Mindset and Sacrifice with Gold Olympic Medalist Nick Baumgartner | Episode 40

*This Transcript is Autogenerated*

Nick Baumgartner  0:00  
So I can go and I can win a gold medal. And, and then I come home, and I still gotta pour concrete. Like I have to work to earn this. And I think that keeps me grounded having a real job in the summertime to pay for this. And that's my favorite part is people don't understand that side of things.

Kristi Wagner  0:24  
Welcome to the other three years, a show for anyone who has an Olympic sized dream they want to turn into a reality. Hi, and welcome to this week's episode of the other three years this week on the podcast of the Olympic gold medalist Nick Baumgartner. And Nick is a professional snowboarder for team USA and a four time Olympian. He won the gold medal in the inaugural mix snowboard cross event at the 2022 Olympics and was the oldest member of Team USA is contingent at 40 years old. Nick also just released a new book, it's called gold from iron that shares his life story so far, because he is still competing at age 42. And hoping to compete in the 2026 Olympics, I had a great time chatting with Nick, I feel like I learned a lot. And it was just a really fun conversation. He shared a lot of awesome insights. And I think everyone will learn a lot from him. But first, I wanted to share an update on what's currently going on in my training. So I'm in Colorado Springs stall at the Olympic Training Center. Here we are in our second of three weeks here. So definitely feeling the training and the altitude and everything. But the really cold part of the time has passed. So the weather is getting better, which means that we can get out for some hikes and runs and just like spend some time outside which it was a lot of very, very cold days and a lot of some serious indoor time. So it's really nice that now we can go outside and that it's not like negative five degrees. Also, a crazy thing that happened is that a pipe burst in the gym that we train in. And water was like truly gushing from the ceiling, from like the lights and everything. And it was crazy, like the whole thing was flooded, it was insane. And it was also crazy how quickly they were able to fix all of it like they just lickety split, fixed everything. We couldn't get in for like 12 hours. And then after that we could get in again. And I think some of the equipment did get kind of damaged. But like luckily were all of our herbs were was on like a raised platform in the basketball gym that we're in. So none of that got messed up and all of the weightlifting equipment and everything was fine. And I also think most of the like, I think a few things in like PT room got a little bit damaged. But for the most part, like there's a lot of equipment in there. And I think everything was pretty much fine. So that was really lucky. But yeah, we've been doing some other, like testing, they're doing this functional movement screening, which I haven't had mine yet, but a lot of my teammates have have had theirs. And I'm super excited to do that. It's like testing all your different muscles in different like sides and seeing. Just like if you have equal strength and equal flexibility and all of these things so that you can see like what things you need to work on, or like what's different between your left and right side, or what different parts of muscles like aren't as strong as others. So I'm super excited to do that test. We did a like much shorter version of it last year that was only 15 minutes long, and wasn't really that in depth. And this year, the the one that we're doing is an hour long people have been there for an hour. So I'm super excited to do that. Let's see other things that are exciting. It's almost the weekend again, which is nice on Sundays here. They have a waffle machine, which is very college style, but they also have like fresh berries and fresh whipped cream that you can put on the waffle. So that's very exciting. And yeah, I think we're gonna get some time off on Sunday. So that'll be fun, maybe get out and do something. We are going to hike the Manitou incline on Sunday, which I think will be really fun. I'm super excited for that. I didn't do it last year. So I'm pretty excited to do that. I think it's like a very famous and cool thing to do in Colorado Springs. So hopefully it's not too snow and ice covered. And hopefully it's not too hard. I think it's like pretty hard. Basically 30 to 40 minutes of just straight stair climbing, but I've done quite a few Harvard stadiums in my day. So I think I'll be I think it'll be hard but I think I'll be able to manage I've just been trying to, you know, get some, get some work done for work and rest and recover, have meals with different people read, I've been reading a bit, but the days go by really fast here like, we're really busy with workouts to three workouts every day and eating and recovering. And it's like getting a little bit of time for work before you know that, before you know it, the day is just over, it's actually kind of crazy. So it's everything goes by a lot faster than you think it's going to, it's crazy that it's we're almost on our third week here. It's actually gotten by faster than I thought it would. So I'm excited for our, you know, the rest of our training here, but then I am excited to get back on the water. So excited to crush the last, you know, week and a half of ERGs and hard indoor training at altitude and then excited to get back to Florida and, you know, hopefully translate some of that speed to the water. So now it's time for my conversation with Nick. I'm super excited to chat with you. And congratulations on the bucket like launch today, right?

Nick Baumgartner  6:10  
Yeah, today it was, what a day. It's been crazy just waiting for it and the anticipation. And now we're here and now the world gets to see gold from iron.

Kristi Wagner  6:19  
Yeah, that's so exciting. Maybe we can start just talking about that a little bit. Like, how long was the process of writing it and what kind of inspired you to write it?

Nick Baumgartner  6:30  
Yeah. It happened shortly after the Olympics with all the buzz and the excitement after the Olympics. And we were just we started talking to some people and it started happening then then it happened quick. The big thing was they said do you know a ghostwriter? And I was like, I'm a snowboarder. I said, I know some other snowboarders. I don't know if that helps. But I said I do know a guy that wrote the best article about me ever. And maybe he'd be into it. And that was Jeff Seidel from the Detroit Free Press. And we reached out to him and he was, man, you could just immediately tell the passion and how stoked he was to be a part of the project. I found the right guy. And that's very important. And I think that goes to show surrounding yourself with the right people, good things can happen. And it worked at the Olympics. And it worked in my book.

Kristi Wagner  7:17  
Yeah, no. 100%. But just in terms of like, actually, like writing it. I feel like that must have been enough, like cathartic is the right word like because I'm sure you had to go through kind of your whole career and stuff. So how was the experience of, I don't know, almost like reliving everything? Well,

Nick Baumgartner  7:37  
I think the coolest part is so that I would just I became a storyteller, right. And I told all these these amazing stories and everything that's in the book. But when I was telling the stories, Jeff was losing his mind. Oh, my God, you did what in and just having that kind of passion and excitement on the other side, made it super easy to just keep going with it. And we hung out a bunch, he came up to where I live up in the Upper Peninsula. So we drove like seven and a half hours. Me and my son went to his house with his family for Thanksgiving. We just found a way to hang out a bunch and just tell stories and and it was fun process for sure.

Kristi Wagner  8:16  
Oh, that's awesome. Well, I ordered it today. So I'm very excited to read it. Yeah, I love sports books. Anyways, like an athlete stories. I don't know. I feel like we can all like learn so much from each other. I guess that was also a catalyst of like starting the podcast. But yeah,

Nick Baumgartner  8:30  
it's cool. And I think you'll be surprised. There's I mean, I'm a snowboarder, but there's so much other stuff. I was racing trucks professionally, I had some crazy accident down in Mexico while we were racing trucks, just some wild stuff that I think people are gonna go Wait, what? What did this guy do? And I used whatever little bit of fame and name that I made in snowboarding. And I just started asking people and I started just running in there and going, hey, here I am. And I want to do this. And it worked. And what a crazy thing. I mean, you don't know the answer is no if you don't ask and I asked some crazy questions and people gave me fortunately Yes, my

Kristi Wagner  9:10  
coach told us this, like this crazy story of this guy that spent like a whole year asking questions he thought people would answer no to like just the most outrageous questions and he ended up like, I can't really remember the whole article is like a New York Times article. But he ended up getting all of this like crazy. Like people just started saying yes to all these crazy things. So my teammates now ask them my coach the most like ridiculous questions just because like maybe the answer will be yes. So I totally understand.

Nick Baumgartner  9:38  
You gotta ask. Gotta try. Yeah, but

Kristi Wagner  9:42  
just to like, Give everyone like a little bit of background on you and on your career. How did you like get into because I read that you started snowboarding when you were 15 Right?

Nick Baumgartner  9:54  
Yeah, I was definitely late to the game. Yeah. So

Kristi Wagner  9:58  
how did how did that kind of come to be.

Nick Baumgartner  10:01  
So I have three older brothers, one of my brothers, Josh started the scene here in the Midwest, kinda in the Upper Peninsula. And as a young kid, I thought my brothers were cool. So I followed my brothers into this. And not only did I do it to try to get their acceptance, but I wanted to beat them in something, right, I've done that I followed them into every sport that I could. And snowboarding was just natural to follow them into. I started doing it. And there was a local competition series here in the Midwest. And I did that my junior and senior year USPSA. And I got invited to the nationals. And because I was doing other sports, and my family didn't have the money to send me to the nationals and I wasn't working. It just I had to decline the invitation those two years. And then then I went on to college, played football in college, I found out I was too immature for college. And so after the first semester, I needed to take a semester off and kind of figure out what I was going to do. Went back home started working at the ski hill, did the same Competition Series qualified for nationals again, but now I was working had a full time job, and I had the money to go. And as soon as I went to that next level, and got out to the national competition, and pulled out of a gate doing boardercross, for the first time, I looked at everyone around me and I said, I'm gonna do this for a job, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure that I get to do this. And I remember in high school, I used to watch the X Games, John Palmer, and watch these guys and go, Man, I wonder if I could beat those guys. And I think a lot of people will look up there because these guys are so lucky. So lucky to be able to do that. And just by changing that thought process from these guys are lucky to wonder if I trained if I could beat them. It started me on this journey. And here we are. 19 years later, I've been on the US snowboard team for 19 years now, which is crazy to think considering that the kids on the team are younger than 19. And here I am 42 years old, still competing at the highest level, which is crazy to me. But I think it it makes me really think that I pick the right discipline in snowboarding because of the longevity. So even though I got a late start to the game and didn't start competing professionally until I was 22. I'm making up for that on the back end, because I can do it for so long. Because experience is so important in my sport, that it kind of makes up for that, that loss of fast twitch muscles, that loss of explosiveness, and strength and all that stuff that you lose as you get older. But here we are. And we're pushing it as long as we can see if I can do it for a couple more. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  12:37  
no, I mean, that's, that's so awesome. And I the sport is like so cool. But I feel like it's not like it's awesome that you were able to do it, you know, being where you were from, like, I assume they don't have, do you still call it boardercross because I read it's now called like just snowboard cross that they changed the name. But well

Nick Baumgartner  13:00  
it's snowboard cross X games use, they patented the name border x. And so it kind of gets somewhere in the middle boardercross snowboard cross SPX there's a couple different names. But yeah, snowboard cross is the, the proper name that

Kristi Wagner  13:14  
Olympic name. Yeah, like how many kind of sites and like places to do it? Like, is it just more popular than I realized then like most people realize, like, do they have, you know, snowboard cross tracks, like all across the country? Or is it? Absolutely no, right?

Nick Baumgartner  13:32  
Yeah, it's It's crazy to think so my local ski hills less than 400 feet tall. So, one, we didn't have a snowboard cross course, two, we didn't even do snowboard cross. So when I went to the nationals event, I showed up and I asked the organizers can I do snowboard cross? And they said, Did you qualify? And I said, Well, we don't really have that event. And they're like, Well absolutely sign up. And then so just by chance, and again, because I wasn't afraid to ask the people, they allowed me to do it. And just by pulling out of that gate, I was like, I'm gonna do this. But yeah, it's very difficult to find tracks. So we have to travel for that. Everyone goes do train locally. And I said that for my sport for my sport. I go to wherever in the world builds a track and allows us to come train on it. Yes, we have to pay for that. Because snowboard cross tracks are not cheap to make, they take a lot of snow, they take a lot of manpower and a lot of cat time. So we got to do what we can and go wherever we have to to be able to do this. And fortunately for me, I was able to get on the US snowboard team very, very early in my career, and to get that support because I would have never been able to travel to where I needed to independ able to afford that to go to these places like South America, Asia. I mean, we're all over Europe. We spend most of the winter in Europe now. So it gets it gets difficult for sure. And now as the sport has progressed, you're seeing these kids starting snowboard cross at a very, very young age. So the level in the riding is Is it's crazy to think how far we've come with our snowboard graph, how fast we're going, the equipment especially made for what we're doing. And it's only getting faster and faster, which is quite crazy. Yeah.

Kristi Wagner  15:11  
I mean, that's so cool, though to like, have been a part of it, you know, over the years. And as the sport advances and develops and stuff, I feel like that's, that's so cool.

Nick Baumgartner  15:22  
It's been, it's definitely been fun to watch how, like when I started, we were on just regular snowboards that you that you buy at a shop. And we were racing on those. And even at the 2010 Olympics, some of us were on regular snowboards, I won my first World Cup on just a regular production made snowboard. And then after 2010, it kind of changed and everyone started going on sports specific snowboards that are even more expensive and more, they're faster. They're, they're incredible snowboard. So it's definitely evolved a lot since I started fund to be a part of that process for sure.

Kristi Wagner  15:58  
So the tracks themselves, did you have access to like a world championship track or like an X Games track or an Olympic track? Like they change? Right? So do you know what that is in advance? And then you can kind of practice it or is it just like right before the Olympics, you would get on that track and have to learn it quickly? Yeah,

Nick Baumgartner  16:20  
usually for the Olympics, they do a test event the year before, because they have to test them and make sure everything's gonna work, they got everything lined up so that there's no hiccups. Once the Olympics comes, this time around, we weren't able to really do that, because there wasn't a possibility to go there with COVID. And with everything going on with the pandemic, so we did our test event in November of 2021. So just a few months before the Olympics, so but I was able to look at that track, I did very well on that track on the test event, I took the bronze medal at that event. And when I went home, I got home and I built a track around my house, I have a flat yard and I have, I took a snowblower and a shovel and I spent 30 hours building a track. And I built that specifically knowing that the last straightaway was just rollers headed to the finish line. And I wanted to make sure that no one was going out pumped me so I made rollers all the way around my house. So I could do circles around my house every morning, I'd get up and I'd do 10 circles around the house, completely burn myself out, and then go to the ski hill and work on my turns and stuff. And I think it paid off because at the finish line in that race, that gold medal run, we were coming around the last corner and these guys are hot on my tail, and trying and trying and trying to pass me and I just kept stay in just a little bit ahead of them. And I think that goes from from taking that knowledge from seeing the course, a few months earlier and and building what I had here and and that goes back to not believing the excuses. I could have came here and said, Well, I don't have a track. I can't do that. But instead, I spent 30 hours building a track. And that not only gave me an amazing track to train on right outside my door, but it kept my mind off of the stress and the pressure of the Olympics. Because here I am. I'm an eight year old boy making the snow fort in the yard having a great time. Neighbors are driving by looking at me shaking their head, like what is wrong with this guy. And then a couple of months later, I think they probably understood that there. There's nothing wrong.

Kristi Wagner  18:26  
No, he's smarter than we thought. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, the Olympics seemed like are the most recent Olympics 2020 Olympics seemed like quite a roller coaster. Like I think one. I really, it was really amazing how kind of honest and like open you were, you know, after your individual race. But I also can imagine that like, probably being able to have those emotions, and just like let it out helped you kind of get ready for next race. Right. Like, I don't know what was like going through your mind. Like, I don't know how many days it was between only a couple

Nick Baumgartner  19:06  
right? Yeah, it was like 48 hours.

Kristi Wagner  19:09  
Yeah. So how did you kind of like, Did you compartmentalize? Or did you feel like you were able to like work through everything. You know, how did you get ready for that, that next event? Well,

Nick Baumgartner  19:24  
I think it goes back to just the experience to 17 years on tour. I mean, I've I've failed and I've fallen short many times before this, right. Obviously, that interview was quite vulnerable. And it's one of my favorite interviews I've ever done in the fact that it was so honest and it was so raw. I always joke I said the goal wasn't to show the world that I was a crybaby but I'm glad they got to see it. Someone like me a masculine athlete out there trying to go for Olympic gold and not afraid to cry and show that emotion with everyone and and show them how real it is for For us, so doing that, but I think the best part about me picking myself up, I did that interview in the world site, and the Midwest went crazy. I mean, with the amount of messages I got from people back home, the messages, the calls, I was getting messages from people I'd never met before, people telling me how amazing that was and pick your head up, you didn't let anyone down and just the amazing support of the support system that I've built over all the years. And I think without them, it might have been a little bit tougher. I'd like to think that I was tough enough in 17 years, I had it but to have that kind of support system was incredible. And it definitely helped pick me up. And then just the shot at redemption, the three Olympics before this, we had one shot. And that mistake I would have been done. It would have been go home, see you in four years, maybe. But the fact that I had redemption just really lit that fire. And it was like, Alright, I'm going out there. And the goal was always the gold medal. It's always been the gold medal as I've competed. But at this point, it was a little bit more like, you know what, I didn't prove anything to anyone. I wanted to show everyone back home that all those sacrifices that they saw me make through social media, all the things that I was doing commuting, hour and a half to the gym, sleeping in a van, all that stuff was worth it. And if you're willing to do it, good things will happen. I wanted to prove that. And I wanted to prove to those people that thought I was crazy. That said you're never going to make the Olympics at 40. And I always told them, I said my goal is not to make the Olympics, it's to go there and make some noise, and to be a threat. And I didn't do anything to prove any of them wrong. So I was like, oh, man, I want this chance. And I was so excited. So fired up. And then the fact that you you team me with the greatest female snowboard cross racer of all time, Lindsey jacobellis, it kind of like, if I make a mistake, I know I have the goat ready to help me make up for that. So that allows me to get some pressure off of me. And in just race and have fun. And that brings it to another level. And and I think that's what you saw, you saw me race at a completely another level, because I was having fun. And I had someone there to help me if I made a mistake. And then then it was funny to hear it full circle when I crossed the finish line. And first, all she was worried about was like, I can't let Nick down. I can't let Nick down. And just to have someone that cares that much about your success and what you're doing. I think that's what made us such a powerful team. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  22:36  
I mean, I was gonna ask about you, you're kind of just touching on it. But like, I personally feel like having teammates makes everything just like 10 times more fun. And it's more like meaningful, almost because we compete individually, but also, you know, in team boats, and I just feel like, it's not that it's hard to push yourself individually, like, of course, you know, as elite athletes like we do that. But there's just something about having teammates relying on you that just like, adds that extra motivation. And I don't know, it just, I agree, like pushes you to another level. So

Nick Baumgartner  23:14  
I think knowing that they're relying on you makes you try harder. But it also makes you not worried so much, because you know that they're the best to, they're here with you. And they're going to do everything they can to make sure that you're successful. And it just, it's like the perfect storm. Great things happen when that happens. Yeah,

Kristi Wagner  23:31  
no, totally. So I'm not sure exactly how to phrase this question. But like, how have you kept coming back? I guess, like, how is your life sustainable, in a sense that you can keep doing this? Because it is pretty stressful to have the ups and downs of sports, you know? So how have you been able to sustain, you know, athletic life, especially in a career in a sport that's not paying you millions of dollars? And you know, you're not a celebrity and that kind of thing?

Nick Baumgartner  24:00  
Well, I think when I get asked questions like this, the biggest thing that keeps me motivated and going is when I started this career in 2004. I had a son in July, July 9 2004. So that changed everything I was I was a child, I was 22 years old, I was immature. I had no idea what the world was about. And I was focused on me. And then I had a child and it changed everything. And it made it more about not about just me it was about someone else I need to provide for this kid. But more importantly, I need to set an example for this kid. And so it's always been about showing my son because I think all parents out there no kids do not listen to their parents. But they can't help but watch us they watch us and they know what we're doing and they learn from that. So it was always I need to go out there and I need to show him that if you dream big and you work hard and you're willing to outwork everyone, good things will happen. So it was always about setting the example for my son and now you Fast Forward. Now he's a, he's a sophomore at Michigan State University and an absolutely crushing life. And it just gives me a lot of pride to be able to do that. But it was always about making him proud. Trying to be the cool dad, I wanted my kids to think that to look up to me and think that I was cool. And that I was awesome. And that I wasn't just this guy being the rules and yelling at him and tell him he has to do this. And he has to do that. I want him to learn from from my actions and, and then I don't have to always tell them stuff.

Kristi Wagner  25:30  
That's awesome. Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, outside of snowboarding, like, I'm sure it is your family and you know, maybe other things like, what do you have that keeps you kind of grounded, and, like, on an even keel, because I feel like sports can be so up and down. I think that all athletes need things that, you know, keep them from being so high and low, right? Yeah,

Nick Baumgartner  25:57  
well, I think for sure on the high side, so I can go and I can win a gold medal. And, and then I come home, and I still gotta pour concrete. Like I have to work to earn this. And I think that keeps me grounded having a real job in the summertime to pay for this. And that's my favorite part is people don't understand that side of things. Like it is a very difficult thing to come up with the funds. And the ability to do this not just to pay for, for what we have to do, because some of my funding does come from my team, a lot of it, but I have to pay the bills, I have to support a child, I have a child that's going to college, all these different things. It just makes you keep working. And and I don't know, I get to travel the world, life's not so bad. And I've always said, as long as I'm having fun, and I'm competitive which go hand in hand, I'm going to continue to do this because I love it. And it's because I was fortunate enough to find something that I truly was super passionate about, and find a way to, to make that a job or one of my jobs because, again, I do have to supplement that.

Kristi Wagner  27:03  
Yeah, I totally. And I mean, I understand like, I'm also in a sport that I mean, I have a job as well. Like, I don't think people like understand. They're like, oh, so when you're working, you're not training? And you're like, No, no, I do both. Like, you can't just take breaks. Like, that's not how it works. But I think it's great. You know, like, I think that you can be somebody outside of your sport, while also trying to like kick ass and your sport and be the best athlete that you can be. So, you know, I do think it's good to have sort of a well rounded life. And you

Nick Baumgartner  27:36  
have to learn how to make sacrifices, holy cow, like you can't, like your friends want to go out and do something. You can write, you can sometimes, but sometimes you just have to say, You know what, that's not aligned with my dream, my goals, I can't do that. If I want what I what I'm trying to get, I just I need to do things differently. I need to look out for for me and do the right thing that's going to help me be successful. And that's the toughest thing. People get that fear of missing out and they need to be a part of that. And man, if you can just sacrifice make sacrifices to achieve that dream. It's so much better when you get there so much better. Having

Kristi Wagner  28:16  
one and Olympic gold medal. Like, I think it's awesome that you're still competing, do you feel like your sort of motivation and like goals have changed? Like you were saying, you know, you wanted to prove to all these people like, I feel like you proved that. So now, what is your mindset, like into training and competing now?

Nick Baumgartner  28:36  
So I just I do think that I'm very important to my snowboard team in the fact that when I show up to a training camp, and I show up to a race, the last thing I want to do is look old, right? Well, the last thing that my teammates want to do is lose to someone older than their parents. So all that hard work that I'm doing to make sure that don't look old, old is inspiring them to make sure that they don't lose to an old guy. And it makes them put in that same kind of work. So I think it's very important. And to me, I just think it's fun showing up like how am I going to stack up this year? And and then when you get there and you find out that all the preparation and all the hard work he did. It kept you at that same level. It's pretty cool.

Kristi Wagner  29:18  
No, totally. And I think it's so awesome. And I think that you're totally right. Like, you know, working hard and enjoying the process is like how you get where you want to go. But I think like what advice would you have for people that are maybe like, it's not quite that easy. You know, of course I'm sure you've had tons of setbacks. It's just easier said than done to you know, have a setback and then keep going. So maybe if something doesn't go the way you planned, are there any things that you do or like mantras you have or you know, whatever, to get yourself back going?

Nick Baumgartner  29:56  
Yeah, maybe? I think it probably goes back to I think a lot of people are focused, like you just said a little bit ago, they're focused on that end goal on that gold medal right. And I think we have to make smaller goals to get there, obviously, right, it's so obviously, we don't want easy goals to make, but ones that are hard to reach, but still realistic. And the fact that you can still knock those out here and there and celebrate those small victories and keep going. Because if you just focused on I need a gold medal, I would have been 17 years of not getting it. And it would have, I would have been devastated, it would have thrown me off my game, and it wouldn't work. But by having these goals of, I want to get a little bit faster and competing more against myself than anyone else. I think it allows you to celebrate those little victories, and keep that spirit alive and keep that drive and that determination. And then, for me, I'm from a very small town, in a very small community in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan, and knowing that I'm not only representing the United States, but I'm representing my family, which is a huge family. And we're all close. And I'm representing every single yooper up here in these are amazing people, incredible people, so I can't quit, I need to set an example for, like I said, my son, but for all the kids that are up here in the in the Upper Peninsula, from all these small towns, because we have less opportunity than big school kids we do. And a lot of people tend to look at that as like, that's a disadvantage. And I'm like, I disagree. I think it's the biggest advantage that we have. Because we have to work harder for it. No one's gonna give us an opportunity. We need to go out there and fight for it. And then on that day, like on the top of the mountain in Beijing, you're more ready for it and you're set up for that success. Because you had to fight to get there. You didn't, nothing was handed to you. I think just looking at things a little bit different. A different mindset. Obviously, I'm never gonna give up. I'm too stubborn for that. I'm too bullheaded, I want what I want. And I'm gonna go out there and I'm gonna get it. So I don't know, there's there's a bunch of different things because it is it's not as easy as just picking yourself up. But it's surrounding yourself with the right people. I have a support system that is so incredible. And it's all these people that live that are from these communities that I work in, I live in, and I train in and having that kind of it's important, anything, what do they say anything worthwhile achieving is not done alone. And it's so true. Without my support system, this journey doesn't even make it does it. I mean, it would have been over so soon, without finding those kinds of people to surround myself. And then the gold medal, I didn't win it by myself, I needed to have my teammate there to win it with me. And it just goes to show you surround yourself with the right type of people. You want to be faster at something hang out with the faster people you want to be less negative, hang out with the positive people. You want to be more successful, hang out with successful people. And it just goes to that surround yourself with the right people. And you can find a way for sure. It's not easy, but but you can do it for sure.

Kristi Wagner  33:03  
Yeah, you should be a motivational speaker. Oh, baby. No, that's

Nick Baumgartner  33:12  
my goal. That's my goal with this book. That's my goal with with my whole journey. I love to speak at schools, I love to talk to kids. And now when I hand them a gold medal, everyone's like, you got your metal in your pocket, or it's in the truck or it's in your backpack. It's always with me. And they're like, they want to like give me crap, like I'm bragging or something. I was like, Listen, if you took this metal and you handed it to a kid, you watch your eyes just go like this. And you see all the opportunity and in just the possibilities that open up in their mind and like I can do it. And that's the coolest part about all this. When I came back from the Olympics on February 15 2022. Then until the end of the school year, I did 53 appearances. One day, I accidentally miss scheduled and I did five schools in one day. Yeah. Which was incredible. Incredible. going in there and hearing these kids USA, USA and just see that passion. And I can't wait for 10 years from now, when someone comes up to me goes hey, you know what? You came in. You spoke at my school, and you let me hold your metal. And guess what I got to do? And then they tell me whatever the cool stuff is that they're doing that I think is the best thing that'll come out of that metal not being called the best in the world. It's not bad. It feels cool. But those stories is what I can't wait for and I think that'll be the best thing of ever bringing that metal home.

Kristi Wagner  34:33  
Yeah. Wow. That's so awesome. I don't know if there's anything I didn't ask you about that you really like want to share gold from

Nick Baumgartner  34:41  
iron. I have all the links in my bios on my social media. You can preorder it on Amazon, you can go to Nick's dash bomb garner.com You can't go to Nick baumgartner.com Because some troll or stoled my website the world's always out to get you that's All right.

Kristi Wagner  35:00  
No, yeah, I'm so I'm so excited to read it. I'm super excited. I think it's gonna be awesome. And everyone Yeah, should should buy it. And yeah, what are you doing? What are you doing an audio book as well.

Nick Baumgartner  35:10  
We are going to do an audio book and everyone's like, are you gonna read it? And the first thing when they came to me, there's like, let a professional do it. That's not you. And I'm 100% with it. But yeah, it's, there will be an audiobook. I can't remember the date that that comes out. But we're in the process of picking the right person right now. Trying to find somebody that sounds like me, someone that has a Midwest accent a little bit. That's awesome. But the audio book doesn't have the cool pictures.

Kristi Wagner  35:39  
I bought the real book. So everyone should buy the book. I just I love audiobooks. I don't know, I think they're it's it's an accessible way to read, right?

Nick Baumgartner  35:46  
Absolutely. And that's what I found out when should do in this process. I read the book, we made a bunch of notes and changed a bunch of stuff. And then I had to read the book again. And I'm like, this is taking way too long. Like I'd spend so much time in the car driving places. I need to do this different. So I got speechify loaded it up. And then I listened to it like eight times. And I think Snoop Dogg read it to me once Gwyneth Paltrow read it to me once. It was just awesome to be able to drive and do that. And it made the process of editing so much more enjoyable. Because it didn't it took me six hours to do the whole book rather than a week. Do

Kristi Wagner  36:26  
you have any opinions on Snoop Dogg? Apparently being a commentator on the Summer Olympics this coming summer?

Nick Baumgartner  36:34  
I guess? I don't know. I think I saw him once where there was horses going. He's like the horses crip walking up as long as he can be respectful to the sport that he's commentating? I think absolutely. Why wouldn't you take a big name like that and add that to it? But it I don't know. I would imagine that he's a professional, and he would take it serious. But if he's just like, coming up with funny stuff, and, and joking the whole time, and it takes away from the athletes and what they've done and the hard work that they've done, then I say no. But if he dives into it, I mean, he's a he's a very successful person. So I would imagine that he would just take that role, hopefully, and take it serious and dive into it and be good at it. And then in that case, absolutely. So I don't know, I guess Snoop Dogg's needs to answer that question. On which way he would come into it. I mean, these people are putting their entire lives into this. So we need to give them the respect that they deserve. Jokes once in a while are good, keeps it entertaining, but it needs to be about the athletes for sure. Yeah.

Kristi Wagner  37:36  
No, I totally agree. It's like, it's not a joke to us, right? Like, I spend my whole life because I'm trying to win a medal in Paris, like, you know, it's not like, yeah, supposed to be funny. Of course. Like, I think it's awesome. And if he can do it in a great way, then it's great. And that's really cool. But it's not a joke, right? So not at all. It's a tough. Yeah,

Nick Baumgartner  37:59  
well, maybe he'll see this. Well, spoken athletes, I'm gonna do my homework, and I'm gonna take this serious.

Kristi Wagner  38:08  
Yeah, I have to assume that they would take it seriously. I feel like there. I

Nick Baumgartner  38:12  
think so too. He's a professional guy, for sure. And he's very successful. So he knows how the world works. He's been through a lot, right? So I would imagine he would, he would take it serious, and he would do a good job.

Kristi Wagner  38:24  
Well, thanks so much. This has been so fun. So thanks for listening. And I hope everyone enjoyed that conversation with Nick and feels inspired to read his book to keep learning from him. I purchased it, and it's coming soon. So I will read it. And I feel like everyone shed I think after listening to Nick, you'll, you'll feel inspired to read it so you can see how to purchase gold from iron in the show notes and follow Nick on Instagram and social and stuff to keep along with his journey. So this week, I'm going to leave you with a few quotes from Phil Jackson's book. It's called sacred hoops. I read it in like one day, but it was very good. And I couldn't pick just one quote. So the first one is that good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender from the me to the weak truth. The second one is obviously there's an intellectual component to playing basketball strategy is important. But once you've done the mental work, there comes a point when you have to throw yourself into the action and put your heart on the line. That means not only being great, brave, but also being compassionate towards yourself, your teammates and your opponents. And the last one is the best part of winning, I heard someone say is that it's not losing. So I really liked this whole book, I would recommend it. It's a really quick read. And he's, you know, obviously super successful coach and was a super self successful athlete. And I think just takes a lot of different things and into consideration into making teams successful. So it was really good I would, I would recommend it. So thanks for listening and see you next week. Have a good one

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Transcribed by https://otter.ai