Today's guest is Svein Tuft. Svein is a Canadian cyclist who rode professionally for almost 20 years with a list of accomplishments that will leave you gasping for air. He's won the Canadian National Time Trial Championships a total of 11 times, He's worn the pink leaders jersey in the Giro D'Italia, which is Italy's equivalent to the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. He's completed the Tour De France 3 times and finished a total of 10 grand tours. These grand tours are races that are an average of 3500km long over the course of 21 stages in 3 weeks with only 2 rest days. There are only 3 every year. One in Italy (The Giro), The ultra famous Tour de France, and one in Spain (La Vuelta.) With such a long lasting career, I was excited to dive into Svein's mindset regarding longevity, and he definitely had some golden nuggets to share on the topic.

Timing:

1:48 Start of Interview
5:00 Elite Level Athletes
10:59 How to Make the Legs Feel Light
18:30 Toughest Days on the Bike
23:30 How Svein Started Cycling
26:43 The Commercial Side of Cycling
31:09 Using Data vs. Listening to Your Body
37:30 Svein's Healthy Habits
43:13 Short Term vs. Long Term Gratification
50:45 Teaching Long Term Thinking
54:40 Talking Finances
59:21 The Golden Nugget of Wisdom

The Golden Nugget of Wisdom:

Mindset is tough to define, which is why I dedicate my time trying to clarify what the worlds elite performers have to say about it. My conversation with pro cyclist Svein Tuft has clarified a piece of the puzzle that I believe will help me live a better life.

When describing the common denominator between the worlds elite cyclists, the best of the best, he mentions that they have a narrowed focus on what they want to achieve, which translates to them not wasting ANY energy dreading the "shitty" parts of the job. They don't complain that they have a big workout to complete, or that the weather's bad, it just "is what it is..." it's what they do. It's as if they've figured out that negative thoughts drain our physical energy levels, and they need all the energy they can get.

This made me realize that our brain is constantly trying to determine whether what we're pouring our energy into is "worth it." And though it's a helpful tool that can help us avoid doing things that are a waste of energy, it's also a trap that can keep us lazy in our modern world. Here's what I mean:

A young, 20 year old Jeremy used to struggle with something as simple as cleaning the floors in the apartment. My mind had decided it wasn't worth the energy. I loved the idea of having a clean apartment, but I wasn't yet convinced that the 45 minutes of effort was worth it. Because those 45 minutes were filled with negative thoughts like, "This is brutal, why am I doing this? I'd rather get high and watch survivor." It wasn't the work that was the struggle, it was the thoughts.

But over the course of a decade the negative thoughts have slowed down to the point where there is no more mental struggle. It's just something that needs to get done, so I do it, without any self-imposed suffering. This may be a silly example, but I truly believe if we can start to notice these mental hurdles, we'll be able to slowly clean up all areas of our lives in days or weeks, rather than years or decades.

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