I clear my throat and set the tone for what to expect on the wild ride that is the Get Over Yourself podcast.

First off, please don’t be offended by the sassy title. The goal of the show is – together – to get over ourselves, pursue our passions, compete with intensity without attaching self-esteem to the results, and enjoy the ordinary moments of daily life. Since as author and future podcast guest Dan Millman says, “there are no ordinary moments.” 

My most profound insight from his career as a pro triathlete is that “results happen naturally when motivation is pure.” An overly intense, tightly wound, Type AAA approach to goal setting usually leads to struggling, suffering, and burnout.

Even when you succeed with this disposition, you may feel stressed and unsatisfied; witness the misbehaviors and train wreck lives of many athletes and entertainers. Instead, strive to get over yourself, go with the flow, and overcome fears and anxieties with a resolve to pursue your passions and highest expression of your talents no matter what.  

Unfortunately, we are not doing a great job of this in today’s age of consumerism, digital overstimulation, and rampant social media posturing. Get Over Yourself will help you sift through the nonsense, relax, have fun, and live a more meaningful and well-adjusted life.

Get Over Yourself will entertain and inspire you with a mix of long-form interviews with unique and super-interesting guests, peak performance presentations to get you focused on optimal diet, exercise, sleep and recovery practices, and  brief  “Breather” shows for some inspiration and maybe a little freestyle wrapping.

I encourage you to be part of the show by communicating any and all feedback and suggestions to getoveryourselfpodcast@gmail.com

Show Quotes:

Results happen naturally when your motivation is pure.

Overly competitiveness often leads to illness and injury and burnout.

When motivation is impure and egos get in the way, that’s when you make mistakes: training too hard, entering too many races. 

The best thing about being a professional athlete is you get to learn the lessons of life and success and failure in a very intense and dramatic manner.

Listen:

SHOW TRANSCRIPTION:

Welcome to the Get Over Yourself Podcast. This is Brad Kearns.

“Results happen naturally when your motivation is pure. And when I was able to get over myself and kind of go with the flow as an athlete, take what my body gave me each day and nothing more, that’s when I enjoyed myself the most and that’s when I reached my highest point potential.”

Hi, it’s Brad Kearns. Welcome to Get Over Yourself. What’s up with that title? It’s a little spicy, attention grabbing. So, I want to make sure that you know where I’m coming from. And I’m coming from the heart friends. The goal of this show is together to get over ourselves. And unfortunately, today, in the age of hyper connectivity and consumerism and social media overload, I think we’re not doing a very good job here. Today, it’s all about calling attention to oneself and getting more likes, and getting more followers. And in the process, as we’re surrounded by these influences every single day, it’s easy to feel like you’re getting left behind. You’re not enough. You have FOMO – Fear of Missing Out.

Then you can get discouraged and have the opposite of the intended effect of all this motivation and influence with people trying to help you lead a healthier life and sell you products and services accordingly.

So, taking a few steps back, I had to learn this lesson the hard way. And of course, still working on it every single day, getting over myself. I was a professional triathlete for nine years, and what a wonderful career. Something I always dreamed about doing ever since I was a little kid. And the best thing about being a professional athlete is that you get to learn the lessons of life and success and failure in a very intense and dramatic manner.

I was so focused and driven and had that type triple A approach, trying to compete on the Pro Circuit and get better. And you get really wrapped up into what’s already a very self-absorbing environment, right? Athletes have to be focused and kind of putting themselves first and everything’s calibrated toward how much energy you can put out into your workouts and how well you can recover.

I noticed that when I got into those patterns of misplaced competitive intensity, and just feeling so serious and important and driven and wanting so badly to win the race and get all the external accolades and the money and the coverage in the magazines – that was when I struggled and suffered the most. And this overly intense, overly competitive approach often lead to illness, injury and burnout.

So, the most important lesson I learned as an athlete and something that carries over into every single thing I do in my life every day, all the goals that I have; whether it’s as a parent or in my career or just trying to be a good person, is that results happen naturally when your motivation is pure. And by pure, I mean that you have a pure love of the activity, the challenge, the process that you’re engaged in, your career path, your role as a parent, anything that you’re doing. Cultivating that pure motivation and releasing your attachment of self-esteem to the outcome of what you’re doing.

When you’re able to get there, when you’re able to get to that wonderful center of power and that evolved approach, that’s when you can be your most effective as a competitor. You can compete with great passion and confidence and intensity, but then carry on with your life with a big smile whether you win or lose.

When I was able to get over myself and kind of go with the flow as an athlete, take what my body gave me each day and nothing more, never trying to force the process of fitness to happen in an unnatural manner, or force the process of success to happen in an unnatural manner; that’s when I enjoyed myself the most, and that’s when I reach my highest potential. And boy, when my motivation was impure, when my ego got in the way, that’s when I made mistakes and trained too hard and went to too many races trying to earn a little bit of extra money, but depart from my long-term goals of peaking for the big events at the end of the season.

Again, these examples can apply to anybody doing anything. When you’re a parent and you’re too wrapped up in what your kid’s doing and trying to make them this perfect little junior success person and navigate the road to make sure they get on the proper soccer team and get the best fourth grade teacher, and then get their college applications in line and make sure they get good grades on the tests, and you’re forcing this operation in the name of, “Oh, I just want my kid to be happy.” But generally, you’ve attached yourself esteem to the results of what your kid’s doing.

Same within the workplace, where we see often a lot of impure influences. People calling attention to themselves, trying to take credit for things, maybe sliding you in the process. And it’s very difficult to keep that evolved mindset to focus on pursuing the highest expression of your talents and being a true team player at all times. But that’s when you will get ahead the most because people will see you differently and see that you’re not part of the game. That you’re trying at least to get over yourself, and then will recalibrate and you’ll contribute to that positive evolved workplace.

These are the patterns that we see over and over and over. A lot of times people nodding their head saying, “Yeah, yeah, I get you.” Release your attachment of self-esteem to the results. Oh, but it’s a lot more difficult to actually embody this.

So, that’s what I’m working on every single day, and that’s going to be the theme of the show. We’re going to have some great guests on all topics relating to weight loss, fitness breakthroughs, optimal sleep and recovery, overcoming failure and self-limiting beliefs, understanding what it means to be a true partner in a relationship and operate as a team at all times rather than adversaries. All kinds of fun stuff. How to stay focused and refreshed in the age of this hyper connectivity and distraction and short attention span, and caving into temptation and instant gratification in sacrifice of long-term peace and happiness and calmness.

Now, I want you to know we’re in this journey together. I encourage you to participate, and I would love to hear from you with comments, questions, feedback, constructive or otherwise. Just email getoveryourselfpodcast@gmail.com. That’s a long one, but you write it once and we’re connected forever.

Thank you so much for giving me a chance and pushing the play button. So, let’s have some fun, every time.