The Olympic gold medalist, Lindsey Vonn, talks to Inc.com about adversity, and how to tackle tough projects.
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00:00 I can't tell you how many times people told me that I wouldn't come back, I can't come back.
00:05 Vaughn over the top and she is down.
00:09 I had two ACL surgeries, MCL, meniscus. I have a plate and 19 screws in my arm.
00:15 People said it was impossible.
00:17 You have to believe in yourself because if you don't believe in yourself, who else is going to?
00:21 Perseverance. Continue in a course of action, even in the face of difficulty or with little or no prospect of success.
00:29 [Music]
00:33 I was 17 or 18 years old and I didn't finish in 50 out of 55 races.
00:43 I wasn't going to make the US ski team and I really had to figure out,
00:47 "Okay, do I want to quit? What can I do to turn things around?"
00:51 And instead of quitting, I decided to invest money I didn't have
00:56 and hired a trainer and recommitted myself to trying to succeed in the sport.
01:00 And actually the next season was the season that I got my first podium.
01:04 The most important thing in any journey in life is just to think about why you do what you do,
01:11 what motivates you, what drives you.
01:13 And I think when you really find something that you truly care about, it helps so much.
01:18 When I've been in hospital beds or in rehab, I just think of the reason why I'm doing it,
01:24 which is because I love skiing and that always gets me through.
01:27 When I was younger, I didn't really appreciate the work that it took to go into being a racer
01:34 and I undervalued it and I thought, "Well, who's counting my reps?
01:38 No one's counting. If I did nine reps instead of ten, who's going to know?"
01:42 The second you start to compromise with yourself, you don't allow yourself to be the best that you can be.
01:49 The hardest lessons that I've learned in my life, I wouldn't take back because as hard as they were to learn,
01:55 they always taught me something about myself or about life or about, you know, in relationships,
02:00 what I need or don't need.
02:02 A lot of them I wish I hadn't experienced and very painful, you know, either physically or emotionally,
02:08 but I think that's what made my successes even more sweet is because I had experienced all of those different adversities.
02:16 I've always had a good perspective because of my mom.
02:19 She had a stroke when she had me and she wasn't able to physically do most of the things that I enjoy doing,
02:25 but she always had a great outlook, like a great positivity about her that was never diminished,
02:32 you know, no matter how many times she failed at things.
02:34 Like she would try biking and she would fall and fall and fall, but she kept getting back up and trying
02:40 and always with the same positive attitude.
02:42 And when she was diagnosed with ALS, it was the same thing.
02:46 You know, she just was always positive every single day and it just, you know, it helped me and it still helps me.
02:55 And I just always think of her when I have a hard day.
03:07 My mission with the Lindsey Vonn Foundation is to empower underserved girls through scholarships and programs.
03:12 And I started the foundation when I was injured, which is probably the best thing that came out of my injuries.
03:18 Shockingly, so many people tell kids they can't do something, even when that's what they dream of doing.
03:24 Mental health and taking care of themselves and positive body image and bullying and all of the things that kind of go with being a young teenager,
03:33 we try to help encourage them and empower them and give them resources to be able to cope with things like depression.
03:38 And I've had depression since I was a teenager.
03:41 And in my retirement, I had a hard time dealing with the fact that something that I loved was no longer there.
03:47 For me, communicating that out loud was a really big deal and it was a really hard step for me to take.
03:53 Whether you're a founder or CEO or an athlete, when you're working exceptionally hard and you have success,
04:01 it can be really challenging and isolating and there's not really very many people you can talk to.
04:06 It's a difficult position to be in, and that's why I think it's important to have a non-biased person that can really help you.
04:13 Everyone needs different things.
04:15 It's just figuring out, "Okay, what type of outlet do I need to maintain a good balance for my mental health?"
04:21 Three important things to be successful at whatever it is you're doing is the belief in yourself,
04:27 your willingness to make sacrifices for those beliefs and where you want to go,
04:32 and having a support system around you to enable you to achieve what you want.
04:37 Because inevitably, we all have bad days and we will all need to persevere through adversity.
04:42 But if you can have those three things, I think that will set you off on a good path.
04:46 [Music]
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