Watch as writer Andrew Solomon gives a powerful call to action to forge meaning from our biggest struggles. What struggles have you faced? How can you learn from them?

Career

Learn how to overcome adversity.

Surfing, rock climbing, lacrosse, fencing, juggling? Pinpoint something you've always been intrigued by and then find a tutorial, class, or club where you can try it out!

Advice

Start a sport or activity you've always wanted to try!

Don't compare yourself to someone else's achievements, but instead start something and keep at it and everything will work out. Learn how perseverance could equal success! 

Skills

Watch a TED Talk about perseverance. 

Athletes

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Second Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

First Interest High-Point

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Athletes and Sports Competitors

Athletes, Coaches, Umpires, and Related Workers

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations

Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers

Attend scheduled practice or training sessions.

Participate in athletic events or competitive sports, according to established rules and regulations.

Exercise or practice under the direction of athletic trainers or professional coaches to develop skills, improve physical condition, or prepare for competitions.

Maintain equipment used in a particular sport.

Maintain optimum physical fitness levels by training regularly, following nutrition plans, or consulting with health professionals.

Assess performance following athletic competition, identifying strengths and weaknesses and making adjustments to improve future performance.

Represent teams or professional sports clubs, performing such activities as meeting with members of the media, making speeches, or participating in charity events.

Receive instructions from coaches or other sports staff prior to events and discuss performance afterwards.

Badminton rackets

Balance beams

Baseball catching gloves

Bicycle motocross BMX bikes

Bowling balls

Boxing gloves

Competition javelins

Competition sailboats

Competition shot puts

Competition skateboards

Competition snowboards

Competition surfboards

Competition water skis

Core strengthening wheels

Cross-country skis

Cyclical variations in adaptive conditioning CVAC pods

Digital video cameras

Diving platforms

Downhill skis

Dressage whips

Elliptical trainers

Exercise bicycles

Fencing foils

Figure skates

Fitness balls

Fitness dumbbells

Fitness treadmills

Football training dummies

Football training sleds

Glute-ham benches

Golf drivers

Golf putters

Golf wedges

Gymnastics grips

Gymnastics rings

Gymnastics trampolines

Gymnastics vaults

Hammer throws

Horse bridles

Horse reins

Ice hockey skates

Ice hockey sticks

In-line skates

Lacrosse sticks

Laptop computers

Lower body weight machines

Metal baseball bats

Motion analysis equipment

Mountain bikes

Parallel bars

Personal computers

Ping-pong paddles

Pommel horses

Pool cues

Portable archery targets

Power stairclimbers

Precision archery bows

Race starting blocks

Recumbent exercise bicycles

Regulation basketballs

Regulation field hockey sticks

Regulation footballs

Regulation soccer balls

Regulation volleyballs

Relay race batons

Riding crops

Riding saddles

Road bikes

Row machines

Sculling boats

Softball bats

Speed skates

Spring diving boards

Squat benches

Squat racks

Stability balls

Sweep-oar boats

Swimming goggles

Tablet computers

Target shooting arrows

Tennis rackets

Therapeutic exercise bands

Therapeutic sandbags

Throwing discus

Track and field hurdles

Tractor tires

Uneven bars

Upper body ergometers

Vaulting poles

Vaulting springboards

Weighlifting analysis equipment

Weight plates

Weighted vests

Wooden baseball bats

Email software

Facebook

Motion analysis software

Twitter

Web browser software

YouTube

I was born a quadruple amputee, but if I could go back and change the way I was born, I wouldn't - my disability has actually enabled me to make a huge impact.

MMA Fighter/Wrestler/Owner

(female narrator)  Everywhere you turn,  people try to tell you  who to be and  what to do,  but what about deciding  for yourself?  Roadtrip Nation is a Movement  that empowers people  to define their own  roads in life. This past summer, teams of Roadtrippers crossed the country  hoping to gain insight  into their lives.  On the road, they met all  kinds of interesting people  to learn how they  found their way.  This is Roadtrip Nation. (female #1) Right now the  trip is this perfect  balance  of being happy  and comfortable,  and then struggling through  stuff and being uncomfortable. It's the only time I've had that really good balance. (Aaron) Before I left, it was about pleasing other people.  As this continues  and as we see the  next new city,  and meet the next  interesting person,  I'm more skewed towards doing  what feels right for me, rather than trying to make everybody happy. ♪♪ (Autumn) [singing "Georgia on My Mind"]  ♪ Georgia on my mind ♪ (Liz)  Sometimes it feels like  you do so much with your day  that each day is  like four days;  You feel like you've  done so much. (Aaron)  We're going to  speak to Kyle Maynard,  who owns No Excuses  and is a wrestler. (Aaron)  He does a lot of  martial arts,  he was a model for  Abercrombie & Fitch...  He's got a really impressive  story of perseverance. (Aaron) Hey Kyle, how's it going? Good to meet you. Hi, it's nice to meet you. Hi, I'm Autumn. Nice to meet you. (Aaron) We're all 24, right out of college or about to get out of college. Where were you at that phase? And how did you get to where you are right now? I'm in the same boat as you guys. I'm 23 and just kind of finding my own path. ♪♪ (Kyle) I started wrestling when I was 11 years old, basically because my dad got me into it. I went out and got my butt kicked by every other middle school kid I went up against, 35 times in a row. My dad tricked me into coming back and continuing wrestling my seventh grade season, and said he didn't win a match his whole first year. It wasn't until I interviewed him for my book that I found out that had been a blatant lie, but he'd gotten me to stick with it. Before I was capable of making decisions for myself, my parents had rooted in me that I needed to find a way to persevere in things that mattered most. Whether it was figuring out how to feed myself or clothe myself... day-to-day activities. And then down to athletically: They wouldn't let me quit in the middle of the season. It just went a long way. They taught me not to give up so easily. I really gained confidence and progressed from there. I went to high school, wrestled on the top varsity team, was one match away from becoming a high school All-American myself. [crowd cheering] So with the gym and the path you're headed down now, do you feel 100 percent that this is the right track for you? [laughs] Not every day.  I mean there are some days  where I wake up and wonder: Is what I'm doing right now going to be the right thing for me long-term? I have no idea. My biggest complaint with the American system, and just graduating high school, going to college, and getting a job is that the common progression is to prepare you to be an employee...you don't have to. There's avenues to be able to go around and make something happen and build a business around something you love. I feel like that's been a big passion of what I've been able to do with the gym and other projects: I love working out and staying fit and being around people, so why don't I make a business around that? It's tough sometimes but the feedback from people is incredible. I mean, it's a blessing. The most common question I get is:  If I had the chance to meet God and change the way I was born, would I? And I think the honest answer is no. I never would have dreamed that as a middle school, high school wrestler I would've been doing anything other than just going out there to have fun on the mat, not realizing it would have the impact that it may have had on people down the road. "Never give up on your dreams.  No excuses.  -Kyle Maynard" (Liz) Thinking of all the things Kyle Maynard has gone through... The disadvantage he was put at from the very beginning-- I almost feel guilty for not having done more. (Kyle) Have a safe trip. I'm jealous. Have fun, guys. (whole team) Thanks! (Liz)  What's my excuse for   not doing that?  And you really  don't have one. We're going to get Autumn to exercise! If Aaron bought me the biggest Cinnabon at the Cinnabon place in the mall, I said I would do Turbo Jam with him today for the full time. This is the outside, this is the inside... I ate the thing. (woman in video) A big smile and now you have it. You guys ready to party? (woman in video)  Now, start off small, we just  need you warmed up. (Autumn) What are we doing?  (woman in video)  Pump, pump,  pump, and jab! (Autumn) [laughing] I can't watch this! (woman in video)  Do a tight crunch  from side to side. (Aaron) This is Liz's  navigating move. (Liz) Yeah! (Liz) Great job guys! (Liz)  It's nice being away from  the pressures of home,  because home is  a very nice thing, but there's going to be pressure coming from all sides:  from friends, family,  siblings, whatever.  I think when you're away  from those pressures  it gives you time to figure  out things for yourself. (Liz)  I have six siblings.  In my family there are four  girls and three boys. I was the only one in my family to graduate from college, my parents included. So there's a lot of pressure from my family to do well. I got a degree in forensic anthropology and archeology, and a certificate in the forensic studies. It's quite a mouthful.  So basically what I'm trained to do is tell you the approximate age, sex, ethnicity, trauma, and stuff that happened to a person before they died. It was a big switch going from pre-med to anthropology. I got a lot of flak from my family. My parents said I'm not going to make any money with anthropology, but that's what I found really interesting. [phone ringing] (Liz) This is Bill Bass! Hello? Hi, Dr. Bass. How are you? This is the perfect time for Bill Bass to call her back. (Liz) The reason I was calling you earlier is to see if you're still available to meet with us. Perfect! Did you get the little letter I sent you? (Liz)  Dr. Bill Bass...He's this  forensic anthropologist,  and he's just done so  many awesome things.  He started this research  facility to study  human decomposition, which  had never been done before.  He's just done so many things  for the field of anthropology. He's someone I really want to talk to, so I'm really, really nervous. Nice to meet you. It's nice to meet you. Hi there,  I'm Aaron.  (Liz)  I ended up taking an  anthropology course and found it really interesting, but it wasn't until they started the forensic aspect that I was just like... You got excited? Yeah, I got excited about it. Good for you. You're a good girl. [laughter] ♪♪ (Bill) I was an only child. I grew up in a family-- My mother and father both had college degrees, which is uncommon. I was born in 1928, so I'm 80. My mother was a home economics teacher, and my dad was a geologist. I went to the University of Kentucky and got a master's, and met Charlie Snow. Charlie Snow was the head of the department; He was a forensic anthropologist. I was in the lab studying osteology...studying bones. And he came in one day and said, "I've got an ID case this weekend, would you like to go?" I said, "Yeah, sure, I've been reading about this..." So about six months before that, two trucks ran together one morning outside of Frankfurt, Kentucky. They burned, and when the fire was out there were three people in the two trucks instead of just the two drivers. Well, who was this third individual? We went out and he was able to make a positive identification of the woman. And it was, "Aha! That's what I want to do!" It was like you see in the cartoons, where the light flashes... [making explosion sound] All of the stuff I'd worked on all these years... And we go out...and it's the only case I ever threw up on. From then on I've never thrown up on a case, and there have been gruesome ones. And from that day, in that rural cemetery in eastern Kentucky, when the light dawned, I switched everything towards the forensic area, and it's the best move I ever made. I mean, I never had a midlife crisis...I really didn't. I could be sitting here, I'd have a headache, it'd be a Friday afternoon... The Tennessee Bureau would call and say, "We've got a dead body out here on the interstate, we need you to come." And before I got off campus: adrenaline flowing, headache's gone. There was nothing better than a dead body to make my day. (Liz) Thank you for saying that! (Liz) Everyone makes me feel weird for that. [encouragingly] Oh...no, no, no! If you know my background a little, you'll know I've lost two wives to cancer. I hate death, I hate mourning, and I hate funerals... I don't like that scene at all! But the interesting thing is: I never see a forensic case as a dead body; I see it as a challenge. Do I have the ability to figure out who that individual is, and what happened to them? (Liz)  How do you personally  define success? And do you feel that you've reached the point of success? That's a good question... Well, success is not the amount of money you make. I think it's more of an intellectual-- (Bill) In all honesty, if you gave me a pile of bones I could sit here all day and really enjoy it.  (Autumn)  Liz too...It's like  Christmas for Liz.  (Liz)  I know, I feel like a kid  in a candy store right now. (Liz) I know how you feel because I could spend hours in the osteology lab studying.... (Bill) Well you ought to pursue that, really. (Liz) Thank you so much. I could just sit here and talk to you all day. Well I've enjoyed this too. This has been fun. Do I have your address? You do, yes. Let me have that. Okay, let me.... That's my home number. You can call me anytime you want, okay? Aw, thank you! Wow, I really appreciate that. (Liz)  It was really cool to be  able to talk to someone  who knew where I  was coming from,  because there's a lot  of people that think I'm weird for what I like. (Liz)  After speaking   with Dr. Bass, it made it a real mental possibility, in that it's not going to be near impossible to go out and work in the mass graves, like I really need and want to do. I think it's going to be difficult to get up and leave the home environment, but I've felt ready to do that for a while. It's a scary notion, but I think this is the change that I need. ♪♪ (Autumn)  Does anybody  want to swim? (Liz)  You really want  me to tell that... "Hey, we're sneaking into a pool." (Autumn) Hey, this is editing room material. [sneakers squeaking] (Liz) Shh! (Liz)  I think my favorite times are  when we all have the downtime.  When we're hanging out and  enjoying a new city. I'm going to miss it! ♪♪ (Autumn) We're at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky! ♪♪ ♪♪ [laughter] ♪♪ ♪♪ (Aaron)  We're in Cleveland now,  and we're on our way  to meet with Van  Taylor Monroe. (Aaron) He was voted one of Cleveland's most interesting people,  and that's how  we found him.  He left a really  high-paying job  because he decided he  wanted to paint shoes. Hi Van, I'm Autumn. How are you doing, Autumn? Good, how  are you? (Autumn) Nice to meet you. This is so cool. (Van) I was born an artist. I was painting ever since I was 2 years old, and I always had art on the side. I've been doing this since 2003...painting tennis shoes. I've been doing art all my life. ♪♪ I graduated from college, and knew I wanted to do something with business. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do. My passion wasn't there, but that's where the money was at. I'm thinking,  "This is how I pay bills, "I'm gonna have a family... I'll just paint on the side." I went to be a broker, an account executive, for a logistics firm in Cincinnati. But it got to the point where I couldn't work because I kept hearing, "I gotta pursue my dream as an artist." By the end of the week, I couldn't do any of my sales calls or follow up with any of my accounts. I was on a large account, and it made it so I had to leave. So I got up and I walked over to my manager and told him what I was going to do. He was like, "You can make $200,000 a year here. How are you going to leave to be an artist?" I was like, "I don't know, it's my passion. "That's what I'm going to do... Just gonna step out on faith and I'm gonna do it" And I left. So when you decided to quit your job as a broker, and tell your family: "I'm done doing this, I'm going to paint." How did you deal with that reaction? (Van) I knew people were going to look at me sideways and say, "Why did you do that?" Because they didn't see my dream, but I never thought it'd get as worse as it got...as bad as it got. So December comes and I was still not able to pay my bills. Still wondering, "Am I supposed to paint murals?" Because I was painting canvas, trying to sell it, and nothing was moving. January comes and I get an eviction notice on my door. I'm like, "I can't go home. I got younger brothers "and cousins who look up to me. I have to make my way out of this," because I wanted to show them that when things got tough I didn't give up. I fought through it. If I was homeless I was going to get back on my feet, and I was going to make this a success story. And I remember praying, and just looking, like... "I had the perfect job! I was making money... "Lord, what happened? You told me to leave and here I am about to be homeless!" So the eviction notice is on my door. This is January of 2008. I'm listening to Barack Obama's speeches. He's inspiring me, and a lot of things about Obama that I was catching onto was the thought that I could achieve what I put my mind onto, no matter how hard it was. And in my dreams that Obama shoe came to me, and I woke up at 2 o'clock in the morning and painted that shoe. And I normally don't paint shoes for myself, so I painted that shoe for myself. I took a picture and  put it on my MySpace. No big deal, didn't think nothing of it. Next thing I know, people are calling me, like, "Your shoe is on www.BET.com. Your shoe is on this website." I was in the Wall Street Journal ... The Wall Street  Journal ! [laughs] ...with a painted tennis shoe of Barack Obama. And then will.i.am wore my shoe to the BET Awards. The shoe got on display at the DNC and the first big thing that happened was the Smithsonian emailing me. And I thought it was a joke...I said no. I had to call the lady and say, "Are you serious? "You want my shoe in the largest museum in the world? A painted tennis shoe that I did?" And she was like, "Yes, we want it, it's beautiful." And I cried...I was almost homeless in January. Had I quit a month before I made that shoe... Had I quit an hour before I made that shoe, and decided, "I'm just going to forget about art..." This would never have happened. That's going to be submitted and be there forever, as long as this Earth is here. I'll be long gone, and that shoe is still going to be there, all because I stuck to my guns. And I was sitting there like "Wow, I could have quit!" I was about to be kicked out of my house, and I didn't quit and look what happened! Your heart is like a GPS system. A GPS system in your car will tell you which way to go, but it's not going to turn your car for you. It'll say, "Turn left." You're going somewhere you don't know the directions to, so you're making a left, and you're like, "Okay, I'm following this... Hope it knows what it's talking about." And sometimes a GPS system, it will re-calibrate and it will say, "Alright, you didn't make that turn, but I'm still trying "to get you to your dream, your destiny... So now you gotta make a U-turn." So it will still try to help you. You might not listen, like I didn't at first. But it was still telling me, my heart was still speaking to me. Like, "Man, quit your job...quit your job! I'm going to tell you again tomorrow: Quit your job!" You don't know where you're going, and that's the scary part about it. And I think a lot of people are afraid of pursuing their dream because they don't know what's behind the next door. They don't know what's around the corner. You can make a lot of wrong turns, and it will continue to calibrate. But if you continue to go down the wrong path, just like if you were going to the movies, by the time you made it to that movie it was going to be over. And I think a lot of people wait too late to listen to their heart. So I say listen to it while you can, 'cause you don't know when your show's going to be over. Listen to it and follow it. (Autumn)  The thing I found  surprising about him  was he didn't sound  like he hated his job.  It wasn't like, "I hated my  job and I loved painting.  That's why I gave it up."  He was okay with his job.  It was cool, he'd make  lots of money.  But painting was  like...everything. (Liz) So do you want to put Van here? (Autumn) Perfect. (Liz)  Aaron has yet to  meet that person  that can really help him,  and I think that's gonna be  coming up in  Washington, D.C. I hope in a lot of ways, what Liz experienced with Bill Bass...the same thing happens for me. And I probably shouldn't be putting it up on that type of pedestal and expecting that, but that's what I'm hoping to experience. (female announcer)  Roadtrip Nation extends beyond  the program you just watched.  It's a Movement  that includes  students creating their own  Roadtrip experiences.  Here's a quick snapshot of the  Movement in the classroom. I'm Gloria. I'm Leonel. And I'm Kimberly. And this is our Roadtrip. [laughter] You guys didn't say, "One, two, three." (all) And this is our Roadtrip Nation! I'm scared about what I want to do after high school. Take 1,000. (Gloria) We're starting college applications and under that tab that said "career" we didn't know what to put. (Leonel)  Going into it  I didn't know what  I wanted to do.  It was fun working as a  group to get the calls,  and researching who  we wanted to interview. (Kimberly) I want to do something in medical school and we interviewed an anesthesiologist. (male #2) I thought I was going to be a family practice doctor or a pediatrician. Very few people leave medical school doing what they said they were going to. Things you thought were true about a particular field turn out not to be. No matter what you go into, make sure you have an open mind. A lot of people start with a very narrow thing they want to do, and miss all kinds of other things. (Gloria) We went into Roadtrip Nation being scared, but after we came out of it, we just... I guess we all learned it doesn't matter what career you're in. (Gloria)  As long as you are  happy, it's okay. (Liz)  We are in  Washington, D.C. (Liz) It feels like I've been gone at least  a month and a half. (Barney) Don't think that what you're now deciding is what you have to do for the rest of your life. Don't overload the decision's importance. (Liz) I'd rather fail and do what I think is right for me than not do anything. (Margaret) We're programmed as kids to be afraid of falling. (Margaret) As soon as a child falls the parent snatches them up. (Margaret)  Here, you better be within your comfort zone to fall. (female announcer)  To watch more  interviews from the road  and listen to the music  that keeps us driving,  visit www.roadtripnation.com.  Online you can learn more  about the Movement  and how to bring  the Experience into  your classroom. ♪♪ ♪♪ 

<div>Aaron, Liz, and Autumn settle into life on the Road, enjoying each other and the cities that they visit. Driving on to Georgia, they interview Kyle Maynard, a young man born with congenital amputation, who became a college award-winning wrestler and an entrepreneur. From there, the team heads into Tennessee to speak</div>
<div>with Dr. Bill Bass, forensic anthropologist, which is a significant moment for Liz. In Cleveland, they visit with Van Taylor Monroe, sneaker artist, whose custom-painted Obama sneakers were donated to the Smithsonian Museum. </div>

Atlanta - Cleveland

(Kyle) I'm in the same boat as you guys actually. I'm 23 and I'm just uh, kind of finding my own path. I started wrestling when I was 11 years old and it was basically just because my Dad got me into it. I went out and just got my butt kicked by just about every other middle school kid that I went up against 35 times in a row. And uh, my dad like tricked me into coming back out and continuing wrestling my seventh grade season and said that he didn't win a match his whole first year. And it wasn't until I was interviewing him for my book that I found out that had been a blatant lie. But he got me to stick with it. Before I was really capable of making decisions for myself. My parents had rooted in me that I need to persevere in things that mattered the most, you know? Whether it was figuring out how to feed myself or clothe myself. You know just day to day activities. And then down the line to athletically. They wouldn't let me quit in the middle of the season. It just kind of went a long way, they just taught me not to give up too easily. I really just gained confidence and kind of progressed from there. I went to high school, wrestled on the top varsity team, was one match away from becoming a high school all american myself. So for you and like the gym with the path you're headed down now, do you ever feel like, like 100% this is the right track for you? [laughing] (Kyle)  Not every day. There's some days, you know where I wake up and just wonder, "Is what I'm doing right now, is that going to be the right thing for me in the long term?" I have no idea. My biggest complaint with kind of the American system and you know just, graduating high school, going to college and then getting a job, is that the common progression is to prepare you to be an employee. You don't have to. Theres ways and avenues to be able to go around and make something happen and building a business around something that you love. And I feel like that's been a big passion of what I've been able to do with the gym and with the other projects. It's just, I love working out and staying fit and I love being around people so why don't I make a business around that? It's tough sometimes but you know, I mean the feedback from people is incredible. I mean it's a blessing. Probably the most common question I get is if I could have a chance to meet God to change the way that I was born, would I? And I think the honest is answer is, "No." I never would have dreamed that as a middle school, high school wrestler I would've been doing anything other than just, you know, going out there to have fun on the mat. Not realizing that it would then have that impact that it may have had on people down the road. "Never give up on your dreams. "No excuses, Kyle Maynard." 

Interview

I had a guy yesterday on Facebook that sent me a message that was really powerful. Basically saying that he'd been in an accident and was paralyzed and just wanted to seek advice because he was, it's kinda hard to go through the day to day and saying that [COUGH] he didn't wanna listen to anybody else who hadn't been through the same things. >> I can't even imagine going through adversity on that level, but its like you know maybe some of the lessons and things that I have gotten to experience you know, just makes it a little bit easier to be able to impart something on someone else. 

Inspiration

Support For Others

In December we opened the gym in 2008. About three months after we opened, I decided that I was going to fight in mixed martial arts for the first time. And I've been really subject to a lot of criticism and hate. Even for pursuing some of the things that I've wanted to do the most. People saying awful things when I went to go and fight in mixed martial arts. There were literally hundreds of thousands of comments online. Just hating and bashing me. And I think that maybe some of the detractors and people that didn't wanna see me go out and compete in MMA and achieve one of my dreams. I think one of the reasons that they probably felt the way that they did is because in some way, they might not have had the courage or had given up on something in their life that might have been equally as taxing. 

Negativity

Fighting In MMA

Probably one of the coolest weekends of my life as through Cross Fit what we do here at my gym the founder of Cross Fit came there. Cross Fit's now probably one of the biggest blossoming fitness trends in the country there's over 1,100 gyms in america and its just within the last five years it started to grow and we went and put on a certification seminar to certify 22 wounded vets in CrossFit as CrossFit trainers so that they could eventually become a trainer themselves. Gym owner, possibly. Just maybe for their own fitness. And seeing these guys, it went from almost like a caged lion kind of look. These guys were the alpha males, the people that are defending our nation on the front lines, to having some type of debilitating, severe injury. In combat and then coming in and doing what we did with some of these adaptive workouts, and bringing that intensity back out of them, could just see their eyes light up and just change completely and it was just a remarkable thing, remarkable experience being able to work with those guys was, it just changed me. So much. Cuz any time that I start to feel sorry for myself, I gotta remember, these guys lost something. These guys have given up an arm, or a leg, or maybe both for my freedom. And if they can overcome their challenges, then for some of the things that I've had to face, I mean it's just, nothing in comparison. Pales in comparison. 

Self-Reflection

Working With Vets

No Excuses is really just a self-analysis of what is in my way of getting to where I want to be. And if I don't know where that is, you know necessarily that specific point, and that's okay. You know, as long as I feel passionate about where I'm heading, and I'm helping other people along the way. If you feel like right now you are stagnant, you are not growing in any quest that you've got as an individual, then something's holding you back. Find what that barrier is, and find a way to work around it. You know, find a way to get over it. You know and that way you can open up the doors to help more people than you ever would have imagined before. 

Perseverance

Struggle

No Excuses

Were you afraid when you opened the gym? I mean, yeah? >> Big time [LAUGH], I was scared out of my mind. I signed my lease in August of 2008, basically right as the economy was just falling apart. And it was just frightening. And right now we're on track of even what I thought we'd be able to do in a good economy. So I think it's been an awesome experience cuz I know if we can make it work right now, we can make it work anytime. So in a lot of ways, for the challenges that we face right now, I mean it's a blessing. 

Fear

Opening the Gym

There's so much stuff that's interesting, like politics and news, and art, and marketing, and all of that. It's hard to, not like you said, just dabble in all of them. And then if you pick one and like I did with marketing and then you hate it for three months, I mean how do you not automatically think, oh, that's it- [CROSSTALK] >> I'll jump back into this group of things I like. >> Probably the coolest think I've learned about the quote unquote real world is that you can make of it what you want. If you didn't enjoy that position in marketing, then it might not be the easiest path to take, but going out of your way to go and starting your own business, to go and find something that works for you that you enjoy could be an awesome route. I guess having somewhat of a direction that you're just walking in, I think is the key. As long as you're moving forward. I don't know. That's probably the most important thing, cuz a lot of people just go through life aimlessly and are just sort of satisfied with where they're at. And I think that would be a pretty sad way to go through the day to day. And if you'd stuck with that job, in three months turns into three years. Now you've got a mortgage and family and it's like you're settled and you're dependent on that. That could turn into 30 years and I’ve only got one life to live so, I mean, we gotta be able to make the most of it. 

Job Dependancy

I'm in the same boat as you guys, actually. I'm 23 and ah, you know, just uh, kind of finding my own path. I sort of wrestled when I was 11 years old. And it was basically just because my dad got me into it. You know, went out and just got my butt kicked by every other middle school kid that I went up against, 35 times in a row. Before I was really capable of making decisions for myself, my parents had rooted in me that I needed to find a way to persevere in the things that mattered the most, you know. Whether it was figuring out how to feed myself or clothe myself, you know, just day to day activities. And then down to athletically, they wouldn't let me quit in the middle of the season. It just kind of went a long way. They just taught me not to give up so easily. My biggest complaint with kind of the American system and, you know, graduating high school, going to college, and getting a job is that the common progression is to prepare you to be an employee. But you don't have to. Th-there's ways and avenues to be able to go around and make something happen and building a business around something that you love. 

Kyle Maynard Highlight

I started wrestling when I was 11 years old and it was basically just because my dad got me into it. I went out and just got my butt kicked by every other middle school kid that I went up against 35 times in a row. And my dad tricked me into coming back out and continuing wrestling my 7th grade season. And said that he didn't want to match his whole first year. And it wasn't until I was interviewing him for my book that I found out that it had been a blatant lie. >> [LAUGH] >> But he got me to stick with it. 

Family

Hard Work

Passion

How I Started Wrestling

Kyle Maynard

MMA Fighter/Wrestler/Owner

Videos

Kyle Maynard

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Entrepreneurship

Sports

Learning / Being Challenged

Hurdles

Challenges I Overcame

Physical Issues

Kyle Maynard

MMA Fighter/Wrestler/Owner

Videos

Kyle Maynard

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Entrepreneurship

Sports

Learning / Being Challenged

Hurdles

Challenges I Overcame

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