Episode #599 - A Champion’s Curiosity with Steffany Hanlen, CEO of Skatetech Group of Companies

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

I am curious, I was curious about this when we got started, but finally getting around to ask what do you notice what observation coming in because you aren't a professional, Is there, is there, there's no professional female league, is there?

There's kind of is, goes, kind of is.

But you know, you did come from that. You came from, you know, from high level but not, you know, as high as you could go.

But I was good, but I wasn't that good.

What did you, what do you notice other than physical ability? What have you noticed that stands out about professionals? Because you've done dealt with more than just professional hockey players. You dealt with professionals in lots of arenas. What do you notice about and what can you share with people about the professional mentality approach?

Great question.

Attitude.

Great question. There is very much what I call the minor league mentality and then the pro mentality. So you can have an athlete that is striving to get to the best, but they're not willing to do whatever it takes to get there. They still have a back door, they're still looking for an out, a plan B. The difference in taking that jump many times is not just physical because at that point very similar physicality has to always compete against each other. The first thing I will say is that champions have a couple of things in common. The first one is they're always curious. They're always curious. They're seeking more knowledge. They're interested in what's out there, what's new. They're interested in other people. Second thing is they're very organized. And I don't mean organized that their Christmas cards are all sent out or their sock drawers organized. They're organized in the area that they want to be specialized in.

Right.

So they understand I need to be organized. I have to have my time schedule when it comes to my training, my fitness, my, my therapies, my, my rehabilitation, my equipment. So they're very organized and very singular minded when it comes to taking care of those things. The other thing is that they have the ability to, I want to make sure I say this correctly. Not to overcome adversity, but to embrace it. Yeah, it's like bring it on. Okay. I need to learn from that. Failure is an option because that's where I get my next feedback from. So the curiosity, the Organization and the ability to harness and embrace adversity. And the what is. You know, I always say to my clients is like, your isness is my business. So if you're not being truthful to yourself and to what is for you today, not last week, I don't care that you won a world championship yesterday. It's over. We need to be stepping forward into your what's next. So how can we set that plan in place?

Very, very interesting. I remember many decades ago when I moved from Atlanta up to North Carolina to open up to pioneer expansion office in financial services. And I was recruiting, training, and looking for the best people I could get. And out of the blue came the top football, high school football coach in the state. And he won multiple championships in there. What was happening? He had a weird thing happening with his arm and he was afraid he was going to have a physical restriction to deal with. And so he was investigating other options for careers. And so fortunately that got resolved and he went back to coaching. But coach Kirby at Page High School, and I remember, I remember this phrase, I never forgot it, he said, you come into my office and you'll see a disaster. He said it just, everything's all, you know, but he said, you go out of my practice field. He said, my practice feels where I make my money. And he said, you come out to my practice, everything's down to the second. Everybody knows where to be. Every coach, every unit, this, that and the other. We take advantage of every minute. He said, I'm totally organized on my practice because that's where I make my money. And that's how, you know, I've never, never forgotten that. Now when you went to, as you're coming out and transitioning and looking for places to go, how did you even get considered? I mean, you know, did you always have your sights on, how could you have your sights on being a mental coach for professional hockey team when there weren't any, you know, and they're especially, you know, female. So how did you wind up in that situation and what kind of things were you curious about, interested in that caused you to wind up there?

Well, I think at the time my thought was there has to be somebody that's looking after their mental and emotional wellness. There has to be. There's physical. They've got all these trainers, they've got all these therapies. Everything is being looked after. Yet they're always saying, well, the game is 90% mental. But nobody was training it. So I'm thinking that was a bit of a conflict. To me. So why wouldn't I just enter that conversation, be curious and to say, well, where are the mental trainers? Where are the performance coaches? And there were sports psychologists at the psychologists at the time. There were people who were interested, but they didn't have that depth of relatedness and experience. And like I said, in the dressing rooms, I got my butt handed to me half the time because, again, I was always being challenged, always being forced to elevate my own self, my own skills, my own knowledge. So I started researching, you know, I started researching how to be a life coach. I mean, I even started opening that door is like, okay, what's a life coach? You know, these guys, oh, they don't need life coaches. What do they need? So I started to bake in all of the things that I'd learned in school and university through my background in psychology and mechanics and biomechanics and physiology and nutrition, et cetera, thinking, okay, that's the physical side. But what pulled me was not just the mental, but the emotional resilience that I saw in the champions. So when I started training the emotional side of myself first, because I can't coach what I'm not, I'm a mess. Or if I don't have my house in order, I have no right to. To offer a space for anybody to deal with their emotional and mental capacities. So my work is ongoing. I've never not had a coach. So in moving that forward, I had to kind of cut and paste. You know, there's no such thing as a performance coach for Olympians. Okay, well, what if part of that is a life coach? What if part of that is a. An emotional resilience consultant? What if a part of that is teaching them how to present themselves to the media? So I had to scurry along and learn all of those things that I was seeing that the athletes really had gaps in. So I became almost like a gap coach. And I remember going to London the first time and going down the stairs to the Tube in one of the Tube stations, and there's a big sign that says, mind the gap. And I'm like, that's me. I'm helping them mind the gap. And if they don't know there's a gap, then they're going to fall in. So I became like a gap finder. And then one thing led to another, and again, like you say, the results started showing up. Next thing you know, we're winning championships, we're winning MVPs.

But how'd you get the interview? How'd you get the interview with them, with Glenn Sather? Yeah.

Well, it was through an adversity. I had blew my leg apart ski racing and was in a cast from my ankle to my hip. And in.

Talk about that. Talk about that.

Oh, man. Rehabilitation after a ski injury. I thought my life was over because I.

Why did you let yourself have that kind of injury to throw. Those injuries usually are sudden, violent, unpredictable.

Absolutely. And you know what I learned from that?

That's why I don't ride bicycles right now. Because that's how your bicycle ride is going to end eventually. Sudden, violently. It's not going to be free.

So true. So true. I actually remember the thought I was having when I was going down the Black diamond, and it was the last run of the day, the sun's going down, and I was a champion ski racer in high school. So it's not like I didn't know what I was doing, but I had the thought, oh, this is not going to go well.

Oh, oh.

And it did not go well. And so it was like that. Like, I think some people have a, you know, a two year turnaround when they have a negative thought. I have like a 30 second turnaround, so I don't have the luxury. So that was part of the lesson. So I was in the University of Alberta Rehabilitation center doing the therapy on my knee when I saw the poster. The Oilers were looking for a. What were they looking for? Oh, they were looking for a strength and conditioning coach, which I did have that in my back pocket, but I thought, I'm going to use that as leverage. So I just had my crutches and I crutched my way up four flights of stairs because, of course the elevator's broken, you know.

Oh, no. Oh, no.

Yeah. Walked in. It was locked. The grad lounge was locked.

This is the beginning of your new career.

Yes.

Not just a job. And you go show the building on crutches. It's on the fourth floor.

Yep. You know, it's just like I was sweating.

Yeah.

God will.

Sweating challenges in front of us, you know? And just to say you really want that interview bad enough, you got to climb fours on crutches. Wow.

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Notes.

Yeah, so I went into the grad lounge. I snuck in actually one of the door open, I snuck in and I saw the ad on the wall. And because I was on crutches, I didn't have a bag. I just pulled the whole ad off the cork board, stuffed it in my jacket and crutched my way down the stairs and. And then I realized what I was applying for was a strength and conditioning coach. And I said, well I can do that, but what I'm really good at is skating and talking. So I used that, built a CV because I wasn't working at the time. I was on crutches and in therapy and built the cv and I sent it in and oddly enough they had just hired a new director of player personnel. Kevin Prendergast, one of the amazing, amazing man in the world of hockey. And he looked at my CV and I'd had pictures in there and I'd been teaching skating and I'd been all this stuff. I made it like a, I don't know, like a magazine. And I got a call and they invited me in. Well, just after I got my cast off, I go to the office, I walk myself in, I sit in his office and I look to the left and his. He had a pile of resumes up to like the top of his desk. And mine was on the top. I could see it because I put it in blue and orange, which were the oiler's colors. So tacky. Anyway, so it was on the top and he asked me all the hard questions. Why do you want to do this? Who do you think you are? How do you think you can make a difference? How long do you think you're going to stay? And I was kind of freaked out. I left. I thought that went. Didn't go well. Two weeks later I get a call to meet with Glenn Sather. And I walked into his office scared to death. It was like that never ending hallway that you just keep taking the step but the door gets further and further away like in a nightmare. That's what it was like. And I remember sitting down at his desk and he looked at me and he said, what are you here for? And I said, well, the job. He goes, there's no job here. I'm like what? What? I just wait a sec. And he looked at me, he goes, you're hired. But there's no job here. The job will be if the players decide you have a job here, not me.

Ah.

And I lasted nine years.

Ah, sharp guy. And then also, so, good job. Sharp.

So good.

And so you went from sitting down a sweaty mess, from climbing the stairs, and wow, congratulations. Have you learned anything? I want to. I'm curious. In all this time, I don't know if you've ever thought about this, have you learned anything that. Where in that split second where you're on the top of the hill and it says, this isn't going to go well, have you learned anything about what you could instantly tell yourself that could have pulled you out of that? Have you thought about that?

I have. And because it's happened a couple of times, well, more than a couple of times since, because of the level of work that I'm at, the high level of competition, Olympic Games, World Championships, Stanley cup finals. If in doubt, don't.

And it's one thing, that's one thing to say, it's another thing to train yourself to take it serious and do it. Because what happens is in those crisis moments, you've got momentum, you know, you're like, near the finish, like you say, end of the day. Right. Blah, blah, blah. And then to say, well, if I have a doubt, is that really a doubt? Or whatever. But you have to train. You've got to work that through, through that in your mind. Like that's a danger. Like, you know, like, you know, the bombs are coming in. Get underground, you know, type thing before it happens. Don't you think?

Yeah, but I also understand the power of mind and also my connection to my source. My God is very, very loud.

Yeah.

So I don't get a lot of negative messages unless there's something there that I'm supposed to pay attention to.

That's a good point. If it's a negative message, pay attention. You know, pay attention. Because I don't get many negative messages. But, like, you know, basically what happens is when it comes in your mind, you don't just let it sit there. It's like you're like, oh, this is a negative message. What do I do with negative messages? Pay attention. And it's got to be a split second, but you can do that. And that's an important thing, this minding the gap. I'll tell you a story. I don't know if you've ever heard this, but there was a golfer and it's very. He was talking about something that's so common to golfers. He said on the practice range, I'm unbelievable. He said, I can hit every shot. He said, consistent, you know, fade it, left, right, draw. And he said, then I go to the course and, you know, I hit it straight into the trees. He said, you know, it's just like, yeah, I lose it all just by going out and getting, you know, on the first tee, you know. Who said that? Arnold Palmer?

No way.

And so the thing is, it's not just, you know, all the rest of us who have those kind of feelings, like I practice it, it was perfect this, that or the other. But, and that's why you see also, you'll see big championship. You got a two foot putt to win the major, and if you win this major, you're exempt for the next 10 years. You win millions and millions of dollars. This is, your whole life changes. You can do things for your family and friends and this other, no pressure. You got a two foot putt and then they miss it, they pull it. And so the thing is, in fact, I've talked to guys that are in that position and they said, you know, what happens is you get up there and your body will not move. If you said like totally, like you're not, you're doing everything and your body, it's just like you're concrete, you know, and then you just got to do something, you know, and that gap between, how do you coach people too, when they get in the crisis, time to stay cool and basically what it comes in, I'll tell you what my unacademically educated thought on it is, because I thought about it a lot, is that I think at that moment, people that are really good play instinctively. They're not thinking, they've got a groove, they trust it. You know, they got a flow. You know, the book's on flow. And they just, they just do what they know to do. Let the body do what the body knows to do. They have a routine set up, line up, do it. They're concentrating on the routine, they're concentrating on what they've got to do, except when it's a two foot putt for whatever. And then they go from that side of the brain over to the logical side of the brain. And they'll go, now make sure you hit it straight, make sure you don't do this. If they're negative things, don't do this, don't do that. And then also, you know, and then they try and steer it in they try and do it mechanically rather than naturally, and it doesn't work because they're using a different side of the brain, you know, and so how do you deal with that or how. How do you interpret that at training people to avoid that breakdown? Because if you give me a championship, you got to deliver in the clutch.

Well, that's that, you know, that inner coach and that inner critic and that inner, you know. But what happens is the minute you get back in your head, start talking to yourself, it takes you out of the moment. It takes you out of what they call the zone. So what I do is I really work a lot on self talk. Yeah, silence. A lot of the exercises I do is to teach them how to quiet their mind. And the biggest one, and I'll give you one of my secrets with my Olympians, is that I manufacture adversity ongoing. So if there's nothing going wrong, I'm not saying a lot of damage or adversity, but I manufacture levels of adversity. So they're always having to somehow adjust and read and adapt and react to things that are happening. So if they're skating around the ice, and at one point, I had an athlete that we were in Paris and a pigeon or something flew out of the rafters and started circling his head while the music was on. He was competing in a championship, but he just kept going. Not that I was ever able to duplicate a pigeon flying out of the rafters again, but what we had done in different levels of manufacturing, different things that they had to overcome, really prepared him for that moment. At the Olympics in 2018, my athlete, my. My client, Gabriela Papadakis from France, ended up having a horrible costume malfunction whereby her dress broke and the entire world saw. Well, we call it nipple gate. But ultimately, it was horrible. Her partner Guillaume was able to pull the dress up over, but not before certain television stations thought it was amazing to show this poor young woman's private parts all the way around the world. And the next day they had to compete for the gold medal. So it's. In those moments, I could never created that level of adversity for her because she then, in 24 hours, had to get herself grounded, get over them. Guilt, the shame, the embarrassment, all the blame. It was my fault, it was partner's fault, it was her fault, it was Stephanie's fault. So that blame game, I taught them how to play the blame game so they could get to neutral around what happened. It didn't matter if there was a costume malfunction. Or if a pigeon flew out of that, or if the gate wouldn't open. It didn't matter what the adversity was, they had the tools and the ability to overcome it. And they ended up winning the free dance the next day and then just barely lost the gold to the Canadians in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics. But that moment in time, in a sense had been trained for. And I do that four and six years out with when I have the opportunity to be on someone's champions journey with them.

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