Show Notes

• Growing up in a family of swimmers
• Progression from recreation to Olympic-level competitiveness
• Training for the Olympics
• Motivation – the internal drive to do what nobody else wanted to do
• How it felt to be at the Olympics
• What it takes to succeed
• Focus on the little things, and what will happen when you do
• The mundanity of excellence
• The importance of support
• Finding meaning and purpose after competitive swimming is over

Connect with Peter Vanderkaay

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/pvanderkaay
Twitter – https://twitter.com/petervanderkaay

Summary

Peter Vanderkaay is a four-time Olympic Medalist, representing the United States in three consecutive Olympics. He discusses the sacrifices needed to compete at that level, what it’s like to be at the Olympics, and the support required to achieve success – in swimming, and in life.

Full Transcript

Brian:

Welcome to another episode of Life Excellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers, and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field so you can learn their tools, techniques, and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success.

Hi everyone, my guest today is Pete Vanderkaay. Peter is a former competitive swimmer and a four time Olympic medalist representing the United States in three consecutive Olympics. In 2004 in Athens, Peter won the gold medal in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Four years later in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, Peter won the gold medal again in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, also setting a world record in that event and he also took home an individual bronze medal in the 200-meter freestyle. In his third Olympic appearance in London in 2012, he capped off his Olympic career with a bronze medal in the 400-meter freestyle. Peter was also a co-captain of the USA men’s Olympic swim team at that London Olympics. In addition to his impressive Olympic performances, Peter’s college swimming career at the University of Michigan was also quite remarkable and he remains one of the most accomplished student athletes in Michigan history. Yeah, Go Blue! He’s a five time NCAA champion, 10 time Big Ten champion, held the Big Ten record in two events, was All-American each of his four years. And as a six time University of Michigan school record holder, he was the 2003 Big Ten Freshmen of the Year and was named Big Ten Swimmer of the Year in 2004, 2005, in 2006. In 2006, his senior year at Michigan, Peter was named University of Michigan Male Athlete of the Year and Big Ten Conference Male Athlete of the Year. Peter has set several American records, both individually and on relay teams. And as I mentioned earlier, held the world record in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Thanks for being with us today, Pete.

Peter:

Thanks for having me, Brian.

Brian:

Pete, you and I have known each other for several years and you know I’ve always been super impressed by your accomplishments. I have to tell you though, I had no idea-I knew you were amazing-but I had no idea how much you actually accomplished until I went through your resume, especially at Michigan. So congratulations on an absolutely amazing career in the pool.

Peter:

Thank you so much. I look back at it now and it’s like, I can’t believe I used to do that stuff.

Brian:

It’s pretty remarkable. Let’s start from the beginning. So you grew up in Rochester, Michigan, just down the street from the University of Michigan. How did you get started in swimming?

Peter:

So I got started…my parents were swimmers competitively, not to the level that my brothers and I achieved later. I have three brothers, one older and two younger. And my parents wanted us to try sports. My older brother wanted to get into swimming, and being two years younger, I kind of just wanted to do whatever he was doing. So we joined a summer club team up in Rochester, and to be on that team, you had to at least swim one length of the pool. And so I barely accomplished that without stopping and made the team. And then I had some fun that summer, I met friends and all my friends were a little bit faster than I was and just better technique-I could tell they were just better than me. And they had been swimming year round on the club team in Rochester, the Oakland Live Y’ers. And so my brother and I joined that and started training year round through the winter, swimming was just a summer sport before that. So got into it and just started full time training with the Oakland Live Y’ers. And I did that for a number of years all the way to the end of high school. 

Brian:

It certainly wasn’t clear from the beginning of your career that you were going to reach the level that you achieved. Talk about that progression, how that occurred and at what point did it occur to you that actually swimming in the Olympics was a possibility?

Peter:

So when I first started, I had no ambition to get to that level. It was all about the social aspect of the sport, being a part of that community and just having fun. For me, I looked at the Olympics as, that looks like something that’s way out of my league, something that’s so hard and stressful. That’s not what I liked about the sport. I liked being around my friends and being in the pool. I always had a pretty good natural-what we call “feel”, for the water. So I was comfortable in the water and I had decent technique, but I didn’t have any ambition to do anything in the sport. And I was like that for a number of years. [It] wasn’t until probably mid to late junior high that I was kind of forced to make the decision of, do I want to try and make a go at being better at this sport or do I just want to continue to enjoy the social part? And as you get to that level, for most kids in that age group, you have to commit to it and it becomes less about the social aspect and having fun and more about training and being competitive and trying to bring out the best in yourself. So for me, I started to realize that if I wanted to continue this and have fun with it, I need to try and challenge myself a little bit. And at that time I also got a new coach that took over the club team that I was on. And he really motivated me to challenge myself and be better. He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself. And I thought, well, if you see something, maybe I do have some talent, maybe I can go somewhere. So it wasn’t until I was probably about 16 that I thought going to the Olympics would be really cool, what a fantastic experience. And I remember watching the Olympics in 2000, that was when I was 16, and thinking that looks like so much fun. I wonder if I could ever have that opportunity.

Brian:

As you know, this show is called Life Excellence. And my hope is that listeners and viewers learn tools, techniques, and strategies from people like you who have achieved success, and then take those tools and strategies and apply them to their own life. I don’t think most people-and me included-have a true appreciation for what it takes to swim at the Olympic level. Help us to understand what those 10 or 12 years-or maybe more-of training looked like for you.

Peter:

So I’d say, that that sort of training probably started for me about age 14, kind of end of eighth grade, early freshman year of high school, where you start to do doubles, meaning swim in the morning and the afternoon-twice a day. And for me, that schedule was swim before school for about an hour and a half, go to school, come back, do homework, whatever time the afternoon practice was, and then swim two hours at night, plus a little bit of what we call dry land training-so strength training outside of the pool-it might’ve been a half hour to an hour of that per day. And that was 10 practices a week. So we’d do doubles Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and then a Saturday morning practice-equaling 10 because we just had a single on Wednesday and then we’d take Sunday off and do that again. And that was, I’d say, a regular week. We probably did that 46 weeks out of the year. And then I did that from probably age 14 to 28, until I was done. And it’s just a lot of training in this sport. It’s not like you’re getting any advantage from walking around, like you would if you were a runner. Using those muscle groups, you have to be in the pool to do it. So it just takes a lot of time.

Brian:

That’s a tremendous amount of effort. And so basically it’s more like 14 years rather than 10 or 12. And as a 14 year old, I imagine that you had friends who weren’t doing doubles. Talk about the sacrifices that you had to make. Obviously that happened the entire time that you were swimming at that level, the entire 14 years, but it was probably a different kind of sacrifice as a 14, 15, 16 year old than it was at at 28, when that was really your career. What was that like?

Peter:

Yeah, it was a huge sacrifice. And there were friends on the team that said at that point, this isn’t for me, I don’t want to have this commitment in my life at that level, but we did have a core group of guys on the team and a lot of them were friends. We all kind of went through that process together. It certainly makes it a lot easier to do it as part of a team and part of a group than me deciding on my own that I’m going to go do that by myself. I don’t think I could have done it. It can be a lonely sport because you’re under water for most of it. So if other people aren’t doing it with you, it’s even worse. It can be just tragically lonely if you’re training by yourself. We had that comradery and it became the thing, like everybody’s going to do this together, we’re all going to show up, we’re going to be there. And it made us tighter and closer as a team.

Brian:

Let’s talk a little bit about motivation because obviously people in the world, whether they’re Olympic swimmers or professional athletes or whatever their profession is, a lot of times people know what they need to do to be successful. They know what they need to do to compete or to work or achieve at a high level, but they don’t do it. And motivation is obviously a huge part of that. Talk about what that looked like for you, the role that motivation played, because even, I guess, especially, in something like swimming, where you have to be in the pool, you have to do the work, the work looks very similar day in, day out, hours and hours and miles and miles of swimming. How do you stay motivated to do that every day for 14 years?

Peter:

I think for me, it was somewhat of an internal drive. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, but I also had…I think I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder too, because when I started that high level training, I was kind of a late bloomer-undersized-and I was a hard worker, but I wasn’t seeing the results. And I knew it was because I wasn’t growing as fast as everybody. I knew that would come along at some point, but it was very frustrating to out-train people and get beat by them in the competition just because they were bigger and stronger. And so that really fueled me to stay and work harder, knowing that water would find its level down the road and I’d, hopefully, slingshot past a lot of these people that didn’t train as hard and maybe didn’t want it as bad as I did. So I really got competitive about that. And I took on the challenge of trying to train harder than everybody. And for me, that was doing the events that nobody else wanted to do. Nobody wanted to swim the mile, they all wanted to swim the 50. And I thought, well, I’ll do the event nobody wants to do because that’s the only one that I can be good at and have a chance to win anything. And I think that really provided a base for my training. And then once I started to grow and get stronger, I did just kind of go by all those folks that either didn’t have the motivation or didn’t want it as bad as me.

Brian:

Let’s talk about actually being at the Olympics. And you mentioned it earlier, when you were growing up, being sort of enamored by the Olympics. I’m probably dating myself a little bit, but our family-and my wife has a similar story-when the Olympics came around every four years, we would sort of camp out and our life would revolve for two weeks around the Olympics. And our parents would sit on the couch and the kids would all be on the floor on blankets and we’d get popcorn and it was a really big deal. And I’m still awestruck by the Olympics. It’s a very unique event and it’s awe inspiring. Can you share what it’s like to be at the Olympics? So being in the Olympic village, surrounded by the greatest athletes in the world, what’s that environment like? And talk about the pressure too, of being in that situation of what, for me, seems like a pretty intimidating setting.

Peter:

It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s a very surreal experience. And my family was like yours, too, for two weeks it dominated the TV. It was on the whole time. Everybody loved watching it and you just never knew how it was going to unfold. The drama was something we all enjoyed and, to some sense, being involved, it’s like, it’s one of the only things in the world that captures everybody’s attention in the same way. But being there is…it’s hard. It’s almost like everything’s like glowing a little bit. People know everybody’s watching, but it has this feeling of positivity too. Everybody’s just so thankful and happy to be there. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s just an honor. Everybody takes it extremely seriously, especially in swimming because it’s the pinnacle of the sport, and there’s nowhere else you can compete at a higher level. Everybody knows what’s on the table and what’s at stake. And they want to represent as best as they can.

Brian:

How does the Olympics compare to the World Championships? So you have the World Championships, and I know you’ve competed, you’ve won. I didn’t go into to those accolades otherwise I would have gone on for about half of our show talking about all your accomplishments. But how does that compare? Because that gives you that same feeling on some level, but it’s not the same, is it?

Peter:

From a competition standpoint, it’s just as competitive. You have just as many fast wins world records, and it means as much within the sport, but to the greater community, nobody’s really paying attention that much. So it doesn’t feel like all the eyeballs are watching. The Olympics is just the World Championships times 10 in terms of what it means and how it’s judged in the sport. I mean, I think everybody that has won a World Championship medal and maybe not Olympic medal, would easily trade those experiences because the Olympics just has so much more clout. But from a competitive standpoint, Worlds, sometimes it’s even even more competitive from a swimming perspective, and how fast people go there.

Brian:

Yeah, that makes sense. So maybe just one more Olympic question, because I’m fascinated by it. You had the opportunity to stand on the Olympic podium four times. Talk about the feeling you had as the national anthem was being played and what did it mean to you knowing that you were representing the United States of America?

Peter:

I was just super proud. Again, it’s very surreal. I hardly remember it, to be honest. You’re just kind of beaming with pride and standing there, and then it’s over. Like I said, I hardly remember it. It’s the best feeling in the world because everything you put in has paid off and that’s kind of the moment where you’re honored for it and like that, it’s gone. I can’t put it into words how special that moment is, it’s the top.

Brian:

And you have those medals and I’ve seen them. I was tempted to put them on, but I feel like those need to be earned so I didn’t. But hopefully when you look at those, when you pull those out, and I know you keep them in a bag, you’re not the kind of guy who puts things up in the foyer so when people walk in the front door, they see them. But hopefully when you pull those out from time to time-and I know you do-you have occasions to speak and maybe just friends come over and of course they would want to see them, but hopefully it brings back all those feelings for you.

Peter:

It does, it’s kind of just the memento that, like you said, brings back those memories. I think there are two different types of people that win those medals. There’s the type that puts them in a safety deposit box and never wants to touch them, never wants to get them dirty, very protective of them. And then there’s the folks that want to share them. And when I won that first gold, I thought, I think I’d rather be on the side that wants to share this and let people see it and hold it and feel it and drop it. And it has all these nicks and frays on the band, but I think that’s kind of the cool part-is sharing that experience-because I look at it as so many of those people supported me through the journey, the least I can do is let them be a part of it.

Brian:

That’s awesome. I love talking to Olympic and professional athletes, because as you know, there are so many parallels between success in sports and success in life. What are the traits, qualities that are essential in order to rise to the level of success that you have in the pool?

Peter:

I think it’s a lot of basic stuff. And I think what’s important for listeners to understand is sports gives you the framework to be successful in a lot of those different things you might do in your life and you don’t have to go to the Olympics to learn that. You can learn that through club sports, high school sports, intermural sports. And it’s all about simple stuff like responsibility, accountability, effort, being a team player, understanding what your role is and what you need to focus on…goal setting, which when I talk to young people, is one of the most important things that you can learn through sports that’s applicable to anything else in your life. It doesn’t have to be swimming, doesn’t have to be the Olympic level, but you can learn that framework through competition in sports and winning and losing. We’re not going to win everything we do in our lives. I certainly never won every single race and learning how to lose is arguably more important than winning every time. So there are so many little simple things that I think everybody knows, but it’s really reinforced through sports.

Brian:

Let’s talk about one of the things that you mentioned-goal setting. I know goal setting is big for you. You know goal setting is big for me. I am a huge goal setter. I’m a huge proponent of goal setting. We don’t have time to talk about all of that from my standpoint, but talk about the role that goal setting has played for you throughout your career, not just in the pool, but even outside of the pool.

Peter:

It was huge. And it forced me to be honest with myself about the direction that I was going. And I would set daily goals, things I wanted to do in each individual workout that I may or may not accomplish. And then there were longer-term goals, something I might want to do throughout the course of a year, season, competitions down the road. And I think if you kind of interweave all those daily goals, you’re charting a course towards that long-term goal. What I found was if you’re constantly thinking about the long-term goal and focusing on that, you’re really missing what you need to do on a daily basis to get there. A good example-and a coach that I had would always talk about this-focus on the little things you need to do every day to get better, the rest will take care of itself. So if I wanted to win an Olympic gold medal, I needed to work on my streamline every day in practice. So that’s what I would focus on. As soon as I would kind of accomplish that goal and be comfortable with where I was at, I’d move on to something else and just constantly refining those little things. And those little things are what make you focus every day-I think it’s really important-and understanding that missing a goal is not the end of the world. You just need to reset it, reevaluate, be honest with yourself about things you can do better and go back and attack.

Brian:

That’s a nice segue way into my next question. So I did a little bit of research, not a lot of research, in preparation for this interview, but I came across an article written by a guy named Daniel Chambliss. And Dr. Chambliss is a sociology professor at Hamilton College in New York. And he published an article, this was published in Sociological Theory, and the title is “The Mundanity of Excellence:  An Ethnographic Report on Stratification and Olympic Swimmers”. I had to look up ethnographic because I didn’t know what that means. I don’t know if you know what that means, but the definition of this is the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures. And so this article was published in 1989, but in the early eighties, Dr. Chambliss attended a series of national and international swim events and observed elite swimmers. And it’s a fascinating article. I just want to talk about, basically, one of his three conclusions. It goes along with the way that you were describing goal setting and so I’d like to get your thoughts on it. What he writes is “excellence is mundane.” That’s the ultimate position that he’s taken. And he says, “excellence is accomplished through the doing of actions, ordinary in themselves, performed consistently and carefully, habitualized, compounded together, added up over time. While these actions are qualitatively different from those of performers at other levels”, so he’s talking about, obviously, elite athletes doing this as opposed to other swimmers, he says, “these differences are neither unmanageable, nor taken one step at a time, terribly difficult.”

Peter:

I totally agree with him. And I think the feeling of training every day and training at a high level is exactly what he describes. You’re slowly chipping away at these little things to get a little bit better. Because when you get to the top, all these little things that make a big difference are very mundane. And there’s generally not a big leap as you accomplish those little things.

Brian:

A lot of success is really in our daily actions, isn’t it. And you said it, you talked about the contrast between what you do on a daily basis-so what am I going to do this morning-not even today, because you separate this morning from the afternoon workout. What am I going to do this morning to be successful rather than what do I need to do to get to the next Olympics, right?

Peter:

Right. And I remember a coach saying, how you do one thing is how you do everything. That’s great. There was a guy who said, start your day by making your bed every day. And that gets you on the right track to do the next thing right and it kind of cascades from there.

Brian:

Let’s move into the notion of support structures that you’ve had in your life. I know those are important to you. You come from a family of four boys-you mentioned earlier-you have an older brother, two younger brothers. I have four children too. I think you know that, and there are, I’m guessing, a lot of parents listening to this show. I know your family, and especially your parents, were always very supportive of you. How did that support manifest itself? And why was that important as you started competing in swimming?

Peter:

It was so important, and I have a lot more perspective on that now being older and looking back. I don’t have any kids yet, but it makes me think about how I would handle that situation. And I look at other friends, colleagues, teammates, and how their parents handled it either to their benefit or, my opinion, detriment. But from my parents-the support was just allowing me to have the opportunity to make my own decisions in the sport. Sports cost money, my parents paid that so I could do it with my brothers. They didn’t put any pressure on me-it wasn’t like Olympics or bust. I think they realized that what I was doing was providing that framework we talked about earlier for me to learn things that I would have to be successful in other parts of my life. Getting to the Olympics was great, but they were always just there and happy to see me doing what I wanted to do. And whether it was, get dead last in the race or win it, they were smiling either way. And I could tell it was genuine, they just wanted me to go out there and try my best. And that gave them so much joy to see-that made everything worth it for them. And it made it a lot easier for me because I didn’t feel like they had expectations that they needed me to do something or it wouldn’t be considered successful. I mean, I can say, I’ve seen parents that try to live vicariously through their kid in their sporting career. And it ends up burning the kids out, which is unfortunate because they might’ve had a passion for it but they just feel like there’s so much pressure to do well and they can’t carry that weight. 

Brian:

It sounds like you grew up in a great family, and I know that because I know how you are. Pete, you’ve spoken very highly of coaches, moving into another area of support that I know is very important to you. And you’ve talked about guys like Jon Urbanchek and Mike Bottom, who of course, are among the most successful coaches in the history of swimming. Talk about the impact that coaches have had on your career and share why you believe it’s important for everyone to have a coach.

Peter:

So I’ve just been so blessed with the coaches I’ve had in my life. And some of it was chance, like the coach that took over my club team when I was 12-Jeff Cooper, was really like a father figure to me because I I’d see him 10 times a week for two hours. I mean, this guy was just constantly in my life. But he would preach those things: goal setting, hard work, accountability, and was really passionate about instilling that in young people-and challenging them at that young age where it would really sink in, and for my brothers and I, create that foundation of-this is how you do things, this is how you do things right, you can’t expect good things to happen to you if you don’t work for them.

Then I went to Michigan. Jon Urbanchek was of a similar mindset in a different personality, but the same thing:  hard work creates opportunity and good things happen to people who work hard and do things the right way. And that’s kind of the framework of how his program ran. And he was a very personable, funny guy. He kept it light all the time. He was one of those coaches that you just wanted to swim and do well for because he cared so much about you as an athlete and a person. Swimming was great, but he cared about people developing outside the pool. And a lot of the coaches I had, Mike Bottom, Greg Troy down in Florida, same thing. They really care about their swimmers holistically. Not everybody has that coach in their community that, I feel like, can do that a hundred percent. I feel like I had that. It’s just so fortunate.

Brian:

I thought I read that Jeff Cooper was able to join you-was it in Beijing when he was able to see you compete in the Olympics? That had to have been incredibly rewarding to sort of come full circle and have him be a part of that experience and I’m sure it was for him as well.

Peter:

Yes, it was actually London. It’s funny because I was training in Florida at the time. And when you’re not on the college team but you’re training within a college program or setting, you’re on a club team and my coach down there-who was actually the men’s Olympic coach that year, Greg Troy-said, I think you should compete under your club team’s name because I feel strongly that the people from your past have a lot to do with you being here and they should get some credit for that. So-the Olympic trials in 2012-I swam for the Oakland Y’ers even though I was training in Florida. Jeff Cooper was my coach of record and then ended up going to the games with me just as a spectator with my family. And it really did come full circle. He’s got kids and wasn’t able to make the other ones. It was just a lot of fun to kind of end my career that way.

Brian:

Oh, that’s awesome, very cool. I didn’t realize that part of the story, but that’s awesome, I’m sure, for him to have been a part of it. And it’s a testament of the kind of person you are. And the coach who suggested that, I think it seems like that community is a great community, and the impact it’s had on you has certainly been great.

Peter:

I think the humility of coaches that allows something like that kind of thinking of others before themselves, it comes back, that’s kind of an element of karma to me. Good things happen to people who think of other people.

Brian:

Yeah, that’s cool. Pete as you know, again, we talked about goal setting a little bit, you know I’m working on this book Big Dog Goals, and I think the last chapter of the book is going to be titled, “There Is No Finish Line”, and it’s an exploration into what you do after you’ve been to the Olympics. And it not just about Olympic athletes who have achieved their goals and realize that, hey, London is the last Olympics. This also holds true with astronauts who have been to the moon or are coming back from six months at the International Space Station. It also applies to various other areas of life. So it could be an executive who’s been climbing the corporate ladder and finally achieves that executive position that she’s worked so hard to achieve, and then gets to that point in her life.

Talk about what it felt like for you after London, and maybe not just your own experience, but also what you’ve seen with other swimmers or other Olympic athletes in terms of how to navigate through that phenomenon of, what do you do after you’ve won the gold medal at the Olympics? I mean, you drop the mic and walk away, but there’s more to it.

Peter:

It’s tough to transition. And I wasn’t a hundred percent sure I wanted to be done after 2012, I was going to wait and see and make a decision afterwards because I didn’t want to put that expectation on myself. Going from being the best in the world at something, to not knowing what you want to do or where your life’s going to go, is a big challenge that a lot of people in sports such as swimming, struggle with. I mean, you see it with guys that play in the professional leagues and when they retire, they feel like they don’t have a purpose, or they don’t have anything that’s next to challenge them. And they kind of flounder and try and figure it out. Some never do. And it can be very sad and tragic. Others find ways to get into something else and continue that dream.

Something that stuck out to me, when I was still training, that made a lot of sense-and I was very fortunate throughout the years to see a lot of motivational speakers and we’d have people that would come into our training camps and talk, and just kind of give us different ideas. And there was one guy who said, you know, if your goal is just to get through something and get to the end, you’re really only going to get to that point and then feel exhausted afterward. It’s like the guy who says, I just got to get through this day of work, as soon as five o’clock hits, then I’m done. Sure enough, they get to five o’clock and they get home and they lay down on the couch and they don’t do anything and they’re exhausted, but that’s really a mental trap, right? If you think-I just got to get to 5:00 PM-then that’s where it all ends. If you think, or push, that expectation out and set that goal bigger, you’ll get the 5:00 PM and then you’ll go home and accomplish other things. So it’s pushing that bar out. And I don’t know if…I’m not explaining it as well as he did, but you don’t want to have that finish line. I think it goes to the potential last chapter of your book. As soon as you set that end, then you’re done. So it’s, to me, it’s always pushing that end out so that you’re constantly working towards something and feeling like you have something to accomplish because you’ll always have the energy for it if you set that goal.

Brian:

It seems like after achieving something that big, after achieving that level of success, that some people could fall into the trap, and here I’ll give you an example. It’s a little bit of a stereotype, but the high school quarterback. So the high school quarterback is usually-he’s like a three sport athlete. And he walks around with-and again, this is a stereotype-but he walks around with his varsity jacket, with his letter and his medals attached to it and he’s a big deal on campus. Maybe you saw that at Michigan with whoever the quarterback was at the time, maybe you were treated like that at Michigan. But it seems like when you go back to the 20th high school reunion, and you find out what that quarterback is doing, that was the pinnacle of his career-his identity was attached to that. So that’s being the high school quarterback, and I think everybody’s heard that stereotype or experienced it, or some variation of that. The Olympics though, winning the gold medal in the Olympics, or again, Neil Armstrong coming back from the moon. How do you top that? So it seems like it would be easy to fall into the trap, mentally, of that was sort of the biggest point in my life. I know some people in their careers, when they retire they struggle with this mentally. So it’s really the same concept. I had this identity, I achieved a level of success in my job, and now I’ve retired and I don’t have that. So have you noticed that happening? And not with yourself necessarily, but maybe with other athletes? And you talked a little bit about how to overcome that, but if you have additional thoughts around that, I’d love for you to share it.

Peter:

You said something that really struck me, was having your identity tied to whatever it is, that accomplishment, that activity that you do. And I think that there’s some danger in doing that. And I know the stereotype, and you know people that still talk about things like it’s the most important thing in their life and it happened 20, 30, 40 years ago. And not saying that that’s not something you should never talk about again, but that that shouldn’t be the pinnacle of anyone’s life. I mean, I think you have to think about what’s next, set new goals, and constantly be looking down the road and not in the rear view mirror. I just think that’s so important. And for me, when I was done swimming, I really just tried to follow that because I knew I would have success down the road. Would it be equivalent to winning an Olympic gold medal? Maybe, maybe not, but there’s so much more to experience and when I was done, I was 28 years old. I want to enjoy the rest of my life. And hopefully for 50 plus years, I’ll get the same satisfaction out of what’s next. So I think balance in life is really important and not tying your identity to one thing.

Brian:

That’s really well said. You’re a very grounded person. And I knew that about you already, obviously, and so I really appreciate that. I imagine when you were 14 years old, and even before you had the opportunity to-and we’ve talked about this a little bit-with coaches, with your parents, but people who poured into you at that age. At the stage that you’re in now, again, I know you speak, you participate in swim camps, you have the opportunity to speak with young people and not just kids, sometimes big kids. What life lessons do you share with them about your time in the pool?

Peter:

I think one of the things I really try to instill in young people is, I wasn’t born this way, no, I wasn’t born and somebody said, this is what you’re going to do. It’s something I earned. And I started out just like them, I was not the best when I started, I didn’t have the ambition. But it’s how you treat situations and how you set goals and work and, to some degree, how bad do you want it that determines how much success you have. And so I always tell kids, you could be the next me, you never know where life’s going to go. And if you want something bad enough and you’re willing to work hard enough for it, good things will happen to you. I really believe that. Never count yourself out. And I was lucky enough to have people that believed in me enough to convince me that I should believe that.

Brian:

That’s awesome. Peter, thank you so much for being on the show today. I always learn and grow from our time together. I really appreciate the opportunity to be with you today.

Peter:

My pleasure. It was fun. Thanks for having me, Brian.

Brian:

Thanks for listening to Life Excellence. If you enjoyed Peter today and you’d like to help support the show, please share it with others, post about it on social media, and leave a rating and review. You can learn more about me at BrianBartes.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter and receive a free copy of my book, Coach Yourself For Success. Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.

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