1: years I was pro, I was in the Ice Capade,
Speaker 1: so I learned a lot about production. I learned about,
Speaker 1: you know, just how all the show things work. And
Speaker 1: when they went through a sale and the new owner
Speaker 1: didn't want men, I was given an opportunity because I
Speaker 1: proved myself in that for him to be able to
Speaker 1: start the Stars an Ice tour, and you know it
Speaker 1: was I understood the opportunity. I understood how fragile those
Speaker 1: opportunities were. So I just kept doing at It's like,
Speaker 1: I gotta be I gotta be on it. I gotta
Speaker 1: be um, I gotta keep my skills up. I gotta
Speaker 1: be aware of marketing. I gotta be aware of uh,
Speaker 1: you know, just perception. I gotta be aware of you
Speaker 1: know that I'm here now, but I've got to learn
Speaker 1: so many more things if I want to stick around.
Speaker 1: And and it's funny because my role models weren't skaters,
Speaker 1: real role models. I'm a big music guy. Okay. So
Speaker 1: I love Neil Diamond because if you've ever seen him
Speaker 1: on stage, man, he just loves loves loves, you know,
Speaker 1: just his love of his craft. He's having the best
Speaker 1: time on that stage as the audience is mirroring kind
Speaker 1: of that whole joy that he's gotten. I go, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna learn from that. My other hero is Bruce Springsteen.
Speaker 1: Bruce springstel blue collar guy, built an audience the old
Speaker 1: fashioned way. He just oh, you're just delivered delivered, deliver
Speaker 1: the goods everything the time. And then the third was
Speaker 1: you know Um the lead singer for Led Zeppelin's guy
Speaker 1: Robert Plant and as a solo artist, he was so
Speaker 1: creative and he was so like worth. He was ready
Speaker 1: to take every risk chance that he possibly could to
Speaker 1: keep moving forward, right, and and being a little different,
Speaker 1: a little and a difference the key. It's not so
Speaker 1: much yeah, you want to be better than next year,
Speaker 1: but when you're an entertainer, you've got to be different. Otherwise,
Speaker 1: if you're writing the same song all the time, then
Speaker 1: people go, Okay, seen it. You know it's been there,
Speaker 1: done that. But it also allows you to kind of
Speaker 1: get deeper, stronger and more versatile and your ability to
Speaker 1: kind of like create longevity and the key destination is great,
Speaker 1: but journey longevity is is really a key that any
Speaker 1: amount of success you want to have. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: think I was having this conversation and the other day
Speaker 1: with a friend of mine. We were talking about um
Speaker 1: different kinds of greatness. And there is individual greatness. There
Speaker 1: is like winning winning the Olympics in eighty four that
Speaker 1: is singular individual greatness, and then there's also longevity greatness
Speaker 1: of being one of the nest in the world for
Speaker 1: fifteen years where your name is always mentioned as the
Speaker 1: possible victor of this competition. So there's it's like a band.
Speaker 1: A band can have a one hit wonder boom and greatness.
Speaker 1: Let's not let's not discount that. That is greatness too.
Speaker 1: But then the band that sticks around for like the
Speaker 1: Rolling Stones five decades or what like those bands like
Speaker 1: that longevity greatness. It's a testament to what you're talking about, Scott,
Speaker 1: about the journey, the constant pursuit, right, the pursuit of excellence.
Speaker 1: But then also um innovating, innovating in your arena, in
Speaker 1: your sport, in your industry, whatever it is. And in
Speaker 1: the term that I always like to say, parents ask
Speaker 1: me about hockey, like what should my kid do? And
Speaker 1: the thing I always say to them, don't tell your
Speaker 1: kid he has to be the best right now. Um.
Speaker 1: The biggest thing for me, I think in my professional
Speaker 1: life was I felt I was the best at getting better. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's what I hear you speak about it like
Speaker 1: continually getting better and you never arrive. But if if
Speaker 1: it's not about the destination, then it's a constant pursuit
Speaker 1: of excellence. It's constant mastery of the craft and honoring
Speaker 1: of the craft, versus saying I want to have this
Speaker 1: to hold in my hand and then I'm done. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you know, and greatness too, you know, and you
Speaker 1: Dick Button said it really well. He said, you can
Speaker 1: only measure greatness, um, and like, let's say, in any
Speaker 1: sport by the fact that because of that person's participation,
Speaker 1: they left the sport better than it was before, right,
Speaker 1: And I think about that, and it's really amazing to
Speaker 1: think about. And when he said that to me, I go,
Speaker 1: I want that. I want to be that guy. I
Speaker 1: want to be that guy that is like you know,
Speaker 1: and again I had nothing, you know, I was a
Speaker 1: big old honking loser when I you know, I competed
Speaker 1: at younger levels. But it turned into I want to
Speaker 1: be that guy. I want to and I want to.
Speaker 1: I want to keep being that guy and I want
Speaker 1: to and until, you know, after a while, honestly, just
Speaker 1: run out of gas, you know, And I did. After
Speaker 1: my first son was born. I just sort of said, okay,
Speaker 1: enough of this, all right, it's time for me to
Speaker 1: move on. And I want to be a great father.
Speaker 1: I want to be a great husband. I want to
Speaker 1: I want to be involved. I want to, you know,
Speaker 1: take this blessing, this incredible blessing, and and do it
Speaker 1: as well as I possibly can, you know. And so
Speaker 1: you know, there's the next there's always gonna be the
Speaker 1: especially in sports, right and then you just take your
Speaker 1: experience and you try to put it into the next
Speaker 1: thing and the next thing and the next thing. And
Speaker 1: I've been really lucky that has had, you know, and
Speaker 1: some of them has come out of unfortunate circumstances. But
Speaker 1: the fact that I work in cancer is because I
Speaker 1: lost my mom to cancer and I survived cancer. So
Speaker 1: I had to have it in order to truly understand
Speaker 1: how to serve that community. And you know what, you
Speaker 1: meeting scientists, and I'm the dumbest guy to ever give
Speaker 1: to Ted talks like ever, and so I look at
Speaker 1: that and it's like, Okay, now I have the ability
Speaker 1: to reach people, and I have you know, I have
Speaker 1: the ability to use that for good. You know. I
Speaker 1: I meet so many I've seen so many um whatever
Speaker 1: whatever they are, you know, uh, actors, entertainers, um, musicians, athletes,
Speaker 1: politicians who kind of use their their pulpit and they
Speaker 1: use it in negative ways, and it's like, dude, that
Speaker 1: is so short lived. You know that is that is
Speaker 1: not gonna that doesn't that you're you're you know, you're
Speaker 1: you're sort of like if you remember you're remembered as
Speaker 1: a train wreck, you know, you're not remembered as something
Speaker 1: that brought good into the world and brought you know,
Speaker 1: try to make the place maybe better than it was before,
Speaker 1: you know. And and and that's always in there. It's like,
Speaker 1: how can I do this life thing and and really
Speaker 1: try to take everything I've been given and use it
Speaker 1: to help other people. Um, and I love what you've
Speaker 1: done with that. I mean, like the characteristics that you
Speaker 1: carry from sport, your resilience, your grit, your willingness to
Speaker 1: continue to learn, to innovate, to try new things has
Speaker 1: immensely benefited you on the other side of sport in
Speaker 1: becoming an analyst, a commentator and becoming a producer and
Speaker 1: becoming a best selling author. Um, what you do, the
Speaker 1: work you do with the Scott Hamilton's Cares Foundation, just
Speaker 1: the the mindset to bring this to fruition, to even
Speaker 1: have the concept and then bring it to fruition. Can
Speaker 1: you tell our audience a little bit about that, because
Speaker 1: that foundation is the work you do there is that
Speaker 1: is legacy work. Well hopefully we're you know, we're really
Speaker 1: it's it's again, it's just doing this and you know what,
Speaker 1: and you know, with with anything I do with cares UM,
Speaker 1: you know, I really it means a lot for me
Speaker 1: to share with people that I I am the ultimate volunteer.
Speaker 1: I don't cares is it's um. You know, my executive director,
Speaker 1: Carry Morgan, she always talks about founder syndrome and it's like,
Speaker 1: we got founder syndrome again. It's like, well we can
Speaker 1: you know, let me leverage whatever I can in order
Speaker 1: to make your job a little bit easier. And you know,
Speaker 1: she talks about, you know, the whole founder thing. Because
Speaker 1: I'm a volunteer. I won't take a penny for any
Speaker 1: of the work I do with cares ever. I just
Speaker 1: I never have and I never will. And we've raised
Speaker 1: we've raised a lot of money over the years and
Speaker 1: the sixteen years we've been around, we've probably raised about
Speaker 1: forty million dollars, you know, and and and that's hard
Speaker 1: to do. But it's like you look at it and
Speaker 1: you go, well, how's it working? Wasn't doing and I
Speaker 1: wasn't and we okay, we're helping people. And now we've
Speaker 1: really focused in for the last six years to truly
Speaker 1: just elevate and you know, therapy and super precision targeted
Speaker 1: therapies to just let's just treat the cancertainly the rest
Speaker 1: of the body alone. This collateral damage thing, it's it's
Speaker 1: so over and it's it's so shortsighted. You know, we
Speaker 1: just need to keep doing those things. So I work
Speaker 1: as a volunteer UM. You know, I I may have
Speaker 1: some authority, whatever I'm learning all the time, but again
Speaker 1: it's part of that whatever we need to do in
Speaker 1: order to make it better for the next patient. And
Speaker 1: we've always done that through chemo Care dot com um
Speaker 1: website that teaches people about chemotherapy, to the Fourth Angel
Speaker 1: Mentoring program, which pairs newly diagnosed patients with survivors, to
Speaker 1: the I don't even I've lost count of how many
Speaker 1: research um UH programs we've funded over the years, and
Speaker 1: and you know, it's just it's just whatever her I
Speaker 1: can do to bring more people into the fold. And
Speaker 1: and you know, again it's just their size and numbers,
Speaker 1: you know, Danny Thomas said, I'd rather have a million
Speaker 1: people give me one dollar than one person give me
Speaker 1: a million dollars. And and honestly, I'm kind of good
Speaker 1: both ways. You know, I don't really care. You know, however,
Speaker 1: we can get the job done, right. So it's that
Speaker 1: it's like, how do we do the work? How do
Speaker 1: we do the work? Yeah? I love what you're doing there.
Speaker 1: That's that's legacy work, that is that is lasting. And
Speaker 1: for you probably you're equally as proud of that as
Speaker 1: I mean, you can answer this, but as you're a
Speaker 1: limpical mental in your success, well thank you. I I
Speaker 1: just thought if I can find a proven treatment for
Speaker 1: my mother's cancer that that destroyed her, then I'll know
Speaker 1: I was born, you know. It's that type of thing.
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, I was adopted at six weeks
Speaker 1: of age. It's lucky to be here, period. I'm sure
Speaker 1: my birth mother had other options. And so I look
Speaker 1: at you know, how do I how do I do this?
Speaker 1: And and what's the best way to engage and and
Speaker 1: and and help the community, you know, and the communities
Speaker 1: like the world, and so you know a lot of
Speaker 1: you know, what I'm working on now is purely that.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, the Live your Days platform. Yeah,
Speaker 1: get into that. Yeah, it's it. You know. It came
Speaker 1: out of my third brain tumor diagnosis, and it was
Speaker 1: one of those things where it's like um our bodies
Speaker 1: are incredibly fragile but phenomenally resilient. Okay, you just said
Speaker 1: something I want to I don't want to see your
Speaker 1: third brain tumor diagnosis right here? How like for you
Speaker 1: you said, it's so casually and easily like one like
Speaker 1: for our for our listeners, like hearing that one, Like
Speaker 1: if I hear that about myself, Like I couldn't imagine
Speaker 1: what I would go through? Like what do you go through?
Speaker 1: How do you persist through? Three of those? Well? The
Speaker 1: first one was really scary and ignited my faith. Um,
Speaker 1: I love love, love, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: love love, love. I couldn't love more. Um. Second one
Speaker 1: was like I kicked in the gut that one, And
Speaker 1: it was a surgical situation. The first one was radiation,
Speaker 1: second one was surgery. Surgery didn't go as well as
Speaker 1: it should have could have, so I ended up having
Speaker 1: nine more after that and aneurism and obliterating an aneurism
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. It was kind of a tough summer.
Speaker 1: And then when I came back again, Um, this time,
Speaker 1: I'm getting all the doctors talking to me about treatment options,
Speaker 1: and all I can hear in the back of my
Speaker 1: mind was like, get strong, and I get strong? Why
Speaker 1: what does that mean? Get strong? And I'm talking, I'm
Speaker 1: having this conversation in my own mind. It's like physically
Speaker 1: or mentally, or emotionally or virtually, you know, it's all
Speaker 1: the above. And so you know, I've watched the tumor
Speaker 1: grow and shrink and shrink and grow and shrink and
Speaker 1: grow and grow and shrink and and um, so it's
Speaker 1: just been for the last four years, I've just been
Speaker 1: vigilant and just sort of living my life, trying to
Speaker 1: get healthy and trying to get strong and and and
Speaker 1: it was just the only choice I could make at
Speaker 1: the time, because you know, surgery is problematic, you know,
Speaker 1: since I've already had the surgery, so they have to
Speaker 1: dismantle everything in there and kind of and I don't.
Speaker 1: I'm not you know, it's not like I'm denying that
Speaker 1: when I when I become symptomatic, you know, they found
Speaker 1: it on on a on a schedule of m R I.
Speaker 1: So it's there and it's doing this, you know, and
Speaker 1: as long as it's doing that, especially that, then we'll
Speaker 1: be good. So it's it's like, you know, it's like
Speaker 1: we live, right, we just you know, And it's and
Speaker 1: and it's a reminder, you know, going back to the
Speaker 1: whole thing. It's like, I'm every day trying to get stronger,
Speaker 1: trying to get better, trying to get a little deeper,
Speaker 1: little richer in the experience. And is a way of
Speaker 1: you know, pushing this thing back. And when the time
Speaker 1: comes when I have to pull the trigger on treatment,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go, right, I mean, is I'm strong
Speaker 1: and I'm sixty two years old, I'm healthy and I
Speaker 1: can endure it, right, So you know, um, you know,
Speaker 1: but I'm reminded we're fragile, we're very resilient, and we're temporary.
Speaker 1: So knowing that that, like the Kickers were temporary, nobody
Speaker 1: gets out of this thing alive. So knowing that our
Speaker 1: days are numbered, how do we live? How are we
Speaker 1: going to choose to use our days? And So when
Speaker 1: I was had that third brain to where I did
Speaker 1: an interview with People magazine. People dot com and I
Speaker 1: basically let it out. I go, look, you know, it's
Speaker 1: like these there are just things that happened, and you know,
Speaker 1: I choose I want to live my days, and and
Speaker 1: it caught the year of a marketing company here in Nashville,
Speaker 1: and they go live your days. It's like like, it's
Speaker 1: my the woman that runs at Shannon Lynton, it's her
Speaker 1: kind of like mantra day to day mantra. It's like
Speaker 1: live by I'm gonna live your days today, and all
Speaker 1: the time it's in there. And so we she brought up,
Speaker 1: you know, right after that interview went viral and what
Speaker 1: was supposed to be about ten thousand people, you know,
Speaker 1: being shared, you know whatever, that interview it is a
Speaker 1: normal interview. It was seen over thirty five million times.
Speaker 1: So she knew something was in there. But I go,
Speaker 1: let's just tap the brakes here because it's not the
Speaker 1: right time. And then COVID kicked in and she called
Speaker 1: me and she goes now, and I go now, So
Speaker 1: let's let's let's remind people that our days are precious
Speaker 1: and the opportunities are limitless, and what we can do
Speaker 1: with this life is a choice, no matter what our
Speaker 1: condition and what no matter what we're up against, it's
Speaker 1: like a breath is a breath, a day is a day,
Speaker 1: a minute, a minute, and we can use those and
Speaker 1: and not only for ourselves, but for our loved ones
Speaker 1: and for for everyone else involved. So, you know, the
Speaker 1: Liver Your Days platform and it started off to be
Speaker 1: sort of encouragement digital encouragement platform and become a podcast
Speaker 1: with that eight podcasts and phenomenal gas Robin Roberts will
Speaker 1: be on next week and um, I my goodness, Kevin
Speaker 1: Neil and Bart Millard, Christian mcgucci and all of them
Speaker 1: have a story to tell of how they've built their lives,
Speaker 1: you know, as a way of just sort of a
Speaker 1: guide to inspire people and help them make those choices
Speaker 1: to live their lives better, joyfully, productively, abundantly. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: love that. One of your missions with Live your Days,
Speaker 1: with the entire platform and the podcast is a call
Speaker 1: to being present, really is what it is. I mean,
Speaker 1: come on, how many times have you been so consumed
Speaker 1: in your own thoughts that something happened right in front
Speaker 1: of you and you missed it? You know it's like,
Speaker 1: oh man, I can't do to replay? Yeah? Yeah, really
Speaker 1: you know. It's like my wife. You know they have
Speaker 1: they storm chasers, Ye, rainbow chaser. She's a rainbow chaser.
Speaker 1: Rainbows fill her heart like nobody's business. And when there's
Speaker 1: a big rainstorm, she'll get in the car and she'll
Speaker 1: go out and she'll like find rainbows and it's like
Speaker 1: it just takes her breath away. And I look at that.
Speaker 1: That's it. That's the stuff. It's like we we look
Speaker 1: for those like gonna find them, and we we can't
Speaker 1: let our lives just pass us by. We've gotta do it.
Speaker 1: We gotta live joyfully, productively, abbudantly. We gotta allow no
Speaker 1: matter what our condition is, as long as we have
Speaker 1: breath in our lungs and we we just we gotta,
Speaker 1: we gotta, we gotta choose to live this life fully.
Speaker 1: I love I love man, Scott. I could listen to
Speaker 1: you talk for days. Man. This. I hope our community
Speaker 1: jumps over and tunes into to live your days because
Speaker 1: you've got me fired up. There's like thirty day challenge things,
Speaker 1: the challenge, thirty day challenge. It's not like you know
Speaker 1: we're gonna have you like climb mountains or run marathons.
Speaker 1: It really is it's just to build those muscles of
Speaker 1: awareness and contentment in our lives that really go wow,
Speaker 1: like there's so much here that Yeah, okay, so I
Speaker 1: just started doing it. I got a journal and we
Speaker 1: even sell these. We even sell journals on thembe days
Speaker 1: like com because all the merchen we sell their benefits
Speaker 1: the Cures Foundation. Right. So the first one, um, happened
Speaker 1: yesterday and it's just an example. Uh, it was three
Speaker 1: things I'm most grateful for and kind of why and
Speaker 1: so my three things were family, opportunity, and redemption. So
Speaker 1: you know, the we we you know. The thing with
Speaker 1: with with living your days and being in faith is
Speaker 1: you know, there's there's kind of like four legs of
Speaker 1: the chair, right and you're sitting on this. It's a
Speaker 1: foundation of your life. And these four colors and one
Speaker 1: is physical, one is is emotional, another one is intellectual,
Speaker 1: and the other one is spiritual. And if any one
Speaker 1: of those legs is missing, you're probably gonna fall down
Speaker 1: and it might get hurt. Right. So you know, the
Speaker 1: idea is, you know, we gotta fortify ourselves every way
Speaker 1: we possibly can, and that's the get strong thing all
Speaker 1: the above. Right, So, um, you know I hope people
Speaker 1: go to live your Days dot com and join this
Speaker 1: movement and we got to create some positivity and and
Speaker 1: you know, we want them to share their thoughts and
Speaker 1: their experiences and take the thirty day challenge and by
Speaker 1: the merch that will fund cancer research and and enjoy
Speaker 1: the podcast. That's so cool too that you put a
Speaker 1: purpose behind the passion behind the mission. You know that
Speaker 1: it funds cares and the money goes towards that because
Speaker 1: they you're doing something that's impactful, meaningful, lights you up,
Speaker 1: and you're giving to people, and then the cause of
Speaker 1: it and where the money goes is then beneficial over here.
Speaker 1: Um Scott, you are just like said at the top
Speaker 1: of the show, you are a living legend. I'm living.
Speaker 1: That's that's all that matters right now. I'm living. But
Speaker 1: as an athlete, you're a living legend. As and as
Speaker 1: a human being, as a humanitarian, you are a living legend,
Speaker 1: my friend. So I think you know it's it's you know, uh,
Speaker 1: thank you, you know, I've you know, like I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, as as human beings, we make a lot
Speaker 1: of mistakes and we just gotta keep moving forward. And
Speaker 1: that's what I said. You know my three things I'm
Speaker 1: most grateful for, you know, or my family, my my opportunities,
Speaker 1: and you know, especially redemption. You know, it's like knowing
Speaker 1: that my creator loves me unconditioning forever. That's a good
Speaker 1: reason to get out of better every morning. Oh, my friend,
Speaker 1: you are welcome on this podcast anytime. I know your family,
Speaker 1: I know your boy. There's because calling you. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: got an A on his English test today, so we're celebrating.
Speaker 1: You picked up some food and we're gonna just munch
Speaker 1: and now I gotta host a nationale Zoo fundraiser in
Speaker 1: about an hour. And Okay, I'll thank you so much.
Speaker 1: You've inspired me, You've inspired our audience. Go to Living
Speaker 1: Thanks dot com, Live your Days dot com, where people
Speaker 1: can check out for dot com. Mr Scott Hamilton, a
Speaker 1: living legend. Thank you so much. Everybody else, thank you
Speaker 1: for tuning into this episode. We'd love to have to
Speaker 1: have you back on, Scott, you were so in big time.
Speaker 1: Anytime until next week, guys, take care of one other,
Speaker 1: love one another, and we'll see you back here for
Speaker 1: another episode of How Men Think