Now For Later with Eric Mika Eric Mika

Description:
Donnie Edwards is a Hall of Fame linebacker that played in the NFL for the Kansas City Chiefs and his hometown team, the San Diego Chargers. He is revered as one of the best linebackers of all time and his name will forever be etched in football's history with several records that still stand today. His story of making it out of the streets to be the first of anyone in his family to earn a college degree, set the NFL ablaze with an incredible career, and to then finish playing and start an unbelievably impactful non-profit is nothing short of inspirational in every sense of the word. He was small by NFL standards but tenacious and never took no for an answer. And once it was time to hang them up, he found that passion was the only driver that would help guide him in this total identity shift. Despite the many successes in many facets of his life, he is quick to recognize the many full-circle moments that helped him attain that success. Since retiring from football, has been fully focused on the giving back side of that circle. He found that he closely related in several ways with former soldiers that had experienced combat and had a hard time adjusting to life after their career in the military and has dedicated his life to helping them and their families find peace and closure.

Time Stamps:
4:42 The boys and girls club
7:06 Getting into football
9:45 Getting to college was everything
14:08 The American dream 
14:36 I could have just gone with the flow 
21:14 Be a playmaker
25:21 Full circle in San Diego
28:05 Balance from Yoga
31:53 Hanging em’ up
34:00 Identity shift
38:25 Being all in while you’re there
41:38 Finding other interests in off-seasons
43:06 Best Defense Foundation
49:24 Follow your passion
55:00 Transitions are universal
56:20 Rapid fire 

Connect with Donnie:
https://www.instagram.com/donnie_edwards/?hl=en

Best Defense Foundation:
https://bestdefensefoundation.org/

Notes
Carmelita Jeter is a legend in the world of track and field. Literally dubbed the “Fastest Woman Alive” for over a decade, she has held countless records and stood on countless podiums. Despite all of the glitz and glamour of a being a world-renown athlete - she is focused on 2 things: giving back and getting her athletes ready for life on and off of the field.

Carmelita is an example of both of these things that she repeatedly tells her girls to do. For one, she got her master’s degree when she took her first assistant coaching job. And secondly, she gives back freely of her time, attention, and resources. Just to do this interview she had flown back early in the morning from an Easter weekend with her family and then drove 45 minutes from her house to Henderson. Where, by the way, she had come to be a guest speaker on a panel for the G League Ignite season ending banquet the week before.

I know she doesn’t think any of that is a big deal but that stuff just speaks volume about who she is and what she actually cares about. She wants to give back, she wants to help, she wants to build and strengthen communities, and she wants to do things the right way. 

She wears many hats and absolutely crushes them all so we were very lucky to have an hour to pick her brain and learn from one of the very best. Tune in this week on all podcast platforms!


Time Stamps
4:03 Dropping the ball and running track 
5:50 Anyone who is anyone is crazy 
7:38 Being fearless 
11:07 The great vs the team player 
14:35 “The Jet”
18:05 Priorities in college
20:12 Education is priority number 
22:15 Almost a completely different path
26:00 The Olympic podium 
29:52 Patience & trust in track 
32:19 Individual vs team dynamic 
34:13 Hanging em’ up 
37:03 Coaching 
42:37 The bigger picture 
48:03 Giving back 
50:19 Carmelita is ______
50:54 Rapid fire 

Justin Sua is one of the best of the best in the business of mental performance -  a path that started for him in sports but has recently expanded to many other communities. He works with high performers from all industries and gives them the tools to their "puzzle pieces" which will help them recognize patterns and get into a rhythm as decision makers. 

Justin also played Baseball at BYU in the early 2000’s and realized soon after he began as an amateur that he didn’t want to follow his father’s route and play professionally. His path from then until now has been filled with pivots and as he put it, many moments of “bumping around”.

His perspective on the necessity of those winding parts is illuminating. Despite not finding the desire to stay in any single calling for his entire life, he celebrates the stops he’s made along the way. He also recognizes the skills and lessons learned in those various jobs as the attributes that set him apart in his current role.

Time Stamps:
7:21 Coaching coaches
12:51 These tools are for everyone!
18:41 Why I never turned pro
20:35 The next passion 
24:33 One way doors and two way doors
26:35 Escape competition through authenticity 
33:47 Modeling a balanced life 
38:41 Goal gradient effect
41:31 Rapid fire

Justin's Links: 
1. Podcast: 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/increase-your-impact-with-justin-sua-a-podcast-for-leaders/id1058589696

2. Social Media:
https://twitter.com/Justinsua?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

https://www.instagram.com/justinsua/?hl=en

3. Books:
https://www.amazon.com/Mentally-Tough-Teens-Developing-Winning/dp/1462114253

https://www.amazon.com/Parent-Pep-Talks-Mental-Succeed/dp/1462112846

This week we are joined by BYU and NBA legend, Danny Ainge. Danny has seen it all in the world of sports. Triumphs, failures, dissapointments, and success. And his views are not just limited to just one sport and one title but rather in multiple sports and from multiple perspectives - as a player, broadcaster, coach, and general manager. He truly has seen it all and done it all many times over.

He transitioned out of sports as well as anyone after establishing a rock solid network of people who knew him for being him: a man with work ethic, drive, passion, wisdom, and even luck. Throughout the course of his career he has pivoted and moved around many times even up to his latest position with the Utah Jazz. Despite the constant changes he strives for continuation in one thing: Balance. Balance in sports, with his family, and with his faith. 

Join us this week as we are luck to hear from a man who knows what it takes to thrive in very different stages of life and how to find and prioritze balance in your life. 


Time Stamps
7:01 Basketball was my first love  
10:00 Road to BYU
12:20 Balancing basketball and baseball in college 
17:41 Famous 2-sport athletes 
21:13 Another benefit of multiple sports 
24:24 Living like it was my only contract
29:23 Relationships are everything  
34:48 It matters how you live your life
40:16 Returning to Boston 
44:38 The Big 3 trade
47:13 Time for the Jazz
51:01 Teaching our kids when they’re young 
52:58 Rapid fire

Join Eric this week in another solo episode as he talks about the last couple weeks of episodes , some highlights (and more lowlights) from his basketball journey, what he’s been filling all his free time with,  the state of college athletics, and more!

About 20 minutes into the episode, Eric highlights a program that he found through the podcast called, “Athlete’s Soul”, which is a non-profit that helps athletes to transition to life after sports. When he joined, he hadn’t necessarily given retirement much thought but the “cohort” turned out to be much more than just mapping out a career path. It’s been an important piece of his life the last 8 weeks because it has forced himself to look internally and figure out how to recognize different feelings and emotions and know what to then do with them. The idea is that these building blocks of personal emotional intelligence and recognition will help anyone navigate life a little bit easier. A lot bouncing around this week so we hope you enjoy!

Time stamps
2:48 Maybe another podcast?
3:47 Pet peeve
6:20 Guy arrested on our flight
9:34 Triple double
14:49 What to do with so much time
15:30 Rule of thirds
16:37 Next up: D1 rowing
20:22 Athlete’s Soul
25:43 Diljeet Taylor killing it
26:45 Billionaire owners making threats
29:01 NIL and Transfer portal are bogus
31:58 Calling BS on Nick Saban
33:34 Use NIL to actually help the kids
34:58 Wild times in France
38:41 Not minding that it hurts
40:32 Tune in next week

Garrett is an incredibly humble person that wants to do nothing but live his every single day to the absolute fullest. He is full of incredible stories after living life like this and as he puts it, never being satisfied having accomplished X, but always, “chasing Y and Z”.

That is exactly what he has done and continues to do. He grew up dreaming of being a collegiate athlete and didn’t give up until he made it - despite the multiple efforts needed to get there. He simultaneously built an iPhone application that was downloaded over 100 million times in 3 years. He turned down 10 million dollars to continue to live out his dream of being a soccer player as long as he could. And now, for close to 10 years, he’s been traveling the world with his family and living a life worth journaling about every single day. 

A king of adventure and curiosity, a master of wearing many hats, and an advocate for going into the world and taking what you want - Garrett was an absolute pleasure to have on the show and we are so excited to share his many inspiring messages in this episode!

Time stamps:

2:00 - Not defined by one thing that you do
4:48 - No one will do it for you
7:00 - Finding a “team” photographer
10:30 - The start of passion for sports
11:55 - “Michael Jordan syndrome”
14:40 - Trying out for the team for a 3rd time
20:20 - Importance of sticking with your balanced life
21:25 - Scan
23:10 - Living a double life
26:10 - Raising rounds & Shark Tank
28:44 - Selling to Snapchat
36:57 - Sometimes crazy luck plays a part
40:44 - Found a path back to soccer
43:50 - Bucket List Family
48:03 - I try and live every day worth journaling
50:08 - Message to our kids
52:22 - Message to young athletes
54:50 - Rapid fire

If you would like to follow along Garrett and his family’s journey around the world or check out his wife, Jessica’s newly released book with National Geographic, here are their links:

https://www.thebucketlistfamily.com
https://www.youtube.com/@TheBucketListFamily
https://www.instagram.com/thebucketlistfamily/?hl=en
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/national-geographic-bucket-list-family-travel-jessica-gee/1143456046