Harnessing Passion, Drive & Persistence for Lifelong Success | Tony Hawk

This section of the episode develops the topic through the following source points: [OPENING THEME MUSIC] Andrew Huberman: Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk is one of the most celebrated and accomplished professional skateboarders of all time. For more than 40 years, he has been at the forefront of the sport and I don't mean just doing a sport for more than 40 years, I truly mean he has been at the forefront of skateboarding, developing new maneuvers, aka tricks that include incredible feats like the 900, a 900-degree spin in the air, as well as numerous other maneuvers that have really pushed the entire sport forward. He has also completely popularized the sport through his video game and through his ambassadorship for skateboarding. In fact, few, if any, names are as synonymous with skateboarding in the general public as Tony Hawk. And he is oh so deserved of that title, because for more than 40 years, he has shown up as the consummate professional. He is kind, he is respectful, and he is completely committed to his craft, and that shows up in every aspect of his life. He still, to this day, skateboards daily. And as you'll soon learn, he recently suffered a major injury, a complete break of his femur, that is the bone in his upper leg. And this is what many people would consider a career-ending injury. Not only did Tony come back from that injury, but he went back to the very trick on which he broke his femur and recently completed that trick. That is a 540, or so-called McTwist. I mention this because at every level of his life, Tony has demonstrated himself to be somebody with incredible drive, incredible vision and incredible persistence. And today we talk about that drive, vision and persistence, and we talk about what it takes to set a goal and to continually evolve one's goal and to continually progress as a basically young preteen, as a teenager, as a young adult, as an adult, and, well, let's face it, as a 55-year-old man, he is now heading a little bit past middle-aged, although we do hope that he lives forever. Tony Hawk, aka the Birdman, really does seem to be superhuman. But as you'll learn today, he is oh so human in the way that he shares his own experience and shares with you the ways in which we can each and all look at what we do and think about what we want to achieve and put our minds and our bodies to those goals and achieve them.