181 – What We Can Learn from an Olympian Medalist with Aja Evans
A two-time Olympian, Aja Evans, won a bronze medal in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games as a brakeman for the USA Women’s Bobsled Team.
Throughout her track and field career, Aja was known for her dominance in both the sprints and shot put. At the University of Illinois, she won three Big Ten titles.
The 5-time NCAA Division 1 All-American recently competed in her second Olympic games in February at the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea. She and her driver Jamie Greubel-Poser placed 5th.
Aja comes from a family of elite athletes and in this podcast episode we’re talking about the drive, the passion and the discipline needed to win.
Business Building Insights
- Developing confidence in whatever you do is a game changer.
- Embrace the psychological aspect of your journey.
- Be mentally ready. If things change, you want to be able to bounce back quickly.
- Working on strength, conditioning and speed applies as much to a business as it does to a sport.
- Get in tune with your body so you know when to push and when to relax. This provides you with endurance as you go through peaks and valleys along the way.
- In tough times, remind yourself why you are doing what your doing. Keep your eyes on the goal.
- Write down specifically what needs to be accomplished each day. This is the key to increased productivity.
- It’s powerful when you learn to separate business from personal. In order to perform your have to be able to put feelings aside. You can do this with practice.
- Be open to understanding and accepting different personalities.
- You’re meant to be happy and confident.
Resources Mentioned
Aspiring Journeys Ahead – More to come on this organization as it develops.
Contact Links
Gift Biz Resources
Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you.
Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 181 You have to fight the bad
Speaker:habits. You have to fight the lazy feelings.
Speaker:They don't just go away just because you have a particular
Speaker:goal in mind.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights.
Speaker:Hi there And thank you so much for taking a little
Speaker:bit of your time to be with me today.
Speaker:Make sure to stay till the end of this episode because
Speaker:I have a special announcement for you.
Speaker:It's something that I've been working on for months and finally
Speaker:I'm so excited.
Speaker:Now is the time I can share it with you and
Speaker:yes, sometimes I can be a little bit of a tease
Speaker:and just play around and that's not why I'm waiting until
Speaker:the end.
Speaker:I just want to make sure to give my guests today
Speaker:all of the attention that she's due and then share with
Speaker:you something extra special.
Speaker:Like I said at the end,
Speaker:don't leave cause you don't want to miss it,
Speaker:but first I want to talk with you about my guest.
Speaker:She is an Olympic medalist and I brought her on the
Speaker:show because even though she's not a gifter Baker crafter or
Speaker:maker, she has qualities that she needs to use to get
Speaker:her to her level of success.
Speaker:That very much relate to success for us as maker entrepreneurs.
Speaker:Some of the things we're going to talk about are preparation,
Speaker:a mindset,
Speaker:dealing with factors that are sometimes out of your control and
Speaker:how intuition can play a big role in your success.
Speaker:Let's jump into this right now.
Speaker:I'd like to introduce you to Asia Evans.
Speaker:Asia is a two time Olympian and has won a bronze
Speaker:medal in the 2014 winter Olympic games as a brakeman for
Speaker:the USA women's bobsled team.
Speaker:Throughout her track and field career,
Speaker:Asia was known for her dominance in both the sprints and
Speaker:ShotPut at the university of Illinois.
Speaker:She won three big 10 titles the five time NCAA division
Speaker:one. All American recently completed her second Olympic game in February
Speaker:at the 2018 winter Olympics in South Korea.
Speaker:She and her driver,
Speaker:Jamie Gribble,
Speaker:poser placed fifth Asia,
Speaker:comes from a family of elite athletes and today we're going
Speaker:to talk about the drive,
Speaker:the passion and the discipline needed to win.
Speaker:Welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast Asia.
Speaker:Hi. Thanks for having me.
Speaker:I am so excited to have this conversation.
Speaker:I'm excited.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's kind of a different thing because you aren't like a
Speaker:maker or a creator like our audiences,
Speaker:but I think some of the drive and the passion yeah.
Speaker:And the commitment that you have to have to become the
Speaker:level of Olympian you are,
Speaker:the level of athlete can go over,
Speaker:I think.
Speaker:Yeah. I completely agree.
Speaker:I mean a lot of the things I've learned on my
Speaker:path to becoming an Olympian or even Olympic medalist have helped
Speaker:me in all areas of my life and I've grown in
Speaker:all aspects of my life,
Speaker:not only just the Olympics,
Speaker:so it's kind of worked synonymous with my life and every
Speaker:area. We are going to expand on that in a second,
Speaker:but before we do,
Speaker:I have a traditional question I like to ask everybody and
Speaker:that is if you were to describe yourself as a motivational
Speaker:candle, so in a color and in a quote,
Speaker:how would you describe yourself through a motivational candle?
Speaker:This was such a unique question.
Speaker:I had fun trying to figure out my idea for this,
Speaker:but I think my favorite color is purple and I never
Speaker:understood why I was so drawn to the color when it
Speaker:began, but I'm captivated by it and the more I looked
Speaker:into it and the kind of characteristics associated with the color
Speaker:purple, it's like just ambition,
Speaker:power, strength,
Speaker:peace, magic.
Speaker:And so that really ties into me and some of my
Speaker:characteristics. A motivational quote for that.
Speaker:Would be a Bible verse of mine that's a favorite of
Speaker:mine is Joshua one verse nine and it's have I not
Speaker:commanded you?
Speaker:Be strong and courageous.
Speaker:Do not be afraid.
Speaker:Do not be discouraged for the Lord your God will be
Speaker:with you wherever you go.
Speaker:For me,
Speaker:especially with the places my ambition takes me,
Speaker:it's a little scary.
Speaker:And developing confidence and whatever I do has been a game
Speaker:changer for me and knowing that from the beginning and having
Speaker:that confidence because essentially I went into the sport of bobsled
Speaker:where I had no background in this floor.
Speaker:I came from a completely different sport and to go in
Speaker:there and in two years when an Olympic medal sounds crazy
Speaker:even saying it right now,
Speaker:but it took a lot of confidence and trust and ambition
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Absolutely. And saying that it's scary,
Speaker:I would say is an understatement.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:It's definitely intimidating.
Speaker:Well, you know,
Speaker:I said in the bio as I was learning a little
Speaker:bit more about you F wheats have run in your family,
Speaker:right? And professional athletes from your father to your uncles all
Speaker:the way down.
Speaker:So you were surrounded by that already.
Speaker:How did your journey go in terms of zeroing in on
Speaker:your sport cause you were track and field in high school
Speaker:and college?
Speaker:I grew up with a very athletic family and it always
Speaker:encouraged me to want to do sports.
Speaker:My uncle and cousin both were major league baseball players and
Speaker:my father was a swimmer and my brother played in the
Speaker:NFL for eight years and my mother was a track and
Speaker:field Supersite in her collegiate years.
Speaker:And so growing up my mom just kept us really active.
Speaker:She never forced us to do any sports or do anything.
Speaker:We kind of played around with all types of sports and
Speaker:it wasn't until my freshman year of high school where I
Speaker:actually did track and field and I stuck with it and
Speaker:we were really successful.
Speaker:I went to Morgan park high school out in Chicago and
Speaker:the city and the Chicago public school and we had great
Speaker:success there.
Speaker:And then I went on to go to university of Illinois
Speaker:where I was told about the sport of bobsled.
Speaker:My senior year of college,
Speaker:my coach kind of introduced the sport to me and so
Speaker:when he was telling me about,
Speaker:I was a little hesitant because I'm used to checking fields
Speaker:and feeling like my Olympic success was always going to come
Speaker:from what I thought I was doing to get there,
Speaker:which was track and field.
Speaker:So I always saw myself being on the Olympic podium and
Speaker:making it to the Olympic games.
Speaker:But I just assumed that it was going to be through
Speaker:track and field.
Speaker:And so my senior year of college was in 2010 and
Speaker:I was doing the 2010 when I left Olympic games.
Speaker:And my coach told me about the sport and how they
Speaker:look for athletes like myself who come from other sports like
Speaker:track and field.
Speaker:I mean you have football players like Herschel Walker who did
Speaker:bobsled, but specifically he told me about this check if an
Speaker:athlete named Veneta flowers who became an Olympian in both summer
Speaker:and winter Olympic sports.
Speaker:And so it really inspired me at the time,
Speaker:but I just brushed it off because I thought that my
Speaker:bread and butter was going to be track and field.
Speaker:And about a year and a half later I went out
Speaker:and tried for bobsled because after college I graduated and I
Speaker:decided not to do track professionally.
Speaker:So I was working in Highland park at EFC sports performance
Speaker:and I was doing my internship and got offered a position
Speaker:there. So I was helping all these people I met accomplish
Speaker:their goals and the dreams they set themselves and I felt
Speaker:like I didn't give myself that same opportunity.
Speaker:And so I did a lot of research and went out
Speaker:for the bobsled team and ended up being a really good
Speaker:fit for the sport.
Speaker:That's interesting because you were seeing that what you were talking
Speaker:to other people and challenging other people to do,
Speaker:you had to turn the mirror around on yourself.
Speaker:Exactly. And I felt like I was preaching all these things,
Speaker:but I wasn't practicing it and I felt that void.
Speaker:I felt like something was missing.
Speaker:I loved what I did and helping them,
Speaker:but I felt like I didn't give myself that fair chance.
Speaker:Okay. This is perfect because I think a lot of people
Speaker:who are listening,
Speaker:I think that starting a business,
Speaker:which I know is a little bit different than sports,
Speaker:but starting a business is for everybody else.
Speaker:Like everyone else can be successful but not them.
Speaker:Right? And so I want you guys get biz listeners to
Speaker:be listening to this because this is what Asia did.
Speaker:And so my question for you is how did you change
Speaker:your mindset?
Speaker:You just can't say,
Speaker:okay, well Asia ante up.
Speaker:Let's do it.
Speaker:What did you do in terms of a mindset to turn
Speaker:around and say,
Speaker:okay, I'm going to not be afraid.
Speaker:I'm just going to put myself out there and do it.
Speaker:How did you do that?
Speaker:Well, I had to my resources for sure.
Speaker:After training and working at EMT sports performance,
Speaker:I went to the owner and I told him about the
Speaker:sport of BAFTA.
Speaker:And this was two years out.
Speaker:So this was in 2012 and the winter Olympic games were
Speaker:in 2014 and so within two years I needed to learn
Speaker:it and understand the sport so I could make it to
Speaker:the Olympic games.
Speaker:And so I told him about my vision and my goal
Speaker:and he said we could do it.
Speaker:And so in order to kind of get in the quote
Speaker:mindset, I could to a bobsledder I worked with football players
Speaker:and they are gritty,
Speaker:they have a great work ethic and they're used to that
Speaker:team atmosphere,
Speaker:but yet they're used to competing against each other.
Speaker:And that's simulator track and field.
Speaker:But in track and field is still a little more individual.
Speaker:So that on and off switch mentality I had to get
Speaker:used to as is being an athlete and a competitor at
Speaker:one moment and then a teammate and helping your essentially your
Speaker:competition and your team move forward and build a lot of
Speaker:the behind the scenes.
Speaker:So I had to learn how to switch that on and
Speaker:off as well as the physical and,
Speaker:and I worked really hard with all NFL players in the
Speaker:off season because it was around the same time as my
Speaker:preparation for Bob.
Speaker:But and so I trained with them for three months and
Speaker:went out and tried out for the team and my trials
Speaker:were going so well that the coach stopped me and had
Speaker:me come to the side and was like,
Speaker:okay, so we see what you can do but let's see
Speaker:if you could push a bop lift.
Speaker:So I actually stayed a few days later and in like
Speaker:plastic in New York we have the Olympic training center,
Speaker:which is where our headquarters is for the most part for
Speaker:bobsleigh. We have our push track there,
Speaker:which is how you practice pushing on dry land and training
Speaker:outside of winter time and being on the track as well
Speaker:as one of our home tracks.
Speaker:And so I stayed there practice and learn the technique and
Speaker:continue with trials.
Speaker:Over the next few months I've made the national team.
Speaker:And from there we went through the world cup season,
Speaker:so that was the season before the Olympic games.
Speaker:And then the next season I had to try out as
Speaker:well and make the national team before I made the Olympic
Speaker:team. Okay.
Speaker:So I have a number of questions for you now after
Speaker:all of that.
Speaker:Yeah. Oh my gosh,
Speaker:yes. But it's so good.
Speaker:So Asia first for some of our listeners who may not
Speaker:be that familiar with bobsled,
Speaker:talk us through the sport and how many people comprise a
Speaker:team and how the whole bobsled works.
Speaker:Yeah, so bachelor is a winter Olympic sport.
Speaker:So for women right now we only have two man Aqua,
Speaker:so you have a driver,
Speaker:but I also go by pilot and they're in the front
Speaker:of the sled.
Speaker:And then you have the brakemen,
Speaker:which is my position.
Speaker:We also go by pusher and we're in the back of
Speaker:the sled.
Speaker:The goal of the brakemen is to get this leg going
Speaker:as fast as possible at the start of the race.
Speaker:And then we hop in after the man and then we're
Speaker:kind of like holding on in the back through this mile
Speaker:long track of twists and turns and bumps and all types
Speaker:of G4S while the driver Sears down the track using the
Speaker:velocity and the momentum we created at the top of the
Speaker:track. So you're the one at the back who's like ducking
Speaker:then so that you,
Speaker:So my goal is to stay as aerodynamic as possible and
Speaker:relaxed in the back of the sled regardless of how crazy
Speaker:it feels.
Speaker:So awkward.
Speaker:I don't even know what the compared to,
Speaker:I mean honestly,
Speaker:we have to wear helmets because you risk concussions.
Speaker:We wear burn invest because if you were to crash the
Speaker:friction from the ice and the speed we're going at a
Speaker:cocreate burns.
Speaker:So it's a very intense course.
Speaker:It's very loud,
Speaker:noisy, and as a brakeman you don't know what's coming next.
Speaker:So it's a little counterintuitive.
Speaker:You want to be nervous,
Speaker:you want to be tight,
Speaker:you want to be kind of scared,
Speaker:but you have to teach yourself to be relaxed and loose
Speaker:and taking all these twists and turns as you go down
Speaker:the track and hopefully come out in first.
Speaker:That's crazy because as you're just describing it at the beginning
Speaker:of the race,
Speaker:you need all your strength because you're the one who's building
Speaker:the speed and then you dump in and you have to
Speaker:do the exact opposite.
Speaker:You have to then relax.
Speaker:Yes, and the drivers,
Speaker:they go from straining to put all their effort into their
Speaker:push push to having to snap out of that relaxed and
Speaker:be focused and steer down,
Speaker:attract. And when I say steer,
Speaker:like it's not a steering wheel in there,
Speaker:we drive by using these D rings.
Speaker:So essentially like two wheel drive.
Speaker:So the runners,
Speaker:which are the blades this last,
Speaker:this one,
Speaker:so two runners in the front.
Speaker:If you pull the right D-ring,
Speaker:they go to the right.
Speaker:And then if people the left when I go to the
Speaker:left, and that's how you fear the sled down the track.
Speaker:I didn't know that.
Speaker:I thought you had a steering wheel.
Speaker:I mean one of the original bobsleds were included this year
Speaker:and we'll,
Speaker:but they advanced their technology so much that it's kind of
Speaker:a rope system and a D rating system where they're kind
Speaker:of pulling these rings to help maneuver this led down the
Speaker:track as efficiently as possible.
Speaker:Yeah. Got it.
Speaker:So let's talk a little bit about training.
Speaker:How do you as a professional athlete train for this?
Speaker:I'm sure,
Speaker:I mean it's physical,
Speaker:but it's also psychological.
Speaker:Can you give us a feel for how that works?
Speaker:I really started to embrace the psychological aspects a lot this
Speaker:past Olympic journey because I didn't realize going into the sport
Speaker:how much that was a factor.
Speaker:Especially for an athlete like myself.
Speaker:I'm one of those athletes that rely on what I produce
Speaker:and my production in like using that as my way to
Speaker:show that I'm doing good to show the team when I'm
Speaker:capable of show to where where I'm capable of.
Speaker:And sometimes in the sport you don't have as much power
Speaker:as you would like to.
Speaker:Like I come from track and field.
Speaker:If I'm an Elaine against seven other athletes and I come
Speaker:at earth and I'm in first place,
Speaker:but with Bob,
Speaker:just because you're the fastest say it doesn't mean you're going
Speaker:to be with who they deemed the fastest driver.
Speaker:Sometimes the coaches and the board pick and choose who races
Speaker:with who.
Speaker:So you don't really have much control over that as a
Speaker:brakeman. The coaches pick who the drivers race with and so
Speaker:the best thing I could do was put myself in the
Speaker:best physical shape as well as being mentally ready to accept.
Speaker:If I'm not racing with the person I had my eyes
Speaker:set on or if things change,
Speaker:being able bounce back because that's what happened to me at
Speaker:the 2014 Olympic game.
Speaker:I primed myself physically to be the best brakeman in the
Speaker:country, let alone the world and to race with the fast
Speaker:pace driver at that time.
Speaker:And so the entire season I raced with her and we
Speaker:were winning Meadows and doing great first in the world.
Speaker:And then at the Olympic games,
Speaker:the week before I race,
Speaker:they switched by,
Speaker:fled and I raced with the second rate driver.
Speaker:And so if this would've happened to me a few years
Speaker:side to that I might have shut down.
Speaker:I might have not been able to even pull off a
Speaker:metal. And so that mental aspect really came into play and
Speaker:I had to understand that this is the hand I'm dealt
Speaker:and I have to make the most of those cars.
Speaker:And so that's when Jamie and I really built a resilient
Speaker:bond and decided to go out and pull this off for
Speaker:ourselves despite who was calling the shots.
Speaker:And so the mental aspect has been a journey for me
Speaker:for sure.
Speaker:Physically, we do a lot of our off season training during
Speaker:the summertime leading into the fall.
Speaker:And so it's pretty much the same as like football off
Speaker:season training.
Speaker:You really want to work on your strength and conditioning and
Speaker:your speed.
Speaker:And so I don't necessarily have to be in like class
Speaker:in New York at the Olympic training center longterm over the
Speaker:entire off season training.
Speaker:I can do my workouts pretty much anywhere.
Speaker:So I worked with my trainer,
Speaker:Jacob Ross and my friend coach Les Spellman and together they
Speaker:helped me get into the best shape for the season,
Speaker:especially entering the Olympic year.
Speaker:It was a lot of the training as far as repetitive
Speaker:speed drove a lot of plyometrics,
Speaker:a lot of jumping and a lot of stuff just to
Speaker:be on my posterior chain.
Speaker:So like a lot of lifting weights,
Speaker:a lot of squatting,
Speaker:some power cleans and dead lifts.
Speaker:And so I really wanted to build up that muscle and
Speaker:that power early in the season so I didn't have to
Speaker:go as hard during the season because once the season starts,
Speaker:we're traveling from country to country each week as well as
Speaker:racing and training on the actual opposite track.
Speaker:So, So you really have to look out at a whole
Speaker:six months or a year and structure when you're training and
Speaker:then when you're on the road it takes a little bit
Speaker:of a different look,
Speaker:right? So you have to look out and plan.
Speaker:It involves a lot of planning,
Speaker:but during the season you have to be able to go
Speaker:with the flow and listen to your body.
Speaker:So as an athlete you become really in tune with our
Speaker:body and what it's telling us and we know how to
Speaker:push ourselves,
Speaker:which you also have to know how to relax and when
Speaker:to take it a little easier.
Speaker:As you go through the season you're dealing with,
Speaker:like I struggled with jet lag and all these European countries
Speaker:we were racing in as well as having to train at
Speaker:6:00 AM we would wake up,
Speaker:get breakfast,
Speaker:load our slips.
Speaker:So with Bob,
Speaker:so it's a really hands on sport.
Speaker:I fled weigh about 365 pounds and so that's the sled
Speaker:minimum wage and we have to move those sleds so we
Speaker:have to transport them ourselves.
Speaker:We put them in the truck.
Speaker:Coach's job is Chuck to the track.
Speaker:We unload the sleds,
Speaker:put them at the line.
Speaker:We do all of that stuff as well as racing and
Speaker:preparing to race a train.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I for sure thought you had other people doing that for
Speaker:you. We have engineers And coaches that help and the engineers
Speaker:are really great and they do all the behind the scenes
Speaker:stuff and the more in depth stuff for the slab,
Speaker:but a lot of the hands on moving of the sled
Speaker:and preparation of the sled is done that especially the night
Speaker:before a race.
Speaker:People assume that's the day we have.
Speaker:Like You get pampered and you rest and carbo-loading like you
Speaker:do when you're running.
Speaker:Right. 94 race.
Speaker:We're sanding the runners,
Speaker:so the runners,
Speaker:like I said,
Speaker:are the blades,
Speaker:the SLAs that on,
Speaker:we're sending those down grid by grid from a hundred grit
Speaker:sandpaper down to polishing paper and then the drivers have their
Speaker:own busing system.
Speaker:So together that takes about four,
Speaker:maybe five hours to complete.
Speaker:But per runner,
Speaker:if you have people helping you,
Speaker:you can get it done maybe in three hours,
Speaker:but that's another day with the work we have to put
Speaker:in at the end of the night before race.
Speaker:Wow. All right,
Speaker:so from my listeners perspective,
Speaker:I have a couple of things I'm curious about.
Speaker:What do you do on those days when you're supposed to
Speaker:get up at 6:00 AM to train and you're like,
Speaker:seriously, like this is the last thing I want to do.
Speaker:I just want to push this news button and I'm not
Speaker:getting up.
Speaker:How do you force yourself to do that?
Speaker:I know we can all relate to this challenge.
Speaker:We're going to hear how Asia answers the question right after
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Speaker:Hard. I mean it's hard to force myself to get in
Speaker:that position or get used to pushing yourself.
Speaker:I think that was one of the biggest things for me
Speaker:was you have to fight the bad habits.
Speaker:You have to fight the lazy feelings.
Speaker:They don't just go away just because you have a particular
Speaker:goal in mind.
Speaker:Just because I knew I wanted to win an Olympic medal
Speaker:and go to the Olympic games,
Speaker:it didn't mean instantly boom.
Speaker:I'm a new person that likes to wake up very early
Speaker:in the morning and work out.
Speaker:No, I was still that same person that doesn't like to
Speaker:wake up there early to workout and so you just had
Speaker:to remind yourself why you're doing these things.
Speaker:And so when I was waking up very early to go
Speaker:to training,
Speaker:knowing I had to do all the behind the scenes work
Speaker:and do a workout on top of it later that day,
Speaker:it can be exhausting,
Speaker:but I had to keep my eyes set on my goal
Speaker:and I created a schedule so I knew what I had
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:So that helps me to get an idea of my day.
Speaker:Did the schedule just make you like you knew you had
Speaker:to follow your schedule?
Speaker:Whether you wanted to or not.
Speaker:Having a schedule one may mean knew I needed to follow
Speaker:it and it encouraged me to get stuff done because then
Speaker:once I saw my schedule was clear,
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:okay, like I really have time off and I can enjoy
Speaker:the rest of my day without feeling like I'm missing something
Speaker:or I need to do something.
Speaker:And sometimes when you wake up and you know you have
Speaker:to do all these things but you don't have them written
Speaker:down, it can make you even more stressed and flustered and
Speaker:it can appear bigger than what it is.
Speaker:So one thing I tried to do was write down things
Speaker:I had to accomplish that day and if I could write
Speaker:a time for it,
Speaker:cool. If not,
Speaker:then I just knew I had to go through it.
Speaker:And so I will use my reminders app on my phone
Speaker:and I would literally put in my phone,
Speaker:everything from I'm training today,
Speaker:make sure my backpack,
Speaker:my workout for the day.
Speaker:If there was certain nutrition things I needed to follow,
Speaker:I would put that in there.
Speaker:And then as I would go throughout the day,
Speaker:I would Mark off when I did it.
Speaker:So if I looked at my phone and I realized I
Speaker:did two things already,
Speaker:I would Mark those off.
Speaker:And then I'm like,
Speaker:okay, halfway through my day I have such and such left,
Speaker:let me knock it out so I can enjoy the rest
Speaker:of my day.
Speaker:If I wanted to go have dinner somewhere or if I
Speaker:wanted to do some of the sports stuff,
Speaker:those types of things,
Speaker:I would try and knock out as much as I could
Speaker:earlier in my day so I can have the rest of
Speaker:my day off.
Speaker:Sure. And then you'd have that portion of the day off
Speaker:and you deserved it cause you put in all your time
Speaker:for the day.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:that's what I said.
Speaker:So like it kinda made me realize what I had to
Speaker:accomplish today.
Speaker:But then as I started to accomplish those things,
Speaker:I felt encouraged.
Speaker:So I was like,
Speaker:okay cool.
Speaker:I knocked this out.
Speaker:That was the biggest thing on my list.
Speaker:I only got this,
Speaker:this and this.
Speaker:I can knock that out in a minute or it doesn't
Speaker:even feel like you'll go throughout your day and realize you've
Speaker:done so much and you still have the rest of your
Speaker:day. So I think having things written out really helped me
Speaker:and was a game changer for me because it didn't allow
Speaker:my thoughts to overwhelm me as far as like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I have so much to do and it's time to do
Speaker:it and you forget everything.
Speaker:Right. That's a great takeaway for our listeners because it correlates
Speaker:so well for business and it's so much better to do
Speaker:the things that you don't like first and just get them
Speaker:out of the way done,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:at the first top of the day.
Speaker:Well, yeah,
Speaker:it's not even just that.
Speaker:I don't like the ones that will take the most odd
Speaker:needs because I work out so hard at such an elite
Speaker:level, but I'm just like everyone else,
Speaker:I don't get extremely drained after work.
Speaker:I see it release endorphins and you get energy and stuff
Speaker:despite how tired you are from the workout or how fatigue
Speaker:you are.
Speaker:So I like to accomplish my workouts earlier in my day.
Speaker:Not bright first thing in the morning,
Speaker:but I definitely like to accomplish my workouts and things that
Speaker:I know that will physically and mentally exert me the most
Speaker:earliest Monday so I can knock it out.
Speaker:And then as I go through my day,
Speaker:I just pay attention to things I need to do,
Speaker:whether it be respond to emails or this and that.
Speaker:I write kind of things down as they come to my
Speaker:head because I find that really helps me to remember what
Speaker:to do and to knock it out.
Speaker:Yeah. So you're following a plan.
Speaker:Let's circle around to nutrition.
Speaker:What does that mean for an Olympic athlete?
Speaker:Yeah, nutrition could be like for an Olympic athlete it could
Speaker:be your best friend or your worst enemy.
Speaker:Myself, I love to snack.
Speaker:I love to eat without any strings attached and I just
Speaker:want to enjoy my meal.
Speaker:Yeah. So Asia,
Speaker:I would say to that,
Speaker:well, yeah,
Speaker:you can cause you're going to work off any calories that
Speaker:you have throughout the day.
Speaker:So just go ahead with whatever you want.
Speaker:Right? And that sounds so simple,
Speaker:but that's not exactly how it works because even though my
Speaker:schedule is in 10 I still have to maintain a certain
Speaker:weight throughout the season because it's essentially kind of a weight
Speaker:class sport.
Speaker:You don't want to go over the maximum weight of for
Speaker:the race day.
Speaker:So it's the combined weight is you the driver and the
Speaker:sled. And so after our first run down the track they
Speaker:weigh us together and if you're over weight you're disqualified.
Speaker:Oh man.
Speaker:So that's important.
Speaker:And as well as your energy.
Speaker:So like you don't want to just eat anything that tastes
Speaker:good or eat crazy candies and sugars and junk food.
Speaker:You want healthy things to give you the energy.
Speaker:Cause I have very long days,
Speaker:especially behind the scenes when it comes to maintenance on the
Speaker:sled and doing my workouts and different things.
Speaker:So I have to make sure I'm energized and myself so
Speaker:I'm not eating as many of the bad things as I
Speaker:want. It's more so about fuel in my body and making
Speaker:sure I'm managing my weight throughout the season.
Speaker:And does nutrition at all.
Speaker:Have to do with building muscle and all of the behind
Speaker:the scenes thing too.
Speaker:Yeah. For me,
Speaker:I don't have a problem building on muscles.
Speaker:I'm one of those athletes where I need nutrition to help
Speaker:me to maintain a lighter weight because they changed the weight
Speaker:limit for Bob slit down 15 kilos from 2014 when our
Speaker:Olympics 2018 went Olympics,
Speaker:so that's essentially over 30 pounds a different,
Speaker:so we had to be 30 pounds lighter.
Speaker:That's a lot.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a lot.
Speaker:Five of the kilos could come from the slip,
Speaker:but the other remaining,
Speaker:I'm sorry,
Speaker:it's 15 yeah,
Speaker:so five of the kilos come from the sled.
Speaker:The remaining 10 so the remaining 22 pounds has to come
Speaker:from the driver brakeman combination and so team USA is a
Speaker:little on the muscular built side and so we were already
Speaker:in 2014 near the way limits,
Speaker:so we really had to work to move weight and maintain
Speaker:a healthy lean weight for the 2018 winter Olympic games because
Speaker:we had to be lighter.
Speaker:I want to take a little bit of a step back
Speaker:in your journey also because I liked when you were talking
Speaker:about the fact that it was kind of a step by
Speaker:step process.
Speaker:You know you first were seeing success obviously in college.
Speaker:People had their eye on you already and then when you
Speaker:jumped over into sled,
Speaker:the nationals,
Speaker:the world,
Speaker:it was a progression.
Speaker:So you kept going from one event to another and seeing
Speaker:success along the way.
Speaker:Talk a little bit about that,
Speaker:cause no one just goes from being local to all of
Speaker:a sudden being an Olympian.
Speaker:Right. I don't think I explained it that well because the
Speaker:success progression wasn't as smooth as it found it.
Speaker:It was rough coming into the sport in 2012 I came
Speaker:in alongside three or four summer Olympians from the 2012 summer
Speaker:Olympic games and we were all really good.
Speaker:So it's a competitive atmosphere.
Speaker:They named nine women to the national team.
Speaker:Three of them are drivers and then the other six are
Speaker:a pool of brakemen.
Speaker:So we all travel together throughout the season.
Speaker:But only three pregnant end up racing.
Speaker:And so every time you're on the ice,
Speaker:you're basically competing against your teammates for a spot in the
Speaker:top split.
Speaker:So that's where you were talking about the difference between a
Speaker:solo sport but also a team sport and you have to
Speaker:go back and forth.
Speaker:Right, Exactly.
Speaker:And so you really have to be able to understand that
Speaker:no matter how good you are individually,
Speaker:you still may not get the race you think you deserve
Speaker:or you may not get this or they're testing different combinations
Speaker:so you're not raising.
Speaker:And so that's hard to understand because in track and field,
Speaker:if I didn't race or if I didn't get anything,
Speaker:it was mainly probably because like,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I wasn't performing at my best.
Speaker:You were responsible for your own performance then.
Speaker:Exactly. But now with Bob,
Speaker:but it just may be a combination of other factors that
Speaker:you're not even in control of.
Speaker:And so you have to be able to understand that and
Speaker:not let it affect your performance and your motivation moving forward.
Speaker:That is so interesting and I'm sure so tough.
Speaker:It's Delta.
Speaker:Yeah. What did you learn from that that you take away
Speaker:today? One of my biggest lessons I learned from the sport
Speaker:of bobsled was to separate business and personal.
Speaker:I've always kind of been,
Speaker:if I don't like you and the person,
Speaker:I don't like you in the business atmosphere type of person.
Speaker:So like it's not going to switch on and off just
Speaker:because of the setting.
Speaker:And so as an Olympian and as a bobsledder,
Speaker:you have to be able to separate the two.
Speaker:So on the personal side,
Speaker:you're thrown into a situation with eight other women where you're
Speaker:traveling the world around each other.
Speaker:24 seven I'm rooming together,
Speaker:eating together,
Speaker:doing all these things.
Speaker:And these are women you may not necessarily get along with
Speaker:or you would choose to be around outside of sport.
Speaker:And so you're kind of forcing the situation where you have
Speaker:to kind of embrace it and you build bonds and friendships,
Speaker:but you have to be able to separate the two because
Speaker:it gets messy,
Speaker:it gets drama,
Speaker:food. And in order to perform,
Speaker:you have to be able to put feelings aside and do
Speaker:what you need to be done in order to be successful
Speaker:in the floor.
Speaker:And a lot of times we have to help out the
Speaker:same people we're competing against.
Speaker:And it's so confusing and it's so hard sometimes because you
Speaker:can easily come right off of the ice and move to
Speaker:your teammate or something and then you're all there helping each
Speaker:other move on your sleds and to the truck and doing
Speaker:all this work when you don't even feel like seeing them
Speaker:let alone helping us.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:So how do you do it?
Speaker:Just continually try and keep your feelings in check or what
Speaker:do you do?
Speaker:Well, I had to understand that people aren't going to hold
Speaker:you in the same regard as you hold other people in
Speaker:and yourself.
Speaker:And so you just have to be open to understanding different
Speaker:people and personalities and act accordingly.
Speaker:I think that I kept my goal and my mission in
Speaker:mind, which was to make the Olympic games and when the
Speaker:Olympic medal And you did.
Speaker:Yeah. And having that in mind helped me to maneuver through
Speaker:a lot of the unnecessary BS that would have distracted me
Speaker:throughout the process.
Speaker:I had to learn that this girl would act like my
Speaker:friend one day,
Speaker:but then secretly be trying to take my position and just
Speaker:name that.
Speaker:Even though I have a good relationship with one,
Speaker:it may not mean that I raised with them the entire
Speaker:time and I had to learn how to be a good
Speaker:teammate to everyone despite how I was feeling.
Speaker:So it was a lot of internal things I had to
Speaker:work on to be become a successful Bob better because it's
Speaker:not just about results and statistics,
Speaker:it's so much more involved and you're around these people for
Speaker:weeks and months at a time in other countries and small
Speaker:city and so you have to learn to respect each other's
Speaker:space and to still get what you need to do done.
Speaker:Very interesting.
Speaker:I had no idea there was this whole other level behind
Speaker:bobsled. That's crazy.
Speaker:I think for our listeners too,
Speaker:you can kind of take this back and relate it to
Speaker:a work environment.
Speaker:If you have an assistant who's coming in and maybe they
Speaker:have been challenging,
Speaker:they're in a bad mood for some reason.
Speaker:You still have to keep your eye on the goal And
Speaker:not let it affect your peace.
Speaker:One of the things that really helped me get through a
Speaker:lot of that stuff was to understand that sometimes how a
Speaker:person is acting as a reflection on them and where they're
Speaker:at in their life and not a reflection on you.
Speaker:And so if you stop taking so much to heart and
Speaker:everything someone does or says You think it's about you.
Speaker:Yeah, I think that can mess you up.
Speaker:Especially with me going into a sport like that,
Speaker:I didn't realize people were doing stuff because they were maybe
Speaker:intimidated by me or you know,
Speaker:we're essentially all working for a different position.
Speaker:I'm thinking people don't like me that like obvious other factors
Speaker:and then once you realize it's a competition or it's a
Speaker:business, you got the personal feelings aside and you get what
Speaker:you need to get done for your own goals.
Speaker:If you remember what you have except for yourself and why
Speaker:you're there,
Speaker:it helps to mute out all the other noise.
Speaker:Excellent. I love that we brought this up.
Speaker:That's really going to be helpful to everybody,
Speaker:so I really appreciate that.
Speaker:Let's move on and talk about what's happening with you today.
Speaker:Tell us what you're thinking.
Speaker:What's in your life today?
Speaker:Right now I'm kind of on this open path to discovering
Speaker:what's next for myself.
Speaker:I've been blessed to be in two Olympic games.
Speaker:I don't think that chapter of my life is officially over
Speaker:with because I have had Olympic goal set on my sites
Speaker:since day one of being an athlete,
Speaker:let alone being in the sport of boxing.
Speaker:I know it's possible for us and I know we have
Speaker:the talent and it's right there,
Speaker:so like the fact that I know I can really go
Speaker:for gold makes me want to return,
Speaker:but I've also had a knee surgery and I've just been
Speaker:trying to lay low and figure it out the next move.
Speaker:I think that my mindset is so different this time after
Speaker:your Olympic game versus 2014 after the Olympic games.
Speaker:Because I felt like I had to have a plan,
Speaker:I had to have something said,
Speaker:I had to have my next idea down.
Speaker:Because that's the first thing that after you win an Olympic
Speaker:medal is like what's next and you gotta feel like you
Speaker:have all these things.
Speaker:And I rested into something that,
Speaker:I guess I wasn't ready for it because I ended up
Speaker:getting injured and having knee surgery.
Speaker:So I think that right now I'm just kind of trusting
Speaker:the process and seeing where my journey takes me,
Speaker:trying to approach this phase of my life with the same
Speaker:confidence I had when I approached,
Speaker:but in the Olympic and going for that.
Speaker:And so I think that it's gonna pull off for me
Speaker:and I'm gonna make myself,
Speaker:You also have maturity now you have experience with two Olympics,
Speaker:right? So you're walking in as a different and more experienced
Speaker:person really.
Speaker:And you have four years,
Speaker:you have four years now.
Speaker:Yeah. And the things I want to explore it and relate
Speaker:to my old shirts and some of my create some new
Speaker:shift for me fell.
Speaker:It's all about I think at this point in my life,
Speaker:the mentality asset and not scaring myself and stressing myself into
Speaker:thinking that I don't have it or I don't have anything
Speaker:next like I just have to trust us and trust the
Speaker:process and this culture with the same confidence I did when
Speaker:it came to wanting to win in the Olympic medal and
Speaker:Bob said when I had no background in this sport.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:I love when you say it that way because so many
Speaker:people are afraid of the unknown and for you just to
Speaker:say, I'm going to trust the process,
Speaker:I'm going to go with what feels right.
Speaker:I don't have to decide everything right now yet and just
Speaker:see what comes of it And doors for yourself.
Speaker:Even when I look back,
Speaker:just from talking to you and looking back when my coach
Speaker:told me about Bob flick,
Speaker:I had a set in my head that I was going
Speaker:to be an Olympian and track and field and you couldn't
Speaker:tell me otherwise.
Speaker:And so little did I know that he planted a little
Speaker:seed in me that kind of stuck around and I ended
Speaker:up accomplishing my goals just a different way.
Speaker:And sometimes I think you have to be open to the
Speaker:various ways your goal comes to fruition.
Speaker:Like a lot of times we think you have to do
Speaker:this, this and this in order to get your goal.
Speaker:But if you focus more on your goal and what you
Speaker:want for yourself,
Speaker:and it shows up in various ways and manifests in so
Speaker:many different ways.
Speaker:Like I never would've thought I would have ended up becoming
Speaker:an Olympic medalist in bobsleigh,
Speaker:let alone a two time Olympian and Bob.
Speaker:But, And think of what would have happened if you would
Speaker:have been so rigid and say,
Speaker:no, it's track and field.
Speaker:I'm not doing bobsled.
Speaker:You might've missed it entirely.
Speaker:Hi or if I had that feeling where I wanted something
Speaker:more, even though I was having success at EFT force performance
Speaker:and even though I had great success training my clients and
Speaker:helping them,
Speaker:but I still had that feeling on the inside.
Speaker:I think your intuition kind of guides you a little more
Speaker:than you give it credit for sometimes.
Speaker:Yeah. Just listening to it and trusting that it's meant for
Speaker:it to work out in the end and you're meant to
Speaker:be happy and confident and that could fear it as much.
Speaker:I think everyone's just in a fearful state a lot of
Speaker:the times and even when it comes to talking to other
Speaker:people and getting feedback and help,
Speaker:sometimes you got to realize people project their own fear onto
Speaker:you so they may have their own fear,
Speaker:insecurity and you have to make a decision of what you
Speaker:want for yourself regardless of what anyone tells you what anyone
Speaker:else says and do it because a lot of times you
Speaker:won't even accomplish something that you know you want for yourself
Speaker:because other people are scared for you.
Speaker:Yeah, it's true.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:it's just like how love is,
Speaker:success is the same way,
Speaker:not a zero sum game.
Speaker:Just because you're successful doesn't mean another person can't be successful.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:when you win an Olympic medal,
Speaker:no one else can win that medal in that game in
Speaker:that year like you,
Speaker:but it doesn't mean they can't be successful in some way.
Speaker:So if they lose to you in one race,
Speaker:that doesn't mean they might not win in another race.
Speaker:And honestly,
Speaker:I'm going into 2014 Olympic games,
Speaker:one in win gold.
Speaker:I didn't go into just one into one.
Speaker:An Olympic medal.
Speaker:No. Cause you want to shoot for the top.
Speaker:Yeah. And I won Brian.
Speaker:Then you think I'm complaining about bronze or not winning and
Speaker:go? No,
Speaker:you shoot for the stars.
Speaker:Well I don't think you missed very bad.
Speaker:I've held your Olympic medal and I think it's pretty super
Speaker:awesome. Asia.
Speaker:So real quickly,
Speaker:are you doing anything else right now?
Speaker:Are you testing out some other things right now since you've
Speaker:got four years or what's up with you?
Speaker:Yeah, I can turn it around with a few things.
Speaker:Yeah, it's possible that the games,
Speaker:I've worked with some really amazing sponsors and so I've been
Speaker:getting into a lot more modeling things and I did some
Speaker:broadcasting, so I'm going to play around with those a little
Speaker:bit. You might see me on your television screen.
Speaker:Oh, you got to tell us if you are.
Speaker:I will for sure.
Speaker:So hopefully some of those things will be coming into place
Speaker:so, and it's all been so fun and so I'm enjoying
Speaker:every minute of it.
Speaker:Wonderful. Well,
Speaker:I love that you are testing out new things and just
Speaker:keeping all of your options open.
Speaker:I think that's a great example for us.
Speaker:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker:Let's close this out now,
Speaker:but as we do,
Speaker:I want to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:maybe there's even some golden there.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:We'll see.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside your box?
Speaker:Asia. Ooh,
Speaker:this is fun.
Speaker:I've never really like kind of done this and a lot
Speaker:of times like you set goals for yourself and you set
Speaker:these things for yourself,
Speaker:but then you're scared to say it kind of out loud.
Speaker:Well, this is like the law of attraction.
Speaker:You're putting it out into the universe so it can come
Speaker:back to you.
Speaker:Olympic gold is definitely in my box.
Speaker:I know it's there.
Speaker:I feel it every day.
Speaker:I felt this since I've been an athlete,
Speaker:let alone done.
Speaker:Bob says so I know Olympic gold is in that box
Speaker:and I know,
Speaker:I think a successful career for me is in that box
Speaker:for acting or broadcasting.
Speaker:I've been doing a lot of stuff on television and it's
Speaker:been working out for me and I'm getting a lot of
Speaker:good feedback from that as well as getting my foundation off
Speaker:the ground with my mom.
Speaker:I know that's intuition.
Speaker:We've been working on that for awhile.
Speaker:I don't know anything about that.
Speaker:I've been working with my mom creating the Asia foundation.
Speaker:My name is spelled Aja,
Speaker:so it stands for aspiring journeys ahead and if we want
Speaker:it to be a mentoring program to work with Chicago public
Speaker:school students and basically kind of introduce them to for us
Speaker:and it can help create different types of journeys and lead
Speaker:to different types of paths.
Speaker:Like I said,
Speaker:I started off in track and field.
Speaker:It ended up leading to me and an Olympic medal in
Speaker:a totally different sport.
Speaker:But I have friends who did football and basketball in college
Speaker:and one's a lawyer and one's a doctor so it can
Speaker:lead to different things.
Speaker:And so I think it's all about just opening your eyes
Speaker:up to the journey and see where it takes you and
Speaker:sports are one of those avenues that I think can really
Speaker:help kids And starting off young like that too.
Speaker:Yeah, Getting involved young.
Speaker:Well you are certainly a great role model to start a
Speaker:foundation. I think that's fabulous.
Speaker:If any of our listeners want to know more about this
Speaker:foundation, where would you direct them?
Speaker:I can direct them to my Facebook page.
Speaker:It's Asia Evans,
Speaker:facebook.com Asia Evans,
Speaker:and then if they want to learn more they can shoot
Speaker:me an email and we can send them some more information
Speaker:or direct message on there.
Speaker:We're still working out all the details and it's kind of
Speaker:just been something I little project so hopefully we'll get a
Speaker:project off the ground and our first even herself later this
Speaker:year. Super well give biz listeners,
Speaker:you know there's a show notes page that's going to be
Speaker:attached to this.
Speaker:I will give you all of Asia's social media sites as
Speaker:well as any updates,
Speaker:Asia and the foundation as they come by.
Speaker:We'll just update the show notes page too,
Speaker:so cause people might actually listen to this a year from
Speaker:now, two years from now,
Speaker:maybe four years from now when you're on your way to
Speaker:gold again.
Speaker:So we can always keep this alive and update it accordingly.
Speaker:Because I love the Asia foundation,
Speaker:I didn't know anything about it.
Speaker:On behalf of me and my listeners,
Speaker:I want to wish you all the luck and I'm so
Speaker:excited to watch your journey continue and thank you so much
Speaker:for sharing.
Speaker:Really, really solid advice in an interesting different way,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:from an athlete perspective,
Speaker:but so much of it that we can relate to our
Speaker:businesses. So thank you so much Asia.
Speaker:Thank you for having me.
Speaker:It's been a blast talking to you.
Speaker:There you have it.
Speaker:Gift biz listeners and I really liked this episode because I
Speaker:have some intuition of my own.
Speaker:I feel like four years from now I'm going to be
Speaker:reminding all of you about this episode and that's going to
Speaker:be because Asia Evans wins a gold medal at the next
Speaker:winter Olympics.
Speaker:That will be so exciting.
Speaker:And something else that's exciting that I referenced in the very
Speaker:beginning of this podcast is that I have a special announcement
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