107: Doug Lewis | How this Olympic Skier Sets Effective Goals

The Hard Way w/ Joe De Sena

Spartan Races

Fitness, Alternative Health, Health & Fitness, 792700

4.7 • 870 Ratings

🗓️ 6 September 2016

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Former Olympic downhill skier Doug Lewis decided at 8 he’d compete on the Wold Cup level. Success came very early, but during his first World Cup race at age 17 he broke his back. Failure, he now says, is critical to building confidence. He went on to win World Cup Bronze and represent the US in 3 Olympic games. The problem with peaking early is the looming question of what to do next - and will anyone care. Lewis chose to pass on the lessons he learned by creating a youth development program called Eliteam. He also chose to stayed close to ski racing and is a Skiing analyst for NBC for World Cup and Olympic games. Lewis is content with his life, but continues every day to look for new adventures and inspire kids to set lofty goals then dig deep to achieve them.

Lessons:
1. Good coaches set goals challenging enough to spur growth but not so overwhelming they create despair.
2. Students should set goals they may never reach, they will provide direction and inspiration.
3. Confidence requires failure.
4. In any meaningful life path, ebbs and flows are inevitable.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, the team filled in for me this week. I'm in Korea. I wish I was in North Korea checking things out and maybe straightening that place out, but actually I'm in South Korea. I'm climbing the stairs right now.
0:10.0	The team filled in for me and they interviewed Doug Lewis.
0:14.4	Doug Lewis is awesome.
0:16.0	TV commentator, World Cup skier, guy's an absolute animal.
0:20.0	Actually he showed up at one of our first races ever.
0:23.4	You know, something about skiing and grit and resilience
0:28.3	is correlated.
0:29.1	And I think it's because 99% of the folks that ski lose. Think about it. There's only one winner in a ski race.
0:36.8	My point is this interview is going to be awesome. Enjoy it. I'll be back next week.
0:42.4	See you soon.
0:43.0	Today we're going to be talking about
0:48.0	Doug Lewis, Olympic Downhill skier.
0:51.0	Doug is a great Olympian, represented America, a great person and he actually
0:56.8	has a real history in Pittsfield that we'll get into later as well but uh...
0:59.7	Let's listen to his story.
1:01.3	USA.
1:02.3	Here we are at Amy Lodge in Pittsfield, Vermont. I'm here with Doug Lewis. Doug, you're no stranger to this area.
1:08.0	So let's jump back. I mean, clearly your parents knew what they were doing because you went a long way you ended up on the World Cup representing
1:13.3	America on the world stage I'd love to hear a bit about that yeah yeah so I had
1:17.8	that bug that I love skiing love being on the mountain and I was a competitive
1:22.1	crazy freak.
1:24.8	And so then I had it in my mind and I was lucky enough to go to the Green Mountain
	...

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