Win Today
Win Today is a performance enhancing podcast filled with actionable insights and inspiration to come out on top in life. Through captivating interviews and solo episodes, a powerful tool is created and given to listeners to be able to push through any situation in life.
Hosted by Ryan Cass, he delivers messages that align to his purpose of helping people establish a foundation for sustained success, break trends of adversity, and chart desirable courses for life. Win Today!
Win Today
#213 | Running Out Of The ICU: The STEP System To Transform Trauma Ft. Nick Prefontaine
What happens when life flips upside down in an instant? At 14, Nick Prefontaine suffered a traumatic brain injury snowboarding, was told he’d never walk or talk again — and ran out of the hospital less than 60 days later. His STEP framework (Support, Trust, Energy, Persistence) has since helped countless people take their first step toward recovery after trauma.
3 Takeaways:
- Your mindset shapes your recovery more than your prognosis.
- Focus only on what’s right in front of you to win today.
- Trauma can become the gift that reveals your true purpose.
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So I got to the top, buckled into my snowboard, took a breath of that crisp winter air and comfortably charged towards that jump with all my speed. And going into the jump I caught the edge of my snowboard and that's the last thing that I remember. So they wanted to bring a helicopter to the mountain to rush me to the hospital. They couldn't because it was too windy, so they sent in an ambulance and out of all the paramedics in the area, the county, there was only one who could intubate on the spot and I needed that to be able to breathe. He was one of the paramedics that showed up to the mountain that day. That showed up to the mountain that day. And there are still several things that I can't explain because of the accident, because of that day. However, now I know that one of the reasons is why I'm here with you and your listeners today. So, no matter the obstacle that you're facing in front of you, your first step is going to make the difference.
Speaker 2:Do hard things. Help one person, be good and do good, live a life of discipline, and you will always win. You have all the tools that you need to succeed. Welcome to win today. Tools that you need to succeed. Welcome to win today. Thank you so much for tuning in. My name is Ryan Cass and I'm your host. My purpose in this world is to help push people further and harder than they believe possible and become unshakable in what matters most to them in their lives. Every week, you're going to learn from either myself or a renowned expert in their field, and we're going to unveil pieces of our playbook to help you win today. Please, if you love this show, subscribe and share it with somebody that will benefit from it.
Speaker 2:Let's dig in. Imagine waking up in the ICU after you've just been out, having what was could be described as the time of your life, and then being told that you're never going to walk again. Now imagine, in that same moment or shortly thereafter, that you actually run out of this hospital and you defy the odds. And you defy the odds, defy the limits and really dig deep into what is inside of your mind, body and soul. To take that step, we've got Nick Prefontaine with us, who's the founder of Common Goal and someone who has defied the odds and helps people take that step in their life, whether it's defying the odds out of the ICU, breaking past a trauma that may have been holding them back and moving closer towards the things that they want most in life. Nick, honor to have you, man.
Speaker 1:So happy to be here, Ryan. As soon as I heard the name of the show, I was like, oh, we got to talk.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a-.
Speaker 1:Love the name of the show.
Speaker 2:Appreciate it. Well, I'd say. I'd certainly say that's what you help people do is win in however they define winning to be, and that's really resemblant of your life, especially post the incident which we'll certainly talk about. But before that, let's dig into the heart a little bit. What's the most important thing for people to know about Nick Prefontaine? That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 1:I would say really my journey, really my journey, the thing about me I would say and this is this has been ever since, before we get into the actual accident, the day of the accident this has been something that's been building my entire life. The work that I'm doing today helping, working with trauma, life challenge survivors, accident victims get through to the other side and be able to thrive with the rest of their lives.
Speaker 2:That is something, Ryan, that I've done for my entire life. I just never, knew how to formulate it and how, and it is my mission and commitment to deliver amazing episodes to you every week, where you will learn from myself or a renowned expert in their field.
Speaker 1:We love helping people win in every aspect of their lives and you can help us win by sharing the show with somebody that you believe will benefit from it, subscribing and leaving a rating and review with somebody that you believe will benefit from it, subscribing and leaving a rating interview.
Speaker 3:We believe that everybody in this world is meant to do something great with their lives and we're here now. I'm so happy today.
Speaker 2:Thank you for tuning in, and let's one thing I love on your bio that I, that I wrote down and I'm curious if you still would describe this as the opportunity. I like to say opportunity instead of problem, because all problems are simply opportunities, but the opportunity that you solve for people, and I quote everyone has a fire to walk through. I help you take that first step. Is that how you would summarize your work? In less than two sentences?
Speaker 1:I think it's a start, because there are so many of us out there who are stuck and frozen just because they don't know what first step to take. They see the path of their obstacle, their goal, their life challenge, what they have to overcome and where they want to get to where they were seems so far away. And really what we find is, once you take that first step, your next steps are always going to be possible. And that's the hardest part is helping people take that first step.
Speaker 2:A lot of people likely believe that, or rather, do you feel like most people hesitate towards taking that first step because they believe that the destination or the goal is 10 times further away than they may mentally perceive it to be, when in reality it's really much closer?
Speaker 1:I think, yeah, it's kind of twofold. There's a few things within this. So when people, especially people that first suffer any kind of injury is that they start to get down on themselves and they think, oh well, it's where I want to get to versus where I am, that's so far away.
Speaker 1:What really the only thing they should be focusing on is what's in front of them what's getting up every day, like I did, and just dealing with what's in front of you, doing the best and this is so funny that you came across my radar doing the best with what you have that very day, that very hour. If you win the day I wrote this within one of my newsletters or social media posts within the last few weeks If you win the day, you'll be able to win the week, win the month, win the year and soon enough you'll be closer, that much closer to your ideal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really comes to stacking wins, stacking days. Days lead to weeks, weeks to months, months to years, and boom. Next thing you know we've defied a limit. We've proven ourselves right, which is a concept that I've really come to love. Proving yourself right in that you can do the thing regardless of the circumstance. It may take longer than you believe or that you would like it to take, but we already have all the tools that we need, and I'm a huge fan of frameworks. So we'll certainly uncover a step, but I feel as if we're building some suspense right now, in that some people are already familiar with your story or the fact that we'll be publishing some. By the time this comes out, we'll have put some snippets out there and certainly created some suspense, but in this discussion, right now some people were teasing them.
Speaker 2:Some people are saying, all right, let's get into it. Bring us to this moment where your life reaches this critical inflection point, when you're 14 years old, and help orient us to who you're, with what mountain you're going up, how you're feeling, and help put us on that ski lift with you on that day.
Speaker 1:Sure. So that whole day and really my story really starts I was at ski club with my friends in eighth grade and if you can remember, if anyone can remember, whenever you get released a little bit early which is what happens when we had ski club, which is that day what we had it's always a big deal. So we got released a little bit early. My buddies and I brought our snowboard gear on the bus to get ready so we wouldn't miss a precious moment Once we got to the mountain. We got to the mountain, headed right for the chairlift with the rest of the class. They headed inside to waste, in our eyes, to time for two or three extra runs. So we were ready to go. We hit the chairlift.
Speaker 1:On the ride up, on the chairlift up the mountain, we noticed, ryan, that it was very icy because it had been raining earlier in the day and people were wiping out everywhere. And where the chairlift went over was actually right over the terrain park where all of the jumps were, and I knew as soon as I saw it that I had to go off the biggest jump in the terrain park. There wasn't even a doubt in my mind. I was already thinking about what we were going to do after I landed that huge trick Maybe grab a burger and fries in the lodge, or we could head over to the other trail and, for some runs on those trails, eyes in the lodge. Or we could head over to the other trailer for some runs on those trails. I was just happy to be there. So I got to the top, buckled into my snowboard, took a breath of that crisp winter air and comfortably charged towards that jump with all my speed and going up to the jump I caught the edge of my snowboard and that's the last thing that I remember.
Speaker 1:So they wanted to bring a helicopter to the mountain to rush me to the hospital. They couldn't because it was too windy. So they sent in an ambulance and out of all the paramedics in the area, the county, there was only one who could intubate on the spot and I needed that to be able to breathe. He was one of the paramedics that showed up to the mountain that day and there are still several things that I can't explain because of the accident, because of that day. However, now I know that one of the reasons is why I'm here with you and your listeners today. So, no matter the obstacle that you're facing in front of you, your first step is going to make the difference. So there was three things that really lead me to be able to tell this story today. The first I already shared the right paramedic showed up to the mountain. So, although the second one, although I wasn't wearing a helmet, I had a pair of goggles snowboard goggles on my head. I don't know if I was wearing them over my eyes at this point or if they were just on my head. I have to imagine they were on my eyes because of how fast I was going. They were very thick, with a lot of padding, and the doctors and the experts and like eyewitness accounts of people who were there told me that not only Ryan did they brace my initial impact and they continued to hit my head. They told me that with each blow, they moved to cushion each blow between the mountain, the ice and my head. So that was the second thing, the third being I got to the hospital. I was listen, I was out.
Speaker 1:I was in a coma, resting in the intensive care unit, unable to communicate with anyone, and the only people that were allowed in there at that time were my parents. So each time the doctors would, and this especially goes for early on. Each time the doctors would come into my room to share the not so good news not so good news not so good news with my parents and the prognosis, because hospitals and doctors, anyone that's been in an acute situation or trauma, any kind of a challenge, the doctors, can't paint a rosy picture. They have to give you, for liability reasons, a worst case scenario. So they started to share this news right in front of me and my mom stopped them. She said no, no, not in front of him, because she understood that even though I was in a coma, I was still taking in information. So she made the doctors step outside the room and once they were there, that's where they shared with my parents that I probably wouldn't be able to walk, talk or eat on my own ever again. They weren't even sure how long I was going to be in the coma. They weren't even sure how long I was going to be in the coma. So even if I made it out of the coma, there was a good chance that I probably wasn't, like I said, be able to do anything on my own again. So my parents, to their credit, they took the information, thanked the doctors and allowed me to treat it like any other situation. So this was no different than any other situation that I had faced up to this point in my life. I didn't know any of this, so they didn't let any of that outside noise get into me, so I ended up being in the coma. It was a partially induced coma because they had to wait for the swelling to come down in my brain because they were worried that if I woke up and panicked, the swelling would increase even more and I would have died. So that's why it was a partially induced coma and I ended up being in the coma for three weeks.
Speaker 1:I really don't remember a month, and it was a month after my accident that I was transported to a rehab hospital in Boston, and that's where my real memories start. So I vaguely remember being transported to the third floor, which was reserved for the most critical of cases. To give you an idea, they would have to support me sitting up in bed, two to three nurses helping me sit up in bed, and then I was still sweating profusely like I just ran a marathon or something. So the memories are hazy at that point. And then, when I was transported down to the second four unit.
Speaker 1:That's where a lot of my memories really start, like, oh okay, I got starting to get my feet under me, if you will. Um, the memories really come back. And it was right around this time, ryan, that I started to unknowingly use a system to not only make a full recovery but run out of the hospital, and that's a step system. That's what I teach to this day, like what we're doing today, like on podcasts and keynotes that I have and one-on-one work that I have with clients. What I can do is give like a 10,000 foot view and then, if anyone's interested, at the end I can let them know how they can download the entire step system for free.
Speaker 2:So step is an acronym, it stands for Can we, can we, before we do that Wow, I mean, I'm thinking through you start to come to life, if you will, but start to recognize where you are in this facility in Boston, and then, as you go from the third floor to the second, then more information and more is being made available. Have you been consciously told at this point that you may never walk or hear, or rather may never walk or live unassisted again?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:So the only people that know that are your parents.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that information never got through to me. Wow. So all I knew, all I knew was yes, that was the prognosis, but I didn't know that. All I knew was yes, that was the prognosis, but I didn't know that All I knew. As this happened, and okay, I had to get up, literally and figuratively, and because I wasn't able to get up at the beginning and just do what was in front of me that day, I had to go back to the podcast theme. I had to win the day, every day.
Speaker 2:And you literally ran out of the hospital.
Speaker 1:That's, yeah, that's. I'm about to share how that, how that came about.
Speaker 2:Let's do that, let's do that. I wanted to step out for a minute and just absorb that for a minute.
Speaker 1:I love your placement of the word step, so that's where I wanted to insert it. So step is an acronym. It stands for support. Make sure you have the support of your family and friends right from the beginning. This is going to have you falling back on relationships that you built prior to your setback. T is trust Trust that once you take your first step, your next step's always going to be available to you, and this also starts by trusting that voice that you have with inside of yourselves. We all have it with inside of ourselves and you have to follow it.
Speaker 1:And this is where the running out of the hospital comes into play. So I remember it was after I was on the second floor. At this time, however, I was still in a wheelchair. I still really couldn't enunciate, I couldn't really talk. I mean, at best it was a whisper. I can remember Ryan overhearing my parents talking with my team of doctors and therapists, and they would meet with them every week and they said what do we need to do to make sure Nick makes a full recovery? I can remember hearing them say that to the doctors and therapists. I heard in the back of my head you're going to run out of the hospital. So, even though I wasn't able to talk for the most part it was just a whisper, at best I was able to communicate that to the rest of the team, and then that is what our common goal became, what we are working towards and meaning every week. What are we doing to help Nick run out of the hospital?
Speaker 1:So E is energy. Maintaining your energy allows your body's natural ability to be able to heal itself. Medication has the potential to get in the way of that, obviously within reason. Here I mean that first night in the hospital cost a quarter of a million dollars. So if it wasn't for modern medicine, I wouldn't be here today. However, there's a use, time and place for everything. So a month after my accident, when I came out of the ICU, was a time that we needed to allow the body to heal itself, and the best way to illustrate this is after I had moved to the rehab hospital in Boston, I was still within a week or two of being cleared by the therapists and doctors to walk again. To walk on my own. By the therapists and doctors to walk again. To walk on my own. I could walk. I just wasn't cleared yet to do it on my own, without anyone's supervision.
Speaker 1:So I got up in the middle of the night and I would always have an advocate. I would always have either my dad or an uncle or my grandfather stay with me at night. So I always had someone with me and that was part of my support. And I woke up in the middle of the night and, as I shared earlier, I couldn't really talk. So I leaned over my bed and I said Bub, that's my grandfather, bub, bub, bub. And you couldn't hear me because my voice wasn't really back. So I managed to lower the hospital bed and make it to the bathroom. Nothing happened. I was able to get back to bed.
Speaker 1:However, the hospital found out the next day, ryan. They freaked out. They're like well, we can't have this a liability. I can tell you what we're going to do. We're going to give him this many cc's of this great medication and that will really make him so he's able to sleep throughout the night. And my mom heard this and she's like no, you're not Just tell him not to do that. So I say that if I didn't have an advocate there with me part of my support they would have just gave me medication to kind of make their I hate to say this because it sounds like I'm bashing like doctors and nurses or anything but make their jobs easier. It's just you have to have an advocate there advocating for you.
Speaker 1:P is persistence. So once you've taken your first step, keep getting up every day and taking your next step, no matter how small, and by continuing to do something every day, you are building an unstoppable momentum. So if you fast forward, less than 60 days later I realized my goal of running out of the hospital and it wasn't like my work was done right of the hospital and it wasn't like my work was done. Ryan, I had to continue to go to outpatient therapy for another six months, along with being tutored all summer long, five days a week, in order to continue on to high school with the rest of my classmates. And really, looking back at it, it's a little surreal to me that only I'm sure you can relate to this, your listeners can relate to this. When you're younger, especially like teenager, time is compressed, so something that's like six months away, 12 months, 18, 24 months seems like a lifetime. However, it's not really that much time, and the older I get, I'm seeing that.
Speaker 1:So only 18 months later after finishing my rehab from my snowboarding accident, I got my start in real estate and that was door knocking pre-foreclosure doors or homeowners that have received the notice of default letter from the bank. So my job I get this list, go to the areas where, in my mind, where the most amount of these were, which were not so good areas of cities, and I would knock on their door and try to set up meetings for one of our investors to meet with them the following week about potentially buying their home. And it took until several years ago when I had a mentor actually point this out to me. She said well, wait a minute, you were door knocking in not so good areas of cities only like 18 months after finishing a rehab from your accident. This was part of your recovery Going door to door, helping people out of their unfortunate situation. So it kind of took her reflecting that back to me to have me realize that, but it was definitely was part of my recovery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the framework. Anytime there's a framework that is simple to remember, such as STEP who doesn't forget that, and even how it's used take one step and support, trust, energy and persistence. That's such a useful framework that can be applied to so many situations in life, whether it's a trauma, starting a business, going after a big goal. I want to break that down a little bit more into the elements. There's a couple that stand out, both support and trust. Specifically trust One thing you mentioned within that is to trust yourself and become comfortable with your we'll call it gut, and intuition is how I interpret that. A lot of people struggle is in trusting themselves and building that confidence in themselves that they have the ability that they can take that step. What are some takes that you have for people that may be in that situation now to cultivate stronger trust within themselves?
Speaker 1:This goes back to a woman that I helped in the Minnesota area earlier this year, coaching one-on-one, and it's come up several times over the last several years. Is that people, when they have, when they have this, that when they get a diagnosis or they get a, um, kind of a playbook how the how it's going to work out based on their con, their condition, I guess you could say they'll they'll tend to jump the conclusions in their head, um and they'll. They'll finish the story for themselves in a negative way. And I always just have to tell people to step back. No, no, no, there's no reason to do that. Like, for example, this has come to mind I was working with this woman and the doctors had told her that, well, she isn't going to be able to do XYZ because she needs this very potent medication.
Speaker 1:It was like a liver medication. She'd been taking it for 10 years and it was causing all kinds of negative side effects. She'd been taking it for 10 years and it was causing all kinds of negative side effects, and she was almost finishing the. The doctors weren't saying that. She was almost finishing their sentences, their prognosis, in a negative way. Well, now I'm not going to be able to do this, I'm not going to be able to go and see my kids. I'm not going to be. I'm like no, no, no, like stop. There's no reason to do that. Just focus on what you have to deal with right now. Okay, in three days you have a meeting with all your doctors to kind of develop your next steps and bad everything's going to be. Just focus on the next appointment, the very next thing that's in front of you, and being the best you can to show up at that appointment as your true self, because if you're not doing that, you're just doing a disservice to yourself.
Speaker 2:I believe that's also helping the person be more mindful of the narrative that they're creating as well.
Speaker 2:And you got this woman to take a step back and even see and hear, more importantly, the outcomes that she's already creating in her mind that haven't even taken place. I was listening to an Ed Milet podcast this morning about the stories that we create in our mind and, if I'm not mistaken, there's research that shows that only 40% of what we put into our minds whether it's a current narrative or something future tense is actually true, or rather past tense versus future. We are often the creators of false likelihoods that we then deem as current and future possibilities. And you got this woman to slow down and look at let's look at right now, not tomorrow, not a week from now. Not what you're going to be able to do tomorrow, not what you're going to be able to do a week from now right now. And you got her to audit her story and the outcome I imagine for this woman was likely nothing to what she was telling you was going to happen. Is that accurate?
Speaker 1:that, yeah, I wanted to finish that. So she, um, she had all that. She was getting herself worked up and this was on a friday. She had an appointment with all of her specialists who were all independently telling her different things, all giving her grim scenarios. She had an appointment with all of them the following Monday afternoon and I remember just keeping her focused on those next steps.
Speaker 1:I remember the phone call because I said, please, let me know how it goes. I want to. We'll deal with it whatever it is, I'll like, I'll help, we'll, we'll get through it whatever it is, but let's get to that first. So I said let me know how that meeting goes. I'll never forget the call. And it was. I answered the phone and I said hello, she goes, I won. That's what she said and I started laughing. I said what do you mean? And she said they agreed, all the doctors agreed, to take me off of the medication. They're going to start weaning me off of that stronger medication and replace that with more natural, um like methods, uh treatments, um, supplements, so I don't have these negative effects. She was having memory loss, she was having tremors in her hand, uh, all this kind of thing. And I, I just remember that call Um, and I think that's that kind of brought me back, ryan, to why I'm doing this too is to help people like that. Like this is great, being here with you sharing my story from stage, that's great, but that's what really matters, I think helping people like that and there was a few things in your answer to me that I wanted to get to. So you said, yeah, absolutely want to give you examples of where that is taking place to this day.
Speaker 1:So after doing that doors in high school, I got out, I got my real estate license. I was working with buyers and sellers as a realtor and in 2012, I developed a voice issue, a voice challenge, where I was looking everywhere and no one could really give me an answer with why my voice was off. It sounded like really straight and like it was hard to get the words out and no one could figure out. Like. My natural doctor said it was fine. My regular MD, my medical doctor said it was fine. They're like oh, I don't know. They checked all my levels, thought I was fine. My regular MD, my medical doctor said I was fine. They're like oh, I don't know. They checked all my levels, thought I was fine.
Speaker 1:I ended up, long story short, going to all kinds of specialists allergists, all these doctors on my own over the course of a year and I finally wound up at a voice specialist office in Boston in August of 2013. And the guy Dr Song, his name he walked into the room, heard me speak and right away, nonchalantly goes oh, that, yeah, we deal with that all the time, we'll get you fixed in no time. Goes to the front desk and schedule a Botox injection in a couple weeks. And I was like I was, my mouth was like on the floor, I was, I was sold hook line and sinker, I guess you could say. And I got scheduled. Um, and I started getting botox injections into my throat that month, august 2013, along with their higher level voice therapists, um, to kind of retrain my throat muscles back to how they were before I developed any issues. And going through that kind of it taught me that, um, okay, I, I have something here.
Speaker 1:Not right away, because at first, obviously, I had a lot of work to do. I had to get through it. So I look at my accident and being in a coma and having to learn how to walk, talk and eat again and running out of the hospital. I just look at that as oh yeah, that's something I did when I was younger. It was like a blip that came up. When I was younger, anyone would behave and react the same way. However, then, after I had this voice challenge issue that I had to deal with, I ended up getting Botox injections for seven full years and working with their voice therapist too, like right in concert with that.
Speaker 1:My last Botox injection that I had to get was in February of 2020. To get was in February of 2020. So I think I was. I think I'm more proud of that because of how long it took. I may have recency bias, but I think I'm more proud of that.
Speaker 1:And after getting through that, I was like, okay, I have something here, like I need to be, I need to be sharing this with the world. Right along with that, right in concert with that, I've always had this voice in the back of my head since I got out of high school, telling your story from stage and helping trauma survivors or life challenge or accident survivors get through their challenge and then thrive with the rest of their lives. So that voice has always been here and I actually let my real estate license go. So after someone heard me talk in September of 2019, she approached me and said I'm not trying to steal you from your dad and your family real estate business. However, if you're ever looking to fine tune your message and bring it to another level so that it has maximum impact and reason, you can help the most amount of people. I can introduce you to a few coaches and mentors that have helped me along the way.
Speaker 1:Well, I wasn't ready yet because, as I said, the timelines batch up. I was still going through the final throws of my voice issue. However, I always hung on to her card. So in May of 2021, I finally reached out to her and I said okay, I'm ready. Before her, the longest I talked was maybe 15, 20 minutes on stage, and I thought that was a big deal. Now I know what that is. So, tricia, I worked with her and she was the one who helped me launch Common Goal. I built out several of my keynote talks, where I'm now giving 50 and 60 minute keynote talks, plus to brain injury associations and other organizations that support individuals that are going through trauma. If you would have told me that I'd be doing that, this is what I'd be doing like five years ago. I would have told you you'd be nuts. However, now there's no voice in the back of my head, so I know now I'm doing exactly what I was putting this earth to do.
Speaker 2:Isn't it great how trauma can often serve as one of the best gifts we'll ever receive in this life. I bring that up frequently, as that's even the reason why this podcast and my coaching programs and keynote speaking exist. It all goes back to childhood trauma as the catalyst, and many of the people that have been on this show it's their catalyst as well, and it's beautiful to see how it all comes together and ultimately serves as the best fuel we can receive. One thing I'm curious about, nick, is how do you get people to build a strong relationship with that trauma and see it as a gift?
Speaker 1:It's funny that you phrase it that way and that you introduce it that way, because I always say when people ask me, would you go back If you had the opportunity to go back and change anything, would you change anything? I say no, 100% not. I'm doing what I love to do. I'm where I am today because of what happened to me. I wouldn't change a thing. However, if you ask my mom, she disagrees with me, she'll say oh no, I wouldn't go through it, I would choose not to go through that. So what I put them through. I mean it was easy for me. Well, not easy, but it's convenient. I guess is a word for me to say I'd do it again. I didn't know any better. However, put them through a lot. I guess you could say To your second question of seeing this as a gift.
Speaker 1:It's hard in the moment, and I'm sure you understand this as well. It's hard in the moment, especially right after something happens, which is kind of where I'm, I'm falling into. I'm like I'm entering the picture with a lot of people is like right after something happens or shortly after something happens, it's hard to Get them to come around to. Oh okay, everything happens for a reason. You're going to find that out later. We just have to I stress to people you just have to focus on doing what's in front of you. You just have to do the best you can with what's in front of you. That will come, yeah, but I don't think it's until a little bit later after they're a little bit further down the road of recovery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's certainly difficult right in the moment. It often doesn't come as an instant discovery that, oh, this is great, that, oh, this is great. And some of these traumas that we experience, there's no way that some of them can be instantly viewed as gifts. I mean in that I think about people that have lost others to horrible circumstances, but that's also what then gave them the platform that they have today to inspire people all over the world. And in addition to what you said about your parents, I don't know of any third party that would sign up to see what they had to see, especially their son, their loved one, going through that in the ICU.
Speaker 2:One story I often share on my journey to qualifying for the Boston Marathon, it took seven years. Little did I know I was going to get hit by a car on a training run and also wake up in the trauma unit and to my parents telling me what had just happened. No one would sign up for that. But I'm sure that your parents would and have no problem watching you get up on stage over and over and over again to inspire people, to help people take their first step, and it all goes back to that one thing that they would never wish for again, just as anybody would. Nobody would wish for someone else to go through the things that they did to give them what they have today. If we all got to write the book of life and every chapter in it, we wouldn't have traumas, we wouldn't have deaths, we wouldn't have divorces, we wouldn't have so many of the things that give us the greatest things that we could ever and sometimes have never, could have never imagined in our lives. A little bit of an untraditional ending on the pod, as we would typically dive into a discussion about what winning is in addition to the rapid fire. But there were some technical issues.
Speaker 2:So closing this one out and I believe Nick's story is a testament to the power of a strong framework and belief system.
Speaker 2:He mentioned the STEP framework, which is very simple to put in your back pocket right now, and focusing on the P and really looking at his journey from being told he was never going to walk again to the voice issues that he encountered to now being a keynote speaker to audiences all over the country and reaching people internationally as well.
Speaker 2:Persistence how persistent are you being as it relates to crushing obstacles and, as it relates to the pursuit of what you desire to create most in this life, nick, we can see that persistence theme emerge in the most notable founders, ceos, leaders and athletes that we often talk about. I'm finding more and more that behind every success story, that there is some set of conditions or one major condition that ultimately served as the driving force and catalyst for people to do what they do today. I'm actually hard pressed to find somebody, or think of somebody right now that I know that has done something, or think of somebody right now that I know that has done something magnificent with their lives that hasn take a step today towards your goals, towards crushing your obstacles, and use that step framework to continue pushing forward and win today. Thank you you.
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