Ep. 233 INTERVIEW – 4 time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez

Four Time Olympian Ruben Gonzalez shares the 2 Types of Courage Needed to Succeed. He shares his amazing story that will empower you with what it takes to win.

Voice over:

Get ready for an unfair advantage over your competition. This is The Sales Edge podcast. Where globally recognized sales expert and trainer Joe Pici helps you sharpen your skills for booking more appointments and closing more deals. And now here’s your host Joe Pici.

Joe Pici (JP):

Hey Team. I got a question for you. Why would anybody in his right mind want to jump on a sled and hurl himself down into an icy Mountain over, 80 miles an hour where you gonna find out. Today, you’re going to find Find out from Ruben Gonzales. A four-time Olympian that success is. Success is success. And how the success he gained plays into business. But first, I want to tell you that this is the sales, a podcast podcast number 233 and I am your host, Joe Pici. And our sponsor is Pici and Pici inc. which is a speaking coaching training consulting company. Right now, we’re focusing on helping our clients recapture lost. New attract and retain new clients and our web-based membership platform called. Sell more virtually.com every Thursday night for pennies on the dollar. I’m out there doing a master class or coaching and so we have e courses in. Hey, come on August, we have a mega ecourse coming but forget that let’s move forward and let’s look and I want to, just give a brief bio because this guy is a Who’s Who and I’ve been a fan of his, he didn’t know that but I’ve watched his videos for years at the age of 21. Ruben Gonzales took up the sport of luge and started training for the Olympics, four years, and a few broken bones. Later, Rubin made the Olympic team. A dream come true, but he stopped there Ruben kept training at the age of 47. He was racing against 20 year olds at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, Rubens. First person ever to compete in for Winter Olympics, and four different decades. He’s a best-selling author will tell you about that but welcome Rueben.

Ruben Gonzalez (RG):

Hey Joe, so good to be here. I’m so glad to finally connected. We spoke on the phone a few years ago. And yeah, boy, I still rememer your energy has not diminished one bit.

(JP):

No, it hasn’t and and but I want to talk about you. I know about me and here’s what I’d like to start. Because the people who are listening today, these are success minded people but they want to get to know you. But can you tell me how a guy from Houston where it’s about a hundred forty degrees, wound up in the sport of luge.

(RG):

I’m an unlikely Olympian. I’m not a great athlete. I can’t jump high on. I can’t run fast. I’m not particularily strong. I’m like your neighbor. Okay, a lot of heart, but but, but no body. Kind of like Rudy has ever seen that movie. So what I do when I was 10, I caught the dream. I saw the Olympics and I thought that’s what I want to do. But I wasn’t even getting picked PE or for kickball and sometimes it’s not possible. I didn’t believe it was possible, so I didn’t do anything for 11 years. I didn’t do anything. I was very frustrated. I read everything about the Olympics, and all the history, all the stories, everything, but I didn’t do anything, but I did read biographies and personal development books while I was growing up for me. Inside out, I didn’t know. Then I was 21. I watching the 1984, Sarajevo Winter, Olympics on TV. I see Scott Hamilton win the gold medal and Scott Hamilton – about five foot one was to weigh. 215, pounds soaking wet, he gave me hope. I thought it’s that little guy can win. I can at least play. I going be in the next ones, no matter what. It’s a done deal. The only thing I had going for me was my nickname was Bulldog because I was very tenacious, very persevering. I didn’t come up with that, this other kid told me your nickname needs to be bulldog. So, so I was very tenacious. Never never quit. So, I went to the library. I got a book about the Olympics. I’m looking at the list of Summer Sports, took me five minutes to realise it. No way. You got to be Superman to do any of these things. Yeah, down, I have to church and I started looking at the Winter List and the analytical side of my brain kicked in. I thought, you know, I’m about to put together a plan for the next four years. It probably a good idea to base the play on my strengths, my stride naturalism. I just perseverance. Um, hold on. So I need to find a sport, a lot of broken bones but it’d be a lot of quitters and you know, I can use perseverance as a superpower, right? It’s Outlast, everybody, ride the atrition rate all the way to the top. It’s so now I’m looking for tough. Sports skijump, bobsled Luke. I lived to Houston, Texas, and I’ve never skied before, sir. Forget, he jumped over his suicide bobsled, you know, we’re going to find three other nuts in Houston won. Do that, right? As so then let’s Deluge. I’d never seen it on TV. If I had, I probably wouldn’t have done it but I saw, I don’t think you’re gonna luge. I thought that looks pretty tough. That’s one for me. I wrote Sports Illustrated a letter saying, you know the track was, my dad always said, you know, just find somebody that knows or has done what you want to do. And so I wrote him a letter and I asked him where to go learn how to luge and they said, Lake Placid New York, they sent me a picture, we’re gonna luge, I’ll put it on my wall and my Room waiting for my bed. Still have it in my office and I’ll call Lake Placid athlete here in Houston. Want to learn how to luge. Will you teach me and the guy started laughing? He said how old are used to 21 and he really started laughing. He said no way man. I mean we start them off in their eight nine. Ten years old by now, you know, 10 years experience with, no way I do hanging upside down auction. I hang up that phone Soul over. As I just kept mum phone and he eventually, you know, he came around to old I’ve got a beginner class and and I was able to, you know, get in there, I warn you. My answers are stories, okay?

(JP):

That’s okay because this this gonna let me segway into the second question because I think it’s going to be part of that. Okay, let me get what I was watching. One of your videos. There was a word that kept coming up, but here’s what I’d like you to do, okay? You talked about on One stage, the one quality all successful people have, can you build a bridge from the luge to people out there building a business or selling and what is that one word?

(RG):

Well, well, my dad, when I was a kid, he knew that I needed, you know, I was 10 years old, and I’m depressed because I no one’s picking me to do Sports and he said, why don’t you read some biographies if you’ll study, the lives of great people, you’ll figure out what works and what doesn’t work in life. Because success leaves Clues as I read them and I realize. Now these are just like like the adventure stories that I love, right, right. As only a true life adventures and it was always the same story. I mean, it was a dream struggle victory. Always right? And so, the one thing that I saw, they all had in common was perseverance. Yeah, there’s a bunch of hard heads. Okay, I tell people your mom used to call you a hard head when you’re a little kid, you got what it takes. You see a big off a little bit. So you have that. You have to stay in the game long enough to learn the skills and then use the skills to reach the goal of a dream. But if you keep hopping around from one thing to the other, you never give yourself and give yourself a chance. So that’s what I went after. After reading those books. I started reading. I was about 10 at 12 years old. I made a decision to change my life. I said to myself personally, are she’s the key? It’s not a guarantee. Okay. No guarantees in life. Really should still in the game. Still got a shot. If perseverance is the key from today on, Ruben doesn’t, quit anything. I just made a decision, successive decision and I just took that decision and it’s sure we will.

(JP):

You know, now I know why you and I get along because I think you and I have the same personality and we have the same Focus, which is won’t you stay will just get up one more time and we’ll just stay working one more hour and everybody else will go to bed. You know. And if so I’m gonna go down to another question here. I wrote down a bunch of questions and and it You wrote a book, called the courage to succeed, which I’m going to, I want you to promote this later. What are the two types of Courage You need to develop to succeed in life.

(RG):

Okay, I’ll keep it simple. Okay, if you guys ever bring in a speaker and they try to complicate things and make it sound like, you have to be up at three phds to be successful, then take that guy out and don’t listen to him, okay? Because success is simple. Okay, it’s not easy as it, you know, it take everything you got what you got, what it takes for us, but it’s it’s not easy but it’s simple as so, I believe that no matter what your goal is, you need two types of Courage. You got to get the courage to Get started. I’m and everything’s hard in the Beginning because you don’t have any skills. So you have to have the courage to endure. courage to not quit. Like I said before, stay in the game long enough right to learn the skills. Now the courage you get started that comes from believing, it’s possible, right? If you believe something is possible hey I’ll give it a shot, the courage you not quit. That comes from you desire, all right? If you want something badly Enough Ain’t Nothing Gonna Make You quit as so. I always had the desire but I didn’t have a belief when I saw Scott Hamilton now, I had the beliefs to go with that desire. And I was waiting The action as so you have to fuel that desire. I mean, the Olympic coaches Olympic Training Center, they’re always stealing our desire and they’re always telling them. You can do it, baby. You can do it. You can do it, right? Belief belief, belief. And sometimes you have to ride on your, on your coaches or your mentors, belief, long enough till your kicks in, but that’s okay. You know, that’s just being human.

(JP):

Yeah, well, I’m going to shift gears. I’m going to ask you a question. What does it feel Like to go 90 miles an hour on a little thing. I mean what does that really feel Like

(RG):

It’s a cafeteria tray basically it’s brutal. Okay it’s brutal I Don’t recommend it. I the luge track is about 3/4 of a mile long. It’s got 15 or 16 curves. 50 stories up the mount 60 stories. I’m your the way up there. Yeah, me sign on that, man. A little bitty sled, just a piece of Fiberglass in a couple of key. And speed of 80, 90 miles an hour and you got no brakes. Okay, music sounds normal so far, you’re up at the start. You got a couple of this to go luge one takes about a minute. So two minutes that’s long. Enough to take one last, run your mind. Vividly imagine exactly what you’ll do, the whole way down to close your eyes. Okay, curve one, easy easy curve two relax, remember to breathe Pro 3, you know, make it happen and it’s always perfect when you’re visualizing those. We I go medal at the hotel. We also visualize We call them Escape Route. What am I going to do? If I’m a little late curve, what am I going to fix that? What am I to do? If I’m if I’m home early? Right? We’re going to do. I hit the left wall, the right one. We do it for every session of the curb, so we know that, but we can handle anything that track could throw at us. It’s kind of like, you know, but like practicing your objection, right? It’s the same thing and then you should confidence because because contingency planning, but before the actual run, you’ve got that you want to, you know, dial in the perfect run. So coaches, your Pan. The backings aside got a computer spikes on your fingertips, will use to build up speed the sun zhi testimony. I scare anyone, nice and tight, and take a couple deep breaths, to get yourself centered. This is like, you know, make a cold calls by the same thing, right? Visor goes down with the handles and it’s one, two, three, pull the sorry. Again, you paddle seriously the build up speed and you lay down and in no time, we doing 50, 60 70 80 miles an hour. It’s a speed increases. So does the fear and the World’s doing this? Will you focus on about us? But about 30 feet in front of you, just flying down the track and people oranges on TV that we go. We do do is hold on and pray but no, no, we hold on, we pray and steer a lot for making hundreds of tiny Corrections. The whole way down. Okay, just like a pilot that’s flying from New York to LA. He’s off course, now you can do time because the wind whatever. And so he’s constantly Two on the frame when you do the same thing when you’re riding a bike. Right? No different. See it. Luge is a lot, like life. Okay. You making corrections as so and you might be pulling six G’s from the curves, okay? And you see the court, you’re one of those. See the exit down there and across the Finish Line. How You Gonna stab? You got no brakes. You force yourself to set up on the sled and as soon as you do, let me get thrown back with his a mile an hour when you grip the front desk, Said he dig your heels at hi Fred Flintstone and you slow down, slow down, slow down, stop, take 200 yards. Come to a stop. Step off the sled, and out of five seconds after you step off the sled. The adrenaline rush into the fear hits like a sledgehammer. I’m never doing that again. That’s it quick. I’m going back to soccer you don’t die in. Soccer, is a rate of quick as this year’s a strong.

Fortunately, there’s walkie-talkie side, the Finish Line, This is coaches up and down the track and my coach. He’s a, he’s a four-time Olympian. Three-time world champion from from Austria. It’s got the best of the best six foot six you know. Sounds like it looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger tough-as-nails. I mean, his saber has buy a helmet as bigger cars attack, listen, tough guy. And I think of that long be talking about a breath but I’m scared. Hey coach, this is reuben. Reuben not come on, that news. Nothing good at sports or not someone. He was Reuben. You were so little ko6 and really, you must Point your toes more and Ruben, which I had for the back and and Reuben. Relax, relax be one with the sled, as I’d like one with a sweat and you start with your five years old, for Pete’s sake. Yeah, it’s nice.

(JP):

I’m going to stop right there and I’m going to ask you a question about that you are big on coaches and mentors. And the people who are listening are also big on coaches and mentors. Tell me from your perspective, the value of a coach and a mentor.

(RG):

Everybody’s always looking for the for a shortcut, okay? And I think the only shortcut out there is finding somebody finding and following somebody, it’s already done what you want to do. That’ll save you years and people always say the same thing to me. I say Reuben, but I don’t want to pose is so busy, you know. They don’t want to take time to be exiled. Look, you know, how you always hear me. Yeah. He’s successful, but he’s not happy or she successful, but he’s he’s empty inside you looking for something Else? What because success is the silver metal, okay? The gold medal is significant, I need your help some other people become successful. I had made a different that bills that all your heart. And so if you are actually willing to do what the mentors, not tell you do, alright, then approached them because they’re looking for you too, and they’ll help you get that silver medal. You help them get the goal to good deal all the way around its I don’t do anything, I don’t do anything with without finding. I felt I wanted to run with the bulls in Pamplona Spain. Always want to do that. And finally, I decided, okay, we’ll do it right. I saw I read three books about Pamplona and then I called one of the guys and running for about ten years and I have some questions, right? Hey, I need some coaching, you know, what do I see in? What do I do? And he gave me a handful of little tips that I never would have thought of. And if I save my life, yeah, well at least wasn’t ones with his watch out for the drunk. Okay. There’s 3,000 people down there and 90% of them are drunk and they’re all liquid courage.

They’re worse than they’re unpredictable. And not like the Bulls, they’ll grab you and use you as a feel, you seal it by touch me, man make space so that you can apologize later. So little thinks that, you know, save you time and could save your life, improve your life?

(JP):

And we, we actually did training and coached a company that took people to Running of the Bulls, Okay, and so we work with them on selling that trip and so during the training we did, we got to see those videos and I know exactly what you mean. The people who get run over, get run over because some idiot push them out of the way. So oh yeah. Hey, yeah. Hey,

(RG):

You know how you wear the white and the red sash, right? He said don’t double knot. Okay, you’re sad. If you catch a horned, you’ll be hitting your head on the cobblestones the whole Way down. So worst way to see Spain, you know, slip knot on the end of a result of that. I mean just a bunch of little tips like that that you’d never think of, but they’re potentially life saving.

(JP):

Before we move over, I want to ask you one question. I want you, you you are sitting or you’re in a room full of business, owners, sales professionals, and you want to help them walk out of that room, not excited. Okay, but equipped. What’s the one thing that you’re going to take from your experiences and transition into them, they can take one thing out of that room. What is it?

(RG):

My story, hopefully is going to take care of the excitement and the inspiration, right? Hopefully, he’ll walk out thinking, that guy can go to the Olympics. We can do anything and now they’re ready to start calling her chicken list, right? Those people who were going to call once they were successful, I’ll miss you need to call them to be successful. And so, that’ll take care of that. Get them to face your fears, right?

And I would say that, as far as it take away, I do a thing. After I do my keynote where we turn it into a half-day United, teach them mental toughness, right? And Olympian, mental thinking, I’m mindsets. And so just, like in the luge illusions of performance, right up a tennis shot is a performance of bowling shot a sales calls a performance, right? When I walk up on, say so you have to do something. What do you say to yourself? Right before. Or what do you think before? What do you say during? What do you think After? And how do you and how you put it all together and how do you take advantage of your coach So you can get the most out of us. That’s what I teach them over an hour and a half and that can that can really transform things, it’s not rocket science. So it’s not a no one’s been taught about how to how to train your mind.

(JP):

Ruben. We’re going to move you over to our next interview, which will be posted on a sell more virtually website. But please tell this Audience. If you want to book Ruben or if you want to buy his book or whatever how did he get to you Ruben?

(RG):

Go to a Reubenbooks.com, if that’s what you want to do Rubentips.com? You can sign up for every two weeks to get out, some success articles from me and and you can also from there. You can check out videos and all kinds of that. That’s just what those are one page of my big website.

(JP):

Great Reuben. We’re going to be moving over, but folks just before we do, take out your phone and go to the text. Box and put the word sales Edge. One word, send that to five, five, six, seven, eight, it’ll take you to Pici and Pici link. Take that, it’ll take hit. Go to a splash page on that Splash cave. There’s a five ecourse video series. I recapture lost Revenue through virtual selling. There’s a book stairs links to our podcast, but right now we want you to really take a look at sell more virtually.com. Consider being a member. Thank you Ruben. And hey, if this has been a good value to you, can you like Like it share it. Can you write a comment? Hey call Reuben, thanks for listening.

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