August 11, 2025 • 45 mins
What happens when life flips upside down in an instant? At 14, Nick Prefontaine suffered a traumatic brain injury snowboarding, was told he’d never walk or talk again — and ran out of the hospital less than 60 days later. His STEP framework (Support, Trust, Energy, Persistence) has since helped countless people take their first step toward recovery after trauma.
3 Takeaways:
- Your mindset shapes your recovery more than your prognosis.
- Focus only on what’s right in front of you to win today.
- Trauma can become the gift that reveals your true purpose.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I got to the top, buckled into my snowboard, took
a breath of that crisp winterair and comfortably charged
towards that jump with all myspeed.
And going into the jump Icaught the edge of my snowboard
and that's the last thing that Iremember.
So they wanted to bring ahelicopter to the mountain to
rush me to the hospital.
(00:20):
They couldn't because it wastoo windy, so they sent in an
ambulance and out of all theparamedics in the area, the
county, there was only one whocould intubate on the spot and I
needed that to be able tobreathe.
He was one of the paramedicsthat showed up to the mountain
(00:41):
that day.
That showed up to the mountainthat day.
And there are still severalthings that I can't explain
because of the accident, becauseof that day.
However, now I know that one ofthe reasons is why I'm here
with you and your listenerstoday.
So, no matter the obstacle thatyou're facing in front of you,
(01:03):
your first step is going to makethe difference.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Do hard things.
Help one person, be good and dogood, live a life of discipline
, and you will always win.
You have all the tools that youneed to succeed.
Welcome to win today.
Tools that you need to succeed.
(01:31):
Welcome to win today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
My name is Ryan Cass and I'myour host.
My purpose in this world is tohelp push people further and
harder than they believepossible and become unshakable
in what matters most to them intheir lives.
Every week, you're going tolearn from either myself or a
renowned expert in their field,and we're going to unveil pieces
of our playbook to help you wintoday.
Please, if you love this show,subscribe and share it with
(01:53):
somebody that will benefit fromit.
Let's dig in.
Imagine waking up in the ICUafter you've just been out,
having what was could bedescribed as the time of your
life, and then being told thatyou're never going to walk again
.
Now imagine, in that samemoment or shortly thereafter,
(02:15):
that you actually run out ofthis hospital and you defy the
odds.
And you defy the odds, defy thelimits and really dig deep into
what is inside of your mind,body and soul.
To take that step, we've gotNick Prefontaine with us, who's
(02:37):
the founder of Common Goal andsomeone who has defied the odds
and helps people take that stepin their life, whether it's
defying the odds out of the ICU,breaking past a trauma that may
have been holding them back andmoving closer towards the
things that they want most inlife.
(02:57):
Nick, honor to have you, man.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So happy to be here, Ryan.
As soon as I heard the name ofthe show, I was like, oh, we got
to talk.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's going to be a-.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Love the name of the show.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Appreciate it.
Well, I'd say.
I'd certainly say that's whatyou help people do is win in
however they define winning tobe, and that's really resemblant
of your life, especially postthe incident which we'll
certainly talk about.
But before that, let's dig intothe heart a little bit.
(03:29):
What's the most important thingfor people to know about Nick
Prefontaine?
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I would say really my journey, really my journey, the
thing about me I would say andthis is this has been ever since
, before we get into the actualaccident, the day of the
accident this has been somethingthat's been building my entire
(03:58):
life.
The work that I'm doing todayhelping, working with trauma,
life challenge survivors,accident victims get through to
the other side and be able tothrive with the rest of their
lives.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That is something, Ryan, that I've done for my
entire life.
I just never, knew how toformulate it and how, and it is
my mission and commitment todeliver amazing episodes to you
every week, where you will learnfrom myself or a renowned
expert in their field.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We love helping people win in every aspect of
their lives and you can help uswin by sharing the show with
somebody that you believe willbenefit from it, subscribing and
leaving a rating and reviewwith somebody that you believe
will benefit from it,subscribing and leaving a rating
interview.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
We believe that everybody in this world is meant
to do something great withtheir lives and we're here now.
I'm so happy today.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Thank you for tuning in, and let's one thing I love
on your bio that I, that I wrotedown and I'm curious if you
still would describe this as theopportunity.
I like to say opportunityinstead of problem, because all
problems are simplyopportunities, but the
opportunity that you solve forpeople, and I quote everyone has
(05:19):
a fire to walk through.
I help you take that first step.
Is that how you would summarizeyour work?
In less than two sentences?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I think it's a start, because there are so many of us
out there who are stuck andfrozen just because they don't
know what first step to take.
They see the path of theirobstacle, their goal, their life
(05:48):
challenge, what they have toovercome and where they want to
get to where they were seems sofar away.
And really what we find is,once you take that first step,
your next steps are always goingto be possible.
And that's the hardest part ishelping people take that first
(06:09):
step.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
A lot of people likely believe that, or rather,
do you feel like most peoplehesitate towards taking that
first step because they believethat the destination or the goal
is 10 times further away thanthey may mentally perceive it to
be, when in reality it's reallymuch closer?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I think, yeah, it's kind of twofold.
There's a few things withinthis.
So when people, especiallypeople that first suffer any
kind of injury is that theystart to get down on themselves
and they think, oh well, it'swhere I want to get to versus
where I am, that's so far away.
What really the only thing theyshould be focusing on is what's
(06:57):
in front of them what's gettingup every day, like I did, and
just dealing with what's infront of you, doing the best and
this is so funny that you cameacross my radar doing the best
with what you have that very day, that very hour.
If you win the day I wrote thiswithin one of my newsletters or
(07:19):
social media posts within thelast few weeks If you win the
day, you'll be able to win theweek, win the month, win the
year and soon enough you'll becloser, that much closer to your
ideal.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, it really comes to stacking wins, stacking days
.
Days lead to weeks, weeks tomonths, months to years, and
boom.
Next thing you know we'vedefied a limit.
We've proven ourselves right,which is a concept that I've
really come to love.
Proving yourself right in thatyou can do the thing regardless
(07:52):
of the circumstance.
It may take longer than youbelieve or that you would like
it to take, but we already haveall the tools that we need, and
I'm a huge fan of frameworks.
So we'll certainly uncover astep, but I feel as if we're
building some suspense right now, in that some people are
(08:13):
already familiar with your storyor the fact that we'll be
publishing some.
By the time this comes out,we'll have put some snippets out
there and certainly createdsome suspense, but in this
discussion, right now somepeople were teasing them.
Some people are saying, allright, let's get into it.
Bring us to this moment whereyour life reaches this critical
(08:39):
inflection point, when you're 14years old, and help orient us
to who you're, with whatmountain you're going up, how
you're feeling, and help put uson that ski lift with you on
that day.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Sure.
So that whole day and really mystory really starts I was at
ski club with my friends ineighth grade and if you can
remember, if anyone can remember, whenever you get released a
little bit early which is whathappens when we had ski club,
which is that day what we hadit's always a big deal.
(09:18):
So we got released a little bitearly.
My buddies and I brought oursnowboard gear on the bus to get
ready so we wouldn't miss aprecious moment Once we got to
the mountain.
We got to the mountain, headedright for the chairlift with the
rest of the class.
They headed inside to waste, inour eyes, to time for two or
(09:39):
three extra runs.
So we were ready to go.
We hit the chairlift.
On the ride up, on the chairliftup the mountain, we noticed,
ryan, that it was very icybecause it had been raining
earlier in the day and peoplewere wiping out everywhere.
And where the chairlift wentover was actually right over the
(09:59):
terrain park where all of thejumps were, and I knew as soon
as I saw it that I had to go offthe biggest jump in the terrain
park.
There wasn't even a doubt in mymind.
I was already thinking aboutwhat we were going to do after I
landed that huge trick Maybegrab a burger and fries in the
(10:20):
lodge, or we could head over tothe other trail and, for some
runs on those trails, eyes inthe lodge.
Or we could head over to theother trailer for some runs on
those trails.
I was just happy to be there.
So I got to the top, buckledinto my snowboard, took a breath
of that crisp winter air andcomfortably charged towards that
jump with all my speed andgoing up to the jump I caught
the edge of my snowboard andthat's the last thing that I
(10:41):
remember.
So they wanted to bring ahelicopter to the mountain to
rush me to the hospital.
They couldn't because it wastoo windy.
So they sent in an ambulanceand out of all the paramedics in
the area, the county, there wasonly one who could intubate on
(11:02):
the spot and I needed that to beable to breathe.
He was one of the paramedicsthat showed up to the mountain
that day and there are stillseveral things that I can't
explain because of the accident,because of that day.
However, now I know that one ofthe reasons is why I'm here
(11:24):
with you and your listenerstoday.
So, no matter the obstacle thatyou're facing in front of you,
your first step is going to makethe difference.
So there was three things thatreally lead me to be able to
tell this story today.
The first I already shared theright paramedic showed up to the
(11:44):
mountain.
So, although the second one,although I wasn't wearing a
helmet, I had a pair of gogglessnowboard goggles on my head.
I don't know if I was wearingthem over my eyes at this point
or if they were just on my head.
I have to imagine they were onmy eyes because of how fast I
was going.
They were very thick, with alot of padding, and the doctors
(12:10):
and the experts and likeeyewitness accounts of people
who were there told me that notonly Ryan did they brace my
initial impact and theycontinued to hit my head.
They told me that with eachblow, they moved to cushion each
blow between the mountain, theice and my head.
(12:33):
So that was the second thing,the third being I got to the
hospital.
I was listen, I was out.
I was in a coma, resting in theintensive care unit, unable to
communicate with anyone, and theonly people that were allowed
in there at that time were myparents.
(12:54):
So each time the doctors would,and this especially goes for
early on.
Each time the doctors wouldcome into my room to share the
not so good news not so goodnews not so good news with my
parents and the prognosis,because hospitals and doctors,
(13:14):
anyone that's been in an acutesituation or trauma, any kind of
a challenge, the doctors, can'tpaint a rosy picture.
They have to give you, forliability reasons, a worst case
scenario.
So they started to share thisnews right in front of me and my
mom stopped them.
She said no, no, not in frontof him, because she understood
(13:39):
that even though I was in a coma, I was still taking in
information.
So she made the doctors stepoutside the room and once they
were there, that's where theyshared with my parents that I
probably wouldn't be able towalk, talk or eat on my own ever
again.
(13:59):
They weren't even sure how longI was going to be in the coma.
They weren't even sure how longI was going to be in the coma.
So even if I made it out of thecoma, there was a good chance
that I probably wasn't, like Isaid, be able to do anything on
my own again.
So my parents, to their credit,they took the information,
(14:21):
thanked the doctors and allowedme to treat it like any other
situation.
So this was no different thanany other situation that I had
faced up to this point in mylife.
I didn't know any of this, sothey didn't let any of that
outside noise get into me, so Iended up being in the coma.
(14:43):
It was a partially induced comabecause they had to wait for
the swelling to come down in mybrain because they were worried
that if I woke up and panicked,the swelling would increase even
more and I would have died.
So that's why it was apartially induced coma and I
ended up being in the coma forthree weeks.
I really don't remember a month,and it was a month after my
(15:06):
accident that I was transportedto a rehab hospital in Boston,
and that's where my realmemories start.
So I vaguely remember beingtransported to the third floor,
which was reserved for the mostcritical of cases.
To give you an idea, they wouldhave to support me sitting up
(15:33):
in bed, two to three nurseshelping me sit up in bed, and
then I was still sweatingprofusely like I just ran a
marathon or something.
So the memories are hazy atthat point.
And then, when I wastransported down to the second
four unit.
That's where a lot of mymemories really start, like, oh
okay, I got starting to get myfeet under me, if you will.
(15:53):
Um, the memories really comeback.
And it was right around thistime, ryan, that I started to
unknowingly use a system to notonly make a full recovery but
run out of the hospital, andthat's a step system.
That's what I teach to this day, like what we're doing today,
(16:15):
like on podcasts and keynotesthat I have and one-on-one work
that I have with clients.
What I can do is give like a10,000 foot view and then, if
anyone's interested, at the endI can let them know how they can
download the entire step systemfor free.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So step is an acronym , it stands for Can we, can we,
before we do that Wow, I mean,I'm thinking through you start
to come to life, if you will,but start to recognize where you
are in this facility in Boston,and then, as you go from the
(16:52):
third floor to the second, thenmore information and more is
being made available.
Have you been consciously toldat this point that you may never
walk or hear, or rather maynever walk or live unassisted
(17:12):
again?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
So the only people that know that are your parents.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, that information never got through to
me.
Wow.
So all I knew, all I knew wasyes, that was the prognosis, but
I didn't know that.
All I knew was yes, that wasthe prognosis, but I didn't know
that All I knew.
As this happened, and okay, Ihad to get up, literally and
figuratively, and because Iwasn't able to get up at the
(17:37):
beginning and just do what wasin front of me that day, I had
to go back to the podcast theme.
I had to win the day, every day.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And you literally ran out of the hospital.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's, yeah, that's.
I'm about to share how that,how that came about.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let's do that, let's do that.
I wanted to step out for aminute and just absorb that for
a minute.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I love your placement of the word step, so that's
where I wanted to insert it.
So step is an acronym.
It stands for support.
Make sure you have the supportof your family and friends right
from the beginning.
This is going to have youfalling back on relationships
that you built prior to yoursetback.
(18:30):
T is trust Trust that once youtake your first step, your next
step's always going to beavailable to you, and this also
starts by trusting that voicethat you have with inside of
yourselves.
We all have it with inside ofourselves and you have to follow
it.
(18:51):
And this is where the runningout of the hospital comes into
play.
So I remember it was after Iwas on the second floor.
At this time, however, I wasstill in a wheelchair.
I still really couldn'tenunciate, I couldn't really
talk.
I mean, at best it was awhisper.
I can remember Ryan overhearingmy parents talking with my team
(19:14):
of doctors and therapists, andthey would meet with them every
week and they said what do weneed to do to make sure Nick
makes a full recovery?
I can remember hearing them saythat to the doctors and
therapists.
I heard in the back of my headyou're going to run out of the
hospital.
So, even though I wasn't ableto talk for the most part it was
(19:37):
just a whisper, at best I wasable to communicate that to the
rest of the team, and then thatis what our common goal became,
what we are working towards andmeaning every week.
What are we doing to help Nickrun out of the hospital?
So E is energy.
Maintaining your energy allowsyour body's natural ability to
(20:00):
be able to heal itself.
Medication has the potential toget in the way of that,
obviously within reason.
Here I mean that first night inthe hospital cost a quarter of
a million dollars.
So if it wasn't for modernmedicine, I wouldn't be here
today.
However, there's a use, timeand place for everything.
(20:22):
So a month after my accident,when I came out of the ICU, was
a time that we needed to allowthe body to heal itself, and the
best way to illustrate this isafter I had moved to the rehab
hospital in Boston, I was stillwithin a week or two of being
cleared by the therapists anddoctors to walk again.
(20:45):
To walk on my own.
By the therapists and doctorsto walk again.
To walk on my own.
I could walk.
I just wasn't cleared yet to doit on my own, without anyone's
supervision.
So I got up in the middle of thenight and I would always have
an advocate.
I would always have either mydad or an uncle or my
grandfather stay with me atnight.
So I always had someone with meand that was part of my support
(21:05):
.
And I woke up in the middle ofthe night and, as I shared
earlier, I couldn't really talk.
So I leaned over my bed and Isaid Bub, that's my grandfather,
bub, bub, bub.
And you couldn't hear mebecause my voice wasn't really
back.
So I managed to lower thehospital bed and make it to the
(21:26):
bathroom.
Nothing happened.
I was able to get back to bed.
However, the hospital found outthe next day, ryan.
They freaked out.
They're like well, we can'thave this a liability.
I can tell you what we're goingto do.
We're going to give him thismany cc's of this great
medication and that will reallymake him so he's able to sleep
throughout the night.
(21:47):
And my mom heard this and she'slike no, you're not Just tell
him not to do that.
So I say that if I didn't havean advocate there with me part
of my support they would havejust gave me medication to kind
of make their I hate to say thisbecause it sounds like I'm
(22:10):
bashing like doctors and nursesor anything but make their jobs
easier.
It's just you have to have anadvocate there advocating for
you.
P is persistence.
So once you've taken your firststep, keep getting up every day
and taking your next step, nomatter how small, and by
continuing to do something everyday, you are building an
(22:31):
unstoppable momentum.
So if you fast forward, lessthan 60 days later I realized my
goal of running out of thehospital and it wasn't like my
work was done right of thehospital and it wasn't like my
work was done.
Ryan, I had to continue to goto outpatient therapy for
(22:53):
another six months, along withbeing tutored all summer long,
five days a week, in order tocontinue on to high school with
the rest of my classmates.
And really, looking back at it,it's a little surreal to me
that only I'm sure you canrelate to this, your listeners
can relate to this.
When you're younger, especiallylike teenager, time is
(23:20):
compressed, so something that'slike six months away, 12 months,
18, 24 months seems like alifetime.
However, it's not really thatmuch time, and the older I get,
I'm seeing that.
So only 18 months later afterfinishing my rehab from my
snowboarding accident, I got mystart in real estate and that
(23:43):
was door knockingpre-foreclosure doors or
homeowners that have receivedthe notice of default letter
from the bank.
So my job I get this list, goto the areas where, in my mind,
where the most amount of thesewere, which were not so good
areas of cities, and I wouldknock on their door and try to
(24:06):
set up meetings for one of ourinvestors to meet with them the
following week about potentiallybuying their home.
And it took until several yearsago when I had a mentor
actually point this out to me.
She said well, wait a minute,you were door knocking in not so
(24:26):
good areas of cities only like18 months after finishing a
rehab from your accident.
This was part of your recoveryGoing door to door, helping
people out of their unfortunatesituation.
So it kind of took herreflecting that back to me to
have me realize that, but it wasdefinitely was part of my
(24:50):
recovery.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, I love the framework.
Anytime there's a frameworkthat is simple to remember, such
as STEP who doesn't forget that, and even how it's used take
one step and support, trust,energy and persistence.
(25:11):
That's such a useful frameworkthat can be applied to so many
situations in life, whether it'sa trauma, starting a business,
going after a big goal.
I want to break that down alittle bit more into the
(25:34):
elements.
There's a couple that stand out, both support and trust.
Specifically trust One thingyou mentioned within that is to
trust yourself and becomecomfortable with your we'll call
it gut, and intuition is how Iinterpret that.
A lot of people struggle is intrusting themselves and building
(26:10):
that confidence in themselvesthat they have the ability that
they can take that step.
What are some takes that youhave for people that may be in
that situation now to cultivatestronger trust within themselves
?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
This goes back to a woman that I helped in the
Minnesota area earlier this year, coaching one-on-one, and it's
come up several times over thelast several years.
Is that people, when they have,when they have this, that when
they get a diagnosis or they geta, um, kind of a playbook how
(26:54):
the how it's going to work outbased on their con, their
condition, I guess you could saythey'll they'll tend to jump
the conclusions in their head,um and they'll.
They'll finish the story forthemselves in a negative way.
And I always just have to tellpeople to step back.
No, no, no, there's no reasonto do that.
(27:16):
Like, for example, this hascome to mind I was working with
this woman and the doctors hadtold her that, well, she isn't
going to be able to do XYZbecause she needs this very
(27:37):
potent medication.
It was like a liver medication.
She'd been taking it for 10years and it was causing all
kinds of negative side effects.
She'd been taking it for 10years and it was causing all
kinds of negative side effects,and she was almost finishing the
.
The doctors weren't saying that.
She was almost finishing theirsentences, their prognosis, in a
(27:57):
negative way.
Well, now I'm not going to beable to do this, I'm not going
to be able to go and see my kids.
I'm not going to be.
I'm like no, no, no, like stop.
There's no reason to do that.
Just focus on what you have todeal with right now.
Okay, in three days you have ameeting with all your doctors to
kind of develop your next stepsand bad everything's going to
(28:26):
be.
Just focus on the nextappointment, the very next thing
that's in front of you, andbeing the best you can to show
up at that appointment as yourtrue self, because if you're not
doing that, you're just doing adisservice to yourself.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I believe that's also helping the person be more
mindful of the narrative thatthey're creating as well.
And you got this woman to take astep back and even see and hear
, more importantly, the outcomesthat she's already creating in
(29:07):
her mind that haven't even takenplace.
I was listening to an Ed Miletpodcast this morning about the
stories that we create in ourmind and, if I'm not mistaken,
there's research that shows thatonly 40% of what we put into
our minds whether it's a currentnarrative or something future
(29:30):
tense is actually true, orrather past tense versus future.
We are often the creators offalse likelihoods that we then
deem as current and futurepossibilities.
And you got this woman to slowdown and look at let's look at
(29:51):
right now, not tomorrow, not aweek from now.
Not what you're going to beable to do tomorrow, not what
you're going to be able to do aweek from now right now.
And you got her to audit herstory and the outcome I imagine
for this woman was likelynothing to what she was telling
(30:16):
you was going to happen.
Is that accurate?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
that, yeah, I wanted to finish that.
So she, um, she had all that.
She was getting herself workedup and this was on a friday.
She had an appointment with allof her specialists who were all
independently telling herdifferent things, all giving her
grim scenarios.
She had an appointment with allof them the following Monday
(30:39):
afternoon and I remember justkeeping her focused on those
next steps.
I remember the phone callbecause I said, please, let me
know how it goes.
I want to.
We'll deal with it whatever itis, I'll like, I'll help, we'll,
we'll get through it whateverit is, but let's get to that
(31:04):
first.
So I said let me know how thatmeeting goes.
I'll never forget the call.
And it was.
I answered the phone and I saidhello, she goes, I won.
That's what she said and Istarted laughing.
I said what do you mean?
And she said they agreed, allthe doctors agreed, to take me
off of the medication.
They're going to start weaningme off of that stronger
(31:24):
medication and replace that withmore natural, um like methods,
uh treatments, um, supplements,so I don't have these negative
effects.
She was having memory loss, shewas having tremors in her hand,
uh, all this kind of thing.
(31:45):
And I, I just remember thatcall Um, and I think that's that
kind of brought me back, ryan,to why I'm doing this too is to
help people like that.
Like this is great, being herewith you sharing my story from
stage, that's great, but that'swhat really matters, I think
(32:09):
helping people like that andthere was a few things in your
answer to me that I wanted toget to.
So you said, yeah, absolutelywant to give you examples of
where that is taking place tothis day.
So after doing that doors inhigh school, I got out, I got my
(32:39):
real estate license.
I was working with buyers andsellers as a realtor and in 2012
, I developed a voice issue, avoice challenge, where I was
looking everywhere and no onecould really give me an answer
with why my voice was off.
(33:00):
It sounded like really straightand like it was hard to get the
words out and no one couldfigure out.
Like.
My natural doctor said it wasfine.
My regular MD, my medicaldoctor said it was fine.
They're like oh, I don't know.
They checked all my levels,thought I was fine.
My regular MD, my medicaldoctor said I was fine.
They're like oh, I don't know.
They checked all my levels,thought I was fine.
I ended up, long story short,going to all kinds of
specialists allergists, allthese doctors on my own over the
(33:24):
course of a year and I finallywound up at a voice specialist
office in Boston in August of2013.
And the guy Dr Song, his namehe walked into the room, heard
me speak and right away,nonchalantly goes oh, that, yeah
(33:45):
, we deal with that all the time, we'll get you fixed in no time
.
Goes to the front desk andschedule a Botox injection in a
couple weeks.
And I was like I was, my mouthwas like on the floor, I was, I
was sold hook line and sinker, Iguess you could say.
And I got scheduled.
Um, and I started getting botoxinjections into my throat that
(34:09):
month, august 2013, along withtheir higher level voice
therapists, um, to kind ofretrain my throat muscles back
to how they were before Ideveloped any issues.
And going through that kind ofit taught me that, um, okay, I,
(34:31):
I have something here.
Not right away, because at first, obviously, I had a lot of work
to do.
I had to get through it.
So I look at my accident andbeing in a coma and having to
learn how to walk, talk and eatagain and running out of the
(34:51):
hospital.
I just look at that as oh yeah,that's something I did when I
was younger.
It was like a blip that came up.
When I was younger, anyonewould behave and react the same
way.
However, then, after I had thisvoice challenge issue that I
(35:11):
had to deal with, I ended upgetting Botox injections for
seven full years and workingwith their voice therapist too,
like right in concert with that.
My last Botox injection that Ihad to get was in February of
2020.
To get was in February of 2020.
(35:39):
So I think I was.
I think I'm more proud of thatbecause of how long it took.
I may have recency bias, but Ithink I'm more proud of that.
And after getting through that,I was like, okay, I have
something here, like I need tobe, I need to be sharing this
with the world.
Right along with that, right inconcert with that, I've always
had this voice in the back of myhead since I got out of high
(36:02):
school, telling your story fromstage and helping trauma
survivors or life challenge oraccident survivors get through
their challenge and then thrivewith the rest of their lives.
So that voice has always beenhere and I actually let my real
(36:23):
estate license go.
So after someone heard me talkin September of 2019, she
approached me and said I'm nottrying to steal you from your
dad and your family real estatebusiness.
However, if you're ever lookingto fine tune your message and
bring it to another level sothat it has maximum impact and
(36:47):
reason, you can help the mostamount of people.
I can introduce you to a fewcoaches and mentors that have
helped me along the way.
Well, I wasn't ready yet because, as I said, the timelines batch
up.
I was still going through thefinal throws of my voice issue.
However, I always hung on toher card.
So in May of 2021, I finallyreached out to her and I said
(37:11):
okay, I'm ready.
Before her, the longest Italked was maybe 15, 20 minutes
on stage, and I thought that wasa big deal.
Now I know what that is.
So, tricia, I worked with herand she was the one who helped
me launch Common Goal.
I built out several of mykeynote talks, where I'm now
(37:32):
giving 50 and 60 minute keynotetalks, plus to brain injury
associations and otherorganizations that support
individuals that are goingthrough trauma.
If you would have told me thatI'd be doing that, this is what
I'd be doing like five years ago.
I would have told you you'd benuts.
However, now there's no voicein the back of my head, so I
(37:58):
know now I'm doing exactly whatI was putting this earth to do.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Isn't it great how trauma can often serve as one of
the best gifts we'll everreceive in this life.
I bring that up frequently, asthat's even the reason why this
podcast and my coaching programsand keynote speaking exist.
It all goes back to childhoodtrauma as the catalyst, and many
(38:29):
of the people that have been onthis show it's their catalyst
as well, and it's beautiful tosee how it all comes together
and ultimately serves as thebest fuel we can receive.
One thing I'm curious about,nick, is how do you get people
to build a strong relationshipwith that trauma and see it as a
(38:54):
gift?
Speaker 1 (38:55):
It's funny that you phrase it that way and that you
introduce it that way, because Ialways say when people ask me,
would you go back If you had theopportunity to go back and
change anything, would youchange anything?
I say no, 100% not.
I'm doing what I love to do.
(39:16):
I'm where I am today because ofwhat happened to me.
I wouldn't change a thing.
However, if you ask my mom, shedisagrees with me, she'll say
oh no, I wouldn't go through it,I would choose not to go
through that.
So what I put them through.
I mean it was easy for me.
(39:38):
Well, not easy, but it'sconvenient.
I guess is a word for me to sayI'd do it again.
I didn't know any better.
However, put them through a lot.
I guess you could say To yoursecond question of seeing this
(40:01):
as a gift.
It's hard in the moment, and I'msure you understand this as
well.
It's hard in the moment,especially right after something
happens, which is kind of whereI'm, I'm falling into.
I'm like I'm entering thepicture with a lot of people is
(40:22):
like right after somethinghappens or shortly after
something happens, it's hard toGet them to come around to.
Oh okay, everything happens fora reason.
You're going to find that outlater.
We just have to I stress topeople you just have to focus on
doing what's in front of you.
(40:43):
You just have to do the bestyou can with what's in front of
you.
That will come, yeah, but Idon't think it's until a little
bit later after they're a littlebit further down the road of
recovery.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Yeah, it's certainly difficult right in the moment.
It often doesn't come as aninstant discovery that, oh, this
is great, that, oh, this isgreat.
And some of these traumas thatwe experience, there's no way
that some of them can beinstantly viewed as gifts.
I mean in that I think aboutpeople that have lost others to
(41:24):
horrible circumstances, butthat's also what then gave them
the platform that they havetoday to inspire people all over
the world.
And in addition to what yousaid about your parents, I don't
know of any third party thatwould sign up to see what they
had to see, especially their son, their loved one, going through
(41:49):
that in the ICU.
One story I often share on myjourney to qualifying for the
Boston Marathon, it took sevenyears.
Little did I know I was goingto get hit by a car on a
training run and also wake up inthe trauma unit and to my
parents telling me what had justhappened.
(42:10):
No one would sign up for that.
But I'm sure that your parentswould and have no problem
watching you get up on stageover and over and over again to
inspire people, to help peopletake their first step, and it
all goes back to that one thingthat they would never wish for
(42:31):
again, just as anybody would.
Nobody would wish for someoneelse to go through the things
that they did to give them whatthey have today.
If we all got to write the bookof life and every chapter in it
, we wouldn't have traumas, wewouldn't have deaths, we
(42:51):
wouldn't have divorces, wewouldn't have so many of the
things that give us the greatestthings that we could ever and
sometimes have never, could havenever imagined in our lives.
A little bit of anuntraditional ending on the pod,
as we would typically dive intoa discussion about what winning
(43:14):
is in addition to the rapidfire.
But there were some technicalissues.
So closing this one out and Ibelieve Nick's story is a
testament to the power of astrong framework and belief
system.
He mentioned the STEP framework,which is very simple to put in
(43:39):
your back pocket right now, andfocusing on the P and really
looking at his journey frombeing told he was never going to
walk again to the voice issuesthat he encountered to now being
a keynote speaker to audiencesall over the country and
(44:00):
reaching people internationallyas well.
Persistence how persistent areyou being as it relates to
crushing obstacles and, as itrelates to the pursuit of what
you desire to create most inthis life, nick, we can see that
(44:29):
persistence theme emerge in themost notable founders, ceos,
leaders and athletes that weoften talk about.
I'm finding more and more thatbehind every success story, that
(44:56):
there is some set of conditionsor one major condition that
ultimately served as the drivingforce and catalyst for people
to do what they do today.
I'm actually hard pressed tofind somebody, or think of
somebody right now that I knowthat has done something, or
(45:23):
think of somebody right now thatI know that has done something
magnificent with their livesthat hasn take a step today
towards your goals, towardscrushing your obstacles, and use
that step framework to continuepushing forward and win today.
(45:46):
Thank you you.
So I got to the top, buckled into my snowboard, took
a breath of that crisp winterair and comfortably charged
towards that jump with all myspeed.
And going into the jump Icaught the edge of my snowboard
and that's the last thing that Iremember.
So they wanted to bring ahelicopter to the mountain to
rush me to the hospital.
(00:20):
They couldn't because it wastoo windy, so they sent in an
ambulance and out of all theparamedics in the area, the
county, there was only one whocould intubate on the spot and I
needed that to be able tobreathe.
He was one of the paramedicsthat showed up to the mountain
(00:41):
that day.
That showed up to the mountainthat day.
And there are still severalthings that I can't explain
because of the accident, becauseof that day.
However, now I know that one ofthe reasons is why I'm here
with you and your listenerstoday.
So, no matter the obstacle thatyou're facing in front of you,
(01:03):
your first step is going to makethe difference.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Do hard things.
Help one person, be good and dogood, live a life of discipline
, and you will always win.
You have all the tools that youneed to succeed.
Welcome to win today.
Tools that you need to succeed.
(01:31):
Welcome to win today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
My name is Ryan Cass and I'myour host.
My purpose in this world is tohelp push people further and
harder than they believepossible and become unshakable
in what matters most to them intheir lives.
Every week, you're going tolearn from either myself or a
renowned expert in their field,and we're going to unveil pieces
of our playbook to help you wintoday.
Please, if you love this show,subscribe and share it with
(01:53):
somebody that will benefit fromit.
Let's dig in.
Imagine waking up in the ICUafter you've just been out,
having what was could bedescribed as the time of your
life, and then being told thatyou're never going to walk again
.
Now imagine, in that samemoment or shortly thereafter,
(02:15):
that you actually run out ofthis hospital and you defy the
odds.
And you defy the odds, defy thelimits and really dig deep into
what is inside of your mind,body and soul.
To take that step, we've gotNick Prefontaine with us, who's
(02:37):
the founder of Common Goal andsomeone who has defied the odds
and helps people take that stepin their life, whether it's
defying the odds out of the ICU,breaking past a trauma that may
have been holding them back andmoving closer towards the
things that they want most inlife.
(02:57):
Nick, honor to have you, man.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
So happy to be here, Ryan.
As soon as I heard the name ofthe show, I was like, oh, we got
to talk.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's going to be a-.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Love the name of the show.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Appreciate it.
Well, I'd say.
I'd certainly say that's whatyou help people do is win in
however they define winning tobe, and that's really resemblant
of your life, especially postthe incident which we'll
certainly talk about.
But before that, let's dig intothe heart a little bit.
(03:29):
What's the most important thingfor people to know about Nick
Prefontaine?
That is a wonderful question.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
I would say really my journey, really my journey, the
thing about me I would say andthis is this has been ever since
, before we get into the actualaccident, the day of the
accident this has been somethingthat's been building my entire
(03:58):
life.
The work that I'm doing todayhelping, working with trauma,
life challenge survivors,accident victims get through to
the other side and be able tothrive with the rest of their
lives.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
That is something, Ryan, that I've done for my
entire life.
I just never, knew how toformulate it and how, and it is
my mission and commitment todeliver amazing episodes to you
every week, where you will learnfrom myself or a renowned
expert in their field.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
We love helping people win in every aspect of
their lives and you can help uswin by sharing the show with
somebody that you believe willbenefit from it, subscribing and
leaving a rating and reviewwith somebody that you believe
will benefit from it,subscribing and leaving a rating
interview.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
We believe that everybody in this world is meant
to do something great withtheir lives and we're here now.
I'm so happy today.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Thank you for tuning in, and let's one thing I love
on your bio that I, that I wrotedown and I'm curious if you
still would describe this as theopportunity.
I like to say opportunityinstead of problem, because all
problems are simplyopportunities, but the
opportunity that you solve forpeople, and I quote everyone has
(05:19):
a fire to walk through.
I help you take that first step.
Is that how you would summarizeyour work?
In less than two sentences?
Speaker 1 (05:28):
I think it's a start, because there are so many of us
out there who are stuck andfrozen just because they don't
know what first step to take.
They see the path of theirobstacle, their goal, their life
(05:48):
challenge, what they have toovercome and where they want to
get to where they were seems sofar away.
And really what we find is,once you take that first step,
your next steps are always goingto be possible.
And that's the hardest part ishelping people take that first
(06:09):
step.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
A lot of people likely believe that, or rather,
do you feel like most peoplehesitate towards taking that
first step because they believethat the destination or the goal
is 10 times further away thanthey may mentally perceive it to
be, when in reality it's reallymuch closer?
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I think, yeah, it's kind of twofold.
There's a few things withinthis.
So when people, especiallypeople that first suffer any
kind of injury is that theystart to get down on themselves
and they think, oh well, it'swhere I want to get to versus
where I am, that's so far away.
What really the only thing theyshould be focusing on is what's
(06:57):
in front of them what's gettingup every day, like I did, and
just dealing with what's infront of you, doing the best and
this is so funny that you cameacross my radar doing the best
with what you have that very day, that very hour.
If you win the day I wrote thiswithin one of my newsletters or
(07:19):
social media posts within thelast few weeks If you win the
day, you'll be able to win theweek, win the month, win the
year and soon enough you'll becloser, that much closer to your
ideal.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Yeah, it really comes to stacking wins, stacking days
.
Days lead to weeks, weeks tomonths, months to years, and
boom.
Next thing you know we'vedefied a limit.
We've proven ourselves right,which is a concept that I've
really come to love.
Proving yourself right in thatyou can do the thing regardless
(07:52):
of the circumstance.
It may take longer than youbelieve or that you would like
it to take, but we already haveall the tools that we need, and
I'm a huge fan of frameworks.
So we'll certainly uncover astep, but I feel as if we're
building some suspense right now, in that some people are
(08:13):
already familiar with your storyor the fact that we'll be
publishing some.
By the time this comes out,we'll have put some snippets out
there and certainly createdsome suspense, but in this
discussion, right now somepeople were teasing them.
Some people are saying, allright, let's get into it.
Bring us to this moment whereyour life reaches this critical
(08:39):
inflection point, when you're 14years old, and help orient us
to who you're, with whatmountain you're going up, how
you're feeling, and help put uson that ski lift with you on
that day.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Sure.
So that whole day and really mystory really starts I was at
ski club with my friends ineighth grade and if you can
remember, if anyone can remember, whenever you get released a
little bit early which is whathappens when we had ski club,
which is that day what we hadit's always a big deal.
(09:18):
So we got released a little bitearly.
My buddies and I brought oursnowboard gear on the bus to get
ready so we wouldn't miss aprecious moment Once we got to
the mountain.
We got to the mountain, headedright for the chairlift with the
rest of the class.
They headed inside to waste, inour eyes, to time for two or
(09:39):
three extra runs.
So we were ready to go.
We hit the chairlift.
On the ride up, on the chairliftup the mountain, we noticed,
ryan, that it was very icybecause it had been raining
earlier in the day and peoplewere wiping out everywhere.
And where the chairlift wentover was actually right over the
(09:59):
terrain park where all of thejumps were, and I knew as soon
as I saw it that I had to go offthe biggest jump in the terrain
park.
There wasn't even a doubt in mymind.
I was already thinking aboutwhat we were going to do after I
landed that huge trick Maybegrab a burger and fries in the
(10:20):
lodge, or we could head over tothe other trail and, for some
runs on those trails, eyes inthe lodge.
Or we could head over to theother trailer for some runs on
those trails.
I was just happy to be there.
So I got to the top, buckledinto my snowboard, took a breath
of that crisp winter air andcomfortably charged towards that
jump with all my speed andgoing up to the jump I caught
the edge of my snowboard andthat's the last thing that I
(10:41):
remember.
So they wanted to bring ahelicopter to the mountain to
rush me to the hospital.
They couldn't because it wastoo windy.
So they sent in an ambulanceand out of all the paramedics in
the area, the county, there wasonly one who could intubate on
(11:02):
the spot and I needed that to beable to breathe.
He was one of the paramedicsthat showed up to the mountain
that day and there are stillseveral things that I can't
explain because of the accident,because of that day.
However, now I know that one ofthe reasons is why I'm here
(11:24):
with you and your listenerstoday.
So, no matter the obstacle thatyou're facing in front of you,
your first step is going to makethe difference.
So there was three things thatreally lead me to be able to
tell this story today.
The first I already shared theright paramedic showed up to the
(11:44):
mountain.
So, although the second one,although I wasn't wearing a
helmet, I had a pair of gogglessnowboard goggles on my head.
I don't know if I was wearingthem over my eyes at this point
or if they were just on my head.
I have to imagine they were onmy eyes because of how fast I
was going.
They were very thick, with alot of padding, and the doctors
(12:10):
and the experts and likeeyewitness accounts of people
who were there told me that notonly Ryan did they brace my
initial impact and theycontinued to hit my head.
They told me that with eachblow, they moved to cushion each
blow between the mountain, theice and my head.
(12:33):
So that was the second thing,the third being I got to the
hospital.
I was listen, I was out.
I was in a coma, resting in theintensive care unit, unable to
communicate with anyone, and theonly people that were allowed
in there at that time were myparents.
(12:54):
So each time the doctors would,and this especially goes for
early on.
Each time the doctors wouldcome into my room to share the
not so good news not so goodnews not so good news with my
parents and the prognosis,because hospitals and doctors,
(13:14):
anyone that's been in an acutesituation or trauma, any kind of
a challenge, the doctors, can'tpaint a rosy picture.
They have to give you, forliability reasons, a worst case
scenario.
So they started to share thisnews right in front of me and my
mom stopped them.
She said no, no, not in frontof him, because she understood
(13:39):
that even though I was in a coma, I was still taking in
information.
So she made the doctors stepoutside the room and once they
were there, that's where theyshared with my parents that I
probably wouldn't be able towalk, talk or eat on my own ever
again.
(13:59):
They weren't even sure how longI was going to be in the coma.
They weren't even sure how longI was going to be in the coma.
So even if I made it out of thecoma, there was a good chance
that I probably wasn't, like Isaid, be able to do anything on
my own again.
So my parents, to their credit,they took the information,
(14:21):
thanked the doctors and allowedme to treat it like any other
situation.
So this was no different thanany other situation that I had
faced up to this point in mylife.
I didn't know any of this, sothey didn't let any of that
outside noise get into me, so Iended up being in the coma.
(14:43):
It was a partially induced comabecause they had to wait for
the swelling to come down in mybrain because they were worried
that if I woke up and panicked,the swelling would increase even
more and I would have died.
So that's why it was apartially induced coma and I
ended up being in the coma forthree weeks.
I really don't remember a month,and it was a month after my
(15:06):
accident that I was transportedto a rehab hospital in Boston,
and that's where my realmemories start.
So I vaguely remember beingtransported to the third floor,
which was reserved for the mostcritical of cases.
To give you an idea, they wouldhave to support me sitting up
(15:33):
in bed, two to three nurseshelping me sit up in bed, and
then I was still sweatingprofusely like I just ran a
marathon or something.
So the memories are hazy atthat point.
And then, when I wastransported down to the second
four unit.
That's where a lot of mymemories really start, like, oh
okay, I got starting to get myfeet under me, if you will.
(15:53):
Um, the memories really comeback.
And it was right around thistime, ryan, that I started to
unknowingly use a system to notonly make a full recovery but
run out of the hospital, andthat's a step system.
That's what I teach to this day, like what we're doing today,
(16:15):
like on podcasts and keynotesthat I have and one-on-one work
that I have with clients.
What I can do is give like a10,000 foot view and then, if
anyone's interested, at the endI can let them know how they can
download the entire step systemfor free.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
So step is an acronym , it stands for Can we, can we,
before we do that Wow, I mean,I'm thinking through you start
to come to life, if you will,but start to recognize where you
are in this facility in Boston,and then, as you go from the
(16:52):
third floor to the second, thenmore information and more is
being made available.
Have you been consciously toldat this point that you may never
walk or hear, or rather maynever walk or live unassisted
(17:12):
again?
Speaker 1 (17:13):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
So the only people that know that are your parents.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Yeah, that information never got through to
me.
Wow.
So all I knew, all I knew wasyes, that was the prognosis, but
I didn't know that.
All I knew was yes, that wasthe prognosis, but I didn't know
that All I knew.
As this happened, and okay, Ihad to get up, literally and
figuratively, and because Iwasn't able to get up at the
(17:37):
beginning and just do what wasin front of me that day, I had
to go back to the podcast theme.
I had to win the day, every day.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
And you literally ran out of the hospital.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
That's, yeah, that's.
I'm about to share how that,how that came about.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let's do that, let's do that.
I wanted to step out for aminute and just absorb that for
a minute.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
I love your placement of the word step, so that's
where I wanted to insert it.
So step is an acronym.
It stands for support.
Make sure you have the supportof your family and friends right
from the beginning.
This is going to have youfalling back on relationships
that you built prior to yoursetback.
(18:30):
T is trust Trust that once youtake your first step, your next
step's always going to beavailable to you, and this also
starts by trusting that voicethat you have with inside of
yourselves.
We all have it with inside ofourselves and you have to follow
it.
(18:51):
And this is where the runningout of the hospital comes into
play.
So I remember it was after Iwas on the second floor.
At this time, however, I wasstill in a wheelchair.
I still really couldn'tenunciate, I couldn't really
talk.
I mean, at best it was awhisper.
I can remember Ryan overhearingmy parents talking with my team
(19:14):
of doctors and therapists, andthey would meet with them every
week and they said what do weneed to do to make sure Nick
makes a full recovery?
I can remember hearing them saythat to the doctors and
therapists.
I heard in the back of my headyou're going to run out of the
hospital.
So, even though I wasn't ableto talk for the most part it was
(19:37):
just a whisper, at best I wasable to communicate that to the
rest of the team, and then thatis what our common goal became,
what we are working towards andmeaning every week.
What are we doing to help Nickrun out of the hospital?
So E is energy.
Maintaining your energy allowsyour body's natural ability to
(20:00):
be able to heal itself.
Medication has the potential toget in the way of that,
obviously within reason.
Here I mean that first night inthe hospital cost a quarter of
a million dollars.
So if it wasn't for modernmedicine, I wouldn't be here
today.
However, there's a use, timeand place for everything.
(20:22):
So a month after my accident,when I came out of the ICU, was
a time that we needed to allowthe body to heal itself, and the
best way to illustrate this isafter I had moved to the rehab
hospital in Boston, I was stillwithin a week or two of being
cleared by the therapists anddoctors to walk again.
(20:45):
To walk on my own.
By the therapists and doctorsto walk again.
To walk on my own.
I could walk.
I just wasn't cleared yet to doit on my own, without anyone's
supervision.
So I got up in the middle of thenight and I would always have
an advocate.
I would always have either mydad or an uncle or my
grandfather stay with me atnight.
So I always had someone with meand that was part of my support
(21:05):
.
And I woke up in the middle ofthe night and, as I shared
earlier, I couldn't really talk.
So I leaned over my bed and Isaid Bub, that's my grandfather,
bub, bub, bub.
And you couldn't hear mebecause my voice wasn't really
back.
So I managed to lower thehospital bed and make it to the
(21:26):
bathroom.
Nothing happened.
I was able to get back to bed.
However, the hospital found outthe next day, ryan.
They freaked out.
They're like well, we can'thave this a liability.
I can tell you what we're goingto do.
We're going to give him thismany cc's of this great
medication and that will reallymake him so he's able to sleep
throughout the night.
(21:47):
And my mom heard this and she'slike no, you're not Just tell
him not to do that.
So I say that if I didn't havean advocate there with me part
of my support they would havejust gave me medication to kind
of make their I hate to say thisbecause it sounds like I'm
(22:10):
bashing like doctors and nursesor anything but make their jobs
easier.
It's just you have to have anadvocate there advocating for
you.
P is persistence.
So once you've taken your firststep, keep getting up every day
and taking your next step, nomatter how small, and by
continuing to do something everyday, you are building an
(22:31):
unstoppable momentum.
So if you fast forward, lessthan 60 days later I realized my
goal of running out of thehospital and it wasn't like my
work was done right of thehospital and it wasn't like my
work was done.
Ryan, I had to continue to goto outpatient therapy for
(22:53):
another six months, along withbeing tutored all summer long,
five days a week, in order tocontinue on to high school with
the rest of my classmates.
And really, looking back at it,it's a little surreal to me
that only I'm sure you canrelate to this, your listeners
can relate to this.
When you're younger, especiallylike teenager, time is
(23:20):
compressed, so something that'slike six months away, 12 months,
18, 24 months seems like alifetime.
However, it's not really thatmuch time, and the older I get,
I'm seeing that.
So only 18 months later afterfinishing my rehab from my
snowboarding accident, I got mystart in real estate and that
(23:43):
was door knockingpre-foreclosure doors or
homeowners that have receivedthe notice of default letter
from the bank.
So my job I get this list, goto the areas where, in my mind,
where the most amount of thesewere, which were not so good
areas of cities, and I wouldknock on their door and try to
(24:06):
set up meetings for one of ourinvestors to meet with them the
following week about potentiallybuying their home.
And it took until several yearsago when I had a mentor
actually point this out to me.
She said well, wait a minute,you were door knocking in not so
(24:26):
good areas of cities only like18 months after finishing a
rehab from your accident.
This was part of your recoveryGoing door to door, helping
people out of their unfortunatesituation.
So it kind of took herreflecting that back to me to
have me realize that, but it wasdefinitely was part of my
(24:50):
recovery.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, I love the framework.
Anytime there's a frameworkthat is simple to remember, such
as STEP who doesn't forget that, and even how it's used take
one step and support, trust,energy and persistence.
(25:11):
That's such a useful frameworkthat can be applied to so many
situations in life, whether it'sa trauma, starting a business,
going after a big goal.
I want to break that down alittle bit more into the
(25:34):
elements.
There's a couple that stand out, both support and trust.
Specifically trust One thingyou mentioned within that is to
trust yourself and becomecomfortable with your we'll call
it gut, and intuition is how Iinterpret that.
A lot of people struggle is intrusting themselves and building
(26:10):
that confidence in themselvesthat they have the ability that
they can take that step.
What are some takes that youhave for people that may be in
that situation now to cultivatestronger trust within themselves
?
Speaker 1 (26:29):
This goes back to a woman that I helped in the
Minnesota area earlier this year, coaching one-on-one, and it's
come up several times over thelast several years.
Is that people, when they have,when they have this, that when
they get a diagnosis or they geta, um, kind of a playbook how
(26:54):
the how it's going to work outbased on their con, their
condition, I guess you could saythey'll they'll tend to jump
the conclusions in their head,um and they'll.
They'll finish the story forthemselves in a negative way.
And I always just have to tellpeople to step back.
No, no, no, there's no reasonto do that.
(27:16):
Like, for example, this hascome to mind I was working with
this woman and the doctors hadtold her that, well, she isn't
going to be able to do XYZbecause she needs this very
(27:37):
potent medication.
It was like a liver medication.
She'd been taking it for 10years and it was causing all
kinds of negative side effects.
She'd been taking it for 10years and it was causing all
kinds of negative side effects,and she was almost finishing the
.
The doctors weren't saying that.
She was almost finishing theirsentences, their prognosis, in a
(27:57):
negative way.
Well, now I'm not going to beable to do this, I'm not going
to be able to go and see my kids.
I'm not going to be.
I'm like no, no, no, like stop.
There's no reason to do that.
Just focus on what you have todeal with right now.
Okay, in three days you have ameeting with all your doctors to
kind of develop your next stepsand bad everything's going to
(28:26):
be.
Just focus on the nextappointment, the very next thing
that's in front of you, andbeing the best you can to show
up at that appointment as yourtrue self, because if you're not
doing that, you're just doing adisservice to yourself.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
I believe that's also helping the person be more
mindful of the narrative thatthey're creating as well.
And you got this woman to take astep back and even see and hear
, more importantly, the outcomesthat she's already creating in
(29:07):
her mind that haven't even takenplace.
I was listening to an Ed Miletpodcast this morning about the
stories that we create in ourmind and, if I'm not mistaken,
there's research that shows thatonly 40% of what we put into
our minds whether it's a currentnarrative or something future
(29:30):
tense is actually true, orrather past tense versus future.
We are often the creators offalse likelihoods that we then
deem as current and futurepossibilities.
And you got this woman to slowdown and look at let's look at
(29:51):
right now, not tomorrow, not aweek from now.
Not what you're going to beable to do tomorrow, not what
you're going to be able to do aweek from now right now.
And you got her to audit herstory and the outcome I imagine
for this woman was likelynothing to what she was telling
(30:16):
you was going to happen.
Is that accurate?
Speaker 1 (30:18):
that, yeah, I wanted to finish that.
So she, um, she had all that.
She was getting herself workedup and this was on a friday.
She had an appointment with allof her specialists who were all
independently telling herdifferent things, all giving her
grim scenarios.
She had an appointment with allof them the following Monday
(30:39):
afternoon and I remember justkeeping her focused on those
next steps.
I remember the phone callbecause I said, please, let me
know how it goes.
I want to.
We'll deal with it whatever itis, I'll like, I'll help, we'll,
we'll get through it whateverit is, but let's get to that
(31:04):
first.
So I said let me know how thatmeeting goes.
I'll never forget the call.
And it was.
I answered the phone and I saidhello, she goes, I won.
That's what she said and Istarted laughing.
I said what do you mean?
And she said they agreed, allthe doctors agreed, to take me
off of the medication.
They're going to start weaningme off of that stronger
(31:24):
medication and replace that withmore natural, um like methods,
uh treatments, um, supplements,so I don't have these negative
effects.
She was having memory loss, shewas having tremors in her hand,
uh, all this kind of thing.
(31:45):
And I, I just remember thatcall Um, and I think that's that
kind of brought me back, ryan,to why I'm doing this too is to
help people like that.
Like this is great, being herewith you sharing my story from
stage, that's great, but that'swhat really matters, I think
(32:09):
helping people like that andthere was a few things in your
answer to me that I wanted toget to.
So you said, yeah, absolutelywant to give you examples of
where that is taking place tothis day.
So after doing that doors inhigh school, I got out, I got my
(32:39):
real estate license.
I was working with buyers andsellers as a realtor and in 2012
, I developed a voice issue, avoice challenge, where I was
looking everywhere and no onecould really give me an answer
with why my voice was off.
(33:00):
It sounded like really straightand like it was hard to get the
words out and no one couldfigure out.
Like.
My natural doctor said it wasfine.
My regular MD, my medicaldoctor said it was fine.
They're like oh, I don't know.
They checked all my levels,thought I was fine.
My regular MD, my medicaldoctor said I was fine.
They're like oh, I don't know.
They checked all my levels,thought I was fine.
I ended up, long story short,going to all kinds of
specialists allergists, allthese doctors on my own over the
(33:24):
course of a year and I finallywound up at a voice specialist
office in Boston in August of2013.
And the guy Dr Song, his namehe walked into the room, heard
me speak and right away,nonchalantly goes oh, that, yeah
(33:45):
, we deal with that all the time, we'll get you fixed in no time
.
Goes to the front desk andschedule a Botox injection in a
couple weeks.
And I was like I was, my mouthwas like on the floor, I was, I
was sold hook line and sinker, Iguess you could say.
And I got scheduled.
Um, and I started getting botoxinjections into my throat that
(34:09):
month, august 2013, along withtheir higher level voice
therapists, um, to kind ofretrain my throat muscles back
to how they were before Ideveloped any issues.
And going through that kind ofit taught me that, um, okay, I,
(34:31):
I have something here.
Not right away, because at first, obviously, I had a lot of work
to do.
I had to get through it.
So I look at my accident andbeing in a coma and having to
learn how to walk, talk and eatagain and running out of the
(34:51):
hospital.
I just look at that as oh yeah,that's something I did when I
was younger.
It was like a blip that came up.
When I was younger, anyonewould behave and react the same
way.
However, then, after I had thisvoice challenge issue that I
(35:11):
had to deal with, I ended upgetting Botox injections for
seven full years and workingwith their voice therapist too,
like right in concert with that.
My last Botox injection that Ihad to get was in February of
2020.
To get was in February of 2020.
(35:39):
So I think I was.
I think I'm more proud of thatbecause of how long it took.
I may have recency bias, but Ithink I'm more proud of that.
And after getting through that,I was like, okay, I have
something here, like I need tobe, I need to be sharing this
with the world.
Right along with that, right inconcert with that, I've always
had this voice in the back of myhead since I got out of high
(36:02):
school, telling your story fromstage and helping trauma
survivors or life challenge oraccident survivors get through
their challenge and then thrivewith the rest of their lives.
So that voice has always beenhere and I actually let my real
(36:23):
estate license go.
So after someone heard me talkin September of 2019, she
approached me and said I'm nottrying to steal you from your
dad and your family real estatebusiness.
However, if you're ever lookingto fine tune your message and
bring it to another level sothat it has maximum impact and
(36:47):
reason, you can help the mostamount of people.
I can introduce you to a fewcoaches and mentors that have
helped me along the way.
Well, I wasn't ready yet because, as I said, the timelines batch
up.
I was still going through thefinal throws of my voice issue.
However, I always hung on toher card.
So in May of 2021, I finallyreached out to her and I said
(37:11):
okay, I'm ready.
Before her, the longest Italked was maybe 15, 20 minutes
on stage, and I thought that wasa big deal.
Now I know what that is.
So, tricia, I worked with herand she was the one who helped
me launch Common Goal.
I built out several of mykeynote talks, where I'm now
(37:32):
giving 50 and 60 minute keynotetalks, plus to brain injury
associations and otherorganizations that support
individuals that are goingthrough trauma.
If you would have told me thatI'd be doing that, this is what
I'd be doing like five years ago.
I would have told you you'd benuts.
However, now there's no voicein the back of my head, so I
(37:58):
know now I'm doing exactly whatI was putting this earth to do.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Isn't it great how trauma can often serve as one of
the best gifts we'll everreceive in this life.
I bring that up frequently, asthat's even the reason why this
podcast and my coaching programsand keynote speaking exist.
It all goes back to childhoodtrauma as the catalyst, and many
(38:29):
of the people that have been onthis show it's their catalyst
as well, and it's beautiful tosee how it all comes together
and ultimately serves as thebest fuel we can receive.
One thing I'm curious about,nick, is how do you get people
to build a strong relationshipwith that trauma and see it as a
(38:54):
gift?
Speaker 1 (38:55):
It's funny that you phrase it that way and that you
introduce it that way, because Ialways say when people ask me,
would you go back If you had theopportunity to go back and
change anything, would youchange anything?
I say no, 100% not.
I'm doing what I love to do.
(39:16):
I'm where I am today because ofwhat happened to me.
I wouldn't change a thing.
However, if you ask my mom, shedisagrees with me, she'll say
oh no, I wouldn't go through it,I would choose not to go
through that.
So what I put them through.
I mean it was easy for me.
(39:38):
Well, not easy, but it'sconvenient.
I guess is a word for me to sayI'd do it again.
I didn't know any better.
However, put them through a lot.
I guess you could say To yoursecond question of seeing this
(40:01):
as a gift.
It's hard in the moment, and I'msure you understand this as
well.
It's hard in the moment,especially right after something
happens, which is kind of whereI'm, I'm falling into.
I'm like I'm entering thepicture with a lot of people is
(40:22):
like right after somethinghappens or shortly after
something happens, it's hard toGet them to come around to.
Oh okay, everything happens fora reason.
You're going to find that outlater.
We just have to I stress topeople you just have to focus on
doing what's in front of you.
(40:43):
You just have to do the bestyou can with what's in front of
you.
That will come, yeah, but Idon't think it's until a little
bit later after they're a littlebit further down the road of
recovery.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
Yeah, it's certainly difficult right in the moment.
It often doesn't come as aninstant discovery that, oh, this
is great, that, oh, this isgreat.
And some of these traumas thatwe experience, there's no way
that some of them can beinstantly viewed as gifts.
I mean in that I think aboutpeople that have lost others to
(41:24):
horrible circumstances, butthat's also what then gave them
the platform that they havetoday to inspire people all over
the world.
And in addition to what yousaid about your parents, I don't
know of any third party thatwould sign up to see what they
had to see, especially their son, their loved one, going through
(41:49):
that in the ICU.
One story I often share on myjourney to qualifying for the
Boston Marathon, it took sevenyears.
Little did I know I was goingto get hit by a car on a
training run and also wake up inthe trauma unit and to my
parents telling me what had justhappened.
(42:10):
No one would sign up for that.
But I'm sure that your parentswould and have no problem
watching you get up on stageover and over and over again to
inspire people, to help peopletake their first step, and it
all goes back to that one thingthat they would never wish for
(42:31):
again, just as anybody would.
Nobody would wish for someoneelse to go through the things
that they did to give them whatthey have today.
If we all got to write the bookof life and every chapter in it
, we wouldn't have traumas, wewouldn't have deaths, we
(42:51):
wouldn't have divorces, wewouldn't have so many of the
things that give us the greatestthings that we could ever and
sometimes have never, could havenever imagined in our lives.
A little bit of anuntraditional ending on the pod,
as we would typically dive intoa discussion about what winning
(43:14):
is in addition to the rapidfire.
But there were some technicalissues.
So closing this one out and Ibelieve Nick's story is a
testament to the power of astrong framework and belief
system.
He mentioned the STEP framework,which is very simple to put in
(43:39):
your back pocket right now, andfocusing on the P and really
looking at his journey frombeing told he was never going to
walk again to the voice issuesthat he encountered to now being
a keynote speaker to audiencesall over the country and
(44:00):
reaching people internationallyas well.
Persistence how persistent areyou being as it relates to
crushing obstacles and, as itrelates to the pursuit of what
you desire to create most inthis life, nick, we can see that
(44:29):
persistence theme emerge in themost notable founders, ceos,
leaders and athletes that weoften talk about.
I'm finding more and more thatbehind every success story, that
(44:56):
there is some set of conditionsor one major condition that
ultimately served as the drivingforce and catalyst for people
to do what they do today.
I'm actually hard pressed tofind somebody, or think of
somebody right now that I knowthat has done something, or
(45:23):
think of somebody right now thatI know that has done something
magnificent with their livesthat hasn take a step today
towards your goals, towardscrushing your obstacles, and use
that step framework to continuepushing forward and win today.
(45:46):
Thank you you.
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