- I pull off to the side of the road,
I chuck my bike,
and I curl into a ball and I start crying.
We were dealing with such fatigue,
I was fallin' asleep on the bike.
I had to figure out and concentrate so intently
to not fall asleep on the bike.
And as you know, I ultimately did,
on day 18 I lost the battle
and I fell asleep on my bike and crashed.
And I had to start focusing on all the reasons
and why's I was out there.
I immigrated from another country
and I was gonna live the American dream.
Well, if you follow US Economics at all,
in 2008, the mortgage sector got hit the hardest,
and we lost everything.
We fought and fought and fought,
and they just continued to take and take and take
until they took it all.
That's one of those moments
where you can allow it to define you,
and continue to beat you down,
or you can look at it as a blessing
and a turning point.
You know, my mother, I love her,
and she always said to me,
"ten percent of life is what happens to you
"and 90 percent of life is how you choose
to react to it."
And for me it was the greatest thing
that ever happened to me
to hit that rock bottom,
because I would have never made the shift that we did.
And by themselves, one reason was not enough
for me to get back on my bike
and do 20 more Ironmans,
but as I started going through the list
of everything that I was doing and why I was doing it,
it's interesting because I would gather them all together
and I'd focus on this big ball.
A good example is my daughter,
she wanted to do gymnastics,
and about halfway through she was like this is too hard,
and I was like I don't care, you've got to see it through,
and she did, and she advanced so quickly
and started to see success.
She loves it, she stayed in it,
it's something she said she was going to do
and she needed to see that through.
And so, and that's one thing I'm really big on
is if you say you're gonna do something, you do it,
and that's just an example I try to set.
And I also believe that kids are a product
of our environments.
We're surrounded today by people being satisfied
with mediocre, and if you want your kids to be excellent,
you have to excellent yourself.
So that was one of the things,
when I'm laying on the side of the road at 30,
with 20 Ironmans to go,
I said I told my kids I would do this.
As soon as I focused on that,
I started to experience a rebirth.
Because now I was focusing on the very very next moment
that I had control over,
and everything that I was trying to accomplish
and why I was there.
And this whole process was about eight minutes.
The whole thing, from complete meltdown
to breaking all of the purposes and why's down,
to the realization, the rebirth,
and getting back on and going.
And it can happen that quick.
We're moments away, every day,
from a decision that's gonna completely change our life.
And I call this process now, looking back on it,
both a rebirth, and putting on my uniform,
which was the alter-ego,
and my uniform was those yellow sunglasses
you've seen me wear in some of my pictures.
And when I put those glasses on,
that's when the Iron Cowboy comes out,
and that dude is a bad bad man,
and there's nothing that's gonna get in his way.
And I do a lot of speaking from stage now,
and I want to encourage people to find
whatever their uniform is,
find whatever their alter-ego is,
because when you discover that, and how to flip that switch,
that's when nothing gets in your way,
and that's where you shift your focus
and you realize what your purpose is.
And I knew if I had the courage to get back on my bike
and finish that day and then do the 20 more,
my life would be different.
One of the biggest questions I get
is how do I come or become mentally tough?
One of the biggest things I try to get people to do
is back down off the inspiration,
and let's build a foundation.
You almost have to take the huge goal and shelf it.
Don't forget about it, but shelf it
and now focus on everything that's small to get there.
The moment you realize the next step isn't going to kill you
and that next step is the first step to evolving,
changing, growing, and learning,
and becoming literally the best version of yourself,
that's the most beautiful thing.
It's not going to kill you.
And putting yourself in the game,
you're giving yourself an opportunity
to achieve something
that everybody else said was impossible.
(bright music)