EP.61 - "Thinking Outside the Snotch." - Braydon Bringhurst

Highly Accomplished filmmaker and MTB rider. Braydon Bringhurst is an advocate for doing the unthinkable and the mental battles that come with it. Tom and Kevin talk with Braydon about his origins in cycling and athletics in track and field and what motivates his incredible active self-talk. Listen in to a master at work and a man that goes into the pain cave without a flashlight! 

Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

If you don't mind, I want to say this for people who don't know. In our household, there's basically three movies that just get played over and over and over. One of them is Man from Snowy River. I don't know why. It's a throwback for me. Another one is around Christmas time. We have to watch certain Christmas movies. There's a number, which I won't dive into. But the third one, Brayden, is your movie that you created. Welcome to BrainStoke. I'm Tom Telford here today with Kevin Day, K-Day. And we're excited to spend some time with Brayden Bringhurst. This is, you know, been, I don't know, over a year in the making, but this is actually like Christmas for K-Day and I, because all that you do, all that you've accomplished, and why you do it is so fantastic that, I don't know, I'm just excited to have the conversation. So Brayden Bringhurst, welcome to BrainStoke.

SPEAKER_05 1:20

Thank you

SPEAKER_01 1:24

so much. It's not even varsity, it's pro. So we're going to go there today. So thank you, you know, Levo Mindcare Company for your sponsorship of this. Also, Adam Barker and Bolt Shaving Company. I got a little, I'm not going to say it, but I got a little snippet of like this behind the scenes of what's going on at Bolt right now. And they're about to launch something pretty freaking rad. So anyway, thank you for the shaved legs from Bolt. Also, Envy. who is our, you know, our sponsorship this year for the Mog, the gravel bikes. Over the next couple of months, our listeners, followers are going to hear a lot from Envy, the best carbon fiber, you know, company on the planet. In our opinion, Brayden may speak differently about that, you know, because of his amazing sponsor. But thank you, Envy. Also, Cornerstone Advisors, Gardner Brown and his team, your ongoing support of what we're doing is amazing. When it comes to financial stress and a financial mindset, thank you, Cornerstone Advisors and all that you do. So, Having said all of that, how should we lead this off? Kevin, do you want to, like, what would you, introduction would you give to Brayden?

SPEAKER_06 2:57

That's a

SPEAKER_01 2:59

good question. I mean, what even, like, would be adequate

SPEAKER_00 3:02

for it? So I'll just say this. This is, as Tom mentioned, it's like Christmas. Like, your whole path resonates with Tom and I in so many aspects, from skiing to cycling to mindset and, you know... track pole vaulting like there's just so many talents and skills and paths that you have taken that I'm like I wish I would have done more of that I wish I've just like it's a good thing you're not here because it would you know man crushing big time right now but So inspired by you as a cyclist. If you don't know Braden, you got to get to know him. But as a person, as a human, everything you stand for and represent in this community is hands down. You're absolutely one of my favorite athletes. So.

SPEAKER_05 3:51

So nice. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

The living embodiment that a good guy can also crush it in impact and influence in this life. So. Yeah, Brayden, welcome. It's so great to have you. Thank you so much. Yeah, dive in if you don't mind. Tell us about you. If we're in an elevator and someone says, hey, I saw you on Instagram doing crazy stuff, what would your elevator speech of how you describe you? Oh,

SPEAKER_05 4:20

you know, honestly, I would describe myself as... Just a guy that's trying to survive in a crazy world. I'm married to my best friend and we have three little daughters that we're trying to raise. And one of my passions and areas that I just love so much is riding my bike. And I've been able to turn that into a career. But One of the things I love about this career is the chance to connect with all different types of people and then share some of the skills I've been fortunate enough to learn. And one of those areas is the mental skills. So how to organize your mind and how to kind of set attainable goals and things to focus on to get whatever you're trying to do. I would say kind of something like that, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

That's awesome. We're going to dive in. We're going to double click on so many things here. So many. But if you don't mind, I want to say this for people who don't know. In our household, there's basically three movies that just get played over and over and over. One of them is Man from Snowy River. I don't know why. We just, you know, it's throwback for me. Another one is, you know, around Christmas time, we have to watch, you know, certain Christmas movies. You know, there's a number which I won't dive into. But the third one, Brayden, is your movie that you created. Which, you know, which is kind of interesting, you know, but it's, it's become this on replay for, you know, we're, we love bikes as a family, but there was something about this movie where it coupled someone who is doing the sport at the high level you are, that you talk the viewers through what's going on in your mindset and And that's so rare and unique in our world today where someone gets to see a professional athlete doing what they're doing, but they're talking through it. And in my head, that was groundbreaking because usually the media will interview an athlete and they will. They will put their spin on it, and then they'll put a soundbite in the media. But for you to create a show, your show, your movie, 8600, about writing the whole enchilada backwards, but you are the commentator, that is amazing. That personal narrative was just like... So we keep watching it. I mean, my youngest son is like. That's cool. Yeah, he's like the 8,600 disciples. So if you need a salesperson to like re-hype it, like he's teaching kids all the time. And it just, anyway.

SPEAKER_06 7:14

That's

SPEAKER_01 7:14

cool. Will you take us into that?

SPEAKER_05 7:18

Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, so I guess I, you know, in 2020, it was a really tough year. And, you know, the pandemic, there was lots of mental health issues coming and making themselves known in our society. And there was two kids, not two kids, one kid and then one fellow mountain biker husband, dad that ended up taking their life that year right here in Boise. And I was just thinking, man, what can I do to put something good out into the world? Because I'm sure if people really close to me are struggling, that there's more than just that out there. And I was like, I have an opportunity here with my sponsors and with this opportunity of riding a bike for a living to put my best efforts forward and try and share a message of hope and not just... a story of this guy climbing a hill, but show people the process of the mind work that it took to do it. And I had recently graduated from Boise State with my MBA. And if anybody would have told me that as a kid, I would have never believed it. But I did that because of the skills I learned with you know, the mental coaching that I've been fortunate to have with Dr. Manning. And so I wanted to put something out and I wanted to show people the process and I wanted to, you know, have something very, very visible, you know, a literal mountain that I was climbing with real challenges and real complexity to it. And I wanted to put into practice right along with it the mental skill sets that allowed me to do it. I'm a really spiritual person as well and I just prayed and I really tried to approach this with as much intention and prayerful heart to create something for people. I've learned there are those four intelligences is there's there's physical mental emotional and spiritual and if you're not giving all of those pillars its own you know energy and focus then you're gonna you're not gonna be as ready for for whatever's gonna go on in life and so i wanted to really focus this one on the mental um because i love what you guys are doing with brainstoke and and with mental support but we have a long way to go i feel like in society with mental resources and mental um just places for people to go and get help because it's it's it's not quite there yet i don't feel so um yeah that was kind of the that was kind of the meat behind the the whole ordeal was i want to create something for people and um And it's been really neat as it's been out there for a few years now to just feel the impact and get the messages and have the opportunities like right now to talk and connect with people on a superhuman level.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

That was definitely what I felt watching it. It did not feel like watching this professional athlete was so far over my head of like, the abilities are unreachable, right? And I know you are, like you're unbelievable on a bike. So it's not that you're not, but the way that you communicated in the film of what you were doing and how you were doing it I'm picturing the snotch over and over and over. I love that you showed getting angry and frustrated and like, Oh, like, and I love that your wife, like it showed your wife's face when you got angry and you could just tell there was a moment in your relationship of like, Hey, he's, he's, you know, I don't know if you're losing it, but it was just a moment, right. Of being human. So let's talk about that for a second, because as you let in, yeah. You started off by describing a fellow biker in Boise who took his life. And yet the film is a lot about performance. So, you know, in my world, in my wife's world, you know, we live and breathe mental health every day. And Kevin's in it every day, you know, helping as the brand manager of Levo. And it's fascinating because... There are people who are so broken mentally in our society today. They're acutely broken. They can't function because of what's going on mentally. And yet you have people who are performing at incredibly high levels, right? And so the mind has this spectrum of being broken versus performing at a high level. And it's so different than having a broken bone. Well, once the bone's healed, it's healed and you move on. But The mind is a spectrum and you can go from being broken to performing at a high level. And all of a sudden you can crash your bike and immediately be back to being broken mentally. So can you just kind of speak from your perspective, the spectrum of mind health, broken versus performing at a high level?

SPEAKER_05 13:16

Yeah, for sure. You know, the mind is... super vulnerable. I mean, it is so vulnerable where it can have such an influence from just the self-talk you have, you know, to the people that you're around, to a whole variety of things. And, you know, first and foremost, like, I'm always trying to be better and develop my mind and do my journaling, but I'm far from perfect. I'm trying to develop personally and as a husband and as a father and as a member of society. But for this film, I wanted to exercise the mental skills with the most intensity and effort. And so, you know, when I was on the snotch and I threw my glove and I was mad, and then when Nicole asked, is it possible? And I looked at the camera and I say, yes, you know. Inside, I was at that tipping point. I could have said, I don't know, or I could have said, No, it's not for me. But I exercised this self-talk and belief that, yes, it is possible. I can do it. And I thought that that was pretty cool in the film because it's a testament to myself how important that self-talk is and how vulnerable the mind is. Because I didn't put this in the film, but that snotch between those sections took around 10 months to figure it out and between seven and 800 attempts. And there were moments where I would go to the snotch, I would give it some attempts, I would analyze, what did I figure out here? Even though I failed, even though I didn't, make it i would take information and i would take notes and i would say okay i learned my pedal placement i learned where to put my power down but right now i don't have the power in my legs i've got to go back home and i've got a train and i've got to develop more power so when i come back i'm more ready because i do believe it's possible and i and i can figure this out versus being like, man, I've tried this 400 times, I just can't do it. It was just a littlest mind shift. And it really made me realize just how vulnerable and susceptible the mind is to these specific skills. And I think one of those is just positive self-talk. And in the film, you see a lot of, I can do this, you can do this, Braden, you got this. And that is a huge deal, at least for me, in accomplishing what I'm setting out to accomplish. So yeah, that's kind of what I would say with the mind being broke and the mind performing well is it's such a fine line.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

I love that moment that you described with you and your wife. So I'm curious. I just got to ask you. So in the moment that your wife asked you the question, is it possible? Did she know you well enough to become that person? doubting voice where if she asked the question she knew that you would summon something different or was she genuinely do you know what I mean like is she kind of poking at Braden's like stubbornness like no snap back in it like she was asking the rhetorical question that we all you know ask ourselves internally which is is this possible

SPEAKER_05 17:37

yeah right Yeah, it's a good question. I guess the way that I took it was, the way that I took it was, you know, she was genuinely asking, like, is it possible? And then when I said yes, she just was like, well, that's the right answer. Like, if you're going to do it, that's what you got to, that's what you got to say, you know? So yeah, that was a, those are some reality check moments for sure because i i was originally thinking you know i'm going to share this story about the mind and i'm going to climb the central i didn't think that it would be as hard as it was and on that session when i was failing like that and i threw my glove i was having a reality check where this wasn't only really technically difficult This had to happen at 4,000 feet and 14 miles into this ride. And so I was kind of at this internal battle of like, this is way harder than I realized it was going to be. And so I was kind of battling with that with the frustration of getting hung up on the little rocks and pedal strikes and stuff. Yeah, that was wild.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

Yeah, I think there's a compounding impact of everything that you did before that. There was another section I think you did like 40-some-odd times, and I remember just watching that, and I was like, oh, my word. Like, I'm done. And that type of writing is so intriguing to me. There's a creativity and a different mindset that – You only see in certain people. And I could be looking at a section of trail. Tom could be looking at a certain section of trail. And you can be looking at a certain section of trail. And we're all seeing it totally different. But for you to go into that place in this particular section and have fail after fail after fail and readjustment, readjustment, and recalculation, I think if you would have said, I don't think it's possible, I think that team that you surrounded yourself with would have... said no that's not that's not you you know because it sounds like in addition to all the physical all the you know everything you did to train you surrounded yourself with like the best team ever right

SPEAKER_05 20:10

oh for sure yeah i mean the team is like like talking about how vulnerable the mind is you know like when i was really like i don't know if i can do this Or I wouldn't necessarily say that, but I would maybe, maybe they could sense it that I was feeling a little just overwhelmed. They would so confidently and so quickly just be like, oh, of course you got this. Like, you can do it. You know, like they would just show this belief in me. Mainly my wife, Nicole, Greg, my endurance coach and buddy and then kyle mears when they would show that sense of like oh yeah you you got this like you you you'll figure it out i'm just like all right i think i will okay i'll keep going you know so it was just like um it was massive i mean the people you have around is so powerful and um or those people that you let in to be close is so powerful. Not that there weren't other people around that showed belief in me, but those three primarily were such a help. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:30

That's great. I think it goes to show how valuable it is to have that circle of people that don't, do what you're doing as well. They don't know exactly what it takes or the finesse or the pedal arrangement, but they still believe in you and they share a perspective that's so valuable. It's beyond the things that you're seeing.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

I want to come back to the process, Brayden, with you. More specifics about the process. But I want to give listeners, watchers, some context here. And you can revise what I say. So what we're referencing, the film is called 8600. And it was this project where Brayden went to Moab over a period of months, years. And he rode what's called the whole enchilada backwards. So... For people who don't know, the whole enchilada is a famous mountain bike trail that starts at the top of the LaSalle Mountains and it drops all the way down to Moab. So you're dropping, you know, thousands of feet in elevation downhill. I think the total mileage is roughly 26 miles. Is that right? Yeah,

SPEAKER_05 22:42

something

SPEAKER_01 22:43

like that. Okay. So literally one of the best trails on the planet to go downhill is People get dropped off by shuttles, you know, they do it. I've done it, you know, I love it. It's amazing. Literally no one on the planet rides up it, let alone doing it in one continuous, you know, effort. There are famous spots on the trail where the drops are amazing. heroin, like to drop them. My, my son and I, James went back. He's so obsessed with the film. He's like, we got to go back. We got to go back. I got to see this notch. Like we, we came upon this notch and wrote down it. And it's shocking. Like the mind doesn't say one, go down it, let alone. How does a human come up this on a bicycle? So I just want listeners to kind of understand, like, I've been, I'm a novice, I'm a JV wannabe biker, but I've been going to Moab since I was young and I ride a lot of bikes to come upon it and to see like, what, how? So I wanna ask you this question of how. What is the process you're talking about? And if you don't mind, speak to this attribute that I think very few people believe that hardcore mountain bikers and skilled mountain bikers have vision, right? But there's something about watching what you do and how you see a line where in my head, I'm thinking, I think this guy's an incredible biker, but he has the vision of like a hockey player or a batter who sees 105 mile per, you know, fastball. Like, and someone alluded to it in your film that Braden sees it different, right? So what, talk about that, your process, but if you don't mind, like speak to vision.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

Yeah. Yeah, of course. You know, I think, you know, I, I've been really fortunate to do a wide variety of sports and that's, you know, Kevin mentioned it, pole vaulting, track and field, to ski. But, but so, so yeah, I, you know, I just done a bunch of different sports and those kind of allow me to, like, slope-style skiing, you know, I'm always looking for jumps and creative lines and different ways to hit rails and how to hit jumps to sides of landings. And then I, you know, BMX race, so there's an element of, like, rhythm and, like, trying to create flow through rollers and jumps to carry speed and momentum. And, you know, I also pole vaulted. So pole vaulting is super technical to like down to a science. So you have like your running speed, your acceleration, your inertia, your pole flex, your standards, your measurements that you have to hit, all of these crazy, crazy details. And so mountain biking is kind of that space that I get to do all of it. I get to get creative. I get to get super nerdy on the details and all of the super, super little things. And then I get to bring in all these different sports into this one that honestly is just the most fun that I've ever had. The mountain bike to me is just so... so great because you can go ride so many different types of terrain. You can get out and breathe fresh air and go ride solo or ride in a group and both ways are awesome. You can really do so much with the sport of mountain biking and I haven't found the level of enjoyment in any other sport that I've done and And so I guess, you know, you really, I don't know, I guess just when you really love something, you can just kind of do it your way. And whatever that means is great. It doesn't mean that my way is better than your way or your way is better than, you know, his way or her way. And I just look for inspiration from others and, you I guess finding my lines and doing my thing is maybe a little bit unique and that's cool to hear because I'm just trying to get out there and enjoy it and make sure that I keep enjoying it and stay true to the way that I want to ride.

SPEAKER_01 27:49

Is part of vision, just kind of going back to that because I'm curious, when you think about the creativity, is that really how you think through it? Is what am I creatively seeing and how can I bring my skill set to doing that feature creatively or, you know, doing this trick on that feature, you know?

SPEAKER_05 28:11

yeah i mean one thing that a lot of people wonder about is like why don't you trials hop it why don't you you know do that certain style of riding up the climb and um nothing against trials riding i think it's a really cool you know discipline in mountain biking but i'm not a trials rider at my core like i don't i don't i want to ride my bike i want to flow i want to pedal i want my wheels to be turning And so, you know, like I wanted to climb and I wanted to ride up the whole enchilada. I didn't want to trials it and like be hopping and, and bouncing and trying to get up the climbs that way. Because for me, that's just not fun. It's not what I, it's not what I worked super hard to be able to do. Nothing against that. Like, I'm sure that fuels people's stoke. in that realm. But for me, it's like, no, I want to find line choice. I want to find rhythm. I want to find flow up this trail. And so it looked different than, you know, let's say Danny McCaskill probably climbing the whole enchilada, you know, like he could probably do it first try. But that's not how I wanted to approach it. And therefore, you know, that's why It took me so many attempts because I wanted to do it my way. I wanted to climb this my way. I didn't care. Somebody else could go do this. Somebody else could climb it faster than me. Somebody else could trials it way quicker. It doesn't matter. That's not how I wanted to do it. I kind of just take influence from all the different things that I like to be inspired by. And then that kind of helps me in my approach to riding. And visually, I don't really know. I guess I don't think about it visually. I think about more of my state of mind and sense of flow. And if I can feel that, then however it looks is however it looks. So yeah, that would probably be how I'd answer that.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

That's awesome. I think there's such a what you alluded to. There's a creativity that comes with cycling, unlike any other sport where, you know, I grew up watching like Hans Ray, like hop up, you know, everything and just, you know, static on a bike, bouncing, climbing up stuff. And it evolved into as bikes evolved and technology and things and evolved into this flow where you Guys like you from BMX bring into this whole new style of riding, of jumping, and finding obstacles in the trail to pull energy from the trail. And you have a creative way of seeing things. And I love riding with new athletes or guys like you on a home trail. And I see the way that they approach a corner versus how I've been doing it or... And so then I'm like, Oh, that's, that was cool. I never saw that way. That's fun. And so it's just, there's a, there's a individuality that comes with riding a bike that

SPEAKER_02 31:37

you

SPEAKER_00 31:37

teach people the fundamentals and then let them blossom. And I, how you've done it, I think it's really cool because I'm sure you've actually had a huge impact on, you know, bikes and manufacturers, and with your sponsorship with Canyon, I'm sure they come to you a lot and be like, hey, how do we make this bike better? And now you're creating new events that are pushing not only the skill, but the bikes and showing the capacity. How does that feel after accomplishing so much and being able to kind of push the sport like that?

SPEAKER_05 32:16

Oh, that's super nice. You notice that. I think... You know, these bikes are incredible. And I think there's so many different styles of riding that people can fall into that fuels their soul. You know, whether that's cross-country riding, big endurance rides, or it's downhill racing, or it's free ride. For me, you know, I was never drawn to mountain biking because of cross-country. I was... a pole vaulter. I was short, bursty, explosive. Cross-country runners, as much respect as I have for them, we're completely different body types. And then I looked at downhill and I was like, hey, personally, I don't want to spend all my time nuking down rocky trails with trees. And that's just so dangerous. i want to be here for my kids and i'm 36 like maybe when i was a younger uh person maybe downhill would have been cool but like to me right now i don't care at all to go do that the space that i love is the trail i love the trail riding i love the all mountain riding which is going to moab and riding a whole trail up and down and around and feeling that connection to the earth, feeling that bike, mind, body connection as far as like athletically. There's so much to trail riding that I just love, like love so much. And so I've been able to just pour my energy and passion into this segment of trail or all mountain And it's just continued to develop. And that's why I'm really excited to keep developing the stuff that I'm doing, where right now I'm in the middle of creating a new segment, a new competitive space in the mountain bike world, and it's pretty much all mountain, where it's really aggressive climbs, aggressive raw slalom, technical rhythm trail, downhill and jumping, but it's like a really tight condensed track. And yeah, I did that last year and we're still doing it this year, trying to get it properly funded so we can have a great broadcast and great prize purse for these athletes. But yeah, I just really want to develop this space that I personally love so much. And I just don't see anything else in the space in that space. area happening and so i'm like you know i don't need to create this space to compete like i don't personally want to compete against anybody else like i just ride for me and that's how i want to keep it but i want to create i want to create something that's going to push this style of riding which is all mountain up and down any style of terrain, you better, you know, be ready to go. Cause, cause it's, you know, that's kind of like, it's like going on a ride in Moab, you know, you're going to get everything.

SPEAKER_01 35:56

Yeah, totally. Brady, what do you call that? What's this new segment you're referencing?

SPEAKER_05 36:02

Um, so it's called what we're, what we're calling our, uh, brand is called the hard MTB league. So hard MTB. Okay. And, um, Yeah, it's kind of like the all-mountain, short-track segment of mountain biking. Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

When I think through what you're doing now, I follow you on Instagram and just love to kind of see it, how you show it. There's clearly an artistry to it. I actually was involved in another podcast recently, and the host said this term, and I thought to myself, wow, that's really interesting to just kind of hear someone say it. But he said... There's phases of your career where you learn, and then you earn, and then you return. And, man, you've learned so much. You've earned a lot about sponsorship and what you're doing for a living. I mean, it's allowed you to earn, but now you're in this return phase, it feels like. Not that you're washed out, like you're in it, right? Yeah, yeah. But you're in a position in your platform to return now. all of this now knowledge and learning, you know, and build something new. And so when I see what you're doing on Instagram, I'm thinking, this guy's going into that next phase of like, he's a thought leader and he's building and he's returning so much knowledge and wisdom to the industry. So speak to that, like your passion to build now and return what you've earned.

SPEAKER_05 37:33

Yeah, you know, I appreciate that because, yeah, you know, I feel like I'm, I'm not just going to go climb another whole enchilada. I did it because I wanted to share the message. And sometimes people are like, what's next? And I'm like, not that. Not the double enchilada. Yeah. So I definitely got what I had hoped that project to be. And as long as I'm in cycling, I want to be... pursuing i want to be um developing and innovating and if i'm not doing that then i'm gonna go somewhere where i am doing that so um as long as i'm here in cycling and i'm and i'm making a difference i feel like then um you know i'm gonna i'm gonna put my energy and heart into that and um i think i think this whole all mountain competition, you know, I would just, I'm going to do the best I can at it. And, you know, I'm not, I'm not afraid to fail. It might be a total flop. It might not be able to get the support that it needs. But that's, I'm okay with that. You know, I'm trying to, I'm trying to create something for, you know, the sport. I'm trying to create something that's super spectator friendly, that can be put in all kinds of different areas that maybe don't have massive mountains, but it can still be a showcase of the amazing sport. And we can have a great spectator attending event, but also a global broadcast and online event and um yeah be able to really really uh just promote the amazing athletes talent bicycles everything about our sport that that i feel like we we have the the that we have you know available to us and um yeah maybe it's a maybe it's a lofty goal but we'll see and I'm going to give it my best efforts.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

That's really cool. I think there's a big entrepreneurial aspect of that, of maximizing this love and passion that you have for your job. And not everybody can really experience that. But I think I'd like to go back a little bit, back to 8600 and being brave. You're obviously a pretty brave person. athlete you know you send huge jumps big tricks going inverted all of that kind of stuff people would look at you and be like wow he's an extreme athlete like he could probably do anything right yeah he's totally a little crazy in there but tell us about when you kind of took the direction of addressing the mental health and the struggles and the mind challenge behind that. And from somebody who probably gets a lot of kudos of big tricks and smooth style, tell us about the interactions you've had after sharing so much of your story, being so vulnerable. And to me, that act of bravery was probably harder than any gap you've ever jumped, right?

SPEAKER_05 41:16

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, you know, I think it just comes down to I just feel so much gratitude for my life. And, you know, I've been really fortunate with amazing parents that have supported me more than I could have ever asked. I have an amazing wife, amazing in-laws, just been blessed to go and get a great education at BYU and have amazing coaches and I just think it comes down to this sense of gratitude that I have where I don't feel scared to be vulnerable because I've been so blessed, you know? And it's the least, it's just my own selfishness if I'm not vulnerable because I just want people to I just want people to do good, and I want people to be successful at whatever it is they want to go after and accomplish. And so when I was in 2016, when my cousin took his life that I shared in the film, it really... it really softened me up to where I was like, okay, I'm not going to hold back from sharing with people like if I love them to tell them I love them or if I care about somebody or if somebody needs help, like I'm going to, that's what, that's what I'm going to do. And, uh, and then with those two people here in Boise that took their life, I'm just like, I, I don't, I don't care what people think of me. I'm going to, I'm going to share my experience. And not that I've been in those situations or whatever, but I know that I've had my hard days and I've had my things that I've had to work through. And if I can at least share those and be vulnerable with my process, then maybe that can help other people. And as far as getting feedback from this, it's just like, It's so amazing to me because I know that the message that has been shared here isn't from me. This is just truths. These are truths that people are learning and taking it for themselves. And I'm just simply somebody that's sharing these truths with them. And the feedback has just been unbelievable for sure. I mean, we've had people message me that they're going into open heart surgery and they're struggling with belief that they can get through it. And they said, I watched your film and I was so inspired that I knew I could get through it and now I'm on the other side and I'm I'm getting better." We have other people that have talked about how they've been on the edge of taking their life and how some things that they got out of the film gave them the strength to pull themselves back into themselves. I've also had little experiences like the other night I was with this company and they had one of the kids, they invited all their kids to come and we talked about it and one of these little girls was just like, how do you just keep trying when it gets hard? And I was able to just explain to her how... It's all part of the process and failing is part of learning. I think just so many little experiences, whether it's with old or young or anybody, have just been super heart pulling or heart string pulling. It's given me way more than I felt like I put out there. And it's just been really life-giving. And, you know, that's, I guess, how it works is when you give, you always kind of get more, it seems like. And that's definitely how I've felt.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

What a great term there of give to get, you know, and not necessarily the intention of giving away to get something, but it just does. You know, there's a lift there. The film was so obvious about failing forward, right? you know, which is like, you could hear parents, kids could have, you know, a hundreds, you know, assemblies in their school, you know, speakers come and tell them like, failure is okay. And yet in your film, it's like, this is the literal definition to fail hundreds of times forward and to fell upward. You know, I mean, what a symbol, you know, that's just incredible. I love that. Go back to a little bit of the process, if you don't mind. Like if you were to say, here's my toolbox, right? I just spoke last week into a group of Utah high school coaches in Southern Utah, and the topic was the toolbox, the mental toolkit. So when you think about your process that you learn from incredible sports psychologists at the Y that you used in college, you know, your track and field days, you know, jumping over this incredible, you know, high bar. And then in mountain biking, what would you say is like, what are those toolkit items that have just made all the difference?

SPEAKER_05 47:42

Yeah. So there's a couple very, very specific ones. And one of them is controlling the conscious mind, right? You know, you have your subconscious that's built over your whole life and that's your perspectives, the way you see the world, the way you navigate challenge. But the conscious mind, controlling the conscious mind is so powerful because it's what you can do right now. It's what you control right now. And, you know, we've learned that the conscious mind is only five to 10% of your brain, but it, over time, becomes the subconscious. And so, you know, learning more about the conscious mind and all that it entails is super powerful. And, you know, in brief, the conscious mind can very effectively focus on two to three things. Any more than that, you start clunking over yourself, and you start trying to do too much, and you hear people saying, I'm trying to think too much, and I start clunking over myself. There's a law. It's called Hick's Law. It says the more you think, the slower you react. And so... Above three things, the mind starts working slower. But it is very good at two to three things. And if you don't fill the conscious mind with two to three constructive, dynamic, specific things, then it's just left open. And the law of occupied space starts playing a role where then... you can get doubts fears external influence coming into that space and creating interference you know it starts taking you out of the present it starts negative self-talk it starts interfering with you trying to get where you're trying to go so what i do with my conscious mind is i have cues i have two to three cues that i am filling the space constantly going back to i can do this in the film is one of them believe it or not as i said that a thousand times you know one of my cues to fill that space is i can do this the other cues were constantly changing but in each moment of that climb i had two to three specific cues i was working on And so some of them are breathe. Some of them are very specific, like power on a certain section of a feature, like where to put my power down or pedal placement or chest over bars, like really specific to help fill that space and keep external power interference from coming into there. Because it's kind of like the way that I describe it is, you know, if you have a garden and you just pull out all the shrubbery and everything and you just have a plot of dirt sitting there, I mean, it fills pretty quickly with weeds, you know. If you have shrubbery and a tree and some flowers all all of that underground is filled. It's filled with roots and with space. And it's a lot harder for weeds, they do come, but it's a lot harder for weeds to be sprouting up in a space that's filled. And so with that conscious mind, filling it with constructive, actionable cues is huge. And so that right there is a huge skill that I applied in this journey. Another skill is setting and making my goals adjustable, breaking my goals down into manageable chunks. Like I had to look at this climb and say, okay, this thing is 27 miles long. it is 8 000 feet what does that look like the first 14 no the first like 17 miles looks like this that's going to be about this much time then the remaining miles look like this at this elevation at this grade at this traction level and we had to pretty much reverse engineer and say, okay, you're going to have to be putting this kind of power out at 10 hours in the day, and you're going to have had to have done this, which we basically said a thousand burpees, just over and over and over and over and over for hours in that first section. So then we're like, okay, I need a base. So I started breaking down the kind of base that I would need. So all of a sudden I'm like, okay, I need the explosive physical power. I need the base mileage. I need the technical aspects of this climb dialed. And once I was just checking through and hitting all these goals in their own right and lane, I started to develop a true sense of confidence that i could do this you know like i could actually make this because i can make the snatch now yeah it took seven or eight hundred attempts but i knew when i made that snatch i could do it okay now that fits into the big puzzle here where okay i've put in the base miles now i know that i need to get through that first section I can hit the snatch. And then it comes down to diet, to mental fortitude, to the big long hours I put in the saddle to have the power to get up the final bit of burrow pass. And just like breaking down the big goal into manageable goals and chunks was so motivating and so confident, like confidence, confident building. I don't know if that's the right word. It was just... Very, very confident. I don't know the word.

SPEAKER_01 54:49

We got you. I mean, what you're describing is how to eat an elephant. Yeah, totally. I mean, what you just described through the last several minutes, I hope, like in my head when we record, I don't know why this is the case, but I always picture the 13 to 25-year-old Yeah. Right. break it down into segments. Like that's so brilliant the way that you describe it. So keep talking. I just want to say that, like, how do you eat an elephant? Like this is life's lesson.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

And real quick, Brayden on that with the confidence and how does that carry over into the next project or the next objective? And I, you know, you said, and people ask what's next and you never necessarily know. And, you know, the whole enchilada is not on that thing, but I would think that if you were to approach this notch again, you would have enough confidence and you'd be like, yeah, I can do this. Like, I've done it before. Yeah, it's insane. And it might take less tries.

SPEAKER_05 56:23

Yeah, exactly. I mean, it totally is the case. Like, when you do something, and that's why it doesn't matter how small of a goal you reach. When you reach a goal... You build momentum. You build confidence that you can do something that you set out to do. And so for that age group that you just mentioned, Tom, whatever they're involved in, if they are reaching a goal, you can't compare goals. You just focus on reaching your own personal goal. If you do that, that is a massive win. You should celebrate like crazy. That is a huge... deal because that momentum builds on itself. And you can go set another goal and you can reach that goal. If that goal starts feeling too far out there or too hard or discouraging, lower the goal. That's okay. But reach that next goal and keep building. Build all your skills. Build all of your experiences and take those to the next goal that you set. And like with the absolutely was a confidence builder that I can do stuff that you know I'm on the brink of even thinking is possible and I think that that's why I'm even setting out to do this new league and this new segment of mountain biking because it's a stretch you know it's a big goal but I'm gonna go for it I'm gonna I'm gonna take everything I've learned and I'm gonna try and and do my best and we'll see. It could totally fail and that's okay. We'll adjust it and keep moving forward. So yeah, I just don't think you can ever underestimate how important setting a personal goal is and reaching it and using that to set your next goal. Because the greatest thing that I've learned and have understood is self-belief. And if you can have self-belief, First and foremost, it makes everything else a lot more attainable.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

Yeah, so I want to dive into this just as we think through what Brayden just described for listeners. This self-belief, often people will say, how do successful people just keep succeeding? How do they just keep over and over and over? How is it possible that you just keep getting better and better? And yet there's a science of achievement. There's a science of accomplishment, you know, and you just described it all. And that, I mean, it's literally a science. It's called neuroplasticity. And I'm sure that your sports psychologist, you know, coaches you've had over the years described to you this, that, you know, when it comes to achievement, your brain literally says, oh, I'm capable. I've done that. And it expands what you believe. And so, I mean... the brain is capable of being trained to accomplish and achieve and to progress and again like the film was about that it literally was the progression of neuroplasticity and scaffolding self-belief that's why in my opinion that's why it was so compelling and so powerful and

SPEAKER_00 59:50

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 59:51

Yeah, I mean, and I want people to hear. Again, I think about that segment all the time because I think that people sit and scroll and go, well, I'm not capable. I'm not this athlete or I'm not this, right? The negative self-talk. Well, guess what? Neuroplasticity works both ways. It works against you and reinforces like I'm not capable or it works in favor of you. And so I love what you just said about these little goals. Just get up and go for a walk. Anybody could like just, or just get up and do the next one

SPEAKER_06 1:00:23

thing,

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

just accomplish the goal. And when you're done, you're like, there's confidence. Like, Hey, I'm capable. Like I set my alarm. I got up, I went for a walk and I'm home. I did it. Right. And you build on that. So

SPEAKER_05 1:00:34

yes. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:36

Speak to that demographic or anyone Braden, but just about the human's ability to do and become.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:47

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the um the neuroplasticity is is so massive and you know one thing that i've definitely experienced is you know there's these skills um of positive self-talk of filling the space um and just if you need to just fake it fake it till you make it you know you've heard that saying like just if if you don't have that self-belief if you don't have those healthy habits It's because what Tom just said, where the neuroplasticity, your thought patterns are already going in a certain way. And you can think of it as flowing water out in a creek. You know, that creek over time gets deeper and deeper and deeper, and it's way harder to, you know, re-navigate that water in a certain way when that creek gets really deep. And it's the same with our thought patterns. And when we are stuck, when our thoughts are going in a certain way where you see the world as the glass is half empty or I can't do this or I can't do that, it's really, really hard to divert that water. But if you just say, okay, I'm going to exercise. I'm going to try this new thought. I'm going to fill this space with these new objectives. I'm going to write this on my hand. I'm going to put it on my phone. Here's what I'm focusing on. I'm doing it. If it feels like you're faking it, that's okay. Do it. Just put something on your mirror. Put it on your phone. Put positive self-affirmations. Have a goal. Just do it. it might not even feel true to you if if your patterns are in another way that's okay like it will start to become you and that current of of those thoughts will start to shift um and that neuroplasticity that the way that those neurons are firing through your brain will start to become ingrained in positive in can-do mindset in self-belief like if if any of you go watch the end of that film um when i'm climbing the end of it you know it was so hard i was on my limit mentally physically emotionally everything but i can say that the neuroplasticity the way my thought the way my thought patterns had evolved over time was carrying me through those last bits. Because if you listen to myself talk, it's, I can do this. You got this, Brayden. You can do this. That had been trained for years and months. So when those days got really hard, when those moments got really hard at the top of that climb, That's how I was thinking. That's where the flow of thoughts and current was going. Versus if you spend time not developing your mind and letting those thoughts go down those patterns of, I suck, I can't do this, this is too hard. When things do get really hard, that's where your mind is going to go. And so it's so important as you're developing and feeling that confidence come from reaching little goal by little goal, you're training your brain to work in a flow and in a healthy state of that neuroplasticity so when big challenges or big things come, your thought patterns are working right. And so just don't ever underestimate reaching a small goal. Don't ever underestimate accomplishing something super personal to you because that is going to be with you that momentum that kevin mentioned you know that you can do more now that you can get through this will will so literally be right with you when you're in that next moment or that next next situation

SPEAKER_00 1:05:20

so good

SPEAKER_01 1:05:21

I don't know that anybody is capture rated in all the episodes we've done why Brainstoke was born. What you just described is so brilliant about scaffolding the tools so that they're there in the toolbox when you need to draw from them most. So good.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:42

So cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

Yeah, thank you so much. We'll

SPEAKER_05 1:05:44

keep doing what you're doing. Yeah, I mean, what you guys are doing is so impactful. And, like, you know, I've watched the other podcasts with other people you've had on, and it's just so important. And, like, sharing all of our experiences together, you know, having some young athletes, having some older athletes, having everyday anybody, you know, part of it is just it's all super important. We all can connect to it. And so I would just say keep doing it. It's super awesome what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:16

Brilliant. Thanks

SPEAKER_05 1:06:17

for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:18

Awesome. You've had your daily dose.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:20

Sweet.