Andy Neary competed in three Ironmans after his baseball career ended, chasing external wins to fill an internal void. He noticed his best racing came when his personal life was worst. When he finally got happy and met his partner Amy, his performance tanked. His lesson: fix yourself first, then the external wins follow.
Questions this video answers
Three Ironmans.
Yes—he qualified for a national championship.
2012; he was training for Ironman Wisconsin (his third time).
No; he did not complete Ironman Wisconsin in 2012 due to an injury.
March 21, 2020.
Chapters
Have you ever sought out a hobby because you were trying to find an escape versus really trying to find something you're passionate passionate about? That's what triathlon was for me. You see, after my pro baseball career was over, I still needed a way to compete. I still needed a way to go up against somebody one on one and beat them just like I did on the pitcher's mound. And I thought I would find that in triathlon. I actually got really good. In fact, I qualified for a national championship, competed in three Ironmans. But what I realized looking back on my time in that sport is I pursued triathlon because I was trying to seek an escape. I was trying to seek happiness outside of me. And the interesting thing was I was at my best when I was in triathlon, when I was at my lowest in my life, when I hated my job, I wasn't in relationship, my inside wasn't good. And I realized that I wanted to compete in triathlon because I needed to win, because I was losing everywhere else in my life. But here's what's interesting. The last year I truly competed was 2012. I was training for Ironman Wisconsin for the third time. By that point in my life, everything was good. The inside of me was good. I was happy with who I was. I had a great job. I had just met Amy, who I'm still with today, and it ended up being my worst year of competition in the sport. In fact, I didn't even complete Ironman, Wisconsin due to an injury. And so I look back on my time in the sport of triathlon and quickly realized that, you know, I sought the sport, I sought the hobby because I was seeking external happiness because this was so broken. And that's my advice to you, is wherever you are in business and in life right now, if the inside is broken, it's not fixed, you're not happy. Do not go seeking external factors, external hobbies, whatever it might be, thinking you're going to find that happiness, because you never will.
Start with this first. Fix your inside first and everything else will take care of itself on the outside. And that's my advice to you right now. Don't do what I did with triathlon. If you're not happy with where you are right now, start working on this. Start figuring out who you're hanging out with. Invest in yourself. Fix your mind, your body, anything you need to do. Put yourself in a better place internally. And I promise you, your external environment, the people you're hanging around with, and your external results will all fall into place.
