In this episode, Nikou introduces season 3 of the podcast by talking to former NFL players Reggie Walker and David Carter about failing forward and how to find your best self through trials, tribulations and adversity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Mental health is something everyone needs to maintain and suffers from from time to time.
You become very aware that football carries a 100% injury rate, they tell you in the NFL that it's not an ‘if' thing, it's a ‘when' thing. As soon as you're thinking about not getting injured, that's your time to get out of there, because to do the job you need to be in a very special place.
If anything's bothering you, you shouldn't be on the field. With anything other than what's in front of you on your mind you will get hurt, as soon as you hesitate.
Any professional coach will tell you that sports are 90% mental and 10% physical. There are some monsters out there that can bench-press the world and can outrun a cheetah, but they'll be cut and out of league next week. The ones that last are the ones who have their mental down, they understand what their strategy is, what their tools are, what their weaknesses are. It's the same in life too.
You need to be regimented, you need to know you're putting the best possible product out there. You're competing each and every day, so you need to eat right, manage your relationships in and outside of the building.
Sports is all about relationships, the rest of the team could win without me and don't absolutely need me, but I can help to win more. So you have to be a good leader, a good follower, support people, gain their trust. You need to have a set of tools to bring to the game, not just one.
There's a lot of weight on you because it's a game of inches and there are 53 players on a team and only 11 on the field. I've seen guys get cut because they were around the guy who made the mistake!
Keeping the negativity from the press, the internet and the commentators – I have a special place of dislike for those guys, when you're watching a game, you can't ever tell definitely who made a mistake in a play.
When you tell yourself ‘I'm not gonna do this or that' you're kinda telling yourself to actually focus on these things. You need to say ‘I'm doing this solely and nothing else matters'. Meditation helps with that.
I've always brought curiosity to what I do and get excited About exploring something different, finding out something new about yourself and seeing where that takes you.
It's all about the setup. I've gone through a lot of abuse – mental, physical, sexual. I do belly breathing because it's hard to control thoughts popping up, but you need to get rid of those things to focus on what you need to get done. I go on a lot of walks throughout the day to think things through, sometimes I'll let the bad thoughts catch me as well sometimes and I'll sit with it and understand it because running and hiding from things can be damaging. Sometimes those things need to be processed and you need to listen to them.
An executive is the leader of a company, you have to come up with the ideas that make the money, you have to create a healthy environment for your employees. The best way to do that is to slow your ass down, look at what you have in front of you and come up with the best solution and figure it out. A lot of people make decisions when they're too close to the fire and they get burned, take a step back and look at all the perspectives. Meditation allows you to break things down in painstaking detail.
When I have any time to myself, as a Dad of three, I work on my breathing. You can always find a minute in a day to do this, even if it's while you're driving or in the bathroom.
The first 27 years of my life was filled with a lot of trauma and abuse. Sports was a safe haven for me and was where I could be happy. It wasn't the healthiest thing, looking back, but it drove me.
When I realised that I wasn't feeling better, despite getting all my emotions out on the field, I figured I needed to start with myself. Once I found that out, the chip on my shoulder disappeared and my need to play football went away and I never picked it back up.
The shocking thing was when I opened up about my abuse, I can't remember a single other player who didn't have a similar experience, but had never opened up about it.
A lot of star athletes who surround themselves with people that speak positively to them all the time. But the people who are the most valuable are the ones that not only tell you straight, but the ones that come with facts, the why and the because of what's actually happening. Some of the most valuable information you can get in life is also the most painful.
We can't learn things if we can't talk about things.

BEST MOMENTS

‘As the mind goes, the body follows.'

‘We need to sculpt our ability to focus, like a muscle, so you can get the best results from what you're doing.'

‘Cutting all the noise out is really hard, which is why focus is one of the biggest abilities to have.'

‘Humans are like computers, we only have so much bandwidth. You need to focus on what you want to create whether in sports or business.'

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Reggie Walker: Grew up a military brat. Had the blessing of living in situations where I was a minority, part of the majority population, situations where I had money, and situations where we were so poor we had to get food from the church. All of these different circumstances aided in creating a very unique perspective in taking on the world.

Also, from the age of 4 to 12 I experienced getting molested by a family friend. Growing up as well as my experience In the sports realm I experienced a lot of physical, mental, and emotional abuse as well. These unfortunate events had a profound impact on my mental well being.

To combat the effects of my trauma I funnelled all my feelings and emotions into sports. Sports became a saving grace in dealing with a mind filled with toxicity from the trauma I experienced. Sports became an environment in which I excelled, leading me to be a top high school football player, a college football starter, and eventual NFL athlete and team captain of 7 years.

In retirement, my journey of healing has led me to two stays at a treatment facility where I created the Personal Mastery School, a program built to help anyone find answers to how to find themselves, their purpose, and a plan. Using all the knowledge from my experiences, strategies that have helped me as well as others succeed in horrible environments, as well as knowledge from therapy, I put the Personal Mastery School together as an answer to questions I have known many of us as having in dealing with life and leading a good, successful, productive life.

I have also become a mental, physical, and sexual abuse survivor advocate, Tedx speaker, public speaker, consultant, connector, and problem solver for individuals and businesses. With my unique perspective from my varied experiences I have found myself to be of value in many different environments as a problem solver.

My goal is to help those who don't have guidance learn the essentials to guiding themselves towards their dreams and goals, find peace and confidence within themselves, learn the techniques to being a master strategist in their own lives in dealing with issues or problems, have the knowledge and system of effectively solving problems in their own lives, and be equipped with the knowledge to plan with an emphasis on fluidity. I want others to learn all these skills more so they can win the battle against their biggest enemy themselves and the unknown to move with confidence and tenacity towards their life mission.

David Carter: From football to food justice, David Carter aka the 300 Pound Vegan. Born in Los Angeles, CA, David began his commitment to strength and success on the football field playing college football at his alma mater UCLA, and ultimately the National Football League. David played for major teams including the Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Dallas Cowboys. During his professional football career David discovered the other side of pro sports; injuries, prescription medication, and excessive eating to maintain 300 plus pounds on his 6' 6” frame. One fateful evening, watching the documentary Forks Over Knives changed his personal and professional life. David abandoned meat and dairy, and embraced a vegan lifestyle.

For the past three years and counting David has used his NFL connections to spread the word about his mission to build awareness and educate the masses living in “food deserts” globally. “Food deserts” are defined as areas deprived of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers' markets, and healthy food providers. David spoke of “Oppression in the food system” at many universities around the world including Harvard, Penn State, NYU, UCLA and more. David is also a film producer and participant in leading NETFLIX documentaries Game Changers (including James Cameron, Bill Clinton, etc.) and What The Health.

Plant Based Athlete, Former NFL Food Justice Activist,Wilhe...