Final Bell: The Power of Perseverance and Resolve | Ep 8

Arjun: 00:00:00

It was very difficult for me not to get emotional at that moment because the sense of finality that I'll never do this again, I'll never take the stairs up to the ring, I'll never bow one last time, I'll never give my coach a hug again, and I'll never go out there and do this for two minutes ever. So do you know the three ingredients that make up a comeback? There's three species, special components. Do you know what they are?

The first is your who. You've got to have someone that you're doing this for, right? Or someone's memory.

And you're going to need that at times because when things get dark and hard, that's what you're going to have to tap into to remind yourself as to why you're going through all this hell. For me, it was my mom, it was my dear friend Ronnie and his memory and then also my future self. Next is your why.

For me, it was to set the record straight. I knew that I was the greatest at what I do and that when I'm at my best, there's nobody in the world that can beat me.

And this was my opportunity to completely confirm that narrative. Lastly is the resolve, because with any comeback along that journey, there's going to be some bumps in the road or mini setbacks.

And in my case, I had plenty of them. Exhaustion, mental toll, not being able to make it to certain trainings because I still had to work and pay bills.

And then also an injury where I had a hairline fracture on my foot just three weeks before having to fly off to Rome. And a doctor told me, you're going to need to wear a boot and stay off this for six weeks.

To which I answered, that is completely unacceptable and I'm not wearing any such device. So I had my foot wrapped by my chiropractor friend who works with a lot of athletes, and it was more than good enough. So training went fantastic.

I pushed myself and got into even better shape. And again, I didn't leave any stone unturned. I pulled out all the stops for this one. I did a lot of mindset training.

The one physical component that I added to my repertoire this time around was Pilates. And for me, it was a huge difference maker because having much better core strength improved all the other aspects of my martial arts training.

So along the way in the journey of training, there were two songs that were really stuck in my head that were really big at that time. One was by my favorite band, the Killers. It was called Shot at the Knife.

And the song really resonated with me because what I was training for, what I was putting in all this time and effort for, was for one shot at the night, one shot at the moment, one chance to be great, because that's all you get. There's a sense of finality and zero sum that applies to these types of events and tournaments and life.

The other one, which might sound a little bit cheesy, was A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay. One, I loved the rhythm of it, so I would actually train to it on the treadmill whenever I did my warmups each and every day.

But I also knew that in the sky and in these stars are things that we can't necessarily see or feel, but we know that they're up there, whether it's an unborn child or in my case, it was my dear friend that I knew was watching over me the entire time. And these songs are important, and the reason I bring them up is because they kept coming up in so many different places.

That was absolutely magical along my journey. The day I was leaving for Rome, I remember having a layover in Detroit.

And in Detroit blaring, which music never blares in airports, but somehow they just turned it on, maybe for ambience or whatever. It was the killer song, the Shot at the Night. And I'm like, okay, this is kind of weird. The universe is shouting yet again at me.

The moment I landed in Rome at the airport, a Sky Full of Stars was playing.

And it played in almost every cafe that I was at for the first few days I was there because I got there early to beat the jet lag, and also because I had one promise to keep. I took a photograph that I had of Ronnie and I when we actually were traveling to Rome via train.

And the first place we went to after dropping off our bags at a hostel was the Coliseum.

So I had this photograph of us, and I wanted to take it directly to the Coliseum and keep this promise and take this photograph and sit where he and I sat 12 years prior to that.

And it was just part of all this energy and momentum that was starting to create this aura of invincibility that I truly felt and also knew was going to guide me through these next few days as the tournament was about to start.

Now, unlike previous tournaments where I did not compete until day three or day four, on this particular tournament in Austria, I was set to compete on day one. Now, the difference in this particular World Championships compared to other ones was that I was also co head coach for the team.

So I had coaching responsibilities, but I had my own weight of my own mission that I was trying to secure and finish. So the morning of which I remember very clearly, I got up that morning, I did my normal routine of meditating for a second.

I did a prayer out on the balcony, facing out towards the ocean there in Ostia and said to myself that again, the same mantra.

And if you've heard some of the previous podcasts, I talked about why you need a mantra, a personal mantra, something you tell yourself to prime yourself when you are getting ready to meet the moment. So I told myself, just like I have all those other times, that everything that has happened to me in my life has prepared me for this moment.

I live for these moments. I love these moments. I am ready. And I was without a doubt ready. There was not one ounce of a doubt I had or anything that I had any regrets over.

I knew we did everything, we gave everything, the story was going to be complete. Now we just needed to see how the final scoreboard read in the morning.

It was very heavy with coaching responsibilities and to be honest with you, it was a nice way to get my mind off of what was this big moment that I was approaching that I'd been building up to for two straight years. Finally, about an hour before I was set to take center ring, I went off into the competitor warm up area.

My CO head coach told me, you're off the clock now, buddy, go take care of yourself. Which I really appreciate him for. So I went down there, I started going through all my warmups, the same routine that I'd done.

I stuck to this very strict regimen and done it the exact same for basically the last four or five years because again, if it's not broke, don't fix it. But I'm also a creature of habit. And then my coach at that time who was going to represent me in the ring that day, her name is Katherine Ju.

She's a four time world champion herself. So I felt like I was in pretty good hands. It was her voice I heard as my eyes were closed and she said, it's time.

So my eyes opened, I got dressed and I walked down the long tunnel all the way to the arena. Now, you've heard me also in previous podcasts talk about the tunnel.

And as I'm walking through this tunnel, I'm seeing guys coming back, some crying because they've just left a ring and their hopes and dreams have been crushed. Some are injured, they're being helped off, others are crying, tears of joy because they've realized their dreams.

And I'm wondering to myself in a moment there, what's my walk back gonna look like? Because when I walk back through this tunnel, it's going to be very different because it's going to be over. It's all finished. There's nothing left.

I said my mantra one last time to myself, and I knew that it was time. I walked into the ring. I went through my first, second, and third rounds without a hitch.

And this set me up for a finals match with the national champion and someone who was an incredible athlete from Germany, who was also a good friend of mine. Now, he wanted to have some small talk with me because he was trying to get into my head just before we took the stage for our finals match.

But I was having none of it because I was really locked in. Now, one of my favorite athletes is Andre Agassi.

And in his book, he talked about the moment which turned out to be his final tournament, which was the US Open.

And I can't exactly remember the year, but there was this force or this white light that he would see when he would look up at the stands as he would come out onto the court every time.

And this was something that I really related to because he felt this white light was pulling him and pushing him, and it was the finish line because he knew his career was ending. But I saw a very, very big white light above the ring right before I entered the finals.

And I just stopped there for a second, and I looked at it, and it was. I felt this kind of like. Like pushing and pulling. I want it to end. I don't want it to end. I'm ready for it to end. I'm not ready for it to end.

Same words Andre Agassi used before one of his final matches. It was very difficult for me not to get emotional at that moment, because the sense of finality that I'll never do this again.

I'll never take the stairs up to the ring, I'll never bow one last time, I'll never give my coach a hug again, and I'll never go out there and do this for two minutes ever.

But at the same time, the job's not done, and I don't have time to be emotional, and I have to compartmentalize that and put it away, which is exactly what I did. I got into the ring, I went through the match, and it ended about as perfectly as it possibly could have. Just short.

It was a pretty overwhelming vote of 4 to 1 in my favor over the National German champ. It was an incredible moment. I immediately broke out into tears as my hand was raised.

But the first thing that I did as soon as my hand was let go of by the center referee was I pointed at the sky and I thanked my friend for staying with me. I pointed and I told him repeatedly, you stayed with me. We did it, buddy. You stayed with me the whole time. Thank you.

And I walked over to the crowd that was all from the section of usa. I blew kisses towards him, I bowed one last time and I exited.

I walked down the tunnel with my coach, smiling, crying tears of joy, knowing that I got to write my story. I got to finish it in a dream way that athletes can only hope that they get, which was they call their final shot and they go out on top.

But job wasn't done because I was still coach for about 100 athletes that were going to need me. So there wasn't time to really celebrate in that moment. I had to quickly get back into my coach's uniform.

But I had a little bit extra pep in my step because I was feeling pretty good. And the next several days went by pretty amazingly. And again, it was a dream ending, something I'll never forget. I feel really, really fortunate.

I was really grateful to all the people that were around me that believed in me, my mother especially, who never for one second doubted me. She knew I'd be able to finish this.

The last thing I'll tell you, which is just this pure magic, was that during the closing ceremonies of the World Championships, they had these theatrical dancers. It was beautiful. They were all like really, really good looking and in phenomenal shape. So it was kind of like a spectacle to see.

But the theme music that they were dancing to during the whole thing was the Gladiator soundtrack.

So again, I don't know if you could script more magic around a trip or around a set of circumstances or a journey that someone is going to go through when they're trying to call their final shot. But I feel really, really fortunate that the universe was kind of with me on all of this.

And I remember sitting in the stands watching those closing ceremonies and I pointed up at him again and I just felt like he was there with me, like maybe he had something to do with it. And whether he did or didn't, it was still a dream and an ending I'll never forget.

So did I really need to break this out into three parts to explain to you my Rocky 3 story or how you could actually draw something from it? And the answer is yes, because at the end of the day, guys, no story, no journey is perfect.

And the main takeaways that I want to leave you with and have them etched into your heart and your mind as you go forward and overcome things in your life is number one, that losses are always lessons. They don't define you unless you allow them to.

You can always script and write a new ending, but you have to take action on it and you have to have belief in yourself that this is not quite the end. Next, new levels, new devils.

As you go through new journeys and try and put yourself back together again, you are going to be met with new challenges, new sets of circumstances, new things to overcome. And the last, and this is something to take to heart, is that you question nothing. Be obedient to everything.

Whatever everything is for you, whether it's the universe calling to you, whether it is the Lord actually speaking to you, whether it's something of some type of power that you feel is just pulling you in a direction, be obedient to it and completely surrender to that journey. Put one foot in front of the other and continue going forward. Because everything will be taught you and revealed to you in the end and along the way.

Because, like I said, sometimes the universe talks to us and there's other times at which it shouts to us. And if you don't shout back, if you don't listen to it and take action upon it, it's an absolute sin and you'll let your future self down.

I wasn't going to allow that to happen to me. I hope you never let that happen to you.

And if there was ever a story or something that I share with you guys on a personal level that embodies everything that LFG energy is it. Is this. It's. Let's go. I'm gonna write my own ending, I'm gonna call my own shot, and let's do this.

So I hope you guys join me in whatever challenge there is in your life, and I'm supporting you along the whole way. Just get it done. Let's go.