ATHLLC5538671203

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.600 | - Hello, and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks,

00:00:05.640 | a show about upgrading your life, money, and travel.

00:00:08.560 | I'm your host, Chris Hutchins,

00:00:09.720 | and if you've been watching this podcast recently on YouTube,

00:00:12.300 | you'll have noticed two things.

00:00:13.880 | First, I have a new studio setup.

00:00:15.980 | I signed up for Kevin Chen's Dream Studio course,

00:00:18.360 | which I'll link to in the show notes,

00:00:19.600 | because it's fantastic and got so many great tips

00:00:22.860 | that ultimately led to what you see today.

00:00:25.240 | It's not quite done, but it's almost there.

00:00:27.400 | And I even have a setup for in-person interviews,

00:00:29.600 | which you'll see the first version of in a few weeks.

00:00:32.140 | But more importantly is number two,

00:00:33.980 | you'll see that I have a few skateboards

00:00:35.560 | hanging on the wall behind me.

00:00:37.200 | That's not just 'cause they look cool.

00:00:38.680 | I have loved skateboarding since I was a kid,

00:00:40.920 | and I still skate a bit today.

00:00:43.000 | Well, what you probably can't see

00:00:44.480 | is that one of those skateboards

00:00:45.800 | is signed by none other than Tony Hawk,

00:00:47.880 | who I've looked up to for so many years,

00:00:50.240 | which is why it is surreal

00:00:51.480 | that I'm sitting down with Tony for today's episode.

00:00:54.040 | He is one of the most decorated athletes in the world,

00:00:56.580 | having turned pro at 14, and by 16 he was considered

00:01:00.520 | the best competitive skateboarder on earth.

00:01:02.960 | He was world champion for 12 years in a row,

00:01:05.280 | launched a video game franchise with 30 million games sold.

00:01:09.040 | He also runs a skate brand, an awesome nonprofit,

00:01:12.040 | a clothing brand, and has made hundreds of appearances

00:01:14.800 | in movies, magazines, and TV shows.

00:01:17.480 | We're gonna talk about his career,

00:01:19.100 | how he's pushed himself to achieve things

00:01:21.020 | that so many people thought were impossible,

00:01:23.840 | what lessons we can take away

00:01:25.320 | from all of that time skateboarding,

00:01:27.680 | what he's learned being a parent to four kids,

00:01:29.780 | and some of his favorite travel hacks.

00:01:32.720 | We also shot this in person at Tony's studio

00:01:35.040 | with an awesome three-camera setup,

00:01:37.080 | so if you wanna check out the video from this episode,

00:01:39.120 | I'll put a link to the YouTube channel in the show notes.

00:01:41.640 | All right, let's jump in right after this.

00:01:44.620 | (upbeat music)

00:01:46.880 | Tony, welcome to the show.

00:01:48.080 | Thank you.

00:01:49.120 | Yeah, so before we jump in,

00:01:50.540 | what is one thing you think most people just don't get

00:01:52.880 | about skateboarding or skateboard culture?

00:01:54.800 | The amount of discipline it takes.

00:01:57.220 | I think that there's still a stigma that skaters,

00:01:59.780 | especially people who make their living from skateboarding

00:02:02.560 | or from riding their skateboards are slackers, are stoners,

00:02:07.280 | they just get up late, they do what they want,

00:02:09.320 | they go trespassing, they go skate,

00:02:11.520 | and to get to a certain level of skating,

00:02:14.080 | to get to some of the more difficult maneuvers,

00:02:17.840 | it takes years of discipline and perseverance,

00:02:22.160 | pain, and I think that's lost in the noise

00:02:26.680 | of these guys are, they're rebels,

00:02:30.200 | they got crazy hairdos, they go against the grain.

00:02:33.040 | It's like those things are also true in a lot of ways,

00:02:36.160 | but they do that out of,

00:02:38.320 | it's more out of function of where they came from

00:02:41.040 | because especially in the early '90s, mid '90s,

00:02:46.040 | there were no places to skate,

00:02:48.040 | and you had to break into places,

00:02:49.520 | you had to hop fences and go to schoolyards

00:02:52.880 | or go to plazas to find any type of terrain,

00:02:57.120 | and then skaters got labeled as outcasts

00:02:59.440 | and outlaws through that.

00:03:00.980 | - Yeah, I remember flipping over

00:03:03.200 | Shays' lounges at the pool and trying to grind

00:03:06.560 | the rails on, there was nothing to do back then.

00:03:09.840 | I know you have a lot of discipline, right?

00:03:11.280 | You talk about how important it was.

00:03:12.880 | Going back to the early days,

00:03:15.160 | was there anything about your upbringing

00:03:17.260 | that kind of drove that competition

00:03:19.160 | and determination?

00:03:20.640 | - I was just always very determined.

00:03:23.440 | That was my mom's best explanation for it

00:03:25.560 | because people would say I was a terror

00:03:28.520 | and I was a nightmare and I was relentless,

00:03:30.260 | and she's like, "He's just very determined."

00:03:32.400 | That was her nice way of summarizing my behavior,

00:03:35.960 | but I think that I wanted to figure things out

00:03:38.880 | and I was gonna do it at all costs.

00:03:41.440 | I wanted to, I mean, I played baseball and basketball,

00:03:44.960 | but I didn't thrive, and only because of my size.

00:03:48.280 | I was committed to it, and I was doing the work,

00:03:50.320 | and I was trying to get in the mix,

00:03:51.620 | but I just, I didn't have the strength

00:03:54.160 | or the height to really make a difference

00:03:56.880 | 'cause I was really small for my age.

00:03:58.680 | And then when I found skating,

00:04:00.240 | I still had the same disadvantage,

00:04:01.760 | but there was something about it

00:04:03.200 | that was much more creative that I enjoyed.

00:04:05.360 | It wasn't a team sport.

00:04:06.640 | I didn't have to listen to a coach or rely on the team,

00:04:10.460 | and there was something about that that spoke to me,

00:04:12.860 | but also just the whole culture

00:04:15.060 | and how people's attitudes was very do-it-yourself,

00:04:19.540 | and they were proactive, and I loved it.

00:04:23.040 | - I know you said it's not a team sport,

00:04:24.460 | but there were a lot of other people involved.

00:04:26.220 | There were a lot of other skaters growing up.

00:04:27.500 | - It wasn't that it was so individualistic

00:04:30.460 | that it was like, "I'm just on my own mission."

00:04:31.940 | I love the community of it.

00:04:33.580 | I love that you could go to the skate park

00:04:35.440 | and be trying to learn something,

00:04:37.660 | and suddenly people rally around you

00:04:39.500 | because they just wanna see you succeed,

00:04:41.860 | and then you have the support,

00:04:43.280 | and in that sense, you have a team,

00:04:45.340 | but you're not relying on each other

00:04:48.680 | for the, I don't know, coordination or anything like that.

00:04:52.700 | It was very much like, "You can do it.

00:04:54.380 | "You got it, all right,"

00:04:55.600 | and then someone else is trying something else,

00:04:57.100 | and then you get behind that,

00:04:58.460 | and I think that spoke to me a lot, too,

00:05:00.300 | because I was really small for my age.

00:05:04.820 | I didn't feel like I fit in anywhere.

00:05:06.620 | I was bullied a lot, mostly because of my size,

00:05:09.580 | but also just 'cause I was not the cool kid,

00:05:12.180 | and then when I found skateboarding,

00:05:14.240 | there were a bunch of people like me

00:05:16.120 | all trying to find their way,

00:05:17.200 | and they all connected through skateboarding.

00:05:19.920 | - I look back to my childhood,

00:05:21.000 | and I remember those days.

00:05:22.320 | I was not the cool kid.

00:05:23.360 | I was the computer nerd and skateboard nerd,

00:05:26.120 | and you found our tribe, if you will.

00:05:29.240 | I didn't have, I think, the determination you did.

00:05:31.520 | I remember all I wanted was to skate

00:05:34.080 | at an amazing level, and it just never clicked for me.

00:05:37.320 | I found determination in other places later in life,

00:05:39.920 | but it was so hard.

00:05:42.120 | You, I've seen, documented, fortunately,

00:05:44.560 | a lot of your experiences in life are documented.

00:05:46.860 | Against all odds, against all pain,

00:05:50.280 | I remember watching the X Games in '99,

00:05:53.000 | where you're trying to do your 900 12 times in a row,

00:05:56.080 | falling, even this year, trying to kickflip

00:05:58.440 | for five, 10 minutes after surgery.

00:06:02.040 | What do you think allows you to go and just keep going?

00:06:06.040 | Because I remember sitting in the garage

00:06:07.840 | trying to kickflip for hours,

00:06:10.240 | and then I just gave up at some point,

00:06:11.880 | and I just couldn't keep going.

00:06:13.480 | - I think, firstly, that I have convinced myself

00:06:17.320 | that whatever it is I'm trying is possible,

00:06:19.400 | and so I just have to figure out the right approach

00:06:23.080 | to make it so, and that comes in a lot of forms.

00:06:27.280 | But I do feel like, especially if I go to try a new trick,

00:06:30.260 | it's like I have every element of this trick.

00:06:32.120 | I know how to spin.

00:06:34.200 | I know how to flip my board.

00:06:35.920 | I have landed in similar fashions.

00:06:38.120 | So it's like, how do I combine all those elements

00:06:40.400 | to make this one thing work?

00:06:42.080 | And I think I rely on that so much

00:06:44.320 | that I'm willing to push through pain

00:06:47.280 | and exhaustion to get there.

00:06:49.720 | It doesn't always work.

00:06:50.800 | Like when you talk about, saw the 900 was 12 tries.

00:06:54.340 | Those 12 tries are representative of thousands of tries.

00:06:57.700 | I tried that trick for 10 years.

00:07:00.680 | So 12 tries was nothing.

00:07:02.960 | (laughing)

00:07:03.800 | You know what I mean?

00:07:04.620 | - They were just the 12 I got to witness.

00:07:05.840 | - You know what I'm saying?

00:07:06.680 | But I understand that if people saw that from the outside,

00:07:09.280 | they're like, oh, he won't give up.

00:07:10.480 | And I was like, yeah, you have no idea

00:07:12.160 | how deep that not give up goes,

00:07:13.800 | especially for that particular move.

00:07:16.700 | I would try dozens of tries in one session

00:07:20.280 | only to walk away with a broken rib.

00:07:22.720 | So--

00:07:23.560 | - Heal up and come back and do it again.

00:07:24.800 | - Heal up and come back and try again.

00:07:26.280 | Actually, after the broken rib, that put me on pause.

00:07:28.640 | That one, I had actually stepped away from that trick

00:07:30.880 | after getting hurt like that.

00:07:32.720 | And at some point thought, I've given it everything I have,

00:07:36.320 | I've fully committed to it, and that's what happens.

00:07:38.960 | So maybe it's not in the cards.

00:07:41.380 | - At the time, did you think I'm quitting on this endeavor?

00:07:45.000 | - I did, yeah.

00:07:45.840 | Actually, after I broke my rib, I was like,

00:07:47.080 | I had every element, I had every piece of it.

00:07:49.640 | I had the landing, I had everything.

00:07:50.960 | And so if it didn't work, it's never gonna work.

00:07:54.040 | But in that one instance at the X Games,

00:07:58.360 | the reason I even tried it was

00:07:59.760 | because it was the best trick event.

00:08:01.720 | I had a trick in mind for what I wanted to do

00:08:04.240 | that I had made once before.

00:08:05.760 | And so I thought, I'm just gonna try it.

00:08:07.080 | That's my best trick.

00:08:08.440 | I'm gonna try to get to that trick.

00:08:09.880 | And I got to it very early.

00:08:11.820 | So I didn't really have anything else planned.

00:08:13.820 | And so the announcer, actually, at the time,

00:08:16.920 | the announcer that was on site said,

00:08:18.760 | oh, let's see one of those 900 attempts.

00:08:20.640 | That's what started it.

00:08:21.880 | - Was that part of your being,

00:08:24.160 | was being encouraged by others,

00:08:25.320 | or was it internal motivation?

00:08:26.560 | - No, I mean, I probably would have tried it anyway

00:08:28.720 | 'cause it's like, yeah, that would be my next trick

00:08:31.920 | that I'd like to accomplish,

00:08:33.760 | would be the next best trick for sure.

00:08:36.000 | And so I tried it more to appease the crowd.

00:08:40.320 | This is what it looks like.

00:08:42.120 | And then somewhere around the third or fourth try,

00:08:45.400 | my speed was consistent, my spin was consistent.

00:08:47.800 | I started spotting the landing.

00:08:49.600 | And in previous attempts,

00:08:51.360 | I only ever spotted the landing maybe one out of five tries

00:08:54.960 | because the ramps were all pretty terrible back then.

00:08:57.520 | You couldn't rely on the speed

00:08:59.400 | or the walls weren't the same.

00:09:01.400 | So you're always kind of struggling to adjust.

00:09:04.000 | And that ramp was built really well.

00:09:06.880 | So I didn't have to struggle with the construction.

00:09:10.320 | It was more like I could rely on the speed

00:09:12.400 | and the trueness of it.

00:09:13.640 | So after about my third or fourth try, I can see it.

00:09:16.680 | I see it every time.

00:09:17.640 | I might as well try to make it again.

00:09:20.380 | And when I did try to make it,

00:09:22.080 | the first time when I tried to put it on the wall,

00:09:24.680 | I fell forward, but I didn't fall forward so hard

00:09:27.880 | that I got hurt again.

00:09:29.880 | And that was the key.

00:09:31.360 | Because it was like, oh, I can adjust the landing

00:09:34.000 | and I can try to get more in my back foot.

00:09:37.120 | And then I basically shifted my weight mid-spin

00:09:39.980 | so that when I landed, I was more on the back foot

00:09:42.680 | and I was too far on the back foot.

00:09:44.600 | And then I shot backwards.

00:09:47.480 | - Now you just have to readjust.

00:09:48.320 | - We call that shooting out.

00:09:49.360 | So the first one, I was too top heavy, I fell forward.

00:09:52.520 | The second one, the ones I tried to make.

00:09:54.400 | And then that next one, I shot out.

00:09:56.560 | And it was like, that was the magic moment

00:09:59.080 | because it was like, we'll split the difference.

00:10:01.280 | And that's it.

00:10:02.120 | And then that's when it worked.

00:10:03.720 | - Let's say someone listening is hearing this story,

00:10:05.040 | they're like, this guy's not afraid of anything.

00:10:07.400 | Are there other sports, other things in life

00:10:09.080 | that you have fear from?

00:10:10.320 | - Oh, for sure.

00:10:11.160 | I surf and I don't like big surf.

00:10:13.400 | People say, well, you ride these giant ramps.

00:10:15.120 | Yeah, but if I fall, the giant ramp doesn't crash

00:10:17.440 | on top of me and hold me underwater.

00:10:20.080 | You know what I mean?

00:10:21.380 | My brother, he is a surfer

00:10:23.080 | and that's how I got into skateboarding, my older brother.

00:10:25.440 | But when I would go surf with him

00:10:26.880 | and he has plenty of experience,

00:10:28.800 | he'd go out to pretty heavy stuff.

00:10:30.160 | And it's just like, I like riding a big wave,

00:10:32.280 | but I don't wanna suffer the consequences of falling on one.

00:10:35.760 | - My first experience surfing was a friend of mine took me

00:10:39.080 | and he was like, let's just try these on a short board.

00:10:41.080 | I had no idea what I was doing.

00:10:42.520 | - Yeah, a great first experience on a short board.

00:10:43.720 | - It was a horrible first experience.

00:10:45.520 | And then the next one was like Hawaii, long board,

00:10:47.820 | super chill.

00:10:48.660 | I was like, oh, I could get back into this.

00:10:49.840 | - Oh yeah.

00:10:50.680 | Well, I'll tell you, I have surfed through my years

00:10:52.000 | because my brother wouldn't allow me to exist

00:10:54.320 | without at least a foot or a toe in the water, so to speak.

00:10:57.400 | But I have fallen in love with the wave machines,

00:11:00.320 | the wave pools, because they are consistent.

00:11:04.240 | They're not too scary.

00:11:06.960 | And they are like skate parks.

00:11:10.040 | Because when you go surfing out in the wild,

00:11:13.320 | you never really know what you're gonna get.

00:11:14.680 | You get waves and sometimes they're good.

00:11:16.520 | Sometimes they're not good.

00:11:17.480 | You've got to figure out kind of how to navigate nature

00:11:19.960 | and where the swell is gonna hit.

00:11:21.740 | Those things are, the waves are always good.

00:11:24.240 | They're always gonna barrel.

00:11:25.680 | And so in that sense, you have what I consider a skate park

00:11:29.460 | to try to learn tricks and try to learn techniques.

00:11:32.400 | So yeah, I get it.

00:11:34.320 | It's not the purest thing.

00:11:35.240 | It's not, you're not out in nature.

00:11:38.160 | But for me, it's just a controlled environment

00:11:40.600 | and it very much feels like skateboarding.

00:11:43.040 | - I've been waiting for a time

00:11:44.720 | where I'm near one of these wave parks

00:11:46.360 | because I don't think there's one near San Francisco,

00:11:48.880 | at least close enough.

00:11:49.800 | - L'Amour, Fresno.

00:11:51.460 | - Okay.

00:11:52.300 | Not go out for a few hours and then come back.

00:11:55.200 | - Yeah, yeah.

00:11:56.040 | - So you've got this crazy determination with skateboarding.

00:11:58.860 | Did you ever figure out or do you know the secret

00:12:02.080 | to applying that to something else?

00:12:04.280 | I think for my personal life,

00:12:06.320 | there are things where I'm like,

00:12:07.360 | I'm wildly obsessed with optimizing travel.

00:12:09.720 | But that doesn't mean that I can take that same thing

00:12:11.760 | and apply it necessarily to go learn a kickflip.

00:12:14.240 | Though you've somewhat inspired me to do that

00:12:15.920 | as soon as I get home today.

00:12:17.000 | - I think I learned the value of patience and perseverance

00:12:19.960 | and that I've transcended to being a parent,

00:12:24.960 | to being a business owner, to travel,

00:12:28.100 | to pretty much everything.

00:12:29.420 | I learned all that through skating.

00:12:31.740 | - And is there a way that you applied that?

00:12:33.980 | It's not always natural for someone who's,

00:12:36.260 | I could do this as hard, I could try everything

00:12:38.460 | and they get to work and they're like, oh, it's hard.

00:12:40.180 | Like, how do you rewire your brain to say,

00:12:42.180 | oh, well, I know how to do this with skateboarding.

00:12:43.780 | - Yeah, and also trying to reach back to remembering,

00:12:47.020 | well, how was I able to figure this out?

00:12:49.340 | I think that with parenting, especially,

00:12:52.940 | it's so easy to get frustrated and give up.

00:12:54.740 | It really is.

00:12:55.580 | I get it, it's hard, man.

00:12:56.900 | Especially when your kids are relentless

00:12:58.740 | and they're difficult and you want to just yell

00:13:01.720 | and can't, that's not effective.

00:13:03.580 | And so you've got to figure out

00:13:04.900 | how to sort of change your approach

00:13:08.700 | and to see what is effective and that is really hard.

00:13:12.220 | But I learned that through skating

00:13:15.100 | and I've had plenty of kids,

00:13:16.260 | so I've had time to figure it out even more so.

00:13:18.860 | And I learned the value of persistence and determination

00:13:23.140 | and you do see the results eventually,

00:13:25.220 | but it's not some wow moment always.

00:13:27.940 | Take your small wins along the way.

00:13:30.540 | - I'm early on the parenting journey

00:13:32.260 | with one at two and six months,

00:13:33.820 | but I've seen some small wins and it's like, whew.

00:13:36.980 | - Yeah, and those exponentially get better.

00:13:40.020 | And you can see that, oh, well, I planted the seed.

00:13:42.260 | I'll tell you what I did with all my kids early on,

00:13:44.860 | and it was hard 'cause I was very much,

00:13:47.900 | in the early days, kind of a single parent.

00:13:49.740 | I just travel with them and it wasn't a question of like,

00:13:52.780 | oh, I got to go, I'm going to have to find carers.

00:13:55.220 | We're going.

00:13:56.140 | In the beginning, that was super hard,

00:13:57.420 | especially when they're toddlers and they don't have patience.

00:14:00.020 | We didn't have iPhones or anything like that.

00:14:01.940 | I remember I took my son, my oldest son,

00:14:04.380 | I took him to Japan when he was four

00:14:05.940 | because I had the opportunity to do some skate demos.

00:14:08.540 | No one was paying me to do skate demos at the time.

00:14:10.580 | I was struggling to pay bills.

00:14:12.480 | And it was like this brand in Osaka said,

00:14:16.020 | oh, we want you to come to our skate shop

00:14:17.780 | and do two skate exhibitions a day in the skate shop.

00:14:21.180 | So they built these little ramps in their skate shop,

00:14:23.340 | like moved all their inventory.

00:14:25.580 | And I brought him along and yeah, it was challenging,

00:14:29.380 | but it made him appreciate different cultures and travel

00:14:33.100 | and things like that.

00:14:33.940 | Later on, he's 30 now, he's adventurous.

00:14:37.100 | He understands and he embraces other cultures

00:14:42.100 | and other ways of life.

00:14:43.720 | You know what I mean?

00:14:44.560 | It's not like everything's so, ew, it's weird.

00:14:46.220 | It's crazy, this food or the way they do things.

00:14:49.020 | He's down for it.

00:14:50.700 | - I think in the moment, we just took a trip with two kids,

00:14:54.740 | two in six months, and it's brutal,

00:14:56.140 | but you think, why are we doing this?

00:14:58.340 | And you got to constantly remind yourself,

00:15:00.020 | well, there's a reason we're doing this.

00:15:01.180 | We're doing this to expose--

00:15:02.220 | - I think in those years, it's super hard

00:15:04.120 | because it's like, they're not gonna remember any of this,

00:15:06.420 | but it does set a precedent

00:15:08.300 | and it sets a way of functioning with your family

00:15:11.980 | that they get used to.

00:15:13.740 | And you'll see other kids try to do that.

00:15:16.780 | Eventually, they're gonna want to bring friends along.

00:15:19.020 | The friends are like, what, I don't, I can't.

00:15:21.540 | Where do we go?

00:15:22.380 | What do we do?

00:15:23.860 | And your kids will be dialed in.

00:15:26.180 | - Even adapting ourselves, getting comfortable with,

00:15:28.460 | okay, well, traveling in London with two kids

00:15:31.820 | is very different from two single adults.

00:15:34.100 | And so we're trying to get comfortable with that,

00:15:36.860 | which was hard, and I think it worked really well.

00:15:40.260 | I know you've said skateboarding is a title,

00:15:42.380 | your favorite title's dad.

00:15:43.660 | Is there anything else you were trying to teach your kids?

00:15:45.940 | Give them that determination?

00:15:47.180 | Do they have it?

00:15:48.020 | Do they see it from you?

00:15:48.860 | - I think they see it from me by example,

00:15:51.140 | but I do feel like there is also a nature over nurture

00:15:54.420 | where I see them and they're all different.

00:15:58.980 | And a couple of them have that relentless determination

00:16:02.500 | and they're gonna see it through against all odds,

00:16:04.420 | against all injury.

00:16:05.420 | One of them was actually kind of so determined

00:16:11.140 | and so fearless that I worried for him when he was young.

00:16:15.140 | I used to say, it was my son Keegan,

00:16:17.300 | but I used to say like, you don't babysit Keegan,

00:16:19.140 | you go on death watch.

00:16:20.420 | You're just trying to keep him from hurting himself

00:16:22.460 | because he doesn't understand the consequences

00:16:24.780 | of all the stuff that he's trying to do.

00:16:26.100 | They're all very different,

00:16:26.940 | but I do see that they do have that same sense of commitment.

00:16:31.940 | - And was that a conscious thing,

00:16:35.620 | or do you think it was just by watching you have it yourself?

00:16:39.180 | - I think each of them are different,

00:16:40.780 | but they all do see their challenges through.

00:16:44.420 | Some are just a little more daring with their challenges.

00:16:48.500 | And I can't say they got that from me.

00:16:50.420 | I mean, maybe they saw that I would pose a challenge

00:16:53.020 | and then I would see it through for sure.

00:16:54.900 | But like I said, there was one,

00:16:56.780 | like some of my kids were really, really good skaters,

00:17:00.220 | really solid, had the foundational skills,

00:17:02.500 | but didn't really wanna push their limits too hard

00:17:05.620 | or put themselves in danger.

00:17:07.500 | And then other ones, one especially,

00:17:09.620 | was not great at skating early on,

00:17:11.540 | didn't wanna put in the hard work

00:17:13.420 | to get the foundational skills,

00:17:15.060 | but would try anything and get hurt, didn't care.

00:17:18.940 | - And were you there pushing or supporting,

00:17:21.340 | or what was your kind of role to help them grow and evolve?

00:17:24.140 | - It's hard with my position

00:17:25.820 | because of course I'm qualified to give them advice,

00:17:30.020 | but because I'm dad, they don't wanna hear it.

00:17:32.740 | And I actually have seen it happen time and time again,

00:17:35.300 | where I'll tell them to try something

00:17:36.900 | or to do it a different way.

00:17:38.540 | They don't take my advice

00:17:41.020 | 'cause they're determined to do it their way.

00:17:42.540 | One of their friends is like,

00:17:43.620 | "Oh, you should put your foot over here more."

00:17:45.380 | And they do it and it works.

00:17:47.860 | Like, that's what I told you.

00:17:49.540 | - I feel like the same lesson applies with spouses as well.

00:17:53.700 | - Maybe a little bit, but they do.

00:17:55.220 | And honestly, it's fun too 'cause they all skate.

00:17:57.540 | And so when we go travel, I mean, they're all adults now,

00:18:00.540 | all of our boys, two are still in college,

00:18:02.660 | three are on their own.

00:18:04.220 | And then my daughter's the only one still at home.

00:18:05.980 | She's 14.

00:18:07.060 | So whenever we travel, they're very self-sufficient,

00:18:09.580 | but what they wanna do when we go places

00:18:11.660 | is to go to the skate parks.

00:18:12.820 | And at some point, he's like,

00:18:13.660 | "You guys, can I get a break from skating maybe?"

00:18:16.900 | So I ended up going with them as their filmer.

00:18:20.020 | - Okay.

00:18:21.020 | - That's my role when we travel together.

00:18:23.700 | - Videographer.

00:18:24.540 | - I am, yes.

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00:20:55.380 | - So we actually talk a lot about travel on the show.

00:20:57.900 | I'm imagining you've been to countless countries.

00:21:00.460 | I don't know if you even keep track.

00:21:02.460 | Is there a favorite?

00:21:04.060 | Are there places that you love going and going back to,

00:21:06.260 | aside from just the skating there,

00:21:07.740 | might inspire people listening?

00:21:09.180 | - Iceland is amazing because the landscape is so diverse.

00:21:13.980 | I can't explain it, but you go there,

00:21:16.820 | as soon as you leave the airport,

00:21:18.180 | it looks like you're on the moon.

00:21:19.580 | And there's just all this moss covering these rocks,

00:21:23.140 | and there's the Blue Lagoon.

00:21:24.820 | And then as you drive south,

00:21:26.860 | it completely changes into almost like a farm setting.

00:21:29.740 | And then it changes again,

00:21:30.860 | like another half hour into the drive.

00:21:32.660 | And yeah, it can get really cold there,

00:21:34.380 | but it's an amazing place.

00:21:35.780 | So my wife and I went there a long time ago,

00:21:38.980 | almost 15 years ago now, and it felt very untapped.

00:21:43.980 | Definitely wasn't a tourist destination.

00:21:46.300 | And now it feels much more like there is tourism.

00:21:49.860 | But if you just drive out of the city,

00:21:51.980 | you can see some amazing sights.

00:21:53.900 | - My general rule is if you go,

00:21:55.740 | not when everyone else goes and leave a little bit outside,

00:21:59.340 | you can have a very different experience.

00:22:00.660 | - Yeah, we're not afraid to go way off the beaten path,

00:22:03.180 | which we do a lot.

00:22:04.060 | Other than that, Japan is just so surreal.

00:22:06.820 | It feels like a video game.

00:22:08.700 | - We just did an episode on Japan,

00:22:11.420 | and we were like three hours in,

00:22:13.500 | and we covered Tokyo and Kyoto.

00:22:15.380 | - Oh yeah.

00:22:16.220 | - We couldn't even get close

00:22:17.060 | to comprehending the entire country.

00:22:18.620 | And the guy I was talking to

00:22:19.860 | had been there 20 times or something,

00:22:21.780 | and he's just still like everywhere I go,

00:22:23.540 | I see something new.

00:22:25.020 | - Oh, every time.

00:22:25.860 | We brought our kids when they were all,

00:22:27.340 | I brought all of them just before they were teenagers,

00:22:30.540 | and they were all mesmerized.

00:22:32.940 | Like it was fascinating.

00:22:34.020 | Even Disneyland, still the Magic Kingdom,

00:22:36.300 | but it's very different.

00:22:37.580 | - Japan's one of the coolest places.

00:22:38.980 | Early on, you traveled a lot as a skater

00:22:41.900 | before you'd hit the success you've had now.

00:22:44.900 | I gotta ask a question I know everyone is thinking

00:22:47.060 | because multiple people said I should ask.

00:22:49.220 | Racking up all these miles?

00:22:50.540 | 'Cause I know you weren't making a lot in the early days,

00:22:53.580 | especially in that kind of mid part of your career.

00:22:56.180 | What was that like?

00:22:57.220 | You started getting tall, uncomfortable,

00:22:59.100 | were you using points,

00:22:59.940 | were you trying to get status and upgrades?

00:23:01.740 | - Honestly, I didn't fly first class

00:23:04.060 | until I was in my 30s.

00:23:07.340 | - Were you optimizing things when you traveled,

00:23:09.340 | thinking okay, I'm gonna rack up a bunch of miles?

00:23:11.300 | - Yeah, but also I just learned how to travel

00:23:13.660 | more efficiently and a little bit lighter,

00:23:16.220 | and how to navigate airports and lines

00:23:19.380 | and where the best security checkpoint is

00:23:22.900 | instead of the one where everyone's just being fed into,

00:23:25.460 | just stuff like that.

00:23:26.380 | I guess I learned how to be a better traveler in those days,

00:23:29.220 | but I learned the value of frequent flyer miles

00:23:32.940 | through those years,

00:23:33.780 | especially when I wasn't making very much money,

00:23:35.980 | but I still have to travel to go do stuff.

00:23:38.700 | I collected a lot of miles.

00:23:39.940 | I mean, I was a million miler on United very early on.

00:23:44.260 | And you know what they sent me for that?

00:23:47.620 | - Luggage tax.

00:23:48.660 | - That was gonna be my guess.

00:23:49.740 | It's not a very rewarding experience.

00:23:52.340 | Here you go, 10 bucks.

00:23:53.780 | What would some of the things

00:23:54.860 | if you were telling your favorite travel hacks

00:23:56.980 | to how you make your life efficient when you travel,

00:23:59.180 | whether it's a secret neck pillow or some crazy eye mask?

00:24:02.220 | - Well, let's see.

00:24:03.060 | I just flew home from New York and it was last minute,

00:24:07.380 | and so I'm in the bulkhead.

00:24:08.740 | It's not some great hack,

00:24:09.900 | but if you want to travel with your laptop or anything else,

00:24:14.660 | 'cause you have to put your backpack up in the overhead,

00:24:17.200 | we're getting into the weeds here,

00:24:18.180 | but if you're in the bulkhead,

00:24:21.140 | take your laptop out and put it right under your feet

00:24:25.020 | so that half of it's kind of under your own seat,

00:24:28.140 | and then the other half,

00:24:29.060 | you just kind of lightly put your heels on it.

00:24:30.780 | It'll hide it from the flight attendants.

00:24:33.220 | And then you have your laptop.

00:24:34.140 | You don't have to go up and get it.

00:24:35.380 | - Yeah, I love it.

00:24:36.860 | - Which is kind of a hassle, right?

00:24:37.700 | - Yeah, if you have one of those laptop sleeves,

00:24:39.100 | I like to get like a black one

00:24:40.220 | 'cause then it just blends in everywhere.

00:24:41.820 | - Yeah, I'm pretty good at just hiding it all together.

00:24:44.900 | And then usually like I'll have a little bag,

00:24:47.060 | it's usually actually my toiletry kit.

00:24:49.160 | And then I just stuff like my headphones

00:24:52.080 | and my iPhone cable and everything.

00:24:54.200 | - Everything you need.

00:24:55.080 | - Everything I need,

00:24:55.920 | but just put that on the side of the seat

00:24:57.120 | so they don't see that either.

00:24:57.960 | That's my bulkhead hack for you.

00:25:00.000 | But as far as other travel,

00:25:02.520 | it's not like I carry some big wardrobe or anything,

00:25:05.160 | but I do try to keep it down to a carry-on and a backpack

00:25:10.160 | if I can at all costs,

00:25:13.440 | 'cause I don't want to check bags.

00:25:14.720 | I'll tell you the biggest travel hacks for skateboards

00:25:17.580 | and people will travel with skateboards,

00:25:19.380 | but you can travel with a skateboard

00:25:22.020 | and put it in the overhead anywhere in the US.

00:25:25.500 | If you're making a connection,

00:25:27.200 | say in Frankfurt or London or even Tokyo,

00:25:32.200 | you can't carry your skateboard on the plane

00:25:36.940 | through those airports.

00:25:39.060 | So I've been told a couple of times,

00:25:41.580 | I've actually gotten away with it once

00:25:42.740 | and I learned the hard way,

00:25:43.740 | like going through London,

00:25:45.580 | you're in the terminal, you're connecting,

00:25:47.740 | but you know how you have to go through

00:25:48.980 | another security checkpoint?

00:25:51.060 | You can't bring your skateboard,

00:25:52.100 | so you have to go outside the airport

00:25:54.400 | on a connecting flight and check it in.

00:25:56.580 | - And probably miss your flight, maybe.

00:25:58.540 | - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:25:59.380 | No, I've actually thrown a skateboard away because of that.

00:26:01.540 | - Yeah.

00:26:02.380 | - In London, they said, "Oh, you got to check in."

00:26:03.820 | I go, "I don't have time."

00:26:05.020 | They go, "Well, I don't know what to tell you."

00:26:06.340 | And then I put it in the trash can

00:26:08.340 | at the security checkpoint.

00:26:10.140 | Okay, done.

00:26:10.980 | - Do you think it's a safety risk?

00:26:11.800 | It's a weapon or like what?

00:26:14.100 | - I assume, yeah.

00:26:15.260 | I mean, also Mexico too, surprisingly,

00:26:17.620 | you can't carry a skateboard on the airplane in Mexico.

00:26:20.840 | So every time we travel with the kids to Mexico,

00:26:22.940 | we've got to put them all in plastic bags.

00:26:25.380 | So we're a disaster coming back

00:26:27.240 | 'cause we're just a bunch of luggage.

00:26:28.820 | That's my advice.

00:26:29.900 | I don't know if it's a hack, it's just my advice.

00:26:31.380 | Like if you're going to travel through Europe,

00:26:33.700 | don't carry your skateboard onto the plane

00:26:36.020 | that is connecting.

00:26:37.380 | - That could probably apply to other items.

00:26:40.100 | Not that it's the end of the world

00:26:41.400 | to replace things like nail clippers.

00:26:44.080 | There's some country where you can't bring nail clippers

00:26:46.000 | on your plane, 'cause I remember,

00:26:46.920 | or if it has that like slide out file thing.

00:26:49.880 | And I've definitely gotten dinged on that.

00:26:52.360 | So I would say the hack is to look up

00:26:55.560 | what are the security requirements

00:26:57.400 | for the country you're transiting through

00:26:59.120 | or try at all costs to fly direct.

00:27:02.120 | Just to avoid these problems when possible.

00:27:04.240 | - Yeah, yeah.

00:27:05.080 | I live in San Diego, but I live in North County

00:27:07.160 | and used to be able to fly from Carlsbad Airport to LAX.

00:27:11.080 | And so basically you could go anywhere from LAX, right?

00:27:14.320 | So that was always like the best way to do it.

00:27:17.760 | But many times our Carlsbad flight would be canceled

00:27:20.960 | and we just have to literally drive to Carlsbad Airport.

00:27:22.920 | Like if your flight's canceled,

00:27:24.440 | just keep going North to LAX with the skateboard thing.

00:27:27.640 | I remember, so my wife and I usually carry our skateboards

00:27:31.640 | when we go places, 'cause we like to skate around cities,

00:27:33.960 | you know, just as transportation.

00:27:35.240 | If we're going by ourselves

00:27:37.200 | and we were coming back from Brazil, maybe,

00:27:40.640 | and we were coming through

00:27:41.880 | where you hand them your customs form.

00:27:44.680 | I'll never forget this.

00:27:46.600 | He grabbed my customs form

00:27:47.880 | and he saw my skateboard in his peripheral.

00:27:51.820 | And immediately was like, "Go that way to secondary."

00:27:55.480 | 'Cause he saw my skateboard.

00:27:56.320 | It was so obvious.

00:27:57.400 | I just saw his wheelchair and like,

00:27:58.560 | "Oh, he's a problem, he's a skateboarder."

00:28:00.560 | And he looked up and he saw my face and he recognized it,

00:28:03.200 | but he'd already handed me this red card

00:28:05.640 | to go to secondary.

00:28:07.000 | And he goes, "Oh, you know what?

00:28:08.080 | "Just tell them you're in a hurry."

00:28:10.200 | I said, "Oh, is that gonna work for me?

00:28:12.080 | "You're sending me to secondary

00:28:13.080 | "where they're gonna go through all my stuff

00:28:14.080 | "and I'm gonna tell them I'm in a hurry.

00:28:15.920 | "That's probably not the best approach."

00:28:18.640 | And then my wife and I got into secondary.

00:28:20.000 | They wouldn't let us go to the bathroom.

00:28:21.680 | We were very much being interrogated.

00:28:23.900 | - Wow.

00:28:24.880 | You've told lots of stories.

00:28:25.840 | I'll encourage anyone here to go check out the internet

00:28:28.240 | for all the stories of you getting recognized

00:28:30.280 | as other people.

00:28:31.100 | Is there a good one you don't share?

00:28:33.380 | - Yeah, it still happens all the time.

00:28:36.140 | It's weird now because obviously, as you would know,

00:28:39.260 | that meme kind of took off.

00:28:40.900 | Not the meme, but it's just me telling my story.

00:28:43.540 | Like all the stories I tell are absolutely true, 100%.

00:28:46.580 | But it started happening so,

00:28:48.820 | it would happen pretty frequently and I was sharing it.

00:28:50.840 | And at some point people thought I was making it up.

00:28:52.500 | So I kind of stopped sharing these incidents

00:28:54.860 | because people were just like, "Come on, like really?"

00:28:57.740 | But now it's gotten to a point where

00:28:59.900 | it's like this vicious cycle where people now want to say it

00:29:03.900 | even though they know who I am all the time.

00:29:07.540 | So I would say that happens probably three times a day,

00:29:11.820 | that interaction.

00:29:12.660 | Like anyone ever tell you, you look like Tony Hawk?

00:29:15.620 | Yup, and you're the first today.

00:29:16.980 | But then it happens genuinely at least once or twice too.

00:29:20.140 | When it happens genuinely,

00:29:21.500 | if people were following me around,

00:29:22.620 | they wouldn't believe it.

00:29:23.820 | 'Cause you know what I mean?

00:29:24.780 | Like they hear about it and it's just like,

00:29:26.380 | all right, like enough with this whole,

00:29:28.380 | I don't even know what you'd call it,

00:29:30.180 | mistaken identity thing.

00:29:32.700 | So yes, it still happens.

00:29:34.380 | It happens as a joke, it happens for real.

00:29:36.340 | I think my favorite one as of late

00:29:39.060 | was that I was sitting at a gate

00:29:41.780 | and this guy was sitting across from me at the gate

00:29:43.660 | and he came over, he's a man, he looked just like Tony Hawk.

00:29:47.500 | Said, "Oh yeah, I know, I've heard that."

00:29:49.180 | He's like, "That's crazy."

00:29:50.580 | And then he went and sat back down

00:29:52.220 | and then a group of people came who did recognize me

00:29:56.180 | for real and wanted autographs and pictures.

00:29:59.940 | And the whole time he's watching me laughing

00:30:03.380 | because he's in on the joke that it's not really me.

00:30:08.340 | Do you know what I mean?

00:30:09.180 | Like he and I are sharing this inside joke somehow

00:30:11.540 | that these people are crazy and they're mistaken.

00:30:14.740 | But he just thought it was hilarious.

00:30:16.660 | - Did you ever tell him at the end or did he ever?

00:30:18.780 | - No, I don't.

00:30:19.620 | It's up to them to either decide that or to ask me.

00:30:22.780 | It drives my daughter crazy

00:30:24.100 | because a lot of times people will say,

00:30:26.260 | "Everybody tell you you look like Tony Hawk."

00:30:27.300 | I'm like, "Yeah, that's cool."

00:30:29.460 | And they walk away and my daughter's like,

00:30:30.480 | "Why didn't you tell him?"

00:30:31.380 | I go, "He didn't ask."

00:30:32.540 | - So if someone asks, you'll say yeah.

00:30:35.900 | - Of course, yeah.

00:30:36.900 | - All right, well I hope whoever was sitting across from me

00:30:38.540 | at the airport is listening

00:30:39.460 | and they can finally come to terms with the fact

00:30:41.260 | that this guy is really you. - No, I think he had

00:30:42.100 | way more fun in his mind making fun of people.

00:30:45.780 | - Yeah.

00:30:46.620 | - Like that was his thing, so I just let him run with it.

00:30:49.060 | - So to round out travel, I'm sure you buy lots of things.

00:30:52.500 | Do you play the points game?

00:30:53.820 | Do you try to rack up points or cash back on credit cards

00:30:56.620 | to travel for free still?

00:30:58.620 | - Yes, I try to focus in on one or two airlines

00:31:02.020 | or their partners so that I rack up the most points on them,

00:31:05.500 | which is for the most part United and Delta,

00:31:07.460 | but also all my credit card purchases go towards miles.

00:31:12.340 | So I use those for my team.

00:31:14.900 | So for instance, we have the skater Felipe Nunez

00:31:18.140 | from Brazil, you might've seen him.

00:31:20.140 | He's a double amputee.

00:31:22.620 | He skates like kind of sitting on his board.

00:31:24.340 | He's amazing. - It's crazy.

00:31:26.420 | I'll find a link to and put it in the show notes.

00:31:29.420 | - Truly deserves to be a pro skater.

00:31:31.140 | Like he is incredible and has only gotten better,

00:31:33.980 | but it's tricky 'cause he lives in a really small town,

00:31:37.860 | a couple hours from Sao Paulo and Curitiba.

00:31:41.020 | So for me to get him flights is always really tricky

00:31:44.340 | and challenging, but I do it using my points

00:31:47.740 | and I can get him his flights all the time.

00:31:51.720 | He has to travel with kind of a handler

00:31:53.100 | and it's a whole thing.

00:31:54.180 | And I use that for his flights.

00:31:56.020 | I use them for my other skaters flights

00:31:57.780 | if they need to get somewhere for a skate trip or whatever.

00:32:00.100 | And it's been awesome.

00:32:01.220 | - Everyone's always surprised.

00:32:02.500 | Like no matter how successful you are,

00:32:04.060 | no matter how famous or rich or whatever you are,

00:32:06.420 | everyone still wants to make sure

00:32:07.880 | that when they're spending money on their card,

00:32:09.260 | they're getting like the most they can out of their rewards.

00:32:12.860 | - Yeah, and also just with me,

00:32:14.900 | sometimes other groups do my travel.

00:32:17.420 | If I'm going to an event, I do a lot of speaking gigs,

00:32:19.540 | corporate gigs and whatnot and conferences.

00:32:21.480 | And so sometimes it's up to them to do the travel

00:32:24.340 | and they don't plug in my advantage number

00:32:26.980 | or my mileage plus number or whatever.

00:32:29.340 | And it's such a hassle, like it all seems so frivolous,

00:32:33.180 | but it's important because it's like,

00:32:34.940 | you can go to a different line, you know what I mean?

00:32:37.820 | For security or whatever it is.

00:32:39.340 | And there's just some efficiency to it.

00:32:41.060 | And when you travel as much as I do,

00:32:43.540 | those things count for a lot.

00:32:44.980 | - I know someone who's part of their rider for speaking

00:32:46.940 | is like, I will book my flights and you will reimburse me

00:32:49.740 | because I just don't want-- - That is usually what we do.

00:32:51.560 | But every once in a while, it slips through the cracks.

00:32:54.120 | - Well, if anyone's listening, if you ever take a flight

00:32:55.880 | and you didn't put your number in,

00:32:57.540 | you can actually retroactively ask for credit.

00:32:59.680 | So if you ever forget,

00:33:01.080 | the airlines do allow you to do that.

00:33:02.520 | - It's better to do it at a ticket counter though.

00:33:04.840 | - Yes, they can do it faster. - They can do it immediately.

00:33:07.680 | That's the other thing is people like,

00:33:10.240 | they wield such great power at the ticket counters.

00:33:13.360 | They could literally just put you on a flight to London

00:33:15.900 | first class without blinking an eye if they wanted to.

00:33:19.120 | - It always amazes me when something happened

00:33:21.160 | and they're yelling at this person.

00:33:22.580 | And I'm like, you realize the person that holds the keys

00:33:25.440 | to whatever your situation will be--

00:33:28.080 | - Is that person who is not responsible for your delay

00:33:32.280 | or for your seat mix-up.

00:33:34.160 | - I think just being nice to the person at the desk

00:33:36.520 | can pay dividends on-- - Oh, absolutely, yeah.

00:33:39.760 | No, I agreed.

00:33:41.000 | - I've never scored this kind of mythical,

00:33:43.400 | we're just gonna upgrade you for no reason kind of thing.

00:33:45.600 | Obviously, if you have status, you can get it.

00:33:47.720 | But everything else like, oh, my flight's gone.

00:33:49.840 | They could decide, do I wanna put you

00:33:51.240 | on that easy connection or do I wanna just give you a coupon

00:33:53.640 | and you can get a hotel and come back tomorrow.

00:33:55.560 | And playing that game has been very helpful.

00:33:57.480 | And if that line's too long, I always try to call

00:34:00.040 | and see if I can get someone faster than a long line.

00:34:02.560 | Like when a flight's canceled

00:34:03.600 | and there's 100 people lined up.

00:34:05.200 | - Oh, yeah, yeah.

00:34:06.200 | So I have all the apps, the flight track,

00:34:09.080 | that will sometimes alert me to a problem with my flight

00:34:12.360 | before the airline does.

00:34:13.920 | So I'm always kind of ahead of the curve with that

00:34:17.080 | where it's like, oh, this thing's getting canceled.

00:34:19.040 | I'm gonna go figure this out before everyone else

00:34:21.640 | at the gate knows that's what's happening.

00:34:23.320 | - And you're like telling them, you're like,

00:34:24.600 | the flight's canceled.

00:34:25.440 | She's like, what, what?

00:34:26.600 | Oh, yes, it is canceled, you're telling them.

00:34:28.680 | So one other area that we haven't talked a lot about

00:34:31.720 | is around health and fitness.

00:34:33.400 | And people like Laird Hamilton go nuts about everything

00:34:36.160 | they do with their regime for exercise, sauna,

00:34:38.840 | all this stuff.

00:34:40.560 | Skateboarding, I think some people,

00:34:42.280 | especially when I was a kid,

00:34:43.280 | like didn't even see it as a physical sport.

00:34:45.440 | I can assure you, I'm sure you can assure everyone

00:34:47.280 | that it is.

00:34:48.920 | How much was kind of diet, exercise, training

00:34:52.920 | outside of skating important?

00:34:55.280 | Or how has that evolved as you've gotten older?

00:34:57.280 | - I think in the early days,

00:34:58.760 | I didn't recognize the importance of my diet and training

00:35:02.160 | and whatnot, but I was so obsessed with skating

00:35:05.600 | that that was all my exercise.

00:35:07.880 | And that was enough because I was skating

00:35:10.280 | three to four hours a day, every day, giving it my all.

00:35:13.480 | So I think that over time, and also just seeing my peers,

00:35:18.480 | I saw a lot of them not take care of themselves,

00:35:21.400 | drinking too much, partying,

00:35:22.800 | and really kind of losing their skillsets.

00:35:25.600 | And so skating was always such a paramount importance to me

00:35:29.920 | that I was never going to let that happen.

00:35:33.120 | And I saw it by example, like, oh man,

00:35:35.400 | he's not skating good.

00:35:36.240 | Oh, that's 'cause he won't stop partying.

00:35:38.760 | And so for me, that was sort of the first lesson

00:35:41.920 | was not completely, but clean living for the most part.

00:35:45.680 | But as I grew older,

00:35:47.200 | then I realized the importance of diet

00:35:49.480 | and of trying to stay active when I can't skate.

00:35:52.760 | And now, especially at my age and with my current recovery,

00:35:56.240 | I've learned that I gotta stay active,

00:35:57.960 | even if I can't skate, I gotta.

00:35:59.840 | And I need to do so much stuff to help.

00:36:03.000 | I'm recovering from a broken femur from last year.

00:36:05.840 | I need to do so many things to help that healing.

00:36:08.240 | At one point, it was a full-time job

00:36:10.400 | and I had to kind of back off from it.

00:36:12.920 | 'Cause I was like, maybe I just need to wait,

00:36:15.040 | just give it time instead of trying to do

00:36:16.640 | all these other things like hyperbaric chamber

00:36:19.640 | and laser treatment and acupuncture and peptides.

00:36:22.200 | And I was going all the way in with all those treatments.

00:36:25.760 | And at some point,

00:36:27.320 | I actually went the wrong way with my recovery,

00:36:29.960 | but only because I couldn't stop skating.

00:36:32.800 | So my bone never connected to itself.

00:36:36.200 | It never actually became one bone again.

00:36:39.040 | So I had it reset two months ago.

00:36:41.680 | - Are there things that you've experimented with,

00:36:43.360 | whether it's diet or different kinds of treatment

00:36:46.720 | that you think you'll keep in a routine that are lasting

00:36:49.360 | or things like breathwork or yoga

00:36:51.200 | or any of those things that are part of your routine?

00:36:53.880 | - I think swimming helped me with my strength a lot

00:36:57.000 | when I wasn't skating.

00:36:58.280 | So I'm gonna lean into that more going forward,

00:37:01.000 | including with my skating and just trying to,

00:37:04.480 | it's more like not eating to excess

00:37:07.320 | and not indulging in sweets and sodas and stuff like that.

00:37:10.680 | I still carry a lot of my habits from as a kid.

00:37:14.080 | Then I still enjoy, you know, not the healthiest of foods,

00:37:17.820 | but I don't go all in on just fast food

00:37:21.680 | and just more stuff that's gonna slow me down

00:37:24.120 | and try to make a concerted effort to take supplements,

00:37:28.660 | to eat greens, less processed foods, stuff like that.

00:37:31.920 | - What kind of supplements?

00:37:32.840 | - Well, I take quite a few, but most importantly,

00:37:35.360 | I have to take a stat now

00:37:36.440 | 'cause I have high cholesterol because of my family history.

00:37:39.440 | So I take Qnol CoQ10.

00:37:41.920 | It was funny because they reached out to me

00:37:43.640 | about possibly doing an endorsement.

00:37:45.760 | Like, "Do you know what this is?"

00:37:46.880 | You know, I take it.

00:37:48.780 | I literally take it every day.

00:37:50.880 | And so I was kind of the perfect one for their campaign.

00:37:54.240 | - Yeah. - You know what I mean?

00:37:55.080 | So it's stuff like that, but multivitamins too.

00:37:57.440 | - Okay.

00:37:58.440 | - And a bevy of other ones,

00:37:59.880 | just trying to keep all my levels balanced.

00:38:03.240 | - What about the morning routine?

00:38:04.240 | Are you early up and get after it?

00:38:06.360 | - Yeah, well, we still have one at home.

00:38:08.480 | I gotta make sure my daughter is up

00:38:10.120 | and getting ready by 7 a.m.

00:38:11.720 | So I'm usually up by 6.30.

00:38:13.800 | That's not crazy early, but sometimes it's six.

00:38:16.940 | And that's kind of my time

00:38:18.440 | to try to go through my communications,

00:38:21.200 | emails, and whatnot.

00:38:22.840 | Because as the day starts and as, like, she goes to school,

00:38:26.300 | I come here, this is my office, this is where my ramp is.

00:38:29.120 | Things get crazy through the day.

00:38:30.920 | And so it's hard to stay on top of communication.

00:38:35.520 | I love helping you answer all the toughest questions

00:38:38.440 | about life, money, and so much more.

00:38:40.920 | But sometimes it's helpful to talk to other people

00:38:43.520 | in your situation,

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00:40:07.100 | I wish I could say I'm eating a fully balanced diet

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00:41:24.740 | I just wanna thank you quick for listening to

00:41:28.360 | and supporting the show.

00:41:29.840 | Your support is what keeps this show going.

00:41:32.680 | To get all of the URLs, codes, deals,

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00:41:37.160 | you can go to allthehacks.com/deals.

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00:41:44.140 | I heard you say in a podcast almost five years ago

00:41:47.480 | that your kryptonite was time.

00:41:48.880 | I'm curious if in the last few years,

00:41:51.960 | you've made any changes,

00:41:53.160 | whether it's to time management or anything,

00:41:55.760 | that made you more productive.

00:41:57.080 | Yeah, I've learned to say no.

00:41:58.680 | It's hard, especially when things are growing

00:42:00.960 | and things are successful

00:42:02.080 | and people are asking for your time

00:42:04.400 | and for you to attend events

00:42:07.100 | or for you to do interviews and things like that.

00:42:09.480 | And at some point, I thought I don't need to do these things

00:42:13.800 | and I don't think that they are necessarily beneficial.

00:42:18.800 | I don't know.

00:42:19.780 | They just don't seem like they should be so obligatory.

00:42:22.420 | I'm honored that people wanna talk to me

00:42:24.160 | and that people want me to do stuff,

00:42:25.200 | but at some point I needed for my own sanity

00:42:28.440 | and also for my own family dynamic

00:42:32.240 | to just be available to them

00:42:34.480 | and not be on the move all the time

00:42:36.120 | or just home on my phone.

00:42:37.680 | I think that's one thing

00:42:38.680 | that people don't necessarily recognize

00:42:41.120 | is that just because you are home,

00:42:44.220 | if your attention is elsewhere, you're not really home.

00:42:46.520 | I think it's something that when you have young kids,

00:42:48.800 | you start to realize, wow,

00:42:50.200 | the number of times I'm just a little bit distracted

00:42:53.080 | because they run off and you're like,

00:42:54.720 | whoa, I was distracted.

00:42:55.960 | They're no longer interested.

00:42:56.780 | Or they're trying to show you something

00:42:57.620 | and you're like, uh-huh, yep, yep, uh-huh, uh-huh.

00:42:59.140 | And you think that that's good enough,

00:43:00.160 | but they see that, that can affect them.

00:43:02.240 | - In some ways, it might've been much easier

00:43:04.560 | to be a parent before all of the distraction

00:43:06.800 | that we have today. - Right, yeah.

00:43:08.240 | - In other ways, I think it was way harder.

00:43:09.600 | - Yeah, so I was very young.

00:43:11.960 | I was 24 when my first son was born

00:43:13.840 | and that was, there were no DVRs.

00:43:16.960 | We were still using VHS and he would wake up super early

00:43:20.420 | and sometimes before Sesame Street was on the air.

00:43:24.280 | You know what I mean? - Yeah, you're like, what do we do?

00:43:25.680 | - Yeah, what do we, yeah, let's read a book or do something.

00:43:28.580 | You learn to entertain the old-fashioned way.

00:43:30.700 | Storytelling. (laughing)

00:43:32.420 | - Find us on flights now.

00:43:33.920 | It's like you're on a flight, you're on Southwest.

00:43:35.900 | There's no TVs, there's no, you're sitting there

00:43:37.620 | and you're like, it's amazing how kids are like,

00:43:40.300 | I wanna run around and you're like,

00:43:41.660 | well, you can't run around.

00:43:42.500 | It's like, I wanna read a book.

00:43:43.860 | Okay, five minutes in, I don't wanna read a book anymore.

00:43:45.760 | So I think flights in that kind of toddler age

00:43:48.040 | are really tough.

00:43:48.880 | - Tell you a hack for toddlers,

00:43:50.300 | since you do have young ones and this is gonna be weird,

00:43:53.260 | but it worked for me a couple of times.

00:43:55.460 | My son was prone to being carsick sometimes

00:43:58.920 | and on planes too.

00:44:00.200 | Sometimes we would be walking through a terminal

00:44:02.320 | or something and then he would just barf.

00:44:04.760 | And I learned that it's very easy to remove your shoe,

00:44:08.880 | remove one sock, use that as a rag

00:44:12.200 | and just throw the sock away

00:44:13.640 | and deal with just wearing one sock

00:44:15.560 | the rest of your trip or your day

00:44:17.640 | to save from having to try to go

00:44:20.000 | some massive cleanup effort.

00:44:21.880 | - The sock burp cloth.

00:44:22.960 | - Sock burp cloth, yeah.

00:44:24.240 | I've done it a few times.

00:44:25.460 | - The last thing we didn't really talk on was around money.

00:44:29.220 | So early on in your career,

00:44:31.060 | you were making six figures in high school.

00:44:33.140 | I'm trying to comprehend that.

00:44:34.340 | Most people in high school

00:44:35.180 | are making maybe a couple bucks on a side gig.

00:44:38.300 | What was the relationship with money like back then?

00:44:40.260 | - Well, it was all a big surprise

00:44:42.260 | 'cause it wasn't like you got into skateboarding

00:44:45.180 | to be rich or famous.

00:44:46.100 | No one had become rich or famous.

00:44:48.140 | No one made money doing it.

00:44:49.580 | You just did it 'cause you loved it.

00:44:50.660 | And all of a sudden there was this fame

00:44:52.020 | and there was this money

00:44:53.200 | and I was in my late teens.

00:44:55.860 | I'd say I started making pretty good money around 16, 17.

00:45:00.160 | And it was like, oh, this is awesome.

00:45:02.860 | I'm gonna take all my friends to Hawaii.

00:45:05.140 | I'm going to Sharper Image and buying all the gear.

00:45:07.540 | And at some point my dad gave me the best advice.

00:45:10.940 | He said, I really think you should put some of that money away.

00:45:13.100 | I was like, why?

00:45:15.180 | As if it's just gonna keep raining down on me.

00:45:17.740 | And he said, well,

00:45:18.780 | you just don't know if this is gonna last.

00:45:20.140 | 'Cause he really wanted me to go to college.

00:45:22.000 | And he's like, if you're gonna do this,

00:45:23.100 | you should really save from what you're making here.

00:45:25.940 | So when I was 17, he co-signed a mortgage.

00:45:30.260 | I had the income to qualify,

00:45:31.540 | but I literally was not old enough

00:45:33.420 | to sign the paperwork by myself.

00:45:35.340 | So he co-signed on a house for me.

00:45:37.740 | So I lived in my own place as a senior in high school.

00:45:42.460 | As if I was in college.

00:45:43.580 | Parents weren't there.

00:45:44.420 | So. No.

00:45:45.340 | And then I had.

00:45:46.180 | All the high school parties.

00:45:47.020 | I had one roommate that was also at the same high school.

00:45:49.420 | We had two older roommates that just had jobs,

00:45:51.980 | but were young enough to be taking advantage

00:45:55.460 | of the situation.

00:45:57.140 | You know, when you're in high school,

00:45:59.060 | whoever's friends are out of town,

00:46:00.500 | that's where the party is.

00:46:01.460 | Whoever's friends' parents were out of town,

00:46:03.460 | that's the house where the party is, right?

00:46:05.660 | My parents were never in town.

00:46:07.340 | So my house was always where the party was.

00:46:09.560 | And it was very challenging to stay focused on school

00:46:13.100 | when I'm already making more than my teachers.

00:46:16.060 | And everyone's coming over to hang out.

00:46:18.500 | And then I'm supposed to get up early

00:46:19.820 | and drive to high school.

00:46:21.060 | But I did, mostly because of how important my parents,

00:46:25.260 | how much they valued education.

00:46:27.700 | My mom was a teacher at a junior college at the time.

00:46:30.860 | And so I knew they'd be really disappointed

00:46:33.220 | if I just left.

00:46:35.340 | - So finishing high school was like a very.

00:46:37.140 | - Well, yeah, it was important, yeah.

00:46:38.380 | - And then did you keep saving

00:46:40.420 | or was the house the kind of saving grace?

00:46:42.820 | - The house was saving grace.

00:46:44.180 | Well, I got in kind of over my head.

00:46:45.780 | So a few years later, I bought another property.

00:46:49.180 | I built a bunch of big ramps on it.

00:46:50.940 | It was a four acre lot here in kind of East San Diego.

00:46:55.340 | And at some point, not long after that,

00:46:57.980 | my income started dropping by half, by half every month,

00:47:02.380 | because it was all royalty based.

00:47:04.260 | It was all based on items or products with my name on it.

00:47:06.940 | Skating was taking a downturn in popularity.

00:47:09.380 | So suddenly skating is not popular.

00:47:11.540 | My name's not popular.

00:47:13.180 | My products aren't selling.

00:47:14.820 | And I'm stuck with two mortgages,

00:47:16.700 | my first child on the way.

00:47:18.460 | And it was like, how did I get here?

00:47:20.700 | This is crazy.

00:47:21.740 | So I sold my house for basically,

00:47:26.140 | I'd taken equity out of it to start a skate company,

00:47:28.940 | which seems like not the smartest move at a time

00:47:31.940 | when your income's dropping,

00:47:32.940 | but I wanted to stay in the industry.

00:47:34.460 | And I wanted to, at that point,

00:47:36.260 | have more control over a brand,

00:47:38.020 | because up to then I had been skating

00:47:40.540 | for the same sponsor for 10 years.

00:47:43.060 | And their popularity was waning, so was skateboarding.

00:47:46.220 | And I thought, well, I could probably just start a brand

00:47:47.780 | and be behind the scenes,

00:47:48.660 | because it seems like now my career as a skater

00:47:52.020 | is starting to fall apart.

00:47:54.740 | I could at the very least be effective

00:47:56.300 | as sort of a team manager, curator, marketer.

00:48:01.300 | And so I took the equity out of my house,

00:48:04.300 | started Birdhouse Skateboards,

00:48:05.980 | sold the house for what I owed on it,

00:48:08.100 | then moved back into the house I was living at

00:48:10.820 | as a senior in high school.

00:48:11.740 | And for probably three to four years,

00:48:15.620 | lived off of Top Ramen, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,

00:48:19.140 | Taco Bell, and just made it work.

00:48:21.220 | And those were the years when I started

00:48:23.380 | to have to travel to make ends meet, like Japan,

00:48:27.860 | and bring my son along.

00:48:29.860 | You know what I mean?

00:48:30.700 | That's how that all unraveled.

00:48:32.260 | - There wasn't childcare at home to help out,

00:48:34.180 | because if you're eating Top Ramen, it's tough.

00:48:37.420 | So how did that evolve?

00:48:39.500 | Now are you much more passionate or interested

00:48:42.140 | about money and saving and all of that?

00:48:43.820 | - I think I have much more respect for saving money

00:48:48.820 | and for making sure everyone's taken care of,

00:48:50.820 | especially with our kids.

00:48:51.820 | I want them to all forge their own way, for sure.

00:48:53.620 | But at the same time, we want to be able to know

00:48:56.140 | that we have a nest egg in case something goes south.

00:48:58.980 | So my relationship is just that I have much more reverence

00:49:01.860 | and respect for it.

00:49:03.100 | And that I also don't take every single opportunity.

00:49:08.100 | That's the reason why I had so many relationships

00:49:10.980 | fall apart too, 'cause I just kept chasing the carrot.

00:49:13.780 | Even when it was huge.

00:49:14.940 | Even when I didn't need to at all.

00:49:17.740 | I just kept going.

00:49:18.580 | It was like, I couldn't turn it off.

00:49:20.660 | And then at some point I realized,

00:49:22.540 | I'm missing my kids' formative years,

00:49:25.100 | chasing some dream that I've already realized.

00:49:27.700 | - Yeah, I think at a different scale,

00:49:30.100 | it's something that we all face.

00:49:31.900 | It's like, you have kids and you're like,

00:49:33.460 | I can't go to the thing, I can't go to the thing.

00:49:35.260 | And I think if you pause and reflect for a moment,

00:49:37.780 | you're like, but it's okay.

00:49:39.900 | But it's so hard to process.

00:49:41.500 | And FOMO is definitely real,

00:49:43.780 | but if there's one thing that your kids can teach you,

00:49:46.500 | even when they're really young,

00:49:47.580 | it's like, you can miss the thing.

00:49:50.220 | Like, it's okay.

00:49:51.060 | - Oh yeah, it's okay.

00:49:52.020 | And also, if you really devote yourself

00:49:55.420 | to that time with your kids,

00:49:57.420 | you just see the gleam in their eye.

00:49:59.700 | And you see that they appreciate it.

00:50:02.420 | They're not gonna speak it to you.

00:50:03.820 | Good luck getting your kids to say thank you,

00:50:05.820 | by the way, for anything.

00:50:06.660 | But they do appreciate it.

00:50:07.780 | And they thrive because of it.

00:50:09.300 | But I think it was just that I had gotten so used

00:50:12.180 | to the hustle of not being successful and all the time,

00:50:16.780 | trying to create something,

00:50:17.940 | trying to make something happen,

00:50:19.380 | that when it started to happen in droves,

00:50:22.620 | how could I let it go?

00:50:24.500 | That seems crazy.

00:50:25.740 | That's impossible.

00:50:26.580 | Why would I not do that?

00:50:28.100 | And at some point I lost myself in it.

00:50:30.220 | - Is there something that you wish you'd known

00:50:32.420 | or you'd wish someone had told you

00:50:34.860 | that could have gotten you out of that earlier?

00:50:36.740 | - I don't think so.

00:50:37.580 | I think it was all so new and fantastical to me

00:50:40.980 | that I don't think I was gonna listen to a voice of reason.

00:50:43.420 | You know what I mean?

00:50:44.620 | - And so now you've got plenty of things

00:50:46.660 | that could keep you busy.

00:50:47.500 | What's the focus now?

00:50:48.460 | I mean, you're still skating,

00:50:49.540 | or you will probably after you heal.

00:50:51.820 | - Now I'm just so thankful to still be in the scene

00:50:56.100 | and to be able to bear witness

00:50:58.460 | to skateboarding's massive acceptance.

00:51:01.620 | I don't wanna say growth.

00:51:02.540 | I mean, it definitely has grown hugely

00:51:04.340 | in the last five or 10 years.

00:51:06.060 | But just to see it come of age and to be an activity,

00:51:10.780 | a sport, a lifestyle that is all inclusive,

00:51:13.660 | that is super diverse, that is now an Olympic sport.

00:51:17.780 | It's something that transcends boundaries,

00:51:21.940 | cultures, economics, people that get together to skate.

00:51:25.900 | They don't care where you're from.

00:51:26.740 | They just care how you skate.

00:51:28.180 | And it's low cost of entry.

00:51:29.340 | And so to see it come this far

00:51:31.900 | and to still be considered relevant,

00:51:33.660 | that's the greatest joy I have.

00:51:34.780 | So what am I doing?

00:51:36.740 | I'm doing whatever I can to still be an advocate for skating

00:51:40.100 | and to be able to skate myself

00:51:42.220 | because that still is the most fun for me.

00:51:44.780 | But kind of whatever comes along.

00:51:46.260 | And like I said, I do a lot of speaking gigs now,

00:51:48.940 | which I never imagined would be a way of living

00:51:51.740 | or a source of income.

00:51:52.780 | I say it all the time because when I go to these things,

00:51:54.740 | it's just like, look,

00:51:55.580 | I never imagined anyone would pay me to skate.

00:51:57.180 | So I certainly never imagined that people would pay me

00:51:59.100 | to talk about skateboarding, but here we are.

00:52:01.900 | And it's a blast.

00:52:02.980 | I love it.

00:52:03.820 | - What's the advice to someone who's passionate

00:52:06.020 | about a thing that's not necessarily a revenue source

00:52:09.780 | for their life right now?

00:52:10.780 | - It's what's gonna bring you the most joy.

00:52:13.500 | And it's worth it.

00:52:14.340 | If you go to work and your work makes you happy,

00:52:18.180 | that's living the dream at any level.

00:52:20.900 | And if it's very successful financially, great.

00:52:23.980 | That's just sort of gravy,

00:52:25.260 | but it's more about your peace of mind.

00:52:27.540 | And I think that if there is something

00:52:28.660 | that makes you truly happy

00:52:29.980 | and maybe you have to do something else

00:52:32.100 | to supplement your income,

00:52:33.300 | try to balance those things as best you can.

00:52:35.500 | - I've actually turned my position on this

00:52:37.700 | in the past few years.

00:52:38.940 | I used to say, oh, go follow your passion,

00:52:40.660 | find a way to make that your job.

00:52:42.340 | But if you have a job that allows you

00:52:43.940 | to follow your passion, not as a job, that's okay.

00:52:46.660 | - Yeah, that's enough.

00:52:47.580 | - My brother-in-law went pro golfing

00:52:50.060 | and then hated it because it was his job.

00:52:52.140 | And then got a job and just golfs on the weekend

00:52:55.580 | and loves it.

00:52:56.660 | And so I think for some people,

00:52:58.220 | even pursuing it to some extent can actually take away.

00:53:00.740 | I don't know if there was ever a moment in your career

00:53:02.060 | where it was like skating to win competitions

00:53:05.060 | and to win trophies was just too much

00:53:06.580 | and it took away the fun.

00:53:07.460 | - Yeah, for sure.

00:53:08.300 | Especially in the late eighties,

00:53:09.780 | I became a machine and it was very cyclical.

00:53:12.420 | And it was like, all right,

00:53:13.780 | there's an event coming up next weekend.

00:53:16.140 | I've got to learn a couple of new tricks for the event

00:53:18.420 | because the judges saw my current roster of tricks.

00:53:21.580 | So I got to hide it from them

00:53:23.580 | and then unleash it in the finals.

00:53:26.220 | But it became so formulaic that it really was not fun.

00:53:29.700 | And at some point I just pulled away

00:53:31.340 | and stepped away from it altogether

00:53:32.660 | because skating had become a job and it wasn't fun for me.

00:53:36.220 | And when I did pull away,

00:53:37.700 | I got very creative with my skating

00:53:39.780 | and I was able to really learn a lot of different techniques

00:53:42.580 | and a lot of stuff that I wanted to pursue,

00:53:44.820 | even though I wasn't making a living at it at the time.

00:53:47.860 | I mean, I kind of was,

00:53:48.780 | I still had signature skateboards and whatnot,

00:53:50.860 | but when you're not in those years,

00:53:52.820 | if you were not competing actively,

00:53:54.780 | you were not going to get coverage.

00:53:56.740 | You were not going to get career opportunities,

00:54:00.500 | but I was willing to let those go

00:54:01.900 | to just at least be happy with it.

00:54:04.260 | And so it gave me this sort of new energy

00:54:07.660 | to come back to competing

00:54:08.980 | and with a different approach that was less careful

00:54:12.580 | and it was more risky.

00:54:16.300 | That was it.

00:54:17.140 | I came at it with a sense of,

00:54:18.100 | I'm going to just try everything.

00:54:19.860 | If it doesn't work, it doesn't work.

00:54:21.580 | I don't care if my competitive record

00:54:25.060 | is so pristine anymore.

00:54:26.820 | I'd rather just do this and take the chances

00:54:28.700 | and have fun doing it.

00:54:29.620 | And if it works, then it's going to work awesomely.

00:54:32.820 | The downside to that was that

00:54:35.340 | when I did come back to competing,

00:54:37.300 | it was when skateboarding was starting to take a downturn.

00:54:40.260 | So I came back with this renewed energy

00:54:42.340 | and I was winning a lot of big events.

00:54:43.980 | And all of a sudden it was like, what happened?

00:54:46.260 | Where's the crowd?

00:54:47.660 | Where's the contest?

00:54:48.860 | - Where's the prize money?

00:54:49.700 | - You guys like, turn the machines back on.

00:54:51.900 | I thought this was cool.

00:54:53.300 | It was kind of like the wrong place at the right time.

00:54:56.140 | - But you probably wouldn't have had the career

00:54:58.020 | you had after that had that not happened.

00:55:00.700 | - No, no.

00:55:01.540 | Because in those dead years,

00:55:03.940 | I was skating more than ever, having fun doing it.

00:55:07.340 | You know, learning new tricks and learning new techniques.

00:55:09.220 | It was just that I wasn't doing it in front of crowds

00:55:11.060 | 'cause the crowds weren't there anymore.

00:55:14.340 | - I think I'm very fortunate.

00:55:15.540 | And I think you did the same with your podcast.

00:55:17.340 | Like when you start a podcast,

00:55:19.140 | if you can start it not needing to be

00:55:21.260 | your job and your business,

00:55:22.500 | you could do whatever you want with it.

00:55:23.780 | When I started it,

00:55:24.620 | I never thought I'd be going over countries as episodes.

00:55:26.700 | And then I was like, you know what?

00:55:27.740 | I'm going to London.

00:55:28.580 | I want to talk to someone who knows everything about London.

00:55:30.140 | Let's make an episode about London.

00:55:31.140 | And then we do it on Japan.

00:55:32.380 | So I think when you really start to do

00:55:35.980 | what you're passionate about in your work,

00:55:38.780 | it sometimes creates an even better experience.

00:55:40.500 | And people love these episodes.

00:55:41.660 | And I never had an idea.

00:55:42.700 | - Oh yeah.

00:55:43.540 | My co-host, Jason Ellis and I,

00:55:44.620 | we have a lot of experience, obviously skating,

00:55:46.380 | but just life experience.

00:55:47.700 | He had a totally different path than I did.

00:55:50.060 | And when we have guests, especially with non-skating guests,

00:55:53.500 | we relate to them in different ways

00:55:56.180 | that people would not expect,

00:55:57.380 | but in a very parallel way.

00:55:59.260 | For instance, we had two wrestlers on,

00:56:01.260 | that's our most recent guest,

00:56:02.500 | and Darby Allen and Jamie Hader.

00:56:05.220 | And people were like, why would you have them on?

00:56:06.900 | And then when we started to talk about our experiences

00:56:08.700 | and our injuries, we were right in line

00:56:11.380 | and we were bouncing off of each other.

00:56:12.700 | And it was a really great conversation.

00:56:14.460 | It was fascinating.

00:56:15.340 | Say what you will about wrestling

00:56:17.140 | or that it's made up or whatever.

00:56:18.980 | Those guys take as much abuse as skateboarders.

00:56:23.980 | - I listened to this episode.

00:56:25.220 | It was wild.

00:56:26.060 | I don't think I've gotten that

00:56:27.060 | behind the scenes look at wrestling.

00:56:28.780 | It hasn't been a passion of mine,

00:56:29.820 | but it was super fascinating.

00:56:31.500 | And you don't have to say who,

00:56:32.940 | but I know there's some cool guests coming down the pike.

00:56:34.780 | So if anyone's listening and wants to check it out.

00:56:37.100 | - We have an insane roster coming up

00:56:39.780 | and I feel like now we're starting to hit our stride

00:56:41.820 | and we've been doing it a couple of years.

00:56:42.940 | So you're right, it wasn't something that we needed,

00:56:45.980 | but we enjoy doing it.

00:56:47.180 | And we did find that we had something unique to offer.

00:56:50.380 | We found a groove, we found an audience.

00:56:52.700 | It was just that we weren't doing all the right things

00:56:55.580 | with the algorithms and the promotions.

00:56:57.380 | And so now we have a group, Amalka,

00:57:00.140 | that is taking the reins on that

00:57:01.780 | and they've been doing a great job.

00:57:02.860 | So we get to focus more on the content.

00:57:05.980 | - Podcast is great, I enjoy it,

00:57:07.540 | especially 'cause I have my childhood skate dreams

00:57:09.900 | still somewhere buried in my head.

00:57:11.460 | For anyone else listening, where else do you want to send them

00:57:13.580 | to keep on top of whatever you're doing?

00:57:15.540 | - Well, I'm out there on all the social media

00:57:17.420 | as Tony Hawk, luckily.

00:57:20.020 | I think I had to buy one of someone squatted my name

00:57:22.820 | on some platform early on.

00:57:25.100 | So I'm Tony Hawk on all the social media

00:57:26.540 | and that's where I put all of my content out there.

00:57:29.180 | We have the Hawk versus Wolf podcast.

00:57:31.060 | I think if anything, my energy also is directed

00:57:34.500 | towards the skate park project,

00:57:36.100 | which is my foundation for public skate parks

00:57:38.220 | in underserved areas.

00:57:39.500 | We have been doing it over 20 years now.

00:57:42.420 | We've helped to fund over a thousand skate parks

00:57:45.540 | in the US alone.

00:57:46.500 | We have a couple of international projects as well.

00:57:48.780 | I think that's my proudest work

00:57:49.820 | because when I was growing up skating,

00:57:52.780 | the skate park was my salvation.

00:57:54.220 | I was an outcast kid, I was bullied at school,

00:57:56.820 | but I found my tribe and my community at the skate park.

00:57:59.700 | And I was very lucky that the park

00:58:02.300 | that I grew up skating at was one of the last ones

00:58:04.620 | in the US in the mid eighties.

00:58:07.140 | There were only a handful.

00:58:08.860 | And that was never lost on me how lucky I was

00:58:11.180 | to have that place to go and to have that crew.

00:58:14.380 | So when I was in a position to advocate

00:58:17.740 | and to possibly affect change,

00:58:19.940 | that's what I focused in on was public skate parks.

00:58:22.780 | - I grew up kind of at the born in the early eighties.

00:58:25.740 | I was in that kind of dearth of lack of skate parks.

00:58:28.380 | - Lack of skate parks, yeah.

00:58:29.220 | - And I think my community was like the guy

00:58:30.780 | that lived across the street that had a skateboard.

00:58:32.420 | That was it, it was the two of us.

00:58:34.140 | - And also that these kids that they find something

00:58:37.380 | they love, they maybe live in an area

00:58:39.340 | where there's not much opportunity.

00:58:40.860 | They find something they love and they're mostly told

00:58:43.020 | that they can't do it 'cause they're trespassing

00:58:46.100 | or they're a nuisance.

00:58:47.420 | - They put things to prevent you from doing it.

00:58:49.100 | - Right, or they're a nuisance.

00:58:50.020 | This kid has finally found something that speaks to them.

00:58:52.980 | And now you're discouraging them from that.

00:58:55.060 | What are you doing to your community?

00:58:56.940 | So to have those parks, the kids feel like they matter

00:59:01.940 | and that they can find their crew.

00:59:04.500 | I think the best part about the foundations,

00:59:06.020 | we try to empower groups that are already doing it themselves

00:59:09.340 | or trying to do it themselves.

00:59:10.660 | Like they're trying to fundraise

00:59:11.980 | or they're going to city council meetings

00:59:13.380 | or they're petitioning.

00:59:14.940 | All those things matter.

00:59:17.540 | And it feels like you're in an uphill battle

00:59:20.540 | that will never end, especially with the red tape

00:59:25.020 | and the bureaucracy and city councils.

00:59:27.520 | But we give them the roadmap to do it the right way.

00:59:30.740 | And when we do give them our endorsement

00:59:33.980 | and possibly funding, that's usually the tipping point

00:59:37.040 | for them to get it approved officially.

00:59:39.020 | And so for us, it's empowering those go-getters

00:59:42.420 | that were trying to do it in the first place.

00:59:44.740 | - I love it.

00:59:45.580 | So you should all definitely check out the podcast

00:59:47.500 | and the socials,

00:59:48.340 | but definitely check out the skate park project.

00:59:50.340 | I wish that it was around 30 something years ago for me.

00:59:54.020 | It would have been awesome.

00:59:55.300 | Any parting advice for anyone who's looks at you and says,

00:59:58.860 | gosh, when I'm in my fifties,

00:59:59.980 | I want to be doing the thing I love

01:00:01.980 | and performing at that level.

01:00:03.740 | - Wow, what can I say?

01:00:05.060 | My approach always has been to keep improving what I do.

01:00:08.840 | And at my age, that's shifted a bit

01:00:11.780 | from trying to do these big spins and these big stunts

01:00:15.140 | to more subtle techniques,

01:00:17.540 | but something that I feel like is progressive.

01:00:19.540 | And I'm talking about just in terms of physical skating,

01:00:21.900 | but also just my approach to life is like

01:00:23.900 | to not wrestle my accolades,

01:00:25.300 | to keep trying to improve what I do, keep evolving,

01:00:29.240 | listen to other input and glean what you can from them,

01:00:32.620 | glean what is appropriate to what you do.

01:00:35.140 | I'm fascinated listening to people who are passionate

01:00:37.860 | about what they do, whether they're successful or not,

01:00:40.320 | just to hear what drives them.

01:00:43.520 | And a lot of times you can translate that to what you do.

01:00:47.100 | - Is there a favorite way you consume these stories,

01:00:49.380 | podcasts you like, books you like?

01:00:51.020 | - For these days, it's actually doing my own podcast

01:00:52.980 | 'cause I like to invite people that I think are fascinating

01:00:54.980 | and really get into their story.

01:00:56.320 | Like we interviewed this girl who's a,

01:00:59.140 | she's the most decorated Paralympian now.

01:01:00.980 | Her name's Oksana Masters,

01:01:02.380 | who grew up in a Ukrainian orphanage after Chernobyl

01:01:06.260 | and who was disfigured from Chernobyl,

01:01:08.260 | who came to the US, she got adopted.

01:01:10.380 | And her story is incredible.

01:01:13.480 | - And so inspiring.

01:01:14.400 | I already knew a little bit of it,

01:01:15.820 | but to invite her on our podcast

01:01:17.180 | and hear all of it was fascinating.

01:01:19.100 | - I have not listened to that.

01:01:20.260 | So that's my homework for the flight home today.

01:01:22.260 | Thank you so much for being here or for having me here.

01:01:24.940 | - Oh yeah, thanks, this is my home away from home.

01:01:27.060 | - I love it.

01:01:27.900 | (upbeat music)

01:01:29.220 | Wow, that episode was so much fun

01:01:31.260 | and I really hope you guys enjoyed it.

01:01:33.420 | Big thanks to Tony for hosting me in his space

01:01:35.780 | and to all of you for listening.

01:01:37.620 | I'll be doing another Q&A episode soon.

01:01:39.820 | So please send over your questions,

01:01:41.700 | but also any awesome wins you have to share

01:01:44.580 | or hacks you've learned and put to use in your own life.

01:01:47.900 | And finally, I am about 100 ratings shy

01:01:50.540 | of hitting my goal from last year

01:01:52.220 | of getting to a thousand reviews on Apple Podcasts.

01:01:55.540 | So if you haven't left one yet,

01:01:57.340 | I would greatly appreciate it.

01:01:59.060 | It would mean so much to me.

01:02:00.740 | All right, that's it for this week.

01:02:02.460 | See you next week.

01:02:03.600 | (upbeat music)

01:02:06.180 | (upbeat music)

01:02:08.760 | [BLANK_AUDIO]