NFL Player Reveals What WINNERS Focus On For SUCCESS | Eric Wood & Allison Maslan

You think you're stuck right now? Well, it might be time to pivot on this episode of Scale or Fail. I'm going to share with you an amazing NFL player who pivoted at the height of your career. So inspiring. Don't miss it right now on the Scale or Fail show, everyone. Welcome to the Scale or Fail show. I am Alison Maslin. I am your business mentor and I am the CEO and founder of Pinnacle Global Network where we mentor business owners all over the world. And on this show, I bring the most amazing inspiration, inspiring guests that have really found success and had a lot of trials and tribulations along the way. And today is definitely not an exception. Eric Wood is a former NFL player for the Buffalo Bills. A three time captain named to the 2015 Pro Bowl, Eric was also the Bills nomination for the Walter Payton man of the year award in 2015 and 2016. When his nine year career in the NFL was ended by a severe neck injury. Eric was forced to make a huge pivot in his life and career. And I know many of you are pivoting in your businesses as well. So this is so inspiring. Since retiring from the NFL, Eric spent time working with his foundation, which he founded in 2014 to support crime, chronically ill children and their families. And he is now the host of his own podcast, what's Next with Eric Wood. Which covers everything from business to personal growth and has a five star rating on itunes. So, Eric, thank you for coming to the show. I'm excited to have you on.

Yeah, thanks for having me on, Allison. This is a treat.

Yeah. So there's so much that I want to ask you, so much I want to talk to you about. You clearly have had an unbelievably successful career as a center in the NFL. Really the top out there in the world. And now you're helping all these families. Can you tell us a little bit about your time as a football player? Like when you think about this long period in your life, what do you hold most closely to your heart from those days?

I mean, it was, it was a special chapter. It was a dream come true. I grew up playing football, so to play football in the National Football League was an absolute dream come true. I got to spend my entire career. There is pressure with both jobs.

Yeah. You have to be careful now they'll create a meme about you or something like that. So now the only time that an offensive lineman is. Is recognized like positively during the game is when you. Well, actually not positively. You recognize when you do something wrong.

Right?

They notice that holding, penalty or offsides, not necessarily recognized during the game, although you were recognized in your career with so many incredible accolades, but not while you're playing, even if you're consistent doing the job right. Was that hard for you or did that not matter?

It creates a lot of pressure because you could give up one sack in a game, and now all of a sudden, you played a terrible game because that's all you remember from the day before, and that's all anyone knows about. And, you know, honestly, we know what we signed up for as an offensive lineman, and that's fine. We actually take a lot of pride in the fact that we do our job so that other people can get the credit. And it's kind of a servant's mentality, and it takes a certain amount of continuity within the group to get everyone to buy in that. Yes, we may not get the accolades and. And we may not be in the headlines, but we're allowing other people to do that. And we, trust me, we are rewarded handsomely by our paychecks, and we get accolades, and there's a lot that comes with it. You get a platform to do great things as an offensive lineman, but it's probably harder on the moms and the wives and the girlfriends because, you know, their boy or their man is not getting the credit maybe they think they deserve. But as an offensive lineman, you know exactly what you signed up for.

Yeah, I would imagine there's a lot of thought that goes into that. And, you know, I thought about that, though, because I think a lot of people really struggle worrying about what other people think of them. Like, it really stops them or paralyzes them in their life. Do you have any thoughts to that at all or how you've been able to let that go?

Yeah, you know, I don't have many regrets from my football career because, you know, I think everything kind of works out the way exactly how it should have. And if I say, I wish I would have changed this player, I wish I wouldn't have given up this sack, maybe everything would have worked out differently, and I wouldn't want to change it for the world. But one of the things I wish I would have done earlier in my career is just appreciate the fact that I'm in the NFL and that you don't have to be perfect. And someone told me earlier in my career, like, those guys get paid, too, because I was so hard on myself. I was so demanding, and that's always been my personality, but I was so demanding on myself that I Probably truly didn't appreciate it and until later in my career and I started doing this thing probably in year seven. So with three years ago in my career, we lived about a five minute drive from the stadium. And when I would go in in the morning around 6 ish a.m. the stadium lights would be on because it'd still be dark out. And I would drive in a complete silence and just think to myself and fill myself with gratitude and think, in this moment I am going, I get to go to work for the Buffalo Bills. It's not, I have to, I get to go to work. And yes, today might not be fun and I may be sore, but this is a dream come true. And, and I still have a job. No matter what happened in the game yesterday or what will happen this week, I'm likely going to still have my job based upon the standing I have with the team. So I'm going to appreciate this moment. So I wish I probably would have had that earlier in my career. And to your point, I think the comparison game, that's the biggest robber of joy in our country. And it's never been easier to compare yourself with as an athlete with another player based upon highlights, running constantly in social media. And then now with just the comparison machine and Instagram and looking at everyone's best life and everyone putting themselves in their best light, there's never been a worse time for you to try and compare yourself with others.

Yeah, it really is. Every time you do that, you're just putting yourself down.

Right.

So. But that's so powerful. You know, I get to do this and you know, I feel we all have those blessings.

Right.

In one way or another. And to regularly tap into that, that is a gift right now. What was the heart now you had. I'd like to talk a little bit about the transition and we were talking a little bit earlier before we started the interview. When you're sharing that a little bit with me, and that was so powerful, can you just share the story of how you found out about your injury and you know what happened and you know that, that transition.

Yeah. So in 2017 it ended up being a pretty magical season for the Buffalo Bills. We broke a 17 year playoff drought, which I was a part of for nine years. So there was just so much tension built up. Were the Bills ever going to make the playoffs again? When is it going to happen? And it was pretty magical about how it happened. At the end we needed to win our final game and then when we won, we went to the locker room and got to watch the end of the other game that we needed to. We needed that outcome to get us into the playoffs. So we watched a fourth quarter comeback that was just phenomenal as a team. And so it's this magical moment. We make the playoffs and we go down to Jacksonville. We lose in the opening round. And I'll never say losing that game was. Or that that game was a win. Win either way, because if we won, we were advancing in the playoffs. And if we lost, I was going to go home and I was going to be able to make the birth of my son, which I would not have been able to if we won that football game. Now, me and my wife had already talked about it. I was still going to play in that playoff game, and hopefully it happened on maybe a Tuesday or something. And Garrett would have came and I could have come home and then come back up to Buffalo, but my wife was in Louisville with our daughter Grace, and, you know, getting set up to have the birth of our son. So I'm going to leave the facility. And the day after the NFL season ends, we have what's called an exit physical. Everyone has to get checked out. And. And that's when you kind of tell them, like, I had this going on this year. Okay, do you need surgery? What are the. The. What are. What are the next steps for you for rehab, training, whatever it may be? Well, I was the only player on the team that year to play 100% of the snaps for the Bills, the only one. I was a Pro bowl alternate, so likely going to the Pro Bowl. So I said, hey, clear me for the Pro Bowl. I'm good to go. I'm the only player that played all the snaps. Let me drive home and I'm going to go make the birth of my son. And they said, well, you. You did have some stingers this year. Go get an MRI on your neck. I said, everyone gets stingers. My high school teammates got stingers, and nothing ever happened. And they said, just grab an MRI on your neck and you can go home. So three days later, I get a call in the hospital room 50 minutes before my son Garrett's born. And so I get this call. My wife said, go ahead, go take it. We kind of assumed some news was coming. I was thinking, oh, no, I'm going to have to have another surgery. I had six lower body surgeries in my career. I'm thinking, oh, no, here comes another surgery. And I found in that moment that my career is over. So we go with this crushing moment with getting that news. To 50 minutes later, a healthy baby boy comes. And our little daughter, Grace, we already had her, she was 2. Now we have this healthy baby boy and it's just an absolute dream come true. But then we lived in the aftermath for the next coming days where we couldn't really tell anybody that my career was over because we were seeking more opinions. And I didn't want everyone to say, to be hung up on my career when we should be focused on the baby and all that. Well, I had family that was saying, when are we making Pro bowl plans? Who do we need to root for? And this and that. And it just created this time of turnout turmoil for us, and it made that initial transition pretty tough.

How did you get through that? I mean, first of all, it was such a paradoxical moment, like a miracle, and then this huge letdown of a. This is your lifelong dream, this is your career. You were at the height of your career. I mean, how did you get through that period without, you know, I don't know, major depression? You know, so many people have a dream their whole life and then it ends. Either they accomplish it or it just doesn't pan out and it really can. Can lead to some pretty serious road ahead. How did you deal with that?

Yeah, most players in the NFL don't get to hang it up on their own terms, but I had just signed a contract extension before the season, so I had more job security than maybe anybody else on the entire team because they had just paid me all this money that I had a front loaded contract that I was going to get to play out in Buffalo. And I was the first. We had a new regime in the Buffalo Bills front office, and I was the first player they extended. So they had identified me as a guy that they wanted to build the franchise around moving forward. So I had all this job security. I had no backup plan. It wasn't like I was slowly working my way into broadcasting or real estate or a number of things that guys like to transition to when they're done playing. So I really had nothing to hang my hat on. I knew I wanted to lose some weight whenever I was done. I mentioned all my lower body surgeries. I knew I wanted to lose some weight to make my joints feel better. And I'm a man of faith. So I, I had some memory verses that people gave me to kind of wrap my mind around to get my mindset right. And I have this great support system in Louisville and then around the country. Loving parents, supportive wife. You know, I had all this support that in the moment I was thinking, oh, this happened for a reason. I can't wait to see what God does with me next. I can't wait to see the impact. Well, months go by and there's no job offers and I'm becoming a stay at home dad when I really never envisioned that. And I'm waking up thinking, what's it matter if I work out today? What's it matter if I even get out of bed at 6am like I normally do, or 5:30am like I normally do, or if I sleep till noon? It literally doesn't matter. And I got in what I was calling a who gives a crap mode. And that's what I see guys get into. And so you break this routine of what you've always done and it becomes this really tough transition once kind of the high of everything wears off. And it was a low point, but I was building myself up for this transition moment, like, ok, I'm going to lose the weight, I'm going to get a job. God's going to put me in front of all these people to make this impact. Well, none of it came true. And the bills because of some contract stuff didn't even Release me until May 31st. So I wasn't even in line to be able to get a job because then I would technically be retiring and then I would be forfeiting my injury, guaranteed money. And that became an entire mess. And then that led to some animosity with the team. So the team that I was so close with, now I'm not even welcomed back up there. And I don't know what my relationship is like with them. And it became a very tough time. And I know that everyone struggles in transition and that's something I've been able to pour into people now is, you know, I never had anxiety in my life. I didn't know what anxiety felt like until I was standing around and just trying to get stuff done around the house or helping out here and helping out there. And. And then my wife one time it was like 7pm and she's like, you do realize you haven't sat down today. And I'm like, well, I feel guilty. Like I should be doing something. I don't deserve to sit down. Like if I was sitting down before I was recovering from a workout or I was preparing for the next day, like I have no workout that means anything the next day. I don't have a practice or I don't need to perform. So it became this crazy time.

Wow. And so what would you say to someone right now that is going through a difficulty transition and is feeling those things, what would you say to them?

Yeah, first off, I'd say get in a routine, some type of routine, whatever that may be, whether it's workout, whether it's meditation, whether it's eating right, like, you have to be fueling yourself and feeding yourself the right types of information. Read the right types of books. Don't sit there and scroll on your phone. Like, that's step one. Like, find a routine. And the routine for me was I'm a man of faith. So it was filling myself daily with, you know, whether it was reading my Bible or listening to podcasts of sermons or uplifting people. But let me find myself, like, let me fill my mindset for this transition. And that was kind of step one. And then step two is take some action. So go try and find what your next step is going to be, because it might not just fall into your lap. You know, God may have these plans for you, or, you know, this may. This transition may have come at the perfect time for you, but not if you just sit around and wait for this magical moment to happen. Go try and make something happen.

Right. Just really like you did in football, you know?

Exactly.

So, yeah, I can imagine, though, is when you had this purpose in this thing that you're. You're building and everything you're doing is going towards that all these years, it's like you have to then rebuild those routines.

Right.

And so that's. I love that as far as the meditation and, you know, continuing to have somewhat of a schedule.

Right.

So.

And I still don't have all that figured out. That's. That's part of the reason I wanted to talk to you and we connected was, hey, and this is two and a half years later, you know, now mentally, I feel like I'm in a much better place. And I get to do broadcasting work now, and my foundation still doing great things, and I'm doing my podcast and I have all this stuff going, but it's like, okay, what fueled me for the longest time was I wanted to be the best center in the NFL. I wanted to be the best in the world at what I did. Okay, what do I want to be the best at now? And I know I want to be the best husband I can be, the best dad I can be. But, like, career wise, where am I going to make my impact? Because if I just kind of have all these balls in the air and I don't commit to something, I know where that's going to lead. And that's not. That's not the impact I feel like I can make.

Yeah. And, you know, thank you for sharing that and being so vulnerable, because I think that, you know, people will look at you, you know, you're this big guy. You've had this amazing, successful career. They might think, oh, he doesn't have fears, he doesn't have insecurities.

Right.

So what would you say to that?

No, I definitely do. And I can play the comparison game. I talked about that earlier. I can play that so fast in my life. I can look at these guys who have maybe retired after I did, and they're further along in the media industry than me already. Or maybe they've lost more weight, or maybe they know exactly what they're doing, or maybe their podcast is better. Whatever it is, you know, by nature, I'm a people pleaser and I'll compare myself and, you know, I'll try and I'll put a ton of pressure on myself. And we were talking before, you know, during this time, like, how are we capitalizing off of this time right now, this little bit of downtime? Well, even there, you could put so much pressure on yourself. If you start looking around and reading too much and comparison comparing yourself to others and not saying, hey, that person does that really well, I'm happy for them, you know, and that's. That's probably the appropriate and the correct posture and not, oh, I should be doing that, or I wish I was doing that, or I should have done that.

Yeah, you know, I think that's a really powerful point. And thanks for sharing that. I think the real sign of personal growth, and I think it's so normal to look and say, oh, I should be. And especially if you're a driven person like you are, you wouldn't be. You wouldn't have created all the success that you've had in the accolades if you weren't driven. I'm a driven person, too. And there is that competitive spirit.

Right.

That's part of you. But I do think when you get to that shift and you're like, oh, that's awesome, I hope that they're super successful with that. You know, coming from that place of generosity, that just feels really good.

Absolutely, I agree 100%.

So tell me about the foundation and what has been your inspiration with that and what's your vision for your foundation?

Yeah, so I started the Eric wood Foundation in 2014. It shifted now to the Eric Wood Fund under OSHA Children's Hospital in Buffalo, New York. And it's inspired by my brother Evan, who passed when he was 11 years old, but he was born with severe cerebral palsy. So I saw firsthand the struggles that, that a family can have emotionally, financially, all the strain that can come from having a sick child. Like, you probably didn't do anything wrong financially on the front end, but now you're just in a tough spot because of all the medical bills. You have one parent at the hospital all the time, and there's just so much cost, much less the medical bills themselves. So what we try and do is take a little bit of that financial strain off of them any way we can. We've done date nights where we try and get these couples to go out on a date and we'll pay for a ride for them, we'll pay for dinner. We can't pay for a babysitter, but we can give them grocery gift cards and the amount of a babysitter just to get them out of the house and get them to connect. Because if you have a child that's born disabled or severely ill, the divorce rate is over 90% and that just shows the strain. So we're trying to get these couples to connect. We have a suite at the Bills game where these kids can go and just be normal for the day and they can just go experience a Bills game. Now they're coming from the hospital, so this has to be completely disinfected. They have to get on a disin. They're coming from the hospital, so this has to be completely disinfected. They have to get on a disinfected golf cart that can take them directly to the suite and then get them back to the hospital. But being able to do these things and being others oriented. You asked me earlier about people pivoting at times. You kind of got to get out of your own, your own world, in your own head. And as soon as you make yourself more others oriented, you're going to find more fulfillment and more joy in life. And I found that truly through our foundation.

Yeah, you know, I think the older that we get, it really is about giving back and how do we create a life around that. I know for me, it's really the most fulfilling thing. And you know, with the. So I love what you're doing with the foundation. I mean, wow, that is. That's so inspiring. And yeah, to get. Just to give the parents a date night, you know, I mean, really, how do you have a happy relationship if you don't get any time to yourself? Which then comes back and helps the children.

Right.

Everybody wins. So that is just beautiful. And one thing we didn't touch upon earlier, and I do want to make sure we do, because, you know, here you had your brother that had cerebral palsy and just a terrible loss. So, you know, the crippling effect of having a spinal injury. And had you not had that mri, like, if they didn't really insist that you could have been paralyzed or, I mean, what a miracle it was, and.

Divine intervention, because I wanted to deny the MRI at the time, but I had disc and bone at C2, C3 into my spinal cord. When you see the MRI, it's into the spinal cord. Luckily, it didn't damage it, and I haven't needed neck surgery yet. It's actually started to pull off a little bit. It's starting to try and heal itself, I guess, is what I'm told. So that is an absolute blessing. But I got to see firsthand what C2, C3 damage in your spinal cord is, loss of respiratory function and paraplegia. I got to see with that firsthand. My brother Evan lived on a ventilator his whole life and was in a wheelchair his whole life. He never walked, he never talked. So I got to see that firsthand. And yeah, it makes it very real when someone describes what a C2, C3 injury looks like and sounds like it becomes very real when you live with that in your own home.

What was that like for you, being a big brother of someone that was suffering so much?

You know, honestly, it was tough, but it was normal because I was three years older, so that was just kind of normal life. I think my parents did an incredible job of making sure that me and my brother Tyler, who was born three years after Evan, you know, we got plenty of attention and they just did an incredible job. And you don't even appreciate it at the time until afterwards when you're asked questions like this, and I've written articles about it. I think my parents did an incredible job of always getting us to sports practices and driving us to friends houses for sleepovers so that we weren't necessarily deprived in any way, which would have been fine, which would have been understandable, and which would at times probably been recommended or necessary. But they just did an incredible job of saying, okay, well, we're going to divide and conquer and just make sure that Eric and Tyler aren't as affected by this because it would be very easy to let that happen.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Sounds like incredible parents for sure. Now with our business owner clients are always saying, okay, what is your big picture vision? Like, what's the vision? You know, what's next? What is it that you're working towards? And you don't have to have all of the answers, but by having a vision or a why, it does help help you through the ups and downs. So do you have any idea what that big picture vision is at this point or what is inspiring you to stay the course?

Yeah. So a couple things that I've kind of hugged my hat on lately is a Jackie Robinson quoted and that's a life is not important except in the impact it has on others lives. And then there's a Proverb 25, 23 that said, or sorry, Proverbs 11:25 that says, a generous man will prosper, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed. So basically those both come back to, how are you impacting other people? Are you being generous? Are you lifting other people up? So how am I doing that? I'm trying to do it through my podcast. I'm trying to do that through my social media. I am really enjoying this broadcast gig. I'm working for the ACC Network, which covers the college. I went to, the University of Louisville, But I covered 0 Louisville games last year, which was, you know, just kind of how the schedule works out. And then I got to be the Bills radio color man, so I'm calling all the Buffalo Bills games. So I'm really enjoying being back around football in that sense. And my competitive nature gets going. And now I'm saying, how do I climb in the broadcast world? Or how do I be the best I can be in that world? And then through my podcast, through my social media, through blog posts, through my website, I'm trying to just impact others and say, as long as I stay outwardly focused, as long as I'm rooting for other success and trying to lift them up and build them up and impact people positively, then I'll be living a life that I can be proud of and lay my head down at night with ease.

Yeah. Wow, that's so beautiful. And you will. There are so many people out there that are going to be so blessed to know you and be inspired by you.

I appreciate that.

And so you have this podcast called what's Next with Eric Wood? And I listened to some of them. It's a fantastic show. And you are. You're a natural broadcaster, so congratulations for that. And I'm really. So everyone that's watching this, go subscribe to Eric's channel. And it's Again, what's next with Eric Wood? And I've really enjoyed listening to that. And you know, this has been so wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time. And especially now, people are going through a lot of challenges, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of pivots like you've made. What advice, Eric, as we kind of wrap this up, what advice would you say to those that are struggling right now with big changes and you know, the fear that goes along with that. What would be your last piece of Advice?

So in 2017, I got the rug pulled out from under me or In January of 2018 I got the rug pulled out from under me. And a lot of people in the last month have got the rug pulled out from under them. Whether it was travel plans, whether it was now I'm a stay at home mom because my kids are out of school or whether they're affected by personally through this illness or people are losing their jobs, their businesses that they built. It can be such a trying time right now. And I just urge you as much as you can to be others oriented, find a way to serve. And it's easy for me to say now. I am a small business owner. We own a gym in Louisville, Kentucky that is shut down right now. We operate on very small margins. I feel your pain. I'm not trying to say that we are in a dire situation, but it's a struggle with a small business right now. I get it. Thank God for our health at this moment. But that's not guaranteed moving forward. And so I would just encourage you to take this time. And a lot of people have extra time that they didn't have grow through this time, whether it's in relationships, whether it's in a skill, whether it's in your health. Maybe you've neglected your health because it's one trip after the other and you work out of town and now you're stuck in your hometown. Well, take this time to grow because eventually this is going to lift. All storms in life pass. All storms run out of rain. So once it does, you're going to go back to your schedule and you're going to go back to your busy life. And I hope that you can't say at that time that I wasted this time, however long this time ends up being, you'll really regret it if you don't stay motivated. And I don't say this to my point earlier, I'm not saying you need to put all this crazy pressure on yourself to pivot in business or do something crazy or be ultra successful. It could be simply we're going to devote ourselves to taking a walk with our family every night and just connecting as a family. I mean, our dog has been the beneficiary and our biggest beneficiary in our family. She's got more walks and in the last month than she has the last nine years. But just find little ways that you can pour into yourself and others.

Yeah, that's such great. I think the dogs planned this whole thing because they're so happy right now. But that is such great advice. Such great advice and I know really helpful for so many people that are listening to this. I know you've really impacted me. So again, thank you for taking the time and I wish you the greatest and amount of success and blessings to you and your family. Definitely. Everybody check out Eric Wood's podcast and, you know, make sure that you subscribe to our show, the Scale or Fail show. And it is. We have the audio podcast, we have the video podcast on every platform out there for podcasts. And remember to get out there and elevate yourself because you are worth it.

Bye, everybody.